The Florida Panthers,
Edmonton Oilers and Toronto Maple Leafs are all performing below
expectations. Can they turn it around?
There’s still roughly four months left in the regular season,
but it sure looks like we won’t be seeing the same two teams in the
Stanley Cup final for a third straight time.
It also appears the NHL’s longest Stanley Cup drought will
extend another year.
The two-time defending champion Florida Panthers are near the
bottom of the Eastern Conference, and the two-time defending
Western Conference champion Edmonton Oilers are fighting for a
playoff spot with a record hovering around .500.
The Toronto Maple Leafs, meanwhile, don’t look like anything
like a team capable of ending their fans’ misery.
There is enough time for these teams to turn it around, but it
does seem like two of these teams are deep into Stanley Cup
hangovers and all three are still desperately searching for
answers.
Florida Panthers
The Panthers figured to struggle out of the gate with captain
Aleksander Barkov (knee) possibly out for the season and star
forward Matthew Tkachuk (groin) missing the first few months.
Steady defenseman Dmitry Kulikov (upper body) and role players
Jonah Gadjovich and Tomas Nosek are also on the injured list.
Only Vancouver, New Jersey and Pittsburgh have lost more player
games due to injury than Florida.
To the surprise of nobody, the Panthers aren’t nearly as strong
an offensive team this season compared to 2024-25.
Taking away Barkov’s standout two-way play and Tkachuk’s
standing as one of the game’s premier power forwards has left a
gaping hole. Only Brad Marchand (16) and Sam Reinhart (15) have
double digit goals for the Panthers.
Florida’s power-play percentage (19.0%) is down from last season
(23.5%), but the bigger problem is at the dot. The Panthers are
25th in faceoff percentage, a problem that can be directly
attributed to Barkov’s absence.
With Marchand and Reinhart on pace to surpass 30 goals, the
blame for the stagnant offense falls mostly on Carter Verhaeghe,
Sam Bennett and defenseman Gustav Forsling.
Verhaeghe scored a career-high 42 goals in 2022-23 but dropped
to 34 the following season, 20 in 2024-25 and has eight goals this
season (he has been hot lately with six goals in his last six
games). Bennett has been limited to seven goals after he netted 25
in 2024-25 and Forsling has just one so far after he tallied 11
last season. That lack of offense has made the team’s margin for
error much smaller.
Goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky has also seen his numbers plummet,
going from a 2.44 goals-against average last season to 2.98 in
2025-26. That ranks him 32nd among all qualified goalies.
Despite these issues, there’s plenty of reasons for Panthers
fans to remain optimistic, chief among them that Barkov hasn’t been
ruled out for the playoffs and Tkachuk could return this month.
While Florida is languishing near the bottom of the East, the
Atlantic Division lead is well within reach. If the Panthers get
healthy and have some positive regression, nobody in their right
mind would want to play the three-time defending conference champs
in the playoffs.
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Edmonton Oilers
Nobody would blame the Oilers for subscribing to the age-old
adage that you have to lose before you can win. After losing in the
finals the past two seasons, this seemed like Edmonton’s time. But
there’s a lot of work to be done if the first two months of the
season are any indication.
The dynamic duo of Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl remains
elite with both among the league scoring leaders. The Oilers can’t
complain about the production from Evan Bouchard (27 points) or
Ryan Nugent-Hopkins (22 points), and Jack Roslovic (10 goals) has
been a pleasant surprise.
Edmonton is waiting for former 50-goal scorer Zach Hyman to find
his stride with just two goals in 10 games after he missed the
first month of the season following offseason wrist surgery.
Defense, or lack of it, is the biggest issue plaguing the Oilers
right now.
Edmonton has allowed four goals or more 13 times. Only Buffalo,
Columbus, Detroit and Vancouver have done that more often. The
Oilers and Canadiens are also the only teams to surrender at least
seven goals twice.
Ugly defensive numbers would suggest Edmonton’s starting goalie
is struggling and while Stuart Skinner’s 2.86 goals-against average
is nothing to get excited about, it’s right in line with last
season’s 2.81. And despite some lackluster regular seasons, he’s
been good enough to take a team to consecutive Western Conference
titles.
The bigger problem may be backup Calvin Pickard, who sports a
league-worst 4.04 GAA in nine games.
The tandem of Skinner and Pickard rank near the bottom of the
league in goals saved above expected, a sign that the Oilers
couldn’t be blamed for lacking confidence in that pair.
Maybe the most distressing thing for the Oilers is their
performances against the best teams in the league – a 9-1 home loss
to NHL-best Colorado on Nov. 8 and an 8-3 loss to Dallas on Nov.
25. Also troubling is a 5-1 loss to Eastern Conference-worst
Buffalo on Nov. 17.
Even McDavid shouldn’t be immune to some of the blame as he’s
currently minus-6 on the season.
Certainly, that number is reflective of the team’s struggles
since the three-time Hart Trophy winner rarely leaves the ice. But
McDavid was a plus-20 last season and a plus-35 the previous year.
He hasn’t been a minus player since 2019-20.
Much like the Panthers, the Oilers still have reason to be
optimistic with so much season left to play.
The Pacific Division is still up for grabs with no dominant team
and the Oilers are just six points behind the first-place Anaheim
Ducks.
Also working in the Oilers’ favor is their favorite month is
still to come.
The Oilers have gotten back on track each of the last two
seasons with impressive stretches that started late in the calendar
year and continued through January.
Edmonton won 16 consecutive games in December and January during
the 2023-24 season. Last season, the Oilers had a 22-6-1 stretch
from November to late January to get right back in the divisional
hunt.
The Oilers have begun to show signs of yet another positive
stretch, outscoring Seattle and Winnipeg 15-6 in consecutive wins
this past week.
Toronto Maple
Leafs
It’s well-documented that the Maple Leafs haven’t won a Stanley
Cup since 1967 and that drought has only been made worse because
they flame out in the playoffs year after year despite outstanding
regular seasons.
Through 28 games last season, the Leafs were 17-9-2 and two
points behind the Panthers for the Atlantic lead.
Toronto last missed the postseason in 2015-16, so qualifying for
the postseason hasn’t been an issue. But that appears to be a
legitimate concern this season in a super crowded Eastern
Conference. Only Buffalo has fewer points in the East than
Toronto.
Injuries, inconsistency and disappointing individual
performances have all played a role in Toronto’s mediocre season
thus far.
Superstar Auston Matthews missed two weeks last month with a
lower-body injury and is well behind his usual goal-scoring pace
with 11 in 23 games. William Nylander is the team’s leading scorer
with 32 points but has 11 goals after tallying a career-high 45
last season.
Despite those shortcomings, Toronto ranks fifth in the NHL with
3.39 goals per game even though the power play ranks 30th in the
NHL at 14.1%.
At the opposite end, the Leafs’ 3.29 goals-against average would
be the franchise’s worst in a single season since the 2008-09 team
allowed 3.49 per game.
The biggest problem resides in the net. Starter Anthony Stolarz,
who has a 3.51 GAA in 13 games, hasn’t played since he was injured
against Boston on Nov. 11 and backup Joseph Woll was hurt at
Carolina on Dec. 4 and is expected to miss at least a few games.
Dennis Hidelby played well when called upon with a .927 save
percentage in eight appearances.
The optimistic fans in Toronto can choose to believe postseason
success will follow a middling regular season this time. But the
Leafs need to get there first, and they haven’t played like a
playoff team so far this season.
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