Since NHL players returned to work after the 2026 Winter Olympics, the race to the Stanley Cup Playoffs has proceeded at a gallop.<\/p>\n
With just one game on the schedule on Monday and less than four weeks remaining until the playoffs begin on Saturday, Apr. 18, it\u2019s a good time to take a look at how the post-season picture is shaping up.<\/p>\n
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A New Champion Awaits<\/p>\n
One thing is virtually guaranteed: there will be a new champion in 2026. After going to three straight Stanley Cup Finals and winning it all in both 2024 and 2025, the Florida Panthers haven\u2019t been able to overcome the wear-and-tear of playing a league-high 68 high-intensity playoff contests over the past three years.<\/p>\n
Florida\u2019s season may have been over<\/a> before it began when team captain Aleksander Barkov suffered a serious knee injury in pre-season.<\/p>\n At the Olympic break, the Panthers were a daunting eight points out of a wild-card spot. Over the last month, they\u2019ve gone 5-7-0 and are now 14 points out. And while Barkov started skating in a non-contact sweater earlier this month, he has plenty of company on his team\u2019s injured list.<\/p>\n Advertisement<\/p>\n If there\u2019s a simlver lining for the Panthers, it\u2019s that they may have worked their way back into the first round in what\u2019s believed to be a talent-rich 2026 draft.<\/p>\n When GM Bill Zito traded his team\u2019s 2026 first-rounder to Chicago on Mar. 2, 2025 as part of the deal that brought back defenseman Seth Jones, he added a condition that the Panthers would keep the pick if it lands in the top 10.<\/p>\n As of Mar. 23, the Panthers\u2019 71 points put them 23rd in the NHL standings \u2014 exactly 10th-worst in the league. If they can hold that spot and no non-playoff team with a better finish wins the draft lottery, Florida retains the selection and will pick in the first round for the first time since choosing Mackie Samoskevich at No. 24 back in 2021. There\u2019s also a chance that a low-odds lottery win could move Florida up by as much as five spots.<\/p>\n As he turned the Panthers from also-rans into champions, Zito was named a GM of the Year finalist in four of his first five seasons at the helm. He is best known for his bold trades, many of which have paid big dividends, but has moved out many high draft picks for pieces that would provide more immediate help. A top-10 pick this year would be a major addition to a currently shallow prospect pool.<\/p>\n Advertisement<\/p>\n Welcome Back, Buffalo Sabres and Anaheim Ducks<\/p>\n Like the Panthers, last year\u2019s regular-season-best Winnipeg Jets also look poised to miss the post-season this time around \u2014 although the Jets are making a late push. Earlier in the season, they dropped all the way to last place in the league. But after being 11 points out of Western Conference wild-card spot at the Olympic break, they\u2019ve gone 7-3-4 since their MVP goalie Connor Hellebuyck<\/a> backstopped Team USA to its Olympic gold medal. As of Mar. 23, the Jets are now just five points out of the wild card. But with three teams in front of them, MoneyPuck<\/a> pegs their playoff odds as slim, at just 6.8 percent.<\/p>\n When good teams falter, that opens the door for others. This year, two teams that have long been absent from the playoff picture look poised to return.<\/p>\n For nearly four months now, the feel-good story of the 2025-26 NHL season has been the Buffalo Sabres, who have thrived since replacing their former GM<\/a> Kevyn Adams with Jarmo Kekalainen on Dec. 15.<\/p>\n Advertisement<\/p>\n In-season changes at the general manager position are relatively rare, so that may help explain why the \u2018new-GM bump\u2019 is not as well-known as the coaching equivalent.<\/p>\n The Sabres\u2019 change of fortune actually began a few days before Kekalainen took the reins. Since Dec. 9, they\u2019re an NHL-best 33-6-3 for 69 points, nine better than the second-place Carolina Hurricanes over the same timeframe.<\/p>\n Buffalo\u2019s success has been a balanced team effort, with captain Rasmus Dahlin speaking about the brotherhood that has evolved within the group.<\/p>\n After 14 years outside the playoffs, the Sabres look like they made a good call when they brought back coach Lindy Ruff, 66, who\u2019s now in the second season of his second coaching stint with his old team. With 1,927 games of NHL coaching experience, third on the all-time list, Ruff\u2019s closest brush with the Stanley Cup came in Buffalo\u2019s famous \u2018skate-in-the-crease\u2019 loss to the Dallas Stars in 1999.<\/p>\n Advertisement<\/p>\n Currently four points ahead of the Tampa Bay Lightning atop the Atlantic Division, MoneyPuck gives the Sabres a 99.96 percent chance of finally returning to the post-season this spring. On top of their large and long-suffering fanbase, they\u2019re expected to have plenty of bandwagon fans on board \u2014 perhaps even some from nearby Toronto, where the Maple Leafs are limping toward their first playoff miss since 2016.<\/p>\n On the other side of the country, the Anaheim Ducks sit atop the Pacific Division, poised to make their first post-season appearance since 2018.<\/p>\n Like Buffalo, they\u2019re also guided by a veteran coach. Joel Quenneville, 67, won three Stanley Cups as the head coach of the Chicago Blackhawks in the 2010s, and returned to the NHL with the Ducks this season after resigning from the Panthers in 2021 as part of the fallout after the investigation into sexual misconduct within the Blackhawks organization while he was coach there.<\/p>\n Quenneville sits fourth all-time and third among active coaches with 1,838 games. He took over a Ducks team that is rich with young talent after re-stocking through the draft and has added some high-character veterans with plenty of playoff experience including Cup-winners Alex Killorn and, at the trade deadine, John Carlson, along with former New York Rangers Chris Kreider and Jacob Trouba.<\/p>\n Advertisement<\/p>\n At the Olympic break, the Ducks held the second wild-card spot in the West. With a record of 9-4-1 over the last month, they have leapfrogged the faltering Seattle Kraken, Edmonton Oilers and Vegas Golden Knights to take over top spot in the Pacific.<\/p>\n And while it\u2019s true that the Ducks\u2019 82 points would rank them 10th if they were in the Eastern Conference \u2014 outside a playoff berth \u2014 momentum can be critical when the post-season begins. Anaheim\u2019s record since the Olympic break is tied for fourth-best in the league. MoneyPuck says the Ducks\u2019 chance of making the dance is 99.4 percent.<\/p>\n Other Stories To Watch<\/p>\n In both conferences, the battle for the final playoff positions looks like it will come down to the wire.<\/p>\n Advertisement<\/p>\n In the East, just two points separate six teams who are fighting for five playoff spots. As of Monday, the Montreal Canadiens, Pittsburgh Penguins, Boston Bruins, Columbus Blue Jackets and New York Islanders are in, while the Detroit Red Wings have fallen out thanks to a 5-5-2 record since the Olympic break amid a rash of injuries.<\/p>\n The Ottawa Senators could also still have something to say about the final standings. They\u2019re four points behind the Islanders, with two games in hand ahead of their meeting with the New York Rangers in Monday night\u2019s lone game (7:30 p.m. ET).<\/p>\n Despite missing top defenseman Jake Sanderson, Ottawa is 8-2-2 since the Olympics, tied for seventh-best in the league. The Senators have made up just two points in the wild-card race but MoneyPuck has their playoff odds of 54.6 percent, just slightly below the Islanders (57.1 percent) and the Red Wings (57.9 percent).<\/p>\n Worth noting: Columbus has climbed to 76.2 percent thanks to a luminous run since Rick Bowness<\/a> took over as coach on Jan. 12. The Blue Jackets are 18-3-4 under Bowness. With a record of 8-2-4 since the Olympic Break, they\u2019ve moved from four points out of a wild-card spot to third place in the Metropolitan Division. They\u2019re still facing pressure but if they get in, it will be their first playoff appearance since the 2020 pandemic bubble.<\/p>\n Advertisement<\/p>\n The final spot in the West may come down to a two-horse battle between the Nashville Predators and the Los Angeles Kings. Since announcing their intention to move on from GM Barry Trotz<\/a> on Feb. 2, the Preds are 8-5-3. They went into the Olympic break four points out of a playoff spot and now sit in the second wild card, two points ahead of the Los Angeles.<\/p>\n