Blackhawk Up Roundtable: 2025-26 NHL predictions

Yesterday, our staff made their predictions for the 2025-26 Blackhawks season. Now, we tackle the rest of the National Hockey League and share how we envision the season going down. It should be a fun year. I can’t wait to revisit these in the spring and see who did the best, and which one of us should feel shame.

Central Division Finish

Greg Boysen: DAL, COL, WPG, UTA*, MIN, STL, CHI, NAS
Todd Welter: MIN, WPG, DAL, COL*, STL*, UTA, NSH, CHI
Jim Lynch: DAL, WPG, COL, STL*, MIN, UTA, CHI, NAS
Jeff Maroon: COL, DAL, STL. UTA*, MIN*, WPG, CHI, NSH
Kyle Bokota: COL, DAL, UTA, WPG*, STL, MIN, NSH, CHI
Ty Glenn: WPG, COL, DAL, UTA*, MIN, STL, CHI, NSH
* Wild Card

Pacific Division Finish

Greg: VGK, EDM, VAN, LAK*, CGY, ANA, SEA, SJS
Todd: VGK, EDM, LAK, SEA, CGY, VAN, ANA, SJS
Jim: VGK, LAK, EDM, ANA*, VAN, CGY, SEA, SJS
Jeff: VGK, EDM, LAK, VAN, ANA, SEA, CGY, SJS
Kyle: VGK, EDM, ANA, VAN*, LAK, CGY, SEA, SJS
Ty: VGK, EDM, LAK, VAN*, CGY, SEA, ANA, SJS
* Wild Card

Atlantic Division Finish

Greg: TOR, TBL, MTL, FLA*, OTT, DET, BOS, BUF
Todd: TOR, TBL, FLA, DET*, MTL, OTT, BOS, BUF
Jim: TBL, TOR, OTT, FLA*, DET*, MTL, BUF, BOS
Jeff: TBL, TOR, MTL, FLA*, OTT*, DET, BUF, BOS
Kyle: TOR, TBL, FLA, MTL*, OTT, BOS, BUF, DET
Ty: FLA, TOR, TBL, OTT*, DET, MTL, BOS, BUF
* Wild Card

Metropolitan Division Finish

Greg: NJD, NYR, CAR, WSH, NYI, CBJ, PHI, PIT
Todd: WSH, CAR, NJD, NYR*, CBJ, NYI, PHI, PIT
Jim: CAR, NJD, NYR, WSH, PHI, CBJ, NYI, PIT
Jeff: CAR, NJD, WSH, CBJ, NYR, PHI, NYI, PIT
Kyle: CAR, NJD, NYR, WSH*, CBJ, NYI, PIT, PHI
Ty: CAR, WSH, NYR, NJD*, PHI, CBJ, NYI, PIT
* Wild Card

Stanley Cup Final Matchup

Greg: Dallas vs New Jersey
Todd: Vegas vs Carolina
Jim: Winnipeg vs Carolina
Jeff: Vegas vs Carolina
Kyle: Vegas vs Tampa Bay
Ty: Vegas vs Carolina

Stanley Cup Champions

Greg: Dallas
Todd: Vegas
Jim: Winnipeg
Jeff: Vegas
Kyle: Tampa Bay
Ty: Carolina

Presidents’ Trophy Winner

Greg: New Jersey
Todd: Vegas
Jim: Vegas
Jeff: Carolina
Kyle: Vegas
Ty: Jets

Hart Trophy Winner

Greg: Mikko Rantanen (DAL)
Todd: Connor McDavid (EDM)
Jim: Connor McDavid (EDM)
Jeff: Nathan MacKinnon (COL)
Kyle: Connor McDavid (EDM)
Ty: Connor McDavid (EDM)

Calder Trophy Winner

Greg: Ryan Leonard (WSH)
Todd: Sam Rinzel (CHI)
Jim: Sam Rinzel (CHI)
Jeff: Ivan Demidov (MTL)
Kyle: Ivan Demidov (MTL)
Ty: Ivan Demidov (MTL)

Vezina Trophy Winner

Greg: Igor Shesterkin (NYR)
Todd: Connor Hellebuyck (WPG)
Jim: Connor Hellebuyck (WPG)
Jeff: Andrei Vasilevskiy (TBL)
Kyle: Jake Oettinger (DAL)
Ty: Connor Hellebuyck (WPG)

Norris Trophy Winner

Greg: Quinn Hughes – (VAN)
Todd: Cale Makar (COL)
Jim: Cale Makar (COL)
Jeff: Cale Makar (COL)
Ty: Cale Makar (COL)

Art Ross Trophy Winner

Greg: Connor McDavid (EDM)
Todd: Connor McDavid (EDM)
Jim: Connor McDavid (EDM)
Jeff: Nathan MacKinnon (COL)
Kyle: Connor McDavid (EDM)
Ty: Nikita Kucherov (TBL)

Rocket Richard Trophy Winner

Greg: Mikko Rantanen (DAL)
Todd: Leon Draisaitl (EDM)
Jim: Connor McDavid (EDM)
Jeff: Connor McDavid (EDM)
Kyle: David Pastrnak (BOS)
Ty: Auston Matthews (TOR)

Selke Trophy Winner

Greg: Auston Matthews (TOR)
Todd: Nico Hischier (NJD)
Jim: Jack Eichel (VGK)
Jeff: Mitch Marner (VGK)
Kyle: Jack Eichel (VGK)
Ty: Sam Reinhart (FLA)

Jack Adams Award

Greg: Glen Gulutzan (DAL)
Todd: Mike Sullivan (NYR)
Jim: Scott Arniel (WPG)
Jeff: Rod Brind’Amour (CAR)
Kyle: Joel Quenneville (ANA)
Ty: Scott Arniel (WPG)

What Will Be the Biggest Surprise?

Greg: Utah makes the playoffs.
Todd: Red Wings returning to the postseason.
Jim: Florida struggles to start the season.
Jeff: Utah gets a wild card spot.
Kyle: Ducks will be a huge riser in the standings this season and will surprise a lot of people. 5
Ty: Utah will make some noise in the postseason.

What Will Be the Biggest Disappointment?

Greg: Buffalo finishes last in their division.
Todd: Dallas won’t live up to the hype.
Jim: The lack of a Sidney Crosby trade.
Jeff: Winnipeg missing the postseason.
Kyle: Detroit could struggle and have a messy season.
Ty: Another down season for Nashville.

Who Will Be the First Coach Fired?

Greg: Lindy Ruff (BUF)
Todd: Lindy Ruff (BUF)
Jim: Andrew Brunette (NSH)
Jeff: Andrew Burnette (NSH)
Kyle: Lindy Ruff (BUF)
Ty: Andrew Burnette (NSH)

What is Your Bold NHL Prediction?

Greg: Cale Makar and Quinn Hughes will both have 100-point seasons.
Todd: Sidney Crosby will agree to a trade.
Jim: Connor McDavid will not sign any contract with any team until the end of the season. (whoops!)
Jeff: Sidney Crosby gets traded to Florida.
Kyle: Detroit will fire Steve Yzerman mid-season and be forced to begin a new rebuild as their current attempt has stalled.