NHL playoff predictions, with the NHL regular season coming to a close and the playoff bracket being finalized, the 2026 NHL playoffs are looking incredible. Senior Benntett Bair is excited to say the least, as he’s been counting down the days till he can watch his Hurricanes in the playoff. This isn’t common for all self-proclaimed hockey fans either as known LARP artist Sam Abney noted that, “nobody watches hockey” Sam is a self proclaimed Carolina Hurricanes fan and it’s safe to say that he might have been lying the whole time. Getting past this Abney issue, let’s look at my playoff predictions and the overall bracket.
Here’s the official matchups for round one
In the Eastern Conference, the matchups are set for a great first round. The Buffalo Sabres are the number one seed in the Atlantic and are having a historic season and they are facing the Boston Bruins. Buffalo is led by Tage Thompson, who scored a total of 40 goals, and Mattias Samuelsson, who finished the season with a +- of 41, which if you don’t know is really solid. Boston does have Jeremy Swayman who is one of the best goalies in the league, but I don’t think he’ll be enough. My prediction is the Buffalo Sabres move on.
The next Atlantic matchup is the Tampa Bay Lightning against the Montreal Canadiens. Tampa has Nikita Kucherov, who is still one of the best scorers in the league with 130 points. However, Montreal has been one of my favorite teams to watch this year and my personal favorite player, Cole Caufield finished with 51 goals, a lot of them being OT winners, which adds to his impressive 50 goal accomplishment. Nick Suzuki also put up 101 points, the Canadiens are underrated but I still have them winning.
The Carolina Hurricanes are taking on the Ottawa Senators, and Bennett is pumped because the Hurricanes are the heavy favorite. Carolina is the far better team, and I have them winning. In the other Metro series the matchup should also be great, the Pittsburgh Penguins against the Philadelphia Flyers. While I personally don’t like the penguins, I still have the Hurricanes and the Penguins moving on to the next round.
The Western Conference is also set to have some incredible games. The Colorado Avalanche are the top seed in the Central and they face the Los Angeles Kings. Colorado’s Nathan MacKinnon has been one of the best players in the league this year, and He finished with 127 points. The Kings will make it a close series, but the avs are just too good I believe
The Dallas Stars are facing the Minnesota Wild in what should be a very high scoring series. Dallas has Wyatt Johnston, who scored 45 goals, and he also led the league in power play goals. Jason Robertson also had another great year with 96 points. Minnesota has Kirill Kaprizov, who also scored 45 goals, but the Stars I believe are bit better.
The Vegas Golden Knights play the Utah Mammoth in a matchup that should be quite interesting. Utah has one of the better goalies in the league, but Vegas has Jack Eichel, who had 90 points. I have Vegas winning this series. The final matchup is the Edmonton Oilers against the Anaheim Ducks. Connor McDavid led the league in scoring again with 138 points, and looks to be in playoff form. Edmonton has frequently been dominant in the playoffs, but they often come up a bit short in the end, however I think they will easily beat the Ducks here.
In the Semifinals, the matchups continue to seem incredible. In the East, the Buffalo Sabres will face the Montreal Canadiens. While Buffalo had one of their teams best seasons ever, Montreal has Cole Caufield. I predict the Montreal Canadiens will win this series in a really close matchup. The other matchup on this side of the bracket, the Hurricanes will play the Penguins. This is a tough matchup for Carolina, but they are still the much better team. The Hurricanes will advance to the conference finals relatively easily I think.
The Western Conference, has a massive series between the Colorado Avalanche and the Dallas Stars. Despite MacKinnon’s incredible season, the Stars have the defensive talent to stop them. I have the Dallas Stars winning in probably 7 games. The other series is Vegas against Edmonton. This will likely be a good matchup up but I think Edmonton will advance to play Dallas.
The Conference Finals are next, and in the East, it is Montreal against Carolina. While I want the Hurricanes to win for Bennett, I think Montreal is the team I like the most this year. I have Montreal moving to the Finals. In the West, Dallas plays Edmonton. I also really like Dallas and Jason Robertson so im picking them over the Oilers.
In a Stanley Cup Final I think will be one of the best in recent history, the Montreal Canadiens vs. Dallas Stars. While the Canadians run up to this point will have been incredible, I believe that Dallas is simply too good and will win the Stanley Cup.
