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The 2025-26 NHL season opens this evening with an all-American tripleheader.
At 5 p.m. ET, the Florida Panthers begin their quest to become the first three-peat Stanley Cup champion since the early-1980s Islanders when they host Chicago. Pittsburgh Penguins stars Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin start their 20th (and last?) season together at 8 p.m. ET against the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden. Colorado captain Gabriel Landeskog plays his first regular-season game since March 2022 while Los Angeles star Anze Kopitar embarks on his farewell season when the Avalanche visit the Kings at 10:30 p.m. ET.
Canadian fans have to wait at least one more day to see their teams in action. Wednesday night’s slate features Montreal at Toronto and Calgary at Edmonton, while Ottawa, Winnipeg and Vancouver open on Thursday night.
In the meantime, let’s get you caught up on each of the seven Canadian teams. We’ll start today with the top four in terms of the current betting odds to win the Cup, and finish off tomorrow with the other three.
Last season: 48-29-5 (101 points), 3rd in Pacific Division, lost Stanley Cup final to Florida
Edmonton breathed a sigh of relief yesterday when Connor McDavid signed a surprising two-year, $25-million US contract extension that will pay him the same annual salary he’s currently making. It’s great for the Oilers the world’s best player decided to forego free agency and/or a massive raise. But now the pressure is on them to use the unexpected cap space to help McDavid win his first championship after back-to-back defeats to Florida in the final.
With the dynamic duo of McDavid and NHL goals leader Leon Draisaitl leading the way, the Oilers remain among the favourites to hoist the Cup. But the roster is still top-heavy and goaltending remains a big question mark with Stuart Skinner and Calvin Pickard forming a shaky tandem. Top-line winger Zach Hyman is out for the first month as he continues to recover from the wrist injury he suffered in the Cup final.
WATCH | Oilers lose second consecutive Stanley Cup final to Panthers:
Oilers lose Stanley Cup final to Panthers for 2nd year
Last season: 52-26-4 (108 points), 1st in Atlantic Division, lost in second round to Florida
The 2024-25 Leafs “felt different” — right up until the Panthers humiliated them 6-1 on their own ice to hand the franchise its seventh consecutive Game 7 loss and keep Toronto out of the conference finals for the 23rd straight year. Then Mitch Marner predictably skipped town, parlaying his team-high 102 points into an eight-year, $96M US deal with Vegas.
GM Brad Treliving didn’t make any big moves to replace Marner, but he managed to re-sign John Tavares at a hometown-discounted $4.38M salary for four years and lock up rising star Matthew Knies for six years at a reasonable $7.75M per. Captain Auston Matthews says he’s healthy after a hush-hush upper-body injury limited him to 33 goals in 67 games following his league-best 69 goals in 2023-24.
Last season: 56-22-4 (116 points), 1st in Central Division, won Presidents’ Trophy, lost in second round to Dallas
The Jets had a dream regular season, bringing Winnipeg its first-ever division title while becoming the first Canadian team in 13 years to win the Presidents’ Trophy for the NHL’s best record. Connor Hellebuyck became the first goalie in a decade to win the Hart Trophy as league MVP and added the Vezina as the top netminder for the second straight year and third time in his career.
But it all went sour in the playoffs as Hellebuyck once again lived down to his reputation as a post-season underperformer. The Jets were less than two minutes away from an embarrassing first-round exit at the hands of eighth-seeded St. Louis in Game 7 before rallying from two goals down to win in double OT. But it was all for naught as they fell in six to Dallas in Round 2.
Forward Nikolaj Ehlers left for Carolina in free agency, while the Jets brought 37-year-old centre Jonathan Toews back to the NHL on a one-year deal with his hometown team. Toews was one of the NHL’s top two-way forwards in his prime, captaining Chicago to three Stanley Cups from 2010 to 2015, but health problems sidelined him for the past two seasons.
Last season: 45-30-7 (97 points), 4th in Atlantic Division, lost in first round to Toronto
Led by the young trio of fiery captain Brady Tkachuk, top point-getter Tim Stutzle and ace defenceman Jake Sanderson, the Sens grabbed a wild card for their first playoff berth since 2017. After dropping the first three games to Toronto, they made the Battle of Ontario into a series by winning a couple before falling in six.
GM Steve Staios didn’t do much in the way of upgrades over the summer, so Ottawa hopes its big three can take another step forward this season. The Atlantic could be a bit softer with Toronto losing Marner and Florida missing stars Matthew Tkachuk (core surgery) until December and Aleksander Barkov (knee) likely for the entire regular season.
