After a protracted and dreary offseason, the beginning of the 2025-26 NHL season is upon us and there’s a laundry record of fascinating storylines going into opening evening.
Within the Western Convention, there are many questions from high to backside, though the most important of the bunch simply received wrapped up on Monday as Connor McDavid and the Edmonton Oilers have agreed to a two-year contract extension that may pay him $12.5 million per 12 months. The 28-year-old heart and the face of the game is coming off a second consecutive Stanley Cup Last loss to the Florida Panthers. On the different finish of the standings, Connor Bedard must show that his tough sophomore season was a fluke as he tries to re-assert himself because the league’s high younger star.
Moreover, the newly rebranded Utah Mammoth have all of the instruments to shake up the West, and the race for the third and ultimate assured playoff spot within the Pacific Division needs to be fairly heated.
Let’s take a deeper have a look at the most important tales to comply with within the Western Convention all through the 2025-26 marketing campaign.
Central Division
Stars, Avalanche on a collision course as soon as once more
In every of the final two seasons, the Stars and Avalanche have been among the many finest groups within the Western Convention, and so they’ve met within the postseason. The Stars gained each rounds, and final 12 months’s win was particularly dramatic with Mikko Rantanen sticking the dagger into his former staff with a hat trick in Sport 7. The excellent news for the Avs? There is a good likelihood that Spherical 3 is developing in April or Might. That is as a result of Colorado and Dallas stay two of the highest 5 or ten groups within the league.
Led by Nathan MacKinnon and Cale Makar, the Avalanche need to advance previous the second spherical for the primary time since they gained the Cup in 2022. The Stars, boasting among the finest and deepest ahead teams within the league, must recover from the convention ultimate hump after shedding in that spherical for 3 consecutive seasons
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Can the Mammoth break by?
In the event you’re searching for an up-and-coming staff to comply with within the Western Convention, that may be the Utah Mammoth (+2200 to win the West at FanDuel). Not solely have they got a slick new model, however additionally they have a ton of thrilling younger expertise. Utah missed the postseason by simply seven factors, and the staff appears poised for an enormous leap in 2025-26. The Mammoth acquired impression winger J.J. Peterka from the Buffalo Sabres within the offseason, and Logan Cooley is on the cusp of superstardom after notching 65 factors as a 20-year-old final season. Whether or not Utah has the depth — each up entrance and on protection — stays to be seen, however this squad can be a blast to look at all season.
Bedard in want of a bounce again
Connor Bedard was the clear No. 1 total choose within the 2023 NHL Draft, thought of by some to be the most effective prospect since Connor McDavid. As a rookie, he seemed the half with 22 objectives and 61 factors on a really dreadful Chicago Blackhawks staff. That created numerous pleasure about what he may do in his second season — however that progress by no means actually manifested. Bedard put up simply 67 factors, and he received crushed at five-on-five. A very good portion of that was as a result of dearth of expertise round Bedard, however elite gamers are in a position to overcome their circumstances. Bedard clearly wasn’t there final season. Can he present some progress and get nearer to being that man in 2025-26?
Pacific Division
Is McDavid on board with the Oilers’ long-term plans?
Sure, McDavid signed a deal that may prolong the sport’s high star for 2 years, however he’ll now change into a free agent in the summertime of 2028 versus subsequent 12 months. Due to that it could seem that the staff should promote its captain on a imaginative and prescient for the long run. On one hand, and in all equity to the Oilers, not many groups can level to back-to-back Stanley Cup Last appearances. Alternatively, the identical points have plagued the staff for a number of points now, hurting McDavid’s possibilities of capturing his first Cup.
The Oilers’ goaltending scenario has been — and stays — a multitude. They’ve not been aggressive sufficient find something greater than a stopgap there. The opposite downside has been an absence of depth scoring. This final postseason was particularly unhealthy with McDavid and Leon Draisaitl doing an excessive amount of of the heavy lifting. Edmonton wants to search out one other weapon for its high six.
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Mitch Marner makes Golden Knights debut
After getting booed off the ice in his ultimate sport with the Maple Leafs, Mitch Marner is in a really completely different scenario now. So lengthy to the stress cooker and frosty climate in Toronto, howdy to the dry warmth and non-traditional hockey media market in Las Vegas. After signing an eight-year, $96 million contract with the Golden Knights, Marner can be tasked with serving to the staff win its second Stanley Cup. A perennial risk to hit 100 factors who can play in all conditions, Marner is poised for a monster season as he rides shotgun with Jack Eichel in Sin Metropolis.
Which staff takes third place?
As a result of the league guidelines demand it, three Pacific Division groups need to make the playoffs. Let’s take a not-so-bold stance and say the Golden Knights and Oilers are locked into two of these spots. Who will get the third? The favourite is the Los Angeles Kings, which looks as if the third-place staff by default, however they had been trending within the flawed course earlier than their annual first-round loss by the hands of the Oilers.
Will Quinn Hughes lead the Canucks to a serious bounce-back marketing campaign? Can the Anaheim Geese, in 12 months 1 beneath Joel Quenneville, lastly kick the rebuild into excessive gear? Is it doable for the Flames to repeat their 2024-25 magic and play above their heads for 82 video games? The race for that final Pacific Division playoff spot needs to be fairly broad open.
