NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs Race 2026 Features New Faces And Tight Races

Sitting first in the Atlantic Division, the Buffalo Sabres are poised to snap their 14-season NHL playoff drought. (Photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images) Getty Images Since NHL players returned to work after the 2026 Winter Olympics, the race to the Stanley Cup Playoffs has proceeded at a gallop. With just one game on the schedule on Monday and less than four weeks remaining until the playoffs begin on Saturday, Apr.

18, it’s a good time to take a look at how the post-season picture is shaping up. A New Champion Awaits 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’t been able to overcome the wear-and-tear of playing a league-high 68 high-intensity playoff contests over the past three years.

Florida’s season may have been over before it began when team captain Aleksander Barkov suffered a serious knee injury in pre-season. At the Olympic break, the Panthers were a daunting eight points out of a wild-card spot. Over the last month, they’ve 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’s injured list. If there’s a simlver lining for the Panthers, it’s that they may have worked their way back into the first round in what’s believed to be a talent-rich 2026 draft. When GM Bill Zito traded his team’s 2026 first-rounder to Chicago on Mar.