2026 Stanley Cup Final Preview

There's been a lot of talk about the Stanley Cup playoff format this year.  It's pretty much just been reinforcing how much people hate it.  Players hate it.  Fans hate it.  But Gary Bettman likes it, so we're stuck with it.  One of the reasons Bettman likes it is because the NHL "has the greatest first-round in sports."  Too bad the playoffs last four rounds.

While the conference finals both being duds can't be blamed completely on the format, it certainly didn't help.  The Canadiens played 14 games in the first two rounds.  The Hurricanes have played 13 games total in the first three rounds (they won't even reach 100 for the season until Game 5 of the Final).  Carolina had two weeks off between the clincher against Philadelphia and Game 1 against Montreal...which is the only game they've lost in the playoffs.  And the only reason the Hurricanes lost was because they were sitting around too long and were rusty/flat.  By the end of the series, Montreal was exhausted and it showed.  Hence Carolina dominating Games 4 & 5 so thoroughly.

It is the format that gave us a 39-win Golden Knights team winning the West.  Is Vegas the best team?  Not even close.  But they got hot at the right time and took advantage of their matchups.  Colorado being without its two best players for long stretches in the series sure didn't help, either.  Credit to the Golden Knights, though.  The opportunity presented itself.  They seized it.  And now they're in the Final for the third time in their nine-year history.

Carolina, meanwhile, finally won a Conference Final game.  Four of them, in fact.  The Hurricanes have been one of the best teams in hockey for the past several years.  This season, they finally put it all together in the playoffs, and they've looked practically unbeatable!  In fact, the Hurricanes have played the fewest postseason games--13--of any Stanley Cup Finalist since they expanded the playoffs to four best-of-seven series in 1987.

Of course, we can't count Vegas out by any means.  They may have won their division by stockpiling loser points, but they're also a different team under John Tortorella.  The Golden Knights clearly thought they could position themselves for a run in the playoffs, hence the late-season coaching change.  And whatever Torts has done has certainly clicked.  They're on that roll, as they showed in their sweep of the President's Trophy winners.

Can they keep it going against a Hurricanes team that has been simply dominant thru the first three rounds?  That's the big question.  In the Western Conference Final, the Avalanche were banged and bruised.  That series would've been completely different if Colorado was healthy.  Carolina won't have that problem.  Vegas will have to deal with a healthy and well-rested Hurricanes team.  Which means this will likely be a very different series than the Western Conference Final.

For the last three years, we've seen the Florida Panthers make the Final playing a grind-it-out, wear-you-down defensive style.  Which is exactly how both of these teams play!  It's been part of the secret to their success.  So, it'll be very interesting to see each of them essentially play against themselves.  Especially since they were both able to impose their will in the Conference Finals.

Now let's talk about Mitch Marner and Freddy Andersen.  Those two have more in common beyond just being former Maple Leafs.  They're also the leading candidates for the Conn Smythe Trophy.  Unless somebody goes absolutely nuts in the Final, it's likely that one of them will win it.  Especially if Carolina lifts the Cup.  Andersen has been that good.  (There's at least a chance that somebody else from Vegas could snag the Conn Smythe, even if it's a slim one.)

The irony of them both being former Leafs who are having ridiculously good playoffs isn't lost on anybody, either.  There are two schools of thought, neither of which is pleasant for Toronto fans.  The first is "you get them out of Toronto and look what happens!"  The other is "why couldn't he do that for the Leafs?"  Well, one of them is getting his name on the Cup.  And he'll likely be a big reason why.

Andersen has been simply sensational.  There have been six shutouts in the playoffs.  He has three of them, one in each series.  Outside of Game 1 against Montreal (Carolina's only loss of the postseason), he hasn't allowed more than two goals in any game.  The Golden Knights are more dynamic offensively than Ottawa, Philadelphia or Montreal, so it might be a lot to expect him to keep it going in the Stanley Cup Final.  But we've seen a goalie lead his team to the Cup by standing on his head for two months before, and Andersen is playing at that sort of level.

He'll have to deal with much more than just Marner, of course.  Jack Eichel has 16 playoff assists to lead all players.  Brett Howden and Pavel Dorofeyev have both scored 10 goals.  And, Shea Theodore is a +8 while playing more than 25 minutes per game.  Let's not forget, too, that Carter Hart has been nearly as good as his counterpart.

Still, though, the Hurricanes are simply too good.  Given their recent history, getting past the Eastern Conference Final was the big challenge.  Now that they've gotten over that hump, and in such a dominant fashion, I don't see anything slowing this team down.  Especially since, with the exception of the last two games against Montreal, all of their wins this postseason have been close.  They have six one-goal wins (five of which were in overtime) and two two-goal wins.  So, even though they've been dominant, the games were still tight.  Which means they weren't coasting.  Don't let those scores deceive you, though.  They were controlling play.

Whoever can control play the most should have the edge in this series.  They're both great at playing with the lead, although the Golden Knights have also shown an ability to come back.  They haven't faced an opponent that plays Carolina's style of clamp-down defense, though.  Neither have the Hurricanes for that matter.  Scoring first should make a huge difference in every game.  Because that'll be the team who gets that opportunity to control the game and make the other team chase it.

Starting in Raleigh could make a huge difference, too.  More importantly, Game 7 being in Raleigh could be a huge difference.  I know the Golden Knights swept the President's Trophy-winning Avalanche.  But there's just something about this year's Hurricanes that makes it seem like they're a team of destiny.  Which is why I simply can't pick against them.  Carolina in six.