With the 2025-26 NHL season nearly here, it's time to make some bold predictions about what will and will not happen on the way to handing out the Stanley Cup.
How many of these predictions will become reality? At the risk of straining my arm while patting myself on the back, potentially half of them. That was my hit rate in last season's bold predictions . Seth Jones was traded. Jim Montgomery was fired. Lane Hutson was a Calder finalist. But every silver lining has a cloud: The Sabres missed the playoffs, and the Hurricanes very much made them. I didn't say they were good predictions. Just bold ones.
That established, here are bold predictions for the NHL's 32 teams in the 2025-26 season. These educated guesses range from statistical achievements to awards predictions to coach fi