The end of the year means it's time to make bold predictions for 2026. Whether it's an Original Six team firing a legend, a Sabres team trading core members, or another Original Six team making it to the Conference final, there's plenty of fun to be had with our predictions for the coming year.
With the calendar year 2025 coming to an end, it’s time for a new set of bold NHL predictions for 2026. We’re going to put out some things we believe could come to pass in the next 12 months. And after our fairly successful batch of predictions for 2025, we’re riding a wave of confidence into the new year.
Here are four bold predictions for the year to come:
Prediction 1: Despite a solid start to the season, the Detroit Red Wings get eaten alive by the injury bug and free-fall through the standings, failing to make the Stanley Cup playoffs for the 10th straight year. One week after their season ends, the Red Wings fire GM Steve Yzerman – and replace him with incoming team president and C.E.O. Brendan Shanahan.
The Red Wings currently sit in the top spot in the Atlantic Division. But only five standings points separate first place in the Atlantic from fourth place in the division, so Detroit may have an extended losing streak and fall out of the playoff picture altogether. And with injuries to some key players – maybe it’s captain Dylan Larkin, or defenseman Moritz Seider, or the Wings’ lack of depth will be exposed, and they’ll stay out of a playoff spot the rest of the way this year.
And if that’s what happens, expect Detroit to dismiss Yzerman – and replace him with his good friend and old teammate Shanahan. The former Toronto Maple Leafs team president was fired last summer, and he’s currently working in an undefined role with the NHL. The chance to direct a team is something that Shanahan wants, and if he gets to do it at the place where he won multiple Cups, that would be a challenge Shanahan would embrace.
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Prediction 2: The Buffalo Sabres fail to make the playoffs, resulting in major roster changes. One of the changes Sabres GM Jarmo Kekalainen makes is the trading of star forward Tage Thompson and/or defenseman Owen Power.
The Sabres are hot at the moment, but nobody should think of this Buffalo team as winners they can’t trade. The Sabres buried themselves early in the season, and it’s going to be an uphill climb to get back even to the fringes of the season. And if they can’t get the job done with this group, they will lose out on playoff action for a 15th year. That should mean Kekalainen gathers some of his current cornerstone players and sends them elsewhere,
Power still has value across the league as a second-pair blueliner, while there are plenty of teams that would line up to bid on Thompson, a reliable scorer with size. So Kekalainen needs to put some of his players on the trade block and get the best deal he can obtain for them.
The status quo isn’t an option for Buffalo. Trades of consequence are coming for this Sabres team, and a new era will likely begin for Buffalo at the end of this season.
Prediction 3: The Pittsburgh Penguins will finally start to tear down their roster, trading Evgeni Malkin and Kris Letang as the Penguins fail to make the playoffs for the fourth straight season.
Wait, this sounds familiar, right? It should. It’s virtually word-for-word what we predicted for the Penguins for 2025. The only difference was that a year ago, the Pens were on course to miss the Stanley Cup playoffs for the third straight season.
And while we didn’t get the part right about trading Malkin and Letang, we’re doubling down this season – firstly, that Pittsburgh is going to be on the outside of the playoff picture looking in next spring, and secondly, that Pens GM Kyle Dubas will trade Malkin and Letang.
The Penguins’ rebuild has to begin in earnest as soon as possible. And that will spell the end of an era in Pittsburgh.
Prediction 4: The Montreal Canadiens make the Stanley Cup playoffs – and once they get there next spring, the Habs pull off upsets in the first two rounds, making it to the Eastern Conference final for the third time since 2013-14.
That means Montreal will likely face one of the two Florida teams, or possibly both the Tampa Bay Lightning and Florida Panthers, in Rounds 1 and 2. But when the Canadiens get to the Eastern final, they’re going to find it a considerably different task to pull off. The Canadiens’ goaltending will be a key in their win, with Jakub Dobes having just enough in him to backstop his team into the Eastern final.
In the end, we see the Habs squaring off against the Carolina Hurricanes in a closely fought series.
Making it to the final four next spring is definitely a step forward for the Habs. No Canadiens fans will complain with the run their team is going to take them on in the 2026 post-season.
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