Who Was Hot Or Cold In The 2026 Stanley Cup Final

The NHL's Stanley Cup final ended with the Carolina Hurricanes winning the jackpot.

Players had to get hot at the right time to win games in the Cup final, and ultimately, the Hurricanes had enough players in form to take care of the Vegas Golden Knights.

Here is one player per Cup finalist who was hot and one who was cold in the last round of the post-season.

Coming into this year's playoffs, Staal had posted 20 goals in the regular season – the first time he'd reached that plateau since 2015-16.

But the 37-year-old has been even better in this post-season.

Staal's six goals and seven points in six Cup final games made him a worthy choice for the Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP. Sure, his eight goals and 12 points in 19 games don't jump off the page, but he excelled at both ends of the ice, with a 56.8 faceoff win percentage as well.

Staal stepped up with offense to a degree few expected, and his solid defensive play makes him one of the hottest all-around contributors. He did everything asked of him and then some.

Nikishin had an excellent rookie NHL season, putting up 11 goals and 33 points in 81 games with the Hurricanes.

While his regular-season performance was encouraging, Nikishin's playoff production left something to be desired, as he had just one point in 17 games.

In the Cup final, Nikishin was held off the scoresheet and was a minus-3.

Nikishin was named to the NHL's all-rookie team this year, but nothing comes easily in the playoffs. So while the Hurricanes won the Stanley Cup together as a team, they will almost certainly want Nikishin to take a step up next year when they try to defend the trophy.

Nikishin is likely to be an excellent player for the Hurricanes. But it's a steep learning curve when you're finding out the difference between success in the first round or two and success at the Cup final level.

Theodore was one of the key reasons for the Golden Knights winning their first Cup in 2023 – and in this Cup final, he was Vegas' top-scoring defenseman and their second-best scorer, with five assists and seven points in six games.

Star right winger Mitch Marner has one more point than Theodore does in the Cup final, but more offense is what's expected of Marner. And Theodore has done it all, posting a pair of goals, including an overtime-winner.

Theodore averaged a stunning 27:16 of ice time in the Cup final, nearly three minutes more than the next-most-used player, Hurricanes defenseman K'Andre Miller.

The 30-year-old showed why he's one of the best bargains in the league at a $7.425-million cap hit.

Andersson was one of the Golden Knights' biggest acquisitions this year, when Vegas acquired him from the Calgary Flames.

But Andersson did not contribute any notable degree of offense in the playoffs, especially in the Cup final.

Andersson recorded just one assist against the Hurricanes, which is not something Vegas likely expected from a two-way blueliner.

His inability to generate any offense could hurt Andersson on the open market when he's looking for a new contract this off-season.

Andersson wasn't acquired by Vegas to produce oodles of offense, but in 22 post-season games this year, he has only six assists. Considering Andersson is usually good for around 40 points in the regular season, he performed below expectations.

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