Who's Hot And Cold Heading Into The NHL's Stanley Cup Final

The Stanley Cup final is set to kick off Tuesday night, with the Carolina Hurricanes hosting the Vegas Golden Knights.

Through three rounds, we've seen enough playoff action to know who's hot and cold entering the final.

In getting to the Cup final, more than one player on Carolina and Vegas has been delivering the goods, while others have been largely silent. Clearly, Mitch Marner, Frederik Andersen, Jack Eichel and Taylor Hall are not just on a hot streak but are among the top players of the playoffs.

But as we label one hot player and one cold player for each finalist, those we're mentioning either need to maintain their current hot streak in the Cup final to push their team over the edge, or turn things around before it's too late and a championship slips through their fingers.

The Hurricanes have had many hot players this spring – including young right winger Jackson Blake (15 points in 13 games), Hall (11 assists, 16 points), and goalie Frederik Andersen (three shutouts).

Stankoven, meanwhile, has proven the hype around him is justified.

The 23-year-old has a team-best nine goals, three of which were game-winners. And 10 of his 12 points came at even strength. It doesn't get much hotter than that.

Stankoven is averaging only 16:53 of ice time, but that's nearly 90 seconds more than the 15:27 he was averaging in the regular season. And Stankoven has already beaten his previous post-season career highs of five goals and eight points, both of which were set in 15 games last year. 

Having already signed an eight-year contract extension paying him $6-million per season, Stankoven will be a bigger bargain with every passing season. He's not large in size, but Stankoven is a huge part of Carolina's blueprint for success.

We're not saying Svechnikov has been terrible. With three goals and seven points in 13 games, he has been contributing some offense.

But judging him by his regular-season and career playoff standards shows the 26-year-old sniper isn't at his best right now.

Svechnikov had 31 goals and 70 points in 79 games this year, and he has 26 playoff goals and 55 points in 79 career post-season games. It's clear that he needs to be doing more. 

Carolina's well-balanced offense means there's no great amount of pressure on Svechnikov, but at the end of the day, the Cup final will be the team and Svechnikov's biggest test yet. He needs to fire on all cylinders.

Howden had 12 goals and 22 points in 58 regular-season games.

In these playoffs, Howden has become a scoring machine, generating 10 goals and 12 points in 16 games, while averaging 16:46 of ice time.

Howden won his first Cup with Vegas in 2023, but he only had five goals and 10 points in 22 games that year. This year, he's doubled his number of goals, and he's scored three game-winners.

The 28-year-old's been an excellent linemate of Mitch Marner, who has a league-leading 21 points. But Howden's also taking some pressure off the rest of the stars and spreading out the scoring. That's crucial for a Cup champion.

Howden's salary of $2.5 million for the next four seasons makes him a heck of a bargain. Vegas has received clutch performances from a slew of players, but few believed Howden would step up the way he has. So he deserves his flowers for a particularly terrific post-season.

The Golden Knights have been a well-balanced squad led by Marner, Eichel and Mark Stone, but Karlsson has only chipped in one goal and five points in 10 games.

Granted, Karlsson has been a solid defensive player, and his faceoff average of 53.6 percent is higher than his career playoff faceoff average of 51.1 percent.

Still, getting only a single goal and five points in the playoffs is not ideal for a second-line center.

Karlsson is averaging 17:06 of ice time – down nearly 90 seconds from the 18:34 he averaged in the 2025 playoffs – and he's still looking for his first game-winning playoff goal since the 2022-23 campaign. 

Karlsson is bringing it on the defensive end, but he's been seriously cold on offense, and the Golden Knights could use more offense from him against the relentlessly stingy Hurricanes.

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