Each contender has case for winning Stanley Cup this season

There are no style points once the Stanley Cup Playoffs begin.

Once a team punches a ticket to the postseason, it has a chance to win the Cup, whether as a top seed or a wild card.

Every team has a chance; that's why the Stanley Cup is the hardest trophy to win, and its pursuit is the most demanding physical, mental and emotional ordeal in all sports.

Top seeds lose more often than they win.

The Presidents’ Trophy has been awarded annually to the team with the best regular-season record since the 1985-86 season. Only eight teams that have won that trophy have gone on to claim the Stanley Cup in the same season, the last being the Chicago Blackhawks in 2013.

Two seasons ago, the Florida Panthers got into the postseason at the wire, barging into the tournament as the second wild card into the playoffs from the Eastern Conference, and went on a run that saw them upset three straight teams and reach the Stanley Cup Final before losing to the Vegas Golden Knights in five games.

Any team, regardless of seeding or end-of-season form, has a chance to win it all each June.

In that spirit, here are reasons why each of the 16 teams in the 2025 postseason can win the Stanley Cup.

Carolina Hurricanes -- Nobody is better on the penalty kill than the Hurricanes, who were successful against 83.6 percent of the power plays they faced this season. It's part of their overall defensive structure, which helped them finish 10th in the League in goals against per game (2.80). They say defense wins championships, and after several close calls, Carolina is ready to prove that true.

Colorado Avalanche -- Firepower, firepower and more firepower. Center Nathan MacKinnon finished the regular season with 116 points (32 goals, 84 assists) and nearly went wire to wire before being nosed out by Tampa Bay Lightning forward Nikita Kucherov for the Art Ross Trophy, awarded to the top scorer in the NHL. Cale Makar had 92 points (30 goals, 62 assists), the most among League defensemen. MacKinnon, Makar and forwards Artturi Lehkonen and Valeri Nichushkin each had more than 20 goals, and forward Martin Necas had 28 points (11 goals, 17 assists) in 30 games after arriving in a trade with the Hurricanes. The Avalanche are ready to outscore their mistakes.

Dallas Stars -- Structure. Even without top defenseman Miro Heiskanen, a long shot to play in the first round because of a knee injury, the Stars played a playoff-style game during the regular season. When they grab a lead, they are loathe to let it go, winning 35 of the 41 games they have led after two periods this season, and 12 of the 16 games that were tied after two.

Edmonton Oilers -- Rinse and repeat. The Oilers were one win from capturing the Stanley Cup last season, losing to the Panthers in seven games. They did it on the backs of four players, who were also the top four scorers during the 2024 Stanley Cup Playoffs: Center Connor McDavid had 42 points (eight goals, 34 assists), defenseman Evan Bouchard 32 points (six goals, 26 assists), center Leon Draisaitl 31 points (10 goals, 21 assists) and forward Zach Hyman 22 points (16 goals, six assists) during the Oilers’ 25-game postseason run. Each is back this season and ready to lead another charge.

Florida Panthers -- They know the way to the promised land and are built for the journey. The Panthers have been on the ice in the last game of the playoffs each of the past two seasons, losing in the Final to the Golden Knights in 2023 and defeating the Oilers in Game 7 last season. Players like forwards Matthew Tkachuk and Sam Bennett and a new addition, forward Brad Marchand, are made for the playoffs, and goalie Sergei Bobrovsky knows he can win the big game. That's a dangerous combination for the rest of the League.

Montreal Canadiens -- The ghosts of the past. Montreal is the League’s most storied franchise, having won the Stanley Cup a record 24 times. But it hasn’t won since 1993 and hasn’t been in the field in any of the past three seasons. The Canadiens are there now because their young players -- defenseman Lane Hutson and forwards Cole Caufield, Nick Suzuki and Juraj Slafkovsky -- are maturing at the same time. This team is too young and inexperienced to understand the odds against it. Ignorance is bliss.

Los Angeles Kings -- Their time is now. If they can get over the first-round hurdle of the Oilers, who have tripped them up each of the past three seasons, they could conceivably become a team of destiny. They have an elite goalie in Darcy Kuemper, a tried-and-true defense led by Drew Doughty, who is rounding into form after an extended injury absence, and a fleet of capable two-way forwards, led by two-time Cup winner Anze Kopitar.

Minnesota Wild -- Flower time in the spring. Look, we know Filip Gustavsson is the No. 1 guy in Minnesota and if veteran backup Marc-Andre Fleury plays it could mean the Wild are in trouble, but what a storybook ending it would be for the man they call "Flower" to end his career skating around with the Stanley Cup. If you don’t think that isn’t a motivating factor for the Wild, you have no idea of the impact Fleury has on this team. Do it for Flower!

New Jersey Devils -- They’re special. The Devils finished the regular season second on the penalty kill (82.7 percent) and third on the power play (28.2 percent). Sure, the power play isn’t as dynamic since center Jack Hughes left the lineup with a season-ending injury on March 2, but the recent return of defenseman Dougie Hamilton (15 power-play points in 65 games), who quarterbacks the man-advantage, could be a boon there.

Ottawa Senators -- Youthful exuberance. The Senators have grown up together and taken their fair share of smackdowns. Now, their young core is ready to go toe-to-toe with the League’s best teams. What they don’t know can’t scare them. Captain Brady Tkachuk, 25, is the leader of this merry band and he is made for the postseason. He is joined by forwards Tim Stutzle, 23, Drake Batherson, 26, Shane Pinto, 24 and Ridly Greig, 22. That’s five of their top eight point producers right there. They will have to come of age quickly, and it says here they will.

St. Louis Blues -- Jordan Binnington. What more do you need? He’s a big-game goalie. He proved it in 2019 when he took the Blues on a wildly unexpected ride through the playoffs that ended with a Game 7 win in the Final against the Boston Bruins at TD Garden, when he allowed one goal on 33 shots. He proved it again on the same ice surface this season at the 4 Nations Face-Off, holding the fort until Canada won in OT. Do you want to bet against him now? We don’t.

Toronto Maple Leafs -- It’s time. How much more suffering can this fanbase take? The Maple Leafs are different this time, under Cup-winning coach Craig Berube. They are more solid defensively and more north-south on offense. It’s not only the fan base that has suffered; the players have, too. They are ready to put their disappointments in the past and party like it's 1967, the last time Toronto won the Stanley Cup.

Tampa Bay Lightning -- Hey, hey, look who's back! It’s a healthy Andrei Vasilevskiy, the goalie who backstopped Tampa Bay to the Final three straight times (2020-22), winning twice. Vasilevskiy has returned to top form; the only goalie better than him this season was Connor Hellebuyck of the Winnipeg Jets, and it was closer than many want to admit. Trust us, no team wants to see this version of the Tampa Bay goalie across from them this postseason.

Vegas Golden Knights -- Have you seen Jack Eichel play this season? He is a man possessed. He is healthy, he is confident, he is dominant. The center should be in the running for the title as the game’s best two-way player. What does that mean? It means he is capable of taking over a series and capable of turning the opposition's best center into a non-factor. It means he -- and the Golden Knights – are primed to win their second title in three seasons.

Washington Capitals -- They were the best team in the Eastern Conference by a fair margin and, in captain Alex Ovechkin, have the best goal-scorer in the history of the game. Ovechkin has 897 goals in his NHL career, passing Wayne Gretzky on April 6 to become the all-time record holder. He had 44 goals in 65 games this season and his one-timer can turn around a game and a series.

Winnipeg Jets -- They are simply the best and their first-round exit to the Avalanche last season will fuel a takeoff this season, just as the Lightning's first-round loss to the Columbus Blue Jackets in 2019 laid the foundation for a Cup party the following spring. The Jets have Hellebuyck, the best goalie in the League. They have good special teams, they don’t surrender leads and they are deep, maybe as deep as any team in the NHL. Expect white-out conditions in Winnipeg through late June.