The NHL regular season will pause for a week as the hockey world turns its attention to the 2025 4 Nations Face-Off. This replacement event for the All-Star Game will see NHL players forming teams to represent the world’s top hockey nations: Canada, Finland, Sweden and USA. They’ll compete in a round-robin tournament that will lead to a final between the top two nations.
Montreal (Bell Centre) and Boston (TD Garden) are the host cities for the event that’s scheduled between February 12 and 20.
The players who aren’t involved will get a breather and a chance to work through injuries. The Ottawa Senators and Colorado Avalanche will benefit from the break; both teams are in the thick of the wild card hunt for their respective conferences and have several players dealing with injury.
With no regular season games this week, we’ll instead focus on the ultimate prize: the Stanley Cup. The following five teams are the top favourites to finish the postseason in Stanley Cup glory.
Edmonton Oilers: +500
After reaching the Stanley Cup Finals last year, the Oilers are poised for another deep playoff run and potentially a Cup if the stars align. Having Leon Draisaitl and Connor McDavid (No. 2 and No. 4 league-wide in points) in the Top Six will always give the Oilers a fighting chance at the Cup. After starting the season in similar fashion as the year prior, they once again found their groove mid-November, though no coaching change was needed this time around.
Edmonton’s offence is highly productive, but their defence is strong too, ranking No. 8 in the league. Darnell Nurse (4 goals, 18 assists) has rebounded after regressing last season, and Mattias Ekholm (7 goals, 17 assists) and Evan Bouchard (9 goals, 35 assists) have maintained their consistent play.
General manager Stan Bowmen stated that he’ll potentially be on the lookout for depth players as the trade deadline looms. Whether or not Evander Kane will be back from surgery when it matters most is unknown at this time.
Carolina Hurricanes: +650
The ‘Canes are second in the Metropolitan Division with a respectable +30 goal differential. They have a sixth-ranked offence and defence, and will be looking to improve on their second-round exit at last year’s playoffs.
Trading for Mikko Rantanen in January showed their desire to go for it all this year. They’ve been a playoff contender in the last six seasons, going as far as the Conference Finals on two occasions.
Although offensive depth could be improved, they really did need an elite goal scorer. Fans are eagerly waiting to see how Rantanen adjusts to Carolina. The star forward has been slow to start with just two points in six games and has looked frustrated on the ice. The coach has tried a few different line combinations, including Seth Jarvis, Sebastian Aho and Mikko Rantanen, but none have created the spark he was hoping for. They may just need a little time and patience, which they’ll get this week.
Dallas Stars: +850
The Stars have been a consistent top pick on the Stanley Cup futures market for a few years now, and this may be the year they go all the way. With Joe Pavelski retired and Jamie Benn in the twilight of his career, this team is mostly full of young players.
Sitting second in the Central Division, Dallas has continued to boast a strong defence this season. Their 2.51 goals-against average is fourth in the league and supported by netminder Jake Oettinger (2.35 GAA, .911 SV%), who’s having one of his best seasons to date, and 23-year-old blueliner Thomas Harley. Their penalty kill (85%) is second in the league.
Fans are still hopeful that Tyler Seguin will return in time for the postseason. The centreman underwent surgery in December and was given a four-to-six month return window. In a strategic move, GM Jim Nill put Seguin on long-term IR to free up some cap space and acquired Mikael Granlund from the San Jose Sharks.
Florida Panthers: +850
The defending Stanley Cup champions are +850 to repeat and have much of the same roster as last season, with the exceptions of Oliver Ekman-Larsson, Vladimir Tarasenko and Brandon Montour. They’re at the top of the Atlantic Division with a +27 goal differential.
Propelling Florida’s fifth-ranked offence is centreman Sam Reinhart, who’s having another stellar season. His 31 goals thus far is tied for third in the league, and his shooting percentage is 20.8%, just a shade behind the 24.5% he finished with last season. Reinhart and Aleksander Barkov (14 goals, 38 assists) make up a threatening first line, along with Carter Verghaeghe (15 goals, 28 assists).
But there’s plenty of offensive depth behind them. Matthew Tkachuk (22 goals, 35 assists) and Anton Lundell (13 goals, 23 assists) are on the second and third lines respectively, and carry the offensive momentum beyond the top line.
At the other end of the ice, their top defensive pairing consists of Gustav Forsling, who continues to shine with an impressive +30 plus/minus this season, and Aaron Ekblad. Behind them, veteran netminder Sergei Bobrovsky defies age and has racked up 24 wins so far; he’s gone 5-1 in the six games before the break and continues to remind fans why he’s a two-time Vezina winner.
Toronto Maple Leafs: +1100
Sitting second in the Atlantic with a +13 goal differential, the Leafs have a golden opportunity to rack up wins from here on out. According to “Tankathon,” the Leafs’ remaining schedule is the easiest out of all 32 teams based on the points percentage of their opponents. If they finish first in the Atlantic, they’d likely benefit from some home ice advantage. This has been an excellent season for Mitch Marner and William Nylander. Marner is tied for fourth in the league in points (71), while his linemate is second in goals (33). With Anthony Stolarz (2.08 GAA, .929 SV%) and Joseph Woll (2.65 GAA, .909 SA%) in net, they’re in good shape to get over their playoff hump.