𝓤𝓷𝓲𝓽𝓮𝓭 𝓝𝓮𝔀𝓼

The Vegas Golden Knights will make a coaching change in the middle of the 2026 Stanley Cup playoffs.

The Buffalo Sabres will reach the Eastern Conference final.

The Minnesota Wild advance past the first round for the first time since 2015.

Those were among the responses The Athletic got this week when it asked its hockey staff for bold predictions for the postseason.

Here are some prognostications from writers, with puck drop on playoff hockey just hours away.

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Pittsburgh Penguins

They will reach the second round

The Penguins get the best draw of anyone in the East. With all due respect to the Flyers, the Penguins are the better team on paper. And the Penguins are getting a better draw than the Hurricanes, who won the Metropolitan Division. Carolina could easily lose its first-round matchup, which actually gives the Penguins a real chance to reach the Eastern Conference final. They had a 9 percent chance to reach the postseason in Vegas sports books in October and have become quite a story. — Josh Yohe

Philadelphia Flyers

Matvei Michkov will lead the team in scoring

Michkov regressed this season. After 26 goals and 63 points in his rookie year, he managed just 20 goals and 51 points in 2025-26. But coming out of the Olympic break, which he used to get in some much-needed conditioning work and training, Michkov was one of the Flyers’ most effective wingers down the stretch. He scored huge goals in key wins over Winnipeg and Carolina, suggesting he has a knack for rising to the occasion. — Kevin Kurz

Ottawa Senators

They will advance to the Eastern Conference final

The Senators turned their season around with a strong second half propelled by improvements in goaltending and penalty killing. But their general structure of strong defensive work and pouncing on offensive chances has been their bread and butter all year long. It’s a playoff-ready style that can take some teams by surprise this year, and it could lead to them winning a round or more. — Julian McKenzie

Carolina Hurricanes

They will reach the Stanley Cup Final

The Hurricanes have been criticized for not reaching the Stanley Cup Final, but this is their best team since Rod Brind’Amour took over as coach. The Hurricanes will be clear favorites in the opening round and again in Round 2 should they advance. The path on the other half of the Eastern Conference bracket is harsher. If Carolina can make quick work of its opponents in the first two rounds, it will set itself up to be ready to get past the conference final. — Cory Lavalette

Boston Bruins

James Hagens will make an offensive impact

Hagens had an assist in his NHL debut against the Blue Jackets. It was a good warmup for what is to come. The 19-year-old is in the running to be the No. 3 left wing for Game 1 because of his speed, skill, puck-moving ability and awareness. There are more goals and assists coming in the playoffs for the No. 7 pick from 2025. — Fluto Shinzawa

Buffalo Sabres

They will go to the Eastern Conference final

By winning the Atlantic Division, the Sabres have set themselves up to keep their feel-good story going deep into the playoffs. The Bruins won’t be an easy out, but if the Sabres survive that series, they will get the winner of a Lightning-Canadiens series that is going to be grueling and physical. It’s bold to predict a playoff newcomer to win two rounds, but the Sabres have the path and the roster to do it. — Matthew Fairburn

Tampa Bay Lightning

Andrei Vasilevskiy will return to playoff form

It may not sound bold, knowing Vasilevskiy’s reputation in the Lightning’s three straight trips to the Stanley Cup Final. But the reality is, he hasn’t lived up to that name in the last three postseasons. It doesn’t fall fully on his shoulders, but the pressure is on for him to find his form and be a postseason game breaker again. — Shayna Goldman

Montreal Canadiens

Jakub Dobeš will record a first-round shutout

It is bold because Dobeš is facing the Lightning. But it could happen because Dobeš allowed a single goal to the Lightning twice in a span of 10 days in a pair of Canadiens wins against their future first-round opponent. Making one extra save is in him. From the trade deadline through the end of the season, Dobeš led the NHL in goals saved above expected, according to Hockey Stats. Only Nashville’s Justus Annunen was even close. — Arpon Basu

Minnesota Wild

They will advance to the second round for the first time since 2015

This is the best team in Wild history and hardly the same one Dallas faced in 2023. First, there are the three legit superstars in Kirill Kaprizov, Matt Boldy and Quinn Hughes. Kaprizov played hurt in 2023, Boldy wasn’t a star yet, and Hughes wasn’t in Minnesota. Plus, Joel Eriksson Ek essentially missed the series, Ryan Hartman had a knee injury, and Brock Faber was a third-pair defenseman fresh off college ice. This is now a skilled, deep team that can get goals from three lines and beat teams up in the bottom six. — Michael Russo

Dallas Stars

Jason Robertson will have more than one multi-goal game against the Wild

Robertson has just three multi-goal games in 56 career playoff games, but he’s found another gear this season. And he surely will be extra motivated to send Minnesota general manager Bill Guerin home early after being left off Team USA’s Olympic roster. Can he match Mikko Rantanen’s spectacular first-round performance against Colorado last spring? He might need to (or at least come close) in the toughest early matchup of the postseason. — Mark Lazerus

Edmonton Oilers

Their secondary scoring shows up

This exercise might be tougher for the Oilers than any other team. Would anyone be surprised if Connor McDavid and a soon-to-be-available Leon Draisaitl dragged them for two, three or four rounds? Nope. Would anyone be surprised if they self-destructed in the first round against Anaheim, their recent run of solid defensive play notwithstanding? Nope. How about this: Their second layer — Matt Savoie, Vasily Podkolzin — comes up with some big, necessary goals to win them a series. It’s bold, but it shouldn’t be. — Sean Gentille

Anaheim Ducks

They will upset the Oilers

Is this bold enough? Let’s just say the Oilers better not let it happen and have Connor McDavid start questioning whether they’ll ever win it all. The Ducks can’t defend consistently, and their shaky penalty kill against a prolific Edmonton power play isn’t a good match. But there will be plenty of goals in this series, and Lukáš Dostál has big-game ability even if he’s had a so-so season. Anaheim can score and is no longer intimidated by Edmonton’s high-paced game. If Dostál outplays Connor Ingram, who knows? — Eric Stephens

Vegas Golden Knights

They will make a coaching change in the middle of the playoffs

I don’t believe this has ever happened, but these are supposed to be bold, right? Vegas fired Gerard Gallant after he took an expansion team to the Stanley Cup Final. It fired Pete DeBoer after he twice led the team to the final four of the playoffs. It fired its Cup-winning coach, Bruce Cassidy, with eight games left in the season. John Tortorella has sparked the team, but what if that magic wears off after a series or two? We’ve seen this organization make bolder moves in the past. — Jesse Granger

Utah Mammoth

Logan Cooley will break out as their best offensive driver

Clayton Keller has been Utah’s offensive engine and best player all season long. Cooley, in an injury-plagued season, is producing at a 65 points per 82 games pace, which is good, but not elite. With his elite speed and skill combination, however, I’m predicting Cooley will use the 2026 playoffs as a launching pad for his arrival as a true star player in this league. — Harman Dayal

Colorado Avalanche

They will win a Game 7

I don’t know which round, and I don’t know if it will lead to a championship, but I think this is the year the Avalanche will overcome their Game 7 losing streak. They’ve lost seven Game 7s in a row dating to the 2002 Western Conference final against Detroit. — Peter Baugh

Los Angeles Kings

They will give Anže Kopitar three more home games

There is bold and there is wacky. Wacky is thinking the Kings will pull off the mother of upsets against the team that could be the heavy Stanley Cup favorite as long as it gets past the Minnesota-Dallas winner in the second round. But bold is thinking the Kings will steal a couple of wins and make Colorado sweat a little. That would mean getting to a Game 6 in L.A., and if that means another send-off for the classy center in front of his appreciative fan base, that’s not a bad thing. — Eric Stephens