The Olympic Break is now over, and teams have begun playing regular play again. As the hockey world is still coming down from the excitement that the 2026 Winter Games provided, there are plenty of exciting storylines to follow in the NHL leading into the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

Who Gets Moved?

As the March 6 Trade Deadline approaches, teams need to decide whether or not they are buyers or sellers. We already saw former Rangers star forward Artemi Panarin dealt to the Los Angeles Kings before the league went on pause, but there are still quite a few names that would be excellent additions for teams making a push.

Nazem Kadri seems to be the biggest name on the trade block, as the Calgary Flames are outside the playoffs and showed their commitment to the future by trading defenceman Rasmus Andersson to the Vegas Golden Knights for a package headlined by draft picks. Kadri, who won the Stanley Cup in 2022 with the Colorado Avalanche is a proven playoff performer would instantly improve the offense and depth down the middle of whatever team he should join. He has a cap hit of $7M and is under contract for two more seasons beyond 2025-26.

Dougie Hamilton is another big name that will be mentioned in rumours in the coming days. He does still have one more season on his $9M AAV deal after this season, so the Devils may opt to hold onto him in hopes of next season going their way more than this one has. However, this season is a lost cause for New Jersey, unless they go on a heater, they have fallen out of the playoff race and sit at 15th in the Eastern Conference. They have already paid Luke Hughes, and 2022 2nd overall pick Simon Nemec has seen his role expand over the course of the season, so they may want to clear a way for even more ice time for their two young D men, and move on from Dougie.

Three veteran two-way centermen that could be on the move include Vincent Trocheck, Brayden Schenn, and Ryan O’Reilly. While Trocheck is the most likely to be moved, as the Rangers have stated they are entering a retool/rebuild, the other two could surely find themselves on a different team after the deadline. Schenn is the St. Louis Blues captain, so there may be some emotional reasons for keeping him a Blue. Nashville is only two points outside the playoffs in the West, and have reason to believe they have as good a shot as anyone in the mix. Should they make a late season push, O’Reilly would be a part of that, but they could think towards the future and move the former Conn Smythe Trophy winner as he is a pending UFA.

As always, there are plenty of complimentary pieces to keep an eye on as well. Pending UFAs on non playoff teams that are likely to get traded include: Evander Kane, Justin Faulk, Blake Coleman, and Tyler Myers. If anyone needs a goalie, Jordan Binnington is a proven big game performer and also fits the criteria of pending free agent on a non playoff team.

A Pantherless Playoffs?

As of today, the two-time reigning Stanley Cup Champions find themselves 8 points behind the second wild card position in the East. The Florida Panthers have not been themselves this year, allowing the 8th most goals in the league, and struggling to win in bunches, hovering around this spot all year.

When it was announced that their captain Aleksander Barkov would miss the year following a preseason injury, a step back was expected, but no one would have predicted them to miss the playoffs outright. Other injuries have plagued the team as well over the 2025-26 season, with Tkachuk, Marchand, Jones, and others missing time.

It doesn’t help that Sergei Bobrovsky is having the worst statistical season of his future Hall of Fame career. Posting an abysmal .874 SV% and 3.08 GAA. The 37 year old has played a lot of hockey over the last four years, and it is showing in his play. They certainly miss Spencer Knight right now as he has been superb in his first full season in Chicago.

If the Cats are able to sneak into the playoffs, they would surely be a favourite to win the East for a fourth straight season, and have a chance to be the first team to three-peat since the Islanders dynasty that won four in a row in the early 1980s. 

The Scoring Race

I wrote an article a month ago about how the Art Ross Trophy was a two man race between McDavid and MacKinnon. I mentioned how Kucherov was within striking distance but still reasonably behind the other two. Little did I know Kucherov was going to have a 12 game point streak (still ongoing) in which he racked up 28 points over that stretch.

Kucherov is now tied with MacKinnon with 95 points, and 5 points behind McDavid at 100 (side note: crazy that Jamie Benn won the Art Ross with 87 points in 2014-15). While he is still behind, the Lightning have three games in hand on the Oilers, so Kucherov has 3 games to make up a 5 point gap. In fact, the Russian superstar is now the odds-on favourite by some sportsbooks, as they are confident he will continue his scorching pace.

The two Canadian superstars will be motivated by their silver medals at the Olympics, while Nikita will be motivated by his country not being at the Olympics at all. It is certainly going to be an exciting race to the finish line between the three.

Will Anyone Catch the Avalanche?

Through the early season, the 2025-26 Colorado Avalanche were on record pace, as they only had one regulation loss through their first 26 games. They have slowed down a fair bit in the new year, although still atop the league standings.

To put it into perspective, breaking the NHL regular season points record is off the table, as the Avalanche would need to go 25-0-0 to finish the year to even tie the Bruins record 135 points. Showing how impressive (minus the playoffs) that year was in Boston.

The Presidents’ Trophy looked like a lock as well, but now the Avs are only 5 points ahead of the second place Lightning. They might not even win their division, as with a loss to the Minnesota Wild last night, the Wild are 5 points back as well. Dallas isn’t far behind either, only 6 points separate them. The Central division is sure to generate some very exciting playoff hockey through the first two rounds. Even though it doesn’t look like this every season, the fact that the Stars are third in the Central Division, yet 9 points above the Pacific leader Golden Knights, makes a really good case for the league to consider going back to the 1-8 format.

While they definitely aren’t losing on purpose, there is something to be said about avoiding the Presidents’ Trophy, as the curse is real. It’s been 13 years since the winner went on to win the Stanley Cup, when Chicago did just that in 2013.

Missing Sid

The Pittsburgh Penguins were not expected to be second in the Metro this late in the season given their outlook before the season. Many thought it could be the season where they finally blew it up. Instead, they have been one of the surprise teams of the season, and one of the hottest teams going into the Olympics, with a 7-1-2 record in their final 10 games before the break.

At the Winter Games, the hockey world winced as Sidney Crosby was shaken up and exited the game in the Quarterfinals against Czechia. Not only was it extremely unfortunate for Team Canada to lose their captain for the final two games, the Penguins will now be without their captain for a minimum of four weeks with a lower body injury.

It is a pivotal point in the season, and the Penguins are not a lock for the postseason. They’re 5 points ahead of the fourth place team in their division, the Washington Capitals, and 7 points ahead of the fifth place Blue Jackets. With the strength of the Atlantic Division, it seems more likely that any of those three teams will finish top three in the Metro, than being a Wild Card team in the East.

Pittsburgh won their first game without Crosby, with a 4-1 victory over the New Jersey Devils last night. But the road ahead is long and challenging. They may choose to get some reinforcements at the deadline to help lessen the blow of losing their captain. Although Dubas has been pretty focused on building for the future, and may even look at the injury as a reason to be soft sellers.

It has been an enjoyable regular season thus far, and now things get even more interesting as we head towards the final push. I look forward to covering the NHL down the stretch through the trade deadline, playoff push, and Stanley Cup Playoffs.