The 2025 Stanley Cup Playoffs have been staggeringly good, and now we’re down to the final four. Dreams of a Canadian team finally winning the cup took a massive hit in the second round with both the Jets and Leafs falling, leaving everything to the Edmonton Oilers, who have been largely overlooked for much of the postseason.
This postseason I’ve run predictions for the first round, and the second round — with an overall record of 10-2, incorrectly doubting Edmonton in both series. Will that change now we’re in the Conference Finals?
Florida Panthers vs. Carolina Panthers
The Florida Panthers are who we thought they were — mostly. The reigning Stanley Cup Champions are very similar to the team that won it all a year ago, pairing a brutal forecheck with solid defense, they love to grind out games and force teams to play at their pace, before eventually drowning them.
The trade deadline addition of Brad Marchand has been absolutely fantastic for Florida. Marchand gave the team a much-needed veteran presence on their third line, and his leadership has really allowed Eetu Luostarinen to shine these playoffs, leading the team with 12 points (along with Marchand).
If there’s something to be a little concerned for with Florida it’s goaltending, which is wild considering Sergei Bobrovsky was the hero of the 2024 Cup team. Bob simply hasn’t been as reliable in the net these playoffs, with a save percentage of .901, allowing 2.31 goals-per-game, and having a below-average 50% of quality starts. These margins have been good enough to get past the Lightning and Maple Leafs in back-to-back series, but they now face a very different challenge.
There’s something to be said about getting hot at the right time, but the Carolina Hurricanes have been preposterous these playoffs. Entering the postseason as a middling team with major concerns in net and on the powerplay, it felt once again like the Canes were destined for another postseason flame out. Instead we’ve seen everything come together for Rod Brind-A’mour’s team, which is playing its best hockey at the most important time.
A lot of this has to do with Andrei Svechnikov. Always a talented player, Svech has often lacked that killer instinct to take his game from the realm of “very good” and turn it into “great.” This year that has changed. Carolina’s most important goal scorer of the playoffs, Svechnikov has eight goals so far in the playoffs and has routinely come through for the team when it needed it the most.
Capitals coach Spencer Carbery called Carolina “the easiest to scout team in the playoffs,” and he’s not wrong. Everyone in hockey knows exactly what the Hurricanes want to do, but stopping it has been damn-near impossible. This team’s ludicrous forecheck pressure is designed to shrink the ice and stop any offense before it begins. From here they love to grind out their opponents with a flurry of shots, relishing in making the game ugly. It’s not pretty hockey, but it’s ruthlessly effective and thus far nobody has found an answer to it after back-to-back 4-1 series wins against New Jersey and Washington.
In the past this tactic hasn’t worked in the playoffs, but this year everything has come together. Out-shooting their opponents 332-240 in the postseason, the Canes have simply worn out their opponents while simultaneously removing their best player from the equation. We saw with Alex Ovechkin in the Capital series, where he was only allowed one goal on 14 shot attempts, after scoring four on 19 attempts in the opening round.
This is all backed up by the jaw-dropping work of Freddie Andersen in goal for the Canes. A routinely reliable but unremarkable goaltender, Andersen has hit a new gear these playoffs allowing an NHL-leading 1.36 goals per game, with a playoff-best .937 save percentage. Literally everything is breaking Carolina’s way at the right time, and they are the toughest team in the playoffs by a significant margin.
Prediction: Carolina Hurricanes win the Eastern Conference Final, 4-2
Edmonton Oilers vs. Dallas Stars
You couldn’t find a bigger stylistic difference between the Eastern and Western Conference Finals if you tried. While the Panthers and Hurricanes will grind things out in a brutal, physical series of deep lines and ugly goals, both the Oilers and Stars play extremely pretty hockey led by the most pronounced star power in the NHL.
Connor McDavid is desperate to win a Stanley Cup, and the Ontario native would do anything to break the Canadian hockey drought to bring the trophy up north. McDavid has been simply ridiculous this postseason with 17 points and a playoff-leading 14 assists. He is a force multiplier, like all the greatest athletes regardless of sport. McDavid lifts the play of everyone around him and is unselfish enough to let his teammates have the goal-scoring glory while teams focus their attention on the ever-present threat of the puck coming off his stick.
Much like last year, this 2025 playoff team centers on the one-two punch of McDavid and Leon Draisaitl at center. However, this year Edmonton plays a little deeper and more diverse with its lines, leaning slightly less on its star power up front to put games away early. This has allowed for players like Evander Kane and Connor Brown to shine, giving a massive third line push that the Oilers were lacking a year ago.
Edmonton’s weak point, much as it was last year, is in net. Neither Calvin Pickard nor Stuart Skinner have proven themselves to be reliable goaltenders these playoffs, with Edmonton’s entire existence hinging on out-scoring their opponents and hoping its defense can prevent shots on net. That is going to be very difficult this series.
What can we say about the Dallas Stars other than “they’re terrifying.” This is a team that already had the potential to make a deep playoff run prior to the trade deadline, but adding Mikko Rantanen has been a true difference maker. There were major concerns early on that Rantanen’s lack of production would become endemic, but the towering Finn has truly turned the corner in the last handful of games to become the most dominant skater of the playoffs.
Rantanen has an NHL-leading 19 points on 9 goals and 10 assists, being everything this team was lacking up front and why they made the bold move to trade for the wing, then extending him on one of the biggest contracts in the NHL. Even more importantly than Rantanen’s production is how his dominance has allowed coach Peter DeBoer to play with the Stars’ lines, more or less putting Rantanen on an island on the top line, while Matt Duchene, Jason Robertson, and Wyatt Johnson have fallen back to give star power depth few teams in these playoffs can match.
The tricky part with the Stars is both isolating where they’re weak, and also how they’ve struggled. A brutal seven game series against the Avalanche in the opening round was to be expected, but at times Dallas let its concentration lapse against Winnipeg which resulted in that series going to seven as well. This team is so dominant on paper than the box scores haven’t always matched up in a way that makes sense. Part of that is simply youth and consistency, but it’s enough to pause and wonder why this organization isn’t simply dominating opponents the way we’d expect.
Prediction: Dallas Stars win the Western Conference Finals, 4-3
