And then there were two.
The Stanley Cup Final is here and this year’s most dominant playoff teams will face off for the championship starting Tuesday.
The Carolina Hurricanes are back in the final for the first time since 2006 after rolling through the postseason with a remarkable 12-1 record. The Vegas Golden Knights, who surprisingly swept the Presidents’ Trophy-winning Colorado Avalanche in the Western Conference final, are in the final for the third time since joining the league in 2017.
Who will come out on top? The Athletic polled its NHL staff on their predictions for the series, plus who they think will take home the Conn Smythe Trophy for playoff MVP.
Here are the results and some of the reasons behind their picks:
Why the Hurricanes will win
Fluto Shinzawa (CAR in four): The Hurricanes have no weaknesses. They attack in wave after wave. There will be nowhere for Vegas to hide.
Corey Pronman (CAR in six): Carolina’s depth and blue line are better. Vegas’ top few forwards are better, but the Canes should be the better team at even strength.
Julian McKenzie (CAR in six): The Hurricanes have suffocated teams all playoff long with their defense. I expect them to do it again.
Scott Wheeler (CAR in six): I think the Canes are going to overwhelm the Golden Knights like they’ve overwhelmed virtually everyone all year. Top to bottom, they’ve played the best team game in the league this season and would make a fitting Cup winner for 2026-27. This is going to be the year they finally get it over the finish line.
Murat Ates (CAR in six): Vegas can counterpunch and protect the middle of the ice with the best of them, but I’m taking Carolina’s suffocating forecheck and its 12-1-0 playoff record thus far.
Arpon Basu (CAR in six): This will be a hard-fought series, but the consistent pace the Hurricanes are playing with up and down their lineup right now feels like it will make them a more difficult opponent as the series goes on.
Kevin Kurz (CAR in six): The Hurricanes are just on too much of a roll right now to pick against them, even if their path so far hasn’t exactly been a murderer’s row of opponents. This just feels like a team that’s due after so many seasons of coming up short. That their biggest question mark headed into the playoffs — their goaltending — has actually been a strength only makes me more confident they’ll close this thing out.
Joshua Kloke (CAR in six): I first started picking the Hurricanes to win it all every season since 2021. No reason to stop now.
Chris Johnston (CAR in six): The Canes are healthy, rested and relentless. Total Hockey. They’ve been a top team for years and have finally found the formula needed to get the job done.
Michael Russo (CAR in six): If not now for Carolina, when? The door swung open for the Canes the second Florida didn’t make the playoffs, and right now, they’re playing fast, flawless hockey up and down their lineup. Carolina had a ton of injuries this season, yet never got derailed the same way Florida, New Jersey and Toronto did. We wondered what they’d look like once they got healthy. Now we see: They’re a two-way wagon.
Mark Lazerus (CAR in six): Both goalies can fall apart at any moment, but the way their teams play in front of them, it might not matter much. Vegas is certainly better than any team Carolina has faced yet — strong down the middle, stout team defense, a top-tier PK — but we know Carolina won’t get too cute with the puck the way Colorado did, creating the shots and traffic the Avs didn’t. It’s finally Carolina’s time.
Dom Luszczyszyn (CAR in six): Vegas is a lot better than their record, especially with William Karlsson back in the fold. But this feels like Carolina’s moment with no holes on paper and a buzzsaw of a team that is putting proof to concept on their version of total possession hockey.
Aaron Portzline (CAR in seven): I’m way more confident in predicting that this will go seven games than I am predicting a winner. I won’t be even mildly surprised by either club winning, but I can’t see this series being over quickly. Vegas is big, heavy and resilient. So are the Canes, but they may have a touch more speed up and down their lineup. This should be a great matchup.
Josh Yohe (CAR in seven): It’s a 50/50 series, but I think Carolina’s team speed and relentless 200-foot attack will ultimately wear down the Golden Knights.
Shayna Goldman (CAR in seven): It’s really hard to pick against the Golden Knights after they completely took over play in the Western Conference final. And it’s not like the Hurricanes have been tested a ton through three rounds, either, so this could be a real wake-up call. But the Canes have adjusted well and are winning games in different ways, so it feels like they could take over as disruptor here.
Why the Golden Knights will win
Jesse Granger (VGK in six): Carolina has been the better team pretty much all season long, but the same was said for Colorado and we all saw how that ended. Vegas finds ways to win when it shouldn’t. The higher the stakes, the more comfortable the Golden Knights seem. They should have the goaltending advantage, which can overcome other deficiencies. I’ll take Vegas in six games, closing it out at home.
Sean McIndoe (VGK in six): We’re living in an era where the villains always win, and we might as well accept that.
Peter Baugh (VGK in seven): Vegas is peaking at the right time. Carolina is healthier than Colorado was, so I expect this to be a good series, but the Golden Knights’ mix of depth and star power is going to be tough to beat.
From the Hurricanes …
McKenzie (Hall): He’s played a massive part on the Canes’ most productive line in the playoffs. I think his big-game performances will continue in the Cup Final.
Ates (Hall): Jack Eichel and Mitch Marner will each have a great case, but not so good that you can ignore Hall’s torrid postseason for the Cup-winning team.
Shinzawa (Jarvis): Harvard alumni always do well in big games.
Basu (Stankoven): It’s hard not to go with goaltender Frederik Andersen, but Stankoven pivoting a line with Hall and Jackson Blake has made the Hurricanes even more of a matchup nightmare than they already were.
Kurz (Blake): Admittedly, Andersen is probably the frontrunner, but I’m sticking with the player I picked when the playoffs began and that elicited some jabs from a few colleagues (cough, Laz and Russo). Blake has been a key cog on that unstoppable line with Hall and Stankoven, is second on the Canes in scoring, and I think his fearless, gritty style will be vital against a team such as Vegas.
Johnston (Andersen): He is only the third goalie ever to start a postseason with a 12-1 record. There are several great Conn Smythe candidates in Carolina, but a solid performance in the final will push Andersen to the front of the line.
Michael Russo (Andersen): I know Montreal barely tested him, but Andersen has run through these playoffs with 20 goals allowed in 13 games and exorcised his previous playoff demons. A case can be made for Hall, Stankoven or Blake, but it’s also difficult to differentiate who is the MVP on that incredibly efficient line.
Lazerus (Hall): Andersen has been great, but I’m always waiting for the other shoe to drop with him. Hall has been a driving force on one of the best lines in the playoffs, and the lion in winter makes for a great story.
Yohe (Andersen): Carolina is such a balanced machine that it’s difficult to pick one skater for this award. Andersen’s not always the busiest goaltender, but he’s been flawless.
Goldman (Miller): With Vegas, I think the Conn Smythe pick is more obvious (Marner). But with Carolina, you could go two ways: Miller or Hall. With Hall, it’s tricky to isolate his impact versus the rest of his line. Miller has had enough standout moments, from his breakout passes to activate the Canes’ rush game to his clutch defensive saves. His two-way play has been such a difference-maker.
Luszczyszyn (Miller): A lot of great options on Carolina, but I have to give some credit to Miller, who has been a five-on-five beast for the Hurricanes. They’ve been utterly dominant in his minutes.
From the Golden Knights …
Baugh (Marner): He’s controlled play and been strong defensively, too.
Portzline (Marner): He is already a great story, but his excellent playoff performance with Vegas after unfairly eating most of the blame of Toronto’s postseason failures would be a delicious personal triumph. Toronto will be lucky if presumed No. 1 pick Gavin McKenna ever becomes Marner’s equal.
Granger (Hart): If the Golden Knights win, it‘s lining up to be a close race between Marner and Hart. They’ve clearly been the team’s two most valuable players to this point, and it will probably come down to which has a better Cup Final. With Carolina’s incredibly high shot volume, Hart’s stats will need to be stellar for Vegas to win. By that logic, I’ll predict he’s the eventual MVP.
McIndoe (Marner): I actually think there’s a slightly stronger case for Pavel Dorofeyev, who seems to score every big goal the Golden Knights need. Unfortunately for him, he doesn’t have the narrative that Marner does, and it’s starting to sound like the voters have already made up their minds that the redemption story is going to win out if Vegas wins, and maybe even if it doesn’t.
