Last Updated on October 8, 2025 6:48 am by admin
As the 2025/26 NHL season fast approaches, history is within Florida’s grasp. After claiming a second straight Stanley Cup last season, once again defeating Connor McDavid and the Edmonton Oilers in the Finals, the Panthers head into the new campaign with the opportunity to complete the first three-peat since the days of Wayne Gretzky and his Islanders dynasty way back in the 1980s. And if the NHL betting odds are anything to go by, the Cats may very well do it.
One can place a bet on NHL at Bovada, and the American betting giant currently makes the reigning champions a +950 contender for the championship next term. However, that isn’t good enough for top billing, with their back-to-back beaten foe Edmonton Oilers, and the Colorado Avalanche currently considered the +750 joint favorites. But beneath the South Florida sizzle, another narrative pulses through the league: four embattled squads, battered by last year’s setbacks, plotting revolutions behind closed doors. If you’re going to bet on NHL games, don’t dismiss these teams.
Does the NHL ever deliver the script fans expect? All it takes is one unlikely rise—a bounce here, a breakout there—for sleepers to storm the league and rattle Vegas’s most seasoned oddsmakers. Let’s take a look at the four most likely status quo disrupters in 2025/26.
Devils
Pain fuels purpose in Newark. The 2024-25 Devils were expected to surf a youth movement deep into May, but they never found their rhythm. 91 points and a first-round fizzle at the hands of Carolina was ultimately the best they could muster up as inconsistent goaltending slammed the brakes on one of hockey’s fastest rosters.
The front office reacted not with panic, but precision. Erik Haula, whose $3 million contract brought too little return, shipped out. Connor Brown—unyielding, unflashy, and clever in puck battles—lands in the bottom six. But the real pivot? Stability in goal. Jake Allen, the perennial 1B, gets the 1A workload; Brett Pesce arrives to bail water from a leaky blue line that bled chances all spring.
For all their growing pains, the Devils finished with a 52.2% expected goals share at five-on-five. The offensive spine is elite: Jack Hughes and Nico Hischier can torch defenses in transition. But last year, they allowed 3.06 goals per 60 minutes at even strength—too much for any contender.
Can Allen and Pesce flip the equation? If so, the team could surge from dark horse to juggernaut, and in the postseason, speed kills. At +1800, the Devils are the league’s live wires.
Maple Leafs
Toronto’s 108 points in 2024-25 once again set the table for hope—and a second-round collapse to Florida detonated it. Every winter, the city’s optimism feels invincible; every spring, defeat is as routine as snow on Yonge Street. So, finally, the Maple Leafs stopped asking politely and performed hockey’s version of radical surgery.
The Mitch Marner era in The Six is over. Management shipped the franchise pillar to Vegas, sacrificing comfort for cap space and altering the DNA of the Core Four. In return: Nicolas Roy, acutely aware of his checking-line assignments and playoff gear; Matias Maccelli, a possession magician; Dakota Joshua, bringing northwest-style sandpaper to Ontario ice. Defensive depth was addressed with Henry Thrun, a cerebral puck-mover, while Matthew Knies re-ups to remain Toronto’s future power winger.
The obvious question: Does anything matter if Auston Matthews isn’t playing hero? With 62 goals, he’s the gravitational center. But Toronto needed more: their bottom six accounted for just 28% of total offense. This year, the Leafs have bet on balance. If the new faces deliver, every line becomes a threat.
+2000 is an awkward number for a franchise burdened with ghosts. For once, the only story that counts is the one they’ll write after April.
Rangers
No script ran colder than this team’s in 2024-25: 85 meager points after claiming the President’s Trophy the year before, a season drowned by injuries and the existential dread of expectations unmet. Broadcasters in MSG squirmed through March, as the Rangers’ traditional blend of star power and blue-collar depth unraveled simultaneously.
The fix: Mike Sullivan. After years of hearing about “Ranger culture,” the front office imported a coach whose reputation is built on structure, accountability, and playoff scars earned—not inherited. Alongside him, Joe Sacco crafts a penalty kill strategy, Vladislav Gavrikov shores up the bottom pairs, and cap space freed by trading Chris Kreider resets the clock.
Artemi Panarin (88 points last season) may be hockey’s slipperiest playmaker; Igor Shesterkin, with a career .923 save percentage when it matters, never blinks in the spotlight. But in 2024-25, the Rangers surrendered 3.05 goals against per game, up from 2.47 a season prior. If Sullivan inspires renewed discipline—and the injury bug relents—the Rangers could flip the tables. At +3000, this is the season’s wildest swing.
Kings
Frustration hangs heavy in LA, where the Kings, after a promising 92-point effort, found themselves evaporated by Edmonton in six games for the fourth straight postseason. For GM Ken Holland, brought over from Oilers country with a mandate for change, this offseason was a crucible.
Corey Perry joins for his rings… and his reputation as hockey’s ultimate pest. Warren Foegele, too often underrated, provides two-way value, and Joel Edmundson adds blue line snarl. But keep watch on Quinton Byfield, whose leap from promising to indispensable is the axis of LA’s future.
Special teams lagged last year—mid-league in both PP and PK. Perhaps more damningly, the Kings surrendered 12 losses when leading after two periods—a symptom of late-game fragility.
Anze Kopitar still leads by deed and word, but the supporting cast is younger, hungrier, and tougher. At +2800, the room for error is gone—but so, too, is any trace of comfort.