Multiple Contributors
Mar 18, 2025, 07:30 AM ET
There is less than one month left in the 2024-25 NHL season but much remains to be determined:
Which teams will secure spots in the 2025 Stanley Cup playoffs?
Which team is under the most pressure in the final stretch?
Who will earn the Hart Trophy as league MVP?
And which two clubs will be squaring off in the Stanley Cup Final?
Read on as our ESPN hockey family debates those key questions.
Which team currently outside of the playoffs makes it?
Ryan S. Clark, NHL reporter: Let's go with the St. Louis Blues. Figuring out a defensive identity has been an issue the past few years. That's why they hired Jim Montgomery, and that led to improvement. Since they hired Montgomery in late November, the Blues are just outside the top 10 in fewest goals allowed, goals allowed per game and shots allowed per game. They have been one of the NHL's more consistent defensive teams in that time, and have won seven of their most recent 10 games.
Victoria Matiash, NHL analyst: Look out for the Utah Hockey Club. Riding a 9-4-2 record since Feb. 4, Utah hasn't lost two straight in regulation since Jan. 26. Outside of the crease -- Connor Ingram is out indefinitely after entering the NHL's player assistance program -- this is one of the healthiest teams in the NHL.
Clayton Keller is scoring, as usual. The second line duo of Dylan Guenther and Barrett Hayton is contributing. Utah's third line -- Jack McBain, Lawson Crouse, Josh Doan -- is proving tough to play against. Sean Durzi's long-awaited return bolsters the blue line in tangible fashion. If goaltender Karel Vejmelka can perform to near-optimal ability, this club has the wherewithal to sneak into that second wild-card spot in the West.
Arda Öcal, NHL broadcaster: Give me the Columbus Blue Jackets. They were in the second wild-card spot in the East, but after losing to the New York Rangers on Saturday, those two teams swapped places.
The East is a gauntlet and won't be decided until the last game. According to Stathletes, Columbus has the 10th-easiest schedule the rest of the way and fourth easiest in the East. The Jackets have a terrific 20-8-4 record at home, and play nine of their remaining games at Nationwide Arena. Plus a playoff berth would cap off an incredibly emotional season.
Kristen Shilton, NHL reporter: Let's go with the Montreal Canadiens. There's such spirit to that team, and the players radiate belief in themselves. It has been apparent in how the Canadiens are hitting a stride at this critical juncture. Cole Caufield and Patrik Laine have been especially strong leading the way on offense, and it has been encouraging to see the depth Montreal has exhibited.
GM Kent Hughes didn't make adjustments at the trade deadline. Clearly he too had faith in Montreal to be a playoff team without making additions. The Canadiens have a strong power play -- Laine is the point man there, too -- and their goaltending has improved. If Montreal can navigate a heavier schedule down the stretch -- including two more meetings with the Florida Panthers -- they can punch a postseason ticket.
Greg Wyshynski, NHL reporter: I predicted the Utah Hockey Club would make the playoffs before the season and I'll stick to that, because we're finally seeing what this team was supposed to look like. The Hockey Club is 6-3-2 since defenseman Sean Durzi returned to the lineup from injury. They missed him and John Marino for a majority of the season. Their returns have reset the Utah blue line, and the team's even-strength defense has been better for it: 1.50 goals against per game in its past 10 games, second only to the Winnipeg Jets and Carolina Hurricanes.
Utah is top 10 offensively at 5-on-5 in that stretch -- but if it's going to make the cut, it needs more from young star Logan Cooley, whose goal on March 16 ended a six-game scoreless streak. Utah will also have to ride Karel Vejmelka down the stretch, with the hopes that he continues his brilliant bounce-back season ... and that 25-year-old rookie Jaxson Stauber can produce the spot starts needed with Ingram in the player assistance program.
Which team is under the most pressure in the final month?
Clark: It's the Vancouver Canucks. The Canucks' journey to the second round last season raised questions. Namely, was this just one strong season, or could it be the start of something more substantial?
Reaching the playoffs for a consecutive season would at least establish that the Canucks can be a consistent postseason participant, which hasn't been the case in more than a decade. But missing the playoffs would only amplify the concerns about what happens going forward.
Matiash: The Edmonton Oilers need to get their collective act together before the postseason, or it's going to be a short ride against whomever they face (the Los Angeles Kings, probably) in the first round. And that's not going to cut it with the Edmonton faithful, never mind stars Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl.
While Draisaitl and McDavid have a combined 46 points since Jan. 30, the rest of the Oilers' forward corps has a total of 48. Everyone else needs to figure out how to effectively pitch in, and soon. Meanwhile, the Oilers have allowed a fifth-worst 3.41 goals-against per game over that same stretch, partly due to Stuart Skinner's sub-mediocre play. Riding a 7-9-1 record since the end of January, Kris Knoblauch's squad needs to fix all that ails it in a hurry.
Öcal: If the Rangers fail to make the postseason, after making the conference finals two out of the past three years, you have to wonder what kind of changes we will see in Manhattan over the summer. It has been a tumultuous season for the Blueshirts already, with so many things -- memos to 31 other teams, captain trades, Ilya Sorokin scoring a goalie goal before Igor Shesterkin -- for fans to point to as reasons why the club took a step backward.
0:37
Braden Schneider's OT beauty wins it for Rangers
Braden Schneider dangles through and scores a pretty backhand goal to lift the Rangers.
Shilton: The Toronto Maple Leafs have spiraled lately, and need to prove it's just a temporary glitch. The Leafs were riding high going into the 4 Nations Face-Off break but have stumbled badly against good teams since, with losses against the Vegas Golden Knights, Colorado Avalanche, Florida Panthers and Ottawa Senators.
Toronto's offense has stalled, the power play is sputtering and their goaltending -- a strength all season -- appears headed toward average (at best). Every team goes through rough patches, but this is a particularly poorly timed span of poor play by the Leafs. If it's nothing to worry about, they'd better start stringing some victories together before the postseason hits.
Wyshynski: The Detroit Red Wings. Teams fire coaches for a variety of reasons. For example, the Blues fired Drew Bannister because they're the NHL embodiment of the "guy looking at the other girl" meme when it came to Jim Montgomery's sudden availability. The Red Wings, meanwhile, fired Derek Lalonde and hired Todd McLellan for one explicit reason: to make the playoffs for the first time since 2016, ending the longest playoff drought in this Original Six franchise's history and offering a scintilla of credibility to GM Steve Yzerman's vision for their revival, a.k.a. "The Yzerplan."
But they've remained a wildly inconsistent team under McLellan, who briefly managed to turn their season around before a disastrous stretch in which the Wings won twice in 10 games around the 4 Nations tournament. There's still a chance that Cam Talbot and Petr Mrazek could drag their anemic offense to the playoffs. But there's a greater chance they miss again, leading to yet another offseason with more questions than answers
Name your Stanley Cup Finalists with one month left.
Clark: Dallas Stars vs. Carolina Hurricanes. Deep down in all of us lies pettiness and a Hurricanes-Stars Cup Final with Mikko Rantanen at the right wing of it all, providing a level of drama that just can't be manufactured.
Matiash: Winnipeg Jets vs. Florida Panthers. I'll take the league's stingiest defense and third-best offense, buttressed by the game's greatest netminder, against a Florida squad that appears even more dangerous than last year's Cup winners following the key acquisitions of Brad Marchand and Seth Jones. Why overthink it?
Öcal: Colorado Avalanche vs. Tampa Bay Lightning. A 2022 rematch isn't out of the realm of possibility. Both teams leveled up in key areas at the trade deadline. The Bolts picked up Yanni Gourde and Oliver Bjorkstrand and now the top nine is stacked. They still have one of the best goalies in the league in Andrei Vasilevskiy. Meanwhile, Colorado added Brock Nelson, Charlie Coyle, Erik Johnson, Ryan Lindgren and Jimmy Vesey. I like the needs the Avs addressed before the deadline, and they look legit.
Shilton: Dallas Stars vs. Washington Capitals. Before the season began, there was a zero percent chance I would have suggested Washington was in position to reach the 2025 Stanley Cup Final. The Capitals are just having a special season, and those are rare. All things being equal, Washington should be able to translate its regular-season success into a long playoff run.
As for Dallas -- it's just time. The Stars have been circling a Final date for too long not to get there. Mikko Rantanen is on board. Miro Heiskanen will be back. Dallas should be formidable in every respect. It's their moment to shine.
Wyshynski: Dallas Stars vs. Florida Panthers. The Stars were my Stanley Cup pick before the season. Assuming it's all-systems-go for their wounded players -- Heiskanen, especially -- I'm still on them to break through after consecutive trips to the conference finals. Give me Jake Oettinger, Roope Hintz and Wyatt Johnston in any series; most importantly, give me Rantanen with something to prove on a stage he has owned for the past several postseasons.
Originally, I had them playing the New Jersey Devils, but that's not happening without Jack Hughes. So give me the Panthers' third straight trip to the Stanley Cup Final. Their core is built for playoff glory. They have Playoff Bob. GM Bill Zito has done a nice job addressing depth concerns. And adding Brad Marchand to a team that already has Matthew Tkachuk and Sam Bennett is, ahem, a tactical advantage no other team can boast. Bring your earplugs.
Who's your pick for Hart Trophy right now?
Clark: Connor Hellebuyck. It has been exactly a decade since Carey Price was the last goaltender to win the Hart. Price was beyond crucial to his team's success, while also leading the NHL in wins, goal-against average, save percentage and goals-saved above expected average. He was also in the top five in minutes played and saves.
Hellebuyck is atop the league in wins, GAA, save percentage, GSAA and shutouts, and has been going back and forth with Andrei Vasilevskiy for the lead in minutes played. There's no denying what forwards such as Leon Draisaitl, Nikita Kucherov and Nathan MacKinnon have done. It's just that what Hellebuyck stands to achieve is on par with what we expect out of a goalie being Hart-worthy.
Matiash: Leon Draisaitl. Stubbornly siding with Nikita Kucherov -- still underrated as a game-changing asset to his team -- for a good part of this season, I can't help but now shift to the only projected 50-plus-goal scorer of 2024-25.
According to Evolving Hockey, Draisaitl boasts a league-leading 24.6 goals above replacement (GAR), 4.0 wins above replacement (WAR), and a whopping 7.6 standings points above replacement (SPAR). If that doesn't define "most valuable to their team," I'm not sure what does.
1:01
Draisaitl's 2nd goal of the game wins it for Oilers in OT
Leon Draisaitl scores his second goal of the game in overtime to help the Oilers defeat the Islanders.
Öcal: Definitely Leon Draisaitl. He and MacKinnon will be neck and neck on points all the way to the last games of the regular season, but Draisaitl is running away with the Rocket Richard (49), currently 13 goals above William Nylander in second (36). Draisaitl also leads the league in even-strength goals (34). Plus, he's earning his Hart Trophy votes on a team that has Connor McDavid.
I'm picking Leon to win his second Hart in five years. Leon has been so good this season he could have helped Kino Loy swim away from Narkina 5.
Shilton: Nathan MacKinnon. Yes, we're talking back-to-back Hart Trophy wins. The last player to do it? Alex Ovechkin, in 2009. It doesn't happen often.
But MacKinnon has undeniably dragged Colorado back into the fight this season. Remember when we were counting out the Avalanche? MacKinnon never relented. Colorado lost Rantanen, and as devastating as that was, it almost seemed to light a larger fire under MacKinnon to keep Colorado in contending position. Now, if Hellebuyck takes it from MacKinnon that's incredibly well-deserved, too. But for me, it's MacKinnon, for how he has been the Avs' most valuable player practically every single game.
Wyshynski: Connor Hellebuyck. Let's not overcomplicate things. As of Monday, Hellebuyck had 39 of the Jets' 47 wins. He led the league in save percentage, and his goals-against average had dipped below two goals per game -- while that's considered a team stat rather than an individual one, it's fairly obvious who's responsible for it when backup Eric Comrie's GAA is half a goal higher.
There are certainly other worthy candidates: Draisaitl has an incredible case this season, and Zach Werenski deserves a shoutout for what he has done for Columbus. (And a louder shoutout to Quinn Hughes, who might have been the choice were it not for his injury.) But the Jets have been one of the NHL's best teams this season, and everything tracks to Hellebuyck as the foundation for that.
