The 2025-26 NHL season kicks off today when the Florida Panthers host the Chicago Blackhawks and raise their second Stanley Cup Championship banner. With another season upon us, it is time for Last Word On Hockey to make some predictions. Four writers have been given a division to write about and predict, so check out the Atlantic, Central, and Pacific here. Today, we are making predictions for the 2025-26 Metropolitan Division.
2025-26 Metropolitan Division Predictions
Last Season
Playoff Teams
The Washington Capitals took the division by storm and claimed their first crown since the COVID-shortened 2019-20 campaign. Alex Ovechkin finally eclipsed the NHL’s all-time goal-scoring mark held by Wayne Gretzky.
However, the second-place Carolina Hurricanes would get the last laugh and eliminate the Caps in the second round. Carolina’s run would end against Florida in the Eastern Conference Final. The New Jersey Devils took third place but were ravaged by injuries and were taken out in five games by the Hurricanes.
Non-Playoff Teams
The Columbus Blue Jackets surprised many experts by hanging around the playoff race until the very end of the season. Columbus rallied despite the tragic passing of Johnny Gaudreau and played well under new head coach Dean Evason. The New York Rangers surprised the league, but for all the wrong reasons. New York disappointed and missed the postseason only one season after reaching the Eastern Final.
The New York Islanders also missed the Stanley Cup Playoffs one season after making it to the postseason. Long Island’s team now has Mathieu Darche as the team’s new general manager after Lou Lamoriello moved on.
Both Keystone State-based NHL teams also had seasons to forget in 2024-25. The Pittsburgh Penguins and Philadelphia Flyers both teams made changes behind the bench, but aren’t expected to challenge for a playoff spot.
Division Champion and Other Playoff Teams
Metropolitan Division Champion- Carolina Hurricanes
The Canes have higher aims than just getting a division title. However, Carolina and general manager Eric Tulsky made some big moves in getting Nikolaj Ehlers and K’Andre Miller. Head coach Rod Brind’Amour is still one of the better coaches in the league and boasts a solid lineup. Players like Sebastian Aho, Seth Jarvis, Logan Stankoven, Andrei Svechnikov, and others lead a solid offensive unit.
Jaccob Slavin is one of the most consistent defenders in the league. However, the only slight question is who will patrol the crease in Carolina. Both Frederik Andersen and Pyotr Kochetkov have made their respective case to be the starter. Conversely, neither netminder has run away and claimed the job. So, stay tuned on that one, but regardless, we still have them taking down the division.
Certain Playoff Teams and the New Jersey Devils and Washington Capitals
With the Atlantic Division being deep, getting one of the three automatic bids will be critical. New Jersey got off to a great start, but injuries to Jacob Markstrom, Jack Hughes, and others meant the team was thin for its postseason series.
New Jersey added Connor Brown and Evgenii Dadonov as some of their main additions. They also re-signed Jake Allen and Luke Hughes to shore up their back-end.
Washington rode the vibes of Ovechkin’s record-breaking season. However, the ending fell flat with the Caps’ loss to the Hurricanes. Washington kept mostly quiet by adding Declan Chisholm via trade. However, the Capitals did shore up the goalie situation with extensions for Logan Thompson and Charlie Lindgren.
One wonders if the Capitals did enough to keep the rest of the pack at bay. Washington will be hard-pressed to repeat as division champions, but should make the playoffs.
The Murky Middle and the New York Rangers, Columbus Blue Jackets, and New York Islanders
Rangers general manager Chris Drury made multiple changes by finally getting Mike Sullivan as head coach. Drury dealt Chris Kreider to the Anaheim Ducks, but added Vladislav Gavrikov to help the team’s struggling defence. The Blueshirts also hope Igor Shesterkin can return to his Vezina Trophy-winning form. Players like Adam Fox and Mika Zibanejad will also need bounce-back campaigns.
Columbus showed plenty of heart despite projections having them finish near the bottom of the league. Jet Greaves has seemingly become the number one goalie, but is still pretty young. General manager Don Waddell added Charlie Coyle to try and fix the centre position. Veterans Miles Wood, Isac Lundestrom and Brendan Smith were also brought in by Columbus.
The Islanders have a new GM and he’s already moved out Noah Dobson to the Montreal Canadiens. Matthew Schaefer also made the team as the top overall pick and is hoping to be a mainstay on the Isles’ backend. We’ll see how coach Patrick Roy does with additions like Jonathan Drouin and KHL standout Maxim Shabanov.
In a Rebuild, the Philadelphia Flyers and Pittsburgh Penguins
Both the Pennsylvania-based teams are set for another season of struggles. The Flyers and Penguins each made coaching changes, with Rick Tocchet and Dan Muse, respectively, taking the posts. The two teams also made changes with their on-ice personnel and could be trade deadline sellers.
Philadelphia did add some offensive punch with Trevor Zegras and got Daniel Vladar to hopefully solve some of their goaltending issues.
Pittsburgh is at a crossroads and names like Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and Erik Karlsson have come up in trade rumours. We could see a very different Penguins’ roster to end the season.
Main photo by: James Guillory-Imagn Images
The post The 2025-26 Metropolitan Division Standings Prediction appeared first on Last Word On Hockey.