NHL Playoff Power Rankings: Panthers have tough path to Stanley Cup repeat

After 1,312 games, the 2024-25 NHL regular season has finally reached its conclusion. And served its primary purpose: cutting the 32-team field down to 16. After nearly seven months of hockey, it’s time for the greatest postseason in all of sports to begin. And what better way to kick off the 2025 Stanley Cup Playoffs than with ClutchPoints’ second annual NHL Playoff Power Rankings.
Although there are always favorites and underdogs at this time of year, anything can happen in a seven-game series, and all regular season storylines will be out the window when the Winnipeg Jets and St. Louis Blues commence the chase for Lord Stanley on Saturday evening. Only one team can be left standing come the middle of June, but more than a dozen have legitimate aspirations. And that’s why we love the game.
All eyes will be on the Florida Panthers as the franchise begins the title defense against the Tampa Bay Lightning in Round 1 — the fourth meeting in five years between the two NHL behemoths. One of those two squads has come out of the East in each of the last five seasons, and it wouldn’t be at all surprising if one of the two represented the conference in the Stanley Cup Final this spring.
In the Western Conference, the marquee matchup will pit the Colorado Avalanche against Mikko Rantanen, a sentence that wouldn’t have made a lick of sense a year ago. After being shipped to the Carolina Hurricanes and subsequently traded again at the deadline, he’s found a permanent home with the Dallas Stars. And in order to win his second NHL championship, he’ll need to beat the team he first won it all with in 2022.
It truly has been one of the most memorable seasons in recent memory. From Alex Ovechkin becoming the greatest goal scorer in league history, to the incredible 4 Nations Face-Off, to an NHL record three (!) goalie goals, to the Utah Hockey Club playing their inaugural season in Salt Lake City, it’s just been a terrific campaign once again.
If the postseason brings that same level of energy, it’s going to be absolutely phenomenal. And why shouldn’t it be? It’s the best time in the world to be a hockey fan. Here’s where all 16 franchises rank ahead of Round 1, Game 1 on Saturday. As always, thanks for reading ClutchPoints’ NHL Power Rankings this season, and enjoy the madness.
ClutchPoints’ full regular season 2024-25 NHL Power Rankings: Week 27 | Week 26 | Week 25 | Week 24 | Week 23 | Week 22 | Week 21 | Week 20 | Week 19 | Week 18 | Week 17 | Week 16 | Week 15 | Week 14 | Week 13 | Week 12 | Week 11 | Week 10 | Week 9 | Week 8 | Week 7 | Week 6 | Week 5 | Week 4 | Week 3 | Week 2 | Week 1
1. Winnipeg Jets
After winning the President’s Trophy for the first time in franchise history — and spending most of the year at the top of ClutchPoints’ NHL Power Rankings — Winnipeg isn’t going anywhere in the playoff leaderboard. Yes, this team has notoriously struggled to turn regular season success into postseason glory, but they’re going to get the benefit of the doubt ahead of a Round 1 matchup with the Blues that begins on Saturday.
The Blues got the better of the Jets the last time the two squads met in the playoffs, beating their Central Division rivals in a six-game series back in 2019 before going on to win the Stanley Cup. But Winnipeg has had a much better season and are deeper up and down the lineup. The big storyline in this series is between the pipes in Hellebuyck vs. Jordan Binnington — a rematch of Canada vs. USA at the 4 Nations. Binnington came out on top in that one, but Hellebuyck has had the best season of his career and is the favorite to win the Hart Trophy. If he can carry over his lights-out play into the playoffs — which is far from a guarantee — the sky’s the limit for this squad in 2025.
2. Vegas Golden Knights
Although the Golden Knights had fashions on winning back-to-back Stanley Cup championships in 2024, they were instead ousted by the Stars in a hard-fought seven-game Round 1 series last year. After an early exit, Vegas is laser-focused on returning to hockey’s peak, and they have a favorable Round 1 matchup against a Wild team that just barely squeaked in.
The Knights were fantastic to end the regular season, winning 11 of their last 15 games to capture the Pacific Division. While the offense isn’t quite as potent as it once was, Jack Eichel just put together the best campaign of his career and should be dialed in. The blue line is healthy and remains absolutely elite, Adin Hill was excellent down the stretch, and most importantly, this core has been here before. Not even the elite 2010s Chicago Blackhawks dynasty was able to go back-to-back, and they won three Cups in six years. Vegas will be looking to follow that blueprint beginning on the strip Sunday night.
3. Colorado Avalanche
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Another team looking to return to hockey glory, the Avalanche won the Stanley Cup in 2022 but haven’t been past the second round since. Last year, they were defeated by the Stars for the second time in five years, and they’ll need to slay the dragon in Round 1 if they hope to make another deep run. Obviously, the Rantanen storyline is the headliner here.
But the NHL return of Gabriel Landeskog might be just as important, and head coach Jared Bednar confirmed he would be an option in the series for the first time in three years. It’s a marquee matchup, featuring probably two of the three best teams in the West, but someone has to lose. Colorado is a new-look team, with Mackenzie Blackwood in net and a couple fresh faces including Martin Necas, Brock Nelson, Charlie Coyle and Ryan Lindgren. Blackwood has never played in the postseason, and that could end up being their kryptonite. But led by a well-rested Nathan MacKinnon and Cale Makar, and considering Dallas lost its last seven regular season games, we’re not betting against the Avs this time around.
4. Los Angeles Kings
Maybe no team has been better than the Kings down the stretch; Los Angeles racked off three separate four-game winning streaks in less than a month to end the year. The recent surge helped them secure second in the Pacific, and they’ll have home-ice advantage in an outrageous fourth consecutive Round 1 meeting against the Oilers.
As we all know, that matchup has never been kind to the Kings. They lost in seven games in 2022, six in 2023, and went quietly in just five contests in 2024. The good news for LA is that Darcy Kuemper has looked absolutely lights out down the stretch, and he is a proven playoff performer after winning the Cup with Colorado in 2022. Edmonton is also banged up, with key defenseman Mattias Ekholm out for the series and multiple players coming into the lineup cold. Obviously, Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl will be a problem, but the Kings have looked like one of the league’s premier clubs in 2024-25. If they can’t beat their nemesis this year, will they ever?
5. Tampa Bay Lightning
If Avalanche-Stars is the headlining Western Conference Round 1 matchup, it’s most certainly the Battle of Florida in the East. These two teams have treated hockey fans to bruising series after bruising series, with the Panthers finally getting the better of their in-state rivals before winning the title last year. There’s a prevailing thought around the sport that whoever wins this series will come out of the conference again.
Florida is a powerhouse, but they’ve dealt with injuries and down seasons aplenty, and this should be a toss-up. What Tampa Bay boasts is the greatest playmaker in the game in Nikita Kucherov, who is fresh off winning his second consecutive Art Ross Trophy with 121 points in 78 games. Along with fellow Russian Andrei Vasilevskiy, who looks to be back to form between the pipes, this team is going to go as far as the two superstars take them. And if they can get out of Round 1, they have a great path back to the Finals.
6. Toronto Maple Leafs
Considering how potent the Maple Leafs have been in the regular season the last few years, it truly is hard to believe they’ve only won one playoff round since 2004. It’s tough to constantly be playing teams like the Lightning, Panthers and Boston Bruins year after year. But this time around, Toronto won the Atlantic Division for the first time in decades and got a much more favorable matchup.
In 2024-25, we’re getting the Battle of Ontario for the first time in 21 campaigns. And the Leafs look like a different team, mainly because of the injections of Chris Tanev on the blue line and Anthony Stolarz between the pipes. Notoriously a bad defensive club, Craig Berube’s team has fixed those problems, and along with obvious star power in the Core Four, they’re the heavy favorites to beat the Senators in Round 1. Ottawa is back in the dance for the first time since 2017, and unless Linus Ullmark stands on his head and Brady Tkachuk finds a new level, Toronto should be able to win the Ontario crown. That being said, we all know what this team does in the postseason, so we’ll believe it when we see it.
7. Dallas Stars
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For most of the 2024-25 season, the Stars have looked unstoppable. Wyatt Johnston took another step forward, Mikael Granlund was a fantastic addition to the forward core, and of course, Rantanen. But it’s been a miserable couple of weeks in Dallas. Not only has the team uncharacteristically lost seven straight games, but Jason Robertson, after not missing a single game for three years, got injured in a meaningless regular season finale in Nashville.
Robertson is one of the key offensive drivers and he’ll be impossible to replace after getting the dreaded week-to-week designation. Although Miro Heiskanen has been upgraded to day-to-day, this blue line is going to have a very hard time keeping up with the high-flying Avalanche. Jake Oettinger is still fantastic in net, but he’s been prone to lapses. Although the Stars have home-ice advantage, they’re going to need a huge Game 1 performance on Saturday night to extinguish the obvious concern in Texas. Just .500 hockey down the stretch would have been enough to win the division and get a much more favorable matchup against the Blues.
8. Washington Capitals
It wasn’t easy to put Ovechkin and Washington this far down the NHL Playoff Power Rankings after a magical campaign in the nation’s capital. But the Caps have struggled mightily since the end of March, losing eight of their last 12 games and falling out of the President’s Trophy race at the last. That’s not at all ideal after a fantastic first six months.
Still, the Capitals are the favorites against a young Canadiens team that needed until game No. 82 to get in. The big news on Saturday is that Logan Thompson returned to practice and could play in Game 1. That’s massive after Charlie Lindgren struggled down the stretch. It’s hard to pinpoint exactly what kind of team we are going to see in the series, but this is still an elite roster up and down the lineup. If they can avoid the upset — something they were unable to do against Jaroslav Halak and the Habs in 2010 — it will do wonders for the belief that The Great Eight still has another deep Stanley Cup run or two left in him.
9. Florida Panthers
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Another team that is noticeably low in the playoff leaderboard, the Panthers have limped into the postseason in a huge way. Tkachuk hasn’t played since the 4 Nations, Aaron Ekblad continues to serve a PED suspension (and won’t be available until Game 3), and multiple other guys are coming off injuries and will be thrown right into the fire against a great Bolts team.
While HC Paul Maurice expects a fully healthy lineup besides Ekblad, Florida just hasn’t been good in April, losing seven of their last 10 games. And the current line combinations haven’t had a lot of time to mesh. Carter Verhaeghe has had a down year, and he will need to return to his clutch playoff form if the Cats hope to go back-to-back. Although we can expect playoff Sergei Bobrovsky to show up again, will it be enough for a squad that has looked mortal for quite a while now? They just have to get through Tampa and all of those doubts will be quelled. But that’s going to be a lot easier said than done — and we can’t wait to find out if they have the juice.
10. Carolina Hurricanes
It looked like the Hurricanes had a collective chip on their shoulder after the Rantanen debacle. Following the trade deadline, the squad went on an absolute heater, securing second in the Metropolitan Division and again looking like a Stanley Cup contender. But that’s all been undone over the last month. After winning 11 of 14 games in the month of March, both Frederik Andersen and Pyotr Kochetkov have imploded down the stretch.
And the Canes lost all of their confidence in the process, losing seven times in eight tries to end the regular season. That’s just shocking, similar to the Stars’ awful finish to the year. Luckily for Carolina, they’re playing a New Jersey team that also struggled mightily down the stretch and, spoiler alert, are dead last in the NHL Playoff Power Rankings. The postseason is a completely different beast, and the Round 1 matchup is favorable. Still, this squad needs to be a ton better if they hope to get over the hump and play for a Stanley Cup for the first time since 2006.
11. Edmonton Oilers
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It seems like there are a multitude of teams that just need to prove they can get out of the first round to make a deep run. Maybe no club embodies that better than the Oilers, who haven’t had a healthy roster in over a month. Losing Ekholm is brutal, and the goaltending is a serious question mark. Still, Edmonton knows exactly what it takes to beat Los Angeles, and they could have a couple key depth additions in Trent Frederic and Evander Kane for the series.
Although the Kings are on a terrific run, none of that really matters when puck drops at Arena on Monday night. All it would take is a big Game 1 performance in LA to completely turn this matchup on its head. Like previous years, the Kings just don’t have an answer for McDavid and Draisaitl, who are going to be laser-focused on dragging this team back to the Stanley Cup Final after coming oh-so-close in 2024. Anze Kopitar isn’t the player he once was, and although LA boasts one of the stingiest blue lines in the league, it’s going to be tested and then some in this series. While oddsmakers are giving the Kings a slight advantage, no one would be at all surprised if the Oilers come out on top for a fourth consecutive time.
12. Ottawa Senators
For the first time in eight seasons, the Senators are back in the dance. In 2016-17, the Sens came within one goal of a trip to the Stanley Cup Final, losing in a heartbreaking Game 7 to Sidney Crosby and the Penguins in the East Final. Ottawa hasn’t played a playoff game since, but that will all change on Sunday night; Travis Green’s club is preparing for a highly-anticipated Battle of Ontario that begins at Scotiabank Arena in Toronto.
Unfortunately, it’s not a great matchup. Ottawa finished 21st in the league in goals scored and 20th in penalty killing percentage, going up against a Leafs team that has one of the league’s most potent powerplays and stingiest defensive units. Stolarz gets the edge over Ullmark in net, who has an under .900 save percentage in his postseason career. Toronto just has Ottawa beat in every metric. But that all goes out the window when the series starts, and it certainly isn’t lost on this roster just how not clutch the Leafs have been after the regular season.
If Ottawa is somehow able to upset Toronto, it’ll be the winner of Florida or Tampa Bay waiting in Round 2. It’s a difficult path, but after seven years without playoff puck, the fanbase in Ottawa will just be thrilled to be playing meaningful hockey in April again.
13. St. Louis Blues
What an absolutely wild ride it’s been for the Blues. After firing Drew Bannister and replacing him with Jim Montgomery behind the bench, St. Louis has looked like a completely different team. And Montgomery has a serious chance to be the first coach in history to be fired and nominated for the Jack Adams Award in the same season.
After racking off a franchise-best 12-game winning streak, the Blues faltered a bit at the end but were able to sneak into the final wildcard in the Western Conference. And they’ll have a real tough time against an NHL-best Jets team that has all of the confidence and home-ice advantage in the series. Getting Colton Parayko back is huge, as is the fact that Winnipeg will be without two key offensive drivers in Nikolaj Ehlers and Gabe Vilardi for the start of the series at least. We all counted the Blues out in 2019 and they went on to win it all. It’ll probably be even harder this time, but we know what this roster is capable of at its best.
14. Minnesota Wild
After losing Kirill Kaprizov, Joel Eriksson Ek, Jared Spurgeon, Jacob Middleton and Jonas Brodin for long stretches, the Wild are just happy to get in after missing out last season. If they had been healthy, Minnesota certainly could have challenged for a top-three spot in the Central Division. As it is, they were one Calgary Flames win away from not advancing altogether.
Still, that’s all in the past — and the Wild are healthy. But even with a full squad, this is not a good matchup against a Golden Knights team that has been potent down the stretch. Vegas has big, mobile defenseman who can shut down Minnesota’s stars, and although Filip Gustavsson has had a great season, he doesn’t have the playoff resume Hill does. The upset is possible, but on paper, this is probably the most lopsided series of the first round. It’ll be interesting to see if Kaprizov can go sicko mode and carry the team out of Round 1.
15. Montreal Canadiens
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Ca va bien, Montreal? The NHL playoffs are always a better place with the Canadiens involved, and after three campaigns out, they’re back in the dance. Things got very dicey at the end after a crazy Columbus Blue Jackets run, but the Habs were able to advance on home ice on Wednesday night. The Bell Centre is going to be absolutely rocking next week, and the matchup could have been a lot worse.
The great thing for Canadiens fans is that there aren’t any expectations on this team. They’re finally out of the rebuild, but also have the least amount of points of any playoff team and are a true 16th seed in 2024-25. But they’ve actually looked quite good down the stretch, while the Capitals have continued to falter. Ivan Demidov could be an X-factor after recording a goal and an assist in his first NHL game, while Nick Suzuki has looked like a true 1C this year. They might not go far, but this iteration of the Canadiens is going to be a lot of fun to watch this spring.
16. New Jersey Devils
Rounding out the NHL Playoff Power Rankings is a Devils team that is going to have to prove everyone wrong. Nobody is giving this squad a chance, especially without superstar Jack Hughes in the lineup. While Dougie Hamilton returning is massive, he will be thrown right into the fire against a fast, balanced Hurricanes attack.
Once a lock to make the playoffs, New Jersey is just lucky to be one of the last eight Eastern Conference teams standing in April. With four regulation losses in their last five games, there’s just not a lot of confidence in Newark. Jacob Markstrom is going to need to stand on his head and Jesper Bratt and Nico Hischier will need to be otherworldly just to get out of the first round. It’s been a really tough couple of months for this squad, and barring a miracle, it’s going to be another long summer.