The 2025-26 NHL regular season begins Tuesday night, including the Florida Panthers raising their second straight Stanley Cup banner home to Chicago in a rare 5 pm EST puck drop.
The last team to win three straight cups was the New York Islanders who won four straight from 1980-83.
Meanwhile, the last Canadian team to win a Stanley Cup was the 1993 Montreal Canadiens.
Let’s get into the seven teams north of the border in the NHL.
The Habs open their season Wednesday night in Toronto in one of two all-Canadian matchups as Edmonton entertains Calgary in the battle of Alberta.
The big question mark surrounding the Maple Leafs is how will the post Mitch Marner era play out.
The Leafs were horrible in a Game 7 loss to the Panthers to end last season, something Head Coach Craig Berube addressed going into this campaign.
“It’s okay to bend in those games, but not break,” Berube explained. “We’ve got to get over that hump. That’s a big part of it. Bringing in some new players, I think is important. But it’s just keeping working and teaching these guys and trying to get them mentally dialled in for those games. You come to Toronto in a big game at home, it’s a lot of pressure, we all know that, but we’ve got to all be able to deal with it better than we did.
“It’s something that we talk about.”
The Calgary Flames will in fact play in back-to-back all Canadian games visiting the Vancouver Canucks Thursday evening.
The big NHL news on the eve of the league’s puck drop was Connor McDavid signing a two-year extension with the Oilers for $25-million.
That may read like a hefty contract, but it’s a bargain considering Kirill Kaprizov agreed on the largest contract in NHL history just last week – eight years and $137-million. That’s $17-million dollars per season, $4.5-million more than what McDavid agreed to.
A definite ‘team-friendly’ contract that general manager’s across the league will likely use in negotiations for years to come, but likely one players across the league are shaking their heads at.
Edmonton General Manager Stan Bowman called the contract negotiations with McDavid “unique” and added this.
“This is obviously a very exciting day for our organization and for the fans in Edmonton and our team,” said Bowman.
“I’ve been able to run into some of our players here today, including Jake Walman when he was here, and the players were shocked as well. ‘What a leader this guy is!’, and I think everyone probably had the same reaction. But getting to know Connor as I have over the last year, he is a one-of-a-kind guy. He’s such a tremendous leader and so motivated to try to win, and I think that’s a testament to who he is as a person.”
As for the other two Canadian teams, the Ottawa Senators visit Tampa Bay Thursday night, while the Winnipeg Jets welcome Dallas also on Thursday.
And we certainly can’t forget the Buffalo Sabres here in Niagara. The Sabres sport the longest playoff drought in the NHL at 14 seasons and one wonders if General Manager Kevyn Adams has done enough to bring Buffalo back into the postseason.
Most feel this is Adams final chance at turning the franchise around, and that goes for Head Coach Lindy Ruff as well.
The Sabres open their season Thursday night home to the New York Rangers.
Rod Mawhood is a lifelong Niagara native who has had the pleasure of working in all three mediums – Radio, Print and TV – for over 20 years. His first announcing gig was with the then St. Catharines Stompers. Since then he’s worked in radio and TV in Toronto, and currently is the announcer for the Niagara IceDogs and Niagara River Lions.
Rod also covers the Buffalo Bills for FOX Sports and the Buffalo Sabres for NBC Sports.
