NHL Odds: Five storylines to watch heading into 2025-26 season
The 2025-26 NHL season begins on Tuesday and a new season also brings new storylines.
Here’s our top-five NHL storylines.
Don’t forget to check out Sports Interaction’s complete list of NHL game odds, NHL futures and NHL specials and props.
Marner fallout
The biggest name to move in the off-season was Mitch Marner, who left his hometown Toronto Maple Leafs for the bright lights of Vegas and the Golden Knights.
The fallout from Marner’s move is two-fold: one, how will Marner perform in a quieter market and two, how does Toronto replace him in the lineup?
Marner’s already shown great chemistry on Jack Eichel’s wing through training camp and the pre-season and he proved at the 4 Nations Face-Off that he can produce on other teams, so he should be just fine.
It’s the Leafs and Auston Matthews who should be worrying. They lost a 100-point player in Marner and didn’t come close to replacing him on Matthews’ wing.
New address, who dis?
Marner isn’t the only player with a change of address. Nikolaj Ehlers signed in Carolina, boosting the Hurricanes while hurting the Jets.
Vladislav Gavrikov moved from the Kings to the Rangers and he should be a big reason New York is in playoff contention again.
Trade addition Mikael Granlund left Dallas to be a veteran presence on a young Anaheim roster looking to take a step forward this year.
And the veteran trio of Nate Schmidt (Florida to Utah), Jonathan Drouin (Colorado to the Islanders) and Corey Perry (Edmonton to L.A.) also found new homes.
Sid the Kid and Mr. 897
The Penguins are the only openly tanking team to start the season and as long as they are in rebuild mode, there will be speculation on the future of captain Sidney Crosby. Does he stay and mentor the youth like Mario Lemeuix, or does he try to find Stanley Cup glory elsewhere?
Alex Ovechkin is the all-time leading goal scorer in NHL history with 897 snipes. He now has his record, a Stanley Cup and millions of dollars in career earnings. Entering the final year of his contract, it’s believed this will be the final NHL season for the Great 8 before he sets his sights on returning home to Russia to play in the KHL next year.
Panthers three-peat
The Panthers brought the band back together in the off-season, re-signing their three most important pending UFAs in Brad Marchand, Sam Bennett and Aaron Eklbad.
However, the Stanley Cup three-peat is at serious risk as Matthew Tkachuk is out of the lineup until at least December and captain Aleksander Barkov could miss the whole year.
Three straight trips to the Stanley Cup Final may have finally caught up to Florida.
Olympic return
The NHL is returning to the Olympics in February for the first time since 2014.
It will be the first best-on-best international hockey for some of the biggest stars in the league like Connor McDavid and possibly one last chance at adding another gold medal for Sidney Crosby.
