Top storylines ahead of 2026 NHL conference finals

There’s no shortage of storylines as the NHL prepares for puck drop in the conference finals this week.

While all four teams left standing have previously won the Stanley Cup, it’s recent history vs. past history. The Western Conference will see recent Stanley Cup champions Colorado (2022) and Vegas (2023) face off, while it’s been a much longer gap in the Eastern Conference between Carolina (2006) and Montreal (1993).

Let’s get into it and go over the top storylines heading into the 2026 conference finals in the NHL.

You can see the full schedule for the Eastern and Western conference finals here.

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Top conference final storylines

Eichel vs. MacKinnon

The biggest head-to-head matchup in either conference final will be Vegas’ Jack Eichel vs. Colorado’s Nathan MacKinnon. Both are top-10 centres in the NHL, both are Stanley Cup champions and both are among the leading scorers of this year’s playoffs.

Golden Knights head coach John Tortorella and his Avalanche counterpart Jared Bednar have shown they’re not afraid of matching top line against top line, so I expect Eichel and MacKinnon to see a lot of each other. Whoever wins that head-to-head battle could be the difference for their team in this series.

Rest vs. Rust

The 8-0 Carolina Hurricanes will have a historic 11-day break between games. It’s the longest gap in over 100 years in the NHL and just the fourth time ever a team has had a double-digit break between series’.

Carolina already had a seven-day gap between the first and second round of the playoffs, so this team should have an idea how to keep the playoff intensity high in practice. But, how much rest is too much? We’ll find out when the Hurricanes play a Montreal Canadiens squad that has gone the opposite route with two straight seven-game series’.

Playoff Marner

It’s only been two rounds, but Mitch Marner is putting his Toronto Maple Leafs playoff history firmly in the past. Marner leads the playoff with 18 points (7G, 11A) and he’s been at his best when Vegas needs him the most, particularly in their Game 6 closeout win over the Anaheim Ducks in Round 2.

Marner historically struggled in the later stages of playoff series’ when he was with Toronto and this is his first time out of the second round. Colorado will be a much tougher matchup than Utah of Anaheim, so I’ll be looking to see if Marner reverts to the Maple Leafs ghost we saw for years against the big guns of Boston, Florida and Tampa Bay.

Dobes magic

Jakub Dobes could join an exclusive list this year as he looks to become just the third rookie goalie to lead the Montreal Canadiens to a Stanley Cup after Ken Dryden in 1971 and Patrick Roy in 1986. Dobes has been very effective at bouncing back, going 6-0 with a .938 save percentage in games following a loss in these playoffs, including a .957 SV in two Game 7s.

For comparison, Dobes is 8-6 with a 2.52 goals-against average and .910 SV in the playoffs. In 1971, Dryden went 12-8 with a 3.01 GAA and .914 SV when the playoffs were three rounds. In 1986, Roy was 15-5 with a 1.93 GAA and .923 SV when the first round was a best-of-five.

Goaltending

Sticking with goaltending, this year’s netminders are a bit of a rarity. There are no Vezina Trophy finalists among the final four teams and Carolina’s Frederik Andersen is the only starter who hasn’t been pulled in a playoff game this year.

And as good as Andersen has been, it wasn’t even a guarantee he would be the Hurricanes’ playoff starter with Brandon Bussi and Pyotr Kochetkov as an options. Colorado has used Scott Wedgewood and Mackenzie Blackwood, Montreal has mostly gone with Dobes, but Jacob Fowler is in the wings, and Vegas is using Carter Hart over Stanley Cup winner Adin Hill.

Carolina’s conference final demons

Carolina has been one of the most consistent teams in the NHL over the last several years, but their luck always seems to run out in the conference finals. Under head coach Rod Brind’Amour, this will be the fourth time since 2019 the ‘Canes have gone to the conference finals, but they are just 1-12 in their previous three trips.

Going back even further to 2009 when Brind’Amour still played for Carolina, the team is 1-16 in the conference final. That’s three conference final sweeps and one five-game series over the last 17 years as the Hurricanes look to reach the Stanley Cup Final since they won the franchise’s only championship in 2006.