With plenty of fresh blood, NHL will have new Stanley Cup champion

The Stanley Cup will have a new home this year after the back-to-back champion Florida Panthers had their season derailed by injuries.

They're not the only perennial contender to miss the playoffs, either, with the Buffalo Sabres among the roughly half dozen newcomers in the 16-team field. The Pittsburgh Penguins are back in the dance, too.

The Colorado Avalanche have been dominant since October and go in as the favourite after clinching the best regular-season record in the NHL. That has rarely been an indicator of who hoists the Cup at the end of four rounds, and it's anyone's guess who comes out of the Eastern Conference, as well as the West.

"Every team in the playoffs can win," Dallas Stars defenceman Tyler Myers said. "Every series is a tough series. That's what's so amazing about the NHL playoffs: It brings out the best in everybody, in every team, and it creates an unbelievable battle no matter who's playing."

Buffalo ended the longest post-season drought in league history at 14 seasons and did so after losing 18 of its first 29 games.

“It's something that we strived for from Day 1," said Lindy Ruff, who is among the favourites to be coach of the year. "You've got to feel good about getting there. It's hard. We're in a division that's been extremely hard to get there. You've got to look back and say that we did a lot of good things to get to this point."

The Sabres also look as if they can do some damage in the wide-open East without Florida. They've been the best team since the Olympic break.

Also hot down the stretch was Pittsburgh, which qualified for the first time since 2022 in new head coach Dan Muse's first season. The Penguins were 6-1 long shots on BetMGM Sportsbook in October to make it, but now