Wyshynski's complete 2026 Stanley Cup Playoffs bracket - ESPN

The 2026 Stanley Cup playoffs are here. And they're weird.

The Florida Panthers, back-to-back Stanley Cup champions, aren't here. The Buffalo Sabres, who last made the playoffs when «Fast Five» was in theaters, are here.

The Toronto Maple Leafs, who appeared in nine straight NHL postseasons, aren't here. The Utah Mammoth, who didn't exist three years ago, are here.

But that's why the Stanley Cup tournament is the greatest postseason in sports: the unpredictability. How a bad bounce or a hot goalie can turn a series around in an instant. Which, admittedly, makes the whole «predicting every series» thing a bit fraught, but hey, here we are.

Here is how the Stanley Cup playoffs will play out, from the opening round through the last game of the Stanley Cup Final. I apologize in advance for spoiling the next two months for you, as obviously all of this is going to happen exactly to script and none of these picks will be incorrect.

Let's drop the puck, shall we?

More: Full schedule
Mega-preview
Lapsed fan's guide
Stanley Cup odds
Flaws for each team

If there's one true question mark looming over the first-place Sabres entering the Stanley Cup playoffs — a sentence 14 seasons in the making! — it's the lack of postseason experience for most of their roster. As many preparatory yarns that Alex Tuch can spin about lengthy playoff runs with the Golden Knights, nothing prepares a player for how the game changes in the postseason.

I think the experience gap is less of a concern against the Bruins than some other teams in the Eastern Conference draw. Heck, Boston might ice a line of Fraser Minten, Marat Khusnutdinov and James Hagens that have a sum total of zero playoff appearances between them. The Sabres can let that home-ice