With a six-month regular season and three rounds of postseason hockey in the books, the 2026 edition of the Stanley Cup Final is upon us.
While the Edmonton Oilers might not be in the Final this year, it is still worth taking the time to talk about the resulting matchup, which will see the Vegas Golden Knights take on the Carolina Hurricanes.
The Golden Knights will be looking to win their second Stanley Cup just three years after claiming their first, while the Hurricanes are looking to earn just their second Stanley Cup in franchise history after making it back to the Stanley Cup Final for the first time in 20 years.
Carolina recorded yet another strong season. But unlike years past, their efforts have gotten them within four wins of a Stanley Cup
The Hurricanes are led by head coach Rod Brind'Amour, who himself has his own history with the Oilers. Back in the 2006 Stanley Cup Final, Brind'Amour scored three goals in the opening three games of the series against the Oilers; Carolina would ultimately win the Final in seven games.
This season, the Hurricanes won the Metropolitan Division by 15 points, finishing with a 53-22-7 record and just one win shy of their franchise-best win total, set during the 2021-22 campaign when the Hurricanes finished with a 54-20-8 record.
And like the regular season, the Hurricanes cruised through the playoffs. They swept away a statistically-strong Ottawa Senators squad in the first round before doing so once again against a Philadelphia Flyers team that survived a fierce rally in their opening round series against the Pittsburgh Penguins. Despite dropping Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Final 6-2 against the Montreal Canadiens, the Hurricanes won the next four games to end Montreal's run, outscoring them 16-5 in the process.
Now, after seven years worth of playoff appearances and waiting for the Tampa Bay Lightning and Florida Panthers to run their races, the Hurricanes have a chance to emerge from the shadows of their Florida-based rivals and win the Stanley Cup.
But for a team that has been right at the top of the league for so many years, it's truly a Cup or bust situation. Brind'Amour knows all too well how hard it is to win a Cup, and getting in position to win one is hard enough as it is. That said, the Hurricanes have got to the Final, and all that matters now is finding the four wins required to finally bring the Stanley Cup back to Raleigh.
But their opposition is a Vegas Golden Knights team that is the closest thing the NHL has to a dynasty.
While the championships aren't entirely there, they don't have to be. Quarterback Tom Brady and the New England Patriots won six Super Bowl titles, but two of them were separated by a decade. The NBA's Golden State Warriors won four titles over an eight-year span, but two of those titles were separated by four years. And the Los Angeles Dodgers of Major League Baseball went three seasons and some agonizing postseason eliminations between their World Series titles in 2020 and 2024; the Dodgers also added a title in 2025.
What is also important in defining a dynasty is the postseason results. And in their existence thus far, which has seen a handful of superstars arrive and coaching changes galore, the Golden Knights have the results to be in that conversation. Including this season, the Golden Knights have made the Stanley Cup Final three times, one of which came in their inaugural season, the 2017-18 campaign. They've made the Western Conference Final five times while making it to the second round an additional time. They've also won the Pacific Division five times, more than well over half the teams in the division itself. And they've only missed the playoffs once over the course of their first nine seasons in the NHL.
If the Golden Knights were to win the Stanley Cup for the second time in their first nine seasons, there would be next to nothing to keep them outside of the dynasty conversation. They're already regarded as the most successful expansion team not just in hockey, but in professional sports as a whole. But another Stanley Cup would easily levitate the organization, one that is still young in the grand scheme of things, into another stratosphere.
Say what you will about the team, their struggles for much of the regular season, and all the Carter Hart drama, but the Golden Knights clearly are capable of winning. Mitch Marner leads all players in points during these playoffs, while Jack Eichel is now second. Former Senators captain Mark Stone is once again proving the haters wrong - he scored one of Vegas' two goals in Game 4 against Colorado - and the defense as a whole has given up more than two goals just once in their last six playoff games.
The former Oiler to watch: Taylor Hall
Taylor Hall has seen and done it all throughout his 16-season career.
After starting his career during Edmonton's postseason drought, Hall would make his postseason debut during the 2017-18 season with the New Jersey Devils. He once again made the playoffs two years later as a member of the Arizona Coyotes before joining the Bruins ahead of their dominant 2022-23 campaign, one that saw him record 36 points in 61 games. After two seasons with the Blackhawks, Hall was traded to the Hurricanes before their run to the Conference Finals in 2025.
As part of the Oilers, Hall recorded 328 points (132 goals and 196 assists) through 381 career games played in Edmonton. His best season with the Oilers came during the 2013-14 campaign, when he recorded 27 goals and 53 assists en route to an 80 point haul through 75 games played. But despite Hall's performance, Edmonton still finished 7th in the Pacific Division with a 29-44-9 record; the 67 total points that resulted put the Oilers 24 points back of the Dallas Stars for the final postseason spot.
My prediction: Hurricanes in seven
Say what you will about the fact that the Hurricanes cruised their way to the Final even against some tough opponents, but this feels like a longer series waiting to happen.
In fact, of the last 10 Stanley Cup Finals to have been played, seven have gone at least six games. The 2018 Stanley Cup Final - which saw the Washington Capitals claim their first Stanley Cup - the 2021 Cup Final that saw Tampa Bay defeat Montreal in five games, and the 2023 final where Vegas claimed their first Cup were the three exceptions.
When I view these two teams, I view them both as well-structured teams defensively and those that are capable of commanding the offensive zone and creating scoring chances.
Part of the reason Vegas was able to defeat Colorado is that they were able to remain composed even in the toughest of situations. When the Avalanche built leads, particularly their 3-0 lead at the start of Game 3, the Golden Knights were able to fight back and maintain their place in the game. Hart's goaltending shut the door on the Avs on so many occasions, while the Golden Knights' penalty kill did well to keep a struggling Avalanche power play from consistently finding the back of the net. In terms of that Game 3 performance, Vegas was able to use their newfound confidence to tie the game in the second period before taking control in the third.
In total, the Golden Knights conceded just seven goals to an Avalanche team that scored 302 goals during the regular season (good for an average of 3.68 goals per game) and 37 goals through nine postseason games leading up to the Conference Finals. That 37 goal tally included a 24-goal outburst in five games against the Minnesota Wild.
But what the Golden Knights can do defensively, the Hurricanes can do just as well, if not better. When the Hurricanes started the postseason 8-0, they conceded just 10 goals. Two of the Canes' wins over the course of their two series against the Senators and Flyers were shutouts, while another two wins saw them give up just one goal. And save for their Game 1 loss against Montreal, Carolina was able to keep Montreal's offense from finding any kind of form.
We're also talking about a Hurricanes defense that is capable of getting in the way of shots while also giving teams absolutely no space to operate offensively.
The defensive battle might be relatively even, but I give the slight advantage Carolina on the offensive side of the game. Say what you will about the Golden Knights' ability to rally from deficits and score plenty of goals even in the toughest of situations during this postseason, but a lot of their offense runs through Marner. If the Canes can consistently shut Marner down and prevent him from creating scoring chances, then Vegas will have to completely reinvent their offensive game in a limited time.
While the Hurricanes don't get too many goals - in fact, the Golden Knights score 0.40 goals per game more than the Canes and have scored 58 total goals to Carolina's 42 goals - they have been able to win on the limited offensive output that they have recorded. That's what matters most at the end of the day, and Carolina will stick to that game plan unless they get pinned on the back foot.
The Hurricanes have shown themselves capable of wearing opponents down on both ends of the ice, but this doesn't feel like a series that will end quickly. Vegas is far more experienced, far more physical, and far better defensively than any of the three teams Carolina put aside. This series will go the distance, but Carolina should be able to finish the job at the end of the day.
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