Stanley Cup contenders for 2026-27 season, according to NHL.com’s Dan Rosen

Welcome to the National Hockey List. Each week, NHL.com senior writer Dan Rosen will provide his insights and opinions concerning important topics around the League. Today, he lists his top seven favorites to win the Stanley Cup this season.

Optimism runs rampant through the NHL at this time of the year with training camps opening and 32 teams saying “why not us?” when it comes to winning the Stanley Cup.

With the season set to start on Sept. 29, nobody has lost a game and everybody has a chance.

With that in mind, here are seven teams I think have the best chance to win the Stanley Cup this season, leading off with the team that has won the most Stanley Cup championships in history and the one I believe has the best chance.

1. Montreal Canadiens

If it's jarring to see the Canadiens as the favorite, not just one of a few favorites, to win the Stanley Cup, it shouldn't be. Maybe they won't enter the season as the top team in preseason polls, but all the boxes are checked for the Canadiens to win their first Stanley Cup championship since 1993. No team from Canada has won the Cup since.

They've got playoff experience now, having learned the hard lessons from losing to the Washington Capitals in the first round in 2025 and to the Carolina Hurricanes in the Eastern Conference Final last season.

Remember, they got to the conference final last season after winning back-to-back seven-game series against the Tampa Bay Lightning and Buffalo Sabres. Each Game 7 win was on the road. There's a lot to gain from that.

Montreal has a Selke Trophy winner in Nick Suzuki. It's not a prerequisite to winning the Cup, but certainly having the best or one of the best two-way centers in the League goes a long way in the playoffs.

The Canadiens have a 50-goal scorer in Cole Caufield, 25. They have a Norris Trophy-caliber defenseman in Lane Hutson, 22, Each are just entering their prime.

Ivan Demidov is one of the top young players in the League, the Russian forward coming off a strong rookie season. Juraj Slafkovsky is delivering on the hype as one of game's top power forwards.

Jakub Dobes has emerged as a true No. 1 goalie, now with playoff experience. That's a big question answered for the Canadiens.

They've got depth everywhere, with the ability to roll four forward lines and three defense pairs, and they have one of the NHL's best coaches in Martin St. Louis, who signed a new contract Monday.

The next step is reaching the Stanley Cup Final. Montreal has everything it needs to go one further and win it all.

2. Colorado Avalanche

The tough and somewhat surprising ending to last season, getting swept by the Vegas Golden Knights in the Western Conference Final, might be motivation for the Avalanche. But it's not as if they need it. They are loaded again and should at least be the best team in the West.

The star power is obvious with forwards Nathan MacKinnon and Martin Necas, and defenseman Cale Makar.

Their depth up front shuffled around a bit, but Colorado still has it with Jaden Schwartz, Zachary L'Heureux and Fedor Svechkov replacing Ross Colton, Jack Drury and Valeri Nichushkin.

The Avalanche also have Devon Toews, Sam Malinski, Josh Manson, Brent Burns, Brett Kulak, Nazem Kadri, Brock Nelson, Gabriel Landeskog, Artturi Lehkonen -- the list goes on.

It's again Stanley Cup or bust under coach Jared Bednar, as it should be. There is no reason Colorado shouldn't be a Stanley Cup favorite, or at the very least the team picked to come out of the conference.

3. Florida Panthers

They're back.

Last season's drop, especially after losing Aleksander Barkov to a knee injury on Day 1 of training camp, feels like a blip that should never be spoken of again in South Florida.

The Panthers, Stanley Cup champions in 2024 and 2025, have the makings of being the hardest team to play against in the League this season. That's what happens when you add another Tkachuk, with Brady joining Matthew in Florida, and get Barkov back healthy.

The biggest question is in goal, where Jacob Markstrom replaces 37-year-old Sergei Bobrovsky, who is arguably coming off his worst NHL season but was still a heart- and-soul member of the team. There is pressure on Markstrom to live up to that billing.

The Panthers, though, should be right back in the mix, competing at a high level, and challenging again for the Stanley Cup.

4. Carolina Hurricanes

The Hurricanes have all the ingredients to do what Florida did two seasons ago, what the Tampa Bay Lightning did in 2021 and the Pittsburgh Penguins in 2017. It's not a new thing anymore for a team to repeat as Stanley Cup champions, and the Hurricanes, with how they're returning, the continuity in their lineup, coaching staff and style of play, can do it.

Goalie Frederik Andersen is the only integral piece from last season who is now elsewhere, signing as a free agent with the Edmonton Oilers.

But don't underestimate how big of a loss that is.

Andersen was coach Rod Brind'Amour's security blanket. The coach knew he could go to the goalie and get a strong game from him. He knew he could get strong stretches from Andersen, as Carolina did in the playoffs last season before Brandon Bussi took over in the Cup Final.

Bussi doesn't have Andersen anymore, which puts more pressure on him to deliver as a No. 1. Pyotr Kochetkov returns as the backup, but based on last season Bussi should be expected to handle a heavier workload.

Can he do that? That's a big question, which is why the Hurricanes are fourth on this list and third in the Eastern Conference.

5. Minnesota Wild

Would the Wild have defeated the Avalanche in the second round last season with a healthy Joel Eriksson Ek and Jonas Brodin? If they did, would they have found a way to take out the Golden Knights in the conference final?

Great questions. Who knows?

This season, Minnesota, with a healthy Eriksson Ek at center and Brodin on the blue line, along with arguably the NHL's best defense pair (Quinn Hughes and Brock Faber) and goalie tandem (Jesper Wallstedt and Filip Gustavsson), should be a top contender for the Stanley Cup.

Eriksson Ek is an elite if still underrated two-way center. Brodin is one of the best defenders in the game. Hughes is worthy of an all-world team. Faber makes him even better. Wallstedt has star power. Gustavsson is a No. 1 on most teams.

Oh, and this is before even mentioning forward Kirill Kaprizov, who is always a contender for the Art Ross Trophy as the League's leading scorer.

There's a lot to like, even with the lingering question about Hughes' contract and if the Wild have enough center depth behind Eriksson Ek.

6. Washington Capitals

There is still the question of how it will all come together for Washington, the second team on this list that didn't make the playoffs last season (Florida).

There's a lot of new faces, including three impact forwards in Alex Tuch, Jordan Kyrou and Boone Jenner, and it could take the Capitals some time beyond training camp and the preseason schedule to get it all on the same page.

Assuming they do, they will be a Cup contender with their size, skill, experience, goaltending, coaching and the seemingly ageless Alex Ovechkin back for another season.

7. Vegas Golden Knights

The Golden Knights were two wins short of a second Stanley Cup championship last season. Ready to celebrate their 10th season, they are once again a favorite to finish first in the Pacific Division and to win at all costs, because that is their goal every season.

Ryan Craig takes over as the coach, but it should be a seamless transition.

Craig is in his 10th season with the organization; he was a Golden Knights assistant for six seasons and spent the past three as coach of the Henderson Silver Knights, their American Hockey League affiliate that plays in the same market.

Vegas will be solid again. There's no debating that. But most of its core players are in their 30s and there are still questions about goaltending after Carter Hart's subpar performance in the Cup Final and rumors they could also be in on Winnipeg Jets goalie Connor Hellebuyck, who has requested a trade.