The Florida Panthers, Edmonton Oilers and Toronto Maple Leafs are all performing below expectations. Can they turn it around?
There’s still roughly four months left in the regular season, but it sure looks like we won’t be seeing the same two teams in the Stanley Cup final for a third straight time.
It also appears the NHL’s longest Stanley Cup drought will extend another year.
The two-time defending champion Florida Panthers are near the bottom of the Eastern Conference, and the two-time defending Western Conference champion Edmonton Oilers are fighting for a playoff spot with a record hovering around .500.
The Toronto Maple Leafs, meanwhile, don’t look like anything like a team capable of ending their fans’ misery.
There is enough time for these teams to turn it around, but it does seem like two of these teams are deep into Stanley Cup hangovers and all three are still desperately searching for answers.
Florida Panthers
The Panthers figured to struggle out of the gate with captain Aleksander Barkov (knee) possibly out for the season and star forward Matthew Tkachuk (groin) missing the first few months. Steady defenseman Dmitry Kulikov (upper body) and role players Jonah Gadjovich and Tomas Nosek are also on the injured list.
Only Vancouver, New Jersey and Pittsburgh have lost more player games due to injury than Florida.
To the surprise of nobody, the Panthers aren’t nearly as strong an offensive team this season compared to 2024-25.
Taking away Barkov’s standout two-way play and Tkachuk’s standing as one of the game’s premier power forwards has left a gaping hole. Only Brad Marchand (16) and Sam Reinhart (15) have double digit goals for the Panthers.
Florida’s power-play percentage (19.0%) is down from last season (23.5%), but the bigger problem is at the dot. The Panthers are 25th in faceoff percentage, a problem that can be directly attributed to Barkov’s absence.
With Marchand and Reinhart on pace to surpass 30 goals, the blame for the stagnant offense falls mostly on Carter Verhaeghe, Sam Bennett and defenseman Gustav Forsling.
Verhaeghe scored a career-high 42 goals in 2022-23 but dropped to 34 the following season, 20 in 2024-25 and has eight goals this season (he has been hot lately with six goals in his last six games). Bennett has been limited to seven goals after he netted 25 in 2024-25 and Forsling has just one so far after he tallied 11 last season. That lack of offense has made the team’s margin for error much smaller.
Goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky has also seen his numbers plummet, going from a 2.44 goals-against average last season to 2.98 in 2025-26. That ranks him 32nd among all qualified goalies.
Despite these issues, there’s plenty of reasons for Panthers fans to remain optimistic, chief among them that Barkov hasn’t been ruled out for the playoffs and Tkachuk could return this month.
While Florida is languishing near the bottom of the East, the Atlantic Division lead is well within reach. If the Panthers get healthy and have some positive regression, nobody in their right mind would want to play the three-time defending conference champs in the playoffs.
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Nobody would blame the Oilers for subscribing to the age-old adage that you have to lose before you can win. After losing in the finals the past two seasons, this seemed like Edmonton’s time. But there’s a lot of work to be done if the first two months of the season are any indication.
The dynamic duo of Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl remains elite with both among the league scoring leaders. The Oilers can’t complain about the production from Evan Bouchard (27 points) or Ryan Nugent-Hopkins (22 points), and Jack Roslovic (10 goals) has been a pleasant surprise.
Edmonton is waiting for former 50-goal scorer Zach Hyman to find his stride with just two goals in 10 games after he missed the first month of the season following offseason wrist surgery.
Defense, or lack of it, is the biggest issue plaguing the Oilers right now.
Edmonton has allowed four goals or more 13 times. Only Buffalo, Columbus, Detroit and Vancouver have done that more often. The Oilers and Canadiens are also the only teams to surrender at least seven goals twice.
Ugly defensive numbers would suggest Edmonton’s starting goalie is struggling and while Stuart Skinner’s 2.86 goals-against average is nothing to get excited about, it’s right in line with last season’s 2.81. And despite some lackluster regular seasons, he’s been good enough to take a team to consecutive Western Conference titles.
The bigger problem may be backup Calvin Pickard, who sports a league-worst 4.04 GAA in nine games.
The tandem of Skinner and Pickard rank near the bottom of the league in goals saved above expected, a sign that the Oilers couldn’t be blamed for lacking confidence in that pair.
Maybe the most distressing thing for the Oilers is their performances against the best teams in the league – a 9-1 home loss to NHL-best Colorado on Nov. 8 and an 8-3 loss to Dallas on Nov. 25. Also troubling is a 5-1 loss to Eastern Conference-worst Buffalo on Nov. 17.
Even McDavid shouldn’t be immune to some of the blame as he’s currently minus-6 on the season.
Certainly, that number is reflective of the team’s struggles since the three-time Hart Trophy winner rarely leaves the ice. But McDavid was a plus-20 last season and a plus-35 the previous year. He hasn’t been a minus player since 2019-20.
Much like the Panthers, the Oilers still have reason to be optimistic with so much season left to play.
The Pacific Division is still up for grabs with no dominant team and the Oilers are just six points behind the first-place Anaheim Ducks.
Also working in the Oilers’ favor is their favorite month is still to come.
The Oilers have gotten back on track each of the last two seasons with impressive stretches that started late in the calendar year and continued through January.
Edmonton won 16 consecutive games in December and January during the 2023-24 season. Last season, the Oilers had a 22-6-1 stretch from November to late January to get right back in the divisional hunt.
The Oilers have begun to show signs of yet another positive stretch, outscoring Seattle and Winnipeg 15-6 in consecutive wins this past week.
Toronto Maple Leafs
It’s well-documented that the Maple Leafs haven’t won a Stanley Cup since 1967 and that drought has only been made worse because they flame out in the playoffs year after year despite outstanding regular seasons.
Through 28 games last season, the Leafs were 17-9-2 and two points behind the Panthers for the Atlantic lead.
Toronto last missed the postseason in 2015-16, so qualifying for the postseason hasn’t been an issue. But that appears to be a legitimate concern this season in a super crowded Eastern Conference. Only Buffalo has fewer points in the East than Toronto.
Injuries, inconsistency and disappointing individual performances have all played a role in Toronto’s mediocre season thus far.
Superstar Auston Matthews missed two weeks last month with a lower-body injury and is well behind his usual goal-scoring pace with 11 in 23 games. William Nylander is the team’s leading scorer with 32 points but has 11 goals after tallying a career-high 45 last season.
Despite those shortcomings, Toronto ranks fifth in the NHL with 3.39 goals per game even though the power play ranks 30th in the NHL at 14.1%.
At the opposite end, the Leafs’ 3.29 goals-against average would be the franchise’s worst in a single season since the 2008-09 team allowed 3.49 per game.
The biggest problem resides in the net. Starter Anthony Stolarz, who has a 3.51 GAA in 13 games, hasn’t played since he was injured against Boston on Nov. 11 and backup Joseph Woll was hurt at Carolina on Dec. 4 and is expected to miss at least a few games. Dennis Hidelby played well when called upon with a .927 save percentage in eight appearances.
The optimistic fans in Toronto can choose to believe postseason success will follow a middling regular season this time. But the Leafs need to get there first, and they haven’t played like a playoff team so far this season.
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