Won’t you come home, Stanley? A Canadian team lifting the Cup just one of several storylines to tee up NHL season Dump & Chase
By: Mike McIntyre and Ken Wiebe Posted: 7:20 PM CDT Friday, Sep. 25, 2026

A weekly lap around the NHL by Free Press hockey writers Mike McIntyre and Ken Wiebe

There’s no shortage of compelling storylines surrounding the Winnipeg Jets as they head into a new season.

How will the Connor Hellebuyck crease crisis get settled? Can 18-year-old Viggo Bjorck quickly become the next big thing? Was last year’s plunge in the standings an exception or the new normal? Is head coach Scott Arniel’s seat getting hot?

We’ll continue to be all over those questions, including a series of Jets previews coming your way next week. But it’s not just the local hockey happenings that have our attention here at Dump & Chase.

With the curtain officially rising on the 2026-27 campaign next Tuesday, we’ve got our eye on a number of hot topics around the NHL.

We’ve also dusted off the crystal ball to gaze into the future, from final standings and playoff results to league awards.

Canadian drama

Hockey scribes and pundits from coast to coast to coast will have plenty of juicy material to sink their teeth into over the coming months.

In the Eastern Conference, the Toronto Maple Leafs are hoping their shiny new toy Gavin McKenna can help lead them to the top. The Montreal Canadiens are looking to build on last year’s success with a compelling young core. And the Ottawa Senators are hoping to put the Brady Tkachuk soap opera behind them.

Out West, the Edmonton Oilers are banking on Mike Babcock being a difference-maker. And what happens if he’s not? The Calgary Flames are bidding farewell to the Saddledome and gearing up for what they hope will be a bright future. And the Vancouver Canucks are bracing for what could be some dark days ahead in what looks like a long, painful rebuild.

It’s been 33 years and counting since the Habs brought Lord Stanley north of the border. He’s had a ZIP code, rather than a postal code, ever since.

Might this be the year the championship drought finally ends? It should be a lot of fun along the way as we find out.

Raising Canes

The Carolina Hurricanes will attempt to join the Florida Panthers (2024 and 2025) and Tampa Bay Lightning (2020 and 2021) as repeat Stanley Cup winners during the past decade.

Head coach Rod Brind’Amour has most members of his team back for the title defence, with the exception of goalie Frederik Andersen (who signed with the Oilers as a free agent), though defenceman Alexander Nikishin is a restricted free agent whose future seems a bit cloudy right now.

The Hurricanes received an obvious boost from the addition of former Jets winger Nikolaj Ehlers as a free agent in the summer of 2025 and the zone entry machine might be even more productive in his second season after racking up 26 goals and a career-high 71 points in 2025-26.

Winnipegger Seth Jarvis, who was also a two-way force during the Stanley Cup run after a third consecutive 30-plus goal campaign, starts on the sidelines after undergoing off-season shoulder surgery — though he remains on schedule to return before the end of the calendar year.

The Hurricanes also have the benefit of more than US$8 million of cap space at their disposal prior to signing Nikishin, which means they remain one of the possibilities to pursue Hellebuyck.

Speaking of the Panthers, after missing out on the playoffs last spring, the return of Aleksander Barkov and the addition of Tkachuk from Ottawa means that the team led by former Jets head coach Paul Maurice figures to be one of the contenders in the Eastern Conference.

Macklin’s world

He may be only 20, but make no mistake: Macklin Celebrini is the new face of the league.

The San Jose Sharks forward was named team captain on Friday and we can’t wait to see what he does to follow up on last year’s incredible season which included 115 points (45 goals, 70 assists) and a jaw-dropping performance at the Winter Olympics which really announced his arrival to the world.

The term “generational player” is perhaps tossed around a bit too loosely these days, but it certainly fits for the North Vancouver product.

Celebrini has the game and the gravitas to carry the load. And by the time his career is done, it wouldn’t be surprising if he’s viewed among the all-time greats.

Maybe the bigger question is how many Stanley Cups might he win? Celebrini already has his Sharks looking like a contender.

Vegas revival?

The Golden Knights came out of what Connor McDavid called the “Pillow Fight Division” and won three rounds, eliminating Utah, Anaheim and Colorado (who captured the Presidents’ Trophy) to reach the Stanley Cup final.

Vegas pushed its playoff win total to 14 before their season ended, but that left them two shy of achieving the ultimate goal.

So what will they do for an encore?

A good chunk of the roster — and core group — remains intact and they’re determined to take another run at raising a banner.

Trading sniper Pavel Dorofeyev to the New York Rangers means that some additional scoring must be found throughout the lineup, but having William Karlsson back healthy should be a big boost after he was limited to 14 games last regular season.

Ovi’s farewell?

Wayne Gretzky’s regular-season record of 894 goals looked like it might never get touched, especially with scoring in the modern era not nearly what it was during the Great One’s tenure.

Now Alex Ovechkin is coming into the 2026-27 season already 35 goals ahead of Gretzky’s final tally.

The controversial 41-year-old Washington Capitals power forward is back for a 22nd season which is also expected to be his last.

Ovechkin can still produce, racking up 64 points (32G, 32A) while playing all 82 games last season, and getting to 950 career goals seems likely, as he’d only need 21 this year.

His only visit to Winnipeg — a team he has absolutely torched over his career — is on March 5.

Mo’ money

It’s a brave new world in the NHL, where the highest salary now belongs to Anaheim centre Leo Carlsson, thanks in part to the five-year, US$90 million offer sheet he originally signed with Philadelphia that was matched by the team that selected him second overall in 2023.

Carlsson, whose average annual value (AAV) ballooned to US$18 million, has only 201 NHL games on his resumé and had 29 goals and 67 points last season. Though he is an excellent two-way player, this is a massive raise coming out of his entry-level contract.

Cale Makar of the Colorado Avalanche eclipsed that number, though his extension with an AAV of US$20.4 million doesn’t kick in until next season.

When it comes to the Jets, Kyle Connor’s extension kicks in this season carries an AAV of US$12 million, which leaves him tied for the 11th highest salary in the NHL along with Mikko Rantanen and Jason Robertson of the Dallas Stars and Mitch Marner of the Golden Knights.

Jets defenceman Josh Morrissey is eligible to sign an extension on July 1 and would be a safe bet to more than double his salary (currently US$6.25 million AAV).

Not only are individuals seeing a dramatic spike in salary, but the cap ceiling is going up to US$113.5 million next season, while the early estimate for 2028-29 is US$127.5 million, according to Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet.

Depending on what the exchange rate is at the time, that could mean a salary cap ceiling in the neighbourhood of US$200 million for the seven Canadian teams.

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