Bold Predictions for the Last 2 Weeks of the NHL Season

Sometimes the last two weeks of the NHL regular season can get a bit dull. We’re just in reach of the best time of the year, the top teams have already punched their tickets to the playoffs, and the worst teams are trying to at least get a good draft pick out of all of this.

This season’s last two weeks are anything but boring. Alex Ovechkin is three goals away from breaking the all-time goals record, the Bruins are worst in the Eastern Conference in April for the first time since 1997, and the East’s bubble remains an absolute gauntlet. 

How about we make it even more entertaining with some bold predictions for the last two weeks of the 2025 NHL season?

The Blue Jackets once held the East’s No. 2 Wild Card spot, but as they struggled to score late last month they fell into a rut that has them two teams and four points out of the spot . With this recent explosion of scoring–and the return of Boone Jenner and Sean Monahan–they can still do it.

Montreal has held on to the No. 2 spot for a while, with an impressive recent two-game sweep of the Panthers to boot. Their upcoming schedule is certainly easier than Columbus’, with opponents like the Predators, the Flyers and the Blackhawks incoming, while the Blue Jackets are set to face Ottawa twice and the Capitals twice.

But by the time they face the Capitals, there’s a solid chance Ovechkin will have already broken the record, meaning he and potentially others could be rested before the playoffs. 

Besides, nothing has ever come easy for this Blue Jackets team. All season, they kept going despite their bleak odds. The recent trend in offensive uptick and return of two crucial players could right the ship down the stretch. Who are we to doubt the team that has exceeded all expectations?

The Canadiens have seven games remaining, and Lane Hutson is running away with the Calder Trophy race with 62 points in 75 games. He started his rookie season off strong, but somehow he’s only improved since then, as he’s settled in and ramped up the results on the scoresheet.

He’s got 10 assists and a goal in his last 10 games as the Canadiens fight to maintain their playoff spot. 

Larry Murphy’s rookie defenseman record set in 1980-81 is 76, so Hutson would need 14 points in seven games to beat it. Knowing it’s in reach, knowing the Canadiens are fighting for their lives and he’s been such a huge part of it, and knowing he’s just getting better–why shouldn’t he go for a two-point-per-game clip? Wilder things have happened.

No one can blame the Wild for their recent fall from grace, considering the amount of key players out with extremely unfortunate injuries when the team needed them most.

Arguably the two most important forwards on the team, Kirill Kaprizov and Joel Eriksson Ek, have been out long term with their return dates still unknown. Kaprizov, who was on a Hart Trophy trajectory, has played only three games since Christmas, and Eriksson Ek has been out since February 22.

The Wild have suffered as the Blues’ stock has gone up, and now they’ve swapped wild-card positions as Minnesota dropped to the No. 2. Spot. It doesn’t look like the situation will improve as the Wild are on yet another losing streak.

The Flames are five points behind them. The Flames play the Sharks twice and the Wild once down this final stretch. If they just win those three games and the Wild keep generally losing, they could knock Minnesota out of the No. 2 Wild Card spot in the West and make things interesting.

Alex Ovechkin is three goals away from breaking Wayne Grezky’s all-time goals scored record, and with seven games left, it’d be pretty shocking if he doesn’t pull it off this season. It’s less about “Will he?” now, and more about “When?”

My guess is in four or five games, and the Capitals conveniently have a back-to-back against the Blue Jackets in their fourth and fifth game out. Considering Columbus is fighting to get into the playoffs, starting goalie Elvis Merzlikins could appear in both games, and he’s obviously starting at least one of the two. There’s a good chance Ovechkin scores the record-breaking goal against him, etching him in hockey trivia lore forever.

The Lightning haven’t come out of nowhere–take a look at the first line of Jake Guentzel, Brayden Point and Nikita Kucherov and you’re silly to ever count them out. But they struggled with consistency early on in the season, and then they revved up. Now here they are, three points out of No. 1 in the Atlantic. 

Meanwhile, the No. 1 Maple Leafs have a tough schedule down the stretch, with the No. 3 Panthers again, the Lightning, the Hurricanes and the Canadiens. The Lightning have it a bit easier down the stretch, and they’re gaining traction. The Panthers and the Maple Leafs could eat each other alive, resulting in a No. 1 Tampa Bay seed, if the Lightning win more than they lose down the stretch.