Ranking the Best Possible 2025 NHL Playoffs Matchups

Even though there are still a few playoff spots to be determined as well as seeding to be sorted out, we do have a pretty good idea as to which teams are going to be in the 2025 Stanley Cup Playoffs. At least for the most part. We also have a vague idea on what some of the first-round matchups could look like. 

We already went through some of the potential nightmare matchups for teams, and now we are going to take a look at the opposite end and look at some of the best possible matchups for fans and the league itself.

A good rivalry. Individual players. Rematches. All of those factors could lead to some great series in the coming weeks.

Let’s take a look at some of the best possible matchups we could see when the puck drops on the playoffs April 19.

One of the biggest reasons commissioner Gary Bettman loves the current playoff format within the divisions is because of the way it can create and promote rivalries. The NHL loves rivalries, loves to market rivalries, and the best way for rivalries to develop is if teams keep seeing each other in the playoffs.

Well, the Los Angeles Kings and Edmonton Oilers seem determined to help deliver on that.

The two teams are on a path to meet in the first round for the fourth consecutive season, and it would certainly have its share of intrigue.

Edmonton has two of the best players in the world in Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl and is still looking to get them a championship. After they got to the Stanley Cup Final a year ago, there is going to be added pressure for another deep run. 

The Kings, meanwhile, are trying to avoid what would be an improbable fourth consecutive first-round defeat at the hands of the same team. The Kings are good—really good—and have the type of team that should be capable of a serious run at winning the Western Conference. But they have to get by the Oilers.

Do the Kings have a playoff problem? Or do they have an Oilers problem? The next couple of months will help us answer both of those questions.

Of the teams in contention for the second wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference (Montreal Canadiens, Columbus Blue Jackets, New York Rangers), the Rangers might be the team that would have the best chance of defeating the likely No. 1 seed Washington Capitals.

Not necessarily because the Rangers are anything special as a team—they are not, especially defensively, and have the same flaws that have held them back in recent years—but because they have Igor Shesterkin in goal.

Shesterkin has been masking the Rangers’ many defensive and 5-on-5 flaws for years, and even though his performance this season has not matched his normal career level, he is still very capable of putting the team on his back and carrying it further than it has any business in going. 

He could absolutely do that again here if the Rangers get in. 

It would also be a fascinating matchup to see Shesterkin go up against fellow countryman, and soon to be NHL all-time leading goal-scorer, Alex Ovechkin in a best-of-seven series.

The Capitals are in the playoffs and in the driver’s seat for the No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference. The Rangers still have a lot of work to do to deliver this intriguing matchup.

The Winnipeg Jets have the inside track for the No. 1 seed in the Western Conference, and that may not be an ideal matchup depending on how the wild-card seeding plays out.

If the St. Louis Blues end up securing that spot, it would be an extraordinarily tough matchup for Winnipeg in the first round.

Winnipeg has been the best team in the Western Conference all season, while the Blues have been the hottest team in the NHL over the past two months. They have been a completely different squad since bringing in new head coach Jim Montgomery and acquiring defenseman Cam Fowler in a trade with the Anaheim Ducks. 

As far No. 1 vs. 8 matchups are concerned, this would be as intriguing as it can get. 

Not only could the Blues give Winnipeg a series, they could absolutely win it with the way they are playing right now.

The Florida Panthers are gearing up to make a run for their third consecutive Stanley Cup Final appearance and went all-in at the trade deadline by adding defenseman Seth Jones and forward Brad Marchand.

When everybody is healthy, this is not only one of the best teams in the NHL, it is also going to be one of the fiercest to play against with all of their pests, agitators and cage-rattlers.

Their potential first-round opponent, the Ottawa Senators, would present one of the best individual storylines in the playoffs as it would give the Tkachuk brothers–Florida’s Matthew and Ottawa’s Brady–the opportunity to face off.

We saw them play together in the 4 Nations Face-Off and all of the chaos that produced. 

Getting an opportunity to see them play against each other in a best-of-seven playoff series would be compelling theater. 

They will both go out of their way to get their opponents off of their game, and they would have the opportunity to do it to each other.

If the Panthers do not get the Senators, they would get the Tampa Bay Lightning in the No. 2 vs. 3 matchup in the Atlantic Division for the battle of Florida. The two teams have met in the playoffs in three of the past five years (with Tampa Bay winning two of them) and have a chance to meet again in a few weeks.

It would not only be a great long-time rivalry, it would also be an incredible first-round matchup between two of the best teams in the NHL this season and the two most dominant teams in the league over the past six years.

Since the start of the 2019-20 season, the Panthers and Lightning have represented the Eastern Conference in the Stanley Cup Final in each of the past five seasons, combining to win three of them. 

Both teams have star power at the top of the lineup, both made major additions at the trade deadline, and both have a legitimate chance to win it all. If they meet in the first round, one of them is guaranteed to have a short spring and a very long offseason.

Another potential first-round matchup between two of the best teams in the league could very likely happen in the Central Division where the Dallas Stars and Colorado Avalanche seem on their way to meet.

What immediately puts this potential matchup at the top of the list is the Mikko Rantanen situation.

Rantanen had been a star in Colorado for a decade until he was shockingly traded this season to the Carolina Hurricanes after the two sides were unable to reach a new deal on a contract extension.

When the same thing happened with Rantanen and the Hurricanes, they traded him to Dallas and helped set the stage for the Avalanche to have to potentially play their former long-time star forward.

His arrival in Dallas makes an already great Stars team even better, and after back-to-back trips to the Western Conference Final they should be considered heavy favorites to win the West this season. Especially after adding Mikael Granlund, Cody Ceci and Rantanen ahead of the trade deadline.

Colorado also made its own series of moves to load up, adding Brock Nelson and Charlie Coyle. 

The Avalanche have overhauled a significant portion of their roster in-season (both goalies, trading Rantanen for Martin Necas, adding Nelson and Coyle) and the results have been mostly outstanding. 

This would be an incredible Western Conference Final series with a trip to the Stanley Cup Final on the line. We are likely to instead get it in the first round and send one of these teams home early.