2026-27 playoff picks: Florida's path to a three-peat runs through Colorado

Sixteen teams, two conferences, and a Cup pick that's the safe call precisely because it keeps working. Based on how the four divisions shake out, here's the bracket and the one path through it that ends the way it ended last spring.

The East field

Division leaders: Florida, Montreal and Toronto out of the Atlantic; Carolina, Washington and New Jersey out of the Metro. Wild cards: Tampa Bay and Philadelphia, the two strongest fourth-place teams in either division and both good enough to make a division leader's life miserable in round one.

The West field

Division leaders: Colorado, Dallas and Utah out of the Central; Vegas, Edmonton and San Jose out of the Pacific. Wild cards: Minnesota and Anaheim, the two teams closest to forcing their way into a division's top three and just short of doing it.

The first-round matchup nobody wants

Montreal drawing a wild card in round one is the round most likely to end early for somebody with a bigger name on the marquee. A team playing its best hockey in April doesn't care what seed it drew to get there, and Montreal's been playing its best hockey since October.

The bold call

Toronto doesn't get out of the second round. The top end is real, the depth behind it still isn't, and a conference with Florida, Montreal and Carolina in it doesn't have room for a team that's spent a decade finding new ways to lose the same series.

The Cup pick

Florida over Colorado. It's not a courageous pick — it's the safe one, and it's the safe one because nothing about either team's floor has changed. Colorado has the best player on the ice in a Cup Final; Florida has the team that's already proven twice it doesn't need to be the more talented roster to be the last one standing. Take the safe pick, write it down, and see if anyone's brave enough to fade it.

The Ferda read: the bracket says East and West both send their best team to the Final. The Cup pick says only one of them remembers how to win it.