NHL Playoff Race Tightens As Coaching Shake-Ups Fuel Wild Finish

March Madness isn’t just for basketball, as the end of the NHL’s 2025–26 regular season is containing its own share of chaos—and then some. 

As the league approaches the April 16 conclusion of the regular season, recent days have already contained a flurry of activity, with more to come. Among the notable recent developments:

• The Panthers, the league’s two-time defending champion and a franchise regarded as a top operator both on and off the ice, were officially eliminated from the postseason Sunday. A series of injuries to key players, including captain Aleksander Barkov and Matthew Tkachuk, derailed the club’s hope for a rare three-peat. 
• The Sabres ended the league’s longest playoff drought at 15 years, solidifying their spot after the Red Wings lost on Saturday to the Rangers. Buffalo’s fortunes turned around rapidly after the team fired GM Kevyn Adams in December and brought in replacement Jarmo Kekäläinen. Since that move, the team is 32–9–4.
• The Islanders fired head coach Patrick Roy and brought in replacement Peter DeBoer, most recently with the Stars until the end of last season, with just four regular-season games remaining. After four consecutive losses, the team now stands one point out of the final wild-card slot in the Eastern Conference, and is trying to avoid a second-straight season out of the playoffs. There is also a long-term consideration, though, as DeBoer was reportedly signed through the 2029–30 season, and he will be entrusted to a team core that includes teenage phenom Matthew Schaefer. 
• That head coach firing closely followed one in Vegas, where that team fired Bruce Cassidy and brought in veteran head coach John Tortorella. Notably, Tortortella most recently was working as an analyst with ESPN, and his deal with Vegas does not extend beyond this current season. Rather, Tortorella was brought in to fix a troubled locker room and a team that had gone on a 5–10–2 skid since the Olympic break.
• The overall playoff race remains tightly muddled, with four teams in the Eastern Conference within three standings points of the final playoff spot, currently held by the Senators. In the Western Conference, the same situation applies, as four teams are within three standings points of the Predators, currently holding the final wild-card position. 
• With 10 days to go, nine of 16 total playoff spots remain up for grabs after the Lightning, Sabres, Canadiens, Hurricanes, Avalanche, Stars, and Wild clinched berths in recent days. Only five teams have been eliminated. 
• The Mammoth have a cushion of five standing points as the team seeks its first playoff berth since arriving in Utah in 2024, and its first since 2020 in its previous existence as the Arizona Coyotes. 

Overall, the situation reflects the heightened amount of parity that has marked the entire NHL season. 

“With where the league’s at, our division, there’s pressure every night on every team,” said Canadiens wing Cole Caufield. “That’s what makes this thing so fun.”