NHL Playoffs: Who to Root For in the Pacific

Last Update: Fri Apr 17, 2026, 3:59 pm ET

Read Time: 10 minutes

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Here. We. Are. It is offically the eve of the NHL Playoffs and I couldn't be more excited. Round One is always a blood bath and there are so many fantastic opening series that I will be slowly become one with the couch as I watch game after game of NHL playoff action all weekend long. So let's breakdown the last division in our series of who to root for and who to root against. Today we will look at the Pacific Division. While the Pacific was one of the weaker divisions in the league, they still have several teams who could make quite a bit of noise. We have already broken down the Atlantic, the Metropolitan and the Central divisions. Time to head to the coast and see which teams in the Pacific you should, or shouldn't root for!

Here at Betting News we want to ensure that you are ready to pick a team to cheer on. A team to act like an expert in when you're grabbing beers with the boys and/or girls. A team to become obsessed with until June, when one NHL team will hoist Stanley Cup. So if your favorite team isn't making the cut, or you just want a team from the other conference to root for we got you covered in this series.

I'll be breaking down each division, highlighting the narrative of each tea, in a playoff spot,. I'll let you know why you should root for them, or why you should spit on the ground any time you hear their name. Let's get started with the Central Division.

1. Vegas Golden Knights: – 1st Place Record: 39-26-17| 95 pts Lucky Rebel:

Knights forward Mitch Marner mean mugs after scoring a goal at home.

The Story

Nobody will be writing songs about the 2025-26 Golden Knights regular season. Vegas finished with 95 points — the lowest total of any division winner this year, a mark that wouldn't have cracked the NHL playoff field in the Eastern Conference. For most of the season they were an infuriating contradiction: a roster loaded with six 50-point scorers that couldn't win consistently, drifting in and out of the division lead, eventually slipping to the edge of wild card territory under a coaching staff that had lost the room.

Then Bruce Cassidy was fired on March 29. Under John Tortorella, the Golden Knights went 7-0-1 in his first eight games, clinched back-to-back Pacific Division titles for the first time in franchise history, and entered the playoffs as one of the league's hottest teams. Mitch Marner tallied his fifth straight 80-point season — the fifth-longest active streak among all NHL players — and became just the second Golden Knight ever to record 80 points in a single season. Jack Eichel cemented his second straight 90-point campaign. Carter Hart, who returned from injury on April 2, went 6-0 in his six starts since coming back, looking every bit like the playoff-ready goaltender Vegas needs him to be.

The matchup against the Utah Mammoth is winnable, though not to be taken lightly. The Mammoth are a second-year franchise with nothing to lose and everything to prove — a genuinely dangerous opponent for a team that just found its legs.

Why you should root for them: Mitch Marner carrying a reputation for playoff underperformance into what is easily the deepest roster he's ever played on is one of the great narrative setups in this year's postseason (you have to love rubbing it in to Leafs fans). If there was ever a situation built for him to finally silence the critics, this is it. Also: Tortorella with a legitimate Cup contender is appointment television.

This is a big, burly, playoff proven team. And a legitimate darkhorse to go all the way through the NHL Playoffs. You essentially get to root for an "underdog" while not exactly rooting for an underdog.

Why you should root against them: Has one team been handed more in this league than the Golden Knights? They seemingly break all the NHL rules and get away with it (the long term IR maneuvers around the cap, trading every last asset to continually add to a roster, moving fan favorites year over year). They went to the Stanley Cup Finals in their first year of existence. They have acquired the biggest trade target available seemingly every season. And they have already collected a Cup. This is a team you love to hate.

Oh, and they are playing my Mammoth in the first round.

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2. Edmonton Oilers – 2nd Place Record: 41-30-11 | 93 pts | Lucky Rebel:

Oilers players Connor McDavid, Zach Hyman and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins celebrate after scoring a goal.

The Story

Two consecutive Stanley Cup Final losses. Two consecutive heartbreaking exits. Connor McDavid and the Oilers are back, and at this point the only acceptable ending to this story is a championship. McDavid is putting up Hart Trophy-caliber numbers again — 47 goals, 86 assists, 133 points in 80 games — and is on pace for a sixth Art Ross Trophy. At this point, McDavid's regular season greatness is almost background noise. Everyone knows he's the best player on earth. The question is whether he can drag this team over the NHL Playoff finish line.

The concern is real, though. Edmonton finished with a .567 points percentage, their lowest since 2018-19, and were without Leon Draisaitl for significant stretches — and his status for the start of the postseason remains questionable after a late-season injury.The goaltending situation has been a persistent question mark, with Tristan Jarry acquiring in a trade for Stuart Skinner underperforming, and Bill Masterton nominee Connor Ingram emerging as the odds-on favorite to start Game 1.

Facing a young, energized Ducks team in the first round is exactly the kind of trap game that has bitten Oilers teams in recent years. McDavid will not let them lose this series, but he shouldn't have to do it alone in the NHL Playoffs.

Why you should root for them: Because watching McDavid finally get his hands on the Stanley Cup would be one of the most electric moments this sport has produced in a generation. Four straight years in the playoffs without a title is a burden that is starting to feel Sisyphean for the greatest player of his generation. Like it or not, the best player in the world deserves to hoist the Stanley Cup at least once.

Why you should root against them: Because the Edmonton Oilers have had two of the best players of all time in Gretzky and McDavid. Because the Oilers have gotten 1st overall pick after 1st overall pick through the 2000's. Because the Edmonton Oilers are incapable of putting together a roster to win the Cup with the best player in the world.

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3. Anaheim Ducks — 3rd Place Record: 43-33-6 | 92 pts | Lucky Rebel:

Anaheim Ducks players Leo Carlsson and Cutter Gauthier celebrate with teammates after scoring a goal.

The Story

This is the story of the Pacific Division in 2025-26 — and one of the great underdog arcs of the entire NHL season. The Ducks qualified for the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the first time since 2017-18, ending an eight-season drought with a young, talented roster guided by first-year coach Joel Quenneville, whose own return is remarkable in its own right. Quenneville, the second-winningest coach in NHL history and a three-time Cup champion, was reinstated by the NHL in 2024 after a nearly-three-year ban stemming from the Blackhawks scandal. He inherited a Ducks team that hadn't made the playoffs in seven years and turned them into a postseason contender in Year 1.

The core is genuinely exciting. Leo Carlsson, Cutter Gauthier, Mason McTavish, and a deep group of young forwards give Anaheim an identity that feels sustainable — not a one-year fluke. The Ducks led the Pacific Division for much of the season before a late swoon, going 1-6-2 over nine games down the stretch, before recovering enough to hold off the Kings for the third seed.

They draw the Oilers in the first round — a brutal assignment on paper. But McDavid's team has question marks in goal and is banged up. Don't sleep on Anaheim.

Why you should root for them: Eight years is a long time. The Ducks have a genuinely likable young core, a legendary coach writing a redemption chapter, and a fanbase that deserves playoff hockey. They also have a collection of vets who have made big impacts in the NHL playoffs. Kreider, Kilorn, Trouba, Goudas and John Carlson are all playoff warriors. A first-round upset over Edmonton would be one of the best moments of the postseason.

Why you should root against them: If Anaheim actually beats Edmonton, Connor McDavid will spend the entire summer in purgatory. Some of us aren't emotionally ready for that particular outcome.

4. Los Angeles Kings — 4th Place Record: 35-27-20 | 90 pts | Lucky Rebel:

Kings forward Quinton Byfield celebrates after scoring an overtime winning goal.

The Story

This is not the situation the Kings envisioned when Anze Kopitar announced this would be his final season in the NHL. Los Angeles found itself in the Western Conference's second wild card slot — and immediately into the most punishing possible first-round draw: the Presidents' Trophy-winning Colorado Avalanche, a team that went 55-16 on the year and features Nathan MacKinnon, Cale Makar, and one of the deepest rosters in hockey. The Kings were swept by Colorado in the regular season series, losing all three matchups by scores of 4-1, 5-2, and 4-2.

The Kings did try to upgrade. They acquired Artemi Panarin from the Rangers before the Olympic break, and Panarin delivered with 26 points in 23 games as a King. The season turned dark when Kevin Fiala suffered a leg injury at the Olympics and was lost for the year. Kopitar himself contributed 38 points in his final season at age 38, finishing seventh on his own team in scoring — a fitting symbol of a team that has aged out of contention faster than anyone wanted to admit.

This will be the first time Kings and Avalanche have met in the NHL playoffs since 2002, when Colorado won both of their series in seven games en route to championships. History is not on Los Angeles's side. But this is Kopitar's last dance, and hockey has a way of producing memorable moments in farewell seasons.

Why you should root for them: Because Anze Kopitar is one of the great two-way centers of his generation, a franchise cornerstone for 20 years, and nobody deserves a storybook ending more than a player of his caliber and character. If LA somehow pulls off the upset, it's one of the greatest NHL playoff stories of the decade.

Why you should root against them: They're going to lose to Colorado. Badly. And as beautiful as the Kopitar farewell narrative is, rooting for the Kings against the Avs requires a level of magical thinking that even the most sentimental hockey fan can't sustain through Game 3 in Denver. After losing to Edmonton in the first round four straight years, a spanking by the Avalanche may be just what the Kings need to realize it's time to rebuild.

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