• Multiple Contributors

Mar 18, 2025, 07:30 AM ET

There is less than one month left in the 2024-25 NHL season but much remains to be determined:

  • Which teams will secure spots in the 2025 Stanley Cup playoffs?

  • Which team is under the most pressure in the final stretch?

  • Who will earn the Hart Trophy as league MVP?

  • And which two clubs will be squaring off in the Stanley Cup Final?

Read on as our ESPN hockey family debates those key questions.

Which team currently outside of the playoffs makes it?

Ryan S. Clark, NHL reporter: Let’s go with the

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Öcal: Colorado Avalanche vs. Tampa Bay Lightning. A 2022 rematch isn’t out of the realm of possibility. Both teams leveled up in key areas at the trade deadline. The Bolts picked up Yanni Gourde and Oliver Bjorkstrand and now the top nine is stacked. They still have one of the best goalies in the league in Andrei Vasilevskiy. Meanwhile, Colorado added Brock Nelson, Charlie Coyle, Erik Johnson, Ryan Lindgren and Jimmy Vesey. I like the needs the Avs addressed before the deadline, and they look legit.

Shilton: Dallas Stars vs. Washington Capitals. Before the season began, there was a zero percent chance I would have suggested Washington was in position to reach the 2025 Stanley Cup Final. The Capitals are just having a special season, and those are rare. All things being equal, Washington should be able to translate its regular-season success into a long playoff run.

As for Dallas — it’s just time. The Stars have been circling a Final date for too long not to get there. Mikko Rantanen is on board. Miro Heiskanen will be back. Dallas should be formidable in every respect. It’s their moment to shine.

Wyshynski: Dallas Stars vs. Florida Panthers. The Stars were my Stanley Cup pick before the season. Assuming it’s all-systems-go for their wounded players — Heiskanen, especially — I’m still on them to break through after consecutive trips to the conference finals. Give me Jake Oettinger, Roope Hintz and Wyatt Johnston in any series; most importantly, give me Rantanen with something to prove on a stage he has owned for the past several postseasons.

Originally, I had them playing the New Jersey Devils, but that’s not happening without Jack Hughes. So give me the Panthers’ third straight trip to the Stanley Cup Final. Their core is built for playoff glory. They have Playoff Bob. GM Bill Zito has done a nice job addressing depth concerns. And adding Brad Marchand to a team that already has Matthew Tkachuk and Sam Bennett is, ahem, a tactical advantage no other team can boast. Bring your earplugs.

Who’s your pick for Hart Trophy right now?

Clark: Connor Hellebuyck. It has been exactly a decade since Carey Price was the last goaltender to win the Hart. Price was beyond crucial to his team’s success, while also leading the NHL in wins, goal-against average, save percentage and goals-saved above expected average. He was also in the top five in minutes played and saves.

Hellebuyck is atop the league in wins, GAA, save percentage, GSAA and shutouts, and has been going back and forth with Andrei Vasilevskiy for the lead in minutes played. There’s no denying what forwards such as Leon Draisaitl, Nikita Kucherov and Nathan MacKinnon have done. It’s just that what Hellebuyck stands to achieve is on par with what we expect out of a goalie being Hart-worthy.

Matiash: Leon Draisaitl. Stubbornly siding with Nikita Kucherov — still underrated as a game-changing asset to his team — for a good part of this season, I can’t help but now shift to the only projected 50-plus-goal scorer of 2024-25.

According to Evolving Hockey, Draisaitl boasts a league-leading 24.6 goals above replacement (GAR), 4.0 wins above replacement (WAR), and a whopping 7.6 standings points above replacement (SPAR). If that doesn’t define “most valuable to their team,” I’m not sure what does.

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Draisaitl’s 2nd goal of the game wins it for Oilers in OT

Leon Draisaitl scores his second goal of the game in overtime to help the Oilers defeat the Islanders.

Öcal: Definitely Leon Draisaitl. He and MacKinnon will be neck and neck on points all the way to the last games of the regular season, but Draisaitl is running away with the Rocket Richard (49), currently 13 goals above William Nylander in second (36). Draisaitl also leads the league in even-strength goals (34). Plus, he’s earning his Hart Trophy votes on a team that has Connor McDavid.

I’m picking Leon to win his second Hart in five years. Leon has been so good this season he could have helped Kino Loy swim away from Narkina 5.

Shilton: Nathan MacKinnon. Yes, we’re talking back-to-back Hart Trophy wins. The last player to do it? Alex Ovechkin, in 2009. It doesn’t happen often.

But MacKinnon has undeniably dragged Colorado back into the fight this season. Remember when we were counting out the Avalanche? MacKinnon never relented. Colorado lost Rantanen, and as devastating as that was, it almost seemed to light a larger fire under MacKinnon to keep Colorado in contending position. Now, if Hellebuyck takes it from MacKinnon that’s incredibly well-deserved, too. But for me, it’s MacKinnon, for how he has been the Avs’ most valuable player practically every single game.

Wyshynski: Connor Hellebuyck. Let’s not overcomplicate things. As of Monday, Hellebuyck had 39 of the Jets’ 47 wins. He led the league in save percentage, and his goals-against average had dipped below two goals per game — while that’s considered a team stat rather than an individual one, it’s fairly obvious who’s responsible for it when backup Eric Comrie‘s GAA is half a goal higher.

There are certainly other worthy candidates: Draisaitl has an incredible case this season, and Zach Werenski deserves a shoutout for what he has done for Columbus. (And a louder shoutout to Quinn Hughes, who might have been the choice were it not for his injury.) But the Jets have been one of the NHL’s best teams this season, and everything tracks to Hellebuyck as the foundation for that.