Stanley Cup favorites the Carolina Hurricanes begin their 2025/26 NHL campaign against Metropolitan Division rivals the New Jersey Devils at the Lenovo Center in Raleigh, North Carolina.
The Devils’ last competitive game was against the Canes, who grabbed a 5-4 overtime win to seal their Eastern Conference first-round playoff series 4-1.
Both teams have made some significant changes since then. The Hurricanes added one of the top free agents in forward Nikolaj Ehlers while also overhauling their defense for the second year running.
New Jersey’s changes are mostly due to players returning from injury, though, and that could just give them the edge in this season opener.
The Hurricanes lost in the Conference Finals for the third time since 2019 last season, and their focus is on finally returning to the Stanley Cup Finals for the first time since their championship year of 2006.
Rod Brind’Amor has guided them to a playoff spot in all his seven seasons behind the bench, but while they appear set up for success in the postseason, they could be vulnerable in their opening games as the coach works out his best defensive pairings.
Pre-season form isn’t something to be relying on, but the fact that the Canes won only one of their six exhibition outings certainly hints at some teething troubles.
New Jersey began last season as one of the favorites for the Stanley Cup, but injuries blighted their campaign and they only just scraped into the postseason.
Top-line center Jack Hughes missed the last 20 games of the regular season as well as the playoffs, while first-pair defenseman Dougie Hamilton has played only 84 games over the last two seasons.
With the exception of defenseman Johnathan Kovacevic, who had knee surgery in May, the whole squad is ready to roll, and the Devils should put up a much better fight than they did in last season’s playoff defeat.
The Devils ranked second in the Eastern Conference for goals against last season, however the last two games of their postseason series against the Canes featured seven and eight goals, not including overtime.
They ranked only 26th in the regular season for 5 v 5 scoring, but having Hughes back healthy gives them much more of a threat, while they have added some depth to the forward ranks with Connor Brown and Evgenii Dadonov.
The Hurricanes play an aggressive forechecking game which should be even more effective for the addition of Ehlers, although any defensive lapses could be seized on by the Devils.
The Hurricanes are not short of an attacking threat and Sebastian Aho is one of their leading marksmen.
The Finn fell just shy of the 30-goal mark with 29 last year having topped 35 for the previous three seasons. However, having Ehlers skating on his wing following a career-high 39 assists with the Winnipeg Jets last year, should help Aho’s stats.
Aho scored three goals in the playoff series against New Jersey last season and added four more in their five-game Conference Finals defeat to the Florida Panthers.
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New Jersey Devils
+140
Carolina Hurricanes
-165
Puck Line
CAR Hurricanes -1.5
Total
O/U 5.5
Jack Hughes (CAR Hurricanes)
+165
Sebastian Aho (CAR Hurricanes)
+165
Seth Jarvis (CAR Hurricanes)
+175
Andrei Svechnikov (CAR Hurricanes)
+190
Nikolaj Ehlers (CAR Hurricanes)
+210
Nico Hischier (NJ Devils)
+230
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This article was written by a partner sports writer via Spotlight Sports Group. All odds displayed on this page were correct at the time of writing and are subject to withdrawal or change at any time.
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