Which tri-state team will win the Stanley Cup first?
It’s been a mixed season for the three hockey teams in the tri-state area, but the New Jersey Devils, New York Rangers and New York Islanders have offered glimmers of hope for what could come in the rest of the 2026-27 season—especially the Devils, with the recent acquisition of star netminder Connor Hellebuyck.
On a recent episode of Daily Faceoff LIVE, co-hosts Tyler Yaremchuk and Carter Hutton welcomed Jonny Lazarus, co-host of the Tri-State Hockey Show, on to break down the three teams and other topics across the NHL, including which of the Devils, Rangers, or Islanders could be on the fastest track towards a Stanley Cup.
Carter Hutton: We break this down a lot, like the tri-state teams, and Tyler and I always talk about who is going to be the closest team to getting to a Stanley Cup and who is the furthest away? Which team do you think, out of the Islanders, Devils, and Rangers, are closest to winning a Stanley Cup?
Jonny Lazarus: I think the obvious is the Devils. Even before Hellebuyck, I think when you look at the core of all three teams, the Devils’ guys are still the youngest, right?
Like, Jack Hughes is still young; I know he’s been in the league for a long time, but 25 is young, and he hasn’t even really entered his prime yet. Jesper Brat is only 28. Nico Hischier is only 27, Luke Hughes is just 23, and Timo Meir just turned 30. These guys, they have locked in for the next few years; they’re still young guys, and it’s interesting, right?
I think the Devils have had bad luck over the past few years, mostly with injuries, and we haven’t seen them fully healthy in the playoffs when they’ve gotten there. You know, they obviously had that first-round win against the Rangers in 2023, and everyone thought that was the turning point where the Devils would really start to figure things out and become a competitive contender.
The Devils are certainly built well, especially now that they added Hellebuyck because goaltending was the weakest position, for sure. But the question now is whether the Devils play a championship-style brand of hockey. They have the talent up front, but we don’t know how hard they are to play against or how mean they can be in playoff time.
They have all the skill in the world; they possess the puck and don’t allow a lot of shots on net, but the playoffs are a different beast, so we don’t know what this Devils group will look like against a team like the Carolina Hurricanes, and that’s going to be something that’s interesting to watch for through this season.
As far as the Islanders and Rangers go, the Rangers right now, I think the direction is a little off, right? Because their top two centers, as I mentioned, are both 33 years old, and both have four years left in their deal. The Rangers were considered one of the younger teams in the NHL when, like, Cole Beaudoin was in the lineup, and they do have a crop of young guys now, but there’s still an older mix too that isn’t really on the way out.
And the Islanders, obviously, there’s a lot of concern just about Matt Barzal and what his injury looks like and when he’ll return, if he does decide to return this year. From everything I’ve heard, it’s still pretty unknown. But with Matthew Schaefer and Ilya Sorokin, those guys are locked in, and Schaefer obviously doesn’t have a contract yet, but I imagine he’ll get the max. The Islanders have this crop of older guys as well.
So the Devils are by far the team that is the closest to winning a cup, and maybe the Islanders with their prospect pool; I might put second over the Rangers right now, just because they have a good amount of young talent that’s coming up.
You can catch the full discussion and the rest of the recent episode of Daily Faceoff LIVE right here…