How well do you know your Cup-winning goalies? Take the Who Didn’t He Play For quiz

In the Stanley Cup playoffs, it’s all about the goalies. The team that gets the better goaltending always wins, except for the times that they don’t, but it’s always better to have a big-name star, unless it’s one of those years where the winning team can just throw anyone back there. Glad we cleared all that up. Let’s do a quiz.

I’ll give you 16 goaltenders who have their name on the Stanley Cup, plus four teams for each. You tell me which one of those teams that goalie never played a game for. Nice and simple. I’m sure you’ll do great.

Complete the quiz below, then scroll back up to see how you did using this handy scoring chart:

16 correct: You are Ken Dryden, and can basically win the Cup whenever you feel like it.

12-15 correct: You are Patrick Roy, owner of multiple Conn Smythe trophies.

8-11 correct: You’re Jonathan Quick, saving your best for when it’s needed.

4-7 correct: You’re Henrik Lundqvist; you had your moments, but couldn’t get a ring.

1-3 correct: You’re Playoff Freddie Andersen. Hey, it could always be worse.

0 correct: You’re Connor Hellebuyck on the road.

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Do you know your defensive defensemen? The ‘Who Didn’t He Play For?’ quiz returns

Folks, it’s time to honor the noble defensive defenseman.

I don’t mean with a new trophy, although that idea popped up again recently. Sharks’ blueliner Marc-Edouard Vlasic is the latest to call for a new award, an idea that Daniel wrote about last season. You can understand why a guy like Vlasic would be on board, but a lot of fans seem to like the idea too, especially as the Norris Trophy becomes the domain of guys who produce offense. Having a Rod Langway Trophy, or whatever else you would call it, would be a way to recognize the guys who put the actual “defense” in defenseman.

But that’s not the honor we’re awarding today, because I don’t have to ability to create new NHL trophies. (As much as I’ve tried.) No, we’ll have to settle for the greatest honor that I can bestow – their own version of the “Who Didn’t He Play For?” quiz.

This is the quiz where I give you a player and four teams, and you have to tell me which one he never played a game for. In the past, we’ve covered everything from Hall-of-Famers to Conn Smythe winners to some of history’s top goalies.

This one might be tricky, since a lot of the league’s best defensive defensemen don’t bounce around all that much, a fact we were reminded of in last week’s rundown of teams’ games played leaders. But for every Ken Daneyko or Chris Phillips or even Vlasic himself who’s a franchise lifer, there’s a journeyman who travels from town to town, clearing pucks and cross-checking spinal cords. Not every stay-at-home guy gets to stay at home, you could say. Let’s give those players their due, while seeing if you really know and appreciate the noble defensive defenseman as well as you should.

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Take the quiz: "Satan's Wallpaper", and other fake nicknames you've never heard

We were treated to the top comedy moment of the hockey season this week, and we have a former Devils goaltender to thank for it.

No, not Mackenzie Blackwood hanging a 44-save shutout on his former team, although that was pretty funny too. This was about Martin Brodeur. Or, as he’s apparently now known, “Satan’s Wallpaper”.

That’s his nickname, you see. At least it is according to fine folks at Jeopardy, the famous quiz show that featured him in a question on Monday night. It’s always neat when the NHL gets some mainstream pop culture rub. And this time, the reaction from fans was unanimous. And that reaction was… “what?”

Nobody seems to have any recollection of that actually being Brodeur’s nickname. Not among fans, or media, or his fellow players. When I asked about it, I got hundreds of replies from confused Devils fans, many of whom had watched Brodeur for decades, and not one told me that they’d heard of this so-called nickname. The confusion spread to reddit and social media and news organizations.

Two things here. First, fake or not, “Satan’s Wallpaper” is an absolutely A+ nickname. Seriously, that’s right up there with The Chicoutimi Cucumber. Whoever came up with this needs to be in charge of fixing modern hockey’s broken nicknames.

And second, I’m pretty sure I know what happened here.

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One year ago, the Vegas Golden Knights were celebrating their Stanley Cup win from just a few hours earlier, and their long-suffering fans were saying goodbye to a gut-wrenching drought that had spanned six long years. And perhaps nobody was celebrating harder than Jonathan Marchessault, who’d just been named the Conn Smythe winner as playoff MVP.

Maybe more importantly, fans of the other 31 teams were testing their hockey knowledge with a “Who Didn’t He Play For?” quiz.

Yes, it’s somehow been a year and a day since we last broke out this gimmick (although there was an offshoot variation during the season to keep you sharp). That year has flown by; it feels like just yesterday we were talking about the Florida Panthers being in the Stanley Cup final. But it tells me that it’s time for another round. So let’s take our cue from Marchessault, and use this quiz to honor Conn Smythe winners.

In theory, that means this edition should be the easiest one yet, since you’d figure that most Conn Smythe winners don’t switch teams all that often. But that’s fine, because I’ve been told that you’d prefer that these things were a little more forgiving. Apparently some of you don’t bother memorizing every team Michel Petit ever played for, because you “have better things to do” and “don’t use hockey trivia to hide from our real-world problems” and “seriously, we’re worried about you, Sean”.

As always, the format is simple. I’ll give you a player and four teams, and you tell me which one he never played for. You get 16 questions in all, then scroll back up and score yourself based on this handy system.

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Mr. Sensitive? Racoon Jesus? Darryl? Take the Hockey Reference weird nickname quiz

Hockey Reference might be my favorite web site, not counting the one that pays me, and even then it’s close. There’s a ton of information, everything is easy to find and loads quickly, and I can get lost for hours going down rabbit holes of trades, records and oddities. I happily subscribe to their stathead service. I even have a browser shortcut that lets me automatically search the site, which I use roughly a dozen times a day. If you like my work here, thank the fine folks at Hockey Reference. I couldn’t do it without them.

All that said, occasionally they get weird.

Often, it’s on purpose – their “Frivolities” section is great fun. Other times, it’s practical, like that FAQ thing shoehorned onto every player page that seems to be some sort of SEO play. But their most recent addition is just plain wacky, and we’re going to have some fun with it today.

At some point in the last few weeks, Hockey Reference started adding nicknames to their player pages. And, uh, let’s just say they’re casting a wide net.

As best I can tell, our friends at Hockey Reference have (perhaps automatically) scraped the internet for any and all references to player nicknames, and included everything they could find. We all know that we’re living through the worst and least creative era of hockey nicknames ever, one where everyone is just called Smither or Jonesy. But apparently we’re all wrong, because the Hockey Reference player pages think that every star has a bunch of nicknames. And I’ll be honest, I’ve never heard of most of them.

I’m betting you haven’t either. But I’m going to give you a chance to prove me wrong with today’s quiz. I’ll give you 20 nicknames plucked from actual Hockey Reference player pages, you tell me the player that (they claim) the nickname applies to. Take the quiz, then scroll back up here to check your score and see how you did.

0 right: You are the Red Light Racicot of nickname knowers.

1 – 4 right: You are Jumbo Joe.

5 – 9 right: You are the Pocket Rocket.

10 - 13 right: You are the Finnish Flash.

14 – 16 right: You are the Missing Link.

17 – 19 right: You are the Grim Reaper.

20 right: You are the Chicoutimi Cucumber.

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You can go home again, by acing our “Who did he play for twice?” quiz

Did you make time for Fluto’s story about Milan Lucic’s return to the Bruins this week? Be sure to check it out, it’s an interesting look at what brings a player back to a team after years away.

Lucic isn’t the only prodigal son who returned to a former team this year. We’ve seen Trevor Lewis head back to Los Angeles, Laurent Brossoit return to Winnipeg, and Tony DeAngleo get another chance in Carolina. Those guys are following in a rich history of NHL players returning to former teams, a storyline that everyone in this league seems to love. Big stars, virtual unknowns, and everyone in between – as their careers wind on, they often find themselves back in a familiar uniform.

So today, we’re going to honor those comeback stories by flipping the script on our usual quiz format. Most time, we play a game called “Who didn’t he play for?”, where I give you a player and you try to figure out which team never employed him. This time, we’re going “Who did he play for twice?”, in which I give you a player and you… actually, if you can’t figure it out from the title, I’m not sure any further explanation can help you.

As always, we’ll have 16 names to test your memory, ranging from super-easy to take-a-guess. Complete the quiz, then scroll back up to check your score and see how you did.

0 – 2 right: You’re Peter Forsberg returning to the Avalanche and lasting two games.

3 – 5 right: You’re Mark Messier returning to the Rangers with a footprint on your back.

6 – 8 right: You’re Luc Robitaille returning to the Kings.

9 – 11 right: You’re Luc Robitaille returning to the Kings. No, the other time.

12 – 15 right: You’re Roberto Luongo returning to the Panthers and rediscovering your magic.

16 right: You’re Teemu Selanne returning to the Ducks to win the Stanley Cup.

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Take the NHL ‘Who Didn’t He Play For?’ quiz (Stanley Cup-winning goal edition)

The Vegas Golden Knights have won the Stanley Cup for the first time in franchise history, meaning the players, coaches and staff will get their name engraved on the Stanley Cup. That’s history, the sort of honor that they can never take away from you (for roughly 60 years or so, but that’s another story). One player made a particular kind of history: Reilly Smith, who scored last night’s winning goal. That makes him a member of the Cup-winning goal club, a wonderfully eclectic list that includes legends like Wayne Gretzky, Mike Bossy, Patrice Bergeron and Guy Lafluer, but also a bunch of lesser-known players who made the most being in the right place at the right time.

I enjoy the Cup-winning goal club a lot, as you might have guessed. So today, let’s honor this group by dusting off the Who Didn’t He Play For quiz. It’s nice and simple: I give you a player and four teams, you tell me which one he never played for. Then you score yourself based on the chart below:

0 – 3 right: You lost in the first round. You should decide to fire your GM.
4 – 7 right: You lost in the second round. You should decide to keep your GM, then somehow end up firing him anyway.
8 right: You won two rounds and then got swept. You are the Hurricanes.
9 – 11 right: You came close. Nice job driving up expectations for next year to unattainable levels.
12 – 15 right: You fell just short in the final, but will surely be right back in the mix next year, just like the Habs.
16 right: You won the Stanley Cup! (By cheating on this quiz.)

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Take the ‘Who Didn’t He Play For?’ quiz (Playoff Hero edition)

We’re two rounds into the playoffs, and as always, plenty of heroes are emerging. Some of them are names you expect, like the unstoppable Connor McDavid, the red-hot Andrei Vasilevskiy, or Game 7 OT winners from Artemi Panarin and Johnny Gaudreau. But there have also been the surprising names, with guys like Nick Paul, Ian Cole and Louis Domingue having big moments.

That’s part of the fun of the postseason, as the ultimate team sport allows individuals to take the spotlight, however briefly. Sometimes it’s the expected performance from a superstar, sometimes it’s the start of a new phase of someone’s career, and sometimes it’s just one of those flukes that never happens again. Often, those last ones are the best of all.

Today, let’s remember some playoff heroes of the past with the return of Who Didn’t He Play For? It’s a simple quiz, one where I give you a player and four teams and you tell me which one he never played for. If you’ve missed the previous editions, you can test your knowledge of Hall-of-Famers, some Hall-of-Very-Good guys, and the goaltenders. Fair warning: This one is going to be a bit tougher than those last three, because some of these guys end up being more obscure than others. But it’s the playoffs, we all have to raise our games.

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Take this quiz to see how well you remember the best and worst of Leafs trade deadline history

The trade deadline is days away, and Leaf fans probably have some mixed feelings. On the one hand, it’s an exciting time of year, especially for teams that think of themselves as contenders. On the other, the Leafs’ history of deadline dealing is decidedly mixed.

If you’re a Leaf fan, you could be forgiven for blocking out some of the memories. But here’s hoping you didn’t, because we’re going to test your knowledge of Toronto’s history of deadline and deadline-adjacent deals over the decades. See if you remember who went where, how much it cost, who all those precious picks turned into, and the occasional weird detail.

There are 20 questions in all. Do your best, then scroll back up to the top to check your score on this handy table.

0 – 2 right: You are the Tom Kurvers trade of quiz-takers.

3 – 6 right: You are the Rask-for-Raycroft trade of quiz-takers.

7 – 10 right: You are the Phil Kessel trade of quiz-takers.

11 – 15 right: You are the Schenn-for-Van Riemsdyk trade of quiz-takers.

16 – 18 right: You are the Tiger-for-Vaive trade of quiz-takers.

20 right: You are the Doug Gilmour trade of quiz-takers.

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Get warmed up for the trade deadline with the ‘Who Didn’t He Play For?’ quiz (goalie edition)

The trade deadline is less than two weeks away, with plenty of rumors and big names in play. Maybe the most interesting position to watch is the goalies, with a handful of contenders potentially shopping for an upgrade. While midseason goalie trades are rare, more than a few of them have worked out well. And it’s not unusual to see even some of the best goalies move around to several teams over the course of their career.

Why yes, that last line was a segue. It’s time for another round of “Who Didn’t He Play For”, the quiz in which I give you a player and four teams and you tell me which one he never suited up for.

The first edition featured players from the Hall of Fame, and you all said it was too easy even though the average score was only 9 out of 16. That was followed up with a Hall of Vey Good edition, which saw you collectively up your game and raise your average all the way up to 9.1. At this rate, we only have 70 of these left to go before you guys are perfect, so let’s enjoy them while we can.

This time around, we’re going to focus on a group that was conspicuously absent from the first two editions: The goalies. These lovable weirdos have a habit of bouncing around the league, so let’s see how many of their stops you remember. Take your best shot at the 16 questions below, then submit your answers and scroll back up to see how you did.

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Down Goes Brown: Take the ‘Who Didn’t He Play For?’ quiz (Hall of Very Good edition)

I’ve been told my quizzes are sometimes too difficult, because apparently some of you spent the 1990s building lasting relationships and contributing to the world instead of obsessing over every piece of random trivia involving NHL third-liners. (Some of you also spent the 1990s not being born yet, which is a whole other problem.) Apparently people like quizzes, but like them slightly less when they get to the end and find out they got a 2-out-of-15.

OK, fair enough. A few months ago we tried something different: A relatively simple quiz, in which I gave you a player and you told me which team he never played for. You all did fairly well, with the average score being north of a passing grade and even a few perfect marks.

Of course, that quiz was focused on Hall-of-Famers, so maybe we should have expected that you’d all do well. We’re going to up the difficulty just a little this time around, by skipping the HHOF plaques and focusing on the guys who weren’t quite in the class. Nobody obscure, mind you – just some players who were really good, but fell a bit short of true greatness. It’s “Who Didn’t He Play For?”, the Hall of Very Good edition.

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Take the ‘Who Didn’t He Play For?’ quiz (Hall of Fame edition)

We’re almost a month into the season, but there are some sights I’m still not used to. Joe Thornton as a Panther, Duncan Keith as an Oiler, Ryan Suter as a Star, Mark Giordano as a Kraken, Zdeno Chara back with the Islanders after two decades … it’s just weird, right?

Maybe hockey fans should be used to it. After all, it’s not uncommon to see a star player have a stint or two on an unfamiliar team. While it’s always cool to see the Nicklas Lidstroms and Mario Lemieuxs who spend their entire careers with one team, most top players bounce around a little bit. And sometimes, by the end of things, you don’t even remember every team a star played for.

That seems like solid ground for a quiz. I’ve been told that sometimes my quizzes are a little too tough for the average fan, so this one will be a simple concept: I give you Hall of Fame a player and four teams, you tell me which one he never played for.

We’ll start off easy and gradually get tougher as we go, but I think a lot of you should be able to hit some high scores here. I’m pretty sure that a perfect 16-for-16 will be in play for at least a few of you. No googling. Or google if you want, it’s up to you. It would be kind of weird to cheat on an online quiz where nobody sees the results but you, but we all have to make our own decisions in life and I’m not here to judge yours.

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Quiz: Expand your mind or at least your league with our NHL expansion draft history quiz

We’ll finally get to meet the Seattle Kraken next week, as the NHL holds an expansion draft on Wednesday. It will be the 13th expansion draft in league history, or maybe the 12th, and quite possibly the last for a while. And if you know this league, you can probably guess that the history here gets weird.

We’ve had the 1967 draft that doubled the size of the league, three more expansions in the early 70s, a 1979 merger that may or may not count, six different expansion drafts in a decade starting in 1991, and of course the 2017 draft that welcomed the Golden Knights. I hear they turned out OK. Maybe Seattle will too.

What about you? You’re probably not getting drafted on Wednesday, although once the side deals start flying you never know. But you can show off your knowledge by taking this 20-question quiz about the history of NHL expansion.

Can you ace it? Or will you put the “mock” in mock draft? Take your best shot at answering the multiple-choice questions, then scroll back up and check the table to see how you did.

0 correct: You are the 1974 Capitals, and it shouldn’t be possible to be this bad.

1 – 3 correct: You are the 1992 Senators, and owe everyone an apology.

4 – 6 correct: You are the 1999 Thrashers, and did you best with what you had, which is to say nothing.

7 – 9 correct: You are the 1972 Islanders, and it’s OK because you’re building for the future.

10 – 12 correct: You are the 1991 North Stars, and we’re not even sure you should be here.

13 – 16 correct: You are the 1993 Panthers, and your success will no doubt be completely sustainable.

17 – 19 correct: You are the 1967 Blues, and got put in an easy division.

20 correct: You are Ron Francis and should probably stop screwing around with online quizzes and get back to work.

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How well do you know the NHL rulebook? Probably better than the refs but take our quiz and find out

It’s the playoffs, so everyone must be mad about the officiating. But this year, we seem to be extra mad. Whether it’s phantom calls, missed infractions or the dreaded game management, nobody’s happy with the job the referees are doing. Based on what fans are saying, the officials are somehow biased against all the teams at the same time. Nobody knows what to expect on any given night, the same play gets a different call from one period to the next, and none of it makes sense.

And everyone knows the answer: Just call the rulebook.

That’s what you’re all saying. And I hear you. Calls the rules as written, and the problem goes away. Maybe not immediately, but eventually players will adjust, and the game will be better for it. Just call the rulebook, and while we’re still have penalties and even controversies, at least we’ll know what to expect when we sit down to watch a game.

Call the rulebook. Got it. Only… do you know what’s in the rulebook?

Not many of us do, and on a lot of nights that seems to include the NHL officiating crew. So let’s find out what’s actually in there. I’ve put together a 16-question quiz, one for every playoff team that thinks the refs are out to get them this year. It will test your knowledge of just what is and isn’t included in this critically important 200-page document that nobody seems to have ever read.

Fair warning: It’s going to get weird. As always, if you’ve been reading my stuff over the years then you’ll be at an advantage, because you’re clearly smarter than everyone else you’ll have seen some of the scenarios before. But either way, I’m willing to bet that you’ll learn something.

All questions are based on a literal reading of the 2020-21 rulebook, which the league provides for free from their web site. Take your best shot at answering the questions, then scroll back up and check the table to see how you did.

0 correct: The organist plays Three Blind Mice whenever you take the ice.

1 – 3 correct: The fans chant “ref you suck” at you before the game even starts.

4 – 7 correct: You’re as reliable as an NHL referee’s microphone.

8 – 11 correct: That seems good but we’ll have to do a tedious 10-minute replay review to be sure.

12 – 14 correct: Please get on a plane to Tampa, we need you tonight.

15 correct: You only missed one, but DGB will still be writing whiny posts about it for the next 28 years.

16 correct: You appear to have cheated in a quiz about enforcing the rules, which is actually kind of admirable.

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Quiz: How well do you know the history of the Maple Leafs-Canadiens rivalry?

The Maple Leafs and Canadiens will finally meet in a playoff series for the first time in over four decades, renewing one of the NHL’s great rivalries. This will be the 14th playoff meeting between the two teams since Toronto’s team became the Maple Leafs in 1927.

The history between the two teams is one filled with epic feats, legendary players and enduring championships. It’s also had its fair share of bad trades, regrettable quotes and weird moments. Today, let’s celebrate all of that with a 20-question quiz that will test your knowledge of the rivalry.

Take the quiz below, and then scroll down to check your results and let us know how you did in the comments.

0 – 4 right: Harold Ballard thinks you may need to up your commitment to success.

5 – 8 right: Much like NHL teams, you think these questions would have been easier when there were only six.

9 – 12 right: You were mediocre, but don’t worry, you can still be on Hockey Night in Canada every Saturday.

13 – 16 right: Congratulations, you get a half-hour pregame ceremony before the next game.

17 – 20 right: You’re old.

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Pull off a blockbuster by acing our NHL trade deadline quiz

We’re less than two weeks from the trade deadline, and you can feel the excitement.

(Crickets chirp.)

OK, fine, not much is happening yet. We had an Eric Staal trade and a few smaller deals, but that’s about it. But you can feel the anticipation of the excitement, and that counts too. As we wait for NHL GMs to start pulling the trigger on all the blockbusters that are surely right around the corner, let’s get into game shape with a quiz.

These 20 questions will test your knowledge of the best, worst and most memorable moves of the cap era’s trade deadlines. If you have any trouble getting the quiz to scroll properly, especially on your phone, try this direct link. Once you’ve submitted your answers, scroll back up to see how you did with this handy guide:

0–3 right answers: You believe that the salary cap has made trading too hard.

4-7 right answers: You’re not going to make a move just for the sake of making a move.

8-11 right answers: You’re not shopping, but you are listening.

12-15 right answers: You just traded your first for the final piece of the Cup puzzle. You think.

16-19 right answers: You just traded for Butch Goring.

20 right answers: You are Butch Goring.

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Take our NHL Groundhog Day quiz. (Then take it again.)

One of the great things about the NHL, we’re often told, is that anything can happen. You never know who’ll beat who, or who could be traded, or what playoff matchups we’ll get, or which stars might lead the league in a given category.

Often, that’s true. But not always. Because every now and then, there’s a glitch in the NHL matrix and the hockey gods end up serving up the same thing over and over.

So today, let’s celebrate Groundhog Day with a repetition-themed quiz. Answer the 15 questions below, and see how well you remember some of the things in hockey history that happened, then happened again, and maybe a few more times after that. And then, what the heck, go back and take the quiz again and again. Today’s the day for it.

Once you’ve submitted your answers, scroll back up to see how you did using this handy guide.

0 – 3 correct: Watch out for that first step, it’s a doozy.

4 – 6 correct: This is pitiful. A thousand people freezing their butts off waiting to worship a rat.

7 – 10 correct: Don’t drive angry. Don’t drive angry!

11 – 14 correct: Now, don’t you tell me you don’t remember me because I sure as heckfire remember you.

15 correct: I’m a god. I’m not the God.

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Let’s make a deal, with our 20-question NHL trade quiz

We just finished one of the biggest shopping weekends of the year, which means a lot of you have spent the last few days scouring offers, furiously hunting for bargains, and hoping that your expensive new additions will live up to the hype and not become the source of long-lasting regret.

Hey, you’re just like an NHL GM!

Sort of. Maybe not. Look, sometimes these current event tie-ins work and sometimes they don’t, but we’ve come too far now. So let’s celebrate a weekend spent chasing deals with a quiz about NHL trades.

We’ll cover a few decades of history here, with a focus on both the big blockbusters and the smaller, weirder stuff, and maybe even a few trades that were on the table but didn’t end up happening. As always, you’ll have an advantage if you’ve been reading my stuff for the last decade, because that means that a) you’ll have heard some of these stories before, and b) you’re just a smarter, better person than everyone else.

If you have any trouble getting the quiz to scroll properly, especially on your phone, then go yell at Google instead of me, and then try this direct link. Once you’ve submitted your answers, scroll back up to see how you did using this handy guide:

0–3 right answers: The Milbury zone. Your fellow GMs put you on speakerphone so everyone in the office can laugh at you.

4-7 right answers: The Chiarelli zone. You don’t always miss, but when you do, you miss big.

8-11 right answers: The Poile zone. You have your share of strong moments, just not often enough to win the big one.

12-15 right answers: The Fletcher zone. You’re not perfect, but you’re not afraid to swing for the fences.

16-19 right answers: The Torrey zone. You almost never miss, making you the architect of a near-perfect score.

20 right answers: The Pollock zone. You’re a cheat code, and nobody should ever take your calls.

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Prove you’re a champion by taking the Stanley Cup Final quiz

We’re three games into an entertaining Stanley Cup Final that could end as soon as (checks notes) tomorrow. Wait, is that right? It doesn’t seem right. We’ve been at this bubble playoff thing for two months, but we really could be almost done.

But first, let’s have a quiz to make you feel dumb.

Or smart. You could ace this one. I’m pretty sure it’s easier than the weird playoffs quiz, and a few of you did really well on that because you cheated you’re geniuses. Others did not, but that’s OK, because it’s playoff time and we all love a good redemption story.

You know the drill. Sixteen questions, all multiple choice, some easier than others. You can do this. I believe in you.

Once you’ve submitted your answers, scroll back up to access your score and find out how you did:

0-3 right answers: First-round elimination. You clearly didn’t want it bad enough.
4-7 right answers: Second-round elimination. You ran into a hot goalie.
8-11 right answers: Third-round elimination. That’s why they call it the hardest quiz to win in all of sports.
12-15 right answers: Conference champion, Cup final loser. Shouldn’t have touched the trophy.
16 right answers: Get ready to take an awkward photo with Gary Bettman, because you’ve just won the Stanley Cup.

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Ready for the weirdest playoffs ever? Take the quiz and find out.

The NHL postseason starts for real tomorrow, and nobody knows what to expect. Will the quality of play be high, thanks to healthy, well-rested stars, or a disaster due to rust, bad ice and barren arenas? Will it be chaos, or will the favorites have the advantage? Will the eventual winner feel like a real Stanley Cup champion? Will they even make it that far?

We don’t know. But we know one thing: It’s going to be weird.

Like, super weird. This will almost certainly be remembered as the strangest postseason in NHL history. And that’s saying something, because man, the NHL has a habit of serving up bizarre moments when the games matter most.

Today, let’s get ready for tomorrow’s madness by revisiting some of NHL history’s weirdest playoff moments. I’ve created a 19-question quiz to see how many postseason oddities you remember. Why 19? It seemed fitting since it’s going to take 19 wins to capture this year’s Cup. Well, for some teams it will. Other teams will only need 16. Although come to think of it, there’s also a round-robin for them so they’ll probably end up winning more, but 16 is the minimum so I guess we should say 19. See, as I said, it’s weird.

Enough with the preamble, let’s remember some goofy stuff.

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