Which syllable combination makes history's best roster? Welcome to Slow News Summer

So… we’re well into July.

Most of the big offseason action is over. Things are largely quietly. Pierre is at his cottage. Most importantly, my editors are exhausted and not paying attention. And longtime readers know what that means.

Welcome to Slow News Summer. It is time to get well and truly weird.

OK, sure, a lot of what we do around here is weird anyway. I’ll grant you that. But the dog days of summer? That’s when its time to reach down deep on the ideas list.

If that’s going to bother you, consider this your fair warning to tag out now, and we’ll see you in September. If you’re the sort of person who likes to post “slow news day?” in the column, then yes, it absolutely is, so kick rocks. But for everyone else, let’s get weird.

Today’s question: Which combination of syllables can build the all-time best starting lineup from NHL history?

In other words, you count the syllables in both of a player’s first and last name, and that’s their team. Wayne Gretzky has one syllable in his first name and two in his second, so he’s the captain of Team 1-2. Mario Lemieux is Team 3-2, Bobby Orr is Team 2-1, and so on.

>> Read the full post at The Athletic

The 2025-26 prediction contest results are in, and Kris Knoblauch ruined everything

Now that we're a few days into July, it’s time to answer two equally important questions: Which cap-flush teams handed out the most outrageously expensive contracts to mid-level players, and how’d everyone do in the annual prediction contest?

If you’re new to all of this, let’s get you caught up. Every year, right before the season starts, we run a reader contest in which you’re invited to make predictions about what will and won’t happen in the coming season. The questions are simple, but this league sure isn’t, and most years everyone does terribly. We track the contest all year long, and at the end we all point and laugh at each other for every thinking we knew anything.

That day has come, with July 1 representing the end of the league year and the official finish line for the contest. Pencils down, everyone, it’s time to turn in your papers.

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Let's build a ghost roster of NHL free agency regret

If you’re a Canadian hockey fan of a certain age, the phrase “ghost roster” might bring back some bad memories.

Back in the late-90s, the concept of the ghost roster became popular with the various brain trusts who put together the country’s international teams. The idea was that when it came to creating the perfect team, you don’t just pick the 20 or so best players. Instead, you first map out an ideal roster based on specific roles, and then you find the players who best fit that particular role.

In theory, the concept makes sense. In reality, and when followed to the extreme, it gets your Rob Zamuner over Mark Messier on Team Canada at an Olympics where they can’t score. For the record, Zamuner was a good a player; maybe not a superstar, sure, but also not a bum. But when he’s cracking a Team Canada roster, it’s possible that a GM somewhere has made a mistake.

Well, GMs making mistakes is what free agency is all about. So today, let’s borrow that fabled ghost roster concept, and use it create a lineup of some of history’s worst free agency mistakes. We’ll use all of NHL history, although the focus will be on the cap era because most of you aren’t old like me. We’ll even see if we can find any candidates in this week’s action.

Our roster will be four lines of forwards, three defense pairs and a couple of goalies. Will it be good? Eh. Will it be expensive? You'd better believe it. Here we go…

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Remembering the sheer joy of the NHL offseason’s craziest hour, ten years later

Do you remember where you were and what you were doing exactly ten years ago?

If you were a hockey fan back then, there’s a decent chance that you do. But it depends on what time you’re reading this.

If it’s early in the morning, then you probably have no idea. Exactly ten years ago, the hockey world was waking up to what felt like a typical Wednesday. We’d just had the draft, with Auston Matthews going first overall, and the Red Wings had traded Pavel Datsyuk to the Coyotes, because that’s just what we did with Hall-of-Fame players back then. And we were still a few days from free agency, a crop loaded with wingers like Milan Lucic, Kyle Okposo and Loui Eriksson who'd surely sign reasonable deals.

Exactly ten years ago, on that pleasant summer morning, your hockey fan brain was probably taking a nice deep breath and enjoying the calm between the storms.

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Which NHL team makes the best all-time starting lineup from first-round picks?

 It’s been a quiet week in the NHL world, with up to several hours passing in between blockbuster, franchise-shifting moves. Luckily, the first round of the draft is tonight, so fans will finally have something to talk about.

While we wait, let’s play a roster game. Which team can make the best starting six out of their first-round draft picks?

This should be nice and simple – three forwards, two defensemen and a goalie, all of them from a specific team’s first-round picks. And to add a degree of difficulty, one caveat: We can only use a specific pick number once per team.

We’ll do this the usual way, where I give you a dozen teams to start with and then hand it over to you in the comments to fill in the gaps. And we’ll start with the team that usually does well in these things…

>> Read the full post at The Athletic