MLB's new ABS replay system is an apparent success. Could the NHL learn from it?

Here’s a sentence you’ve never seen me write before: Replay review is good.

It works. It’s doing what it’s supposed to do. I’m glad it’s there, because it’s making the game better.

Just not in the NHL.

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Playoff pressure rankings: Everyone wants to win, but who can’t afford to lose?

It’s the postseason, and the pressure is intense. But pressure comes in different forms for different teams in different circumstances. Some teams have regular pressure, while others have capital-P pressure. Some teams go all caps and break out the fancy fonts.

You get the picture. It’s time for our annual Playoff Pressure Rankings, where we count down from the teams that would prefer to win to those that have no other option.

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Old Guy Without a Cup rankings, 2026 edition: Narrowing down a stacked field

It’s OGWAC time, as we celebrate one of the best running subplots of any NHL postseason: The Old Guy Without a Cup. That grizzled veteran who's done it all over a long career, but has yet to get their name on the sport’s most hallowed trophy. Can they finally win the big one? Will they run out of time? Will they get the first pass from the team captain, and if so, will they cry? Will we all cry?

You know the drill. The greatest OGWAC story ever told was Ray Bourque back in 2001. Teemu Selanne’s was pretty great. So was Lanny McDonald way back in 1989. Then again, we’ve spent years pumping the tires of OGWAC legends like Joe Thornton and Joe Pavelski, and they never got their happy endings. Nothing is promised in OGWAC world.

Our criteria for being “old” remains the same as past years: An old player will be at least 33 years old when the Cup is awarded, and must have at least ten seasons of NHL experience. The older the better, and that’s especially true if the player has had some agonizing near-misses in their history. Ideally, our candidates will be playing an important role for a team with a legitimate shot at winning it all.

We’ll try to work in a candidate for as many teams as we can, and we’ll limit ourselves to a max of three picks from any individual team. We’ll start at 20 and work our way down to year’s best OGWAC.

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The 2026 NHL playoff bandwagon guide to all 15 teams that aren't the Sabres

It’s playoff time. For half the league’s fan bases, that means you already know what to do: Lay on the floor, rocking in the fetal position and hating everything in the world. Rinse and repeat, for roughly two to eight weeks.

The other half of us are jealous of you. That’s why some of us might be thinking about crossing a very controversial line, and hopping on the bandwagon of one of the playoff teams. Just a temporary fling, you know how it goes. Some of you would never consider it, of course. But if you would, you should at least choose wisely.

This year, it’s an easy choice: You should bandwagon the Buffalo Sabres.

Seriously, we’ve already been through this. The Sabres might be the single best bandwagon story of all-time, and when we asked their fans if they’d be OK with some outside support, they gave us an enthusiastic thumbs up. So it’s settled. This year’s bandwagon team is the Sabre, and we don’t need the annual guide to everyone else.

Unless… I mean, if everyone is bandwagoning the Sabres, isn’t that a reason to maybe look elsewhere? After all, we’re hockey fans – we can’t ever agree on anything. Not unanimously. That’s just not how this works.

So be it resolved: This year’s best bandwagon team is the Sabres. But we’re still going to do the annual guide, just in case anyone out there is feeling a bit contrarian. Buffalo takes top spot, for all the reason we laid out a few weeks ago. Today’s list is for the other 15 slots on the list.

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Enter the world's easiest NHL playoff prediction contest, with just one question

It’s playoff time, almost. The time of year when the best of the best rise to the top and prove that they have what it takes to win it all. The rest? They lose, sometimes dramatically and sometimes meekly, but either way they end up wondering what might have been.

I’m referring to you guys.

Yes, it’s time for our annual playoff contest, in which I ask you one simple question, and you send in your one-line answer. Then we wait. Then almost all of you get it wrong. Then I make fun of you.

>> Read the full post at The Athletic