Avalanche regrets, board ads, and thosee disappearing playoff beards: DGB mailbag

We’re almost done with the conference final and haven’t done a mailbag in forever, so let’s dig into the inbox and see what’s on your mind.

As always, submitted questions have been edited for clarity and style. They have not been edited to prevent you from coming up with weird ideas that anyone else would instantly delete and report as spam. Speaking of which…

>> Read the full post at The Athletic

Five series results that change if the NHL applied its dumbest rule to the playoffs

In the NHL, it doesn’t matter if the rules are dumb. All that matters is that they’re enforced consistently.

At least, that’s what I always hear from fans. It’s a near-constant refrain, one that comes up especially often at this time of year. There’s a call, or a non-call, or a referee blinks somewhere, and fans are furious about it. But not because the break went against their team, you understand. These fans aren’t raving homers who want every break to go their team’s way. They just want consistency.

Fair enough. Today we’re going to take that idea to the extreme, by figuring out how history would change if the NHL took the single dumbest rule that it has and actually enforced it during the playoffs.

>> Read the full post at The Athletic

NHL playoffs’ final four: Three lessons to learn from each team (plus one to avoid)

We’re five weeks into the playoffs. Do you know who your favorite team will be copying?

If not, you will soon. This is the time of year where we’re constantly reminded that the NHL is a copycat league, one where the teams that have success establish the blueprint for everyone else. This year, that’s the Habs, Hurricanes, Avalanche and Golden Knights.

But while the copying might be inevitable, the lessons that the other 28 teams learn from the four winners is still to be determined. That’s where we come in. Every now and then, we try to nudge all those copycats towards answers that make the league more fun, not less. After all, the NHL is an entertainment product. And while winning is more entertaining than losing, we’d rather see teams do that by being fun.

So today, we’re going to look at all four conference finalists, and try to highlight three lessons from each that we wouldn’t mind seeing everyone else copy. And we’ll also find one lesson that we really hope doesn’t catch on.

>> Read the full post at The Athletic

Playoff mailbag?

Hey folks...

Who's up for a playoff mailbag?

I'm looking for your questions, comments, rants and hypotheticals. Clever is good. Straight down the middle is good too, so don't feel like you have to steal the show if you'd rather ask something simple. Anything can work.

Send your stuff via email at dgbmailbag@gmail.com.

Thanks,
Sean

Who team should win the Conned Smythe award for worst trade with the Cup winner?

We’re down to four teams left in the playoffs, and longtime readers know what that means: It’s time to take a look at the field for one of the league’s most prestigious award, the Conned Smythe.

Yes, Conned. If you’re new to the concept, the Conned Smythe goes to the team that made the worst trade that had the biggest impact on each season’s eventual champion. Sometimes it’s a relatively obvious call, like when Flames fans watched the Panthers win Cups with Matthew Tkachuk and Sam Bennett, or when the Avs won in 2022 and the Conned went to the Maple Leafs for handing them Nazem Kadri. Other years, there are almost too many candidates for a given team.

We want to avoid feeling overwhelmed, so it’s smart to get organized now. Here are the ten teams that are in the best shape to win this year’s Conned Smythe, based on the trades they made with the conference finalists.

>> Read the full post at The Athletic