Long-shot NHL award picks: Quinn Hughes for Hart? Jack Hughes for Art Ross?

One of my favorite things to do each year is check the betting odds for all the various awards. Not because I want to actually wager on any of them, but because it’s always fascinating to see what kind of consensus is forming around who’s likely to win what – and who isn’t.

Despite all the effort and analysis that goes into setting those odds, it’s not unusual for a longshot to come out of nowhere and win a major award. Leon Draisaitl was 22-to-1 to win the Hart in 2020, Adam Fox was 35-to-1 to win the Norris in 2021, and Linus Ullmark was 80-to-1 to win the Vezina in 2023. Were the oddsmakers dumb? Not really. It’s just that the NHL is incredibly unpredictable, and the awards odds are just another reminder of that inescapable fact.

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NHL Bizarro-meter 2025: Which Western Conference team had the weirdest offseason?

Yesterday, we took the bizarro-meter out of storage and brushed off the cobwebs to start our annual search for the NHL’s weirdest offseason. We covered the Eastern Conference in that post, which you can find here, with the Sabres and Penguins leading the way.

Now it’s the West’s turn. Can one of these 16 teams sneak in and steal the crown? Spoiler: Yes, although maybe not the way you’d expect…

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Bizarro-meter 2025: Which Eastern Conference team had the weirdest offseason?

With camps finally opening, we can say goodbye to the 2025 offseason. And that can only mean one thing: It’s time to fire up the bizarro-meter, and figure out which teams had the strangest offseasons.

We’ve been doing this on various sites since all the way back in 2013, when the David Clarkson signing nearly shattered the bizarro-meter on its very first use. Ever since, we’ve used the gimmick to rate each team’s offseason, which we define as everything that happened since their season ended – transactions, hirings and firings, and anything else that made headlines.

Here’s a quick spoiler: This year’s offseason was not all that bizarre.

Yep, the weirdest thing about the 2025 offseason is that it wasn’t all that weird. Oh, it had its moments. But after years of a stagnant cap finally gave way to a summer where everyone had money to spend, we were expecting some serious fireworks. Instead, we mostly got business as usual. Let’s just say the Ottawa Senators and their infamous 10/10 rating from 2018 don’t have to worry about anyone stealing their thunder.

Still, we solider on. Today is the East, while tomorrow is the West. Let’s fire up the trusty bizzaro-meter and see what it has to say about a summer of leaky roofs, angry dads and accidental retirements.

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Which season produces the best lineup of stars who played their final NHL game?

Slow News Summer has drifted into Some News September, and pretty soon this space is going to be well and truly in regular season countdown mode. We’ll have the usual previews, oddly specific predictions, and the annual reader contest. Just this morning I took the bizarro-meter out of storage and fired it up, just to see if it would last us another season. We’re almost there.

But not quite yet, so today let’s check one more reader question off our offseason to-do list. This one was first asked about five years ago – yes, sometimes it takes that long for the muse to visit – and was simple enough: Which season produces the best six-man roster of players who played their last game that year?

We can do this. Three forwards, two defensemen and a goalie, based on players who saw their final NHL action in a given season. That’s the sort of question that combines history, research, and remembering some guys, all of which are some of my favorite things.

But I’ll admit I had one concern heading into the project: I was pretty sure I already knew the answer. It would end up being 2003-04, because that was the double-cohort year caused by the lost lockout season that produced one of the greatest Hall-of-Fame classes ever. So we had already had our winner, and any suspense would come from seeing who could come the closest.

Except, spoiler alert, the 2003-04 season makes the list, but doesn’t win. We’ll get to that.

For now, we’ll dig back to the dawn of the expansion era in 1967-68, and try to find the 20 best lineups of players who said goodbye to the NHL. Let’s start with…

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Who wins: A roster of NHL stars with unique first names, or two first names?

We’ve made it past Labor Day, which I suppose means it’s no longer Slow News Summer. But without much going on in the NHL world quite yet, I hope you’ll forgive me if I squeeze in a few more entries from my list of weird ideas.

Today’s question: Who wins, a team made up of players who have unique first names, or players who have two first names?

In other words, we’re looking for a team full of guys who are the only player in NHL history to have a specific first name, and another full of guys whose last name is also a common first name. It should be simple enough, as long as you’re not the poor sap who has to do all the research. Which as luck would have, you are not.

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