The road to the Stanley Cup Final: Ranking the 14 series that got us here

We’re two games into the Stanley Cup final, and so far the series between the Hurricanes and Golden Knights has all the makings of a classic. The teams are tied, both games have been fantastic, and it still feels like there are a ton of twists and turns left to come.

We’re two games into the Stanley Cup final, and so far the series between the Hurricanes and Golden Knights has been a mixed bag. Game 1 was excellent, Game 2 had its moments, and we avoided the road team stealing both games to set up a short series. There should still be some twists and turns left to come.

We’re two games into the Stanley Cup final, and so far the series between the Hurricanes and Golden Knights has been a mixed bag. Game 1 was excellent, and Game 2 had its moments, but with Vegas heading home up 2-0, we may be in for a disappointingly short series unless the Hurricanes can get up off the mat.

That’s where we’re headed. But let’s not forget how we got here.

Yes, it’s time for our annual ranking of the 14 series that paved the way. This is an admittedly subjective exercise, but it's based on some general criteria I’m guessing most fans can agree on. A longer series is better than a short one. Closer games are better than blowouts, and overtime is best of all. Some bad blood, controversy or other memorable moments will always help. And expectations matter, sometimes a lot.

Overall, I’d say this year’s postseason has been good but not great. I’m not sure we’ve seen the sort of classic series we’ll be talking about a decade from now, although a few matchups have come close. Let’s remember some series, working our way down from worst to best while hoping that the Hurricanes and Golden Knights can bump everyone down a spot with a final for the ages.

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An NHL playoff contest update, where 850 entered and just two are left standing

Two months ago, we started with a full field of championship hopefuls. Some knew they were facing long odds, but were willing to dream big dreams. Others were bathed in the soothing safety of favorite status. But they all had one thing in common: The abiding belief that this could be their year.

Then the playoffs started, and it all went to hell.

I’m referring, of course, to our annual playoff contest, in which I ask one simple question and almost all of you get it wrong. It launched a few days before the playoffs started, and over 850 of you entered.

How many of those entries are still alive and in the running for the title? Um… two.

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Hurricanes or Knights? A Stanley Cup Final rooting guide for 30 other fan bases

Welcome to one of my favorite columns to write each year, where we go through all 30 teams that didn’t make the Stanley Cup final and offer up a suggestion on which of the finalists to root for. Nothing mandatory, mind you; more of a gentle nudge for the undecided. We have a bit of fun, it usually spurs some fun discussion, and there’s always a bit of suspense over which finalist the scales will ultimately tip towards.

Let’s just say that this year, I don’t think we have much of a suspense factor.

The Golden Knights are the villains here. It’s a role they’ve embraced, not just as far as this final but as the defining quality of their entire existence. The list of reasons to hate the Knights starts with jealousy, as they enter their ninth season of perpetual contention without ever really suffering through a bad season, but it doesn’t end there. Their win-at-all-costs mentality is enviable on some level, but at some point some of start getting tired of their whole act.

That’s not to say that everyone loves the Hurricanes; I’ve seen plenty of fans who don’t, or who seem to view this year’s final as a “none of the above” matchup. But finding fan bases that will be solidly pro-Vegas feels… daunting. So much so that I even briefly considered scrapping this year’s rooting guide altogether. But I like a challenge, and I love a recurring bit that means I don’t have to come up with a new angle. So let’ do this, even if we know how it’s going to end up.

We’ve got 30 teams to get to, and at least as many lenses to view this final through. As always, some reasons will be obvious, and some will be reaches. Will this end up being the most lopsided rooting guide ever? Almost certainly, but let’s dive in and see where we wind up.

>> 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.

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Brady Tkachuk and Nikita Kucherov lead the 2026 NHL playoffs all-bust team

The NHL playoffs have been going on for over a month now, and I think I speak for everyone when I say that we’re very disappointed.

Not over everything, because a lot of this year’s postseason has been pretty fun. But we’re hockey fans, and we like to be cranky. And like every season, the playoffs give us plenty of opportunity to single out individual players for a disapproving head-shake or two.

Today, we’re making a team out of those guys. We’ll be building a full 21-man roster, which is to say 12 forwards, six blueliners and three goalies, because bad teams always need an extra option in net. As always, we’ll work with two key rules. First, no team can have more than three players, because we want to spread the love resentment. And second, all 16 playoff teams need to have at least one rep.

And yes, that rule also applies to the four teams that are still alive, meaning we’re virtually guaranteed to pick at least one player who immediately blows up and causes a flood of “this aged well” comments to come our way. That’s the risk we’re willing to take, because we do not learn from past mistakes around here.

Like all great teams, we’ll build from the net out.

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Who wins Game 7 tonight, the Sabres or Canadiens? Yes, obviously, and here's why

We’ve got a winner-take-all showdown tonight in Buffalo, as the most entertaining series of the second round concludes with a Game 7 that’s felt inevitable all along. The eyes of the hockey world will be focused on the KeyBank Center tonight, as fans feel the weight of suspense over who’ll win.

But they shouldn’t be. Because it’s pretty obvious.

I mean, the hockey gods aren’t even really trying to disguise the ending here. If you’ve been paying attention to this series, you know who’s going to win.

We’ll lay that case out today, although you should probably skip this post if you prefer to avoid spoilers. I’ll give you five reasons why the winner is so obvious, and by the end you may not even want to bother watching the game.

One small point of order: Because of our commitment to covering both sides of every story, it wouldn’t be fair to only list reasons for one team. So we’ll do both, if only out of an abundance of journalistic ethics. But it goes without saying that I only mean it for one team, and it should be obvious which one that is. (If you’re not sure, check with me after the game is over and I’ll be happy to tell you which side I was really on all along.)

Five reasons why the Habs are definitely winning tonight. And five more for the Sabres. The right answer is definitely in here somewhere.

>> Read the full post at The Athletic

All 12 Stanley Cup finals matchups left in play, ranked purely on narratives

You know what they say: When it comes to a hockey playoff series, all that matters is what happens on the ice. You wave away the distractions and noise and just focus on the games being played.

That’s what they say, because they are fools. It’s the playoffs. It’s all about the narrative, baby.

OK, I’ll acknowledge the slight possibility that my media background is shining through here, and not everyone cares about pre-built storylines quite as much as I’ve been trained to. But it’s my column, so today we’re doing narratives.

Specifically, we’re looking ahead to the various possible matchups we could see in the final. With the Flyers out, we’re down to 12 possible combinations of teams, and please don’t ask me long it took to figure that math out on my own without asking Dom.

Let’s look ahead to what June could bring, ranked from the least to the most enticing, based purely on the narratives that people like me will beat into the ground.

>> Read the full post at The Athletic

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.

>> Read the full post at The Athletic

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.

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Ranking the 10 best opening round matchups that are still realistically in play

Did you catch another subtle sign of spring from the last few days? The NHL standings page added an “If Playoffs Started Today” link at the top of the page. And it doesn’t just go to a page that says “… it would be way too early, calm down”.

That’s because we’re almost there. There are just three weeks left in the NHL season, and while that’s plenty of time for teams to shift around the standings, it’s close enough to the playoffs that we can start thinking ahead to potential matchups. And as always, some are better than others.

Today, let’s have a look at some of those first-round matchups that are realistically in play, with a ranking of the 10 best. We’ll use the numbers from hockeystats.com, and limit our list to matchups with at least a 10% chance of happening (heading into last night’s games).

We’ll count them down, working our way to the best possible matchups, most of which of course will not happen because we’ll have jinxed it. We’ll get there, but let’s take this from the top…

>> Read the full post at The Athletic