A Spectacular NHL Season In Review

By: Damon Horton

A Season For The Ages

Olympic Gold for Team USA and a Stanley Cup for the accursed Canes. A spectacular rise for an evil empire and another President’s Trophy Curse victim. First things first, let’s enjoy a Carolina Hurricanes victory lap.

Hockey Belongs In The Carolinas

The Hurricanes this season have been a fascinating proof-of-concept for 8-year tenured head coach Rod Brind’Amor. It is rare that a player has a near-hall-of-fame career, wins a cup as a player, and then goes on to coach their former team to another Stanley Cup. Rod has had this team knocking on the door of a Stanley Cup Finals berth for multiple years now, sticking to the grinding, aggressive forecheck that has become the identity of the newly-crowned Stanley Cup Champions. 

The Hurricanes are not a super team; in fact, nobody on their team makes more than $10 million dollars per season. Furthermore, no team in NHL history has won a cup with one. The Eastern Conference Finals Curse loomed over the team and its fanbase for years. Would they ever be able to knock the door down? Would a team without a true superstar be able to beat one of the titans of the league? A brief stint with Mikko Rantanen showed that the heliocentric offense was never going to be ingrained in the jerseys of the Canes. They instead opted to trade Rantanen for Logan Stankoven during the 2024-2025 season and lost in deflating fashion to the eventual champions, the buzzsaw that was the Florida Panthers. Logan Stankoven went on to receive Conn Smythe votes this year. Scoring 11 goals and notching 15 total points in this year’s Stanley Cup Playoffs. He plays on the 3rd line. 

This season, things were very different. The Panthers faced serious injury problems, losing Barkov before the season even began to an ACL tear and finding themselves on the outside looking in, missing the Finals for the first time in 3 years. With the dark cloud of the Panthers gone and a weak bottom half of the East, the Canes stepped on the gas come playoff time and never looked back. Literally. The Hurricanes never took their foot off the gas. Except for Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals, after taking 11 games off. Despite the 6-2 loss to the Canadiens in Game 1, Carolina won the next 4 games, grinding the young upstart Habs down in games 2 & 3, just to torch the remnants by a combined score of 10-1 in the remaining 2 games. 

Once faced with a bit of adversity against a red-hot Vegas team, the adjustments were made. The final 3 games saw the subsequent silencing of Mitch Marner and Carter Hart, to the Golden Knights’ detriment as they were handed 3-straight regulation losses to finish the series. Keep in mind, this happened with Brandon Bussi in the net for the final 3 games. The evil empire went out not with a bang, but with a whimper, as the season ended in shutout fashion against the Canes’ backup goaltender.

The special story about the Hurricanes this year is that they never strayed from their identity. They trusted the process, putting faith in players who have never gotten the respect that they deserved from NHL media. Players like Finnish forward Sebastian Aho, a guy who has had the label of “not that guy” for far too long. K’Andre Miller, who was tossed away by the Rangers, and found himself in the playoffs playing the best hockey of his life, was named by Gretzky himself as the best player in the playoffs. Brandon Bussi, who still has an active LinkedIn page and was not even in the NHL last year, won all three of his playoff starts and subsequently the Cup. Jordan Staal, the 37-year-old center with over 1400 games, scored 6 goals in the Finals. 

This Hurricanes team is the feel-good story of the NHL this year, and they deserve all of the flowers they are getting, and will be getting, for the next calendar year. They didn’t rely on a superstar, they didn’t need a goalie to carry them through the playoffs, and they didn’t need their coach to outsmart the league. They did all of the cliches, got pucks in deep, established the forecheck, and played their style of hockey. As a result, they won the Cup. Who would’ve thought those tropes actually worked? 

The Game, At A Glance

I would be remiss if I didn’t take a short moment to speak about the growth of the game. No, not the growth of the NHL, although the NHL did grow quite a bit as a consequence, but the growth of the game of hockey. 

The Olympic dominance of the United States has done miracles for the sport in all corners of the country. The photo of Jack Hughes with the bloody face and flag draped around his shoulders will live on forever, eternally defining American hockey and providing an adrenaline shot into the little brother of the “Big 4” sports markets in North America. 

To properly contextualize how massive this was for the sport, and frankly, us as a country, let’s go to the time capsule and take a look at 1980. 

Unemployment, prices at the store, and interest rates are skyrocketing. Lines to the gas station stretch for what seems like miles, and a giant Soviet cloud looms over everyday life. The average American is struggling, the Cold War is in full swing, and the morale of the everyman is at an all-time low. Times are tough, and America is in need of a rallying cry. In comes the 1980 Miracle on Ice. A massive win for the United States, and a common cause for every red-blooded American to sit and watch this weird sport and root for something together. 

Together. A community. A rallying cry. A common cause. Sound familiar?

And it doesn’t stop there. Team USA Women had the most dominant run that the sport has ever seen. The penultimate Gold Medal game with a clutch Hillary Knight tip that sent it to OT and the Megan Keller golden goal. The American hockey dominance of 2026 is just that, ink on a page turned. The beginning of a new era of American Exceptionalism, and as a result, an explosion into the American sports zeitgeist. 

Does it stop there, though? Of course not. After the Olympics, a certain Netflix Original dominated the airwaves for the better part of 3 months, capturing the attention of an entire demographic of fans that had sat untapped since the inception of the sport. Heated Rivalry, while not eligible for any Emmys, won more CSA’s (Canadian Screen Awards) than any program ever, at 13. Beyond the hardware, the cultural impact of the show is undeniable. The number of new fans I have met has been astounding. I’ve explained icing and offsides to more people than ever, and I couldn’t be happier to do so. The PWHL has added 2 more teams, adding thousands of young fans to their coffers. When you take a step back, it is really incredible what has been able to happen for the sport this year. 

What Is Ahead Of Us?

We have already seen blockbuster trades and major news ahead of the NHL draft, which is just days away. Brady Tkachuk is now a Panther, Detroit Captain Dylan Larkin has requested a trade, and RFA Jason Robertson’s offer sheet is dangling in front of teams like Ottawa and Seattle. With the NHL Draft looming, we could see some significant moves in the coming days. 

My estimation is that, no, nothing will happen before or during the draft. This is not the NFL, and player value is at its lowest before the draft. Why trade someone now instead of right before training camp when teams realize, “Oh crap, we have holes in our roster.”? I’m not saying it is outside of the realm of possibility, but usually, media outlets all talk about these massive NFL-style trades that could happen, and then nothing happens. 

I could be proven wrong. The NHL has rapidly switched to a 24/7/365 news cycle, and things could shake up. If they do, I’ll be here to yap for your entertainment.