NFL
The Stanley Cup Playoffs, as always, have been absolute theater. My bracket is toast, your bracket is (probably) toast, and PK Subban’s bracket is toast as well. As usual in the quest for Lord Stanley’s Cup, there have been heroics, failings, overachievers, and massive disappointments. Luckily for you, the reader, I have taken it upon myself to do the thinking for you!
Just kidding! I am just as clueless as everyone else. This is as evidenced by my Playoff Bracket and pre-playoff predictions here and here. My bracket exploded early on. The only things I got right were Colorado in 4 against the Kings, and Carolina and Buffalo moving on. Outside of that, nothing.
This goes to show not that I don’t know anything about hockey, but that in the Stanley Cup Playoffs, anything, and I mean anything, is possible.
The Two-Headed Monster In The Central
The Colorado Avalanche and Minnesota Wild series is far from over after a 5-1 clap-back from the Wild. After wildly out-playing the Dallas Stars, Dallas Stars GM Jim Nill spoke about them,
“They (Minnesota) needed to win, we (Dallas) wanted to win.”
The Avalanche may be just as hungry, facing nothing but early exits in the seasons since their Stanley Cup run in 2022. The first two games saw Minnesota floundering defensively and between the pipes, flip-flopping goaltenders to no avail, only to answer back by (once again) not allowing a single 5v5 goal in Game 3. Sound familiar? The Wild are an incredibly dangerous defensive team in 5v5. It seems they have caught up to the fast-paced, up-and-down style of hockey Colorado plays. What was “can a limping Wild team overcome the Avalanche?” has become “The Wild have been here before.”
Whoever wins this series is destined to face either a Golden Knights team or a Ducks team that will seem very out-matched on paper. The Knights currently lead that series 2-1.
The Rising Mighty Ducks
The Pacific Division this season was pretty much turned on its head by May. The back-to-back Conference Champion Oilers were eliminated in convincing fashion by… the Anaheim Ducks in 6 games. Do not let this fool you. The Ducks are a young, fast, and exciting team teeming with talent. The quick turnaround has much less to do with the “pillow fight” in the Central and much more to do with what Ducks GM Pat Verbeek has been able to accomplish since joining the organization. Since joining, he has built a highly talented roster of 25-and-younger guys, including Cutter Gauthier (22), Leo Carlsson (21), Beckett Sennecke (20), and Pavel Mintyukov (22).
When he joined the team in 22′, the team had just finished the season with 59 points in the standings. Now his team has upset the Oilers. While down 2-1 to the Knights, they have a chance to bounce back in what has been a back-and-forth series against Vegas. While the 2025-26 Jim Gregory GM of the Year nominees have yet to be announced, Pat Verbeek definitely is deserving of some looks.
The Raising Canes
The Carolina Hurricanes have become the first NHL team since the 7-game playoff format began in 1987 to go 8-0 to start their playoff run. You will see talk online about a “cupcake run” to the Eastern Conference Final, but that is just unfair to say. The Flyers had been on an absolute heater since the beginning of April. In addition, the Senators were an equally hot team that just ran into an absolute buzzsaw in Carolina. It is not easy to win multiple games in a row, let alone 8. It really seems as though the Hurricanes are going to be able to break the “Conference Final Curse” that has plagued the franchise in recent decades. Who can stop them?
NHL Awards Finalists:
Hart Trophy- Most Valuable Player Voted By The PHWA
- Nikita Kucherov TBL
- Connor McDavid EDM
- Nathan MacKinnon COL
The most coveted individual award for all skaters seems to be down to the same consensus top-3 players in the league for about the last 5 years. Most will probably be inclined to simply hand the award to the skater with the most points, but this is not a points award. That’s what the Art Ross is for. My vote goes to Nikita Kucherov, a player synonymous with the Tampa Bay Lightning who had an absolutely torrid second half of the season, propelling them to another 50-win season. A notable absence from this list is sophomore sensation Macklin Celebrini, who came into his second year in the league and just dominated, accounting for nearly half of the Sharks’ goals and setting franchise records in points and goals, and nearly securing them a playoff berth in the process.
Norris Trophy- Most Valuable Defenseman
- Cale Makar COL
- Zach Werenski CBJ
- Rassmus Dahlin BUF
An award that is truly given to the defenseman who scores the most is the Norris. Is it even a defensive award anymore? Notable players who are famously left out are players who provide significant defensive value to their teams. Dallas’ Esa Lindell immediately comes to mind as a player who played over 100 more minutes of TOI than the next guy. Miro Heiskanen notoriously skates as well as players like McDavid and MacKinnon, yet rarely gets votes himself despite being nearly a PPG player. For this reason, my vote absolutely goes towards Zach Werenski, who provides immense defensive value to his squad. This is not a diss on the defensive capabilities of guys like Makar and Dahlin, or past winners like Quinn Hughes, but shouldn’t a defensive award go to the best defensive player?
I would propose a separate award for Defensive defenseman, splitting the two archetypes by offensive and defensive capabilities. For years, players who exit the zone and act as wet blankets have fallen by the wayside, costing them accolades and millions of dollars in the process. The Forwards have a defensive and offensive award, so why don’t the defensemen? End rant.
Ted Lindsay Award- Most Valuable Player Voted By The NHLPA
- Macklin Celebrini SJS
- Nikita Kucherov TBL
- Conor McDavid EDM
This is the list I would have preferred for the Hart Trophy. The award voted on by the players pretty accurately reflects who I thought were the most impressive players this season. Not that I am taking anything away from MacKinnon, who is 1A or 1B for most talented players in the league right now, but Kuch and McDavid play on teams with rosters nowhere nearly as deep as the Avalanche. Speaking of which, that guy Macklin Celebrini turned out to be pretty good, right? He deserves this award in my mind. The kid is a straight-up problem in the league and will be for a long time.
Vezina Trophy- Most Valuable Goaltender
- Ilya Sorokin NYI
- Andrei Vasilevsky TBL
- Jeremy Swayman BOS
Perennial Vezina Finalist Andrei Vasilevsky makes yet another showing in the running for the league’s best goaltender, but I would have to hand this one to Ilya Sorokin, who propelled his team nearly to a playoff spot by sheer will. Ilya was the best player on his team for probably about 33% of the games that the Isles played. If you were to just go by stats alone, the award gets handed to Vasy once again.
Notably snubbed from contention is Avalanche Goaltender and former NHL journeyman and backup Scott Wedgewood, who put up a staggering .921 SV%. Unfortunately, the fact that Colorado has 2 incredible goaltenders came back to bite him, as he played in 14 fewer games than Vasilevsky and Swayman.
Calder Trophy- Rookie Of The Year
- Ivan Demidov MTL
- Matthew Schaefer NYI
- Beckett Sennecke ANA
This one feels like a slam dunk for rookie Defenseman Matt Schaefer. Schaefer’s incredible play as a defenseman in his first campaign bodes very well for the future of the Isles’ blue line, which also boasts talent such as 26-year-old Alexander Romanov and Adam Boqvist. This will be a hard team to score on for years behind this D-core. Demidov and Sennecke have also both heavily contributed to deep playoff runs for their respective teams and are well-deserving of the nod as well.
Lady Byng Trophy- Sportsmanship And Gentlemanly Play
- Anze Kopitar LAK
- Cole Caulfield MTL
- Jake Sanderson OTT
After a beautiful farewell tour and endcap to a Hall of Fame career, it is hard not to give this one to Anze Kopitar. He is a great player who has exemplified leadership for his team and is well-deserving of the award in his final lap around the NHL.
Masterton Trophy- Perseverance And Dedication To Hockey
- Rasmus Dahlin BUF
- Gabriel Landeskog COL
- Jonathan Toews WPG
It is going to be hard for me to imagine this one not going to Gabriel Landeskog. He suffered what should have been a career-ending knee injury during Colorado’s 2022 Cup run, causing him to miss all of the 2023 & 2024 seasons. He returned to action against the Dallas Stars in Round 1 of the Stanley Cup Playoffs last year and has helped propel his team to a President’s Trophy in his first year back.
Not to mention, this season he not only broke his ribs crashing the net in January before the Olympic Break, only to return and play for Team Sweden, but also took a blistering Cale Makar slapshot directly to his groin and it um… exploded his nether-regions. I will let you take that however you’d like. Landy has been one of the greatest leaders the Avs could have asked for, and absolutely should win this one without much competition.
Jack Adams Award- Head Coach Of The Year
- Jon Cooper TBL
- Dan Muse PIT
- Lindy Ruff BUF
It is going to be difficult to downplay how well-coached the Lightning, Pens, and Sabres have been this year. The Lightning have remained a dominant force in the league despite losing key pieces, and the Penguins have remained a competitive team despite ownership doing everything they can to mortgage their future with aging franchise legends at their core. Lindy Ruff, however, has breathed life back into a sports city that deserves it perhaps more than any other city in the US.
Buffalo’s turnaround should draw the admiration of every hockey fan. Breaking a 15-year curse in spectacular fashion, winning their incredibly top-heavy division, and flipping the narrative on its head in the process. Many fans and sports talking heads had Buffalo written off until late December as a team that would sell at the deadline and continue its perpetual rebuild, but fate has turned out quite differently than we expected. New GM Jarmo Kekäläinen and Lindy Ruff have transformed this franchise, and both deserve immense credit. My vote for Jack Adams goes to Sabres legend Lindy Ruff, for sure.
Jim Gregory GM Of The Year
Without the finalists officially being announced, it will be fun to speculate on who I think will be the finalists and winners of the award. In recent years, Stars GM Jim Nill has owned the award for 3 years running, but it seems unlikely after his trade deadline acquisitions did not quite pan out for the Stars the way he would have liked. My nominations are…
- Pat Verbeek ANA
- Bill Guerin MIN
- Jarmo Kekäläinen BUF
While it is incredible what Beeker and Jarmo have accomplished with their respective teams, it is going to be hard for me not to give insane props to Bill Guerin for turning a perennial underachiever into a monster that has been built to beat the Stars and Avalanche. The Wild went from a good team with great top-end talent to a great team with an elite blue line and a bruising 4th line. His trade deadline acquisitions were criticized heavily at the time, but have blossomed beautifully and created a team with depth and talent that will likely be a contender for years. Oh, and he also got us a Gold Medal.
