When asked for comment, StubHub reiterated its public-facing comment that the company doesn’t own or hold any tickets itself.
“StubHub does not own, possess, or sell tickets. We are a technology platform that connects independent buyers and sellers. (Think: eBay).”
This comment conveniently ignores that some of these “independent buyers” are being directly aided by the CEO of the company. Of course, the devil is in the details. Nobody is accusing StubHub of owning the tickets for their own sale, but it’s now clear that the top of the company is heavily invested in inflating its own marketplace. We discussed this fundamental issue late in the NBA and NHL playoffs, with how reselling sites like StubHub have a vested interest in scalpers, because their percentage-based resale fees are better for the company when event tickets soar — while also giving them multiple bites of the apple if the tickets are sold multiple times on the platform.
Baker, the StubHub CEO, reportedly is a large stakeholder in “Andro Capital,” a hedge fund based out of Los Angeles, which offers loan funding to large scale ticket purchasing operates which have the express purpose of buying tickets and reselling them for profit on platforms like StubHub.
Filing documents for Andro Capital show the hedge fund was formed in March of 2024, 18 months before StubHub announced it was going public in an IPO filing. In that filing to the SEC StubHub revealed its deep relationship with Andro, including this key detail from 2024:
On April 15, 2024, as part of our ongoing relationship with Andro, we entered into an agreement with the Andro Fund under which we agreed to cover certain costs incurred by Andro in connection with ticket management services.
StubHub was not required to divulge the totality of this agreement with Andro Fund, but having the company “cover certain costs incurred” raises mammoth red flags. That theoretically means that the hedge fund could have waived reselling feels on the seller side of the transaction, thereby incentivizing the fund to scalping operations. In short, the business flow could look like this:
A scalping group has capital to buy massive amounts of tickets
Rather than invest themselves, it’s better to invest their money in Andro to do the buying, because they have an agreement with StubHub to cover some of their expenses
Andro profits off the inflated ticket sales
StubHub benefits through massively inflated prices, which they profit off through buyer fees
That’s not all. The filing also lists “Colloquy LLC,” a subsidiary of Andro Capital, which serves as a loan servicing arm for tickets sellers — offering financing to mass buy tickets, which they resell on StubHub directly.
Under the terms of the Program Agreement, we refer certain of our sellers to Colloquy for the opportunity to enter into separate financing arrangements with Colloquy. Under such arrangements, it is anticipated that Colloquy may provide short-term financing to sellers based on those sellers’ existing and/or future expected proceeds generated through ticket sales on our platform.
Not only is Andro Capital its own ticket buyer, but it also runs an arm of the company that gives funding to sellers, based on referrals from StubHub itself. Essentially, the entire scalping business is fully intertwined with StubHub, from the CEO being involved in a large-scale seller AND offering funding to sellers.
The only person who loses out in this whole transaction are sports fans. The consumers who use the platform are being held hostage by ticket prices, which fundamentally wouldn’t be inflated to the same level without the input of StubHub. This is all legal from the SEC’s perspective due to a lack of oversight when it comes to hedge funds. There are few other industries in which a publicly traded company could be legally allowed to price fix to the level that is happening on StubHub, while trying to pretend with its public face that it’s just a platform for fans to sell to other fans.
There should be an immediate investigation into ticket pricing, as well as outlawing the kinds of predatory practices designed to inflate the wealth of StubHub and Andro Capital at the expense of consumers.
When asked for comment, StubHub reiterated its public-facing comment that the company doesn’t own or hold any tickets itself.
“StubHub does not own, possess, or sell tickets. We are a technology platform that connects independent buyers and sellers. (Think: eBay).”
This comment conveniently ignores that some of these “independent buyers” are being directly aided by the CEO of the company. Of course, the devil is in the details. Nobody is accusing StubHub of owning the tickets for their own sale, but it’s now clear that the top of the company is heavily invested in inflating its own marketplace. We discussed this fundamental issue late in the NBA and NHL playoffs, with how reselling sites like StubHub have a vested interest in scalpers, because their percentage-based resale fees are better for the company when event tickets soar — while also giving them multiple bites of the apple if the tickets are sold multiple times on the platform.
Baker, the StubHub CEO, reportedly is a large stakeholder in “Andro Capital,” a hedge fund based out of Los Angeles, which offers loan funding to large scale ticket purchasing operates which have the express purpose of buying tickets and reselling them for profit on platforms like StubHub.
Filing documents for Andro Capital show the hedge fund was formed in March of 2024, 18 months before StubHub announced it was going public in an IPO filing. In that filing to the SEC StubHub revealed its deep relationship with Andro, including this key detail from 2024:
On April 15, 2024, as part of our ongoing relationship with Andro, we entered into an agreement with the Andro Fund under which we agreed to cover certain costs incurred by Andro in connection with ticket management services.
StubHub was not required to divulge the totality of this agreement with Andro Fund, but having the company “cover certain costs incurred” raises mammoth red flags. That theoretically means that the hedge fund could have waived reselling feels on the seller side of the transaction, thereby incentivizing the fund to scalping operations. In short, the business flow could look like this:
A scalping group has capital to buy massive amounts of tickets
Rather than invest themselves, it’s better to invest their money in Andro to do the buying, because they have an agreement with StubHub to cover some of their expenses
Andro profits off the inflated ticket sales
StubHub benefits through massively inflated prices, which they profit off through buyer fees
That’s not all. The filing also lists “Colloquy LLC,” a subsidiary of Andro Capital, which serves as a loan servicing arm for tickets sellers — offering financing to mass buy tickets, which they resell on StubHub directly.
Under the terms of the Program Agreement, we refer certain of our sellers to Colloquy for the opportunity to enter into separate financing arrangements with Colloquy. Under such arrangements, it is anticipated that Colloquy may provide short-term financing to sellers based on those sellers’ existing and/or future expected proceeds generated through ticket sales on our platform.
Not only is Andro Capital its own ticket buyer, but it also runs an arm of the company that gives funding to sellers, based on referrals from StubHub itself. Essentially, the entire scalping business is fully intertwined with StubHub, from the CEO being involved in a large-scale seller AND offering funding to sellers.
The only person who loses out in this whole transaction are sports fans. The consumers who use the platform are being held hostage by ticket prices, which fundamentally wouldn’t be inflated to the same level without the input of StubHub. This is all legal from the SEC’s perspective due to a lack of oversight when it comes to hedge funds. There are few other industries in which a publicly traded company could be legally allowed to price fix to the level that is happening on StubHub, while trying to pretend with its public face that it’s just a platform for fans to sell to other fans.
There should be an immediate investigation into ticket pricing, as well as outlawing the kinds of predatory practices designed to inflate the wealth of StubHub and Andro Capital at the expense of consumers.
#StubHubs #CEO #helping #fund #biggest #ticket #scalpers">StubHub’s CEO is helping fund the biggest ticket scalpers
Expanding technology and resale options were supposed to make obtaining tickets to sporting events easier than ever, but instead it’s become a hellscape. Scalpers dominate online platforms, ensuring that desirable events sell out immediately, causing local sports fans to miss out unless they’re willing to pay exorbitant prices for fear of missing out.
When asked for comment, StubHub reiterated its public-facing comment that the company doesn’t own or hold any tickets itself.
“StubHub does not own, possess, or sell tickets. We are a technology platform that connects independent buyers and sellers. (Think: eBay).”
This comment conveniently ignores that some of these “independent buyers” are being directly aided by the CEO of the company. Of course, the devil is in the details. Nobody is accusing StubHub of owning the tickets for their own sale, but it’s now clear that the top of the company is heavily invested in inflating its own marketplace. We discussed this fundamental issue late in the NBA and NHL playoffs, with how reselling sites like StubHub have a vested interest in scalpers, because their percentage-based resale fees are better for the company when event tickets soar — while also giving them multiple bites of the apple if the tickets are sold multiple times on the platform.
Baker, the StubHub CEO, reportedly is a large stakeholder in “Andro Capital,” a hedge fund based out of Los Angeles, which offers loan funding to large scale ticket purchasing operates which have the express purpose of buying tickets and reselling them for profit on platforms like StubHub.
Filing documents for Andro Capital show the hedge fund was formed in March of 2024, 18 months before StubHub announced it was going public in an IPO filing. In that filing to the SEC StubHub revealed its deep relationship with Andro, including this key detail from 2024:
On April 15, 2024, as part of our ongoing relationship with Andro, we entered into an agreement with the Andro Fund under which we agreed to cover certain costs incurred by Andro in connection with ticket management services.
StubHub was not required to divulge the totality of this agreement with Andro Fund, but having the company “cover certain costs incurred” raises mammoth red flags. That theoretically means that the hedge fund could have waived reselling feels on the seller side of the transaction, thereby incentivizing the fund to scalping operations. In short, the business flow could look like this:
A scalping group has capital to buy massive amounts of tickets
Rather than invest themselves, it’s better to invest their money in Andro to do the buying, because they have an agreement with StubHub to cover some of their expenses
Andro profits off the inflated ticket sales
StubHub benefits through massively inflated prices, which they profit off through buyer fees
That’s not all. The filing also lists “Colloquy LLC,” a subsidiary of Andro Capital, which serves as a loan servicing arm for tickets sellers — offering financing to mass buy tickets, which they resell on StubHub directly.
Under the terms of the Program Agreement, we refer certain of our sellers to Colloquy for the opportunity to enter into separate financing arrangements with Colloquy. Under such arrangements, it is anticipated that Colloquy may provide short-term financing to sellers based on those sellers’ existing and/or future expected proceeds generated through ticket sales on our platform.
Not only is Andro Capital its own ticket buyer, but it also runs an arm of the company that gives funding to sellers, based on referrals from StubHub itself. Essentially, the entire scalping business is fully intertwined with StubHub, from the CEO being involved in a large-scale seller AND offering funding to sellers.
The only person who loses out in this whole transaction are sports fans. The consumers who use the platform are being held hostage by ticket prices, which fundamentally wouldn’t be inflated to the same level without the input of StubHub. This is all legal from the SEC’s perspective due to a lack of oversight when it comes to hedge funds. There are few other industries in which a publicly traded company could be legally allowed to price fix to the level that is happening on StubHub, while trying to pretend with its public face that it’s just a platform for fans to sell to other fans.
There should be an immediate investigation into ticket pricing, as well as outlawing the kinds of predatory practices designed to inflate the wealth of StubHub and Andro Capital at the expense of consumers.
Carlsson is one of the brightest young stars in the NHL. The 21-year-old just completed his third season in league since being drafted with the No. 2 overall pick in 2023, and has shown exponential growth. In 2025-26 he finished with 67 points in 70 games, and the record-breaking money being offered by Philadelphia proves that they believe he can quickly become an elite, 100-point player.
Two questions now remain:
Firstly, will the Ducks match the offer sheet? The team has seven days to decide if they want to match the Flyers’ offer and retain their RFA. The Ducks have more than enough cap space to make it work, currently sitting $35M under the salary cap for the 2026-27 season.
Secondly, is Carlsson worth it? While there are so many reasons to be hopeful about the 21-year-old’s future, this offer doesn’t come without mammoth risk for whichever side ends up with him. An $18M AAV deal means he absolutely needs to become a Top 10 player in the NHL within the next season or two, or this would be a colossal bust. The tea leaves are certainly there to say Carlsson can become that guy, but ultimately you’re still projecting how a very young player will grow moving forward.
If the Ducks chose not to match the offer sheet and relinquish Carlsson to the Flyers, they will get colossal draft compensation. Draft picks are based off the money being spent on the player, and the $18M AAV deal means that Philadelphia will give up their first-round pick for the next four years if they are able to land the star.
Now begins the gamesmanship. Do the Ducks believe that Carlsson can make Philadelphia so much better than those four draft picks will be largely meaningless? Can they envision a future without their young star? Are they prepared to sink that much money of their cap into him moving forward? Those questions will be answered in the next week.
Either way, Leo Carlsson is now the highest-paid player in NHL history.
Carlsson is one of the brightest young stars in the NHL. The 21-year-old just completed his third season in league since being drafted with the No. 2 overall pick in 2023, and has shown exponential growth. In 2025-26 he finished with 67 points in 70 games, and the record-breaking money being offered by Philadelphia proves that they believe he can quickly become an elite, 100-point player.
Two questions now remain:
Firstly, will the Ducks match the offer sheet? The team has seven days to decide if they want to match the Flyers’ offer and retain their RFA. The Ducks have more than enough cap space to make it work, currently sitting $35M under the salary cap for the 2026-27 season.
Secondly, is Carlsson worth it? While there are so many reasons to be hopeful about the 21-year-old’s future, this offer doesn’t come without mammoth risk for whichever side ends up with him. An $18M AAV deal means he absolutely needs to become a Top 10 player in the NHL within the next season or two, or this would be a colossal bust. The tea leaves are certainly there to say Carlsson can become that guy, but ultimately you’re still projecting how a very young player will grow moving forward.
If the Ducks chose not to match the offer sheet and relinquish Carlsson to the Flyers, they will get colossal draft compensation. Draft picks are based off the money being spent on the player, and the $18M AAV deal means that Philadelphia will give up their first-round pick for the next four years if they are able to land the star.
Now begins the gamesmanship. Do the Ducks believe that Carlsson can make Philadelphia so much better than those four draft picks will be largely meaningless? Can they envision a future without their young star? Are they prepared to sink that much money of their cap into him moving forward? Those questions will be answered in the next week.
Either way, Leo Carlsson is now the highest-paid player in NHL history.
#Flyers #offer #sheet #Leo #Carlsson #highestpaid #player #NHL #history">Flyers offer sheet Leo Carlsson, would make him the highest-paid player in NHL history
The figure for Carlsson eclipses that of Kirill Kaprizov, who the Minnesota Wild signed to a $17M AAV contract last year, which was the previous highest mark. Swelling NHL contracts are a sign of the times, with the sport’s popularity meaning increasing TV deals, growth in the salary cap, and whispers of expansion on the wind.
Carlsson is one of the brightest young stars in the NHL. The 21-year-old just completed his third season in league since being drafted with the No. 2 overall pick in 2023, and has shown exponential growth. In 2025-26 he finished with 67 points in 70 games, and the record-breaking money being offered by Philadelphia proves that they believe he can quickly become an elite, 100-point player.
Two questions now remain:
Firstly, will the Ducks match the offer sheet? The team has seven days to decide if they want to match the Flyers’ offer and retain their RFA. The Ducks have more than enough cap space to make it work, currently sitting $35M under the salary cap for the 2026-27 season.
Secondly, is Carlsson worth it? While there are so many reasons to be hopeful about the 21-year-old’s future, this offer doesn’t come without mammoth risk for whichever side ends up with him. An $18M AAV deal means he absolutely needs to become a Top 10 player in the NHL within the next season or two, or this would be a colossal bust. The tea leaves are certainly there to say Carlsson can become that guy, but ultimately you’re still projecting how a very young player will grow moving forward.
If the Ducks chose not to match the offer sheet and relinquish Carlsson to the Flyers, they will get colossal draft compensation. Draft picks are based off the money being spent on the player, and the $18M AAV deal means that Philadelphia will give up their first-round pick for the next four years if they are able to land the star.
Now begins the gamesmanship. Do the Ducks believe that Carlsson can make Philadelphia so much better than those four draft picks will be largely meaningless? Can they envision a future without their young star? Are they prepared to sink that much money of their cap into him moving forward? Those questions will be answered in the next week.
Either way, Leo Carlsson is now the highest-paid player in NHL history.
Unlike any other major sport, the NHL Draft boasts selections across five-plus nations, two continents, and trying to mesh all that together with being able to successfully project who can transition to the NHL after playing under different rules. All we know about this draft is that LW Gavin McKenna will likely be the No. 1 overall pick to the Toronto Maple Leafs, and from there it could be anarchy.
One thing to watch is how many veteran players could be dealt tonight. Mammoth names like Connor Hellebuyck, Dylan Larkin, and Zach Werenski are potentially finding new homes — and that adds a lot of intrigue to a class that is already deep on talent.
We’re following the first round live to grade this year’s picks.
No. 1: Toronto Maple Leafs — Gavin McKenna, LW, Penn State
The Leafs didn’t overthink this process and got the most dynamic skater in this class. A selfless wing, McKenna has an incredible eye for passing and a gift for setting his teammates up for success. A fluid skater who is light on his feet, McKenna does need to add some muscle to his frame to be more of a force against agressive defenders, and there’s work on the forecheck to be done — but the stage is set for McKenna to be an impact player as soon as he arrives in the NHL.
Unlike any other major sport, the NHL Draft boasts selections across five-plus nations, two continents, and trying to mesh all that together with being able to successfully project who can transition to the NHL after playing under different rules. All we know about this draft is that LW Gavin McKenna will likely be the No. 1 overall pick to the Toronto Maple Leafs, and from there it could be anarchy.
One thing to watch is how many veteran players could be dealt tonight. Mammoth names like Connor Hellebuyck, Dylan Larkin, and Zach Werenski are potentially finding new homes — and that adds a lot of intrigue to a class that is already deep on talent.
We’re following the first round live to grade this year’s picks.
No. 1: Toronto Maple Leafs — Gavin McKenna, LW, Penn State
The Leafs didn’t overthink this process and got the most dynamic skater in this class. A selfless wing, McKenna has an incredible eye for passing and a gift for setting his teammates up for success. A fluid skater who is light on his feet, McKenna does need to add some muscle to his frame to be more of a force against agressive defenders, and there’s work on the forecheck to be done — but the stage is set for McKenna to be an impact player as soon as he arrives in the NHL.
#NHL #draft #instant #grades #firstround #pick">NHL draft instant grades for every 2026 first-round pick
The 2026 NHL Draft comes to us from Buffalo on Friday night for one of the biggest nights in hockey. It’s an opportunity for teams to find their stars of the future, and always rewards the organizations who have invested resources into their scouting departments, while identifying the most-talented scouts along the way.
Unlike any other major sport, the NHL Draft boasts selections across five-plus nations, two continents, and trying to mesh all that together with being able to successfully project who can transition to the NHL after playing under different rules. All we know about this draft is that LW Gavin McKenna will likely be the No. 1 overall pick to the Toronto Maple Leafs, and from there it could be anarchy.
One thing to watch is how many veteran players could be dealt tonight. Mammoth names like Connor Hellebuyck, Dylan Larkin, and Zach Werenski are potentially finding new homes — and that adds a lot of intrigue to a class that is already deep on talent.
We’re following the first round live to grade this year’s picks.
No. 1: Toronto Maple Leafs — Gavin McKenna, LW, Penn State
The Leafs didn’t overthink this process and got the most dynamic skater in this class. A selfless wing, McKenna has an incredible eye for passing and a gift for setting his teammates up for success. A fluid skater who is light on his feet, McKenna does need to add some muscle to his frame to be more of a force against agressive defenders, and there’s work on the forecheck to be done — but the stage is set for McKenna to be an impact player as soon as he arrives in the NHL.
#NHL #draft #instant #grades #firstround #pick
The 2026 NHL Draft comes to us from Buffalo on Friday night for one of…
MONTREAL, CANADA – MAY 25: Andrei Svechnikov #37 of the Carolina Hurricanes celebrates with Jordan Martinook #48 and Jalen Chatfield #5 after scoring the game-winning goal against the Montréal Canadiens during overtime in Game Three of the Eastern Conference Final of the 2026 Stanley Cup Playoffs at Bell Centre on May 25, 2026 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images) Getty Images
Montreal has re-emerged this season to become an exciting and young team, with legitimate Stanley Cup potential in the future. I say, “in the future,” because the ECF thus far has proven there’s still a lot to work on for the Habs. Their free-flowing offense based on long outlet passes to the wings is a beautiful tactic, but it’s too predictable and one-note. It caught Carolina off guard in Game 1, but they’ve since adjusted to allow only 25 shots in two games, after Montreal had 22 shots in Game 1 alone.
The team needs more toughness, both up front and on the blue line — which can come with time. The real story of the postseason for Montreal has been the breakout performance of rookie goalie Jakub Dobeš, who is cementing himself as an absolute phenom. Without Dobeš in goal the Canadiens would have likely allowed five or six more goals in this series, and the rookie legitimately looks like a future Vezina-caliber tender.
This series is far from over with Carolina really struggling to get quality opportunities because of Dobeš, while also having extreme goaltending issues of their own. Montreal is fast, skilled, and if they can crack the code to breaking through the Canes’ defense then they will cause problems.
The Canadiens went through the No. 2 and No. 3 ranked teams in the East to reach this point. They proved their mettle against the Tampa Bay Lightning and the Buffalo Sabres, both of whom were outclassed. Meanwhile the Hurricanes had an easier route through the Metropolitan division, but showed why they were the top team in the Eastern Conference this season.
The Avs were the runaway favorites to win the Stanley Cup this year on the back of an astounding regular season that saw the team finish at 55-16-11 to win the Presidents’ Cup — but everything is going wrong. A late-season injury to phenom defenseman Cale Makar carried into the playoffs, and his absence is really showing in the Western Conference Finals.
Without Makar at full strength, the shape of Colorado falls apart, both offensively and defensively. You can see the void on the ice, and problematically other players haven’t stepped up. Martin Necas has largely disappeared this postseason, and with him playing poorly we’ve see Nathan McKinnon suffer as well.
Call it the Presidents’ Cup Curse, but this doesn’t look anything like the Avalanche team which bodied the league during the regular season, then beat the Stars and Wild. Colorado is out of gas, and down 3-0 against the Knights means it’s almost assured they will go home.
LAS VEGAS, NEVADA – MAY 24: Mark Stone #61 of the Vegas Golden Knights celebrates his goal with Tomas Hertl #48 and Mitch Marner #93 during the second period in Game Three of the Western Conference Final of the 2026 Stanley Cup Playoffs against the Colorado Avalanche at T-Mobile Arena on May 24, 2026 in Las Vegas, Nevada. The Golden Knights defeated the Avalanche 5-3. (Photo by Candice Ward/Getty Images) Getty Images
Full credit to the Knights, because they really looked nothing like a cup team until they installed John Tortarella as head coach late in the season. This team is an entirely different animal with Torts on the bench, and their veteran experience paired with star power have made them a team to watch.
One of the biggest benefactors of the new coaching scheme has been Mitch Marner, who was the Knights’ big free agent signing last summer. Initially, he struggled to find his footing in Vegas, but in the postseason he has 21 points in 15 games — earning every cent of his big money contract.
This is a team that is really difficult to put in a box. They were so average during the regular season it’s tough to ignore, but so good now that it can’t be overlooked. Now they’re taking it to Colorado in the Western Conference Finals to give themselves a legitimate shot to win it all.
This was a similar story to the East where the Avalanche went thought the toughest competition inside the conference, while the Golden Knights got an easy road. If you see people complaining about the playoff structure in the NHL then the west is the best reason why, because the Avs had to play the No. 2 and No. 3 ranked teams in the West just to reach the conference finals, despite being the best team in the conference — while Vegas drew No. 6 and No. 7 ranked teams, while finishing 5th in the division.
Stanley Cup Finals prediction
The Golden Knights should close out against the Avalanche, while I believe the Hurricanes will need six games to put away Montreal. This sets us up for Vegas vs. Carolina in the Stanley Cup Finals.
It’s been a tremendous run for the Golden Knights, but Carolina is the toughest team in these playoffs. Their defense alone makes them nearly impenetrable, and no team has solved it so far.
MONTREAL, CANADA – MAY 25: Andrei Svechnikov #37 of the Carolina Hurricanes celebrates with Jordan Martinook #48 and Jalen Chatfield #5 after scoring the game-winning goal against the Montréal Canadiens during overtime in Game Three of the Eastern Conference Final of the 2026 Stanley Cup Playoffs at Bell Centre on May 25, 2026 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images) Getty Images
Montreal has re-emerged this season to become an exciting and young team, with legitimate Stanley Cup potential in the future. I say, “in the future,” because the ECF thus far has proven there’s still a lot to work on for the Habs. Their free-flowing offense based on long outlet passes to the wings is a beautiful tactic, but it’s too predictable and one-note. It caught Carolina off guard in Game 1, but they’ve since adjusted to allow only 25 shots in two games, after Montreal had 22 shots in Game 1 alone.
The team needs more toughness, both up front and on the blue line — which can come with time. The real story of the postseason for Montreal has been the breakout performance of rookie goalie Jakub Dobeš, who is cementing himself as an absolute phenom. Without Dobeš in goal the Canadiens would have likely allowed five or six more goals in this series, and the rookie legitimately looks like a future Vezina-caliber tender.
This series is far from over with Carolina really struggling to get quality opportunities because of Dobeš, while also having extreme goaltending issues of their own. Montreal is fast, skilled, and if they can crack the code to breaking through the Canes’ defense then they will cause problems.
The Canadiens went through the No. 2 and No. 3 ranked teams in the East to reach this point. They proved their mettle against the Tampa Bay Lightning and the Buffalo Sabres, both of whom were outclassed. Meanwhile the Hurricanes had an easier route through the Metropolitan division, but showed why they were the top team in the Eastern Conference this season.
The Avs were the runaway favorites to win the Stanley Cup this year on the back of an astounding regular season that saw the team finish at 55-16-11 to win the Presidents’ Cup — but everything is going wrong. A late-season injury to phenom defenseman Cale Makar carried into the playoffs, and his absence is really showing in the Western Conference Finals.
Without Makar at full strength, the shape of Colorado falls apart, both offensively and defensively. You can see the void on the ice, and problematically other players haven’t stepped up. Martin Necas has largely disappeared this postseason, and with him playing poorly we’ve see Nathan McKinnon suffer as well.
Call it the Presidents’ Cup Curse, but this doesn’t look anything like the Avalanche team which bodied the league during the regular season, then beat the Stars and Wild. Colorado is out of gas, and down 3-0 against the Knights means it’s almost assured they will go home.
LAS VEGAS, NEVADA – MAY 24: Mark Stone #61 of the Vegas Golden Knights celebrates his goal with Tomas Hertl #48 and Mitch Marner #93 during the second period in Game Three of the Western Conference Final of the 2026 Stanley Cup Playoffs against the Colorado Avalanche at T-Mobile Arena on May 24, 2026 in Las Vegas, Nevada. The Golden Knights defeated the Avalanche 5-3. (Photo by Candice Ward/Getty Images) Getty Images
Full credit to the Knights, because they really looked nothing like a cup team until they installed John Tortarella as head coach late in the season. This team is an entirely different animal with Torts on the bench, and their veteran experience paired with star power have made them a team to watch.
One of the biggest benefactors of the new coaching scheme has been Mitch Marner, who was the Knights’ big free agent signing last summer. Initially, he struggled to find his footing in Vegas, but in the postseason he has 21 points in 15 games — earning every cent of his big money contract.
This is a team that is really difficult to put in a box. They were so average during the regular season it’s tough to ignore, but so good now that it can’t be overlooked. Now they’re taking it to Colorado in the Western Conference Finals to give themselves a legitimate shot to win it all.
This was a similar story to the East where the Avalanche went thought the toughest competition inside the conference, while the Golden Knights got an easy road. If you see people complaining about the playoff structure in the NHL then the west is the best reason why, because the Avs had to play the No. 2 and No. 3 ranked teams in the West just to reach the conference finals, despite being the best team in the conference — while Vegas drew No. 6 and No. 7 ranked teams, while finishing 5th in the division.
Stanley Cup Finals prediction
The Golden Knights should close out against the Avalanche, while I believe the Hurricanes will need six games to put away Montreal. This sets us up for Vegas vs. Carolina in the Stanley Cup Finals.
It’s been a tremendous run for the Golden Knights, but Carolina is the toughest team in these playoffs. Their defense alone makes them nearly impenetrable, and no team has solved it so far.
Carolina Hurricanes win the Stanley Cup, 4-2
#NHL #Stanley #Cup #Playoffs #Conference #primer #race #cup #real">NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs: Conference primer as the race for the cup gets real
The NHL has hit the business end of the Stanley Cup Playoffs with just four teams remaining. The Eastern Conference Finals is entering its fourth game between the Carolina Hurricanes and Montreal Canadiens, with Carolina leading 2-1. The West sees the Colorado Avalanche trying to stave off elimination against the Vegas Golden Knights, who are leading 3-0.
That’s the top-down view, but if you haven’t been keeping up with the NHL postseason so far, but want to dive in, let’s go a little deeper into these four remaining teams, as well as discuss the broader theme of the playoffs so far.
The Hurricanes have been the most consistent team in the playoffs with an overall record of 10-1, built on the back of their lane-clogging defense and suffocating forecheck. It’s also fair to say they’ve been one of the least-tested teams in the postseason thanks to back-to-back series against the Senators and Flyers to kick off their run.
On paper this team has every tool needed to hoist the cup, but they have two glaring issues right now:
Firstly is in net, where veteran Freddie Andersen has been extremely unreliable in the ECF. In three games he’s allowed 10 goals on 47 shots, an abysmal save percentage of 0.787% — not all of that is on Andersen, with Carolina having defensive breakdowns in every goal allowed, but a playoff-caliber netminder shouldn’t let in as many easy goals as he has.
The second issue is that the Hurricanes’ top line really hasn’t separated itself to prove it can be a cup-winning unit. Andrei Svechnikov/Sebastian Aho/Seth Jarvis have had a lot of opportunities, but not a lot of results. They need this top line to pick up their play in order to really feel like a team that can go all the way.
MONTREAL, CANADA – MAY 25: Andrei Svechnikov #37 of the Carolina Hurricanes celebrates with Jordan Martinook #48 and Jalen Chatfield #5 after scoring the game-winning goal against the Montréal Canadiens during overtime in Game Three of the Eastern Conference Final of the 2026 Stanley Cup Playoffs at Bell Centre on May 25, 2026 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images) Getty Images
Montreal has re-emerged this season to become an exciting and young team, with legitimate Stanley Cup potential in the future. I say, “in the future,” because the ECF thus far has proven there’s still a lot to work on for the Habs. Their free-flowing offense based on long outlet passes to the wings is a beautiful tactic, but it’s too predictable and one-note. It caught Carolina off guard in Game 1, but they’ve since adjusted to allow only 25 shots in two games, after Montreal had 22 shots in Game 1 alone.
The team needs more toughness, both up front and on the blue line — which can come with time. The real story of the postseason for Montreal has been the breakout performance of rookie goalie Jakub Dobeš, who is cementing himself as an absolute phenom. Without Dobeš in goal the Canadiens would have likely allowed five or six more goals in this series, and the rookie legitimately looks like a future Vezina-caliber tender.
This series is far from over with Carolina really struggling to get quality opportunities because of Dobeš, while also having extreme goaltending issues of their own. Montreal is fast, skilled, and if they can crack the code to breaking through the Canes’ defense then they will cause problems.
The Canadiens went through the No. 2 and No. 3 ranked teams in the East to reach this point. They proved their mettle against the Tampa Bay Lightning and the Buffalo Sabres, both of whom were outclassed. Meanwhile the Hurricanes had an easier route through the Metropolitan division, but showed why they were the top team in the Eastern Conference this season.
The Avs were the runaway favorites to win the Stanley Cup this year on the back of an astounding regular season that saw the team finish at 55-16-11 to win the Presidents’ Cup — but everything is going wrong. A late-season injury to phenom defenseman Cale Makar carried into the playoffs, and his absence is really showing in the Western Conference Finals.
Without Makar at full strength, the shape of Colorado falls apart, both offensively and defensively. You can see the void on the ice, and problematically other players haven’t stepped up. Martin Necas has largely disappeared this postseason, and with him playing poorly we’ve see Nathan McKinnon suffer as well.
Call it the Presidents’ Cup Curse, but this doesn’t look anything like the Avalanche team which bodied the league during the regular season, then beat the Stars and Wild. Colorado is out of gas, and down 3-0 against the Knights means it’s almost assured they will go home.
LAS VEGAS, NEVADA – MAY 24: Mark Stone #61 of the Vegas Golden Knights celebrates his goal with Tomas Hertl #48 and Mitch Marner #93 during the second period in Game Three of the Western Conference Final of the 2026 Stanley Cup Playoffs against the Colorado Avalanche at T-Mobile Arena on May 24, 2026 in Las Vegas, Nevada. The Golden Knights defeated the Avalanche 5-3. (Photo by Candice Ward/Getty Images) Getty Images
Full credit to the Knights, because they really looked nothing like a cup team until they installed John Tortarella as head coach late in the season. This team is an entirely different animal with Torts on the bench, and their veteran experience paired with star power have made them a team to watch.
One of the biggest benefactors of the new coaching scheme has been Mitch Marner, who was the Knights’ big free agent signing last summer. Initially, he struggled to find his footing in Vegas, but in the postseason he has 21 points in 15 games — earning every cent of his big money contract.
This is a team that is really difficult to put in a box. They were so average during the regular season it’s tough to ignore, but so good now that it can’t be overlooked. Now they’re taking it to Colorado in the Western Conference Finals to give themselves a legitimate shot to win it all.
This was a similar story to the East where the Avalanche went thought the toughest competition inside the conference, while the Golden Knights got an easy road. If you see people complaining about the playoff structure in the NHL then the west is the best reason why, because the Avs had to play the No. 2 and No. 3 ranked teams in the West just to reach the conference finals, despite being the best team in the conference — while Vegas drew No. 6 and No. 7 ranked teams, while finishing 5th in the division.
Stanley Cup Finals prediction
The Golden Knights should close out against the Avalanche, while I believe the Hurricanes will need six games to put away Montreal. This sets us up for Vegas vs. Carolina in the Stanley Cup Finals.
It’s been a tremendous run for the Golden Knights, but Carolina is the toughest team in these playoffs. Their defense alone makes them nearly impenetrable, and no team has solved it so far.
The winner of that Game 7 will have two days of rest before beginning the Eastern Conference Finals — the Hurricanes will have had 12.
A bizarre, problematic twist to the NHL Playoff schedule has led to the greatest rest disparity in the history of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Nobody has had 12 games of rest before, and it happened because of the bracket’s construction. The NHL has long operated on the idea that nobody should be able to easily sweep a series, let along two back-to-back. What the Canes are doing hasn’t been seen since the 1980s, and it just so happens at the time where the other side of the Eastern conference draw has been a total crapshoot. It took seven games for the Canadiens to beat the Tampa Bay Lightning, the Sabres needed six to beat the Bruins in the opening round — now they have gone to seven against each other in this series. Meanwhile the Hurricanes wen 4-0 against the Senators, then 4-0 against the Flyers to reach this spot.
The result is that Carolina has played nearly half less games as anyone left in the East, and the fewest in the playoffs. It’s a blessing in terms of getting healthy, being rested, and entering the Eastern Conference Finals at 100-percent, but it remains to be seen if the rest could come back to bite the team by interrupting their rhythm. That’s a significant worry, and as dominant as the Canes have seemed, there are also some very real worries.
Thus far the team hasn’t seen a lot of production out of its top line. Svechnikov/Aho/Jarvis have been solid, but once again seem to be falling into that all-too-common Carolina trope of stars disappearing in the playoffs. The Hurricanes’ power play has been atrocious as well, 5-for-27 these playoffs after being 24.9% on the season. They’re won on the back of speed, power, and their forecheck — but have yet to be tested in a multi-goal deficit, and still have significant questions in net with Freddie Andersen playing phenomentally well, but being far from a safe bet after a down season in Raleigh.
That makes this upcoming Eastern Conference Final an each way bet, and a litmus test on the NHL’s scheduling. There’s no good result to what will happen next. If Carolina comes out and dominates then opposing fans will cry foul of the amount of rest the Canes got in the lead up to this series, if Carolina gets bodied early in the series it will be an indictment on them having too much rest to stay hot in the playoffs. Sprinkle in the drama of this destined to be another Southern hockey vs. legacy cold-weather city matchup and there will be plenty of angst in the ECF.
Embrace chaos, because it’s coming on Thursday night.
The winner of that Game 7 will have two days of rest before beginning the Eastern Conference Finals — the Hurricanes will have had 12.
A bizarre, problematic twist to the NHL Playoff schedule has led to the greatest rest disparity in the history of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Nobody has had 12 games of rest before, and it happened because of the bracket’s construction. The NHL has long operated on the idea that nobody should be able to easily sweep a series, let along two back-to-back. What the Canes are doing hasn’t been seen since the 1980s, and it just so happens at the time where the other side of the Eastern conference draw has been a total crapshoot. It took seven games for the Canadiens to beat the Tampa Bay Lightning, the Sabres needed six to beat the Bruins in the opening round — now they have gone to seven against each other in this series. Meanwhile the Hurricanes wen 4-0 against the Senators, then 4-0 against the Flyers to reach this spot.
The result is that Carolina has played nearly half less games as anyone left in the East, and the fewest in the playoffs. It’s a blessing in terms of getting healthy, being rested, and entering the Eastern Conference Finals at 100-percent, but it remains to be seen if the rest could come back to bite the team by interrupting their rhythm. That’s a significant worry, and as dominant as the Canes have seemed, there are also some very real worries.
Thus far the team hasn’t seen a lot of production out of its top line. Svechnikov/Aho/Jarvis have been solid, but once again seem to be falling into that all-too-common Carolina trope of stars disappearing in the playoffs. The Hurricanes’ power play has been atrocious as well, 5-for-27 these playoffs after being 24.9% on the season. They’re won on the back of speed, power, and their forecheck — but have yet to be tested in a multi-goal deficit, and still have significant questions in net with Freddie Andersen playing phenomentally well, but being far from a safe bet after a down season in Raleigh.
That makes this upcoming Eastern Conference Final an each way bet, and a litmus test on the NHL’s scheduling. There’s no good result to what will happen next. If Carolina comes out and dominates then opposing fans will cry foul of the amount of rest the Canes got in the lead up to this series, if Carolina gets bodied early in the series it will be an indictment on them having too much rest to stay hot in the playoffs. Sprinkle in the drama of this destined to be another Southern hockey vs. legacy cold-weather city matchup and there will be plenty of angst in the ECF.
Embrace chaos, because it’s coming on Thursday night.
#Carolina #Hurricanes #coming #historic #rest #NHL #Eastern #Conference #Finals">Carolina Hurricanes coming off historic rest for NHL Eastern Conference Finals
It’s been a long time since the Carolina Hurricanes played hockey, and they have to wait even longer. The Montreal Canadiens and Buffalo Sabres play in Game 7 of their Eastern Conference Semi-Finals on Monday night, with Carolina waiting for the winner to kick off the next series on Thursday.
The winner of that Game 7 will have two days of rest before beginning the Eastern Conference Finals — the Hurricanes will have had 12.
A bizarre, problematic twist to the NHL Playoff schedule has led to the greatest rest disparity in the history of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Nobody has had 12 games of rest before, and it happened because of the bracket’s construction. The NHL has long operated on the idea that nobody should be able to easily sweep a series, let along two back-to-back. What the Canes are doing hasn’t been seen since the 1980s, and it just so happens at the time where the other side of the Eastern conference draw has been a total crapshoot. It took seven games for the Canadiens to beat the Tampa Bay Lightning, the Sabres needed six to beat the Bruins in the opening round — now they have gone to seven against each other in this series. Meanwhile the Hurricanes wen 4-0 against the Senators, then 4-0 against the Flyers to reach this spot.
The result is that Carolina has played nearly half less games as anyone left in the East, and the fewest in the playoffs. It’s a blessing in terms of getting healthy, being rested, and entering the Eastern Conference Finals at 100-percent, but it remains to be seen if the rest could come back to bite the team by interrupting their rhythm. That’s a significant worry, and as dominant as the Canes have seemed, there are also some very real worries.
Thus far the team hasn’t seen a lot of production out of its top line. Svechnikov/Aho/Jarvis have been solid, but once again seem to be falling into that all-too-common Carolina trope of stars disappearing in the playoffs. The Hurricanes’ power play has been atrocious as well, 5-for-27 these playoffs after being 24.9% on the season. They’re won on the back of speed, power, and their forecheck — but have yet to be tested in a multi-goal deficit, and still have significant questions in net with Freddie Andersen playing phenomentally well, but being far from a safe bet after a down season in Raleigh.
That makes this upcoming Eastern Conference Final an each way bet, and a litmus test on the NHL’s scheduling. There’s no good result to what will happen next. If Carolina comes out and dominates then opposing fans will cry foul of the amount of rest the Canes got in the lead up to this series, if Carolina gets bodied early in the series it will be an indictment on them having too much rest to stay hot in the playoffs. Sprinkle in the drama of this destined to be another Southern hockey vs. legacy cold-weather city matchup and there will be plenty of angst in the ECF.
Embrace chaos, because it’s coming on Thursday night.
This is simply anotherworldly level of skill with the puck work. Not only does Marner have Lacombe draped all over him while he’s on the way to the net, but he has the wherewithal to skate backwards, get low in his stance — and then, well, he becomes a magician. Marner fakes stick side, takes the puck between his legs to go glove side, and dekes between his friggin’ legs to avoid Lacombe and slot the puck in behind the goalie’s legs.
It’s an incredible representation of hockey’s duality. One second you’ll have the bruising, the fights, the angst of it all — then the next one of the prettiest things you’ll see in any sport.
This is simply anotherworldly level of skill with the puck work. Not only does Marner have Lacombe draped all over him while he’s on the way to the net, but he has the wherewithal to skate backwards, get low in his stance — and then, well, he becomes a magician. Marner fakes stick side, takes the puck between his legs to go glove side, and dekes between his friggin’ legs to avoid Lacombe and slot the puck in behind the goalie’s legs.
It’s an incredible representation of hockey’s duality. One second you’ll have the bruising, the fights, the angst of it all — then the next one of the prettiest things you’ll see in any sport.
#Mitch #Marner #didnt #goal #NHL #Playoffs #alltimer">Mitch Marner didn’t just have the goal of the NHL Playoffs, it was an all-timer
The Las Vegas Golden Knights are moving on to the Western Conference Finals where they run head-first into the Colorado Avalanche blender. Still, we shouldn’t let the future distract us from the fact that Mitch Marner didn’t just have the best goal of these Stanley Cup Playoffs, but one of the greatest goals of all time.
This is simply anotherworldly level of skill with the puck work. Not only does Marner have Lacombe draped all over him while he’s on the way to the net, but he has the wherewithal to skate backwards, get low in his stance — and then, well, he becomes a magician. Marner fakes stick side, takes the puck between his legs to go glove side, and dekes between his friggin’ legs to avoid Lacombe and slot the puck in behind the goalie’s legs.
It’s an incredible representation of hockey’s duality. One second you’ll have the bruising, the fights, the angst of it all — then the next one of the prettiest things you’ll see in any sport.
Yet nobody can settle on whether this team is really a Stanley Cup favorite yet.
A lot of factors go into the acrimony when discussing Carolina. There’s long-standing bitterness over southern hockey being a thing, especially following back-to-back years of the Florida Panthers hoisting the cup. There’s the fact that the team plays hockey in a manner that runs counter to everything we know about success in the modern NHL. Also, there’s simply a reality that the Canes have had a pretty easy path through the postseason thus far, facing two teams that were bad strategic mismatches for them.
What that doesn’t mean, however, is that either the Ottawa Senators or Philadelphia Flyers are “bad teams.” Finishing with 99 and 98 points on the season, respectively, the Sens and Flyers were better than the entire Western Conference Pacific Division, better than the Utah Mammoth who the Golden Knights beat in the first round, and just one win worse than the Bruins, who the Sabres bested in the opening round. Yet, it’s become cool to hate on the Hurricanes’ opponents thus far as a means to discredit Carolina as being a legitimate team — foisting them with criticism no other team in the field is left with.
It’s absolutely fair to say that both Ottawa and Philadelphia were thrown into a mismatch blender. Both teams thrived during the regular season when playing on clean ice, with open passing lanes and room to set up plays. This is what the Hurricanes excel at stopping, running brutal forechecks with gutsy defensive rotations that flip the formation to send defensemen up ice to hassle opposing defenseman on the puck, allowing the forwards to stay home.
One of the hallmarks of Carolina hockey is to forget the model of play that wins in the NHL, and instead change the game into Hurricanes hockey. They thrive in limiting the effectiveness of star players, making the game be about depth rather than top-line strength, then take over when their third and fourth lines are stronger than their opponents. There’s no coincidence that hockey fans were wondering why Brady Tkachuk and Tim Stützle disappeared in the Sens series, or why Trevor Zegras and Travis Konecny couldn’t make inroads in round two. This was the Canes’ doing, and it worked.
“Their D… they have the best sticks I’ve ever seen. It was crazy. Some of the plays you’d just be like ‘I can get this through,’ like Slav [Jaccob Slavin] has probably the best stick in the league. I had two Grade-A’s [scoring chances] and they hit his stick and up in the netting. I was like ‘how on earth is that not in the back of the net?’”
The length of the Carolina blueliners is causing massive problems for any team trying to play pretty, puck rotation hockey. Throughout the Flyers series we saw the Philly attack get decimated due to deflections from Slavin, K’Andre Miller, and Alexander Nikishin — with their pairings in Jalen Chatfield, Shayne Gostisbehere, and Sean Walker serving more as the more traditional net battlers. This layered defense has been impenetrable in the playoffs and has been offset with the Canes showing more fight and edge that they have previously.
So why is there so much doubt that this can carry over to the cup? There are three fair statements to make:
The Hurricanes haven’t faced an elite, 90+ point player yet in the playoffs
They’ve been so good defensively that it seems impossible to keep it up
Carolina’s best players really haven’t turned up yet
Forgive the pun, but you can see the storm brewing for Carolina that this incredible run could go south quickly (another pun, sorry). Getting the better of Stützle or Konecny is one thing, but when that caliber of player changes to Nathan McKinnon, Martin Nečas, Nick Suzuki, or Kirill Kaprizov — can this same approach still work? Is there a break point to this defensive dominance where Carolina can be overwhelmed by star players, and if that happens can the Canes recover?
That is the real worry right now, and it’s fair to question what is happening with the Carolina top line. The heroes of the playoffs thus far for the Canes has been the Hall/Stankoven/Blake line two, which has been phenomenal — but there has been pronounced quietness from Andrei Svechnikov, Sebastian Aho, and Seth Jarvis on the top line, outside of a few glimmers of magic. We know that historically the NHL playoffs have been won through star power, even by teams like the Panthers who were bruising, but still leaned on Matthew Tkachuk, Sam Bennett, and Brad Marchand to drag them through.
If the Canes can’t get that top-line performance firing then there’s a chance they can’t assert their will on the game, which has a domino effect on the rest of the lines, thereby putting more pressure on the defense to bail the team out.
The biggest questions about the Hurricanes won’t get answered for some time, with Saturday being the earliest their next series can begin. Whether the Sabres or Canadiens come out of the Atlantic, either team will be the best opposition Carolina has faced, with more star power and deeper lines. If the Canes are able to keep up this dominance in the Eastern Conference Finals then we can really talk about their chances to beat the Avs or Wild in the West.
So are the Canes really cup favorites or pretenders? They’re both, and neither, and bizarrely somewhere in the middle. Carolina is a unique Rod Brind’Amour team that approaches hockey in a way no one else does, which means we can’t use the typical yardsticks to measure their potential. It’s all a big guessing game, but that’s what make these playoffs so much fun.
Yet nobody can settle on whether this team is really a Stanley Cup favorite yet.
A lot of factors go into the acrimony when discussing Carolina. There’s long-standing bitterness over southern hockey being a thing, especially following back-to-back years of the Florida Panthers hoisting the cup. There’s the fact that the team plays hockey in a manner that runs counter to everything we know about success in the modern NHL. Also, there’s simply a reality that the Canes have had a pretty easy path through the postseason thus far, facing two teams that were bad strategic mismatches for them.
What that doesn’t mean, however, is that either the Ottawa Senators or Philadelphia Flyers are “bad teams.” Finishing with 99 and 98 points on the season, respectively, the Sens and Flyers were better than the entire Western Conference Pacific Division, better than the Utah Mammoth who the Golden Knights beat in the first round, and just one win worse than the Bruins, who the Sabres bested in the opening round. Yet, it’s become cool to hate on the Hurricanes’ opponents thus far as a means to discredit Carolina as being a legitimate team — foisting them with criticism no other team in the field is left with.
It’s absolutely fair to say that both Ottawa and Philadelphia were thrown into a mismatch blender. Both teams thrived during the regular season when playing on clean ice, with open passing lanes and room to set up plays. This is what the Hurricanes excel at stopping, running brutal forechecks with gutsy defensive rotations that flip the formation to send defensemen up ice to hassle opposing defenseman on the puck, allowing the forwards to stay home.
One of the hallmarks of Carolina hockey is to forget the model of play that wins in the NHL, and instead change the game into Hurricanes hockey. They thrive in limiting the effectiveness of star players, making the game be about depth rather than top-line strength, then take over when their third and fourth lines are stronger than their opponents. There’s no coincidence that hockey fans were wondering why Brady Tkachuk and Tim Stützle disappeared in the Sens series, or why Trevor Zegras and Travis Konecny couldn’t make inroads in round two. This was the Canes’ doing, and it worked.
“Their D… they have the best sticks I’ve ever seen. It was crazy. Some of the plays you’d just be like ‘I can get this through,’ like Slav [Jaccob Slavin] has probably the best stick in the league. I had two Grade-A’s [scoring chances] and they hit his stick and up in the netting. I was like ‘how on earth is that not in the back of the net?’”
The length of the Carolina blueliners is causing massive problems for any team trying to play pretty, puck rotation hockey. Throughout the Flyers series we saw the Philly attack get decimated due to deflections from Slavin, K’Andre Miller, and Alexander Nikishin — with their pairings in Jalen Chatfield, Shayne Gostisbehere, and Sean Walker serving more as the more traditional net battlers. This layered defense has been impenetrable in the playoffs and has been offset with the Canes showing more fight and edge that they have previously.
So why is there so much doubt that this can carry over to the cup? There are three fair statements to make:
The Hurricanes haven’t faced an elite, 90+ point player yet in the playoffs
They’ve been so good defensively that it seems impossible to keep it up
Carolina’s best players really haven’t turned up yet
Forgive the pun, but you can see the storm brewing for Carolina that this incredible run could go south quickly (another pun, sorry). Getting the better of Stützle or Konecny is one thing, but when that caliber of player changes to Nathan McKinnon, Martin Nečas, Nick Suzuki, or Kirill Kaprizov — can this same approach still work? Is there a break point to this defensive dominance where Carolina can be overwhelmed by star players, and if that happens can the Canes recover?
That is the real worry right now, and it’s fair to question what is happening with the Carolina top line. The heroes of the playoffs thus far for the Canes has been the Hall/Stankoven/Blake line two, which has been phenomenal — but there has been pronounced quietness from Andrei Svechnikov, Sebastian Aho, and Seth Jarvis on the top line, outside of a few glimmers of magic. We know that historically the NHL playoffs have been won through star power, even by teams like the Panthers who were bruising, but still leaned on Matthew Tkachuk, Sam Bennett, and Brad Marchand to drag them through.
If the Canes can’t get that top-line performance firing then there’s a chance they can’t assert their will on the game, which has a domino effect on the rest of the lines, thereby putting more pressure on the defense to bail the team out.
The biggest questions about the Hurricanes won’t get answered for some time, with Saturday being the earliest their next series can begin. Whether the Sabres or Canadiens come out of the Atlantic, either team will be the best opposition Carolina has faced, with more star power and deeper lines. If the Canes are able to keep up this dominance in the Eastern Conference Finals then we can really talk about their chances to beat the Avs or Wild in the West.
So are the Canes really cup favorites or pretenders? They’re both, and neither, and bizarrely somewhere in the middle. Carolina is a unique Rod Brind’Amour team that approaches hockey in a way no one else does, which means we can’t use the typical yardsticks to measure their potential. It’s all a big guessing game, but that’s what make these playoffs so much fun.
#Carolina #Hurricanes #history #Stanley #Cup #story">The Carolina Hurricanes made history, but the Stanley Cup is a different story
The Carolina Hurricanes are either the best team in hockey, or the biggest frauds in the Stanley Cup Playoffs — it all depends on who you ask. The Canes made history on Saturday night in Philadelphia with their eighth straight playoff win, and their second sweep in a row. It made them the first team in NHL history to sweep their first two series since the 1987 best-of-seven format began, the first team to start 8-0 in the playoffs since 1985, and only the fifth team in NHL history to start the playoffs 8-0.
Yet nobody can settle on whether this team is really a Stanley Cup favorite yet.
A lot of factors go into the acrimony when discussing Carolina. There’s long-standing bitterness over southern hockey being a thing, especially following back-to-back years of the Florida Panthers hoisting the cup. There’s the fact that the team plays hockey in a manner that runs counter to everything we know about success in the modern NHL. Also, there’s simply a reality that the Canes have had a pretty easy path through the postseason thus far, facing two teams that were bad strategic mismatches for them.
What that doesn’t mean, however, is that either the Ottawa Senators or Philadelphia Flyers are “bad teams.” Finishing with 99 and 98 points on the season, respectively, the Sens and Flyers were better than the entire Western Conference Pacific Division, better than the Utah Mammoth who the Golden Knights beat in the first round, and just one win worse than the Bruins, who the Sabres bested in the opening round. Yet, it’s become cool to hate on the Hurricanes’ opponents thus far as a means to discredit Carolina as being a legitimate team — foisting them with criticism no other team in the field is left with.
It’s absolutely fair to say that both Ottawa and Philadelphia were thrown into a mismatch blender. Both teams thrived during the regular season when playing on clean ice, with open passing lanes and room to set up plays. This is what the Hurricanes excel at stopping, running brutal forechecks with gutsy defensive rotations that flip the formation to send defensemen up ice to hassle opposing defenseman on the puck, allowing the forwards to stay home.
One of the hallmarks of Carolina hockey is to forget the model of play that wins in the NHL, and instead change the game into Hurricanes hockey. They thrive in limiting the effectiveness of star players, making the game be about depth rather than top-line strength, then take over when their third and fourth lines are stronger than their opponents. There’s no coincidence that hockey fans were wondering why Brady Tkachuk and Tim Stützle disappeared in the Sens series, or why Trevor Zegras and Travis Konecny couldn’t make inroads in round two. This was the Canes’ doing, and it worked.
“Their D… they have the best sticks I’ve ever seen. It was crazy. Some of the plays you’d just be like ‘I can get this through,’ like Slav [Jaccob Slavin] has probably the best stick in the league. I had two Grade-A’s [scoring chances] and they hit his stick and up in the netting. I was like ‘how on earth is that not in the back of the net?’”
The length of the Carolina blueliners is causing massive problems for any team trying to play pretty, puck rotation hockey. Throughout the Flyers series we saw the Philly attack get decimated due to deflections from Slavin, K’Andre Miller, and Alexander Nikishin — with their pairings in Jalen Chatfield, Shayne Gostisbehere, and Sean Walker serving more as the more traditional net battlers. This layered defense has been impenetrable in the playoffs and has been offset with the Canes showing more fight and edge that they have previously.
So why is there so much doubt that this can carry over to the cup? There are three fair statements to make:
The Hurricanes haven’t faced an elite, 90+ point player yet in the playoffs
They’ve been so good defensively that it seems impossible to keep it up
Carolina’s best players really haven’t turned up yet
Forgive the pun, but you can see the storm brewing for Carolina that this incredible run could go south quickly (another pun, sorry). Getting the better of Stützle or Konecny is one thing, but when that caliber of player changes to Nathan McKinnon, Martin Nečas, Nick Suzuki, or Kirill Kaprizov — can this same approach still work? Is there a break point to this defensive dominance where Carolina can be overwhelmed by star players, and if that happens can the Canes recover?
That is the real worry right now, and it’s fair to question what is happening with the Carolina top line. The heroes of the playoffs thus far for the Canes has been the Hall/Stankoven/Blake line two, which has been phenomenal — but there has been pronounced quietness from Andrei Svechnikov, Sebastian Aho, and Seth Jarvis on the top line, outside of a few glimmers of magic. We know that historically the NHL playoffs have been won through star power, even by teams like the Panthers who were bruising, but still leaned on Matthew Tkachuk, Sam Bennett, and Brad Marchand to drag them through.
If the Canes can’t get that top-line performance firing then there’s a chance they can’t assert their will on the game, which has a domino effect on the rest of the lines, thereby putting more pressure on the defense to bail the team out.
The biggest questions about the Hurricanes won’t get answered for some time, with Saturday being the earliest their next series can begin. Whether the Sabres or Canadiens come out of the Atlantic, either team will be the best opposition Carolina has faced, with more star power and deeper lines. If the Canes are able to keep up this dominance in the Eastern Conference Finals then we can really talk about their chances to beat the Avs or Wild in the West.
So are the Canes really cup favorites or pretenders? They’re both, and neither, and bizarrely somewhere in the middle. Carolina is a unique Rod Brind’Amour team that approaches hockey in a way no one else does, which means we can’t use the typical yardsticks to measure their potential. It’s all a big guessing game, but that’s what make these playoffs so much fun.
McKenna was viewed as the grand prize for much of the 2025-26 season. The rangy left wing already has good height, great playmaking, and a knack for driving the pace from the wing — making him a low-risk top overall pick. At times he’s been compared to Connor Bedard and Macklin Celebrini, though personally, I don’t think he has quite the same ceiling as either phenom. Still, he’s a franchise cornerstone player, and it will be interesting to see whether a team chooses to keep him at his natural LW, or tries to convert him into a center.
The choice at No. 1 will be between McKenna and Sweden’s Ivar Stenberg, who has been racing up the boards as scouts take a deeper look into his run in the SHL. It’s unusual for a true 18-year-old to have any modicum of success in a pro league, but Stenberg more than held his own with his hockey IQ, and a shot volume that routinely made him one of the biggest threats on the ice for Frölunda HC. That pro-readiness is appealing for a team looking for an immediate impact, and his polish could cause him to be the top overall pick.
We’ll take a deeper dive into this year’s class as the draft approaches, but for now here’s a rapid-fire mock draft involving the teams in the lottery for the 2026 NHL Draft.
As a reminder, these were the lottery odds for winning the first draw entering Tuesday night.
Vancouver Canucks — 18.5% Chicago Blackhawks — 13.5% New York Rangers — 11.5% Calgary Flames — 9.5% Toronto Maple Leafs (Top 5 protected to Bruins) — 8.5% Seattle Kraken — 7.5% Winnipeg Jets — 6.5% Florida Panthers — 6.0% San Jose Sharks — 5.0% Nashville Predators — 3.5% St. Louis Blues — 3.0% New Jersey Devils — 2.5% New York Islanders — 2.0% Columbus Blue Jackets — 1.5% St. Louis Blues (from Red Wings) — 0.5% Washington Capitals — 0.5%
McKenna was viewed as the grand prize for much of the 2025-26 season. The rangy left wing already has good height, great playmaking, and a knack for driving the pace from the wing — making him a low-risk top overall pick. At times he’s been compared to Connor Bedard and Macklin Celebrini, though personally, I don’t think he has quite the same ceiling as either phenom. Still, he’s a franchise cornerstone player, and it will be interesting to see whether a team chooses to keep him at his natural LW, or tries to convert him into a center.
The choice at No. 1 will be between McKenna and Sweden’s Ivar Stenberg, who has been racing up the boards as scouts take a deeper look into his run in the SHL. It’s unusual for a true 18-year-old to have any modicum of success in a pro league, but Stenberg more than held his own with his hockey IQ, and a shot volume that routinely made him one of the biggest threats on the ice for Frölunda HC. That pro-readiness is appealing for a team looking for an immediate impact, and his polish could cause him to be the top overall pick.
We’ll take a deeper dive into this year’s class as the draft approaches, but for now here’s a rapid-fire mock draft involving the teams in the lottery for the 2026 NHL Draft.
As a reminder, these were the lottery odds for winning the first draw entering Tuesday night.
Vancouver Canucks — 18.5% Chicago Blackhawks — 13.5% New York Rangers — 11.5% Calgary Flames — 9.5% Toronto Maple Leafs (Top 5 protected to Bruins) — 8.5% Seattle Kraken — 7.5% Winnipeg Jets — 6.5% Florida Panthers — 6.0% San Jose Sharks — 5.0% Nashville Predators — 3.5% St. Louis Blues — 3.0% New Jersey Devils — 2.5% New York Islanders — 2.0% Columbus Blue Jackets — 1.5% St. Louis Blues (from Red Wings) — 0.5% Washington Capitals — 0.5%
#NHL #mock #draft #Instant #projection #Maple #Leafs #win #lottery">NHL mock draft 2026: Instant projection after Maple Leafs win lottery
The Stanley Cup Playoffs roll on, but on Tuesday night the league conducted the 2026 NHL Draft lottery with the Toronto Maple Leafs winning the No. 1 pick, and the right to draft either Gavin McKenna or Ivar Stenberg in a class with more parity at the top than originally expected.
McKenna was viewed as the grand prize for much of the 2025-26 season. The rangy left wing already has good height, great playmaking, and a knack for driving the pace from the wing — making him a low-risk top overall pick. At times he’s been compared to Connor Bedard and Macklin Celebrini, though personally, I don’t think he has quite the same ceiling as either phenom. Still, he’s a franchise cornerstone player, and it will be interesting to see whether a team chooses to keep him at his natural LW, or tries to convert him into a center.
The choice at No. 1 will be between McKenna and Sweden’s Ivar Stenberg, who has been racing up the boards as scouts take a deeper look into his run in the SHL. It’s unusual for a true 18-year-old to have any modicum of success in a pro league, but Stenberg more than held his own with his hockey IQ, and a shot volume that routinely made him one of the biggest threats on the ice for Frölunda HC. That pro-readiness is appealing for a team looking for an immediate impact, and his polish could cause him to be the top overall pick.
We’ll take a deeper dive into this year’s class as the draft approaches, but for now here’s a rapid-fire mock draft involving the teams in the lottery for the 2026 NHL Draft.
As a reminder, these were the lottery odds for winning the first draw entering Tuesday night.
Vancouver Canucks — 18.5% Chicago Blackhawks — 13.5% New York Rangers — 11.5% Calgary Flames — 9.5% Toronto Maple Leafs (Top 5 protected to Bruins) — 8.5% Seattle Kraken — 7.5% Winnipeg Jets — 6.5% Florida Panthers — 6.0% San Jose Sharks — 5.0% Nashville Predators — 3.5% St. Louis Blues — 3.0% New Jersey Devils — 2.5% New York Islanders — 2.0% Columbus Blue Jackets — 1.5% St. Louis Blues (from Red Wings) — 0.5% Washington Capitals — 0.5%
#Dallas #Stars #major #soulsearching #NHL #Playoff #exit">The Dallas Stars have major soul-searching to do after their NHL Playoff exit
To call the 2025-26 Dallas Stars season a disappointment would be one of the biggest understatements in hockey after their crushing opening round loss to the Wild on Thursday night. It’s left the team needing to make critical decisions this offseason which will decide whether or not Dallas can remain a contender, or takes a significant step backwards in the future.
So, what exactly went wrong with the Stars this season? Everything on paper pointed to this being a Stanley Cup caliber team, likely to compete with the Colorado Avalanche for the best in the West — and during the regular season they did for the most part, but as the playoffs commenced we saw the holes in the lineup open up, holes which aren’t easy to patch.
The trade for Mikko Rantanen made all the sense in the world last year, with the high-scoring Finn appearing to be the superstar forward they needed. Adding Rantanen to one of the highest-scoring teams in hockey should have been a boon — but the deal hasn’t really worked out.
The problem hasn’t been Rantanen (though he’s understandably the scapegoat), and more how Rantanen is playing inside the Stars system. The issue is that he’s no longer the elite goal scorer he was in Colorado without Nathan McKinnon’s puck distribution in the middle, which has forced him into being a passer from the wing. Rantanen doesn’t have a place on the top line with Wyatt Johnson being a puck-dominant center, and Jason Robertson being the go-to finisher. Throwing him on the second line hasn’t worked either, with Matt Duchene being hurt, and regressing in significant ways this past season.
This is even more problematic in looking at what the Stars gave up in the Rantanen deal. Logan Stankoven was more or less the throw in prospect to get the deal done, and he’s emerged as the Carolina Hurricanes’ key second-line center — exactly what the Stars need now.
We have a team that is dangerously top-line heavy. All the success Dallas had in the regular season was due to that front pairing of Johnson and Robertson to do the heavy lifting, with Miro Heiskanen quarterbacking things from the blue line, but the Wild were able to drag the lines deep and beat the Stars with depth.
This brings us to the toughest decision the team has to make: Jason Robertson.
The Stars are not in a good place when it comes to the salary cap. The team is projected to have $11.1M in space for the upcoming season, with a three key players set to hit the market.
LW Jason Robertson (RFA)
C Mavrik Bourque (RFA)
LW Jamie Benn (UFA)
It’s here the soul-searching begins, because they have to make an impossible choice. Jamie Benn is likely gone, which is fine, but the Robertson/Bourque decision is brutal. They currently do not have the money to meet the rumored salary demands of Robertson, who reportedly is looking for north of the $12M AAV that Mikko Rantanen is making — which is fair coming off a 96-point season.
Bourque is also due a significant pay raise, and could be a real risk of being poached in free agency.
The logical decision is to let Robertson walk and re-sign Bourque. Robertson isn’t a play-driver, he’s not strong on the forecheck, and his defensive contributions are resigned to stick play. The issue in applying this logic is that it’s impossible to imagine a scenario where the Stars are better without Robertson, because he is their best scorer.
It would likely necessitate moving Rantanen back to the top line, but it’s already been established that he’s not great with Johnson at center. It’s all a bit of a mess. The team might have to pray that Tyler Seguin retires to open the space to retain Robertson, which then means likely losing Bourque.
Overpaying mediocrity in goal
The other huge part of the Stars problems is Jake Oettinger, who was their key free agent from a year ago. Dallas decided to retain Oettinger and make him one of the five highest-paid goaltenders in hockey, and he was not good this season at all.
Oettinger finished the season at 0.899 SV%, with 2.59 GA — alarmingly, he also only had 31 quality starts in 54 games, barely above the league-average on the season. It’s just not good enough for a top-five paid player at his position.
There isn’t anything the Stars can do with Oettinger but pray he returns to form. The free agent contract is haunting them, and he’s inked for SEVEN more seasons.
What can the Stars even be in 2026-27?
The best hope is running it back, which wasn’t good enough to make a playoff impact this year. They can keep the top of their core, losing more depth in the process — or decide to part ways with Robertson, take a step back, and try to find a path forward. That would mean taking a mulligan on the season to correct some of their cap issues, but that isn’t conducive to try and take advantage of Mikko Rantanen’s prime.
This was more or less a make-or-break year for the Dallas Stars, and they broke in the first round. What happens next is anyone’s guess.
![The Carolina Hurricanes made history, but the Stanley Cup is a different story The Carolina Hurricanes are either the best team in hockey, or the biggest frauds in the Stanley Cup Playoffs — it all depends on who you ask. The Canes made history on Saturday night in Philadelphia with their eighth straight playoff win, and their second sweep in a row. It made them the first team in NHL history to sweep their first two series since the 1987 best-of-seven format began, the first team to start 8-0 in the playoffs since 1985, and only the fifth team in NHL history to start the playoffs 8-0.Yet nobody can settle on whether this team is really a Stanley Cup favorite yet.A lot of factors go into the acrimony when discussing Carolina. There’s long-standing bitterness over southern hockey being a thing, especially following back-to-back years of the Florida Panthers hoisting the cup. There’s the fact that the team plays hockey in a manner that runs counter to everything we know about success in the modern NHL. Also, there’s simply a reality that the Canes have had a pretty easy path through the postseason thus far, facing two teams that were bad strategic mismatches for them.What that doesn’t mean, however, is that either the Ottawa Senators or Philadelphia Flyers are “bad teams.” Finishing with 99 and 98 points on the season, respectively, the Sens and Flyers were better than the entire Western Conference Pacific Division, better than the Utah Mammoth who the Golden Knights beat in the first round, and just one win worse than the Bruins, who the Sabres bested in the opening round. Yet, it’s become cool to hate on the Hurricanes’ opponents thus far as a means to discredit Carolina as being a legitimate team — foisting them with criticism no other team in the field is left with.It’s absolutely fair to say that both Ottawa and Philadelphia were thrown into a mismatch blender. Both teams thrived during the regular season when playing on clean ice, with open passing lanes and room to set up plays. This is what the Hurricanes excel at stopping, running brutal forechecks with gutsy defensive rotations that flip the formation to send defensemen up ice to hassle opposing defenseman on the puck, allowing the forwards to stay home.One of the hallmarks of Carolina hockey is to forget the model of play that wins in the NHL, and instead change the game into Hurricanes hockey. They thrive in limiting the effectiveness of star players, making the game be about depth rather than top-line strength, then take over when their third and fourth lines are stronger than their opponents. There’s no coincidence that hockey fans were wondering why Brady Tkachuk and Tim Stützle disappeared in the Sens series, or why Trevor Zegras and Travis Konecny couldn’t make inroads in round two. This was the Canes’ doing, and it worked.This past week Brady Tkachuk explained why it was near-impossible to deal with the Hurricanes’ defense in his series, and noticing that it was happening to the Flyers as well.“Their D… they have the best sticks I’ve ever seen. It was crazy. Some of the plays you’d just be like ‘I can get this through,’ like Slav [Jaccob Slavin] has probably the best stick in the league. I had two Grade-A’s [scoring chances] and they hit his stick and up in the netting. I was like ‘how on earth is that not in the back of the net?’”The length of the Carolina blueliners is causing massive problems for any team trying to play pretty, puck rotation hockey. Throughout the Flyers series we saw the Philly attack get decimated due to deflections from Slavin, K’Andre Miller, and Alexander Nikishin — with their pairings in Jalen Chatfield, Shayne Gostisbehere, and Sean Walker serving more as the more traditional net battlers. This layered defense has been impenetrable in the playoffs and has been offset with the Canes showing more fight and edge that they have previously.So why is there so much doubt that this can carry over to the cup? There are three fair statements to make:The Hurricanes haven’t faced an elite, 90+ point player yet in the playoffsThey’ve been so good defensively that it seems impossible to keep it upCarolina’s best players really haven’t turned up yetForgive the pun, but you can see the storm brewing for Carolina that this incredible run could go south quickly (another pun, sorry). Getting the better of Stützle or Konecny is one thing, but when that caliber of player changes to Nathan McKinnon, Martin Nečas, Nick Suzuki, or Kirill Kaprizov — can this same approach still work? Is there a break point to this defensive dominance where Carolina can be overwhelmed by star players, and if that happens can the Canes recover?That is the real worry right now, and it’s fair to question what is happening with the Carolina top line. The heroes of the playoffs thus far for the Canes has been the Hall/Stankoven/Blake line two, which has been phenomenal — but there has been pronounced quietness from Andrei Svechnikov, Sebastian Aho, and Seth Jarvis on the top line, outside of a few glimmers of magic. We know that historically the NHL playoffs have been won through star power, even by teams like the Panthers who were bruising, but still leaned on Matthew Tkachuk, Sam Bennett, and Brad Marchand to drag them through.If the Canes can’t get that top-line performance firing then there’s a chance they can’t assert their will on the game, which has a domino effect on the rest of the lines, thereby putting more pressure on the defense to bail the team out.The biggest questions about the Hurricanes won’t get answered for some time, with Saturday being the earliest their next series can begin. Whether the Sabres or Canadiens come out of the Atlantic, either team will be the best opposition Carolina has faced, with more star power and deeper lines. If the Canes are able to keep up this dominance in the Eastern Conference Finals then we can really talk about their chances to beat the Avs or Wild in the West.So are the Canes really cup favorites or pretenders? They’re both, and neither, and bizarrely somewhere in the middle. Carolina is a unique Rod Brind’Amour team that approaches hockey in a way no one else does, which means we can’t use the typical yardsticks to measure their potential. It’s all a big guessing game, but that’s what make these playoffs so much fun. #Carolina #Hurricanes #history #Stanley #Cup #story](https://i2.wp.com/platform.sbnation.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/05/gettyimages-2275370171.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=0%2C10.744744405714%2C100%2C78.510511188571&w=1200&ssl=1 "The Carolina Hurricanes made history, but the Stanley Cup is a different story The Carolina Hurricanes are either the best team in hockey, or the biggest frauds in the Stanley Cup Playoffs — it all depends on who you ask. The Canes made history on Saturday night in Philadelphia with their eighth straight playoff win, and their second sweep in a row. It made them the first team in NHL history to sweep their first two series since the 1987 best-of-seven format began, the first team to start 8-0 in the playoffs since 1985, and only the fifth team in NHL history to start the playoffs 8-0.Yet nobody can settle on whether this team is really a Stanley Cup favorite yet.A lot of factors go into the acrimony when discussing Carolina. There’s long-standing bitterness over southern hockey being a thing, especially following back-to-back years of the Florida Panthers hoisting the cup. There’s the fact that the team plays hockey in a manner that runs counter to everything we know about success in the modern NHL. Also, there’s simply a reality that the Canes have had a pretty easy path through the postseason thus far, facing two teams that were bad strategic mismatches for them.What that doesn’t mean, however, is that either the Ottawa Senators or Philadelphia Flyers are “bad teams.” Finishing with 99 and 98 points on the season, respectively, the Sens and Flyers were better than the entire Western Conference Pacific Division, better than the Utah Mammoth who the Golden Knights beat in the first round, and just one win worse than the Bruins, who the Sabres bested in the opening round. Yet, it’s become cool to hate on the Hurricanes’ opponents thus far as a means to discredit Carolina as being a legitimate team — foisting them with criticism no other team in the field is left with.It’s absolutely fair to say that both Ottawa and Philadelphia were thrown into a mismatch blender. Both teams thrived during the regular season when playing on clean ice, with open passing lanes and room to set up plays. This is what the Hurricanes excel at stopping, running brutal forechecks with gutsy defensive rotations that flip the formation to send defensemen up ice to hassle opposing defenseman on the puck, allowing the forwards to stay home.One of the hallmarks of Carolina hockey is to forget the model of play that wins in the NHL, and instead change the game into Hurricanes hockey. They thrive in limiting the effectiveness of star players, making the game be about depth rather than top-line strength, then take over when their third and fourth lines are stronger than their opponents. There’s no coincidence that hockey fans were wondering why Brady Tkachuk and Tim Stützle disappeared in the Sens series, or why Trevor Zegras and Travis Konecny couldn’t make inroads in round two. This was the Canes’ doing, and it worked.This past week Brady Tkachuk explained why it was near-impossible to deal with the Hurricanes’ defense in his series, and noticing that it was happening to the Flyers as well.“Their D… they have the best sticks I’ve ever seen. It was crazy. Some of the plays you’d just be like ‘I can get this through,’ like Slav [Jaccob Slavin] has probably the best stick in the league. I had two Grade-A’s [scoring chances] and they hit his stick and up in the netting. I was like ‘how on earth is that not in the back of the net?’”The length of the Carolina blueliners is causing massive problems for any team trying to play pretty, puck rotation hockey. Throughout the Flyers series we saw the Philly attack get decimated due to deflections from Slavin, K’Andre Miller, and Alexander Nikishin — with their pairings in Jalen Chatfield, Shayne Gostisbehere, and Sean Walker serving more as the more traditional net battlers. This layered defense has been impenetrable in the playoffs and has been offset with the Canes showing more fight and edge that they have previously.So why is there so much doubt that this can carry over to the cup? There are three fair statements to make:The Hurricanes haven’t faced an elite, 90+ point player yet in the playoffsThey’ve been so good defensively that it seems impossible to keep it upCarolina’s best players really haven’t turned up yetForgive the pun, but you can see the storm brewing for Carolina that this incredible run could go south quickly (another pun, sorry). Getting the better of Stützle or Konecny is one thing, but when that caliber of player changes to Nathan McKinnon, Martin Nečas, Nick Suzuki, or Kirill Kaprizov — can this same approach still work? Is there a break point to this defensive dominance where Carolina can be overwhelmed by star players, and if that happens can the Canes recover?That is the real worry right now, and it’s fair to question what is happening with the Carolina top line. The heroes of the playoffs thus far for the Canes has been the Hall/Stankoven/Blake line two, which has been phenomenal — but there has been pronounced quietness from Andrei Svechnikov, Sebastian Aho, and Seth Jarvis on the top line, outside of a few glimmers of magic. We know that historically the NHL playoffs have been won through star power, even by teams like the Panthers who were bruising, but still leaned on Matthew Tkachuk, Sam Bennett, and Brad Marchand to drag them through.If the Canes can’t get that top-line performance firing then there’s a chance they can’t assert their will on the game, which has a domino effect on the rest of the lines, thereby putting more pressure on the defense to bail the team out.The biggest questions about the Hurricanes won’t get answered for some time, with Saturday being the earliest their next series can begin. Whether the Sabres or Canadiens come out of the Atlantic, either team will be the best opposition Carolina has faced, with more star power and deeper lines. If the Canes are able to keep up this dominance in the Eastern Conference Finals then we can really talk about their chances to beat the Avs or Wild in the West.So are the Canes really cup favorites or pretenders? They’re both, and neither, and bizarrely somewhere in the middle. Carolina is a unique Rod Brind’Amour team that approaches hockey in a way no one else does, which means we can’t use the typical yardsticks to measure their potential. It’s all a big guessing game, but that’s what make these playoffs so much fun. #Carolina #Hurricanes #history #Stanley #Cup #story")
