A FULL Recap of The Absurd 2026 NHL Season

I didn't see this coming at all. The biggest laughing stock of the last decade finally flipped their narrative. A superstar left town after a bad breakup and immediately proved everyone wrong. The balance of the league completely shifted with new teams being good along with the youth of the league taking over. Arguably the best defenceman in the world got traded this past season. Best on Best Hockey returned and created a new era for the NHL moving forward and was all capped off with an incredible finale to the season. From start to finish, the 25-26 NHL season was one of the most wild and unpredictable we've seen in recent memory. And it deserves a deep recap. Now before we continue, today's video is sponsored by our good friends over at Salie. It is summertime. If you're not sipping margaritas by a beach, you probably have plans too soon, which is why you will need Salie. Salie is the eSIM app that gives you affordable, reliable data on over 200 destinations to avoid any unexpected roaming fees. It is super convenient also. Once the Salie eSIM is installed, there's no need to install a new eSIM for each country. The best new feature that I love because I just went on a cruise is that they offer an internet plan on over 19 cruise lines around the globe and worked perfectly out at sea for me which was incredible. They also have support 24-7 so if anything goes wrong, they got you covered. I personally have used Salie for a few trips now and will continue to anywhere I go as it allows me to stay connected throughout the season while I'm away especially. They are hooking you guys up with an exclusive 15% off discount on Salie data plans so if you're going away for the summer, make sure you use code Hockey at checkout when you download the Salie app or you can go to salie.com slash hockey which is linked in our description down below so that you can make your trip worry free while staying connected with Salie. Now let's start with day one. The season kicks off with the Chicago Bedards going up against the defending Stanley Cup champs in the Florida Panthers. Now a big question for the Chicago Blackhawks is, is this finally the season that Bedard gets some help? And maybe it could be. Frank Nizar has a hot start, two goal game and Chicago starts off with a win. That's pretty nice. Meanwhile, the first overall pick in Matthew Schaefer makes his NHL debut and becomes the youngest D-man to score a point in the expansion era. Looked pretty damn good early as well. Could be promising for the island. Things are also going swell in Detroit already. Coach Todd McClellan calls out Detroit after they get spanked in game one. Edmonton, on the other hand, they're ready to start the parade because Connor McDavid becomes Connor McStavid. He signs a two-year deal at the beginning of the season, the same AAV that he was already making and that's $12.5 million a year. The guy was already the most underpaid man in the league and he takes a pay cut to try and win. Now checking in on the prophesized 2026 Stanley Cup champs in the San Jose Sharks, it is not going well for them to start the season either. This looks like it's going to be a win for the Sharks as Sir William Eklund has an empty net to put the game away, but no, he's stuffed at the line and then Eichel comes the other way. He dumps this in and Nedeljkovic goes to stop it and look at this. He lets it in from center ice. The shot came from the parking lot and it found a way in. Then an OT, Nedeljkovic double dips for the highlight reel. He comes out to play the puck and gets caught in no man's land. Riley Smith scores the easiest goal of his life as the Sharks hand Vegas two points and hopefully that doesn't matter too much by the end of the season. It's also good to know that the Sabres fans are also losing their mind right away. They're 0-2 in week one and I don't blame them. It looks like it's going to be another miserable season. They had to face the Avs and the Nate Dogg was putting on a show against them, going behind the back, doing all these tricks. They take care of the Sabres and Buffalo starts the year off 0-3 with only two goals for Sabres fans are so pissed they start tossing jerseys on the ice already. It's a disaster over there, but at least Josh Allen can try and win them a Super Bowl. Then in the home opener for the Ottawa Senators, everything goes wrong. Brady Kachuk gets hit from behind from Roman Yossi. He goes to chirp him afterwards, but he then skates off holding his thumb. He's out six to eight weeks, which is no bueno for the Senators. The Rangers bounce back season isn't going great either. They hate playing at home apparently. Already for the third time this season, they've set an NHL record by being shut out in their first three home games and Mika Zibanejad doesn't know whether he should laugh or cry. How about neither and just score a damn goal for your fans? Let's take a peek at Brad Marshaw and being pissed at Rasmus Dahlin says you want your helmet back? Come get it, you little ----. Those two don't like each other one bit and Dahlin, he's got a knack for getting under guy's skin and he does it against the Rat King there. Meanwhile, Vegas is speed running, becoming the most hated team in sports history as they sign Carter Hart to a deal. Of course, he was found not guilty for sexual assault charges. However, much of the hockey world isn't happy to see him back, especially to a team like Vegas. I'm sure though, he'll just end up backing up Aiden Hill. And while all this is going on, you can bet on the drama starting up in Toronto. After they lose a game to Seattle goalie, Anthony Stolarz goes at his team and says enough is enough. We're a playoff team. We're better than this. But are you? I don't know. We're going to find out later in the video. Tom Wilson, though, is still doing his thing. He catches Heidel going northbound on the southbound freeway. He's already got concussion issues. That's a concussion. Canuck season is starting to look ugly already as injuries become more frequent. Can't say the same for the Penguins, though. They're starting off the season hot and Shanghai Jari is looking damn good as the Penguins defeat the defending cup champs to go six and two on the season. New coach Dan Muse has everyone looking around saying, hey, maybe we don't got to save Sid. Maybe the Penguins are actually back. However, the Metro is still being taken over by Matthew Schaefer, the rookie. He ties Merrick Zydlicki for the longest point streak to begin a career for an NHL defenseman. They beat San Jose and the Sharks coach Ryan Warsawski is ready to perform a sacrificial ritual just to get a win. As they're on a five game losing streak to start the year. And really, as November rolls around, the league is upside down. You got bad teams that are good, good teams that are bad. But in all the uncertainty, it's still nice to see that the Flyers and Penguins absolutely hate each other. The Bedard show is also in theaters early as well. First career NHL hat trick and the Blackhawks are actually off to a decent start for the first time in years. They don't look like a complete joke right out of the gate, which is progress. That looks like it's being taken care of by the Vancouver Canucks, mostly because this team is a hospital at this point. Look at the list of injuries. It gets worse once Brock Besser eats a clap bomb right to the Cajonas. First in-game vasectomy in NHL history. So we're already breaking barriers there. Now as we get deeper into November, Ovechkin is making history. He scores his 900th goal with a no look backhand from the corner. What a freak. They go to grab the puck and Jordan Binnington says come find it. He's caught hiding it in his pants. Someone is sour because they just got pumped by the Caps. At this point too, the youth movement is in full swing. The Ducks look like the rebuild could be over, especially with Quimbell as the coach. They are certainly off to a hot start. Meanwhile, Bedard and Celebrini are 1-2 in league scoring. They're carrying their teams offensively as they both try and crack a potential Team Canada roster. One man who is certainly on the team is Connor McDavid. After back-to-back years of going in the Stanley Cup final, it's a shocker. The Oilers are off to a slow start. They do this every year, but they got a spanking of a lifetime to the Colorado Avalanche. A 9-1 beatdown gives the Avalanche their 10th win in a row. McDavid is standing by the bench thinking why the **** did I sign that extension as he stares into the abyss looking for answers. But this is McJesus we're talking about. He says you want answers, I'll show them to you. The next game against Columbus, he proceeds to put on an absolute show. One-on-one. Spinarama has Matejča hitting the slip and slide. No look. Backhander. Top shelf. He's an alien. No other way around it. Also, in 2026, we still have the Leafs finding ways to lose to the Boston Bruins. Now Boston, who was expected to miss the playoffs, have all of a sudden won 7 games in a row and they hurt Austin Matthews in the process. Now the Leafs' season may be off the rails here, but they do this every year at some point so I'm sure the parade is still on. In the Metro Division, there is some weird ---- going on. Jack Hughes is a superstar, but injury troubles have held him back the last few years as a So naturally, he goes to dinner and he gets injured. Just cuts his hand open. Can't play out for 8 weeks. Devil's fans are losing it, and rightfully so. At this point, the temperature of the season is starting to rise. In a game between the Red Wings and the Rangers, Detroit picks up a big win and as the buzzer goes, Mason Appleton fires the puck into the empty net and Jonathan Quick says come here you little ----. You don't do that in the show. So that sparks both teams coming off the bench to grab a guy. It is officially a Gen Z line brawl. Whole lot of hugging and barking and not a lot of fighting. Coaches are also starting to lose it as Mikko Rantanen boards Romanov late in the game. Gets a 5 and a 2 game suspension. Romanov would have been done for the season, but in that moment, Patrick Waugh started losing it. Here he's kindly telling Mikko Rantanen that he doesn't like him very much. Dallas also almost gave Waugh an aneurysm by tying the game up in the last second. But it was called off due to goalie interference, which is good because I think Patrick Waugh may have murdered someone if that was the case. Celebrini and Bedard continue to cook. First Bedard gets his second hat trick of the season. He's got 11 goals and 21 points in his last 10 games. But then on that same night, Celebrini gets his second hatty of the season after an OT winner over the Mammoth. These are the only two players with multiple hat tricks on the season at this point. The future faces of the league are showing that the future is right now. Let's shift over to the Winnipeg Jets. The President Trophy winners last season are off to a rough start and it gets worse. The reigning Besna Trophy winner in Connor Hellebuyck gets hurt and is out 6-8 weeks so they're in big trouble there. Winnipeg missing the playoffs after dominating last year is something I didn't see coming. And another thing I didn't see coming was Morgan Geeky becoming Sidney Crosby. He's on fire to start the season with 16 goals. He's tied with Nathan McKinnon for the goal scoring lead and Boston continues to look decent this year. Out west though, a wall of St. Paul emerges. Minnesota were in the dumps at one point on a 9-game losing streak and then they put in Jesper Wolstad. The kid comes in on fire. Four games, three shutouts, he's become a hero in Minnesota and the Wild look like a brand new team in front of him. Another team that has been buzzing is the Utah Mammoth and Logan Cooley. He gets three goals and an assist. We've seen glimpses of this in years past with this group but it's never been consistent enough to make the playoffs but maybe this year's a different story. The Oilers though, they're still a little bit of a circus here. They get spanked 8-3 by Dallas on home ice and the Vultures are out. The defense looks out to lunch and the goaltending has certainly become a big problem. Stuart Skinner has been a polarizing figure in Edmonton these past two seasons but it keeps getting worse. The team save percentage is the worst the league has seen through 25 games in 45 years. Stopping a beach ball would be a miracle for Edmonton at this point of the season. The funniest part about all this is that the past comes back to haunt them. The same wall of St. Paul that I mentioned a few minutes ago, Jesper Wolstad, he could have been an Oiler. They passed on him in the draft by trading their pick to Minnesota and now he's making history. He shuts out Edmonton 1-0 which is his fourth shutout in a six-game span. The first rookie goalie to do so since 1938. He has completely turned the season around for Minnesota, winning his seventh in a row to start December. At the same time, Carter Hart makes his NHL return and debut for Vegas. So Conor Bedard says welcome back pal. Top bunk missile to start and then look at this shootout move. Leg kick makes Hart bite like a fish and then what do you know, there's the reminder to close his damn legs. Vegas did ultimately get the last laugh though as they win in a shootout. Getting into the thick of the season, both the refs and the league are driving teams nuts. First, in a game between Pittsburgh and Tampa, the Lightning come back from a 3-0 deficit to tie it. Malkin puts them ahead late, 4-3, but Kucherov ties the game right back up himself but hold the phone. Gary and the league call back the goal because it was deemed a hand pass even though the puck deflected off of Hagel's hand on the clearing attempt. That pissed off John Cooper and then the very next night, almost an identical play happens. Panthers are down 4-1 against Columbus. The puck goes off of Marshawn's glove and eventually leads to a goal. Columbus' coach Dean Eveson challenges for a hand pass which makes sense, right? That should be no goal after what we just saw, but no. This is the NHL, nothing makes sense. That goal sparks a major comeback for Florida. Bennett gets the OT winner and Dean Eveson legitimately looks like he could kill a dude. Now in the middle of December, one team that has really surprised everyone so far are the Anaheim Ducks. The first season under Joel Quimble has been successful so far as the Ducks have been flirting with the playoff spot early on because they have become the comeback kids. Down by two to Pittsburgh. In the third, they come back with Beckett Seneke tying it up with 0.1 seconds left on the clock while shorthanded. Uncle Leo Carlson completes the comeback in the shootout and the Ducks are flying together. But as the season wears on, injuries are starting to take their toll. First Logan Cooley is out with an injury that keeps him out minimum 8 weeks and then this is the big one. Conor Bedard in the middle of a breakout season, in the dying seconds of a game that they're going to lose, goes to take a faceoff against Brayden Shinn and his shoulder just pops right out. He feels it right away. He goes down the tunnel in agony and that is brutal as he was competing for a spot on the Canadian Olympic team and being out for around a month takes him out of the conversation. Then Christmas comes early for the Oilers as they trade Stuart Skinner. Despite him taking them to two Stanley Cup finals, Oilers fans wanted an upgrade in the crease so Stan Bowman said, I got just the guy. He trades Skinner and Kulak for Shanghai Tristan Jari. Are you kidding me? This guy was in the AHL not even a year ago and this is the solution? Plus they traded Brett Kulak as well. Oilers fans feel absolutely bamboozled by the move and out of nowhere, the season takes a wild turn. Breaking news in the hockey world, Canucks captain Quinn Hughes has been traded after weeks of speculation. Quinn Hughes is on his way to Minnesota. The Canucks have traded their captain to the Wild. In the middle of December, Vancouver and Minnesota shocked the hockey world by sending Quinn Hughes to the state of hockey to become a Wild. With the Canucks being awful and Hughes indicating earlier that he wasn't going to re-sign long term, the Canucks ripped off the band-aid and sent him to Mini to begin the era of Quinnasota. He kicks it off with a goal and a win in his debut, adding him makes Minnesota a legit contender. Meanwhile, the team that just keeps on conducting business as usual is the Carolina Hurricanes. They've been relatively low key up until this point because all they do is just win games. They're dominant in the regular season, but they face some adversity with injuries to Frederick Anderson and Nett. They claimed a goalie named Brandon Bussey. Yes, that's a real name. He's a rookie and he's completely taken the league by storm. He became the fastest goaltender in NHL history to reach 10 wins. The bus driver himself has finally provided stability for Carolina in the crease. It ain't all sunshine and rainbows for everyone though. The city of Toronto has been eating a ---- sandwich for majority of the season, losing Marner along with limited consistency to execute Craig Berube's system has left them on the outside looking in. So after laying an egg and looking like they're out to a Sunday public skate against the Capitals, the media asked Craig Berube where was the urgency. He said, you gotta ask those guys, not him. Okay, Craig, that officially puts you on the hot seat with the Toronto media and the overall future of the franchise. So what do the Leafs do? Well, they say, you know what, fire the assistant coach. Yeah, that'll do it. That should get things back on track and reinstate the parade. Looking at the Atlantic though, it is a bit of a mess in general and you can count on it being a total war zone whenever Florida and Tampa meet. It is the usual. You got a whole bunch of scraps, about 50 guys in the box at once, a new season high and penalty minutes set and Scott Sauborn attending the school of Phil Kessel with this whack. Oh, that is beautiful, isn't it? Just a two hander for the ages. Tampa ends up winning the game, but the score seems like it's secondary when these two teams meet. And so as the clock ticks down and we move on to 2026, a brand new year, it is officially an Olympic year. The rosters have been announced and there have been some serious snubs that have people pissed off. For Team Canada, some notables are Conor Bedard, Mark Shifley and Matthew Schaefer. Of course, Canada is bringing a similar team that won the gold at the Four Nations, but so is Team USA because they felt that they were that close. That being said, a lot of American fans are pretty frustrated as well, as they left off two notable high scoring threats in Cole Caulfield and Jason Robertson in favor of guys like Vinny Trocek and JT Miller. But as the old saying goes, you're not looking for the best players, you're looking for the right ones. And US GM Bill Guerin sticks by his guns. However, this is the final stretch before the Olympic break and the season went to another gear here as these guys get prepared to play best on best. Take a look at this. Mason Marchment gives a sneaky knee on the rookie sensation Matthew Schaefer right away. The Islanders aren't going to allow a second of that. Matt Barzell says, how do you like fiberglass in your ankle? Just a two hander from the heavens. That's what you get for touching the rookie who is making history and single handedly turning around the franchise and potentially making the playoffs. There's also a couple teams that are struggling despite expectations coming into the season and one of them is the defending cup champs in the Florida Panthers. Injuries have flat out ruined them. They missed Kachuk for majority of the season. Barkov was out for the season before the puck even dropped and Bobrovsky is not having a great year, which has led them to bouncing in and out of mediocrity. The other team is Ottawa. A lot of people expected them to take another step after finally making the playoffs last season, but they have not been able to get a save. Despite dominating analytically so far, their goaltending has been the worst in the league and it takes another big hit as Linus Almark takes a leave of absence. They can't buy a win or a goaltender and they sit at the bottom of the East. Out West though, a teenager in Macklin Celebrini is getting better and better as the Olympics get closer. 19 years old and he continues to shock everyone with just how complete of a game he plays. He stays on fire with a goal and two assists for 60 points. He's got the Sharks in the last wild card spot. Without him, they'd be a lottery team. But perhaps the most surprising thing that none of us saw coming was the Buffalo Sabres. Yes, Buffalo is turning into a wagon. It has been a while since we talked about these fellas, but they have turned it around and it all started when they fired GM Kevin Adams and brought in Jarmo Kekalainen. Now Jarmo, he didn't do anything right away other than strike the fear of God into the Sabres players, but ever since they've been an entirely new team. They win their 10th game in a row, beating Dallas four to one, and they now find themselves in the last wild card spot in the East. That's how bad of a start they had, but they don't care because it's all in the past and now they are humming. But the new year also means that we also have the winner classic on deck. This year is the Rangers versus Panthers. New York has not had a good year. They're the worst team in the league on home ice and they can't score and they are once again in the basement. But they get a legacy game from Mika Zabinijad. A hat trick and five points makes it the best outdoor performance of all time and that is probably the peak of the Rangers season because the struggles continued after that. They lose to Seattle on home ice again, shocker. And they asked Captain JT Miller on why the energy was dipping after the first period and all he's got to say is, I don't know. I'm sorry. I don't know. Okay, that's not good. So the Rangers management, they try and get ahead of it, right? They basically release an apology letter for saying that they're going to suck and that they're going to be in a rebuild. So you can pretty much write off New York for the season. Devils fans get a big chuckle out of that until they realize that their own team is an absolute mess. Luke Hughes has a horrendous game where he scores two home goals. Devils fans boom and he's brought nearly to tears when talking about it after the game. And so we get to the part of the season where heads start to roll. Dean Evason gets the boot from Columbus and in comes Rick Bonas to try and save the day. So with things getting more personal, we go to the Marner Bowl for the first time since he skipped town. Marner faces the Toronto Maple Leafs in Vegas. This is all anyone's been talking about for weeks leading up to this game and Austin Matthews is fed up with it. He said he's had enough of the Mitch questions. This was a back and forth game too. The Leafs had the lead multiple times, but it is the Leafs. Vegas tie the game with seven seconds left and then they let Jack Eichel walk down Main Street all alone in OT to win it. Marner wins part one of the Marner Bowl, but literally a week later, the real return happens as he comes back home to Toronto. Everyone is a little unsure about what the reception would be. A couple fans had jerseys saying sell it on the back with Marner's old number. Colasar swatted that down. Marner got booed every single time he touched the puck, but he did get somewhat of an ovation from the Yacht Club when they honored him during the game. Ultimately though, the Leafs continue to be absolutely mid. Vegas wins for their boy and Marner says, let's get the hell out of here. Elsewhere, the bussy is making history. Look at this. Snatching Thompson's soul on this two-on-oh. That's the type of magic he's on right now. He becomes the first goalie in history to win 18 games in his first 22 starts. The man is an anomaly right now and it seems like we're seeing more of these anomalies this season as a goalie fight was considered one of the rarest things you can see in the sport. We haven't seen one in six years and then in a game between San Jose and Florida, things get out of hand. Rodriguez boards Dejarnay, Nedeljkovic comes in and says, I don't think so, pal, so bobscates down the ice and drops the gloves. They are throwing bombs. The stripes finally do the right thing and let the fellas go. The players love it and so do we all and hopefully it's the start of a trend that sees the goalies drop in their mitts more often. These days, there's a lot of stuff that you just don't see happening more often. One of them being Sid the middle-aged man getting emotional. We all get a little bit emotional in our older age, but he's brought to tears watching the tribute of the 2016 Stanley Cup team. He is remarkably leading this team back into the playoff conversation as well after everyone thought that they would be in the lottery conversation heading into the season. Also, the Blue Jackets have now turned into a monster since bringing in Rick Bonas. They are 8-1 since he arrived, bringing Columbus back from the depths of hell and into the playoff conversation. That brings us to the last week before the Olympic break and buckle up because we have an outdoor game that is potentially the game of the year. First, Hagel scores 11 seconds in for the fastest goal ever to start an outdoor game and then holy ----, here we go again. Swayman versus Vasilesky. These two square up and can you believe this? We get a goalie fight in an outdoor game before we get GTA 6. Couple lefts, couple rights. The boys love it and it completely tilts the game for Tampa. The Bruins, they blow a 5-1 lead. They think they win an OT, but the ref calls the goal off due to a delayed penalty and so that opens the door for Tampa to complete the comeback in a shootout and complete one of the crazier games of the season. Then out of nowhere as well, the Rangers commit to a full on tank job and trade Artemi Panarin for essentially a pile of sticks and a half-eaten cheese string to the LA Kings. They're making moves after they fired their coach Jim Hiller. Things are going swell in Edmonton too. The Oilers lose to Calgary in the Battle of Alberta and Drysaddle fully calls out both the coaches and the goaltending saying everyone needs to be better. Also the basement teams get some crazy news too. It broke that the highly anticipated first overall pick in this year's draft in Gavin McKenna was facing assault charges. There was a legitimate worry at one point that he could spend some years in prison, but then the story came out that he decided to one punch the kid after he was launching slurs at his mother, so naturally his draft stock only improved after that, especially after all the charges were dropped. That brings us to the eve of the Olympic break where we get the Battle of Florida and elements of Canada versus USA everywhere. You got Kachuk and Hagel going toe to toe. There's a line brawl, of course. It's the Battle of Florida. Forsling is beating a guy to a pulp on the ice. It is pure chaos and the drama is just getting started. So the first time in over a decade, NHL players get the opportunity to compete in a real best on best. The previous season held the Four Nations Tournament, which ended with a Connor McDavid OT winner over Team USA to win gold and remain hockey superpower. With the real Olympic gold on the line, this tournament means so much more. The two teams that immediately separated themselves from the field were, of course, Team USA and Team Canada. Canada cruised through Group A, defeating Czechia, Switzerland and France while showcasing arguably the deepest roster of the tournament. Connor McDavid looked like a man possessed and paired with Nathan McKinnon and a 19-year-old Macklin Celebrini, Canada legitimately had a super line. The Americans, though, were just as dominant in Group C. They rolled through Latvia, Denmark and Germany without dropping a game, all while Slovakia surprised everyone in Group B off the back of Juraj Slavkovski turning in to Wayne Gretzky in this tournament. Now, moving on to the knockout rounds, Slovakia takes care of Germany, Finland beats the Swiss in OT and then Canada goes up against their kryptonite in Czechia and things get ugly as Rakko Gudis hits Crosby and then falls down onto his leg. He was seen limping down the hallway, so now Canada is without their captain and faces even more adversity in the third period. The Czechs take a late lead thanks to Andrej Palat ripping the puck past Bennington, but take a look at this on the replay. The Czechs had too many men on the ice. They scored the goal with six guys on the ice. They celebrated with six guys in the huddle and the refs nor the broadcast realized until after the game. So Canada came dangerously close to getting upset, but then they get some heroics from Nick Suzuki as he ties the game with three minutes left and you'll never believe it. In three-on-three overtime, Mitch Marner with a maple leaf on his chest has a clutch moment and gets the OT winner to help Canada move on to the semis. Team USA also had an OT hero themselves in Quinn Hughes. In a 1-1 tied game, he plays hero and steps right in and rips one to eliminate Sweden as they move on to the semifinals. Now from there, the United States really just took care of business. Slovakia, who was on a Cinderella run, gets absolutely worked by Team USA 6-2 as they book their ticket to the gold medal game. And so that just left Canada versus Finland to decide who meets the US. Finland had this game in the palm of their hands with a 2-0 lead going into the third period. But then Canada scored two straight and in the dying minute, Nathan McKinnon from the left flank has maybe a toenail of space to put this puck in the net and he does it. You can't give this guy any space to hit that kind of shot, he's always going to bury that one. Canada has a hero of their own to meet Team USA in the gold medal game and the game that everyone anticipated going into this tournament. And Canada is going to have to also do it without their captain, Sidney Crosby. That is a tough loss, but they have more than enough talent to break through. However, early in the game, it is Team USA that strikes first. Boldy Han, Matt Boldy, puts on a show, dances through both Kale Makar and Devon Tave's one-on-two individual effort and then he slips it along the ice to beat Jordan Binnington. It is a 1-0 game for Team USA. Canada though, they were controlling most of the game, but Connor Hellebuck was outstanding, turning aside wave after wave of Canadian pressure. However, late in the second, the wall finally breaks. Kale Makar, off a set faceoff play, beats Hellebuck cleanly to tie this game all up going into the third period. It is 1-1. At this point, the domination from Canada continued. They're buzzing in the Ozone and keep an eye on Devon Tave's. He finds his way to the front of the net. The puck is directed towards him. It is sitting on a platter, wide empty net and out of nowhere, Connor Hellebuck's paddle makes the save of the century. A picture that will live on forever, keeps this game tied at one and the nightmares continue for Canada. After that, the puck squirts out to Nathan McKinnon on the flank. He's got a wide open net. We're talking, you can fit a Zamboni into the cage to take the lead and he misses it entirely. No one watching this game can believe what they just witnessed. One of the best players on the planet with a chance that he buries basically 10 times out of 10, missed the net completely and the game stays tied and goes into overtime. But here's the catch. It is 3-on-3 overtime for 20 minutes, but this just takes a minute and 41 seconds for history to take place. After a missed Canadian chance, an odd man rush brings Jack Hughes all alone and he reminds Jordan Binnington to close his damn legs as he scores the golden goal for Team USA. After 46 years, they are finally back on top of the hockey world. Connor McDavid is named tournament MVP and is once again left speechless after finishing second best. Team USA has the party of a lifetime. They get invited out to the White House. Everything starts getting political and it makes things uneasy for American players returning back to their club in Canada. So as we get back to NHL action, the rookie Matthew Schaefer is still making history. He becomes the fourth rookie defenseman ever to get 20 goals and the Islanders are looking pretty damn good at beating Florida, whose playoff chances have now gone down to a measly 5.8% after winning the cup last season. All the homies still hate Rasmus Dahlien apparently too. He gets under the skin of Evgeny Malkin this time. He eats a slash right to the face and that earns Malkin a nice five game suspension. At this point, it is a sprint to the playoffs. Everyone is pissed off at something and it gives us the game of the year between the Sabres and the Lightning. Not even five minutes into this game, there's a dog pile and a fight. Of course, Dahlien is in the middle of it too, but this happened about three more times in the first period alone. Not even 10 minutes into the game, there's a parade to the penalty box and Tampa only has eight guys on the bench. There was five lead changes in this game alone. Comebacks on both sides, 102 penalty minutes, five fights in total and an eight to seven Sabres win. Buffalo gets one step closer to breaking the drought and making the playoffs and they look damn good while doing it. The Atlantic division though is still a gauntlet, especially with the Boston Bruins becoming one of the better surprises this season. They've now won 13 games at home in a row. They are red hot and frustrations are starting to boil over in the West, especially for Connor McDavid. Coming off one of the worst losses of his career, the Dallas Stars are laying a ---- kicking on Edmonton and McDavid decides he has had enough. He starts getting into it with the rookie Ritz Colvin and that's because he was absolutely tilting the entire Oilers bench, just going through them one by one, chirping them as the Stars embarrass Edmonton, but nothing is more embarrassing than this. Leafs versus Ducks. Toronto's in the middle of a horrible year where it looks like they're going to miss the playoffs for the first time in a decade and halfway through this game, Rocco Gutis, the knee collector goes straight knee on knee with the captain Austin Matthews. He's laying on the ice in agony and absolutely no one in a Toronto Maple Leafs sweater does a single thing about it. It is a damning indictment on a team and core that has been forever called soft and it just reaffirms all of it with one play as Austin Matthews was announced out for the rest of the season. Throw Leon Dryside on the list of superstars injured as well. The Avs also became the first team in the league to clinch a playoff spot as they are the runaway favorites to win the cup with how dominant they've been all season long. And so with two weeks left to go in the season, the wildcard race is nuts and teams are as cutthroat as they've ever been. With eight games remaining, Vegas decides to fire Bruce Cassidy and bring in none other than John Tortorella. Despite winning a cup with Cassidy in 2023, the Knights do not have a great record this season and are falling well below expectations. However, advanced stats indicate they're actually a good team just with bad goaltending. Couple that with them being in the pillow fight division named by Connor McDavid, Vegas still feels like they can turn things around and they feel like John Tortorella is the perfect guy to do it. He reaffirms all of their assumptions as he goes a perfect 7-0-1 down the stretch to allow Vegas to win the division. The ballsy move pays off there. On the other hand, the teenage prodigy Macklin Celebrini gets his 100th point of the season. Only the third Shark to do so and the sixth teenager to do this in history as he almost single-handedly wills the Sharks to a playoff spot but they inevitably fall short so next year the cup prophecy will have to come alive. It is also a wonderful time to get revenge. Ducks vs Leafs round 2, Domi and Gutis drop the gloves immediately. Although Gutis was plain injured in this game, he wanted to take accountability and so he did that by answering the bell. But hours before this game, the real news dropped. The Leafs finally decide to fire GM Brad Treleaving. They ended up winning this game and I guess defending their captain but it didn't really matter because the damage had already been done and they officially missed the playoffs booking their trips to Cancun. Another two teams on their first flight out once the season ends is the Rangers and Devils but there's something going on with the goalies this season because Igor Shostakhin and Jacob Markstrom decide to drop the gloves themselves. Shostakhin looks as happy as he's been all season long getting the opportunity to drop the gloves. Now Officer Bob, he started all these goalie tilts a few months back. He and the Panthers are hitting the beaches early. The Atlantic Division is changing completely. The two-time Stanley Cup Champ Panthers are officially eliminated from the playoffs while the Sabres end the longest playoff drought in NHL history. I thought we would never see the day but the City of Buffalo finally gets to watch a playoff game in high definition. Unfortunately, we can't say the same for the Detroit Red Wings. Their fans are now questioning whether or not they're ever going to see playoff hockey ever again. After another abysmal March, they played themselves right out of a playoff spot to miss the postseason for the 10th year in a row. The Iser plan has officially fallen apart. Now things shaping up in the West with the Kings locking in that final wild card spot. Out East, it's still a toss up and teams are doing funny things like the Islanders. After being in a playoff spot for the majority of the season, the Islanders went on a tough run that had them on the outside looking in at the end. And so, they fired their coach Patrick Wall with just 5 games left in the season and they bring in Pete DeBoer but it is too little, too late as the Island miss the playoffs yet again. And so, as the regular season comes to an end, we potentially see the last Crosby vs Ovechkin game of our time. With rumors swirling around that it may be Ovi's last year, Ovi and Sid take the opening faceoff against one another, two legends that carried the sport having one last go except after the Capitals won, Ovi just waved off the handshakes indicating that it's probably not his last game and then after the season was over, he said screw it, I'm playing another year signing a contract that brings him back for one last rodeo. But that leaves us with this playoff picture and the start of the real season in the NHL. So the chase for the best trophy on earth begins, 16 teams, 8 matchups. We start in the West with the Avalanche vs the Kings. First seed vs the last wildcard, this series went about exactly how you would expect. The Kings were going to try and out-defend Colorado but the Avs are just so damn good. They can play that game too. Games 1 and 2 were close, Colorado took both and then never looked back. They won two in a row to sweep the Kings and send them on the first flight over to Cabo in a series that pretty much everyone predicted. The next series however was a conference final caliber matchup in the first round between the Dallas Stars and the Minnesota Wilds. Game 1 was an utter spanking by the hands of Minnesota, they won that game 6-1 but then Dallas really started to find their mojo. They went up 2-1 in the series after Wyatt Johnson scored in double OT, life is feeling good for Dallas but not so good because they can't score a 5-on-5. It hurts them so badly that Minnesota wins 3 games in a row and wins a playoff series for the first time since 2015. Quinn Hughes was a monster in this series, he was worth every penny that the Wilds paid when they got him earlier in the year and it's also nice to learn that he knows how to smile too. Next is Vegas vs Utah where we see Nick Dowd literally threaten Loken Cooley and his life. Cooley is not intimidated by that or Vegas winning game 1 as Utah responds by winning 2 straight including a 4-0 beatdown in game 3. Game 4 though, Vegas has enough of these young bucks running their show and they take a 3-0 lead. Except they blow the 3 goal lead, let Utah score 4 straight and are on the verge of a brutal collapse but luckily they tie the game late to force OT and then they win it while shorthanded to tie the series. That right there is the TSN turning point. Vegas wins 2 in a row to take the series in 6 with Lerner having a 2 goal game in the process. Guy's sick in the playoffs as soon as he leaves Toronto. Moving on to the Oilers vs Ducks. Anaheim are the underdogs, the young fellas coming into this series while the Oilers have some concerns of their own. Mainly goaltending and defense, it's been a story all season long but they found a way to get into the playoffs. Shanghai Jari and Conor Ingram are their two options so they say screw it, we ride. You got Drysaddle coming back from injury and it feels like it's anyone's series, especially because the worst case scenario happens for Edmonton fans. The Oilers take game 1 but Conor McDavid hurts his ankle in the process and he's actually forced to leave the game at one point. He wasn't the same after that. In game 2, he had noticeable turnovers, the Ducks power play was on fire and Jackson Lacombe was putting on a clinic for Anaheim. Then in game 4, with the Ducks up 2-1 in the series, it goes to OT where we get some controversy. The Ducks score a goal but the puck can't be seen and so on the ice, the play was called a goal so unless there's overwhelming evidence that proves otherwise, then this is going to count. So they call Gary, take a look and they decide that the puck is in the net. Anaheim takes a commanding 3-1 series lead. The Oilers fight back with one more win but ultimately, the Ducks get the job done in 6 games. They were 50% on the power play in the series. McDavid and Dreisaitl were clearly banged up but Anaheim exposed all their weaknesses in their depth to move on to round 2. That brings us to the East where the first series is Carolina vs Ottawa. Most people, including myself being an asshat, had Ottawa upsetting Carolina because, well, I'm an asshat. This was a toit series all the way through but at the same time, Carolina didn't trail for a single second. Frederick Anderson, Mr. Anderson himself, was back in the matrix stopping everything. Carolina won game 2 in double OT, went on the road and still completely shut down the Senators. Game 4, we saw one of the biggest hits of the season. Tyler Clevin, 7-Clevin we call him, absolutely rocked Alexander Nikishin. He was talking to imaginary friends after the hit but Carolina didn't get phased. A 4-2 win to clinch the sweep. They held Bradyka-Chuck and Tim Stutzla to just one measly assist on the series. That's not good enough and eventually, that led to Bradyka-Chuck saying, screw it, I'm joining my brother in South Beach and becoming a Florida Panther after the season. Next up is the battle of Pennsylvania, Penguins vs Flyers. And it's the rookie, Porter Martone, setting the tone. Two game-winning goals in the first two games really shocked everyone in this series going up 3-0 and how they stifled the Penguins offense. They had Sid the middle-aged man looking his age, although the diving from his youth certainly didn't go away and Philly let him know it. The Flyers were just completely frustrating Pittsburgh in the neutral zone. They couldn't get anything going. But then in games 4 and 5, the Penguins go from Stuart Skinner to Artur Shilovs and Sid himself at 38 locks right in. Gets two points in games 4 and in games 5 to help Pittsburgh climb into the series to give us a game 6 goaltending duel for the ages. Both Ladar and Shilovs were standing on their head in a 0-0 game going into OT, but then Cam York says, let's wrap it up. A little sifter from the point, how do you do, sends Pittsburgh to the nearest golf course and Philly to the second round. And so, that brings us to our other series and for the first time in 15 years, we get to see a playoff game in Buffalo, the Sabres vs the Bruins. Buffalo fans are nuts before the game. You got the Blade gang doing their thing. They're beating the hell out of dummies wearing a Bruins jersey. Playoff hockey is back and it looks like it's going to be a complete dud in game 1 because Boston was up 3-1 late in the third. But Buffalo pull off an electric comeback. Three straight goals. They blow the roof off the key bank and Buffalo takes an early series lead. It was tied going to Boston, but Buffalo won games 3 and 4 leaving Jeremy Swayman yelling at the Bruins bench after getting pulled in game 4. Boston did force a 6th game, but Buffalo comes into TD Garden and just spanks the Bruins 4-1 to move on to round 2. They would meet the winner of Montreal vs Tampa and this series was wild right from the start. Four different games went into OT. All seven games were decided by one goal only the third time in NHL history. That has happened. It had everything. Brandon Hagel and Uri Slavkovsky decided to drop the gloves. Hagel caught Slavkovsky with a heavy right that sits him down and then Hagel hits the little man Selly afterwards. These two teams hate each other and the series went back and forth right up until game 7. And in that game, it was pure domination from Tampa. They outshot Montreal 28-9, yet the Blanc-et-Rouge still found a way. Jakob Dobisch has a side gig as airport security because he stops absolutely everything. Alex Newhoek is the hero that moves Montreal to the second round as they make history winning the game while recording the fewest shots on goal. Now that brings us to round 2 in a heavyweight matchup in the West between the Colorado Avalanche and the Minnesota Wilds. We're talking fireworks right out of the gate in game 1. A total of 15 goals were scored in this game. Colorado took it 9-6. Kim McCart had two goals despite leaving the game earlier with some kind of injury after taking a hit. Injuries would be a big part in this series though because Minnesota down the middle were already a little bit thin and they lose their number one center in Erickson Eck. So that's no bueno and this isn't either. In game 5, Minnesota is down 3-1 in the series. They take an early 3-0 lead. Looks like we're going to go back to mini but hold the phone. We got a new worst choke of the playoffs. Colorado scores three straight goals including this absolute dart from Nathan McKinnon. Everyone's looking at that going where the hell was that in the gold medal game of the Olympics. It goes to OT where Colorado sends Minnesota packing in five games. They complete the comeback and they're on to the Western Conference Final to meet the In this series, we had the official birth of the playoff wizard himself, Mitch Marner. A Game 3 blowout that saw him record a natural hat trick had all the playoff narratives suddenly disappearing right in front of our eyes as he led Vegas in scoring and the entire playoffs in scoring. As the series went on too, Vegas just got stronger and stronger. It was tied 2-2 at one point but Vegas squeaked out an OT win in game 5 thanks to the team the greatest playoff goals that we've ever seen in Game 6. The guy's caboose is in the face of Dostoevsky and he decides, wow, what a wonderful time to go between the legs and prove that I'm the sickest playoff performer of all time and he does it. Vegas makes light work of Anaheim in Game 6 with a 5-1 win to move on to the Western Conference Final and meet the Avalanche. Back over in the East, Carolina is showing utter domination against the Philadelphia Flyers. Kind of the same thing that happened with Ottawa with two games going into overtime but in every game, Carolina found a way to come out on top. The Hall, Blake and Stankovan line were all unbelievable in this series and it was only fitting that Jackson Blake, Mr. Two First Names gets the OT winner against Philly to complete the back-to-back sweeps for the first time since 1987 when the 16-win playoff format began. They go 8-0 to start the playoffs. They look like a force going into the Eastern Conference Finals but they're going to have to wait a long time because the Sabres and Canadians took every single game to decide who would move on. Just like Montreal's first series against Tampa, this was a back-and-forth series that featured momentum swings, blowouts, overtimes and once again, a winner-take-all Game 7. In Buffalo, for a do-or-die, the Habs came out buzzing, taking a 2-0 lead but the Sabres, like they've done all year long, they showed no quit. But they tied it up, scoring two straight to force an overtime and who's the hero? It's the new gunslinging slick Rick for the Habs and Alex Newhook with a toe-drag release to send Buffalo and their fans back to cheering for the Bills. Montreal moves on to meet Carolina in the Eastern Conference Finals. Now going to Round 3. To this point, it has been pretty much expect the unexpected and to start the Western Conference Finals between Vegas and Colorado, the Habs are starting the series without the best defenceman in the world in Cael McCarr. He's not in the lineup for Games 1 and 2 and Vegas takes full advantage, winning both games on the road. So now Cael McCarr is like, alright, I guess I gotta play. That forces him back into the lineup. Colorado looks like a brand new team with him in there but they got a taste of their own medicine after going up 3-0 against Vegas. The Knights score two of their own and the worst possible thing happens for Colorado. The Nate Dog blocks a shot and he goes down like a ton of bricks. That is no bueno. Can't put any weight on his leg so now he's got to watch from the bench while his team proceeds to blow a 3-0 lead and they lose in regulation to boot. So now going into the elimination game with the threat of being swept, Colorado is playing McCarr and McKinnon but neither of them are healthy and it went just about how you'd expect. Vegas completely shuts down the Habs to complete the sweep. Carter Hart was incredible throughout the series and somehow, someway, John Tortorella has led the Golden Knights on a hell of a run back to the Stanley Cup Final. And so meeting them would be one of the Carolina Hurricanes or Montreal Canadiens. The Hurricanes were so dominant they had enough time to go to Cabo and back and still play in the Conference Finals. They had the most days off between rounds since the Habs did back in 1919. The First World War was still going on so rust vs. rest was a factor and the Habs took full advantage coming into Carolina and laying the smackdown in a 6-2 win. Carolina looked all out of sorts with the rust and with their demons in the Conference Finals in the past few years, everyone had some doubts but this Carolina team is built different. They went back to back games in OT but the score was a lot closer than the games themselves. As the series wore on, Carolina became more and more dominant from games 2-4. The Canadiens had the fewest shots on goal ever in a 3-game stretch as Carolina puts the dagger in Montreal's incredible run with a statement 6-1 win in Game 5 to go to the Finals for the first time since they won the Cup in 2006. So that means a Vegas and Carolina Final to compete for the Stanley Cup in a matchup that some people thought would actually be boring but if you thought that maybe you didn't know because these two teams were the best hockey teams playing at their peak meeting in the Cup Final and it was fireworks right from the start. Nikolai Ehlers opens the scoring 30 seconds into Game 1, double dips later in the game too but Vegas scored 3 unanswered. Back and forth we went until eventually it was all tied up at 4s only for the Teenage Mutant Ninja Hurdle once again to get the dagger and call game for Vegas to go up one zip in the Cup Final. Now Game 2 is a different story. Vegas led 2-0 midway through the third period and appeared ready to head home with a commanding series lead. But then Carolina erupted for 3 goals in 5 minutes and 5 seconds and after Torts made a questionable challenge for goalie interference giving Carolina a power play they take full advantage to get the lead in this game but of course Mark Stone the LTIR legend ties this up in the dying seconds to force overtime but just 3 minutes in Seth Jarvis is the hero who blasts one home to tie this series 1-1 and so Game 3 we would witness history. It was all Vegas as they exploded for 4 goals in 6 minutes and 26 seconds. All this happened in the second period including a natural hat trick from the playoff wizard himself Mitch Marner. 4-0 meant that Carolina decided to replace Frederic Anderson with the rookie Brandon Bussey. He comes in and stops Marner on a penalty shot and that gets the boys fired right up. The Hurricanes then proceed to score 3 goals in just 39 seconds one of the fastest scoring bursts in playoff history before Andrey Svechnikov tied it with the goalie pulled late in regulation and before we had a winner. Game 3 set a bunch of records Marner had the fastest hat trick in finals history and the Canes recorded the fastest 3 goals in a Stanley Cup final. This game had the potential to be the greatest comeback in NHL history but it would take 2 overtimes and a little bit of lady luck as Shea Theodore goes for the ol' Shaq playbook off the backboard and in. Vegas gets away with 1 and win Game 3 but despite the win this game shifted the momentum. Game 4 was Carolina's best effort after coming all the way back in Game 3. Logan Stankoven and Jackson Blake scored in the opening 4 minutes to give the Hurricanes a quick 2-0 lead. Vegas fought back to tie up a Jordan Stahl with a superman like effort to pluck in the game winner while falling on the ice. He ties this series up heading back to rally. Jordan Stahl by the way the captain almost as old as Corey Perry been around since the phase out of the VCR scores in his 5th straight game. In Game 5 Andrey Svechnikov got 2 on the peeper but more importantly the bus driver was shutting the door. Brandon Bussey has completely changed the entire dynamic for Carolina in this series while the goaltending continues to be a big problem for Vegas. Carter Hart became the first goalie in finals history to allow 4 plus goals in every single game that he's played so far. And so going into a do or die on home ice for the cup they go back to him one last time to try and keep their dream alive. So in Game 6 who sets the tone it is Taylor Hall. He scores 4 minutes into the game and Carolina as well as Bussey plays their best game of the season. They add one more for insurance and Bussey completely shuts out the Golden Knights and for the first time since 2006 the Carolina Hurricanes are your Stanley Cup champions. Jordan Stahl the unk still got it. He wins the consmite trophy as the MVP of the playoffs. At 37 years old he's the oldest consmite winner ever and the Carolina Hurricanes prove every single one of their doubters wrong. A team that many people thought didn't have the goaltending or star power finally break through and show that depth and team buy in can be enough to take you to the promised land. As for the series itself it's set record numbers for viewership in the last 10 years despite people saying no one would watch it. And so with the conclusion of the 2026 season the Carolina Hurricanes stand on top of the mountain and are officially the new gold standard for the NHL. So what did you guys think of the 2025-2026 NHL season? Who surprised you? Who pissed you off? And what was your favorite moment of the season? Let me know in the comments down below. I'm Anthony. I do all the breakdowns for the channel. If you want to stay up to date on all things NHL and dive deeper into the biggest moves make sure you subscribe to the channel and turn on notifications so that you don't miss a single thing.