It’s playoff time, almost. The time of year when the best of the best rise to the top and prove that they have what it takes to win it all. The rest? They lose, sometimes dramatically and sometimes meekly, but either way they end up wondering what might have been.

I’m referring to you guys.

Yes, it’s time for our annual playoff contest, in which I ask you one simple question, and you send in your one-line answer. Then we wait. Then almost all of you get it wrong. Then I make fun of you.

This will be the third year of the contest, with both of the first two editions getting roughly 1,000 entries. All you need to do to enter is post your answer to our question in the comment section. How hard can that be? Let’s find out.

The question

As always, this is all we want to know:

List as many or as few playoff teams as you’d like, in order of how many games they will win during the 2026 postseason, from most wins to fewest.

The winner will be the correct answer that lists the most teams. To make things even easier on you, ties between teams that win the same number of games will be counted as correct.

That’s it. Nice and simple.

But just to make sure we’re all on the same page, let’s offer up a few examples of how this all works. Feel free to skip this section if you’re a contest vet who already knows the ropes.

Let’s imagine you had entered last year’s contest, and your entry looked like this:

Panthers, Stars, Maple Leafs, Jets, Senators, Devils, Canadiens

That’s seven teams in all, and it would have been correct. The Panthers won 16 games, the Stars won nine, the Leafs won seven, the Jets won six and the Senators won two. The Devils and Habs both won just one playoff game, so they work in any order. You’d have gone seven-for-seven.

But if you’d posted this nearly identical entry …

Panthers, Stars, Golden Knights, Jets, Senators, Devils, Canadiens

… then you’d have been wrong. The Golden Knights only won five playoff games, which is one fewer than the Jets’ six.

Note that there’s no credit for close here. Your entry is either right or it’s wrong. And if it’s wrong, you can’t win. Which leads us to …

The strategy

This is my favorite part of the contest: How many teams do you want to list? And how far from the consensus are you willing to stray?

You could guarantee yourself a “correct” answer by listing only one team, but you’d have no chance of winning, so there’d be no point. At the other end of the spectrum, going 16 for 16 would not only all but guarantee a contest win, it would grant you all-time legend status around these parts. It would also be pretty close to mathematically impossible, but I know some of you will try, and I encourage that.

In the two years of the contest so far, both winners ended up picking eight teams. It’s possible that’s the magic number. But knowing that, I’m guessing we’ll see a lot of eight-team entries this time, so maybe the winner will need to go higher this time. Of course, the last two playoffs were relatively chalky, and this year’s regular season has been one of the most unpredictable ever — if that carries over into the postseason, then you’ll want to play it safer with fewer entries.

What’s the optimal strategy for this year? I have no idea. But one of you will find it.

(This is the part where I’ll remind you to check and make sure your entry is logically possible, by invoking the legend of Tanner B., the infamous entrant who managed to go 16 for 16 in Round 1 despite not understanding the rules. Tanner B. rocked.)

The rules

In the (quite likely) event of a tie, the winner will be whichever entry’s teams produce the most total wins. If it’s still tied, the win will go to whoever’s entry was posted first.

One entry per person.

The cutoff for entries is the advertised start time of the first game of the 2026 postseason.

The prize is a signed copy of my book if you want one, but really, this is about bragging rights and the knowledge that you’re smarter than everyone else.

How to enter

Post your answer in the comment section below. List as many or as few teams as you’d like, all on one line, separated by commas. That part is important when it comes to automatically scraping the replies.

Please also pay attention to spelling, and don’t get cute with team names. We do our best to parse all the entries, but we can’t guarantee you’ll be counted if you get weird with your spelling or you don’t use commas or just mash your face into your keyboard and call it a day like some of you seem to do every year. All decisions of the judges are final, and all that …

Entries are now open

Head to the comment section when you’re ready to plant your flag. Remember, list all your teams in order from most wins to fewest and separated by commas.