It\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n
I\u2019m referring to you guys.<\/p>\n
Yes, it\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n
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\u2019s find out.<\/p>\n
The question<\/p>\n
As always, this is all we want to know:<\/p>\n
List as many or as few playoff teams as you\u2019d like, in order of how many games they will win during the 2026 postseason, from most wins to fewest.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s it. Nice and simple.<\/p>\n
But just to make sure we\u2019re all on the same page, let\u2019s offer up a few examples of how this all works. Feel free to skip this section if you\u2019re a contest vet who already knows the ropes.<\/p>\n
Let\u2019s imagine you had entered last year\u2019s contest, and your entry looked like this:<\/p>\n
Panthers, Stars, Maple Leafs, Jets, Senators, Devils, Canadiens<\/p>\n
That\u2019s 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\u2019d have gone seven-for-seven.<\/p>\n
But if you\u2019d posted this nearly identical entry \u2026<\/p>\n
Panthers, Stars, Golden Knights, Jets, Senators, Devils, Canadiens<\/p>\n
\u2026 then you\u2019d have been wrong. The Golden Knights only won five playoff games, which is one fewer than the Jets\u2019 six.<\/p>\n
Note that there\u2019s no credit for close here. Your entry is either right or it\u2019s wrong. And if it\u2019s wrong, you can\u2019t win. Which leads us to \u2026<\/p>\n
The strategy<\/p>\n
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?<\/p>\n
You could guarantee yourself a \u201ccorrect\u201d answer by listing only one team, but you\u2019d have no chance of winning, so there\u2019d 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.<\/p>\n
In the two years of the contest so far, both winners ended up picking eight teams. It\u2019s possible that\u2019s the magic number. But knowing that, I\u2019m guessing we\u2019ll 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\u2019s regular season has been one of the most unpredictable ever \u2014 if that carries over into the postseason, then you\u2019ll want to play it safer with fewer entries.<\/p>\n
What\u2019s the optimal strategy for this year? I have no idea. But one of you will find it.<\/p>\n