{"id":192649,"date":"2025-09-30T16:22:10","date_gmt":"2025-09-30T16:22:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/192649\/"},"modified":"2025-09-30T16:22:10","modified_gmt":"2025-09-30T16:22:10","slug":"the-penguins-in-dead-last-plus-we-want-your-dumb-questions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/192649\/","title":{"rendered":"The Penguins \u2026 in dead last? Plus: We want your \u2018dumb\u2019 questions"},"content":{"rendered":"

Red Light newsletter\u00a0\ud83c\udfd2\u00a0| This is\u00a0The Athletic\u2019s\u00a0hockey<\/a>\u00a0newsletter.\u00a0Sign up here<\/a>\u00a0to receive Red Light directly in your inbox.<\/p>\n

Good morning to everyone except that one GM in your fantasy league who\u2019s being difficult about when they can draft. This is the last week without meaningful hockey for the next nine months, so plan your schedule accordingly. Let\u2019s see what we can do to get you prepared.<\/p>\n

The projected top 10<\/p>\n

Our trusty trio of Dom Luszczyszyn, Sean Gentille and Shayna Goldman has been busy, churning out previews for all 32 teams<\/a> that are being revealed every day through the end of this week. They\u2019re going from worst to best, so if you haven\u2019t seen your team yet, that\u2019s good news. Today\u2019s batch includes the Rangers, Kings and Panthers, breaking us into the top 10.<\/p>\n

If you\u2019re keeping track \u2014 and you absolutely should be \u2014 that means we\u2019re now well into seeing the playoff picture take shape.<\/p>\n

The Athletic\u2019s projected standings, as revealed so far:<\/p>\n

West
8. Utah Mammoth<\/a>*
7. Minnesota Wild<\/a>
6. Los Angeles Kings<\/a><\/p>\n

East
8. Washington Capitals<\/a>
7. Ottawa Senators<\/a>
6. New York Rangers<\/a>
5. Florida Panthers<\/a><\/p>\n

*The projections actually have the Montreal Canadiens finishing ahead of Utah for 16th overall but missing the playoffs based on the conference format. That would be the reverse of last year, when Montreal (and New Jersey) made it despite finishing behind the Calgary Flames.<\/p>\n

And the nine mystery teams left, in alphabetical order: Carolina, Colorado, Dallas, Edmonton, New Jersey, Tampa Bay, Toronto, Vegas and Winnipeg.<\/p>\n

Good luck, and may you not see your team until Friday.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\n The Penguins still have Sidney Crosby. (Bruce Bennett \/ Getty Images)<\/p>\n

The surprises keep coming<\/p>\n

Predictions are a fool\u2019s game, of course, which is why I love them so much. (The annual four-division post will be up this week, thanks for asking.) Nobody ever gets them right, or even comes all that close. But there\u2019s more honor in taking a swing than the alternative, which involves waiting until the season ends and then sniffling about how you knew it all along. No you didn\u2019t. None of us did \u2014 this is the NHL.<\/p>\n

Last week, James asked Dom, Sean and Shayna for their surprise picks<\/a>, and they listed the Red Wings, Sabres and Predators. I have three more, including some teams that have since been revealed. I don\u2019t mean that I think these teams\u2019 projections are wrong \u2014 rather, that they made me pause and rethink some assumptions:<\/p>\n

\u2022 The Penguins being dead last in the East by a decent margin. OK, so it\u2019s roughly five points<\/a>, which is hardly insurmountable. Still, that\u2019s a big gap for a team that hasn\u2019t been all that close to last place in decades. Even last year, they finished ahead of the Bruins, Sabres and Flyers. And it\u2019s not like they\u2019re exactly trying a rebuild \u2026 yet. Sidney Crosby and friends are either about to prove a lot of us wrong, or Kyle Dubas is going to have to get serious about starting over.<\/p>\n

\u2022 The Capitals, nowhere near the top. They\u2019re not one of those nine teams we haven\u2019t heard from yet, which might seem like a snub given they were the East\u2019s top seed last year. I don\u2019t think anyone is expecting a repeat of last season\u2019s 111 points, but a drop down to the mid-90s<\/a> would put them on the playoff bubble. Here\u2019s my question: How many experts will have the guts to predict the Caps missing the postseason entirely? Remember, nobody thought it could happen to the Rangers last year \u2026<\/p>\n

\u2022 The Kings are \u2026 still good? Or at least good enough, with today\u2019s preview having them around 95 points<\/a>, which should be good for a playoff spot. In theory, not a surprise for a team that finished sixth overall last year. But after we all spent the summer scratching our heads over Ken Holland\u2019s, um, creative offseason approach, it\u2019s a good reminder that this team would have to fall a long way to be as bad as a lot of you seem to think they\u2019ll be.<\/p>\n

And by the way, if you want to get your own predictions on the record, look for the annual prediction contest to return Friday. Ten questions that are so simple they\u2019re almost impossible, plus the dreaded bonus. It\u2019s easy, and you\u2019ll do terribly.<\/p>\n

Trivia time\ud83d\udca1<\/p>\n

I used this one in a column last week that some of you would have already read because you\u2019re good people with exquisite taste in hockey writing. I like the question, so I\u2019ll reuse it here, with a bonus second question so nobody feels left out.<\/p>\n

First up, can you name the most recent winner of the Rocket Richard Trophy who is no longer an active NHL player?<\/p>\n

And for the bonus, can you name the only active player in the league who\u2019s won an Art Ross and since switched teams?<\/p>\n

The answer is below.<\/p>\n

Coast to Coast<\/p>\n

\ud83c\udf99\ufe0f More preview fun: This week on \u201cThe Athletic Hockey Show,\u201d our hosts are joined by every team\u2019s beat writer to preview each division. Yesterday was the Atlantic<\/a>, with the Metro coming today and the Central and Pacific to follow. Plus, the Prospect Series on Friday will deep-dive into this season\u2019s Calder Trophy race. Find it all here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\ud83d\udcb0 How should Connor McDavid approach this next contract? We asked the folks who\u2019d know best: NHL agents<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\ud83c\udfc8 Scott Powers has more on the unusual case of Mason West, the Blackhawks\u2019 first-round pick who\u2019s playing out his final season as a high school \u2026 quarterback<\/a>?<\/p>\n

\ud83d\udcaa\ud83c\udffc Good news if, like me, the only thing keeping you from an NHL job was that pesky fitness testing. It\u2019s on its way out, and Fluto Shinzawa explains why<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\ud83c\udf37 Finally, if you missed it over the weekend, 40-year-old Marc-Andre Fleury suited up for the final time<\/a>. We think. Maybe not?<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\n (Minas Panagiotakis \/ Getty Images)<\/p>\n

No Dumb Questions<\/p>\n

We made this a running feature last season, and it was a big hit, so let\u2019s bring it back this year. We\u2019re putting out the call for all those hockey questions you\u2019ve always wondered about but never asked anyone because you thought you\u2019d sound dumb. Nonsense! There are no dumb questions, according to my elementary school teachers and also this section\u2019s header. Whether you\u2019re a new fan who\u2019s still figuring out how this NHL thing works, or an old-timer who\u2019s been carrying around a nagging question for decades, we want to hear it.<\/p>\n

To give you a sense of what we\u2019re looking for, previous entries have included:<\/p>\n

\u2022 How do coincidental penalties work? (It\u2019s pretty simple, right up until it isn\u2019t<\/a>.)<\/p>\n

\u2022 Who gets credit for the goal if a team scores directly into their own net without the other team ever touching the puck? (The other team\u2019s center from the most recent faceoff, and yes, it\u2019s happened before<\/a>.)<\/p>\n

\u2022 Why can\u2019t you kick the puck into the other team\u2019s net? (Because for once, the rulebook is surprisingly consistent on something<\/a>.)<\/p>\n

\u2022 Why don\u2019t linesmen just drop the puck already? (Because they\u2019re in charge of enforcing the faceoff rules, which are way more complicated than they should be<\/a>.)<\/p>\n

If you have something you\u2019ve always wondered about the sport, ask away by emailing us at redlight@theathletic.com<\/a>. We promise not to call you dumb. (To your face. The group chat might be a different matter.)<\/p>\n

Trivia answer(s)<\/p>\n

To find a Rocket Richard winner who\u2019s no longer active, you have to go all the way back to 2006-07, when Vincent Lecavalier won. The 19 seasons since have seen eight different players win the award, and all of them are still active. That includes two former winners, Alex Ovechkin and Corey Perry, who\u2019ll be 40 entering this season.<\/p>\n

As for the only active Art Ross winner who\u2019s since switched teams, that would be Patrick Kane, who won with the Blackhawks in 2015 and at 36 is now halfway through his tour of the Original Six thanks to stops in New York and Detroit. The other seven active winners are all on their original teams \u2026 for now<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\ud83d\udceb Love Red Light? Check out The Athletic\u2019s other newsletters<\/a>.<\/p>\n

(Top photo of Erik Karlsson: Justin Berl \/ Getty Images)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Red Light newsletter\u00a0\ud83c\udfd2\u00a0| This is\u00a0The Athletic\u2019s\u00a0hockey\u00a0newsletter.\u00a0Sign up here\u00a0to receive Red Light directly in your inbox. Good morning to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":192650,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[66],"tags":[385,99],"class_list":["post-192649","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nhl","tag-nhl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/192649","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=192649"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/192649\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/192650"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=192649"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=192649"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=192649"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}