{"id":440900,"date":"2026-01-31T13:26:15","date_gmt":"2026-01-31T13:26:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/440900\/"},"modified":"2026-01-31T13:26:15","modified_gmt":"2026-01-31T13:26:15","slug":"the-stars-slumps-and-stories-shaping-nhls-road-to-the-playoffs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/440900\/","title":{"rendered":"The stars, slumps and stories shaping NHL\u2019s road to the playoffs"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

Good morning to everyone except for whoever decided there would be only one game tonight. Also, apologies in advance to you James Mirtle fans, as he\u2019s off today. If you prefer your hockey takes to be insightful, well-researched, based on inside information and delivered by someone who\u2019s roughly 8 feet tall, you\u2019re out of luck. You get me instead.<\/p>\n

While You Were Sleeping<\/p>\n

Last night was one of the busiest nights of the year, with 15 games on the slate. We saw an injury with potentially major Olympics implications<\/a>. We had a fun shootout between the Mammoth and Hurricanes. We set a record for hat tricks in a month<\/a>. And we saw the first matchup between the Canadiens and Nordiques<\/a> in three decades.<\/p>\n

And in Detroit, we saw some history<\/a> \u2026<\/p>\n

\"\"\/<\/p>\n

That\u2019s Patrick Kane picking up an assist on Ben Chiarot\u2019s second-period goal to pass Mike Modano for the most NHL points by an American-born player<\/a>. It\u2019s a moment we\u2019ve been waiting on for weeks, and point 1,375 happened in front of an appreciative Detroit crowd.<\/p>\n

It also kind of happened twice, because Kane initially seemed to break the record with an assist in the first period. After the celebration died down, the Capitals successfully challenged the play for offsides, taking the Alex DeBrincat goal and the record off the board, at least for a while. (That makes you wonder how many points Modano might have lost if we had this stupid offside review<\/a> when he played. As Sabres fans can tell you, the league was a little lax on the replay review back then. Especially when it came to the Stars.)<\/p>\n

Next up for Kane? Maybe Brett Hull, who would appear to hold the actual record for points by an American player with 1,391. This one gets kind of weird, because Hull was born in Canada. But he represented Team USA in international play and was always considered American when he was playing. So, do we get another Kane record watch down the stretch, or is one enough? I\u2019m not actually sure on this one. But for now, congratulations on an impressive record.<\/p>\n

More on the Red Wings in a bit. But first \u2026<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\n Henrik Sedin and Roberto Luongo. (Harry How \/ Getty Images)<\/p>\n

Eras TourBest Cup-less cap-era team?<\/p>\n

If you listen closely, you can hear the sound of windows slamming shut around the league.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s happening in New York, where Rangers GM Chris Drury recently ran up the white flag with a sternly worded letter<\/a>, just two years removed from a Presidents\u2019 Trophy win. It sure seems to be happening in Toronto, although management hasn\u2019t made any statements yet, preferring to stay in its typical \u201cblink twice if you\u2019re even paying attention\u201d crouch. The Jets sure seem to be cooked. The Devils might be headed there, too.<\/p>\n

All of that led to a question from reader Andy, who wanted to know where the Leafs would rank among the best teams of the cap era to have never won the Cup. Good question, Andy, let\u2019s dive into it.<\/p>\n

First, we have to figure out what a \u201cteam\u201d is. When you\u2019re spanning multiple seasons, you run into a bit of a Ship of Theseus problem because players are constantly coming and going. There are only three Leafs left from the 2016-17 team that marked the start of the era; is that the same team? For our purposes, I think it can be, because it all feels like the same era. That\u2019s admittedly subjective, but we\u2019ll do our best.<\/p>\n

That said, I\u2019m not going to put the Leafs in the running for this list, because their era isn\u2019t over \u2026 yet. It might be soon, but let\u2019s not jump the gun. After all, the Capitals looked like their window had closed until 2018 happened<\/a>. So, we\u2019ll give the Leafs the benefit of the doubt, and do the same for other current teams that haven\u2019t won yet, such as the Rod Brind\u2019Amour-coached Hurricanes, GM Jim Nill\u2019s Stars or the Connor McDavid-era Oilers.<\/p>\n

Instead, let\u2019s focus on eras that are clearly over. Here\u2019s my list for the cap era\u2019s five best teams that never won it all.<\/p>\n

5. Buffalo Sabres (2005-2007): Yes, kids, there was a time when the Sabres were arguably the best team in the league for a few years. It was a short stretch, but for the first two seasons of the cap era, the Sabres were dominant. They went to the conference final both years and should have won one, if not both, with some better injury luck.<\/p>\n

4. New York Rangers (2011-2015): In a four-year stretch at the height of the Henrik Lundqvist era, the Rangers played in the conference final three times and won a Presidents\u2019 Trophy. They made the final in 2014, and though they lost in five to the Kings, three of those losses came in overtime. What went wrong? It\u2019s not a satisfying answer, but I covered that series, and the Rangers just didn\u2019t get the bounces<\/a>.<\/p>\n

3. Ottawa Senators (2005-2008): This is another short window, but it would be longer if we went back before the cap to the Jacques Martin era that set the stage. You could call this the Pizza Line<\/a> era, and it peaked with a disappointing showing in the 2007 final. It also ended bizarrely, with the 2007-08 team looking unbeatable during a 15-2-0 start only to stumble so badly in the second half that it fired the coach. The Sens have really never been close again, save for the magical 2017 run.<\/p>\n

2. San Jose Sharks (2005-2019): You could call this the Joe Thornton era, and it\u2019s by far the longest stretch on our list, lasting 14 seasons. The Sharks missed the playoffs only once over that stretch, while posting eight seasons of 100 points or more (and two more of exactly 99). They won 14 playoff rounds, went to the conference final four times, won a Presidents\u2019 Trophy and went to the final in 2016 \u2014 basically everything but win a Cup.<\/p>\n

1. Vancouver Canucks (2008-2013): This was the height of the Sedin twins\/Roberto Luongo era under Alain Vigneault, which saw the Canucks win the Presidents\u2019 Trophy twice in a row. But of course, it\u2019s the 2011 squad that does the heavy lifting here, as that team dominated on its way to 117 points and a trip to the Stanley Cup Final, where it led the series 2-0 and 3-2 before it all fell apart.<\/p>\n

Honorable mentions: I wasn\u2019t sure if the 2023 Bruins should count as a different era from the 2013 championship. The P.K. Subban-era Predators have a strong case. The Canadiens had a stretch when Carey Price was at the height of his powers. And while they still had some key pieces from the 2007 Cup win, the Bruce Boudreau-era Ducks deserved more playoff success than they had.<\/p>\n

Coast to Coast<\/p>\n

\ud83d\udcc8 Thirty-two poems. Of varying quality. All the teams covered. The Power Rankings Guys wrote a haiku for every NHL team<\/a> yet again.<\/p>\n

\ud83e\udd15 Great stuff here from Jonas Siegel, who wonders why the Leafs went cheap<\/a> on their sports science and injury prevention group. Brad Treliving responded directly here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\ud83d\udcca In his 16 Stats column<\/a>, Dom Luszczyszyn looks into the recent success of players such as Evan Bouchard, Cole Caufield and Nikita Kucherov.<\/p>\n

\ud83d\udd04 Harman Dayal and Chris Johnston have 10 under-the-radar trade candidates<\/a>. (And if you missed it, be sure to check out our latest trade board<\/a>.)<\/p>\n

\ud83e\ude7c Pierre LeBrun\u2019s latest rumblings column<\/a> includes injury updates on Gabriel Landeskog and Brayden Point.<\/p>\n

\ud83e\udd88 If it\u2019s not enough that he might win MVP in only his second season, Macklin Celebrini also has an awesome nickname<\/a> Steph Curry gave him.<\/p>\n

\ud83c\udfe0 Where does your favorite team\u2019s home show up in our ranking of all 32 NHL arenas<\/a>?<\/p>\n

\ud83c\udf99\ufe0f On the Thursday edition of \u201cThe Athletic Hockey Show,\u201d Hailey Salvian and Sean Gentille preview the Olympic women\u2019s hockey tournament. On Friday, the Prospect Series crew talked about the prospects trade-deadline buyers could deal to bolster their Stanley Cup chances. Listen here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\n Alex DeBrincat. (Jaime Crawford \/ Getty Images)<\/p>\n

They\u2019re Back (We Think)Playoffs returning to Hockeytown?<\/p>\n

Are you ready to live in a world where the Detroit Red Wings are a playoff team again?<\/p>\n

It doesn\u2019t look like you\u2019ll have much choice, as the Wings are rolling towards their first postseason appearance in a decade. They\u2019re battling the Lightning for top spot<\/a> in the Atlantic Division and are far enough ahead of ninth place that it would take an epic late-season collapse for them to miss.<\/p>\n

All of that feels like at least a mild surprise, given the rosiest projections for Detroit heading into the season seemed to involve a wild-card chase. So, I asked our Wings beat writer, Max Bultman<\/a>, to stop by and help me understand what\u2019s happening in Hockeytown.<\/p>\n

Heading into last night\u2019s game<\/a>, the Red Wings were on pace for 105 points, which would be a huge improvement on last year\u2019s 86. That\u2019s despite the fact that they didn\u2019t exactly overhaul the roster during the offseason. What\u2019s changed?<\/p>\n

\u201cThe biggest change happened midway through last season, when the Red Wings brought in Todd McLellan<\/a> as head coach at Christmas. From that point on, they played at a 96-point pace \u2014 which wasn\u2019t enough to salvage the season, but did show that the roster had more in it than many (including me) were acknowledging. That has continued this year, and the biggest difference I\u2019ve noticed is the Red Wings\u2019 resilience and mentality. They used to be prone to slumps and in-game collapses when things started to go awry.<\/p>\n

\u201cNow, they haven\u2019t gone consecutive games without a point in two months. Throw in a couple key offseason additions in James van Riemsdyk (their fourth-leading goal scorer) and John Gibson (who found his game at the start of December and has been lights-out since), some surprise rookies contributing<\/a>, and that\u2019s your recipe.\u201d<\/p>\n

Steve Yzerman was the returning hero when he first took the GM job in 2019, but his \u201cYzerplan\u201d has come under some fire for its slow progress. Assuming the Red Wings don\u2019t collapse and do make the playoffs for the first time in a decade, does that put an end to the criticism? How much of the credit for this year goes to the boss?<\/p>\n

\u201cFor a time, it might end the criticism. But part of the trade-off for the level of patience Yzerman has asked for (and gotten) is high expectations for the payoff<\/a>. He deserves a fair amount of credit for sticking to his guns in the face of pressure to speed this thing along. He stayed disciplined, and his way appears to be working. And this year, I think the city and fans would be ecstatic to end the nine-year playoff drought.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat shine only lasts so long, though, and I think the pressure will shift fairly quickly to going on deep runs. This is a proud franchise with proud fans, and after nearly a decade enduring this rebuild, I think their appetites will quickly surpass just making the cut line. After that, it\u2019ll be all about the Stanley Cup.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Atlantic is weird and the Red Wings should pull a winnable first-round matchup, but they certainly won\u2019t be Stanley Cup favorites this year. What\u2019s the path to get there? What\u2019s the ceiling on this team, as currently constructed?<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s the big question. Right now, it\u2019s hard for me to see them getting past the second round. But with the right additions<\/a> (either this year or in the near future) there is a path to more. The key building block Detroit has going forward is its top defense pair of Moritz Seider and Simon Edvinsson. Seider is a Norris candidate, and Edvinsson has every tool as a mobile, 6-foot-6 stopper. Both are under 25. I think they need one more legit piece<\/a> behind those two to slot the rest of the blue line correctly, and they have the assets to chase that.<\/p>\n

\u201cUp front, they\u2019ve gotten great play from Andrew Copp as their second-line center over the last two months, but in the long term they\u2019ll need either Marco Kasper, Nate Danielson (both of whom were top-10 picks) or an outside add to shore them up down the middle. And with No. 1 center Dylan Larkin already 29, they\u2019ll need that to happen fairly quickly to maximize their captain\u2019s prime<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd finally, they need the goaltending to be what it\u2019s been. Gibson has been as good as any goalie in the league for the last two months, but we all know how fickle that position can be. They have a pair of top goalie prospects<\/a> coming, too, so there are irons in the fire. But without a Connor McDavid or Nathan MacKinnon breaking games open, they\u2019re a team that will likely need strong goaltending to make a run.\u201d<\/p>\n

Finally, how would you describe the mood among the Detroit fan base right now?<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019d say most of the fan base is excited, but there is very much still an air of caution. The Red Wings have blown big cushions before, and the month of March has been their boogeyman in recent seasons. They went 4-10 in March last season, and 3-9-2 the year before that. In 2024, that led to them missing the playoffs on a tiebreaker<\/a>. So, even the most bullish fans recognize the Red Wings aren\u2019t out of the woods yet, especially in the competitive Atlantic Division.<\/p>\n

\u201cStill, there is a sense that the mental makeup of this group<\/a> is different, and they\u2019ve certainly put themselves in a good spot so far. If they can get through the home stretch, I expect it\u2019ll be a cathartic April around here.\u201d<\/p>\n

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

Since their last Cup in 2008, the Red Wings have had only one player hit the 40-goal mark in a season.<\/p>\n

Can you name him?<\/p>\n

(Hint: You won\u2019t find him on any lists of the longest-serving Wings.)<\/p>\n

Answer below.<\/p>\n

What to Watch<\/p>\n

Are there a lot of games tonight? No, there\u2019s only one. But is it a game you\u2019re going to want to watch? Also no.<\/p>\n

\ud83d\udcfa Blue Jackets @ Blackhawks
7 p.m. ET on NHL Network \/ Sportsnet \/ TVA<\/p>\n

\u00af\\_(\u30c4)_\/\u00af<\/p>\n

Full NHL schedule here<\/a>. Try streaming games like these for free on Fubo<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\n Ken Wregget. (Craig Jones \/ Getty Images)<\/p>\n

No Dumb Questions<\/p>\n

We believe that in hockey, as in life, there are no dumb questions. So, if you have something you\u2019ve always wondered about the sport, ask away by emailing us at redlight@theathletic.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Can goalies change on the fly?<\/p>\n

On Tuesday, you answered a question about pulling goalies right before the shootout<\/a>. Here\u2019s an even weirder one: Is there a rule against changing goalies on the fly? I don\u2019t mean pulling the goalie, I mean having one guy leave and the other come on the ice instead.<\/p>\n

I can\u2019t imagine why a team would ever do it, but could they? \u2014 Kevin S.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve got good news, and I\u2019ve got great news.<\/p>\n

The good news: There\u2019s nothing in the rulebook that would prevent a team from changing goalies on the fly.<\/p>\n

The great news: Believe it or not, it has actually happened.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s the story. Back in 1991-92, the Penguins were the defending Stanley Cup champions. Stacked with talent and with Scotty Bowman behind the bench, they qualified for the playoffs with room to spare. In the season\u2019s final game, they faced the first-place Rangers with nothing on the line. And apparently, Bowman was bored.<\/p>\n

With regular starting goalie Tom Barrasso taking the night off, Bowman decided he wanted both of his veteran backups, Ken Wregget and Wendell Young, to get some playing time. Instead of just having one replace the other at the 30-minute mark, like teams often do during the preseason, Bowman decided (or was persuaded by his players, in some tellings of the story) to alternate them every five minutes. Wregget started, but when the game\u2019s first whistle blew at 5:17, Young came in. This kept up throughout the game. It was weird. But it would get weirder.<\/p>\n

Later in the game, Rangers captain Mark Messier led a rush into the Penguins zone, where they failed to get a shot on Wregget. The puck went down to New York\u2019s zone, where they regrouped for another attack, with Messier leading the way again. The Rangers got a good scoring chance out of it, but it was turned away by \u2026 Young, who\u2019d swapped with Wregget while the puck was in the other end. The announcers almost missed it, although viewers may have picked up on Young\u2019s different mask, or maybe the unusually excited crowd.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s a clip of the moment available on YouTube, although I\u2019ll warn you that it looks like it was filmed on a potato<\/a>. In case you\u2019re wondering, the Rangers won 7-1, so it\u2019s fair to say that the experiment wasn\u2019t especially effective.<\/p>\n

Will any NHL coach ever try it again? Probably not, because all of today\u2019s coaches hate fun. But if it was good enough for the immortal Scotty Bowman, maybe somebody should give it a try.<\/p>\n

Trivia Answer<\/p>\n

To find the only Red Wing to score 40 goals since 2008, you have to go back to the very next season.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s Mari\u00e1n Hossa, who joined that 2008-09 squad and put up a line of 40 goals and 31 assists for 71 points in what would turn out to be his only season in Detroit.<\/p>\n

Alex DeBrincat came close last year with 39 goals. Somewhat amazingly, nobody else has even gotten to 35. That includes Dylan Larkin, whose stunningly consistent output has yielded seasons of 33, 32, 32, 31 and 30.<\/p>\n

\ud83d\udceb Love Red Light? Check out The Athletic\u2019s other newsletters<\/a>.<\/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":440901,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[66],"tags":[385,99],"class_list":["post-440900","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\/440900","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=440900"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/440900\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/440901"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=440900"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=440900"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=440900"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}