{"id":625183,"date":"2026-05-05T17:01:12","date_gmt":"2026-05-05T17:01:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/625183\/"},"modified":"2026-05-05T17:01:12","modified_gmt":"2026-05-05T17:01:12","slug":"nhl-frenzy-peaks-with-lottery-luck-front-office-drama-and-playoff-heroics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/625183\/","title":{"rendered":"NHL frenzy peaks with lottery luck, front-office drama and playoff heroics"},"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 all you shams, con artists, liars and salesmen. We had some big news off the ice yesterday, a big lottery to look forward to tonight and, oh yeah, some playoff games. Let\u2019s get to it.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\n Taylor Hall, left, was the hero in the Hurricanes\u2019 Game 2 overtime win. (Jaylynn Nash \/ Getty Images)<\/p>\n

What IfsClose, but not quite<\/p>\n

We saw something last night that we\u2019d never seen before, at least in this year\u2019s playoffs: The Carolina Hurricanes fell behind.<\/p>\n

The Hurricanes, who never trailed through four games against the Senators and the opener against the Flyers, gave up a pair of goals before Game 2 was even five minutes old. They apparently enjoyed the new experience because they played the next 46 minutes or so from behind before Seth Jarvis tied it midway through the third.<\/p>\n

At that point, the two teams took turns running over each other\u2019s goalies until overtime, when Taylor Hall summoned his OGWAC<\/a> powers to win it for Carolina. Learnings, quickly:<\/p>\n

\u201cA bounce here or there<\/a>\u201d can make all the difference, Carolina coach Rod Brind\u2019Amour astutely noted.
\nThe 34-year-old Hall is worth a deeper look. Stunningly, Logan Stankoven, the breakout star of the Stanley Cup playoffs, doesn\u2019t lead the Canes in points. Hall does. Incredible<\/a>.
\nThe Flyers\u2019 Travis Konecny, who had a chance to even the series on a breakaway in OT<\/a>, is left wondering what might have been.<\/p>\n

In the late game, we had some controversy<\/a> over a waved-off icing that led to the Golden Knights\u2019 winning goal, as they took Game 1 by a 3-1 final.<\/p>\n

Eric Stephens and Jesse Granger have more insight from Vegas, including an early edge in one area that made the difference<\/a> in the opener.<\/p>\n

Moving on \u2026<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\n (Andy Marlin \/ Getty Images)<\/p>\n

\ud83c\udf40 Feeling Lucky?\ud83c\udfd3 Happy lottery day<\/p>\n

May the ping-pong balls be forever in your favor.<\/p>\n

Today is one of the biggest days of the offseason for (almost) all non-playoff teams, who\u2019ll find out the official order for next month\u2019s entry draft.<\/p>\n

None of the prospects is in the can\u2019t-miss territory of a Connor McDavid or even a Connor Bedard, and unlike most years, there\u2019s no clear consensus first pick. That doesn\u2019t mean it\u2019s a bad pool \u2014 in fact, this top 10 is remarkably strong<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Who will go first? Draft expert Corey Pronman\u2019s estimates have Gavin McKenna at 50 percent, with Ivar Stenberg and Chase Reid at 20 percent each. There\u2019s a 10 percent chance that it\u2019s somebody else entirely. Fascinating<\/a>. Scott Wheeler has McKenna as his top prospect, but Stenberg is in the same tier.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s your refresher on what will happen tonight:<\/p>\n

All 16 teams that missed the playoffs are in the lottery. The Canucks finished last, so they have the best odds of winning at 18.5 percent. Each team\u2019s odds drop the further down the list you go, all the way to the Capitals, who finished with the 16th-worst record and have just a 1.1 percent chance of moving up. Want me to stop talking and give you the odds? Here you go<\/a>.
\nNobody can move up more than 10 spots, meaning the teams that finished with the 12th-through-16th-worst records can\u2019t move all the way up to first. (That\u2019s why the Canucks have a 25.5 percent chance of ending up with the first pick, even though their odds of winning the lottery are only 18.5 percent.)
\nThere are two lotteries, one for the first pick and one for the second. That means nobody can move down more than two picks, so the Canucks are guaranteed to pick no worse than third.
\nThe Red Wings are the only lottery team that doesn\u2019t own its own pick; they traded it to the Blues in the Justin Faulk trade, with no protection in the (very unlikely) event that the Wings \u201cwin\u201d the lottery and move up to No. 5.
\nThe Maple Leafs traded their pick with top-five protection, meaning if they land at sixth or seventh, the pick goes to the Bruins.
\nThere are various other rules about how often a team can move up in the lottery, with a limit of two \u201cwins\u201d in a five-year window. That doesn\u2019t change any team\u2019s shot at winning this year, though teams like the Blackhawks, Islanders or Mammoth moving up would affect them in future years.<\/p>\n

Got it all down? Good. We\u2019ve published specific looks at the lottery from the perspective of some of the teams that will be hoping the balls bounce their way: Rangers<\/a>, Blues<\/a>, Blackhawks<\/a> and Canucks<\/a>.<\/p>\n

And of course, I released my annual draft lottery Power Rankings, which feature categories such as which team deserves it most, which team needs it most, and which team Gary Bettman is going to rig it all for<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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

Tanking is a big topic of conversation around the sports world these days, especially in the NBA. The NHL has long claimed that tanking isn\u2019t as big a problem for the league \u2014 it\u2019s the reason we have a lottery in the first place.<\/p>\n

Do you know which team was accused of intentionally losing games, leading to the NHL\u2019s introduction of the lottery?<\/p>\n

And for a bonus point, which player was that team (allegedly) tanking for?<\/p>\n

Answer is down below.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\n Megan Keller and the Boston Fleet are tied 1-1 in their series against the Ottawa Charge. (M. Anthony Nesmith \/ Icon Sportswire \/ Associated Press)<\/p>\n

Coast to Coast<\/p>\n

\ud83c\udfd2 Even with the NHL playoffs in full swing, there may not be a busier writer at The Athletic than Hailey Salvian<\/a>. Her recent PWHL coverage includes a playoff guide<\/a>, a notable player\u2019s suspension<\/a> and a very weird expansion plan<\/a>. Here\u2019s what she\u2019s learned<\/a> covering the action. Keep an eye on this page<\/a> \u2014 plenty more to come. We\u2019re lucky to have Hailey making sense of it all.<\/p>\n

\ud83d\udd2e We tapped our experts for their latest batch of Stanley Cup playoff predictions, also known as \u201cLaz Hates The Avalanche<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n

\ud83e\udec2 This morning, Lightning captain Victor Hedman revealed that he missed the team\u2019s final 15 regular-season games and the first round of the playoffs to tend to his mental health<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\ud83d\udca7 After a disastrous first-round exit, the Oilers will need to answer a pile of questions this summer. Here are just six<\/a> of the many.<\/p>\n

\u274c In a quiet third-floor apartment 10 years ago, a newbie hockey fan went viral as he learned the game. What came next was a blur that spawned an unlikely love story. Jeremy Rutherford\u2019s telling of the Tony X story<\/a> is worth your time.<\/p>\n

\u26a1 What\u2019s next for the Lightning? The Canucks, Kraken and Rangers have won a playoff series more recently than Tampa. Gulp<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\ud83c\udfc6 If you needed more explanation as to why the Hurricanes pounced on K\u2019Andre Miller and signed him to an eight-year extension, look no further than this one play<\/a>. He\u2019s exactly the type of player Carolina covets: talented but misused in his previous stop.<\/p>\n

\ud83e\udd1d Perseverance, sportsmanship, dedication. What NHL player comes to mind when you think of those words? The Bill Masterton Trophy goes to the player who most embodied those traits over the past year. Here are the three finalists<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\ud83c\udf99\ufe0f On a loaded Monday episode of \u201cThe Athletic Hockey Show,\u201d the crew discusses the Canadiens\u2019 nine-shot victory over the Lightning and the 15-goal Game 1 between the Wild and Avalanche. Plus, Chris Johnston weighs in on the Leafs. Watch or listen here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\n John Chayka swarmed by reporters on Monday. (Michael Chisholm \/ Getty Images)<\/p>\n

Theater\ud83d\udd2c Leafs under the microscope<\/p>\n

Did you enjoy that news conference<\/a>? I sure did.<\/p>\n

You can criticize the Leafs\u2019 hiring of John Chayka and Mats Sundin all you want, though you\u2019d be hard-pressed to do a better job of it than Jonas Siegel did in this sizzling takedown<\/a>. Realistically, nothing we saw during yesterday\u2019s official announcement is likely to change your view all that much, whether you\u2019re one of the (many) doubters or taking more of a wait-and-see approach.<\/p>\n

But as far as entertainment value? The show delivered. We had CEO Keith Pelley trying to lay on the charisma while selling Chayka and Sundin\u2019s credentials. You had both new hires giving prepared statements that didn\u2019t reveal much. You had some, shall we say, skeptical lines of questioning from the assembled media that included Chayka facing a now-viral question about his character and credentials.<\/p>\n

And we got due diligence. So, so much due diligence. Did you know that the Leafs did their due diligence? They did due diligence. Deep due diligence<\/a>, even, which I\u2019m going to go ahead and assume is the best kind.<\/p>\n

Add it all up, and you have a scene that our own Chris Johnston accurately described as \u201cuncomfortable\u201d and which the Leafs fans in my group chat described using other words. And maybe that was what we should have expected, given fans\u2019 mood these days and the generally negative reaction since the hirings first leaked last week.<\/p>\n

Can it all work? Sure! This is the NHL, where roughly half the teams in the league seem to get thrown in a randomizer every year. It\u2019s absolutely possible Chayka and Sundin will come in and make the sort of big, bold moves this franchise has lived in fear of for the last decade. If it\u2019s about exceeding expectations, then at least the bar is low after this process. And like any new hire, they deserve a chance to succeed or fail on their own merits.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m far from sold<\/a>, but what do I know? Let\u2019s see if this works. Or how quickly it can all fall apart. At least it should be entertaining.<\/p>\n

Go deeper:<\/p>\n

\ud83e\udee3 For extra fun, stick around in the comments sections on those pieces to see how all of this is playing with fans.<\/p>\n

What to Watch<\/p>\n

\ud83d\udcfa Wild @ Avalanche
8 p.m. ET on ESPN \/ Sportsnet \/ CBC \/ TVA<\/p>\n

We\u2019ve got only one NHL game tonight, but based on Sunday\u2019s opener, that might be all we can handle. The Wild and Avalanche delivered a ridiculous 9-6 final in Game 1, in possibly the most entertaining game of the playoffs. What can they do for an encore? Maybe mix in a few saves.<\/p>\n

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

\"\"<\/p>\n

\n Sidney Crosby lies on the ice after a high-sticking penalty on the Flyers and an embellishment penalty on Crosby. (Bruce Bennett \/ Getty Images)<\/p>\n

No Dumb Questions\ud83e\udd3f Dive in<\/p>\n

Why is embellishment never called on its own? \u2013 Tom H.<\/p>\n

Hoo boy. Tom is really stirring things up with this week\u2019s question.<\/p>\n

Every fan knows the drill by now. A player gets knocked down and sure seems to hit the ice more easily than you\u2019d think. You tell anyone nearby that it was a dive, and the referee agrees, serving up two minutes for embellishment. But inevitably, the original foul is called, too, so the penalties just cancel out. We saw it play out against Sidney Crosby<\/a>, of all people, earlier in the postseason.<\/p>\n

Why do they always call it that way?<\/p>\n

Well, they don\u2019t. Or at least, there\u2019s nothing in the rulebook that says they\u2019re supposed to. Embellishment \u2014 or \u201cdiving\/embellishment,\u201d as it\u2019s referred to in the book \u2014 is Rule 64. And there\u2019s nothing in there about the ref having to make two calls.<\/p>\n

So, no, it\u2019s not mandatory. Or is it? I figured I\u2019d find you an example from last season to illustrate that officials will indeed call just a diving penalty on its own. But I couldn\u2019t find one. I can\u2019t guarantee that I was able to check every embellishment call from the 2025-26 season, but I definitely found most of them, and every single one had an offsetting call on the other side.<\/p>\n

The closest I can come is a play you might remember from last year\u2019s playoffs: Scott Laughton\u2019s hit from behind on Florida\u2019s Evan Rodrigues. That hit resulted in Rodrigues heading back to the room, but he was given two for embellishment in a controversial call<\/a>. If you check the box score<\/a>, Laughton wasn\u2019t given a penalty for the hit on Rodrigues. But he did get a roughing call for the subsequent scrum, so the penalties still evened out. Just like they pretty much always do.<\/p>\n

Why? What\u2019s the deal with this apparently unwritten rule? I think it just comes down to some basic human psychology. Refs don\u2019t want to miss calls. But if you think about it, mistakenly calling somebody for a dive they didn\u2019t commit is actually like missing two calls \u2014 the original penalty, and the imagined dive. Refs don\u2019t seem to want to risk it, so they cover their bases by calling both or neither.<\/p>\n

Essentially, the refs who make this call are saying, \u201cHey, I saw the original penalty and I was already going to call it before you decided to dive. But you did, so now I\u2019m calling both.\u201d And I guess that makes a certain amount of sense. But it\u2019s nowhere to be found in the rulebook.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\n Alexandre Daigle in 1993. (Getty Images)<\/p>\n

Trivia Answer<\/p>\n

The NHL introduced the lottery for the first time in 1995, and it was largely in response to allegations of tanking<\/a> leveled against the Ottawa Senators in 1993.<\/p>\n

That was the year everyone agreed that Alexandre Daigle was the next can\u2019t-miss prospect; it\u2019s fair to say he fell short of expectations.<\/p>\n

While the league ultimately cleared the Senators<\/a> of the accusations, it instituted the lottery shortly after.<\/p>\n

For corrections or feedback, email redlight@theathletic.com<\/a> to let us know how we\u2019re doing.<\/p>\n

\ud83d\udceb Love Red Light?\u00a0Check out\u00a0The 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":625184,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[66],"tags":[385,99],"class_list":["post-625183","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\/625183","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=625183"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/625183\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/625184"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=625183"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=625183"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=625183"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}