Down Goes Brown

Which syllable combination makes history's best roster? Welcome to Slow News Summer

noreply@blogger.com (Down Goes Brown) — Mon, 06 Jul 2026 12:49:47 +0000

So… we’re well into July.

Most of the big offseason action is over. Things are largely quietly. Pierre is at his cottage. Most importantly, my editors are exhausted and not paying attention. And longtime readers know what that means.

Welcome to Slow News Summer. It is time to get well and truly weird.

OK, sure, a lot of what we do around here is weird anyway. I’ll grant you that. But the dog days of summer? That’s when its time to reach down deep on the ideas list.

If that’s going to bother you, consider this your fair warning to tag out now, and we’ll see you in September. If you’re the sort of person who likes to post “slow news day?” in the column, then yes, it absolutely is, so kick rocks. But for everyone else, let’s get weird.

Today’s question: Which combination of syllables can build the all-time best starting lineup from NHL history?

In other words, you count the syllables in both of a player’s first and last name, and that’s their team. Wayne Gretzky has one syllable in his first name and two in his second, so he’s the captain of Team 1-2. Mario Lemieux is Team 3-2, Bobby Orr is Team 2-1, and so on.

>> Read the full post at The Athletic

The 2025-26 prediction contest results are in, and Kris Knoblauch ruined everything

noreply@blogger.com (Down Goes Brown) — Sat, 04 Jul 2026 16:49:50 +0000

Now that we're a few days into July, it’s time to answer two equally important questions: Which cap-flush teams handed out the most outrageously expensive contracts to mid-level players, and how’d everyone do in the annual prediction contest?

If you’re new to all of this, let’s get you caught up. Every year, right before the season starts, we run a reader contest in which you’re invited to make predictions about what will and won’t happen in the coming season. The questions are simple, but this league sure isn’t, and most years everyone does terribly. We track the contest all year long, and at the end we all point and laugh at each other for every thinking we knew anything.

That day has come, with July 1 representing the end of the league year and the official finish line for the contest. Pencils down, everyone, it’s time to turn in your papers.

>> Read the full post at The Athletic

Let's build a ghost roster of NHL free agency regret

noreply@blogger.com (Down Goes Brown) — Fri, 03 Jul 2026 16:03:41 +0000

If you’re a Canadian hockey fan of a certain age, the phrase “ghost roster” might bring back some bad memories.

Back in the late-90s, the concept of the ghost roster became popular with the various brain trusts who put together the country’s international teams. The idea was that when it came to creating the perfect team, you don’t just pick the 20 or so best players. Instead, you first map out an ideal roster based on specific roles, and then you find the players who best fit that particular role.

In theory, the concept makes sense. In reality, and when followed to the extreme, it gets your Rob Zamuner over Mark Messier on Team Canada at an Olympics where they can’t score. For the record, Zamuner was a good a player; maybe not a superstar, sure, but also not a bum. But when he’s cracking a Team Canada roster, it’s possible that a GM somewhere has made a mistake.

Well, GMs making mistakes is what free agency is all about. So today, let’s borrow that fabled ghost roster concept, and use it create a lineup of some of history’s worst free agency mistakes. We’ll use all of NHL history, although the focus will be on the cap era because most of you aren’t old like me. We’ll even see if we can find any candidates in this week’s action.

Our roster will be four lines of forwards, three defense pairs and a couple of goalies. Will it be good? Eh. Will it be expensive? You'd better believe it. Here we go…

>> Read the full post at The Athletic

Remembering the sheer joy of the NHL offseason’s craziest hour, ten years later

noreply@blogger.com (Down Goes Brown) — Mon, 29 Jun 2026 14:45:41 +0000

Do you remember where you were and what you were doing exactly ten years ago?

If you were a hockey fan back then, there’s a decent chance that you do. But it depends on what time you’re reading this.

If it’s early in the morning, then you probably have no idea. Exactly ten years ago, the hockey world was waking up to what felt like a typical Wednesday. We’d just had the draft, with Auston Matthews going first overall, and the Red Wings had traded Pavel Datsyuk to the Coyotes, because that’s just what we did with Hall-of-Fame players back then. And we were still a few days from free agency, a crop loaded with wingers like Milan Lucic, Kyle Okposo and Loui Eriksson who'd surely sign reasonable deals.

Exactly ten years ago, on that pleasant summer morning, your hockey fan brain was probably taking a nice deep breath and enjoying the calm between the storms.

>> Read the full post at The Athletic

Which NHL team makes the best all-time starting lineup from first-round picks?

noreply@blogger.com (Down Goes Brown) — Fri, 26 Jun 2026 15:55:34 +0000

It’s been a quiet week in the NHL world, with up to several hours passing in between blockbuster, franchise-shifting moves. Luckily, the first round of the draft is tonight, so fans will finally have something to talk about.

While we wait, let’s play a roster game. Which team can make the best starting six out of their first-round draft picks?

This should be nice and simple – three forwards, two defensemen and a goalie, all of them from a specific team’s first-round picks. And to add a degree of difficulty, one caveat: We can only use a specific pick number once per team.

We’ll do this the usual way, where I give you a dozen teams to start with and then hand it over to you in the comments to fill in the gaps. And we’ll start with the team that usually does well in these things…

>> Read the full post at The Athletic

Remembering 10 draft picks that toured the league before they were finally used

noreply@blogger.com (Down Goes Brown) — Thu, 25 Jun 2026 16:36:23 +0000

The 25th overall pick in this year’s draft has been on a bit of a journey.

The story starts at last year’s deadline. The pick originally belonged to the Lightning, but they traded it to the Kraken in a deal for Oliver Bjorkstrand and Yanni Gourde. The pick stayed with the Kraken until this weekend, when they shipped it to Florida for Mackie Samoskevich. We didn’t realize it at the time, but the Panthers had something even bigger in mind, flipping the pick to Ottawa few hours later in the Brady Tkachuk blockbuster. Now we wait to see if Ottawa uses the pick, or moves it again for immediate help.

Not a bad story for one pick. And I’ll be honest, I kind of love when this happens. Some picks have lived a full life before they’re ever actually used to draft a player. I remember as a kid being fascinated that the biggest trade of 1992 – the Eric Lindros blockbuster – and the biggest of 1994 – Mats Sundin for Wendel Clark – both involved the same pick, one that started off in Philadelphia before heading to Quebec, then Toronto, and ultimately on to Washington (where it was used on Nolan Baumgartner, who played just 143 NHL games).

Today, let’s go back through the cap era and see if we can find some picks that have stories to tell. We’ll set the bar high, looking for picks that changed hands at least four times. We’ll rely on the invaluable Pro Sports Transactions database, and see where this takes us.

>> Read the full post at The Athletic

Let's welcome the 2026 class of inductees to the Hockey Hall of Very Good

noreply@blogger.com (Down Goes Brown) — Mon, 22 Jun 2026 14:27:38 +0000

It’s Hockey Hall of Fame announcement day, which means three things. First and most importantly, we’re about to find out which players and builders are going to receive the sport’s highest honor. Second, it’s a good day to avoid that one fan you know who’s weirdly passionate about Rod Brind’Amour.

And third, it’s time for us to induct a new class in our Hall of Very Good.

This is an annual tradition, kind of, that started back in 2022, when we inducted a full roster highlighted by names like Saku Koivu, Al Iafrate and Tim Kerr. The second class was another full roster, featuring Ziggy Palffy, Brian Rafalski and Miikka Kiprusoff. In 2024 we scaled back a bit but still found room for Rick Nash, Shane Doan and Olaf Kolzig.

And then last year, uh, I think I forgot.

But that’s OK, because there’s nothing quite like a double cohort to juice up an induction meeting. So today, we’re going to welcome the Class of 2026. As always, these are players who have no realistic shot at the real Hall of Fame, meaning we’re not going to look at guys like Patrik Elias or Henrik Zetterberg. These guys are a tier below, but still deserve recognition. You’ll often hear fans use “hall of very good” as an insult, meant to imply that the HHOF is too lenient. But today, it’s a compliment – a chance to remember some guys who were all sorts of fun.

>> Read the full post at The Athletic

Brayden Point? Jaccob Slavin? Six active players who could be tough Hall of Fame calls

noreply@blogger.com (Down Goes Brown) — Fri, 19 Jun 2026 20:32:55 +0000

The Hockey Hall of Fame will announce its class of 2026 on Monday, and you know what that means: It’s time to get mad about who’ll get in and who won’t.

That guy from your favorite team? He should be a lock! That guy from the team you hate? He’s a bum, why are we even mentioning him? That other guy who seems like a classic borderline call? You’re very, very sure you know the right answer there too, and anyone who disagrees is a big fat stupidhead.

You get the drill. Or at least I hope you do, because we’re doing a Hall debate today. Just not one about this year’s class.

That’s not to say that this year doesn’t present a few opportunities to argue various cases. Patrice Bergeron is a lock, and Carey Price probably is too after losing out to the numbers game last year. That leaves two spots on the men’s side, and with a weak-ish crop of first-year eligibles other than Bergeron, that gives the committee a chance to backfill some candidates who’ve been waiting for years.

That’s cool, but honestly, I can’t do another round of Patrik Elias or Henrik Zetterberg or Curtis Joseph debate. Rod Brind’Amour remains a tough call, especially now that he’s won a Cup behind the bench (which shouldn’t matter to his case as a player but obviously does). There are plenty of arguments to be had on those names and more.

Just not today. Today, we’re going to break out a gimmick we like to try every year or so: A look at the active players who are shaping up as the toughest calls down the line. By definition, none of these guys are finished products. But all of them are closer to the end than the beginning, with enough road behind them that we can at least make some educated guesses on where they’ll wind up.

>> Read the full post at The Athletic

Did the Hurricanes just become the best team with no Hall-of-Famers in NHL history?

noreply@blogger.com (Down Goes Brown) — Wed, 17 Jun 2026 14:32:15 +0000

This week is always a weird time on the NHL calendar. The Stanley Cup final has just ended, and everyone is trying to catch their breath before the offseason truly gets going. The draft, trade rumors, and UFA boards are all happening against the backdrop of Cup parties and parades.

But we’re also just days away from the announcement of this year’s Hockey Hall of Fame class, which comes Monday. That timing always struck me as a bit odd, since what should be a huge announcement ends up being overshadowed by everything else happening. If you’re a history nerd like me, the HHOF is catnip – perfect for debates and speculation and analysis. But most years, that’s a hard pivot to make after the final has just ended.

But maybe not this year, because the Venn diagram between “just crowned the new champions” and “Hall of Fame debates” produces an interesting sliver of overlap, in the form of a question: Did the Carolina Hurricanes just win the Stanley Cup without a single future Hall-of-Famer on the roster?

I think they might have. And if so, that’s an incredibly rare feat. In fact, it’s so rare that it leads to a bigger question: Among teams without any future HHOFers, could the Hurricanes be the best team ever?

>> Read the full post at The Athletic

Remembering the 10 biggest controversies from the 2026 playoffs

noreply@blogger.com (Down Goes Brown) — Tue, 16 Jun 2026 16:47:11 +0000

The NHL playoffs are over, and they were controversial because they always are. But just how controversial did the 2026 postseason get?

After all, every NHL postseason has its share of controversial moments. But some are more memorable than others, and some have a staying power that can last decades or more. Whether it’s missed calls by Leon Stickle or Kerry Fraser, Brett Hull’s goal that counted or Martin Gelenias’ that didn’t, some moments become part of hockey’s permanent lore. Others will fade, maybe lingering within a specific fan base or two but otherwise relegated to “oh yeah, I vaguely remember that” status. And some may be forgotten altogether, having given us all something to yell about for a few days and then disappearing from the collective memory.

This season? It might be too early to tell. So far, the NHL appears to have avoided anything with true skate-in-crease staying power. But you never really know which moments might resonate, and which ones won’t. So today, let’s remember 10 of the biggest controversies of the 2026 playoffs, and how likely they are to be remembered in the future.

>> Read the full post at The Athletic

What was history’s best hockey game to be decided by the worst goal?

noreply@blogger.com (Down Goes Brown) — Fri, 12 Jun 2026 13:13:48 +0000

We’re down to one or two games left in one of the best Stanley Cup finals in recent memory, if not of all time. And it’s possible that no game will be more memorable than Saturday night’s Game 3, which featured a record-breaking hat trick, a penalty shot, two waved-off goals, one of the greatest third-period comebacks in playoff history, and two periods of overtime.

And then… it ended like it did.

Yeah, that’s not ideal. But it’s also not rare, because a surprising number of legendary hockey games have ended with a goal that was… iffy. Or questionable. Or downright terrible.

Today, we’re going to celebrate some of those great games, and the ugly goals that decided them, as we search for the game that scores highest in both categories.

>> Read the full post at The Athletic

Do you know your Cup-winning new guys? Take the "Who Didn't He Play For?" quiz

noreply@blogger.com (Down Goes Brown) — Wed, 10 Jun 2026 13:02:18 +0000

It’s Mitch Marner’s world right now, and we’re all just living in it. Less than a year after a sign-and-trade sent him to Vegas on the eve of free agency, Marner and the Knights are closing in on a championship, and the ex-Leaf is the runaway leader for the Conn Smythe.

It’s a cool story. But it might not be as unique as you might think. While Marner's version might be extreme, NHL history is filled with stories of star players who arrive on a new team via trade or free agency and win a Cup in their very first year. So since we haven’t had a quiz in a while, let’s see how well you know your Cup-winning newbies.

As always, I’ll give you a player and some teams, and you tell me which one he never played an NHL game for. Once you’ve finished all 16 questions, scroll back up to see your score, and then use the handy chart below to see how you did.

>> Read the full post at The Athletic

There are 35 ways an NHL playoff series can go. Here's the best example of each

noreply@blogger.com (Down Goes Brown) — Mon, 08 Jun 2026 12:38:32 +0000

Three games in, and this year’s Stanley Cup final is on track to achieve all-time classic status. And while we’ve still got what we hope are four games left to go, the action so far has got me thinking about great playoff series through NHL history.

Let’s start with a question: How many different ways are there to win a playoff series?

There are a few ways to answer that question. We could go existential and say the answer is “an infinite number of way”, because of every series is a unique snowflake that forges its own beautiful identity every time a butterfly flaps its wings and/or a ref blows a call. That’s kind of poetic. It’s also going to make this post way too long, so we need a different approach.

Instead, let’s go with a mathematical answer. There are only so many ways that a seven-game series can play out, based on what order the wins and losses come in. The longer the series, the more combinations we can get. But with two results possible per game, we eventually run into a limit.

So how many combinations are there? It turns out that the magic number is 35. That list starts with a four-game sweep, which can obviously only happen one way – with the winning team winning each game. Call that a WWWW series. There are four more combinations for a five-game series, ranging from LWWWW to WWWLW. The possibilities grow to ten for a six-game series, and then 19 once we go the full seven. Add it all up, and you have 35 different combinations of W’s and L’s that can describe a seven-game series.

(How long did it take me to figure all that out? Way too long, thanks for asking. I have a headache and I think my wife and kids moved out at some point over the weekend. Never let it be said that I don’t make sacrifices for my readers.)

>> Read the full post at The Athletic

The road to the Stanley Cup Final: Ranking the 14 series that got us here

noreply@blogger.com (Down Goes Brown) — Fri, 05 Jun 2026 10:30:00 +0000

We’re two games into the Stanley Cup final, and so far the series between the Hurricanes and Golden Knights has all the makings of a classic. The teams are tied, both games have been fantastic, and it still feels like there are a ton of twists and turns left to come.

We’re two games into the Stanley Cup final, and so far the series between the Hurricanes and Golden Knights has been a mixed bag. Game 1 was excellent, Game 2 had its moments, and we avoided the road team stealing both games to set up a short series. There should still be some twists and turns left to come.

We’re two games into the Stanley Cup final, and so far the series between the Hurricanes and Golden Knights has been a mixed bag. Game 1 was excellent, and Game 2 had its moments, but with Vegas heading home up 2-0, we may be in for a disappointingly short series unless the Hurricanes can get up off the mat.

That’s where we’re headed. But let’s not forget how we got here.

Yes, it’s time for our annual ranking of the 14 series that paved the way. This is an admittedly subjective exercise, but it's based on some general criteria I’m guessing most fans can agree on. A longer series is better than a short one. Closer games are better than blowouts, and overtime is best of all. Some bad blood, controversy or other memorable moments will always help. And expectations matter, sometimes a lot.

Overall, I’d say this year’s postseason has been good but not great. I’m not sure we’ve seen the sort of classic series we’ll be talking about a decade from now, although a few matchups have come close. Let’s remember some series, working our way down from worst to best while hoping that the Hurricanes and Golden Knights can bump everyone down a spot with a final for the ages.

>> Read the full post at The Athletic

An NHL playoff contest update, where 850 entered and just two are left standing

noreply@blogger.com (Down Goes Brown) — Thu, 04 Jun 2026 12:46:14 +0000

Two months ago, we started with a full field of championship hopefuls. Some knew they were facing long odds, but were willing to dream big dreams. Others were bathed in the soothing safety of favorite status. But they all had one thing in common: The abiding belief that this could be their year.

Then the playoffs started, and it all went to hell.

I’m referring, of course, to our annual playoff contest, in which I ask one simple question and almost all of you get it wrong. It launched a few days before the playoffs started, and over 850 of you entered.

How many of those entries are still alive and in the running for the title? Um… two.

>> Read the full post at The Athletic

Hurricanes or Knights? A Stanley Cup Final rooting guide for 30 other fan bases

noreply@blogger.com (Down Goes Brown) — Mon, 01 Jun 2026 10:22:00 +0000

Welcome to one of my favorite columns to write each year, where we go through all 30 teams that didn’t make the Stanley Cup final and offer up a suggestion on which of the finalists to root for. Nothing mandatory, mind you; more of a gentle nudge for the undecided. We have a bit of fun, it usually spurs some fun discussion, and there’s always a bit of suspense over which finalist the scales will ultimately tip towards.

Let’s just say that this year, I don’t think we have much of a suspense factor.

The Golden Knights are the villains here. It’s a role they’ve embraced, not just as far as this final but as the defining quality of their entire existence. The list of reasons to hate the Knights starts with jealousy, as they enter their ninth season of perpetual contention without ever really suffering through a bad season, but it doesn’t end there. Their win-at-all-costs mentality is enviable on some level, but at some point some of start getting tired of their whole act.

That’s not to say that everyone loves the Hurricanes; I’ve seen plenty of fans who don’t, or who seem to view this year’s final as a “none of the above” matchup. But finding fan bases that will be solidly pro-Vegas feels… daunting. So much so that I even briefly considered scrapping this year’s rooting guide altogether. But I like a challenge, and I love a recurring bit that means I don’t have to come up with a new angle. So let’ do this, even if we know how it’s going to end up.

We’ve got 30 teams to get to, and at least as many lenses to view this final through. As always, some reasons will be obvious, and some will be reaches. Will this end up being the most lopsided rooting guide ever? Almost certainly, but let’s dive in and see where we wind up.

>> Read the full post at The Athletic

Avalanche regrets, board ads, and thosee disappearing playoff beards: DGB mailbag

noreply@blogger.com (Down Goes Brown) — Fri, 29 May 2026 13:54:38 +0000

We’re almost done with the conference final and haven’t done a mailbag in forever, so let’s dig into the inbox and see what’s on your mind.

As always, submitted questions have been edited for clarity and style. They have not been edited to prevent you from coming up with weird ideas that anyone else would instantly delete and report as spam. Speaking of which…

>> Read the full post at The Athletic

Five series results that change if the NHL applied its dumbest rule to the playoffs

noreply@blogger.com (Down Goes Brown) — Thu, 28 May 2026 19:34:53 +0000

In the NHL, it doesn’t matter if the rules are dumb. All that matters is that they’re enforced consistently.

At least, that’s what I always hear from fans. It’s a near-constant refrain, one that comes up especially often at this time of year. There’s a call, or a non-call, or a referee blinks somewhere, and fans are furious about it. But not because the break went against their team, you understand. These fans aren’t raving homers who want every break to go their team’s way. They just want consistency.

Fair enough. Today we’re going to take that idea to the extreme, by figuring out how history would change if the NHL took the single dumbest rule that it has and actually enforced it during the playoffs.

>> Read the full post at The Athletic

NHL playoffs’ final four: Three lessons to learn from each team (plus one to avoid)

noreply@blogger.com (Down Goes Brown) — Mon, 25 May 2026 12:28:47 +0000

We’re five weeks into the playoffs. Do you know who your favorite team will be copying?

If not, you will soon. This is the time of year where we’re constantly reminded that the NHL is a copycat league, one where the teams that have success establish the blueprint for everyone else. This year, that’s the Habs, Hurricanes, Avalanche and Golden Knights.

But while the copying might be inevitable, the lessons that the other 28 teams learn from the four winners is still to be determined. That’s where we come in. Every now and then, we try to nudge all those copycats towards answers that make the league more fun, not less. After all, the NHL is an entertainment product. And while winning is more entertaining than losing, we’d rather see teams do that by being fun.

So today, we’re going to look at all four conference finalists, and try to highlight three lessons from each that we wouldn’t mind seeing everyone else copy. And we’ll also find one lesson that we really hope doesn’t catch on.

>> Read the full post at The Athletic

Playoff mailbag?

noreply@blogger.com (Down Goes Brown) — Sun, 24 May 2026 17:34:33 +0000

Hey folks...

Who's up for a playoff mailbag?

I'm looking for your questions, comments, rants and hypotheticals. Clever is good. Straight down the middle is good too, so don't feel like you have to steal the show if you'd rather ask something simple. Anything can work.

Send your stuff via email at dgbmailbag@gmail.com.

Thanks,
Sean

Who team should win the Conned Smythe award for worst trade with the Cup winner?

noreply@blogger.com (Down Goes Brown) — Fri, 22 May 2026 13:22:32 +0000

We’re down to four teams left in the playoffs, and longtime readers know what that means: It’s time to take a look at the field for one of the league’s most prestigious award, the Conned Smythe.

Yes, Conned. If you’re new to the concept, the Conned Smythe goes to the team that made the worst trade that had the biggest impact on each season’s eventual champion. Sometimes it’s a relatively obvious call, like when Flames fans watched the Panthers win Cups with Matthew Tkachuk and Sam Bennett, or when the Avs won in 2022 and the Conned went to the Maple Leafs for handing them Nazem Kadri. Other years, there are almost too many candidates for a given team.

We want to avoid feeling overwhelmed, so it’s smart to get organized now. Here are the ten teams that are in the best shape to win this year’s Conned Smythe, based on the trades they made with the conference finalists.

>> Read the full post at The Athletic

Brady Tkachuk and Nikita Kucherov lead the 2026 NHL playoffs all-bust team

noreply@blogger.com (Down Goes Brown) — Wed, 20 May 2026 13:01:56 +0000

The NHL playoffs have been going on for over a month now, and I think I speak for everyone when I say that we’re very disappointed.

Not over everything, because a lot of this year’s postseason has been pretty fun. But we’re hockey fans, and we like to be cranky. And like every season, the playoffs give us plenty of opportunity to single out individual players for a disapproving head-shake or two.

Today, we’re making a team out of those guys. We’ll be building a full 21-man roster, which is to say 12 forwards, six blueliners and three goalies, because bad teams always need an extra option in net. As always, we’ll work with two key rules. First, no team can have more than three players, because we want to spread the ~~love~~ resentment. And second, all 16 playoff teams need to have at least one rep.

And yes, that rule also applies to the four teams that are still alive, meaning we’re virtually guaranteed to pick at least one player who immediately blows up and causes a flood of “this aged well” comments to come our way. That’s the risk we’re willing to take, because we do not learn from past mistakes around here.

Like all great teams, we’ll build from the net out.

>> Read the full post at The Athletic

Who wins Game 7 tonight, the Sabres or Canadiens? Yes, obviously, and here's why

noreply@blogger.com (Down Goes Brown) — Mon, 18 May 2026 20:20:40 +0000

We’ve got a winner-take-all showdown tonight in Buffalo, as the most entertaining series of the second round concludes with a Game 7 that’s felt inevitable all along. The eyes of the hockey world will be focused on the KeyBank Center tonight, as fans feel the weight of suspense over who’ll win.

But they shouldn’t be. Because it’s pretty obvious.

I mean, the hockey gods aren’t even really trying to disguise the ending here. If you’ve been paying attention to this series, you know who’s going to win.

We’ll lay that case out today, although you should probably skip this post if you prefer to avoid spoilers. I’ll give you five reasons why the winner is so obvious, and by the end you may not even want to bother watching the game.

One small point of order: Because of our commitment to covering both sides of every story, it wouldn’t be fair to only list reasons for one team. So we’ll do both, if only out of an abundance of journalistic ethics. But it goes without saying that I only mean it for one team, and it should be obvious which one that is. (If you’re not sure, check with me after the game is over and I’ll be happy to tell you which side I was really on all along.)

Five reasons why the Habs are definitely winning tonight. And five more for the Sabres. The right answer is definitely in here somewhere.

>> Read the full post at The Athletic

Building each team's best lineup of players who never won a Cup with them

noreply@blogger.com (Down Goes Brown) — Fri, 15 May 2026 14:37:07 +0000

It’s Friday, the second round is almost over, and there’s no hockey tonight. Let’s keep it simple with a time-killing roster game.

This one comes up surprisingly often from readers: Which team could build the best all-time lineup of players who never won a Cup for them?

Easy. Maybe a little too easy, since some teams are going to be a lot tougher than others. So today, we’ll tackle this question in three parts, nudging of the difficulty as we go.

>> Read the full post at The Athletic

A brief history of the Maruk Trophy, a fake award for the MVP of early eliminations

noreply@blogger.com (Down Goes Brown) — Wed, 13 May 2026 12:36:32 +0000

Has a player from your favorite team ever won the Conn Smythe?

Probably not, because your team never wins anything, and the Conn Smythe is very much an award for winners. Even in those rare years where it goes to a player from the team that loses in the final, like Connor McDavid a few seasons ago, you’re still talking about somebody from a team that’s won three rounds. That’s a lot of winning. And since the Conn Smythe is the only playoff-specific award the NHL has, that means anyone whose team doesn’t win goes home empty-handed.

Until today. We’re adding a new award to our fake trophy case.

>> Read the full post at The Athletic