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2020 NHL postseason preview: Qualification-round matchups, series picks
Unlike the traditional playoff format, the league is running a 24-team tournament, with 12 teams from each conference playing in fan-less arenas in Toronto (for the East) and Edmonton, Alberta (for the West). The top four teams in each conference are in the round of 16, and seeds 5 through 12 will square off to […]
Continue readingNHL Power Rankings: 1-31 poll, plus every team’s X factor in the final month
It’s hard to believe, but we’re staring down the final month of the 2019-20 NHL regular season. For this week’s ESPN Power Rankings, we identified the X factor for each team down the stretch. How we rank: The ESPN hockey editorial staff submits selections ranking teams 1-31, and those results are tabulated to the list […]
Continue readingNHL Awards Watch: Hart Trophy race even more chaotic with one month left
Recency bias is very much a thing, considering that the ballots aren’t sent out until near the end of the season and the votes are sent in right up until the first game of the playoffs. This is especially true of the Hart Trophy race, for which players such as Taylor Hall, Corey Perry and […]
Continue readingSidney Crosby, Bryan Rust help Penguins snap 6-game skid
On Tuesday, two defenseman returned, as did the Penguins’ offense, and suddenly, all was right in Pittsburgh once again. Of course, Sidney Crosby had a little bit to do with that, as well. Crosby scored and collected his 800th career assist, and Bryan Rust posted a hat trick, as the Penguins cruised past the Ottawa […]
Continue readingNHL trade deadline preview: Possible moves, latest rumors, what to watch for all 31 teams
Now that the 2020 NHL All-Star Weekend is in the rearview mirror, the league’s trade season is underway in earnest. The next several games for each team will be pivotal, as general managers decide whether their teams should be buyers, improving their chances for the Stanley Cup playoffs, or sellers, perhaps accelerating rebuilds. Get caught […]
Continue readingThe NHL’s Great Pretenders: Teams that are not what they seem
It’s an especially useful mental exercise to go through at this point of the season, because we’re at a crossroads point of sorts in the calendar. We now have enough of a sample to reliably evaluate performance, but we’re also left with more than enough time to turn things around if all of the other […]
Continue readingPittsburgh Penguins’ John Marino is the best rookie defenseman no one’s talking about
If this sound like something a Harvard student would play to pass the time on a team flight, that would be correct. If this sounds like something two NHL rookies would partake in while the veterans are dabbling in other pastimes on that same flight, that would also be correct. “I don’t think I’ve graduated […]
Continue readingStanley Cup Playoff Roundup: Capitals Edge Penguins; Jets Roll Past Predators
Washington and Winnipeg have put the Penguins and the Predators on the verge of elimination.MoreJakub Vrana didn’t start Game 5 on the top line, but after Devante Smith-Pelly took two tripping penalties in the second period, coach Barry Trotz put Vrana with Alex Ovechkin and Evgeny Kuznetsov. It paid off.” Jakub Vrana didn’t start Game […]
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