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The CHL is currently unveiling its list of the top 50 players of the last 50 years, and one former Montreal Canadiens captain has made it to 36th place on the countdown: Shea Weber. In three complete seasons with the Kelowna Rockets of the WHL, the hulking defenseman won two league championships and one Memorial Cup. In his last two seasons, he was named to both the WHL and the CHL All-Star Teams and ended his junior career by winning the 2005 playoffs MVP title, thanks to his nine goals from the blueline.

A second-round draft pick of the Nashville Predators at the 2003 draft, the 49th overall pick spent 11 seasons with the Tennessee outfit before being traded to the Canadiens in the much-talked-about trade for fellow blueliner P.K. Subban. The polarizing deal didn’t please everyone, but Weber eventually won most fans over with his physical play and booming shot.

As soon as captain Max Pacioretty was traded to the Vegas Golden Knights, the Habs’ brass gave Weber the C. Even though he only spent five seasons with the Canadiens, three of which as a captain, Weber was a game-changer in the Habs’ culture. A true professional, he was a fantastic example for the next generation of Habs players like Nick Suzuki.

The Canadiens made the playoffs in three of his five years with the Canadiens, reaching the Stanley Cup final in his final season, bowing out in five games to the Tampa Bay Lightning. That 2020-2021 Canadiens team didn’t really belong in the Cup final, but it was a tight-knit group that gave its all, inspired by a couple of veterans who were appearing in their final Stanley Cup playoffs, Carey Price and Shea Weber. The rugged blueliner would never play another game in the NHL as his career was cut short by injuries.

In his 275 games with the Canadiens, he put up 146 points, including 58 goals in the regular season and 14 points in 38 playoff games in the Habs’ three appearances. After his retirement and following his induction into the Hockey Hall of Fame, Weber was added to the Canadiens' ring of honor in November 2024. 

Even though Weber didn’t play a single game under the new Canadiens administration, he still had an important impact. Kent Hughes recently revealed in an interview on The Sick Podcast that Weber had taken it upon himself to tell him that he had a true captain in Nick Suzuki.

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Who: Philadelphia Flyers (43-27-12, 98 points, 3rd place Metropolitan Division) @ Pittsburgh Penguins (41-25-16, 98 points, 2nd place Metropolitan Division)

When: 8:00 p.m. ET

How to Watch: Local on Sportsnet Pittsburgh and TVAS, national on ESPN, streaming on ESPN+

Pens’ Path Ahead: The series continues Monday with Game 2 at PPG Paints Arena on Monday night. Then the series swings to Philadelphia for road games on Wednesday and Saturday night.

Opponent Track: The Flyers snagged the final playoff spot in the East after finishing the season as one of the hottest teams in the NHL. Since the end of the Olympic break, this team went 18-7-1 to tie the Buffalo Sabres and Colorado Avalanche for the most wins in the league over that stretch. While the Pens were resting their starters, the Flyers finished the season out on a three-game win streak capped off with a back-to-back against the Carolina Hurricanes and Montreal Canadiens.

Season Series: The Pens and Flyers split this series in the regular season, although both of the Flyers’ wins came in extra time. The Flyers bookended the series with shootout wins on Oct. 28 and March 7. The Penguins outscored their in-state rivals by a combined score of 11-4 in wins on Dec. 1 and Jan. 15.

Hiden Stat: This marks the eighth all-time Battle of Pennsylvania, which officially ties the New York Islanders and New York Rangers for the most all-time NHL playoff series between in-state rivals, per NHL Stats.

Hidden Stat II: The Flyers are the first team in NHL history to qualify for the playoffs after facing a point deficit of at least nine points 60 games into the regular season, per NHL Stats.

Getting to know the Flyers

Projected lines (from Friday’s practice)

FORWARDS

Tyson Foerster – Trevor Zegras – Owen Tippett

Travis Konecny – Christian Dvorak – Porter Martone

Denver Barkey – Noah Cates – Matvei Michkov

Luke Glendening – Sean Couturier – Garnet Hathaway

DEFENSEMEN

Travis Sanheim / Rasmus Ristolainen

Cam York / Jamie Drysdale

Nick Seeler / Emil Andrae

Goalies: Dan Vladar, Samuel Ersson

Potential scratches: Garrett Wilson, Carl Grundstrom, Noah Juulsen

Injured Reserve: Rodrigo Abols (fractured ankle), Nikita Grebenkin (upper body)

• The Flyers capped off the regular season by signing their No. 6 pick from the 2025 draft, Porter Martone, to an entry-level contract. Martone responded by putting up 10 points (four goals, six assists) in his first nine NHL games. He could be noticeable during this season for his size— he’s listed by the Flyers at 6-foot-3— and his habit of posting up in front of the net.

• Dan Vladar is likely to get the start in net against the Pens. He’s coming off a month of April during which he posted a 5-1-0 record, .921 save percentage and 1.81 goals against average.

• Rasmus Ristolainen, who is in his 13th NHL season, is set to make his playoff debut tonight with the Flyers.

Regular season stats
via hockeydb

• There are a few pieces of Flyers history on this stat sheet. Matvei Michkov is the first Flyers player since Simon Gagne in 2001 to start out his Flyers career with consecutive 20-goal seasons, per NHL Stats.
• Trevor Zegras also scored 26 goals in his first season with the Flyers, the most by any first-year player with the franchise since Wayne Simmonds in 2012, per NHL Stats.

Take a closer look at the Flyers’ 18-7-1 run since returning from the Olympic break, and there seem to be some clear issues with this team. Here are some stats from the Flyers over that span:

• Power play: 14.9 percent (30th in NHL)
• Penalty kill: 74.0 percent (26th)
• Shots per game: 25.1 (27th)
• Goals per game: 3.00 (21st)

But here’s where they excel:

• Shots against per game: 25.0 (5th fewest in NHL)
• Goals against per game: 2.38 (3rd fewest)

The Athletic’s Kevin Kurz provided a look at some of the Flyers’ midseason defensive changes in early March. As written by Kurz:

“A big part of it is just energy,” said Cam York. “We want to be as aggressive as we can in the (defensive) zone. I think the time off just let us refresh a little bit, mentally and physically. That goes a long way being able to defend hard and close out time and space for the other guys.”

“Captain Sean Couturier said: ‘I think we’re just harder to play against by being more aggressive, taking away time and space.’

“That aggressiveness that York and Couturier mentioned is by design. Tocchet has attempted to simplify the Flyers’ defensive zone structure, even going so far as to move away a bit from the standard zone defense that he’s known for implementing in previous head-coaching stops.”

The Flyers don’t always get a lot of run support, so they’ve relied in large part on this shutdown defense at even strength during their late-season climb into the playoff picture. The Penguins’ ability to solve this could be key to taking control early in the series.

And now for the Pens

Projected lines (from Thursday and Friday’s practice)

FORWARDS

Egor Chinakhov – Sidney Crosby – Bryan Rust

Tommy Novak – Rickard Rakell – Evgeni Malkin

Elmer Soderblom – Ben Kindel – Anthony Mantha

Connor Dewar – Blake Lizotte – Noel Acciari

DEFENSEMEN

Parker Wotherspoon / Erik Karlsson

Sam Girard / Kris Letang

Ryan Graves / Jack St. Ivany

Goalies: Stuart Skinner and Arturs Silovs

Potential Scratches: Ilya Solovyov, Justin Brazeau, Kevin Hayes

IR: Filip Hallander, Caleb Jones (season-ending shoulder surgery)

• Connor Dewar has been back at practice after missing the end of the regular season with a lower-body injury. Getting both him and Blake Lizotte back means that the Penguins will be able to reunite the fourth line of Dewar, Lizotte and Noel Acciari that clicked so well earlier this season.

• Justin Brazeau was the odd man out at practice this week now that Lizotte is back on the fourth line. The Pens also seem to be preparing to try Elmer Soderblom on the third line alongside Ben Kindel.
• As of Friday’s practice, the Penguins goaltenders hadn’t been told who will be starting Saturday’s matchup. Stuart Skinner certainly has the edge in experience after back-to-back conference final appearances with the Edmonton Oilers over the last two seasons.
• This will mark Erik Karlsson’s first time back in the playoffs since he went to the 2019 Western Conference Finals with the San Jose Sharks. It will also mark Egor Chinakhov’s first postseason action in the league.

• Both of the NHL’s active leading playoff scorers will be on the ice in Sidney Crosby (201 goals in 180 playoff games) and Evgeni Malkin (180 goals in 177 playoff games). Among active defensemen, only the Tampa Bay Lightning’s Victor Hedman ranks ahead of Kris Letang (90 goals in 149 games).

Just the Facts

• The Times
  • Game 1: @ Buffalo, 7:30pm. EST April 19
  • Game 2: @ Buffalo, 7:30pm. EST April 21
  • Game 3: @ Boston, 7pm EST April 23
  • Game 4: @ Boston, 2pm EST April 26
  • Game 5: @ Buffalo, TBD on April 28th
  • Game 6: @ Boston, TBD on May 1st
  • Game 7: @ Buffalo, TBD on May 3rd
    • *Games 5-7 will have times added if necessary
• The Places
  • TD Garden, Boston, MA
  • KeyBank Arena, Buffalo, NY
• Places to Watch:
  • All games of the 1st Round will be on NESN and Madison Square Garden Network – Buffalo, respectively.
  • Other Networks:
    • Games 1 and 2: ESPN
    • Games 3 and 4: HBO MAX, TNT, TRUTV

Final regular season results for both teams

Boston Bruins

• Record: 45-27-10
• Points: 100
• Goals-For: 272
• Goals-Against: 250
• Leading Goalscorer: Morgan Geekie, 39 in 81 games
• Leading Points-getter: David Pastrnak, 100 in 77 games
• Leading Goaltender by performance: Jeremy Swayman, .908 SV%

• Corsi – Shot Attempts.
  • Corsi-For %: 48.92 (19th in the NHL)
  • Corsi-For per 60: 57.32 (16th in the NHL)
• Fenwick – Unblocked Shot Attempts
  • Fenwick-For %: 49.15 (19th in the NHL)
  • Fenwick-For per 60: 41.29 (17th in the NHL)
• Expected Goals – Shot Attempts weighted for their position on the ice. AKA “Shot Quality” AKA “Expected by you, dummy.”
  • Expected Goals-For %: 46.66 (28th in the NHL)
  • Expected Goals per 60: 2.56 (22nd in the NHL)
• High Danger
  • High Danger Corsi For per 60: 10.87 (24th in the NHL)
  • High Danger Goals For per 60: 1.33 (13th in the NHL)

Buffalo Sabres

• Record: 50-23-9
• Points: 109
• Goals-For: 288
• Goals-Against: 241
• Leading Goalscorer: Tage Thompson, 40 in 81 games
• Leading Points-getter: Also Tage Thompson, 81 in 81 games
• Leading Goaltender by performance: Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen, .910%

• Corsi
  • Corsi-For %: 49.28 (16th in the NHL)
  • Corsi-For per 60: 56.41 (19th in the NHL)
• Fenwick
  • Fenwick-For %: 49.83 (15th in the NHL)
  • Fenwick-For per 60: 42.18 (10th in the NHL)
• Expected Goals
  • Expected Goals-For %: 49.95 (17th in the NHL)
  • Expected Goals per 60: 2.71 (14th in the NHL)
• High Danger
  • High Danger Corsi For per 60: 11.6 (15th in the NHL)
  • High Danger Goals For per 60: 1.47 (4th in the NHL)

Series Preview

Man. It’s been a long time since we’ve seen these two teams against one another in the playoffs.

Ever since 2010, the Sabres have embarked on an over decade long wander in the desert to become the NHL’s punching bag when it wasn’t Arizona or Ottawa, and have returned a much more determined and battle-hardened team than even I thought they would be at the beginning of the season. At long last, the Sabres are not just watchable…but successful. Somehow, the Sabres found themselves out of hell.

Meanwhile, Boston has found an extra step they can take on the road to retooling that has had them making one of the most dramatic turnarounds in franchise history in terms of final regular season point totals. Marco Sturm found a way to get the Boston Bruins into a place where they could once again compete for Lord Stanley. The work of David Pastrnak, Pavel Zacha, Victor Arvidsson, and Morgan Geekie, combined with resurgent performances from Charlie McAvoy and Jeremy Swayman, combined with a Bruins power play that was, and get ready for this…good…gave them a leg up on their contemporaries to get to another 100 point season.

Don’t go looking for anything that could help you from the 2010 playoffs; The Sabres are another animal altogether from where they were in 2009. Neither Boston nor even this Sabres team know what they are for the 2026 playoffs; both teams are lightyears away from where they’d been since that time. The game has changed so much in such a short amount of time.

What we have now, is two teams with a lot to prove.

X-Factors for Round 1

How will injury impact the series?

If there is a major up the B’s have over the Sabres, it’s in health. Their lineup is arguably as healthy as it’s ever been, with the only recent absences to the team being because two players became fathers, leaving them their full compliment and roster of players including Jimmy Hagens hot off of signing his ELC and playing in his first couple of NHL games. This will give them a necessary flexibility in playing the Sabres game-to-game that Buffalo just does not have right now.

Compared to the Bruins, the Sabres are beaten pretty badly: two players on injured reserve, and a grand total of four players that are considered day-to-day; Noah Ostlund, Alex Lyon, Sam Carrick, and Colton Ellis. Naturally if asked all four of these men would say they would be ready to go, but players at less than 100% can become liabilities if their injuries are severe enough. Carrick at less than 100% is also a major blow to the Sabres as he was one of their better performers down the stretch.

Meanwhile, Boston has been…just kinda fine? They’ve had some man games lost like all teams, but they were in the middle of the season and now they have the full compliment. That does mean however…that certain players may not be at 100%, and could theoretically re-aggravate if things

Congrats to Pavel Zacha and Casey Mittelstadt, by the way! Dad strength before the playoffs is also a major X-Factor!

Can the Bruins’ Depth keep up?

One of the big surprises of the year was Morgan Geekie and Pavel Zacha becoming trigger men for the Bruins after years of David Pastrnak holding that position down. Pasta himself has diversified his game far more into being a playmaker this year, but he too still had a scorer’s touch when asked for it. This has of course filtered throughout the lineup with a bunch of pleasant surprises like Marat Khusnutdinov and Fraser Minten having excellent years, the return to form for Victor Arvidsson, who finished the year the highest goal total he’s had since 2022-23; in 25.

The Sabres are right there with Boston; obviously the big names of Tage Thompson and Alex Tuch stand out but they’ve gotten some excellent work out of Josh Doan, Jason Zucker, and Jack Quinn, just to name a few. Both teams have over 10 players in double digit goals and it contributed majorly to their respective ascents back to the postseason and respectability. Some more in one category than another.

The big question of course, is if the pleasant surprises can keep up going into the playoffs.

One of the great strengths of Sabres hockey this year is the manic puppy energy that pervades their play; Sabres do not care if the game becomes a goalscoring race, because just about everybody of note in their lineup, including their defense, can score goals if it comes down to it. It’s what gives their “River Hockey” style so much danger; even if it’s not exactly tight, it can develop shooting lanes from just about anywhere. Boston meanwhile has still largely allowed their principal names alongside Arvidsson to do the lion’s share of the scoring, even if they’re getting good efforts from guys like Mark Kastelic and Casey Mittelstadt.

The Bruins depth needs to be able to match that energy with not just physicality, but in scoring mentality. The Sabres cannot get into the thought process that there will be shifts they can just dominate at will.

Can Boston’s Defense hold the line?

This is the lynchpin for Boston’s success in this series. At least in my opinion.

As we discussed previously, Boston’s defensive core has sort of formed through McAvoy, Lindholm, and yes, Nikita Zadorov as the movers and shakers…but the drop off from Lindholm to McAvoy to Zadorov are some steep cliffs overlooking a very deep ravine. Guys like Aspirot have been okay if a little frustrating, Jordan Harris was a tantalizing player who got some playing time but was waylaid by injury…but we know what Andrew Peeke and Mason Lohrei are at this point. We know that they are going to be the millstones around this team’s neck and that Marco Sturm will simply continue to play them. They have no other options.

We also know that just about every defender on this team, when given too much time with the puck, can start to exhibit some strange behavior.

Like it or not, this net-front defense may be contributed to by every player in Black and Gold but it’s the blueliner’s problem 90% of the time. It has to change in order for this to be a win.

While the Sabres defense can look particularly shambolic, with some of their better talents being prone to some spectacular blown plays, but they can keep their net-front clear. That’s something that Boston has struggled consistently with.

If the Bruins want to get anywhere against them, especially knowing that they’re gonna have to show a little more than just muscle to put Tage Thompson down for the count, they need to effectively break a bunch of their worst habits before Game 1. That includes the players that are already doing well; they need to be more. Puck possession needs to be used well, zone exits need to be crisp and if it can’t be done by a forward then by the puck carrier, keep-ins need to be done with intention, and bad passes to nowhere needs to end.

Further…we need the return of Playoff Lohrei. The reason Lohrei has even survived this long, in spite of all of his many issues as a player, is because of his playoff performance; He wasn’t looking great coming out of his first taste of regular season hockey, but absolutely came alive when the playoffs started. All of his problems melted into strengths, all his concerns becoming afterthoughts as he became one of the brightest spots on the back-end throughout that playoff run.

They need another performance like that. Whatever that was for him, it needs to come back. One defenseman who isn’t all that great can be workable. Any more than that is absolutely not an option.

Game 1 is on Sunday night.

Whatever you are in the light of a Best-of-7 Series is one that your fate in the regular season brought you to. All of your strengths and weaknesses.

This team has given us so many wonderful surprises. So many things to look forward to in their future.

So let’s see if they can give us one more fun surprise over the next couple of weeks.

Let’s go really stick it to a team in Blue this April.

The NHL playoffs will have a different look this season.

The two-time defending Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers are out after an injury-plagued season and the Buffalo Sabres surged after a general manager change to end their 14-season playoff drought.

All told, six 2026 playoff teams had missed the postseason last year. The Pittsburgh Penguins and Philadelphia Flyers, playing in the first round, have been out for a combined eight seasons.

So who will advance to the second round? USA TODAY's Mike Brehm, Jace Evans and Kevin Skiver offer their predictions and analysis on the eight first-round series of the 2026 Stanley Cup playoffs.

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There isn’t a player on the Detroit Red Wings who has been with the organization longer, or borne more of its setbacks, than team captain Dylan Larkin, the lone remaining player from the club’s last Stanley Cup Playoffs appearance in 2016.

Despite setting a career high with 34 goals this season, Dylan Larkin suffered an injury at a critical point. Although he eventually gutted it out and played through it, he was unable to carry his team over the finish line.

The Red Wings now hold the unfortunate distinction of owning the NHL’s longest active postseason drought, after the Buffalo Sabres, who hadn’t qualified since 2011, finally ended theirs.

"It's been hard, not great. I think it's been a very difficult end to the season," Larkin said on Friday morning. "Never a fun time when you miss the playoffs, but especially in this fashion, and kind of being here again. So today is not a pleasant day around the rink, that's for sure."

Bookmark The Hockey News Detroit Red Wings team site to stay connected to the latest news, game-day coverage, and player features. 

During Detroit’s stretch run in March, they often found themselves trailing by multiple goals against opponents they were directly competing with in the standings.

Head coach Todd McLellan repeatedly called for a higher level of compete from his players, while questions also arose about “outside noise” potentially creeping into the locker room.

“I mean, that's a fair question, and I think, like I said, part of the tightness was kind of dipping your toe into a game, and when you're anxious for a game, there are tendencies as a player to go out there and see what it's going to be like,” Larkin said about Detroit's slow starts down the stretch. “Is it going to be a hard night or an easy night? Again, I don't think that was the story every night."

“It’s Their Right to Do So”: Moritz Seider Accepts Frustrated Red Wings Fans Reaction During locker room clean-out day, Red Wings defenseman Moritz Seider addressed the frustrated reaction of fans during the team’s final home game this past Saturday evening, a loss that confirmed Detroit’s fate of missing the playoffs.

As the team captain, a position he's held since the beginning of the 2021-22 campaign, Larkin accepted responsibility for not, as he put it, driving the play more. 

"But especially at home, down the stretch, you have to know going into a game that you're going to go out there, and part of that is on me as captain of the team, a forward that plays a driving game," he said. 

“I should probably have been out there more, driving the play early in the games to set the tone early for our team, and that's a mindset that would go through the entire lineup.”

As a Metro Detroit native who grew up watching the Red Wings’ glory years, Larkin understands the weight of the moment better than others. He carries the burden of the captaincy once held by franchise legends such as Steve Yzerman, Nicklas Lidstrom, and Henrik Zetterberg.

Larkin signed an eight-year extension in 2023 to remain with the Red Wings and is committed to seeing the process through.

"I wanted to be here, and I want to be here to help this team in any way I can to win the Stanley Cup," he said. 

"We need to get the Detroit Red Wings back in the playoffs," he concluded. "Not just me." 

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