The 2024 Stanley Cup playoffs are only a couple of weeks old, but there are already some lessons to be learned from them.

Here’s a look at some of the moments, trends and revelations from the NHL postseason so far, from being haunted by the past to leading into controversy to the pure hockey ecstasy of Connor McDavid.

Enjoy!

RALEIGH, N.C. — Carolina Hurricanes coach Rod Brind’Amour said Thursday he feels “really good” that he will reach a new contract with the team, mirroring optimism from president and general manager Don Waddell a day earlier.

Brind’Amour – considered by many the face of the franchise with his long-running ties here that include being the captain of the 2006 Stanley Cup winner – is in the final year of a deal reached in 2021. His status has become a talking point around the league with multiple jobs open as Carolina prepares to face the New York Rangers in the second round of the NHL playoffs.

“Yeah, I had a great conversation yesterday with Don, and then again this morning,” Brind’Amour said. “I feel really good that we’ll figure it out quickly. Yeah, I’m not concerned.”

That came a day after Waddell said he was “very confident” that the two sides would reach a deal.

“We talk daily about it,” Waddell said in a Zoom call with reporters following the team’s first-round series win against the New York Islanders. “I feel very confident as I’ve said before that this deal will get done. Rod wants to be a Hurricane for life.”

In an interview earlier this week with The News and Observer of Raleigh, team owner Tom Dundon said he thought the two sides were “just getting through the last little stuff.”

Brind’Amour, 53, arrived in Raleigh in a January 2000 trade from Philadelphia and played here until his retirement in 2010. He then spent seven seasons as an assistant coach before taking over as a first-time head coach in 2018.

At the time, he proclaimed “I bleed Hurricane red” – then went about turning Carolina into a perennial winner.

Brind’Amour is 6-for-6 in getting the Hurricanes to the playoffs after the franchise went nine years without a postseason berth. Carolina has twice reached the Eastern Conference Final in the past five seasons and ranked second in the NHL over the last four combined regular seasons in points and points percentage behind only Boston.

Tuesday’s Game 5 win to close out the Islanders made Carolina the first team to win at least one series in six straight postseasons since Detroit did it from 1995-2000. Carolina entered the playoffs as the favorite to win the Stanley Cup according to ,

Carolina center Sebastian Aho shrugged off any idea Thursday of Brind’Amour’s status being a distraction.

“No, Roddy’s coaching us this year,” Aho said. “I’m sure they’ll figure it out.”

Also on Thursday, the Hurricanes addressed at least one organizational need by reaching a three-year affiliation agreement with the Chicago Wolves of the American Hockey League. Chicago had been Carolina’s AHL affiliate from 2020-23 before opting to become an independent after that deal ended.

The new agreement will give the Hurricanes oversight of the Wolves’ hockey operations decisions along with a place to develop rising prospects. The Wolves won the Calder Cup in 2022 with a team featuring current Hurricanes players such as defenseman Jalen Chatfield, forwards Stefan Noesen and Jack Drury, and goaltender Pyotr Kochetkov.

Since parting ways with Chicago, Carolina had parked prospects with teams in the AHL and ECHL.

Los Angeles Kings interim coach Jim Hiller didn’t offer any in-depth, detailed breakdown for why his team was eliminated by the Edmonton Oilers on Wednesday night.

“It’s a pretty simple write-up on this one: You saw one team execute and one team not on special teams,” Hiller said after the Kings’ 4-3 loss in Game 5 that marked the third straight season Edmonton sent Los Angeles packing in the opening round. “That was the difference. If we had performed well, we’d still be playing.”

The Oilers scored nine times on 20 power-play opportunities.

“Special teams hurt us a lot in this series,” Kings center Anze Kopitar said. “There were parts of the games where we were good, but you have to do it more often.”

The Oilers’ power play was so potent that it would score at even strength, too: Twice in Game 5 the Oilers scored in the immediate aftermath of a successful Kings penalty kill. Leon Draisaitl scored four seconds after Pierre-Luc Dubois left the penalty box to give Edmonton a 3-2 lead in the second period. Zach Hyman scored the eventual winning goal three seconds after Drew Doughty‘s penalty expired near the end of the second.

Draisaitl also scored on the power play, as the puck traveled over the line inside of Kings goalie David Rittich‘s glove. Edmonton scored at least one power-play goal in each game against the Kings and in 15 of its past 17 playoff games overall.

“Yes, they have an amazing power play. They threw a lot of things against us,” Doughty said. “But I think a lot of those goals were preventable. With a better PK, I think the series could have been … we would have taken it deeper, for sure.”

Oilers star Connor McDavid, who had two assists in the win, said their power play wasn’t even the best part of their special teams against Los Angeles.

“The penalty kill not giving up a goal, that’s really impressive,” McDavid said. “I think of the penalty kill in the third period of Game 4. Everybody on the kill was moving their feet, doing their job and sacrificing their bodies, which is not the most fun thing to do.”

The Oilers were shorthanded 12 times and didn’t allow a Los Angeles power-play goal.

“When you evaluate the series, it was our inability to score on the power play and their ability to score on the power play,” Hiller said.

The defeat marked the first time a team had been eliminated by the same opponent in three straight playoff seasons since the Chicago Blackhawks defeated the Minnesota Wild from 2013 to 2015.

“Definitely a disappointing feeling for the third year in a row. Just sucks right now,” Kopitar said. “Obviously not a great feeling getting the worst of it [against Edmonton] three years in a row.”

The Oilers will play the winner of the Vancouver Canucks‘ series against the Nashville Predators, which Vancouver leads 3-2 heading into Game 6 in Nashville.