The 2026 season is over.

The Carolina Hurricanes are the champions, and now teams will buckle down and start preparing for next season. The NHL entry draft begins in 10 days, and free agency starts in 15 days. The first buyout window opens later tonight, and teams have 14 days to decide which players they will qualify or let walk as free agents. There is a lot happening.

Here are 10 thoughts rattling around in my head.

1. Championship coaching longevity

It is interesting to note which coaches have won Stanley Cups this decade. Jon Cooper won with Tampa Bay in 2020 and 2021. He was hired in 2013 and remains their head coach. Jared Bednar won in 2022. He was hired in August of 2016 and remains their head coach. Bruce Cassidy won his first year with Vegas in 2023. In his five previous seasons with Boston, he had compiled the second-most regular-season wins and the second-most playoff wins, including a Cup Final loss in 2019. Paul Maurice won in 2024 and 2025 with Florida in his second and third seasons coaching. Maurice resigned from the Winnipeg Jets on December 21st, 2021, feeling they needed a new voice. In the 4.5 seasons before resigning, the Jets had the ninth-best record in the NHL but could never get past the third round. Rod Brind’amour won with Carolina this season. It was his eighth season with the Hurricanes.

Cooper, Bednar and Brind’Amour are the three longest-tenured coaches in the NHL. Maurice has the second-most wins of all time, and Cassidy has the fourth-best winning percentage among coaches who have coached 800 games.

Cooper has coached 13 full seasons with Tampa and won twice. Bednar has one Cup in 10 years, and Brind’amour has one in eight seasons with their respective teams. Most teams prefer to change coaches every three seasons, but maybe they should rethink that process. I’m not saying every coach has to last eight seasons, but the constant changing of coaches hasn’t led to much success for most teams recently.

2. Summer trade market noise

Dylan Larkin, Simon Nemec and Darnell Nurse have already asked to be traded. When I look at the top six forwards, top four defencemen and the starting goalies, I think we’ll see at least seven, likely more, traded this summer. After years with limited cap space, teams have more room, and I think some teams have so much internal pressure to win that we see some bigger names get moved this summer. Connor Hellebuyck, Mat Barzal, Jordan Kyrou, Colton Parayko, Adin Hill, Morgan Reilly, Robert Thomas, Mason McTavish, Vincent Trocheck, and Jordan Binnington are some names that have been out there in trade rumours for months. And there will be a few players not mentioned publicly that get moved. Last summer Mitch........

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