Matchups Are Set

If you thought this was going to be an article about the NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs, you're on the right track. Officially, these are the first-round matchups for the Survivor: NHL Playoffs on The Hockey Show as sixteen people were registered last night. There are returning entrants from years past, there are new entrants this year, and there's even a celebrity by The Hockey Show's standards as Fiona Quinn makes her debut in the contest! In short, this should be a fun year for everyone with the games beginning tomorrow afternoon!

Here is a quick reminder of the challenges on Survivor: NHL Playoffs.

• First shutout recorded in the playoffs.
• First hat trick recorded in the playoffs.
• First goaltender point recorded in the playoffs.
• First team eliminated from the playoffs.
• First to advance from the second round to the third round.
• First team to score seven goals in one game in the playoffs.
• First upset of the playoffs.

These prizes will be awarded in chronological order. I cannot change what time games start or end, so if one of Carolina or Ottawa pitches a shutout in the opening game, that will take the "first shutout recorded" off the board regardless of what else happens tomorrow night. For all of the other challenges, the same timing rule applies.

There are hockey books, some UMFM gear, and other things to be won in these challenges, and we're hoping to give them all away before the end of the contest. Of course, the grand prizes for the two finalists are jerseys which represent a longtime rivalry as we're offering a 2018-21 Pittsburgh Penguins alternate jersey and a 2021-24 Washington Capitals alternate jersey for those finalists. If this is the last year of Crosby-vs-Ovechkin, these are good jerseys to have!

Sixteen teams locked down playoff sports a few days ago, and sixteen contestants locked down teams yesterday in Survivor: NHL Playoffs on The Hockey Show. The Ottawa Senators will be in Raleigh to play the Carolina Hurricanes at 3pm ET tomorrow to get the playoffs started, and that's where the fun begins! Good luck, Survivors!

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!

The Hockey Show - Episode 708

The Hockey Show, Canada's only campus-produced radio show that strictly talks hockey, returns tonight with hockey's greatest radio contest in the history of the planet! Ok, maybe we're overselling that a wee bit, but tonight is the only night where you can enter Survivor: NHL Playoffs to be part of the fun! Sixteen teams have already clinched playoff spots with most of the matchups for the opening round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs being set, sixteen entrants will get into the Survivor pool tonight on The Hockey Show at 5:30pm CT!

Tonight, Teebz and Jason will be looking for entrants who want into the 2026 edition of Survivor: NHL Playoffs! The rules and information you need about the contest is here, and tonight is when we get sixteen people to choose numbers to find out which team is assigned to each entrant! As numbers start to be removed from the board, the chances of landing a top-seeded team may increase or decrease depending on which teams remain so you're going to have to weigh the odds if you want one of the superpowers. What I can tell you is that if you call between 5:30pm and 6:30 CT at (204) 269-8636, your chances of getting into the Survivor: NHL Playoffs contest will never be better! Settle in, tune into the show, and get your phone out tonight for Survivor: NHL Playoffs on The Hockey Show at 5:30pm CT on one of 101.5 FM, Channel 718 on MTS TV, or via UMFM.com!

If you live outside Winnipeg and want to participate, you're still welcome to enter the contest! The UMFM website's online streaming player works well if you want to listen online. We also recommend Radio Garden if you need an easy-to-use online stream. If you're more of an app person, we recommend you use the TuneIn app found on the App Store or Google Play Store. It's a solid app.

If you have questions, you can email all show queries and comments to hockeyshow@umfm.com! Tweet me anytime with questions you may have by hitting me up at @TeebzHBIC on Twitter! I'm here to listen to you, so make your voice heard! And because both Teebz and Jason are on the butterfly app where things are less noisy, you can find Teebz here and Jason here on Bluesky!

Tonight, Teebz and Jason take calls from sixteen people to get them registered for the 2026 edition of Survivor: NHL Playoffs heard on The Hockey Show exclusively on 101.5 UMFM and on the UMFM.com web stream!

PODCAST: April 16, 2026: Episode 708

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!

The Other Side Of The World

The goaltender to the left likely isn't going to be recognizable unless you're following the ECHL and SPHL closely. That goalie is Surrey, BC's Noah Giesbrecht, and he was trying to crack lineups in the professional leagues here in North America after finishing a solid university career that saw him play at three different schools including a U SPORTS school! One of the toughest things for any undrafted goalie to do is break into the ECHL with so few roster spots available, but Giesbrecht looked like he may get his shot with the Savannah Ghost Pirates after playing with the SPHL's Knoxville Ice Bears! That run with the Ghost Pirates ended early as he was released yesterday, but he found a new home very quickly for this summer!

Giesbrecht's hockey career saw him play in both the MJHL for two teams and the SJHL for Melfort Mustangs along with a cup of coffee in the USHL with the Muskegon Lumberjacks. He put up very good numbers in 2019-20 with the MJHL's Portage Terriers, compiling a 12-4-0 record with a 1.86 GAA and a .925 save percentage. Those numbers attracted the attention of the OUA's University of Windsor Lancers, and Giesbrecht was off to play in southern Ontario!

After the COVID year in 2020-21, Giesbrecht was excellent with the Lancers as he went 7-1-0 with a 2.13 GAA and a .941 save percentage in the first half of the season before jumping south of the border as he enrolled at Ferris State where he joined the men's hockey team! In his time with the Bulldogs, Giesbrecht went 19-29-3 with a 3.35 GAA and an .898 save percentage. He'd play his final NCAA season with RPI where he was 11-19-0 with a 3.54 GAA and an .896 save percentage. Being undrafted, Giesbrecht looked to the ECHL as an option.

He spent more time on the bench than in a crease as two games with Tulsa and nine games with Savannah were the only opportunities he received this season. Combined with seven more games in Knoxville, Giesbrecht likely had his agent looking for other options as his 18 games of professional action didn't give him a lot to build on for next season. That's when another opportunity presented itself, and Giesbrecht took it as he'll pack his bags and head south!

Giesbrecht will suit up this summer - or, more accurately, this winter in Australia - for the AIHL's Melbourne Mustangs! The AIHL's opening games happen this weekend, and the Mustangs will be in action on Saturday as they host the Central Coast Rhinos. Giesbrecht gives them another solid goaltender along with Seb Woodlands and Tom Papas, and they may need the added experience as their opening night lineup apparently will not feature longtime star Ty Wishart! That could possibly change as there was no announcement of him retiring, so he could be back at some point. For whatever reason, though, the Mustangs will be without one of their best players to begin the 2026 AIHL season.

The AIHL will continue with their ten-team setup as the action last season proved exciting down the stretch with teams pushing for playoff spots. The Melbourne Ice enter the season as the defending champions after defeating the Canberra Brave for the Goodall Cup last season, so those teams will come into this season with targets on their backs. The Mustangs finished in sixth-place which pitted them against the Perth Thunder in a play-in game for the playoffs, but Perth took care of business by a 5-2 score. Clearly, the Mustangs want to return to glory, so improved goaltending will help that cause!

Noah Giesbrecht has played in Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Ontario, Michigan, New York, Oklahoma, Tennessee, and Georgia in his hockey journey thus far, and he'll add the city of Melbourne, Australia on this leg of his hockey career! Where it goes from here is anyone's guess, but the summer of 2026 will see him in Mustangs' black and orange!

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!

Who's The New Guy?

If you're looking at the goalie to the left and thinking you know him from his gear, that's Minnesota Wild netminder Jesper Wallstedt. It's Wallstedt's first full season in the NHL despite playing in five games prior to this campaign, but the young netminder has fared well with an 18-9-6 record, a 2.61 goals-against average, a .916 save percentage, and four shutouts. His wins and shutouts are a team record for a rookie goaltender, his save percentage is tied for first and his GAA ranks second. Tonight, though, it seems there was an imposter in net wearing his number despite this imposter looking awfully identical to the Swedish rookie goaltender. What am I talking about? Read on!

The Wild finished off their NHL regular season schedule tonight against the Anaheim Ducks at home at Grand Casino Arena in St. Paul, Minnesota. What wasn't normal, though, was the spelling of Jesper Wallstedt's name on the back of his jersey! Check it out below!

You may be looking at Wallstedt's name and thinking, "They spelled it how it sounds," but the Wild were playing at home. Their full equipment staff would be at the game, and not one of them noticed the spelling error. I don't know if Wallstedt was wearing it during warm-up, but you'd think someone on the ice would have noticed.

Apparently, no one did, though, and "Wallstead" started the game in his crease. I can say that with certainty because Anaheim scored a power-play goal at 10:27 of the first period with "Wallstead" still in net! Click the picture to enrlage the image, but no one had gone to get Jesper Wallstedt a properly named jersey during any of the stoppages of play. How long was this imposter "Wallstead" kid going to stand in the Minnesota crease?

That answer was one period as Jesper Wallstedt had the correct spelling of his name on his jersey to start the second period, so clearly somneone on the Wild's bench noticed. Again, it makes me wonder if Fanatics had sent the jersey with "Wallstead" on it or if someone new to the organization was sitting in front of the sewing machine making up name bars. Exactly how does this happen?

What I do know is that Wallstedt finished the game with 35 saves on 37 shots in the 3-2 win for Minnesota, pushing them to 104 points this season. If we're technically being correct, though, Jesper "Wallstead" made ten saves on eleven shots while Jesper Wallstedt made 25 saves on 26 shots. The Wallstedt-Wallstead team was named as the first star in the game, so we'll see how far Jesper "Wallstead" goes. Frankly, I don't see him playing another game for the Wild in his career, but he certainly had a memorable appearance tonight.

The Wild will face Dallas in the opening round of the playoffs. Jesper Wallstedt will be dressed and ready for at series and more while Jesper "Wallstead" won't even be in the building for those games.

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!

Mercifully, It's Over

I don't usually throw out thank-yous to NHL teams, but the Los Angeles Kings deserve one tonight after winning their game against the Seattle Kraken. I'm not a Kings fan in any way, so this isn't some article that will extoll the players rising to the occasion to seize a playoff spot or anything. Instead, it's a thank-you article for finally putting the Winnipeg Jets out of their misery for what was a completely forgettable season in the Manitoba capital. Yes, a handful of players had outstanding seasons for the Jets, but the overall drop in points from last season should have Kevin Cheveldayoff feeling the fire. After all, he's the architect of this mess, so he's the one who should be raked over the coles. The only problem is that won't happen with how the Jets are run.

The Jets knew their fate before they took the ice against the Vegas Golden Knights, but it had been said many times by local media that this team refused to give up the season after the Olympic break because they still had pride and a chance to make the playoffs. Well, with the latter out of the way, the former seemed to die as well as the Jets sleepwalked their way to a 6-2 loss to Vegas, adding an exclamation point to their elimination. For a team so full of pride, closing out the season with wins doesn't seem to matter anymore.

So where do the Jets go from here when it comes to next season?

First, I'd expect Kevin Cheveldayoff to be at every Manitoba Moose playoff game so he can get a better sense of which of the Moose might be ready for the next level. The Moose will play the Milwaukee Admirals who have a strong track record of getting their players into the Nashville lineup, so it could also be a good scouting option for potential free agents for next season. Defenceman Jordan Oesterle is a player I'd like to see wear the antlers next season at the very worst.

That being said, if Cheveldayoff decides to conduct exit interviews with the Jets and then head to the lake until late June, I'd expect another status quo summer of the Jets missing out on dynamic players. At the very least, my hope would be that Cheveldayoff recognizes that he has a former 43-goal scorer in Samuel Fagemo, a high-energy player in Jaret Anderson-Dolan, and a solid veteran in Walker Duehr who deserve longer looks than just a cup of coffee at training camp. These three are low-risk, high-reward type players who could easily make the Jets' fourth line so much better.

Adding those players from the Moose would allow the Jets to walk away from aging, less productive players such as Gustav Nyqvist, Jonathan Toews, Vladimir Namestnikov, and Nino Niederreiter. By moving on from those forwards who are 33 years-old and older, the Jets could pivot to potentially looking at restricted free agent Jason Robertson or unrestricted free agent Alex Tuch as an immediate upgrade to their second line thanks to having additional cap room with some of the less productive players gone from the lineup.

There are a handful of secondary options out there as well, but the Jets shouldn't be afraid to take a run at a few restricted free agents either if they have the cap room. Going after someone like Mavrik Bourque would be a lot of fun, especially if the Jets could land Jason Robertson as well. Letting Cole Perfetti or Isak Rosen skate alongside those two would be fireworks, but it doesn't happen without effort and knowing your assets through scouting. Needless to say, Morgan Barron should get every shot at being the second-line center with some improved wingers based on what we saw from him this season.

Cheveldayoff should also be watching the three college captains he signed as Lucas Wahlin, Davis Burnside, and Lukas Gustafsson all were key contributors for their NCAA teams. Wahlin had 21 goals and 39 points in 36 games with St. Thomas, Burnside had 12 goals and 32 points in 37 games for Ohio State, and defender Lukas Gustafsson had six goals and 22 points in 36 games with Boston College. Having these three stick around for a season or two in the AHL should get them the skills and confidence they need to push for spots with the Jets.

On the blue line, I can't see much changing with Josh Morrissey, Dylan Samberg, and Dylan DeMelo. Elias Salomonsson made it very clear that he's an NHL defender this season, so that leaves two spots open with questions needing to be answered about Neal Pionk's defensive abilities. This is where the competition among the younger players should really escalate as players like Ville Heinola, Isaak Phillips, and Kale Clague should be in the mix. Tyrel Bauer can provide a physical element if needed, but Hadyn Fleury has to be pushed if the Jets want to take steps forward next season. Otherwise, this is academic.

Goaltending is locked down with Connor Hellebuyck aiming to play 200 games per year, and Eric Comrie seems to be more-than-happy to jump in where he can. Thomas Milic was named the Moose MVP for his work this season as he appears to be the heir apparent, and Domenic DiVincentiis looks like he'll get another season as a tandem alongside Milic. Both aren't ready to be starters in the NHL, but they're getting closer to being options if needed by the Jets.

The Jets talked about not wanting to take steps backwards this season, but that chatter quickly died once it was apparent that the current roster was nowhere close to the President's Trophy-winning roster. With the Jets having taken steps back, the franchise should be able to stop and re-assess what they have as assets, what they need to be competitive, and what they have to do acquire those pieces.

The foundation is still solid with Scheifele, Connor, Vilardi, Perfetti, Iafallo, Lowry, Barron, Morrissey, and Samberg. The Jets can build around those players with Isak Rosen, Brad Lambert, Nikita Chibrikov, Cole Koepke, and some of the players mentioned above earning roster spots while not breaking the budget. The Jets need to be faster, smarter, and younger, and they won't get it from the players who are already heading towards the twilights of their careers.

If Kevin Cheveldayoff wants to prove that he deserves his job, the work starts now to make the Jets better. Not at the beginning of June at the lake. Not in late June after the draft. Not in July and August after missing out on the biggest free agent names. If Chevy wants to see the Jets return to prominence, the Los Angeles Kings gave him a head start in doing so because, mercifully, this season is over.

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!