Lapsed fan's guide to the NHL season: Top teams, players, storylines for 2026-27 - ESPN

The 2025-26 NHL season was a heck of a ride. Especially for Jaccob Slavin.

The veteran defenseman played a key role for the U.S. men's Olympic hockey team, which defeated Canada for its first gold medal since the 1980 Miracle on Ice as the NHL returned to the Winter Games.

A few months later, Slavin became just the second American-born player — and ninth player overall — to win Olympic gold and the Stanley Cup in the same season, as the Carolina Hurricanes eliminated the Vegas Golden Knights and hoisted the chalice for the first time since 2006.

Then the real fun began in the NHL, with one of the most drama-filled and unpredictable offseasons in recent history.

If you haven't kept up with the NHL in the past few months, don't fret, we've got you covered. Here's a chance to catch up on everything that has happened — the hirings, firings, signings, trades and the unfinished stories that could reach intense conclusions.

It's all in our guide to the 2026-27 season for lapsed fans. Read up before the puck drops!

The Hurricanes will try to become the fourth team in the last 11 seasons to repeat as Stanley Cup champions, but it's not going to be easy. The Florida Panthers, the last team to go back-to-back (2024, 2025), are back with a vengeance after injuries derailed their push for a three-peat to the point that they missed the playoffs entirely.

The Carolina Hurricanes are Stanley Cup champions! Here's a look back at how we celebrated every Stanley Cup champion going back to the 2018 season:

• Panthers 2025 | Panthers 2024
• Knights in 2023 | Avalanche in 2022
• Lightning in 2021 | Lightning in 2020
• Blues in 2019 | Capitals in 2018

Over in the Western Conference, the Colorado Avalanche are once again the favorites after