NHL Puckdoku answers and clues: September 18th, 2023

WARNING: THERE ARE PUCKDOKU SPOILERS AHEAD. DO NOT CONTINUE SCROLLING IF YOU DON’T WANT TODAY’S PUZZLE SPOILED FOR YOU.

The new game “Puckdoku” is taking the hockey world by storm. Here’s how it works. There’s a 3×3 grid, and each row and column are marked with either a team or a statistic of some sort. You have to guess players who meet the criteria for both the column and the row for the square you’re on. For example…if your square is in the Toronto Maple Leafs’ column and the St. Louis Blue row…Ryan O’Reilly would work. If it’s in the Washington Capitals column and the row says “40+ goals in a season”, Alex Ovechkin would work. You can play the daily Puckdoku puzzle here:

There’s also a rarity score in the form of a percentage next to the player you guess…the lower the percentage, the more rare the guess. Once you start getting used to the game, you want to shoot for a low rarity score. 

Without further ado, here are some hints for today’s Puckdoku puzzle.

Avalanche/Penguins: Player was a top-three pick in the 2005 NHL draft

Capitals/Penguins: Player is still playing in his native Czechia at the age of 51

Senators/Penguins: Player is currently under contract with the Maple Leafs

Avalanche/Predators: Player was drafted immediately after John Tavares and Victor Hedman

Capitals/Predators: Player is a two-time 20-goal scorer and reached 50 points three times

Senators/Predators: Player is married to a Country music superstar

Avalanche/OHL: Player was the Captain of the Kitchener Rangers in the early 2010s

Capitals/OHL: Player tallied 316 PIMs over three seasons with the Plymouth Whalers

Senators/OHL: Player had stints with the Toronto Maple Leafs and Dallas Stars

The most popular answers to today’s Puckdoku puzzle are below this picture of referees. Don’t scroll if you don’t want spoilers!