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The 'Stanley Cup droughts' quiz
Can you name the NHL franchises that have never won the Stanley Cup? One franchise is listed here as an answer that won multiple Stanley Cup Finals in its original run, but none in its current inception. Quiz clue: Conference. Good luck!
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13-year NHL veteran announces retirement
After a 13-season NHL career, veteran winger Cam Atkinson is hanging up his skates. The Blue Jackets announced Wednesday that they’ll be signing him to a one-day contract and will officially honor his retirement on Oct. 16 against the Avalanche. He’s expected to join Columbus in a front-office capacity at some point down the road, but that announcement won’t be coming now, he told Aaron Portzline of The Athletic. Atkinson is one of the better draft steals in Blue Jackets franchise history, coming to them in the sixth round in 2008. He signed with Columbus three years later after a great run at Boston College and made his NHL debut in 2011-12, although it took him another two years to fully establish himself on the active roster. After going up and down between Columbus and AHL Springfield, Atkinson broke out into a top-six role for the 2013-14 season. He finished third on the team with 21 goals and fourth with 40 points in 79 appearances, helping fuel the Jackets to a then-franchise record 43-win season that resulted in their second-ever playoff appearance. The undersized but skilled Atkinson remained a fixture in Columbus’s top six for the balance of the decade. He was a two-time All-Star, including his career-best 41-goal, 69-point effort in 2018-19 — leading the team in goals in the year they orchestrated one of the most drastic upsets in league history by sweeping the Presidents’ Trophy-winning Lightning in the first round for their first series win in franchise history. After the COVID-shortened 2021 season, Atkinson had totaled a 213-189-402 scoring line in 627 games for Columbus, still holding up as the second-leading goalscorer and point-getter in the Jackets’ record books behind Rick Nash. After Atkinson’s points per game production peaked at 0.86 in that career year, he only managed to produce at about a 0.60 pace over the next two years. That soft decline led Columbus to ship Atkinson to the Flyers in the 2021 offseason in a one-for-one swap for Jakub Voráček. In hindsight, it turned out to be a bit of a lose-lose endeavor. Atkinson seemed to pop back into form with a 23-27–50 effort in 73 games in 2021-22, but a neck injury sustained in the following training camp ended up costing him the entire 2022-23 season and accelerating his decline. He had just 28 points in 70 games for Philly upon returning to play in 2023-24, leading the club to buy out the final year of the seven-year, $41.13M extension he signed with Columbus back in 2017. Atkinson became an unrestricted free agent a year ahead of schedule and signed on with the Lightning on a one-year deal worth $900K. The bounceback he was looking for never came, though. He struggled to stick in the lineup and played sparingly when he did dress, averaging just nine minutes per game across 39 contests. After finishing the year with a 4-5-9 scoring line, the Lightning were quick to say Atkinson wouldn’t be brought back. Atkinson told Portzline that he received professional tryout offers this summer but declined them, saying he essentially made up his mind when he made his final regular-season appearance for Tampa. He ends his career with a 253-236-489 scoring line in 809 appearances, including a -11 rating while averaging north of 17 minutes per game. We at Pro Hockey Rumors congratulate Atkinson on a lengthy and successful pro career and wish him the best in whatever comes next.
Bengals' Zac Taylor explains shocking Joe Flacco move for Packers game
Roughly 24 hours after outsiders learned that the Cincinnati Bengals were acquiring veteran quarterback Joe Flacco from the Cleveland Browns, Bengals head coach Zac Taylor confirmed that Flacco will start over Jake Browning when 2-3 Cincinnati plays at the Green Bay Packers (2-1-1) this coming Sunday. While speaking with media members, Taylor explained that somewhat surprising decision. Why Zac Taylor believes he can get Joe Flacco "up to speed quickly" "He's already spent a lot of time meeting with us, getting up to speed, so I feel really good about where he's at," Taylor said about Flacco, per Dave Clark of the Cincinnati Enquirer. "You just know him. ...Very comfortable with his style, concepts he's good at, things that we do. All of the terminology, there's a carryover, more so than I would have anticipated. So I feel like we can get him up to speed quickly." Flacco lost three of four September starts with the Browns before the Super Bowl XLVII Most Valuable Player was benched in favor of rookie Dillon Gabriel. According to Pro Football Reference stats, Flacco began Wednesday ranked last in the NFL among qualified players with a 60.3 passer rating for the ongoing season. Additionally, he's 28th out of 32 signal-callers with a 36.7 adjusted QBR. That said, Flacco is a 40-year-old who has seen every defensive concept an opposing coordinator could and will throw his way. Back on Sept. 21, he helped the Browns earn a 13-10 win over the Packers in downtown Cleveland. Zac Taylor likes that Joe Flacco faced this Packers defense in September "It's different than a young quarterback coming in, trying to learn the system and understand what a defense is trying to do to try to challenge you," Taylor added about his decision to start Flacco versus the Packers. "Not only that, but he's played Green Bay this year, so he's already gone through a week of prep. ...Now the communication and the weekly rhythm is maybe different and unique, but he's already prepared for this opponent. So he gets a chance to refresh himself on that, while at the same time just learning our system and our terminology...and how we operate." Shortly after Taylor made his comments, ESPN BET had the Bengals listed as massive 14.5-point underdogs against Green Bay. Perhaps that line and the fact that he was discarded by Cleveland will give Flacco some extra motivation heading into the showdown that will take place at Lambeau Field.
There may be a new big-name head coach available and a pursuit by Dolphins owner Stephen Ross would be a recipe for disaster — even if Miami fires Mike McDaniel
The Miami Dolphins may, eventually, have a head coaching vacancy before the end of the year. And, should that development materialize, team owner Stephen Ross will be faced with what very well could be seen as the defining decision of his legacy as the team's owner. Ross has been through a slew of coaches since assuming majority control of the Dolphins organization in 2009. Tony Sparano, Joe Philbin, Adam Gase, Brian Flores, and currently Mike McDaniel have served as the head coaches of the Dolphins under Ross — plus interim terms from both Todd Bowles and Dan Campbell. During his tenure, Ross has had an eye towards big-name head coaching candidates on more than one occasion. He flirted with Jim Harbaugh out of Stanford while Sparano was still under contract as the coach of the team, which drew ire and strife within the organization. And who can forget the inappropriate contact with Sean Payton, in which the Dolphins were reportedly primed to offer a $100 million contract to coach in Miami after sending compensation to New Orleans? Brian Flores' suit against the Dolphins squashed that quickly — and Miami was subsequently stripped of first and third-round draft choices for tampering charges for both Payton and quarterback Tom Brady that summer after investigation. As a potential vacancy for Miami lingers, there may soon be another big-name coach available on the market — one that the Dolphins are very familiar with. His name is Bill Belichick. And if it comes to be reality, my only words for Stephen Ross would be this: "Please don't." New report indicates Bill Belichick's tenure at North Carolina could soon be over — and he'd be a disaster hire for the Dolphins despite his coaching legacy A report from Ollie Connelly this afternoon highlights the tenuous state of affairs for former New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick and his current team, the North Carolina Tar Heels. In an effort to extend his coaching career, Belichick dipped to the college ranks this year after a "gap year" in 2024. It has been an unmitigated disaster, with the Tar Heels sitting at 2-3 with wins over Richmond and Charlotte. They've been uncompetitive in their three contests against TCU, UCF, and Clemson. Unmitigated disaster is a suitable adjective not only for Belichick's time at North Carolina, but essentially also his entire career from the moment that Tom Brady packed his bags and headed south for Tampa Bay. There's a 29-39 record in New England, the decision to make a former defensive coordinator (Matt Patricia) serve as his offensive play caller for a second-year quarterback, tabloid headlines, being bypassed in the 2024 hiring cycle, landing at North Carolina, petty pissing contests with Robert Kraft and the Patriots, and now this. It's been one goofy, unserious development after another that has many questioning the legacy of Belichick beyond his experiences with Brady as his quarterback. Bill Belichick's coaching record with and without Tom Brady Belichick's coaching record with Tom Brady: 249-75 (.769 win percentage) Belichick's coaching record without Tom Brady: 84-104 (.447 win percentage) Belichick's current coaching record at North Carolina: 2-3 (.400 win percentage) as of October 8th 2025 Make no mistake about it — there's a wealth of football knowledge here that is unrivaled. Bill's seen more football than most would ever dream of and he's forgotten more about football than I'll probably ever know. Belichick will be a first-ballot Pro Football Hall of Fame inductee when he's eligible. But he's given no one any reason to believe that he's still an effective head coach in the past half of a decade. The incubated nature of his coaching tree in New England posed major problems down the stretch for his ability to assemble a quality assistant staff. And, as we've seen for a decade plus now, those in his coaching tree that have tried to spread their wings and fly on their own elsewhere in the NFL have failed spectacularly any time they've been given an opportunity. The Dolphins know a little something about that, too — although Brian Flores' failures with the Dolphins were not because of defensive acumen or scheme. It was instead because of a power struggle over personnel, a failed bid to acquire embattled quarterback Deshaun Watson in 2021, the inability to assemble a quality coaching staff on offense, and the alleged scar tissue from the organization's misdeeds during a 2019 rebuild year in which Ross, as accused by Flores, offered him significant bonuses for every loss. And all of that is before we acknowledge that Bill Belichick will be 74-years old next spring and would be the second-oldest head coach in the league if he were to re-enter the ranks of NFL lead men in 2026. That's not a long-term solution to Ross' lingering legacy as the Dolphins team owner. It's a bandaid. And a used one, at that. So please, Mr. Ross. If you find yourself seeking a new head coach for the 2026 season and the name Bill Belichick crosses your mind, I beg you. Just...don't. This is one big fish not worth attempting to reel in — go find your prized catch elsewhere if you need a new coach this winter. window.addEventListener('message', function (event) {if (event.data.totalpoll event.data.totalpoll.action === 'resizeHeight') {document.querySelector('#totalpoll-iframe-426').height = event.data.totalpoll.value;}}, false);document.querySelector('#totalpoll-iframe-426').contentWindow.postMessage({totalpoll: {action: 'requestHeight'}}, '*');
4 concerning Vikings statistics that must improve after the bye
The Minnesota Vikings are a 3-2 football team heading into their bye week. They've done some good things through the first five weeks of the season, but they also have a lot of areas they need to improve. Frankly, the Vikings are a bit fortunate to have three wins, considering the comebacks they had to mount to beat the Bears and Browns. They've trailed going into the fourth quarter in four of their five games, including three games where they didn't score a touchdown in the first 45 minutes of action. That level of play isn't going to be nearly good enough for the rest of this season. The Vikings have had one of the easier schedules in the league so far, but they have one of the toughest schedules for the remainder of the campaign. Improvement must start with cleaning up these four unsightly statistics, which are all areas where the Vikings rank at or near the bottom of the league. Sack percentage (offense): 11.7 percent NFL rank: 32nd Through five weeks, no team has taken more sacks than the Vikings, whose quarterbacks have gone down 21 times on 180 dropbacks. That 11.7 percentage leads the league; the Ravens are the only other team with at least a 10 percent sack rate on offense. J.J. McCarthy was the worst offender, taking nine sacks on just 55 dropbacks over the first two weeks (16.4 percent). But Carson Wentz was sack-prone too, with 12 of them on 120 dropbacks. It's something McCarthy will have to show that he can improve in order to regain the starting role. Sacks fall on the play-caller, the quarterback, and the offensive line to varying degrees. All three have to find a way to fix this drive-killing issue for the Vikings after the bye week, starting against an Eagles defense that is surprisingly towards the bottom of the league in sacks so far. Third down conversion percentage (offense): 31 percent NFL rank: 31st This one, to some extent, goes hand in hand with the previous stat. The Vikings are converting third downs less than a third of the time, which is not where you want to be. Only the Titans and rookie QB Cam Ward have been less effective on third down this season (29 percent). Kevin O'Connell's team was up near 40 percent last year. Part of this stat has to do with the average third-down distances teams face. But despite their sack woes, the Vikings are actually near the middle of the pack in terms of yards needed on third down. One reason for that is that third down is where a big chunk of those sacks have occurred. Third and longs are tough for everyone, so a big key to being successful on third down is avoiding those situations by staying on schedule on early downs. With that said, the Vikings are also well below the league average with a 47 percent conversion rate on third downs of three yards or fewer remaining, so they also need to improve in short-yardage situations. Percentage of first downs gained via rush (defense): 47.1 percent NFL rank: 32nd Most of the statistics for the Vikings' defense are pretty positive. They've been good so far, even if it's fair to admit that their advanced numbers are skewed a bit by a dominant performance against the Bengals in Week 3. The one area why the Vikings could use some real improvement is in their run defense. The raw numbers for the Vikings' rushing defense (yards per game, yards per carry, etc.) aren't great. But this stat we found was particularly interesting. 47 percent of Vikings opponents' first downs are coming on the ground, which is the highest rate in the league. Teams aren't having a ton of success against the Vikings through the air, but why throw the ball when you're confident you can move the chains with the run game? That stat would be notable by itself, but it's even more interesting when you look at the 2024 numbers and see that the Vikings had the second-lowest rate in this category last season, with just 25.5 percent of opponent first downs being acquired via the run. Accepted penalties per game: 8.8 NFL rank: 1st (in a bad way) Simply put, the Vikings have to find a way to stop generating so many flags against them. They lead the league in both total accepted penalties (44) and penalties committed on a per-game basis. They've had procedural issues on offense, they've committed fouls on defense, and they've been flagged in the kickoff and punt phases on special teams. Across the board, they have to clean up their execution and avoid the negatives that put them in more difficult siutations.
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