The NHL playoffs are over, and they were controversial because they always are. But just how controversial did the 2026 postseason get?After all, every NHL postseason has its share of controversial moments. But some are more memorable than others, and some have a staying power that can last decades or more. Whether it’s missed calls by Leon Stickle or Kerry Fraser, Brett Hull’s goal that counted or Martin Gelinas’ that didn’t, some moments become part of hockey’s permanent lore. Others will fade, maybe lingering within a specific fan base or two but otherwise relegated to “oh yeah, I vaguely remember that” status. And some may be forgotten altogether, having given us all something to yell about for a few days and then disappearing from the collective memory.This season? It might be too early to tell. So far, the NHL appears to have avoided anything with true skate-in-crease staying power. But you never really know which moments might resonate and which ones won’t. So today, let’s remember 10 of the biggest controversies of the 2026 playoffs, and how likely they are to be remembered in the future.Round 1: The weirdest penalty shot in playoff historyWhat happened?: With the Carolina Hurricanes trying to take a 2-0 series lead on home ice, Game 2 against the Ottawa Senators stretched deep into the first overtime period. With under four minutes left, Mark Jankowski buried what seemed to be the OT winner. But as the Hurricanes and their fans celebrated, the officials were reviewing … something. We just weren’t sure what.Eventually, we figured out they were looking at Jordan Staal putting himself offside, which they eventually ruled was the case. So the goal didn’t count, but we weren’t done. It turns out there had also been an ultra-rare overtime penalty shot called on the previous play. Linus Ullmark stopped Martinook, the game went into a second overtime, and Carolina eventually won.How mad did everyone get?: Pretty mad, eventually.At first, everyone was mainly confused — the NHL is absolutely terrible at explaining what they’re reviewing and why. But once we realized Staal had been ruled offside, fans seemed to split into three groups. There are those who hate offside review and thought this was another example of a nitpicky replay taking a perfectly valid goal off the board. (It was.) Other questioned if Staal really was offside at all, at least to the “any doubt whatsoever” standard the rulebook appears to demand. (He probably was, we think.) And then a group peeled off to question why the penalty shot still happened, since the offside should wipe out any future penalties. (It doesn’t.)In the end, Carolina won anyway, which turned the temperature down a bit. But as the first major controversy of the playoffs, this one was a fun chance for everyone to get back into game shape.Will we remember it?: The fact the game didn’t end on the weird sequence but Carolina did ultimately win anyway defused a possible bomb and demoted this one from major controversy status to a game we’ll probably just remember for its weirdness.Round 1: Crosby’s embellishmentWhat happened?: With the Philadelphia Flyers already leading the series 2-0 and on home ice, their Game 3 win over the Pittsburgh Penguins turned into a gong show. At one point, there were 11 players crammed into the penalty box. But the bigger controversy had come earlier, when Sidney Crosby was given an embellishment penalty after receiving what appeared to be an old-fashioned high stick in the face.How mad did everyone get?: Extremely mad bordering on mortally offended in Pittsburgh, where Dan Muse claimed Crosby had never been given an embellishment penalty in 21 years.Luckily, Flyers fans were cool about it and decided to try to defuse the situation by buying a giant billboard.Will we remember it?: Penguins fans might, absolutely. Flyers fans and Crosby haters too, although they’ll claim it was evidence they were right about the little faker all along. (The fact that the Flyers went on to lose six of their next seven games might diminish any football-spiking just a bit.)Round 1: Charlie at the batWhat happened?: The Buffalo Sabres and Boston Bruins delivered a nice Adams Division reunion, serving up six games and some entertaining finishes. But as the final minutes ticked away in Game 6, the Sabres had opened up a three-goal lead. It was over.Or at least, it should have been. But with less than two minutes left, Zach Benson sent Charlie McAvoy into the boards on what may or may not have been a slewfoot. McAvoy got up and immediately headed for the Sabres agitator, delivering a baseball-style swing that connected.How mad did everyone get?: Not quite as mad as McAvoy was, although given the season he just endured, you can kind of understand where he was coming from.Will we remember it?: We will next season, when McAvoy is sitting out the first six games.Round 1: The Ducks cross the lineWhat happened?: With the Anaheim Ducks leading the series 2-1 and Game 4 headed to overtime, the Edmonton Oilers were desperate for a win. But early in the first extra frame, a goal-mouth scramble that initially seemed harmless ended with Ducks players celebrating an apparent goal. With no immediate signal from the on-ice officials, confusion briefly reigned until we were told a review would determine whether the puck was over the line.And ultimately, it was decided that it was. Although if you’re an Oilers fan, you might not have been completely convinced.How mad did everyone get?: Mad enough that I felt the need to break out my MS Paint skills to prove the league got the call right.Eventually, that did become the consensus; the puck was pretty clearly in. But Oilers fans quickly shifted to a new target, pointing to the officials’ initial non-call that morphed into a goal call in the moments before the review. Since the call on the ice is crucial, the review could have turned out differently if the call on the ice had been no goal. So did two wrongs make a right? And if so, should that be how it works?Will we remember it?: I’m betting this one will be remembered much like the interference controversy between these two teams years earlier — you’ll be aware of it, even if you’re hazy on the exact details.Round 1 honorable mentionsA Frederik Andersen glove save that may have been over the line in Game 1 of Ottawa/Carolina; what sure seemed like a missed headbutt by Sean Durzi in Vegas/Utah; Ridly Greig’s sucker punch against Carolina.Round 2: Icing on the cakeWhat happened?: With five minutes left in a tied Game 1 between the Ducks and Golden Knights, a Vegas dump-in from their own side of the red line sure looked like it should have been icing. But it was waved off by the linesman, leading directly to an Ivan Barbashev goal that would hold up as the winner.How mad did everyone get?: Well, Joel Quenneville was pretty mad. And plenty of observers thought he had a point. (Also, this was a fun opportunity for all of us to remember that we’re not actually completely sure how delayed icing calls work.)Will we remember it?: Probably not, because it ultimately came in a Game 1 and the series had plenty of twists and turns left. But let’s put a pin in this one, for one very simple and terrifying reason: It’s starting to feel inevitable that at some point, we’re going to get a push for replay review on icing calls. That would be terrible, of course, for all the predictable reasons, but it’s going to happen. Are the Ducks going to be the team that sends their GM to the next rules meeting with a demand for expanded review? Let’s hope not, but if they are, this one might come back to haunt us.Round 2: What’s better than one endless video review?What happened?: In Game 4 of the Buffalo/Montreal series, the Sabres were already up 1-0 and pushing for more midway through the first. Jack Quinn got a golden chance, but initially appeared to have been robbed by Jakub Dobeš. That led to a lengthy video review that determined that the puck had actually crossed the line. But then the Canadiens challenged for interference, which led to a second, even lengthier review that ultimately took the goal back off the board.How mad did everyone get?: Very mad. And then annoyed. And then kind of melancholy. Really, there was enough time to feel every human emotion while the NHL’s replay process ground the world to a halt.Will we remember it?: That implies the review is over, and I’m not completely convinced it’s not still going on to this day.Round 2: The Knights snub the mediaWhat happened?: I went back and forth on whether to include this one, since it didn’t happen during a game. But unlike other off-ice controversies (like the Bruce Cassidy debacle), this one was directly related to a game result, so I think we can allow it.After beating the Ducks to advance to the conference final, the Knights failed to provide the usual locker room access to reporters, and John Tortorella refused to address the media. Both were clear violations of the league’s media policies, and the team was ultimately docked a second-round pick while Tortorella was fined $100,000.How mad did everyone get?: Reasonably mad, although in different ways. For many, this was one more example of the Knights behaving like the rules don’t apply to them, a reputation that seems to have curdled how they’re viewed by many fans. But there was also the usual “Why does the media think they’re so important” sub-plot that some fans love to break out whenever something like this happens. And other fans just wanted to know how snubbing some reporters resulted in a penalty that felt more serious than other teams have received for far worse.Will we remember it?: Tortorella’s accountant sure will.Round 2: They blew itWhat happened?: The Habs and Sabres gave us one of the best series of the postseason, a seven-game classic that featured an overtime winner. But before we got to sudden death, we need a Sabres rally to tie the game midway through the third. And then we needed what briefly looked like a potential winner to be waved off, thanks to an early whistle.How mad did everyone get?: Somewhat surprisingly, not all that mad. The basic outline — teams scores goal with minutes left in third period of deadlocked Game 7, only to see it wiped out because the referee blew an early whistle, and then loses in overtime — seems like a classic controversy we’d hear about for years. But in this case, it didn’t really seem to stick.It’s not like Sabres fans can’t hold a grudge: ask them about Hull’s skate, or about a certain puck-over-glass call from 2006. But in this case, the whistle was clearly blown well before the goal. And Dobeš did have the puck covered briefly, meaning it wasn’t even necessarily the wrong call.Will we remember it?: Some controversies have a sneaky way of laying low for a while, then turning into one of those things a fan base brings up for years. We’ll see if this one reaches that level, but it has some ground to cover to get there.Round 2 honorable mentionsTaylor Hall boards Travis Sanheim; Josh Manson butt-ends Michael McCarron.Conference finals: Everything is happeningWhat happened?: First things first — we had a remarkably controversy-free conference final round. Having both series only last a combined nine games certainly helped, but it was still a nice change of pace.That said, you have to hand it to the Habs and Hurricanes, who tried to work a full series’ worth of controversy into Game 3. We had an apparent Montreal winner called back on an offside review of an entry from 29 seconds earlier, followed by an obvious non-call on an overtime trip, followed by an even more obvious non-call on a too-many-men infraction, followed by Lane Hutson seeming to take an elbow to the head right before Carolina’s OT winner.How mad did everyone get?: Pretty mad for a few days, although that seemed to fade after the Hurricanes dominated Games 4 and 5, leading even the most loyal Habs fans to acknowledge that the better team won the series.Will we remember it?: Probably, as one big mish-mash of vaguely directed anger, the way the hockey gods intended.Stanley Cup final: Tortorella turns the tideWhat happened?: By the third period of Game 2, it seemed like the series might be headed towards dud status. The Knights had already won the opener, and now they were up 2-0 and just twenty minutes away from heading home with a two-game lead and a good chance at a sweep. Instead, the Hurricanes fought back to tie the game midway through the third, bringing their fans back to life along the way.Late in the third, the Knights seemed to retake the lead after Pavel Dorofeyev poked home a loose puck. But the goal was waved off, with the officials ruling it goaltender interference. John Tortorella challenged the call, but it stood after a review, meaning the Knights hadn’t just lost a goal but would now have to kill a penalty. When the Hurricanes converted on the power play, it sure seemed like we’d just seen a Stanley Cup Final hinge on a questionable coach’s challenge.How mad did everyone get?: Not quite as mad as we would have been if the power-play goal had held up as the winner. Instead, the Knights tied it late in regulation before Carolina won in overtime, which blurred the cause-and-effect narrative enough to dull the criticism of Tortorella’s call. For his part, he said he’d challenge again “10 out of 10” times, and I think he might be right. But either way, he seems to have escaped the “coach who blew a final” rap, at least for now.Will we remember it?: It’s too early to say, but I do wonder if we end up revisiting this one from a different angle: Was Torts right, and the Golden Knights were robbed of a good goal? And if so, did that non-goal swing the game? The series? The very fabric of our known universe? We’ll have to see where public consensus ends up falling.Late-round honorable mentionsA Hurricanes goal standing after review despite Logan Stankoven sitting on Dobeš in the last game of the Montreal/Carolina series; Pavel Dorofeyev’s gloved-in goal against Carolina in Game 3; two Knights goals being waved off in quick succession in Game 3 of the final.And the winners are…Let’s close the book on another controversial spring by handing out a few awards:Biggest controversy: Tortorella’s Game 2 challenge whiff.Dumbest controversy: The Knights media stuff, up to and including when the league quietly gives them their pick back before the draft.Controversy that didn’t ultimately decide a game so it was kind of fun: The Sens/Hurricanes phantom penalty shot.Most NHL-ish controversy: Taking ten minutes for a play that wasn’t a goal to end up still not being a goal in Sabres/Habs.Controversy most likely to be forgotten right up until it isn’t: The Ducks icing call, if it leads to a push for icing review.Controversy you’ll be surprised a fan base is still mad about in a few years: The Oilers losing to the Ducks and ending up with Mike Babcock because the stupid league ruled a goal a goal just because it was obviously a goal.Controversy that proves this league is rigged: The one that went against your favorite team, which I didn’t mention here because I’m obviously in on the conspiracy.