It hasn’t even been two months since the Carolina Hurricanes lifted the Stanley Cup to conclude an epic 2025-26 season, yet it already feels like an eternity ago.A wild NHL offseason proves how quickly the league is changing — we’ve seen several blockbuster trades, franchise players requesting out, the largest offer sheet in NHL history and a completely reset market for player contracts amid the skyrocketing salary cap.Is the NHL in a good or bad place? More than 20,000 readers participated in our NHL fan survey. The results are categorized into three areas: the game’s direction, the fan experience and the league’s future on and off the ice. We begin with how participants responded to questions about the state of the sport in 2026 — covering gambling, commissioner Gary Bettman and the hot-button no-state-taxes debate.Can the Sedins change the Canucks’ culture?Sean Gentille and Thomas DranceWhich of the following best describes your feelings about the current overall state of the NHL?Big picture, the NHL appears to be in a very healthy place. We know that the league is doing well financially based on how meteorically the salary cap, which is tied to revenue, is rising, but the product is also clearly resonating with fans.A vast majority of fans — 78.6 percent — are either "enthusiastic" or "hopeful" about the overall state of the NHL. The game has never been faster and more skilled; historic teenagers Macklin Celebrini and Matthew Schaefer have breathed new life into the sport, and scoring is way higher than it was 10-15 years ago. Games are tight, leads are almost never safe, and there's good parity and healthy turnover in terms of the teams that make the playoffs each year.Is the NHL perfect? Definitely not (more on that later). But the macro, 50,000-foot view is mostly positive because of how entertaining the on-ice product is.Next year will be Gary Bettman’s 34th season as NHL commissioner. That’s a long time, but how would you rate the job he has done overall as NHL commissioner?The boos won't ever stop for him at the NHL Draft, but the rating for Bettman's work as league commissioner is more favorable than you might have expected.Nearly 40 percent of respondents rated his work as a 3, which is neutral, but the bigger surprise is that twice as many fans scored him at a 4 rather than a 2. In fact, only 22.3 percent of fans rated him below a 3. In other words, while the Bettman dissenters are loud and still a meaningfully large population, most fans believe he's done a fine or better job.That satisfaction makes some sense: The on-ice product is excellent, the new CBA was negotiated without any hiccups or disputes, the game's casual audience is growing with the massively successful 4 Nations tournament and NHLers' return to the Olympics, and the league is in a very strong position financially.Is betting on hockey a regular part of your fan experience?Despite the proliferation of gambling advertisements in almost everything that's associated with the game, the overwhelming majority of fans do not regularly bet. It was very one-sided, with over 12 non-gamblers for every gambler among our audience.With the prevalence of gambling in hockey, are you worried about the integrity of the game?Most fans shared at least some concern about how the prevalence of gambling could affect the integrity of the game. And it makes sense considering the NBA's earth-shattering scandal, where current and former players were arrested on suspicion of gambling-related offenses. The MLB saw two players arrested last summer for alleged fixing. The NFL recently suspended an Arizona Cardinals executive for violating the league's gambling policy. The NHL hasn't been immune either, as Shane Pinto was suspended for 41 games in the 2023-24 season for "activities related to sports wagering," although the league clarified there was no evidence that Pinto was betting on NHL games.Are teams with no state income taxes gaining an unfair advantage?The majority of fans believe teams such as Florida, Vegas, Tampa Bay and Dallas gain an unfair edge because they don't have state income taxes. That's consistent with our 2024 survey, in which only 14.7 percent of respondents viewed it as an overblown issue. The debate and differing views start, however, when we discuss how much of an advantage it truly is and whether the league needs to do anything about it.Is the no state income taxes issue something that needs to be addressed by the league?This is where the results get fascinating. Back in 2024, 42.9 percent of voters thought the advantage was large enough that it warranted some intervention from the league to even the playing field. However, a nearly equal 41.5 percent voted that while these teams have an edge, it's not significant enough to warrant potentially complex changes.Two years later, the appetite for change continues to gradually increase. More than half — 54 percent — of voters said they'd like the league to do something to solve the no-state-taxes issue, with only 26 percent arguing against changes. With that said, the NHL doesn't seem to believe it's an unfair advantage, and the next CBA won't be negotiated for a few more years anyway.The Department of Player Safety…Fans across the board seem mostly unhappy with the league's Department of Player Safety, with 64 percent voting that its decisions are inconsistent, and an additional 16 percent saying it "mostly gets it wrong."