NHL superstar roundtable: Top players discuss playoff format, cheat meals, hype-up music

HENDERSON, Nev. — With training camps opening up this week, the NHL is close to being back in action for the 2025-26 season after an eventful summer that included a new Collective Bargaining Agreement between the League and the players.

ESPN’s Kristen Shilton and Greg Wyshynski caught up with dozens of stars at the NHL Player Media Tour near Las Vegas last week and asked all the pertinent questions:

What did they like about the new CBA? Who will take advantage of the new relaxed dress code? Are they happy with the current playoff format? Plus, their favorite “cheat meals,” pregame pump-up tunes and weird equipment quirks.

Here’s what the NHL’s best had to say:

What’s your favorite cheat meal?

“I’ll go with my most recent: I had just a massive plate of chicken wings on Sunday to watch some NFL football. Like every other American. I’m a Giants fan. We scored less than a touchdown in Week 1. I’m not a hot chicken wing guy. I like the flavors. I went honey buffalo and garlic parm. It’s so good.” — Charlie McAvoy, Boston Bruins

A burger from 7th Street in New York — Mathew Barzal, New York Islanders

“Probably a burger and fries.” — Connor Bedard, Chicago Blackhawks

“Pizza. Domino’s. Unbelievable. Everything there.” — Seth Jarvis, Carolina Hurricanes

“Probably like a burger, something like that. There’s some good spots in Denver for burgers. Hard to pinpoint one. But the Cherry Cricket has a solid burger.” — Cale Makar, Colorado Avalanche

“I’ll go with Shake Shack. Burger, fries and a chocolate shake. That’s a legit cheat meal. Some people are probably giving you, like, half answer.” — Travis Sanheim, Philadelphia Flyers

“Pizza. Pineapple and ham.” — Victor Hedman, Tampa Bay Lightning

“Pizza with prosciutto. Not the American one. Like, the fancy pizza. Nice Italian one. Prosciutto with burrata.” — Lukas Dostal, Anaheim Ducks

“Nachos. Tacos. Something Mexican, for sure.” — Brady Skjei, Nashville Predators

“Chick-fil-a. Or a Culver’s burger, fries and chocolate shake.” — Jake Oettinger, Dallas Stars

“A burger. From anywhere. I’m easy.” — Macklin Celebrini, San Jose Sharks

What are you happiest about in the CBA?

“I appreciate that training camp is a little bit shorter. I’m not the biggest fan of camp, so that’ll be good. And I think [adding] the two more games, I mean, anyone can grind out two more games. It’s not like they’re adding 10 right? It’s going to be fine.” — Jarvis

“The relaxed dress code is cool. I think our [Finnish players] are definitely gonna take advantage. They just have cool stuff, and they look cool. I’m not the type of guy that can, like, pull off anything. I literally have sweatpants or golf clothes or suits, so I need to kind of branch out a little bit more. I’m excited to see what Roope Hintz cracks out because it feels like he could be wearing the craziest thing ever. And he makes it look cool.” — Oettinger

“I guess shorter preseason is probably the biggest thing. You’d rather play more [regular-season] games than have a long preseason, I think.” — Jack Hughes, New Jersey Devils

“No more suits. That’s pretty good. A lot of people talk about the 84-game season, but it comes with less training camp and less preseason games, so it kind of evens itself out at the end. But I’d rather play two more meaningful games than two preseason games.” — Pierre-Luc Dubois, Washington Capitals

“I think the cap-compliant thing for the playoffs was neat. I think it was something that everyone loved to complain about, but now that’s sort of taken care of, so the playing field is level again. So I think they did a good job with that. And then 84 games will be a lot, I’ll tell you that. I thought 82 was good. But here comes 84.” — McAvoy

“I think maybe the healthcare that they added. I just think that’s an important thing to have post-career. Obviously, guys that have retired before have stuff about that and said it’s an important part of it, so it’s good to see.” — Clayton Keller, Utah Mammoth

“No dress code. I like guys who express their fashion. You look at football guys, basketball, they get to show off. It’s good that we get that too.” — Hedman

“The dress code. You can express a little bit more yourself. But I still like to keep the suits. I like my suits. You invested in suits, but then…