Playoff hockey returns, plus MLB's $3.9 billion team

The Pulse Newsletter 📣 | This is The Athletic’s daily sports newsletter. Sign up here to receive The Pulse directly in your inbox.Good morning. It’s the hardest trophy to win, but we hope this is the easiest newsletter to read. Coming up: 🏒 The Cup chase begins 🏀 The NBA playoffs, too! 🤑 Padres sale price stunner Primers: Storylines and questions for the Stanley Cup PlayoffsThe Stanley Cup Playoffs begin today. The storylines are so good: The league’s most tortured franchise has a real shot. I’m talking, of course, about the Sabres, the NHL’s obvious bandwagon favorites. When they host the Bruins tomorrow, it’ll be Buffalo’s first playoff game since 2011. This franchise had been an embarrassment, hockey’s version of the Jets (the New York ones, not the actual Winnipeg Jets), but this year has brought a true breakthrough. Hockey is revitalized in the city. Star defenseman and captain Rasmus Dahlin has an incredible story. Out of roughly nowhere, Buffalo put up the second-most points in the East. Series preview here. The top contenders are either flirting with dynasties or trying to repair a lot of scar tissue. The Avalanche are the overall favorite, trying to win their second Cup in five years. The Lightning are right after them, trying to win a third in seven. But the other frontline option is the Hurricanes, eternal contenders who have lost in the conference finals four times since 2009 and been swept in all but last year’s (a five-game loss). Is that more or less frustrating than the Stars, aka Hurricanes West, who have lost in that round three straight years? Then you get to the Oilers, who have lost two Cup finals in a row. Good news: The Panthers, who have beaten them both years, didn’t make the playoffs. Trickier news: Edmonton’s maligned goaltending remains untrustworthy (though it is trending up), and Connor McDavid’s costar, Leon Draisaitl, has been out f...