This season in the NHL has been a wild one and we are just coming out of the Four Nations Faceoff Break. Unfortunately, the U.S. could not come out with the Gold Medal losing to Canada 3-2 in overtime. But in the actual NHL if you zoom in on the Eastern Conference Playoff race you can see probably one of the wildest races to the postseason that we’ve seen in the NHL since maybe 2010. Let’s take a look at what teams are in the race, if they could make it, how far they could go, and what’s at stake.
The Locks
The teams in this section are the teams that have a 95% chance to make the playoffs or higher. These teams are the Cup Favorites in the Eastern Conference there is one shocking team in here that nobody expected at the start of the season.
That team is the Washington Capitals coming into this season they were coming off of a first-round exit via a sweep from the Rangers after they had made the playoffs in last year’s wild finish in game 82. People expected the only thing of note from the Caps to be the Great 8 Chase with Alex Ovechkin going for Gretzky’s record. That has not been the case MoneyPuck.com has the Capitals at a 99.9% chance to make the playoffs they lead the Metropolitan Division with 84 points through 57 games. How are they doing this? Well, simply they are just all-around good. They obviously have Alex Ovechkin who was on an absolute tear to start the season and could really be going for the record in the next couple of weeks if he didn’t miss 6 weeks with a broken leg. They have one of the best goaltending duos in the league with Logan Thompson putting together a nice bounce-back season after his save percentage dropped to about .900 last season with Vegas, put him together with Charlie Lindgren who was already great last year and now he can be fully rested every start… phew that quite the tandem. That’s also not even mentioning their defense, anchored by veteran John Carlson and star Martin Fehvervary, alongside offseason acquisition Jakob Chychrun this is an incredible team. How far could they go? This team could win the Stanley Cup. If the goaltending stays hot (which we have seen Washington goaltenders fall apart before) the offense won’t be the most flashy but, it gets the job done and with that defense, they will be the favorites. My prediction, win the Eastern Conference over the Panthers in 6.
Toronto Maple Leafs: This is the year right?
Many people are looking at the Maple Leafs as the team they have been since 2013, just like the Dallas Cowboys consistently great in the regular season but also consistently chokers in the playoffs. Last season they finished 3rd in the Atlantic Division they went into the TD Garden in Boston a house of horrors for the Leafs. They fell behind in the series 3-1 they got their fan’s hopes up by forcing a Game 7 back in Boston, and David Pastarnak broke their hearts. This year they are now first in the Atlantic battling the defending cup champion Florida Panthers for the number 1 seed out of the Atlantic Division. How are they doing this? Well, it’s the same as every year they have one of the best offenses in the league, a decent defense that gets exposed against the teams that grind out the game like Florida and Carolina, and they have a good goaltender who tends to flounder in the postseason. Auston Matthews is the best regular season performer since Mats Sundin. But the team seems to be fine without him. Nobody will say that the team is better without him but in the small sample size when Matthews was hurt at the beginning of the year the team was winning a lot of games. Matthews put up 69 goals last season in a 107 point campaign just to put up 1 goal in 5 playoff games despite his series going 7 games he didn’t play in game 5 or 6. Both games 5 and 6 were won by Toronto. This year the questions about how he can play in a high pressure situation still are there and maybe even louder after his horrid performance in overtime against Canada in the Four Nations Faceoff Championship. Having three high quality attempts and not scoring, he lost the faceoff in his own zone and then left the best player in the world Connor McDavid wide open in the slot for the GWG. How far can this team go in the postseason? Second round at best. This team for Toronto reminds me a lot of the team that knocked off Tampa for their first series win since 2004. They have their top two lines that can produce. A dominant power play. Decent defense and a goaltender who could withstand himself if they played the right team but probably would be unable to withstand a full playoffs past two rounds. My prediction second seed in the Atlantic lose to the Lightning in 6 games in the first round.
Florida Panthers: Two in a row?
The party is still going on down in Sunrise Florida as the Panthers looked locked in. No hangover from last year whatsoever. Right now the Panthers are 2nd in the Atlantic Division fighting with the Maple Leafs for 1st. They still have Sergei Bobrovsky in net but he hasn’t been as good as he was last year, Spencer Knight has been outstanding when Bobrovsky has needed a break and that has been why the Panthers have still been able to stay great. An area for concern? Matthew Tkachuk’s season is now in jeopardy of being over. Paul Maurice the Head Coach of the Panthers spoke yesterday and said, “There’s a possibility it’s not too serious, but there is a possibility it is a bit longer term,” Paul Maurice stated, via Panthers beat writer Jameson Olive. “Even with that, he’s playing for us this year.” The Florida Machine is still rolling and with that, they will obviously be in the mix for the Eastern Conference Title. An electric defensive core will lead them to some success but the weakness of this team to me is the fact that their “core” pieces have some rough +/- numbers. Matthew Tkachuk doesn’t have the worst +/- at just -3 but Carter Verhaeghe has a -13 and Sam Bennett has a -12. That sort of poor defensive play from your grinder Sam Bennett, and some of your top goal scorers will not work in the postseason. My prediction 1st Seed in the Atlantic lose in the Eastern Conference Finals to the Capitals after benefiting from a weak Atlantic bracket.
Carolina Hurricanes: Stop Getting Our Hopes Up
The Hurricanes again are one of the league’s best teams. They are doing this with the Florida Panthers formula an elite defense led by Jacob Slavin, who had an amazing Four Nations Faceoff with the US. They have their two top lines that score their goals, they have their bottom lines be nuisances to other teams, and they have good goaltending. This has worked for them for multiple regular seasons in a row and they had their best chance against the Florida Panthers in the 2022 Eastern Conference Finals which they were swept losing every game down at the last second. What has been proven over the last few years is that the Hurricanes have great players for the regular season but they don’t have the same clutch factor the Panthers have. That was apparent when they played in that conference final, Florida’s grinders came up clutch, and Carolina’s did not. Going into this trade deadline the Hurricanes have already made one trade this year with the Avalanche. The Canes got Mikko Rantanen and the Avs got Jack Drury and star forward Martin Necas. This trade has not worked out so far for the Hurricanes just one goal since the trade for Rantanen and Necas has been big for Colorado. The Hurricanes also now have no cap space to make a move at the Trade Deadline so they cannot pick up anyone to help their issue with depth scoring. How far can they go? This team could go as far as the Cup Final but like I mentioned earlier having players that fade away in the postseason is going to stop them from reaching the ultimate goal and the person who should know this the most is their head coach Rod Brind’amour. He was the captain of their Stanley Cup Winning team in 2006 and he was able to see Justin Williams come out of the blue and Cam Ward stand on his head and keep the game alive for the Hurricanes the entire postseason. The Hurricanes don’t have that this year. My prediction, second round loss to the Capitals in 5 games after getting the third seed in the Metropolitan.
Tampa Bay Lightning: Cementing a Legacy
The more things change the more things stay the same. That has been the case for the Tampa Bay Lightning this year, this is the first season without their future Hall of Famer Steven Stamkos since 2008, he left for Nashville this offseason (it’s been a complete flop). The Lightning have still been good this year and they have made the playoffs 10 of the last 11 seasons they still have stars but without Stamkos this year this is very impressive. They still are led by Nikita Kucherov who is one the league’s best skaters, they have elite goalscorers Brayden Point, Jake Guentzel, and Brandon Hagel. They also have a lockdown defensive core in Victor Hedman, Darren Raddysh, Eric Cernak, and Ryan McDonagh who seems like he’s been in the league forever and is only 35. They have the best goaltender of the last 10 seasons in Andrei Vasilevskiy over these seasons Vasi has put up a GAA of 2.54 which is very good. The core of Kucherov, Point, Hagel, and Vasilevskiy has already led the Lightning to two Stanley Cup Championships, and another runner-up. How the Lightning have had success this year is the consistency between the pipes, Top line goal scoring, and a shutdown defense. Can this stay into the postseason? No this will probably not stay into the postseason. Similarly to the end of the Red Wings century of dominance the extra games you play in deep postseason runs take a toll on your body. The Lightning have dealt with some injuries this year, and Nikita Kucherov just missed the last game against Montreal with an upper body injury. My prediction, Third Seed in the Atlantic lose to the Panthers in 5 games in the second round.
New Jersey Devils: We’re Back
The Devils last year were ABYSMAL. Everyone got hurt, Lindy Ruff’s system did not work at all, and the goaltending was awful. What the heck happened? How did they get so good? The main reasons are the fact that Jack Hughes has stayed healthy and the goaltending is much improved. The Jacob Markstrom and Jake Allen tandem have combined to put up a GAA of 2.46 and a save percentage of .913. The defense this year is led by Dougie Hamilton and he has been good, not great but, good. The Devils look to get back to the playoffs with Sheldon Keefe behind the bench as their coach for his first season with the Devils, the Devils haven’t made the playoffs since 2022 and haven’t won a Stanley Cup since 2003. How far can this team go? Well, the defense is going to limit them this year it’s much improved from last year but that’s not a high bar at all. They have been giving up a lot of odd-man rushes and the penalty kill has been middle of the pack and slumping recently. If it continues into the postseason that will be detrimental because teams do get fewer power play chances because the officials let them play more but the quality of players on the power play increases in the playoffs and they will score. With scoring always at a premium in the playoffs if you have a defensive weakness that will be your pitfall. My prediction, Second Seed in the Metropolitan lose to the Hurricanes in 7 games in the first round.
A Sweat to the Finish
Ottawa Senators: Back From Last
The Ottawa Senators are finally fighting for a playoff spot. Yes, truly fighting. Not what they were doing halfway through 2022 and 2023, they are currently sitting just outside the second wildcard spot, with 62 points in 57 games. The core of Brady Tkachuk, Tim Stuzle, and Shane Pinto are finally breaking out together. However, they are starting to fade. 3 games before the break they were 3rd in the Atlantic Division they lost all three and went into the break tied for the top wildcard spot, they lost in their first game out of the break to a fellow slumping team the Montreal Canadiens and had a tough stretch of games coming up. The Senators are doing this through the core mentioned previously, Tim Stuzle and Brady Tkachuk have 18 goals and 21 goals respectively. The trade that partially stole the spotlight during Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals between the Senators and Bruins has been working out well for the Senators. The Sens got superstar goaltender Linus Ullmark and gave up Jonas Korpisalo who has been rough. The slump for the Senators has been because of the injury to Linus Ullmark he is trying to work through a back injury that kept him off the ice for a bit he’s back now but he has struggled a little bit. How far could they go? Eh, they could make the playoffs but the defense isn’t the greatest and the offense isn’t good enough to cover it up I could see them making the playoffs and maybe dragging a series to 6 games and losing but you never know with hockey. My prediction, miss the postseason. Someone has to be the team that falls off and unfortunately for Senators fans, it’s probably going to be you guys again, sorry! Next year though with the right moves they could very well find themselves as one of the elite teams.
Detroit Red Wings: Hockeytown is Starving
Hockeytown, USA, the city of Detroit has actually not been the laughingstock of every sports league. The city is on the verge of having all 4 major sports teams make the playoffs (for the first time ever), if the Wings don’t screw it up. Detroit currently sits at the top Wildcard spot with 66 points in 58 games after an absolutely horrendous start under head coach Derek Lalonde, Todd McClellan has righted the ship the power play is reaching numbers the 2022 Oilers were at. Now McClellan has been known to flop in the postseason but I don’t think any Wings fan could be upset about a postseason flop if they get there. The Red Wings now are gearing up for a crucial next 2 games both against Columbus who sit just behind them with 64 points in 58 games. One game at Detroit on Thursday, one game at Ohio Stadium in the Stadium Series on Saturday. This is very reminiscent of the 2022 Detroit Red Wings when they were on a bit of a winning streak nearing the Trade Deadline and they were traveling to Ottawa for back to back road games and they lost both. The difference between that team and this team is a lot. You could write a book on the differences between these teams but for the sake of time, the major differences are the threats on the ice. Dylan Larkin is having the best season of his career at the 50 game mark he was on pace to score 40 goals he is in a bit of a slide right now but he continues to rack up points with multiple assists per week. He could very well be an 85 point scorer and his value on the power play is unbelievable. He has 13 PPG which is tied for first in the NHL. The youth on this team compared to the 2022 team is also a key difference. The Wings have been able to get the young guys involved and the Yzerplan is starting to come to fruition. Marco Kasper is a key young player with 10 goals and 13 assists in 53 games he has been the best rookie to come through to Detroit since Moritz Seider won the Calder Trophy in 2021. If the Wings win just 1 of these games they will be still in prime position to make the postseason, and if they win both that would really give them a cushion, but lose both and then you start to wonder. These games really affect how they approach the trade deadline. They have a few pieces that could hold some value at the deadline in Amadeus Lombardi, and Vladamir Tarasenko, along with multiple draft picks. They have been rumored to maybe be a team that could trade for star forward Dylan Cozens from the Sabres but who knows? How far could they go? Second round exit at best. They have the offense that could cover up the defensive errors on this team especially as they go to their third defensive pairing with Erik Gustafson and Justin Holl on the ice at the same time. The penalty kill is also horrendous which isn’t as bad as having a bad power play come playoff time but it will probably be the reason they would be eliminated whenever that is. My prediction, top wildcard spot, first round exit, but they make the series with the Panthers very fun. They will drag the Panthers into a high scoring series it will go 6 or 7 games and it will give Detroit fans a chance to remind the league of what it used to be like going to Joe Louis Arena.
Columbus Blue Jackets: For Johnny
The Columbus Blue Jackets are the feel good story of the league coming into this season the Blue Jackets were coming off of the worst week ever for a franchise. They traded away Patrick Laine to the Montreal Canadiens, and then the heartbreaking tragedy with Johnny Gaudreau and his brother Matthew tragically being killed by a drunk driver. The Blue Jackets started the season very rough and it looked like another season lost until they rattled off two separate runs winning 5 of 6 and 6 in a row. They went into the Four Nations break a little rough losing 4 in a row but they have already picked up 2 wins out of the break against Chicago and Dallas. Now they get ready to take on former Western Conference Central Division rivals in back-to-back games as stated earlier. The Blue Jackets will take on the Red Wings in 2 massive games battling for not only the top wildcard spot but a fight to separate themselves from the pack like the Lightning did just recently. How have they done this? The core of Zach Werenski, Kirill Marchenko, and Sean Monohan have emerged as budding superstars they are leading their team in points and goals and have done exactly what has been asked of them. How far could they go? Well, when you get a story like this sometimes you feel that it could last forever, they do have good goaltending, good offense, and an okay defense, but unfortunately things just sometimes don’t work out. My prediction, first round exit at the hands of the Capitals in 6 games. They will make the series interesting and maybe bring out some memories of their shocking upset of the Tampa Bay Lightning back in 2019 but this machine from the nation’s capital will just be too strong.
New York Rangers: How??
The New York Rangers last year were just two wins away from making the Stanley Cup Finals and now they are in grave danger of missing the playoffs and it’s not like they had a lot of roster turnover. They have relatively the same roster from last year they just, aren’t good. Chris Kreider is finally starting to show signs of aging, Mika Zibanejad hasn’t been himself this year, and management has panicked. The Rangers traded former 21st overall pick Filip Chytil to the Canucks for J.T. Miller along with other pieces. They got rid of Kappo Kakko as well. If these moves don’t work out the Ranger may be in a spot where they need to rebuild and retool. They still sit outside the Playoff Picture with 62 points in 58 games and they have a relatively hard schedule left with 2 more games against Minnesota, Winnipeg, and Toronto, and 1 game left with Florida, and Washington. The Rangers are by no means out of it but the panic has been hit. How far can this team go? Well, they still have most of a core that has played for teams that made deep runs in the playoffs but they still have to get there. If they get there I could see an underdog run to the Eastern Conference Finals but we will have to see. My prediction, miss the postseason, it’s just bound to happen all good things must come to an end, and for Rangers fans, this is one of them. You started the season hot but you can’t have a collapse like this, and then panic the way that they did, and expect to still make the playoffs.
Boston Bruins: Aches and Pains All Around
Just to put salt in the wounds for Bruins fans during the Four Nations Face Off Charlie McAvoy with an infection and significant injury to his right AC joint in his shoulder. On top of that 2023 All-Star Hampus Lindholm will not come back this year with a knee injury. The Bruins have been in a bit of a free fall the last bit as they have lost 4 in a row and 6 of their last 10. They are by no means out of it but it is very disheartening for them to have held the third place spot in the Atlantic with a few games left before the break and then be out of the spot by the time the Four Nations Break hits. They sit at 62 points through 59 games but still, the playoffs are well within reach. They don’t have much cap space to use at the trade deadline so it will be interesting to see what they do at the trade deadline. How far could this team go? Not far if they somehow pave a way to the playoffs this team doesn’t have much of a chance against Florida or Washington who are just much more complete teams than the Bruins. My prediction, miss the playoffs by about 7 points. It’s just bound to happen like the Rangers and it would be weird seeing a postseason without the Rangers or Bruins but it would be a breath of fresh air. They could still turn it around but right now they are digging themselves a hole they can’t get out of.
Final Thoughts
All in all my guess is just as good as anyone’s and this is just what I think so I could either be exactly right or I could be completely wrong. To recap here is a picture with the standings summarized in visual form.
The Capitals will be your Eastern Conference Champions and will look to break the Presidents Trophy curse by winning the Stanley Cup Finals. They will get there after beating Columbus, Carolina, and Florida. The Devils will get the second seed in the Metro and they would lose to the third seed Hurricanes. Florida will be the one seed in the Atlantic they will reach the Eastern Conference Finals by beating Detroit, and Tampa. Toronto will again have another high seed and lose in the first round to the Lightning who will be the third seed.
Kelly Kubinski 
Reah Frydrych