With the NHL season hitting it’s mid-point, it’s only natural to look at who is on the playoff bubble in the Western Conference. Aside from the top two teams in each division, who’s in, who’s out, who has a chance, and who is falling out of the race?
THE TEAMS
At the time of this writing, there are seven teams within seven points of the wildcard spots in the West. The Minnesota Wild, Calgary Flames, and Arizona Coyotes are the farthest away, but are not out of striking distance yet. The Seattle Kraken, St. Louis Blues, Edmonton Oilers all have 41 points and are “tied” for the final wildcard spot, while the Nashville Predators have 45 points and hold down the first wildcard spot.
WHO WILL BE IN
Even though they started their season dismally, and had to fire their coach early in the year, the Edmonton Oilers have been absolutely on fire lately. At the time of writing they are on a seven game winning streak, and are 7-3-0 in their last 10 games. Connor McDavid and company are not going to let this team miss the playoffs. They also have an impressive +18 goal differential, highest among all the teams outside the division leaders.
The Predators are in a good spot themselves, with a small cushion of 4 points over the Oilers, Kraken, and Blues, although all those teams have at least one game in hand over Nashville. Overtaking the third spot in the Central seems like too tall of a task for this Nashville team, so they’ll be banking on keeping their cushion over the Blues, and Kraken.
WHO WILL BE OUT
The Wild and Flames are having rough seasons. The Wild knew this would happen, sitting with 14m of dead salary cap space after buying out Zach Parise and Ryan Suter a few years ago. The Flames on the other hand, didn’t anticipate falling off so hard. The currently have a -10 goal differential, and recently lost to an incredibly undermanned Chicago Blackhawks team. Lastly, they have some big name pending UFAs that they more thank likely will trade before the Trade Deadline, which means falling in the standings is inevitable.
QUESTION MARKS
The Arizona Coyotes are hanging in the playoff race currently, and with a goal differential of 0, they seem to be right firmly in the mushy middle. They have such a bright future that no one would blame them for packing it in this season, but their team also desperately needs an influx of cash that only home playoff games can bring.
The St. Louis Blues and Seattle Kraken are both surging, with the Blues currently 7-3-0 in their last 10, and the Kraken on a six game winning streak, including a win in the NHL Winter Classic. However, both teams have negative goal differentials; the Blues hold -11, and the Kraken -9. Is this just a mid season bump, or are these teams better than their totals show, and the last few weeks are proof of that?