Right now though, the Red Wings are kind of puttering along. They have 50 points, which puts them as one of a group of eight teams jousting for five playoff berths in the Eastern Conference (Pittsburgh, Boston and Tampa Bay having separated themselves at the top).
Are the Red Wings destined for mediocrity in 2014, or will we see a turnaround? Let’s take a closer look at what they’ve done and speculate on what might lie ahead.
The NHL Metropolitan Division has thus far been defined by dominance from the favorite and injuries holding back other potential contenders. The Pittsburgh Penguins are off and running to another big year, and have a 12-point lead in this division. But in the rest of the Metropolitan leaves this division confined to only the minimum three teams in the playoffs.
Each division is guaranteed its top three teams in the postseason, with only the final two berths able to float. As it stands today, the Atlantic Division would get the maximum of five teams in the playoffs–Boston, Montreal, Tampa Bay, Detroit and Toronto would all qualify.
Hockey in the New York Tri-State area has no shortage of excitement going right now, with the New York Rangers, New York Islanders and New Jersey Devils are battling around the borderline of the NHL’s Eastern Conference playoffs. It’s possible all three could make it, and it’s possible all three could miss. Although neither extreme is likely, it adds to the drama these final seventeen days of the regular season. TheSportsNotebook’s NHL analysis will compare all three teams in each phase of the game.
It’s been quite a dry spell for the Toronto Maple Leafs. The franchise last won the Stanley Cup in 1967 and in the intervening years they’ve never made it back to the Finals, and only four times have even reached the conference finals. An even bigger mark of ineptitude is the seven straight years they’ve missed the playoffs—let’s call it the Curse of Gary Bettman, since that covers the entire period since the 2005 season was cancelled. Today though, Toronto is hanging in the NHL Eastern Conference playoff race, in the #7 position. TheSportsNotebook’s NHL analysis today will focus on whether the Leafs are finally for real as a playoff team.
We’re almost one-third of the way through the lockout-shortened NHL season and the Washington Capitals have to feel a sense of urgency. The Caps are only four points behind in the race for the last playoff spot, and as this article goes online, they play head-to-head with the New York Rangers, currently the team holding the cutoff spot at #8. But Washington also opened Sunday in 15th place among 15 Eastern Conference teams, meaning it will take some sustained winning to leapfrog everyone else. Let’s take a look at what’s wrong with the Caps this year and how it compares to the last two years.
Eight more days. That’s how much time is left in the NHL regular season, which wraps up on Saturday, April 7. The Eastern Conference race looks to be stabilizing, while the West appears ready for a wild crackup in the Pacific Division. The SportsNotebook summarizes the landscape for fans distracted by March Madness and the onset of baseball season…
The NHL’s regular season only has two weeks left, ending on Saturday April 7, and the Pacific Division is nowhere closer to being settled, with four teams stacked within two points of each other, and current playoff standings allowing only three of them to survive. The Pacific Division race is just the biggest highlight, as TheSportsNotebook seeks to make sure readers don’t lose sight of hockey amidst the Madness that is March.