NHL Standings: Is The Eastern Conference Beginning To Sort Itself Out?

Every morning at this time of year, one of the first things I do is look at the NHL standings. I’m sure a lot of you do the same thing. What changed last night? Which teams improved their position? Which teams lost ground? Which teams are officially out of the hunt?

Over the last several mornings, as I glance at the Eastern Conference playoff picture, I’ve noticed that things have stayed quite static. In fact, things have literally been exactly the same in terms of positioning for at least four days now, which makes us ask the question: are things sorted out in the Eastern race already?

If the playoffs began on Monday, here’s what things would look like in the East:

No. 1 Philadelphia Flyers vs. No. 8 Buffalo Sabres
No. 2 Washington Capitals vs. No. 7 New York Rangers
No. 3 Boston Bruins vs. No. 6 Montreal Canadiens
No. 4 Pittsburgh Penguins vs. No. 5 Tampa Bay Lightning

(And let’s agree: those matchups would be rather awesome.)

Missing the postseason would be No. 9 Carolina, No. 10 Toronto, No. 11 New Jersey and No. 12 Atlanta. There’s only a three point gap between ninth and tenth at current, so it’s not as if the race is over by any stretch of the imagination. But let’s think about this a little bit.

Besides Carolina, do any of those other teams on the outside have much of a chance at getting above that thick, solid line on NHL.com’s standings page?

The Maple Leafs only need to gain five points to make the playoffs, but time is quickly running out on the schedule with just nine games left in the year. Five points in nine games is certainly possible, but it would take a mini-collapse from the Sabres and the Hurricanes. Climbing over two teams with just nine or 10 games left in the season isn’t an easy feat.

The Devils have been the hottest team in the NHL over the second half of the season, but back-to-back losses to Ottawa and Washington at the end of last week really hurt their hopes. With just 10 games left, the Devils sit seven points back of eighth-place. In order to get there, they’d need that same collapse from the Sabres and help from both Toronto and Carolina, teams ahead of them in the standings.

Elsewhere in the East among teams that are already locked in, things seem clearer as well. Philadelphia has a two point lead over Washington as the teams head into what should be a great, nationally televised head-to-head matchup at Wells Fargo Center on Tuesday night, but even if the Flyers lose that game to the Caps, they’ll still be tied in points and they’ll still hold two games in hand over Washington.

Boston or Montreal will almost certainly finish in third place, depending on which team wins that division, while the other team will likely finish in sixth place. That playoff matchup has a better chance of coming to fruition one way or another than not.

Pittsburgh likely won’t catch Philadelphia in the Atlantic at this point, and it’s looking more and more like they’re fighting with Tampa Bay for that final home ice spot. Those two look like they’ll be first round playoff opponents as well. New York looks just about locked in to that seventh spot, too.

Ultimately, here’s the point: Aside from a few battles for positioning that remain, the East looks rather calm. Carolina might bump out Buffalo before all is said and done, and there’s always the potential for the Rangers to completely collapse.

But really, chances are that the East winds up exactly as it looks right now.