Including this week there are 8 games left to determine who makes it into that divine place called Playoff hockey. Just wanted to see who is playing who the remaining weeks. Whoever made this schedule did a brilliant job. Almost all the current playoff teams will be playing a schedule heavy with other playoff teams. It will really juggle teams up and down the standings these last weeks.
1 Winnipeg Jets (32-4) - Essentially locked into a 1st round bye unless true disaster strikes. dedreger can sit back and sip on his favorite beverage, which I will guess is warm Bud Light. Disgusting.
2 St. Louis Blues (28-8) - Locked into a playoff spot and most likely a first round bye with the way the current week looks. Remaining games Washington/Winnipeg, Toronto/Vancouver, Carolina/Pittsburgh. 5 games against playoff opponents, so they really hold their seeding in their own hands and can really jam up a good many teams by continuing their winning ways. Dilly dilly!?
3 Carolina Hurricanes (28-8) - Looks like 2 more wins this week with games remaining against New York/Philly, Boston/Tampa, and Detroit/St.Louis. If Gibson stays out the Philly game will be rough, but most likely a 1st round bye is in the Hurricanes future. And that gets me harder than a diamond in an ice storm.
4 Colorado Avalanche (26-10) - Riding the Crosby train and its recent hot streak to many wins in a row. Well that might be coming to a double dip loss this week against St. Louis and Boston. Remaining games against Anaheim/Detroit, Arizona/Edmonton, Buffalo/Montreal there is still a good deal of work to do. A playoff spot is probable, but a 1st round bye will have to be hung onto like a balding man employing comb over techniques clings to looking sexual appealing to women. Just shave it off already guy!
5 Anaheim Ducks (25-11) - These Ducks are mighty again. The MLB Pirates might've called this a "bridge" year for these Ducks, but Tyler decided to continue being a competent GM and just keeps on winning. Mostly getting boatloads of points from Bernier starting (the lid will be put on that cookie jar at some point) and Tuuka Rask doing his best impersonation of Tim Thomas the last 2 months. Games against Buffalo/Colorado, Washington/Winnipeg, and Toronto/Vancouver. That is a brutal schedule and with regression coming from those goalies this team has a real chance to get bounced out of the playoff picture.
If anyone has seen those Disney movies though, always bet on the Ducks because they triumph against dire odds.
6 Buffalo Sabres (24-12) - Nobody has or wants to make any move about the Sabres. Battling for a division title against Boston. Games remain against Anaheim/Edmonton, Arizona/Montreal, Colorado/Winnipeg. That is right up there on the nasty scale with the Ducks schedule, but have a bit more stability in net with Bobrovsky and Talbot. They are pretty much injury free, so I'm guessing they keep on keeping on and make the playoffs where anybody can win (or so they say).
7 Vancouver Canucks (22-14) - Remaining games against Boston/Tampa, Detroit/St.Louis, Anaheim/Edmonton. Still a really good team even with the attempted deadline purge. Turns out nobody was buying because St. Louis has the equivalent of the US military complex compared to all of our tug boats. The math says these Canucks barely make it into the playoffs.
8 Edmonton Oilers (21-15) - Plays Arizona/Buffalo, Colorado/Winnipeg, and Vancouver/Washington over the coming weeks. They have all the NHL Oilers who should put up points as games become less meaningful to non-playoff teams, so these DNHL Oilers make the playoffs.
9 Boston Bruins (21-15) - Still in it for their division crown. Still has Vancouver/Washington, Carolina/Toronto, and Chicago/Pittsburgh. If they didn't have Chicago/Pittsburgh their last week I'd pick them to miss out, but that relatively easy week compared to the teams surrounding them in the playoff picture keeps their playoff pulse pumping. Not unlike a shot of adrenaline straight into a heroin addicts dying heart.
Running out of time at work where people essentially pay me to write this, and I refuse to do it on my personal time, so an abbreviated version for the rest.
10 Philadelphia Flyers (21-15) - Makes it with a real easy schedule going forward.
11 Washington Capitals (19-17) - Misses it for the exact opposite reason as the Flyers. Schedule is too tough to jump Philly.
12 Toronto Maple Leafs (19-17) - 3 tough games, 3 easy games. I say they just barely miss out. If Keumper starts to steal more games from Quick then maybe they squeak in.
13 Montreal Canadiens (18-18) - If Corey Crawford wasn't injured I'd say they are the team that steals someones spot, but it just doesn't look like he is coming back. It will be sooooo close.
14 Tampa Bay Lightning (16-20) Currently in an important week with games against Washington and Winnipeg. Remaining games against Toronto/Vancouver, Carolina/Pittsburgh, Chicago/Vegas. Would need to win a minimum of 6 of those games, which is a monster order. An order only matched by Arby's 5 for 5 (god rest in peace).
Halloween