Minny has 8 points and 12 games eft, they aren't safe but there are as likely to fall out as the Ducks getting in which means it's not happening.
Final Western Conference Spot
- Thread starter ToastedRavioli
- Start date
If Calgary falls into the bottom 10, then Calgary keeps their own pick and Montreal gets Florida’s pick.
If Calgary falls out of the playoffs race then it would not be surprising to see them start “resting” some players. I’m not saying they will do it but it would not shock me.
I said it in October I'll say it now: no idea what Calgary is attempting to do. Their roster reminds me of the first Babcock roster in Toronto. But instead of tanking they are going to finish just out of the playoffs. Wolf and Weegar look good. Other than that it's old man Kadri trying to score 30 goals and not quite getting there.
Vancouver will get in. Peterson is playing hockey again.
Vancouver will get in. Peterson is playing hockey again.
I agree Pettersson is looking good but the Canucks also don’t have a second line.
Play the Blues on Thursday. That's a big game. I don't see it with the Canucks, they are losing to mediocre teams, like Seattle, like Utah. The hole left by Chityl's potentially season ending concussion has Teddy Blueger as their 2C. Quinn Hughes is playing injured. If he goes down so too do the Canucks playoff hopes.
I gotta say the final playoff races have been good for the NHL this year with many teams still in the race and tonight 7 of the 8 games are meaningfull.
What should they be doing? Breaking their rookie goalie's legs?
Conroy's big offseason additions to a team that sold everything and missed the playoffs last season were short term deals for Mantha, Lomberg, and Bean. Not like they threw a bunch of money at guys like Zadorov and Lindholm to try to squeek in.
Unlike the East race, none of the options here are particularly interesting ngl.
Utah most intrigue for me cause first season.
Utah most intrigue for me cause first season.
Man if Utah had a healthy blueline for even an extra month, I think they'd be firmly in command of the last WC spot. Still hope, but they need a lot of luck here to close out the year with Calgary having one of the easiest remaining schedules.
Roster is just weird. I dunno. It screams 20th place in the standings. Need to go scorched earth with this thing.
If they were going to go scorched earth the time to do it was the second Gaudreau signed in Columbus. Don't really think it's a great option anymore and honestly even though this website loves a stripped down to the wood rebuild the results of that type of management strategy are more often terrible rather than a contender.
On one hand, it is a minor miracle Vancouver is even in the conversation - they have had some generationally bad luck this season with injuries to all of their key players and all the bs that led to Miller being traded.
I thought for a moment things could come together for them with Hughes returning and putting the team on his back, but now Chytil is out and they lost their 2C. I think they're cooked.
I thought for a moment things could come together for them with Hughes returning and putting the team on his back, but now Chytil is out and they lost their 2C. I think they're cooked.
All these teams in the running are trying to give it away. If ANA actually won a few of the recent games, they would be right there.
If you judge by who is "peaking" at the right time, looks like St Louis will get this last spot
If you judge by who is "peaking" at the right time, looks like St Louis will get this last spot
Saying it’s down to just Utah and Vancouver, and writing off the team who is on a 9-2-2 run (with the easiest remaining schedule in the league) is certainly a choice.
I hope Utah makes it in but I agree, Blues look good, even better without Parayko, nobody would have made that prediction.
I was at the last game before the 4N break against the Blackhawks, and even though we won in a SO, I left that game thinking this team had no shot to make a run and that the season was probably over.
What they’ve done since the break has been nothing short of incredible. This is the best this team has looked in all facets of the game since the league shut down for Covid 5 years ago. Yes, that includes the team who had 9 20 goal scorers, and gave the Avs half of their losses in their cup run in 2022. That team, while great offensively, did not inspire much confidence defensively.
This current team has given up the fewest shots per game in the league in this stretch, and they’ve looked dominant at 5v5 for awhile now. I haven’t ended a night thinking they’ve looked like the worse team in over a month. They’re a great watch right now.
They don’t look better without Parayko. They’ve been dominating since the 4 nations tourney and he was a huge part of it. They are still playing well since his injury, but the competition has been weaker. When he was playing, they dominated Washington, Colorado, Winnipeg, Dallas (5 on 5, but Dallas PP killed us), and took 5 of 6 pts from LA.
Their record is better then most people expected since Parayko has been out
Their record is better then most people expected since Parayko has been out
The team is playing really well. Hopefully they can grab the final WC and Parayko is back for rd 1
