True but 2022 to 2024 was a heavy tanking phase in the league. Chicago, Montreal, Anaheim, Columbus, Arizona, San Jose were god awful. Buffalo, Ottawa and Detroit are ahead of these teams in terms of rebuilding. And Minnesota, Philly and Washington don’t seem ready to tap out. Same goes for Pittsburgh.
Outside of Calgary, I don’t really see another team going full tank mode. Nashville was looking like one last year but thet retooled and did well.
In the end, we cannot ascertain that 8 more points last year with all these teams at the bottom (many of which are improving like us) will give us 5-7 more spots. I see improvement everywhere outside of Chicago and San Jose.