Its looking like the wildcard race in the East is going to be exciting

[zappa4ever]

Does it matter that there's not the usual punching bags? I'm watching exciting hockey every night. If your idea of deserving is having teams get to 100 points shit stomping bottom feeders we'll just fundamentally disagree.

In the East, it's January and every game matters for probably 14 teams. Gutter war.

Another perspective is there's 10 teams that can barely play .500 and nearly all are undeserving

What I'd love to see is 3 or 4 of those all get hot and it being a race to hit closer to 98
instead of everyone muddling along getting 11pts of 20 on all the L10's

If it's one of your teams in the mix, sure, it'll be an enjoyable stretch, but it'll be a bit anticlimactic if it takes a 5-4-1 finish to qualify at 89

 

[SteelCityCannon]

Another perspective is there's 10 teams that can barely play .500 and nearly all are undeserving

What I'd love to see is 3 or 4 of those all get hot and it being a race to hit closer to 98
instead of everyone muddling along getting 11pts of 20 on all the L10's

If it's one of your teams in the mix, sure, it'll be an enjoyable stretch, but it'll be a bit anticlimactic if it takes a 5-4-1 finish to qualify at 89

I'm not even issuing hate here, I've never heard anybody passionate about the point total to make the playoffs. If you want 98 that means there's more trash teams. We want less trash hockey.

Maybe teams "deserve" to get in at 89 points because the road is much tougher now?

And have you really ever looked at a playoff bracket and legit though, eh they don't deserve it? In football maybe, never in hockey. If you're in the dance you're supposed to be.

 

[jbeck5]

exactly . a capped nhl has made for lack of power house teams , its now a bunch of unexciting hockey of mediocre teams determined by power plays

That's not what made hockey less exciting. It's the lack of violence that basically eliminated real rivalries.

There was a time when teams actually hated each other would legitimately want to hurt each other. That made you want to win the game that much more.

Now almost all games are the similar where they're all buddies off the ice and the games are generally emotionless.

Like do you guys remember NYR vs NYI games? CGY vs EDM? TOR vs OTT? COl vs DET? Etc. they would often be bloodbaths.

It's been over a decade since I hated Toronto and almost a decade since I hated Montreal.

They're basically like any other game at this point.

 

[CanadianHockey]

Another perspective is there's 10 teams that can barely play .500 and nearly all are undeserving

What I'd love to see is 3 or 4 of those all get hot and it being a race to hit closer to 98
instead of everyone muddling along getting 11pts of 20 on all the L10's

If it's one of your teams in the mix, sure, it'll be an enjoyable stretch, but it'll be a bit anticlimactic if it takes a 5-4-1 finish to qualify at 89

If the playoff race is between teams playing at 98 point paces, wouldn't that just imply the bottom of that conference is trash? The extra points aren't 'hard earned' if they actually just represent a few wins against the SJS/CHI of the league. Hardly screams a more deserving WC race. The bottom of the East is very competitive so it's hard for any team to get ahead. The bottom teams are playing well recently and winning games against the playoff bound teams.

 

[AlexModvechkin8]

Tampa will be almost certainly fine but with 51 points, they’re not safe yet. Realistically only five teams are locks (Toronto, Florida, Washington, New Jersey, Carolina) and zero teams are totally out of it. Pretty wild to have that be the case this late in the season. 12 points is all that separates A3 from last in the East.

Could make for a really interesting or a really dull trade deadline.

 

[Bigtrout]

That's not what made hockey less exciting. It's the lack of violence that basically eliminated real rivalries.

There was a time when teams actually hated each other would legitimately want to hurt each other. That made you want to win the game that much more.

Now almost all games are the similar where they're all buddies off the ice and the games are generally emotionless.

Like do you guys remember NYR vs NYI games? CGY vs EDM? TOR vs OTT? COl vs DET? Etc. they would often be bloodbaths.

It's been over a decade since I hated Toronto and almost a decade since I hated Montreal.

They're basically like any other game at this point.

Well at least Xhekaj's out there doing his best to spark back the hatred, but yeah, I generally agree. Early 2000's habs/bruins series were always a bloodbath

 

[ole ole]

It took those recent streaks just to get to a paltry 92 pt pace for CBJ and 89 for MTL, still very weak
Being 4 or 5 pts above .500 isn't very deserving IMO

100+107 were the East WC's just a cpl years ago for 2021-22 Playoffs

I guess the top teams in the division are not that good after all.
As a Hab fan i'm just enjoying the ride. Next season is gonna be even better.

 

[crackdown44]

Another storyline is the Canadian teams. Ottawa and Montreal could realistically end up 7th and 8th in the east while Calgary and Vancouver end up 7th and 8th in the west.

Toronto, Winnipeg and Edmonton are virtual locks for the playoffs.

We could have all 7 Canadian teams in the playoffs this year. Or just 3. But all 7 are at least competing.

Not really. There’s basically only one playoff spot up for grabs in the west with the way the top 7 teams have played so far

It’ll be Calgary Vancouver and St Louis battling it out for wc2, the other 7 spots will just be playing for home ice and matchups

 

[Schennanigans]

It’s strange that the bruins have the 2nd worst goal differential in the east. -22.

 

[CBJx614]

It’s strange that the bruins have the 2nd worst goal differential in the east. -22.

To further that point to the craziness of this season in the east the Jackets are top 5 in both goals/game and goals against/game across the entire league.. if they can keep up that offensive play and tighten up their D they could really solidify that wildcard spot.... And on the flip side if the offense falls off and the D can't tighten up they could just as easily plummet.

 

[deca guard]

Nostalgia is a hell of a drug

but exciting hockey

Nostalgia is a hell of a drug

tell me all about the memorable great teams n games your going to talk about from this era 20 years from now ?????????? dont bother they dont exist no more

 

[Boss Man Hughes]

Well at least Xhekaj's out there doing his best to spark back the hatred, but yeah, I generally agree. Early 2000's habs/bruins series were always a bloodbath

No he isn't. Xhekaj just makes som e clean hits and retaliates when a teammate is being abused.

 

[Noble]

It's really only a matter of time before the Bruins are out of the picture. It's going to be tough times ahead for them coming up here.

 

[qc14]

If the playoff race is between teams playing at 98 point paces, wouldn't that just imply the bottom of that conference is trash? The extra points aren't 'hard earned' if they actually just represent a few wins against the SJS/CHI of the league. Hardly screams a more deserving WC race. The bottom of the East is very competitive so it's hard for any team to get ahead. The bottom teams are playing well recently and winning games against the playoff bound teams.

Yea the 21-22 season where Boston and Washington were the WCs at 107 and 100 points also had no other team above 84, 3 teams in the 70s, two in the 60s, and MTL with an embarrassing 55 points.

Also, LMAO that it's going to be back-to-back years that 92 points will get you into the playoffs and Buffalo hasn't even been in the race for either one.