Which team was the fastest to clinch a playoff spot?

[Deestroyer]

Since Washington Capitals already have 86 points with 27 games left and you only need around 90 to 100 points to clinch a playoff spot, I was wondering which team was the fastest to clinch a playoff spot in history? Can Washington be the fastest team in history to clinch a playoff spot?

 

[SpookyTsuki]

Detroit in the 90s or Montreal (forgot where) i think

 

[Hockey Outsider]

I have no idea if the 1977 Montreal Canadiens were the fastest, but if they weren't, they must have been close. You need an excellent team (which they were) with weak competition for the last playoff spot in the division or conference (which they had).

Using hindsight

On January 2nd, 1977, the Montreal Canadiens had 62 points in the standings through 39 games (28-5-6). On that date they had already earned as many points as the Washington Capitals earned the entire season (62 points - with the Canadiens holding the tie-breaker due to having more wins).

You couldn't have said they clinched a spot with absolute certainty at the time - but using hindsight, we can say that was the day they earned enough points to guarantee as chance at the Stanley Cup.

Clinching a playoff spot

I figured this one out through trial & error:

On February 2nd, 1977, the Montreal Canadiens had 89 points through 56 games (40-7-9). Pittsburgh (57 points) and LA (49 points) were fighting it out for #2 and #3 in the division. Detroit had a miserable 36 spots and were way out of contention.

On that date, the Capitals had 42 points through 57 games (16-31-10). If they went undefeated the remainder of the season (23 games - the season was eighty games long) they could have earned up to 42 + (23*2) = 88 points. Thus, as of February 2nd, the Canadiens were guaranteed to finish no worse than 3rd in their division, and had therefore clinched a playoff spot. Not bad given the season didn't end until April 3rd.

After quickly looking at the standings for 1996, I think it's highly unlikely the Red Wings would have clinched their playoff spot faster than the 1977 Canadiens. The Canadiens had a slightly better win percentage but, more importantly, much weaker competition for the last playoff spot. The Flames and Canucks (each with 79 points) made the playoffs; the Jets and Ducks (with 78 points) didn't. The Canadiens were an amazing team, maybe the best of all-time, but they really benefited by only having to beat the lackluster Capitals and Red Wings in their division to guarantee a spot.

 

[MXD]

I suggest two teams.

First, the 39-40 Bruins.
This team didn't have the late '70ies Habs record, but they came up with a relatively decent .698 PTS%. But it was a 7-teams league, with six making the playoffs.

That season, the Habs were... unspeakably awful and ended up with a .260PTS%.

However, seven of the Habs wins (out of 10) came before January.

The situation is eerily similar in 40-41, this time with the Americans. Six wins in before january, and 8 wins total, but more ties ended up giving them a better record than the 39-40 Habs.

____________________

Other candidate : 44-45 Habs. Two teams missing the playoffs (out of six), the Rangers, the Hawks and the Bruins are all very bad and end up between .320 and .360. Habs ended up with .800 (and didn't lose a game in two months somewhere between JAN. and MAR.). For all we know, the Habs might have already clinched by Jan 31st, at which point they had 17 games remaining (a whopping third of the season), and had a record of 26-5-2.

Had the Bruins won ALL their games starting from Feb 1st, they would have finished 28-21-1. Which places them 3 points ahead of the Habs... And there was two worst teams -- against which the Bruins would play.

On Feb 1st, the Hawks couldn't possibly catch the Habs if wins were the tiebreaker (winning all their games would put them at 24-22-6).

On same Feb 1st, Rangers were 7-19-7. With 17 wins, that gives them 24-19-7. Which beats the Habs by 1 points.

Scenarios with Rangers, Hawks and Bruins winning all their games requires wins against each other.

Conclusion : The 44-45 Habs had clinched by the end of January. Every scenario where team passes the Habs include the other two teams falling behind. It was probably done a few days earlier. Just bothered looking at Jan.31st due to easy cutoff date.

 

[Jumptheshark]

in the 80's--in the Old Smyth division (Edm-Van-Cal-LA-Jets) when 1st place would play 4th place--in the division--Oilers by January clinched a few times.

in 81/82 Oilers clinched the first week of Jan when you had the Rookies(devils) in the division

in 83/84 Oilers clinched a spot mid jan. Bottom 2 teams were the Jets and the Kings--by the 50 game mark or so---the Kings would not have been able to catch the oilers if the oilers lost all their games and kings won

 

[Jumptheshark]

in 83/84 the oilers were 57-18-5 for 119
kings were 23-44-13 for 59pts

for 60pt difference or 30 wins


it was an 80 game season--Season started October 4 season ended April 1st

so do the math on When the Kings could not catch the oilers

 

[MXD]

Fun fact : 26 years ago, The Hartford Whalers clinched. (or had been since a day)
They were the last team in the division to do so.

 

[CHIP72]

My guess would be one the seasons when the NHL had 21 teams and 16 of them made the playoffs (1979-80 through 1990-91). If you had a really good team and a really bad team in the same division (such as in the Adams Division example in the post directly above this one when Quebec was historically awful and the rest of the teams were above .500), the good team could clinch a playoff spot really early in the season.

 

[Ace Card Bedard]

2013 Blackhawks?
It was a 48-game season
They started 21-0-3 that year.