The GIST: We’re officially in the homestretch of the NHL regular season, but only two squads have punched their tickets to the 16-team Stanley Cup Playoff, which begins on April 18th. Here’s the tale of two conferences.
- But first, a reminder: The top three teams from each of the league’s four divisions will make the postseason, plus the next best two teams from each conference.
➡️ The Eastern Conference (EC) Wild Card hunt is bananas: For starters, not a single EC team has officially made the playoffs. Six squads are still firmly in the hunt for the two Wild Card spots, with just three points separating the Wild Card–holding Columbus Blue Jackets from the last contender, the Washington Capitals. Every regulation win is worth two points — talk about down to the wire.
⬅️ Highs and lows in the Western Conference (WC): The Colorado Avalanche and Dallas Stars have already claimed two of the eight WC postseason berths. But while the league’s top two teams call the WC home, so does the NHL’s weakest division: the Pacific, which Edmonton Oilers star Connor McDavid recently likened to a pillow fight.
- For example, the Anaheim Ducks lead the Pacific, but if they played in the EC and the postseason began today, they wouldn’t even earn a Wild Card spot. Anything is possible in a Division this topsy-turvy.