Polls

A few weeks ago, when the standings were more fluid, we ran a poll inquiring about which teams would grab the final two wild-card spots in the Eastern Conference. Now, with the Tampa Bay Lightning already securing the top spot, there are still four teams fighting over the final spot with less than three games remaining.

The Washington Capitals, who now have the highest odds of capturing the spot with two games remaining, have only produced an 11-9-2 record since the start of March. However, they have picked up key wins in games with playoff implications, defeating the Detroit Red Wings twice, the Pittsburgh Penguins once, and the Philadelphia Flyers once. If the season ended today, the Capitals would line up against the New York Rangers in the first round of the playoffs, but will likely have to beat both the Boston Bruins and Flyers in their last two games.

Following the Capitals, the Red Wings kept their postseason dreams alive last night with an overtime win against the Toronto Maple Leafs. Now tied with Washington in both games played and points, Detroit ultimately loses the tiebreaker due to regulation wins. To get in, the Red Wings will need the Capitals to lose at least one of their final two games, while Detroit must sweep in their home-and-home against the Montreal Canadiens. So far this year, the Red Wings have split with the Canadiens in two games this season, with both games going to overtime.

Behind the Capitals and Red Wings, the Flyers and Penguins are still technically in the hunt but have some very difficult math to get in. The Flyers can only max out at 89 points, with a 7-10-4 since March 1st making their postseason aspirations more and more bleak. Technically earning better odds for a postseason spot than the Flyers, the Penguins can still max out at 90 points on the year, after a 7-1-2 record in their last 10 games has vaulted them into the playoff conversation.

Over their next two games, if the New York Islanders fail to capture a point and both the Capitals and Penguins win their final two, the Capitals would take the third spot in the Metropolitan Division, while the Penguins have the opportunity to capture the final wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference. With several possibilities still up in the air leading into the last few games of the regular season, the Eastern Conference wild-card race is bound to go down to the last minute.

If you can’t see the poll embedded above this, click here to vote.

Now a little over two weeks removed from the NHL trade deadline, many of the players that changed hands have had enough time to play in a handful of games with their new clubs. While transitioning to a new system can be difficult for any player, several players have produced quite well with their new organizations.

In arguably the biggest trade of deadline season, the Pittsburgh Penguins decided to part ways with Jake Guentzel, who had spent the last seven and a half years in Pennsylvania. Now with Pittsburgh’s division rival in the Carolina Hurricanes, Guentzel has come as advertised. Playing on the top line with Sebastian Aho and Seth Jarvis, Guentzel has scored two goals and 11 points in seven games for the Hurricanes, with three of those assists coming on the powerplay. Furthermore, that top line has proven incredibly difficult to score against for opposing clubs, as Guentzel has already produced a rating of +11 in that short span.

Moving on to one of the more surprising deals from deadline season, the Buffalo Sabres decided to part ways with top center Casey Mittelstadt in exchange for Bowen Byram of the Colorado Avalanche. Struggling to find any consistency in Colorado, Byram has taken on a whole new life in Buffalo. Averaging nearly 24 minutes a night with his new team, Byram has already scored three goals and six points in only eight games. Playing on the top unit with Rasmus Dahlin, this combination could prove to be one of the best in the league over the next several years.

Lastly, in what is looking to be one of the sneakiest pickups of deadline week, the Tampa Bay Lightning acquired Anthony Duclair and a seventh-round pick from the San Jose Sharks in exchange for a third-round pick and prospect Jack Thompson. On the top line with Brayden Point and Nikita Kucherov, Duclair has put up four goals and eight points in six games, with two of those assists coming on the team’s second power-play unit. Even outside of his production, the Lightning are 5-0-1 since acquiring Duclair and have taken a commanding lead on the top wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference.

Now it’s time for a vote, was the best deadline pickup one of these players, or is there another player that has been more valuable to their new team? Vote below!

With the trade deadline in the rearview, and less than 20 games to go in the regular season for most teams, all eyes are now squarely on the 2024 Stanley Cup playoffs. Like most seasons, several teams are again going down to the wire to qualify for a postseason spot.

Although no teams have been eliminated quite yet, the Columbus Blue Jackets, Montreal Canadiens, and Ottawa Senators will all need record-breaking win streaks to come close to a playoff spot. The Buffalo Sabres, Pittsburgh Penguins, and New Jersey Devils are still well within the mix for the postseason, but it may be too little too late for all three organizations.

That whittles the list down to four: the Detroit Red Wings, New York Islanders, Tampa Bay Lightning, and Washington Capitals. Over the last two weeks, even though both the Red Wings and Lightning held comfortable positions in the wild card spots, the Islanders and Capitals have closed the gap considerably with solid 10-game stretches respectively.

Currently in the top spot, Tampa Bay has produced a 4-5-1 record in their last 10 games, while acquiring Anthony Duclair and Matt Dumba at the trade deadline. Holding a two-point advantage over Detroit and New York, the Lightning will face off against teams currently in a playoff position eight times over their last 17 games.

Moving north to Detroit, the Red Wings started the 2024 calendar year with a hot stretch, producing a 16-4-2 record after the New Year holiday. Over the last two weeks, however, a completely different hockey team has taken the ice. Currently riding a five game losing streak, Detroit is losing much of their footing in the Eastern Conference wild-card race, being outscored by their opponents by a margin of 17 over that stretch.

Now tied with the Red Wings for the last wild card spot in the Eastern Conference, the Islanders are willing themselves into a playoff position. Earning a 6-1-0 record in their last seven games, New York has been dominating their opponents in nearly all facets of the game. Not only are the Islanders making a considerable amount of noise in the wild card race, they are only two points removed from knocking off the Philadelphia Flyers as one of the top three teams in the Metropolitan Division.

Lastly, being one of the streakier teams all season, the Capitals find themselves only three points out of the last wild card spot in the Eastern Conference. Producing a 7-3-1 record in their last 11 games, Washington will be one of the few organizations vying for playoff candidacy after selling off a few pieces at the deadline. Life will not get any easier for the Capitals, however, as 13 of their last 19 games will come against opponents currently in a playoff position.

Now its time for you to take the crystal ball for the 2024 Stanley Cup playoff race, which two of these teams will qualify for the wild card spots in the Eastern Conference?

Now that 2023 is coming to an end in a few hours (depending on which coast you are on), it is time to reflect on some of the big moments of the last 365 days, which there have been plenty of in the NHL.

On April 9th, in their game against the Philadelphia Flyers, the Boston Bruins won their 63rd game of the season, breaking the most wins of the regular seasons previously set by the 2018-19 Tampa Bay Lightning, and 1995-96 Detroit Red Wings. The Bruins would go on to win 65 games last season, cruising to the President’s Trophy, annually awarded to the team with the most points at the end of the regular season. Ultimately, Boston’s winning ways would not continue into the 2022-23 Stanley Cup playoffs, as they were ousted by the eventual Eastern Conference Champion, Florida Panthers, in seven games in the opening round.

Following along with the theme of team accomplishments, the Vegas Golden Knights became the quickest expansion team to win their first Stanley Cup, ousting the Panthers in five games in the 2023 Stanley Cup Finals. Originally founded in 2017, it took the Golden Knights only six seasons to win their first Stanley Cup, beating the previous record of the 1974 Flyers team, which took only seven years from their introduction to the league during the 1967 NHL Expansion.

On an individual level, on the Edmonton Oilers’s last game of the regular season on April 13th, Connor McDavid recorded his 153rd point of the season, by way of an assist against the San Jose Sharks. Because of this, McDavid would pass Bruins’ legend Phil Esposito for the 15th-best scoring season in NHL history, the highest of any player not named Steve Yzerman, Mario Lemieux, or Wayne Gretzky. Winning the Art Ross, Hart Memorial, Ted Lindsay, and Maurice Richard Trophy all in one season, McDavid would go on to have the best individual season in the salary cap era.

Aside from these moments, the NHL has been filled with memorable events in the 2023 calendar year. Now it’s time to pick, is one of these moments one of your favorites, or is there another that stands out?

In a little over three months, the NHL calendar will set its sights on one of the most exciting days of the year, with this season’s trade deadline falling on March 8th. With the annual roster freeze lifting this morning, the unofficial start to the trade season is finally underway across the league.

In one of the bigger deadlines in recent memory, the 2022-23 season saw star players such as Timo Meier, Ryan O’Reilly, Patrick Kane, and Mattias Ekholm all change hands, as two arms races sprouted in both of the league’s conferences. This year, once again, there are a handful of high-profile players seeing their names pop up in the rumor mill.

Chris Johnston, writing in The Athletic, has produced a Trade Deadline Big Board for this season, an assortment of players he annually produces around this time each year. Currently, the four best players available appear to be Elias Lindholm and Noah Hanifin of the Calgary Flames, John Gibson of the Anaheim Ducks, and Jake Guentzel of the Pittsburgh Penguins.

The future of both Lindholm and Hanifin has been clouded since the beginning of the summer, with multiple reports indicating they would like to stay with the Flames organization, and other reports saying the complete opposite. As of now, with the Flames currently holding a 14-16-5 record and sitting four points back of the final wild-card spot in the Western Conference, Lindholm and Hanifin’s days in Calgary are likely numbered.

Even outside of this season, Gibson has been the subject of trade rumors dating back several years now, with reports suggesting that Gibson had tried to force his way out of Anaheim this past summer. Even though those reports were soon downplayed, the market for Gibson has likely never been higher, as several competitive teams are in dire need of goaltending help. Unfortunately, with a $6.4MM salary until the end of the 2026-27 season, few teams will have the cap space to acquire Gibson outright.

Lastly, Guentzel is one of the newer names on the board, as recent reporting indicates that the Penguins and Guentzel are not close to a contract extension, leading many to believe Pittsburgh might be interested in moving the winger if the right offer came along. Headed for unrestricted free agency at the end of the season, and with Pittsburgh currently sitting three points back of the final wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference, Guentzel and the Penguins may be headed for a divorce before the end of the season.

Now it’s time for a vote, will one of these four players be one of the biggest names traded at this year’s deadline, or will a surprise player take the headlines? Vote below!

A few days ago, Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet reported that a majority of the teams that make up the National Hockey League had voted to decentralize the NHL draft, making it so teams would no longer appear on the floor of the draft venue. Players would no longer get to put on their team jerseys, as well as meet team staff immediately on the podium.

Originally, the current draft format began in 1963, beginning at the Queen Elizabeth Hotel in Montreal for 10 years, until it began moving around to various locations (still inside Montreal) until its first visit to Toronto in 1985. In 1986, and for the next 37 years, the NHL Draft would be located at a specific team’s home arena, still carrying the original draft etiquette and procedures.

Although the 2024 NHL Draft in Las Vegas still does not have a designated location up to this point, it will likely be the last draft for the foreseeable future that fans are accustomed to. Unlike the NBA, MLB, and NFL drafts, the NHL has had a long history of teams making their draft selections in person, and the players trying on their new jerseys for the first time in their pro careers.

Aside from the game itself, it was one important and notable difference that the NHL had to differentiate itself from the other professional sports leagues in North America, making the draft a more entertaining event overall. The league has not announced any specifics on the upcoming change, meaning the fans are still in the dark about how much similarity it will have to the other professional leagues.

Nevertheless, from a fan perspective, we at PHR would like to know how the actual consumers of the game perceive the change. Vote below!