We are getting down to the nitty-gritty of the NHL season. All teams have close to 15 games left on the year and playoff and potential draft lottery odds are starting to take shape.

The Calgary Flames are well on their way to potentially picking their highest draft selection of all time, currently sitting second last in the NHL with 59 points. At the end of the day, however, final point totals will only get you so far, as the draft lottery could knock you out of the position you played so poorly to try to earn.

So, while being at the very bottom of the standings doesn’t necessarily guarantee anything, it definitely helps generate the best odds of getting a top draft pick. With still lots of hockey to be played and many teams jumbled up near the bottom of the standings, it’s time to start scoreboard watching — if you haven’t already — in hopes that the Flames keep losing while the teams around them pick up some wins.

Here is a look at how the remaining schedule for some of these teams is shaping up as the season begins to wind down. The Vancouver Canucks have been excluded from this list as they are too far back to catch, and they’ll likely lose most of their remaining games anyway.

Games versus teams in a playoff position: 12
Games versus teams out of a playoff position: 3

The Flames have one of the most difficult remaining schedules in the league. They only have five games left against non-playoff teams, which include the Florida Panthers, who by no means are a pushover. This also includes a pair of games against the Los Angeles Kings, who are probably a playoff team but are currently caught in a cluster of clubs fighting for wild-card spots.

On top of that, they still have three games against the league-best Colorado Avalanche and a pair against the Pacific Division-leading Anaheim Ducks. Throw in games against the Tampa Bay Lightning, Dallas Stars and Vegas Golden Knights, and the Flames appear to have a potentially ideal scenario if they’re looking to remain near the bottom of the standings.

The only concern is that as the season winds down, teams that have secured their playoff berth may not take the Flames as seriously. They may start their backups or even rest or reduce the minutes of their top players. With a Flames team that should have plenty of young players looking to prove themselves, they could secure a couple of unexpected victories. Hopefully those won’t have too much of an effect on the final standings.

Games versus teams in a playoff position: 8
Games versus teams out of a playoff position: 7

It’s been a rebuild in Chicago for a few years. While the season started out fairly well for them, in reality they’re in a similar situation to the Flames, likely still a few years away from contention. The difference, of course, is that they have their stud centre in Connor Bedard.

The Blackhawks’ remaining schedule is fairly balanced in terms of the quality of teams they face. Their most difficult stretch is this week, as they have a home-and-home series against the Minnesota Wild and then cap off the week with a game against the Avalanche on the second half of a back-to-back Friday night. Those will all be tough match-ups for Chicago and could lead to some movement — or lack thereof — near the bottom of the standings.

After this week, they only face playoff teams in consecutive games once more when they meet the Edmonton Oilers and Seattle Kraken in the first week of April.

The next few weeks should still give the Blackhawks some opportunities to pick up points, with games against the St. Louis Blues, Nashville Predators and New York Rangers. However, they’ll also face teams desperate for points as they push for a playoff spot, such as the Winnipeg Jets and San Jose Sharks.

Games versus teams in a playoff position: 6
Games versus teams out of a playoff position: 9

The St. Louis Blues are one of the hottest teams in the NHL right now. With a 7-2-1 record in their last 10 games, they’ve almost done themselves a disservice by climbing a couple of spots in the standings.

Looking at their schedule, they have a good opportunity to keep that hot streak going as they don’t face a playoff team for the rest of March. They’ll have a couple of battles against the Sharks, but other than that they’ll see the Flames, Canucks and the struggling Toronto Maple Leafs before the month ends.

The final weeks of the season are where the Blues’ draft odds could increase. They will have a pair of games against the Avalanche before closing out the season against the Minnesota Wild, Pittsburgh Penguins and Utah Mammoth.

From a Flames perspective, you hope the Blues can take advantage of the next few weeks and create some separation from the bottom of the standings. Then those final two weeks won’t matter as much.

Games versus teams in a playoff position: 5
Games versus teams out of a playoff position: 10

Another hot team in the NHL right now, the Rangers are 6-2-2 in their last 10 games and are coming off a loss after four wins in a row. This is a team that probably shouldn’t be as bad as its record suggests. When you look at the lineup, it’s really not awful, they just didn’t click this season.

The rest of the Rangers’ schedule is very similar to the Blues’. They don’t face a playoff team for the rest of March, except for a couple of games against teams just outside the playoff picture. For the Rangers, those opponents are the Columbus Blue Jackets and Ottawa Senators.

The Rangers’ schedule doesn’t get top-heavy until the very end of the season, when they face the Dallas Stars, Buffalo Sabres and Tampa Bay Lightning in three of their final four games.

Like the Blues, they’ll have a good opportunity to pick up some points over the next few weeks and hopefully create more separation from the teams at the bottom.

It’s such a tight playoff race right now. In the West — apart from the top of the Central Division — almost nothing is guaranteed at this point. For teams on the outside looking in, there is still hope even for clubs sitting fairly low in the standings.

Everyone has been waiting for the Winnipeg Jets (66 points) to get going and make a push at some point. It’s hard to see them fall much lower, but they’re running out of time to make that push and instead look poised for a mushy middle finish that Flames fans know all too well.

Then you have teams like the New Jersey Devils (68 points) and the Nashville Predators (67 points) who are two clubs that are difficult to figure out. The Predators should probably be worse but have been playing well lately, while the Devils should be much better but don’t look like a playoff team. Neither team’s remaining schedule is overly daunting by any means. They both face teams in similar situations to their own including a game against each other.

Then there are the Toronto Maple Leafs (70 points). They’re still high enough in the standings that they shouldn’t be a concern for the teams at the bottom, but they’ve been awful lately. They’ve been in free fall for most of the calendar year and have now lost their captain, Auston Matthews, for the rest of the season. Again their remaining schedule sees teams more towards the middle of the pack. The Leafs need to pick a direction to go towards and they’ll have opportunities to go both ways in the standings.

The Leafs’ first-round pick this year is only top-five protected, so if they want to select in this year’s draft they really need to bottom out. Otherwise, they’ll continue to hurt their long-term development. Though if they somehow win the draft lottery, we’ll all know for sure the whole thing is rigged.

It will be interesting to see how the standings shake out as the season winds down. At the end of the day, all you can do is hope the odds are in your favour and that you’re gifted a high draft pick.

For the Flames, things look encouraging. They have a tough schedule ahead and unless they suddenly start scoring goals, they should find themselves in a good draft position. Let’s just hope it’s the No. 1 pick.