The 2020 Playoff Chase: seven weeks remain
By Ryan Pike
4 years agoThe 2020 trade deadline is almost upon us. Once that hits, there will be just six weeks remaining in the chase for the Stanley Cup playoffs. So far, nobody has clinched a spot in the West. But things will get pretty cut-and-dry very quickly in terms of who’s probably in and who’s probably out.
Here’s our weekly snapshot of the chase.
The Pacific Division
| GP | Pct. | Pts | Reg W | ROW | This weekend | |
| Oilers (P1) | 60 | .592 | 71 | 27 | 30 | 2/21 vs MIN, 2/23 at LAK |
| Canucks (P2) | 60 | .583 | 70 | 25 | 29 | 2/22 vs BOS |
| Golden Knights (P3) | 61 | .574 | 70 | 24 | 28 | 2/20 vs TBL, 2/22 vs FLA, 2/23 at ANA |
| Flames (WC1) | 61 | .557 | 68 | 21 | 25 | 2/21 vs BOS, 2/23 at DET |
| Coyotes | 63 | .540 | 68 | 23 | 25 | 2/20 at STL, 2/22 vs TBL |
| Sharks | 59 | .475 | 56 | 20 | 24 | 2/22 at NYR, 2/23 at NYI |
| Ducks | 60 | .458 | 55 | 17 | 19 | 2/21 vs COL, 2/23 vs VGK |
| Kings | 60 | .392 | 47 | 15 | 21 | 2/20 vs FLA, 2/22 vs COL, 2/23 vs EDM |
Notable Central teams
| GP | Pct. | Pts | Reg W | ROW | This weekend | |
| Predators (WC2) | 59 | .551 | 65 | 24 | 27 | 2/21 at CHI, 2/22 vs CBJ |
| Jets | 61 | .549 | 67 | 24 | 28 | 2/20 at OTT, 2/22 at PHI, 2/23 at BUF |
| Wild | 59 | .534 | 63 | 24 | 26 | 2/21 at EDM, 2/23 vs STL |
| Blackhawks | 60 | .500 | 60 | 19 | 23 | 2/21 vs NSH, 2/23 at DAL |
The tiebreakers are, in order:
- Points percentage.
- Regulation wins.
- Regulation and overtime wins (ROW).
- Wins of any kind.
- Points earned in head-to-head games between tied teams. (If they’ve played an uneven amount of games head-to-head, the first “extra” home game is thrown out.)
- Goal differential.
- Goals for.
Typically-speaking, it’s rare that tiebreakers go further than a couple levels down. But the “regulation wins” distinction is new this season, and the idea is to de-emphasize the shootout.
The race
As always, we’re looking at points percentage because every team has played a weird number of games and it’s difficult to make apples-to-apples comparisons otherwise.
The Central teams remain effectively locked in. St. Louis, Dallas and Colorado are in their own cluster. Third place Colorado is eight points up on Winnipeg. They’re all fairly safe.
In the Pacific, Edmonton, Vancouver and Vegas are bunched in together and have a fairly substantial cushion on the non-playoff teams. They’re not as safe as the Central teams, but they’re somewhat comfortable.
The wild-card picture is a bit of a mess, with the Flames firmly embroiled in said mess. The Flames are mired in the muck with Nashville, Winnipeg and Arizona. Minnesota might be a bit too far back (and have too many teams to climb over) to get into the playoff picture.
The Flames are about a 50/50 team in terms of their playoff chances. The Athletic and HockeyViz have them a smidge over 50%, while Sports Club Stats has them a smidge under 50%. They’ve got a coin-toss chance of playing past April 4. At this point, they just need to take care of their own business and hope for a bit of help from the out-of-town scoreboard from time to time.
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