The 2020 Playoff Chase: six 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 | |
| Golden Knights (P1) | 65 | .600 | 78 | 27 | 32 | 2/28 vs BUF, 3/1 vs LAK |
| Canucks (P2) | 62 | .597 | 74 | 26 | 31 | 2/27 at OTT, 2/29 at TOR, 3/1 at CBJ |
| Oilers (P3) | 64 | .578 | 74 | 28 | 31 | 2/29 vs WPG |
| Flames (WC2) | 64 | .563 | 72 | 23 | 27 | 2/27 at NSH, 2/29 at TBL, 3/1 at FLA |
| Coyotes | 66 | .530 | 70 | 24 | 26 | 2/29 vs BUF |
| Ducks | 63 | .460 | 58 | 17 | 20 | 2/28 vs PIT, 3/1 vs NJD |
| Sharks | 63 | .444 | 56 | 20 | 24 | 2/27 vs NJD, 2/29 vs PIT |
| Kings | 64 | .406 | 52 | 17 | 23 | 2/29 vs NJD, 3/1 at VGK |
Notable Central teams
| GP | Pct. | Pts | Reg W | ROW | This weekend | |
| Predators (WC1) | 62 | .565 | 70 | 25 | 28 | 2/27 vs CGY, 2/29 vs COL |
| Wild | 62 | .540 | 67 | 26 | 28 | 2/27 at DET, 2/28 at CBJ, 3/1 vs WSH |
| Jets | 65 | .538 | 70 | 25 | 29 | 2/27 vs WSH, 2/29 at EDM |
| Blackhawks | 63 | .492 | 62 | 19 | 24 | 2/27 at TBL, 2/29 at FLA |
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.
We have the same eight playoff teams that we had a week ago, but the order has been shuffled a bit. Heck, Edmonton was first a week ago and now they’re third. Chaos!
If the playoffs began today (by points percentage):
- St. Louis (1st, Central) vs. Calgary (2nd, Wildcard)
- Colorado (2nd, Central) vs. Dallas (3rd, Central)
- Vegas (1st, Pacific) vs. Nashville (1st, Wildcard)
- Vancouver (2nd, Pacific) vs. Edmonton (3rd, Pacific)
The three Central seeds are locked in, though their order might flip around. The three Pacific teams are probably in safe shape for playoff spots overall, though it’s possible the Flames could catch Edmonton or Vancouver with a good weekend.
The Flames are in the second wildcard spot (by points percentage), but the teams immediately behind them seem like they have challenging weekend schedules. The picture will get clearer in a couple weeks, but right now the Flames are a probable playoff team that can fall out with a bad losing skid.
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