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The 2020 Playoff Chase: six weeks remain
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Ryan Pike
Feb 27, 2020, 12:00 ESTUpdated: Feb 27, 2020, 01:30 EST
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The 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:
  1. Points percentage.
  2. Regulation wins.
  3. Regulation and overtime wins (ROW).
  4. Wins of any kind.
  5. 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.)
  6. Goal differential.
  7. 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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