"No team with 97 points has ever missed the playoffs" sort of implies that 97 points guarantees playoffs. But there are actual cases where teams would've missed the playoffs even with 97 points in the last 10 years (98 points in one case). So while the statement "no team with 97 points has ever missed the playoffs" is true, the implication that 97 points = playoffs is false.
I think you are overstating the implication just a bit. 97 points =/= playoffs, but the odds are very good. The absolute guaranteed playoff number is a calculation that is beyond me. It would need to assume every game awarded 3 points for a start.
Then the difference between 1st OA and the last WC spot would need to be minimized. The non playoff teams would need to have the fewest possible points. And so on.
We aren't talking absolute guarantees here, AFAIK. We are talking likelihood, probability. As it stands this year I think there is a pretty good chance that 1 or even 2 teams with high pt scores will miss. 96 or even a 97 might miss out. I think 98 is safe - probably.