So was just going through the standings and in the East, seven teams have been eliminated, meaning there's a set top nine in the conference. Yet only two teams, Washington and Pittsburgh, have clinched a playoff spot. So only one of the other seven non-eliminated teams will miss the playoffs, but it could be any one of those seven.
In the west, on the other hand, seven of the playoff teams are set. Dallas, St. Louis, Chicago, Nashville, Los Angeles, Anaheim and San Jose have all clinched spots. The last spot is either going to be Minnesota or Colorado.
Five of last years playoff teams have already been eliminated. Montreal, Ottawa, Winnipeg, Vancouver and Calgary. So there will be between five and seven teams in this year's playoffs that didn't make it last year.