I think we get a bit blinded by thinking the playoff bubble is doing a good job, even with this line-up. There are really only a handful of teams not either in the playoffs or on the bubble though. Florida has 1 less win and 5 less points than Carolina with 3 less games played. So in the east, it's really Detroit (who has 2 less wins than Carolina with 2 less games played), MTL, Ottawa and Buffalo and in the west it's EDM, Vanc, and AZ. Just to put into context how the Canes are doing right now in comparison to the league:
If you go by points / game played, Canes are 23rd in the NHL.
If you go by wins, Canes are 24th in the NHL (26th if you adjust for Games played)
If you go by ROWs, Canes are 24th in the NHL (27th in the NHL if you adjust for Games played)
If look at GF-GA diff, Canes are 27th in the NHL.
They are only a bubble team because pretty much everyone is. We have bottom 1/4 talent team and the results are bottom 1/4. I'm not saying another coach can get more out of this team, just that I don't think the numbers show we are outperforming the talent.