The team is 5-6 at home and 1-6-1 on the road. This road trip is a 50/50 one with 2 winnable games and 2 they should lose. If they don't come out of it with at least 4 points then you can almost write them off because they'd be most likely over 10 points out of a playoff spot over a quarter of the way through the year. Also it would show they are not a very good road team and wouldn't expect them to steal points on the road as the season passes. If they can snag a win off one of the Florida teams and then Buffalo and Detroit I can see them fighting for that 4th spot in the division.
Looking at the last full 82 game seasons in order to make the playoffs in the western conference you needed somewhere between 90 to (rather)95 points, with the 2015-16 season(Minnesota made it with 87 points) being the exception.
8th place teams:
2014-15 ---> Calgary 97 points
2015-16 ---> Minnesota 87 points
2016-17 ---> Nashville 94 points
2017-18 ---> Colorado 95 points
2018-19 ---> Colorado 90 points
That means we would need at least 77 points from those 63 games left and would need to go for something like 35-21-7 during those games.
Even if Grubauer plays like he did during that last two games and Driedger returns to somewhat adequate form, that's quite the stretch and would also be only the lower end of those points needed.
They still haven't played SJ or LA so two teams they can jump with wins over them. But the question is should they be pushing for a playoff spot or focusing on next year and trying to move Giordano, Johansson, Jankrok and maybe others for futures? It's good to see them playing how they should have from the start but they may have dug too deep a hole. Get a kid like Borgen in some games to see what he's got, call up True to see if he can be the 4C next year so Geekie can move into the top 9. Michigan should go challenge for the frozen 4 so might not see Berniers anytime this season or maybe just 1 or 2 games at the end of the year. Hope they keep playing well but I'd be focusing on getting the roster set for next year.
I think they should keep on working to find an identity and hope to get the goalies acclimated to the system and teammates.
The Front Office, on the other hand, should be aware that making the playoffs this season, after digging themselves into that huge hole, is quite unlikely and should look what's available for a couple of those veterans you mentioned.
That would help the team find their identity and it would also help bringing in more picks and prospects(+maybe a better draft pick) while a couple of younger guys get a chance to play and prove they can be part of the future.
