Team(s) currently in playoff position that will miss

[Cleetus]

As much as I'd love to see it, I don't see the jets not making it this year.

what how can u honestly say that, that team is legit I can see them coming out of the west!

 

[Hunn]

1. I don't think they are a very good team

2. I think Washington, Pittsburgh and NYR are better teams

Could be close with NYI or NJD I don't either are great but they have done a good job of getting points early on in the season so I think one of them will get the 8th seed. I did this before the Isles won tonight so at the time the Devils were ahead so I went with the Isles.

They have the best record in the entire league since changing their coach in mid-January (84 points). Pretty significant sample size. I would say it's highly doubtful they suddenly regress to outside of the playoffs (barring multiple injuries to key guys).

 

[Halla]

what how can u honestly say that, that team is legit I can see them coming out of the west!

he said i dont see them NOT making it. double negative = positive. he thinks they are gonna make it

 

[Critical13]

Calgary

 

[Halla]

we have 3 ppg players right now, leddy is tied for second in defensive scoring, and barzal is leading rookie point scoring. that seems like an impressive group to me.

goaltending is a huge red flag on long island. Halak and Greiss are just not guys you can expect to lead you into the playoffs. I think they need to make a move for a quality tender

 

[leaffaninvancouver]

Third spot in the Atlantic is wide open.

 

[Strait2thecup]

goaltending is a huge red flag on long island. Halak and Greiss are just not guys you can expect to lead you into the playoffs. I think they need to make a move for a quality tender

Nah Greiss and halak have gotten them into the playoffs in two out of the last 3 seasons so probably not. Neither are great but they literally are guys that have led this team into the playoffs...

 

[LEAFANFORLIFE23]

Whoever is in the race for third in Atlantic. As its so tight between a pile of teams. Heck Toronto isn't safe yet sitting second. Its gonna be a continuous game of musical chairs for that spot unless one team starts to pull ahead. The wild card race in East is between the mighty Metro IMHO. Should be a fun season.

It would take one HELL of a collapse to miss the playoffs at this point.

Tampa has 36 points Toronto has 33, the next closest team is Detroit at 25, yes the have a game in hand but 8 points is a big gap, after that Boston is 9 back and yes they have 4 games in hand but i'm not sure that matters when you are 9 back.

Ottawa will have 4 games in hand after tomorrow, but they have lost 6 straight and sit 11 back those games in hand absolutely don't matter when you are 10+ points back of a team.

point is this with the cushion they have built, they would need to go on a philly type slide to be in any real trouble and they'd have lose those games in regulation, Seeing as this is the babcock era and not the Burke or Nonis Era I don't see that level of losing streak happening.

They already proved they can win without Matthews, if you can win without him then there isn't a player in the lineup you can't win without

 

[HolyCrap]

It would take one HELL of a collapse to miss the playoffs at this point.

Tampa has 36 points Toronto has 33, the next closest team is Detroit at 25, yes the have a game in hand but 8 points is a big gap, after that Boston is 9 back and yes they have 4 games in hand but i'm not sure that matters when you are 9 back.

Ottawa will have 4 games in hand after tomorrow, but they have lost 6 straight and sit 11 back those games in hand absolutely don't matter when you are 10+ points back of a team.

point is this with the cushion they have built, they would need to go on a philly type slide to be in any real trouble and they'd have lose those games in regulation, Seeing as this is the babcock era and not the Burke or Nonis Era I don't see that level of losing streak happening.

They already proved they can win without Matthews, if you can win without him then there isn't a player in the lineup you can't win without

Um yes. I merely said we weren't safe yet. Which was correct and the extra two points tonight help us. Kinda surprised you came to that conclusion when I was obviously pointing out it was a race for third in Atlantic and it could be close. lol

 

[Martinez]

My team. Crap defense. Don't trust the goaltending. Streaky scorers.

 

[Zhamnov5GoalGame]

it's early enough that any team (just about) with the right (wrong) injuries could still miss. The teams that have depth in the press box and on the farm will be able to handle this a bit better.

Parity will keep these races tight and close.
In the Central for example the "worst" team has a winning record and games in hand. There is almost no room for error for anyone.

It seems like when you win you're just keeping pace and when you lose it's a quick drop down the ladder.

 

[randomhockeyfan]

Kinda off-topic but it's unfair how bad Atlantic is. Tampa and Toronto don't even have to play well to make the playoffs.

 

[Territory]

Detroit.

 

[blueberrie]

Kinda off-topic but it's unfair how bad Atlantic is. Tampa and Toronto don't even have to play well to make the playoffs.

They're #1 and #T3 in the league? Shouldn't you be complaining about Detroit in a playoff spot

 

[Maurice Del Taco]

Detroit and Vegas

 

[brock0791]

we have 3 ppg players right now, leddy is tied for second in defensive scoring, and barzal is leading rookie point scoring. that seems like an impressive group to me.

Seguin, Benn, Spezza and Klingberg would like to have a talk with you about how little that matters when Kari Lehtonen has a save pecentage hovering around .905%.... Coincidentally where Halak and Greiss are at right now

 

[brock0791]

They're #1 and #T3 in the league? Shouldn't you be complaining about Detroit in a playoff spot

Weak competition has a lot to do with it. Take away the Leafs 5-1-1 record against the Atlantic and they would be 11-8-0. Good for 1.158 points per game played or 30 points in 26 games which would have you in 11th.

Also you're currently 6th don't try to pretend giving up games in hand doesn't matter

 

[Syckle78]

Weak competition has a lot to do with it. Take away the Leafs 5-1-1 record against the Atlantic and they would be 11-8-0. Good for 1.158 points per game played or 30 points in 26 games which would have you in 11th.

Also you're currently 6th don't try to pretend giving up games in hand doesn't matter

You can't cut out 5 wins against teams you perceived to be weak and then place them in 11th without taking out all the wins the other playoff teams have against similar competition.

 

[brock0791]

You can't cut out 5 wins against teams you perceived to be weak and then place them in 11th without taking out all the wins the other playoff teams have against similar competition.

My argument is based in fact. 30 of the Leafs games this year get to come against the Atlantic

 

[Syckle78]

My argument is based in fact. 30 of the Leafs games this year get to come against the Atlantic

Your logic not based in fact because once again you're not accounting for other teams playing weak teams also. If you want to go by strength of schedule do so but you can't just handicap one team and drop them down the standings.

 

[brock0791]

Your logic not based in fact because once again you're not accounting for other teams playing weak teams also. If you want to go by strength of schedule do so but you can't just handicap one team and drop them down the standings.

Your point is valid for judging the Leafs against other teams in their division... it's not a valid point to say they're legitimately a top 3 (tied for 3rd even though the actually aren't) team in the league due to strength (weakness) of schedule

 

[MattMartin]

goaltending is a huge red flag on long island. Halak and Greiss are just not guys you can expect to lead you into the playoffs. I think they need to make a move for a quality tender

Actually Greiss has lead the team to a playoff victory and Halak was no schlub against the Capitals. I believe he let in 16 goals in that series in 2015 going 7 games.

 

[Syckle78]

Your point is valid for judging the Leafs against other teams in their division... it's not a valid point to say they're legitimately a top 3 (tied for 3rd even though the actually aren't) team in the league due to strength (weakness) of schedul

You don't understand and I'm too tired to draw up a color coded diagram.

 

[daver]

Your point is valid for judging the Leafs against other teams in their division... it's not a valid point to say they're legitimately a top 3 (tied for 3rd even though the actually aren't) team in the league due to strength (weakness) of schedule

Can you list all the teams in the NHL you consider to be weak competition, then adjust everyone else's record to reflect their records against strong competition like you did for the Leafs.

 

[brock0791]

Can you list all the teams in the NHL you consider to be weak competition, then adjust everyone else's record to reflect their records against strong competition like you did for the Leafs.

Absolutely you can. You could compile a list of left wing lock's weekly SOS data to do a floating one (takes into effect the record of the team when the Leaf's faced them) or just take the final standings points of each team on the Leafs schedule at the end of the year and divide that by 82 to get an average