What 4 teams will ultimately get the Wild Card spots?

[Paris in Flames]

EAST

Metro
Islanders
Washington
Pittsburgh

Atlantic
Tampa Bay
Boston/Toronto
Toronto/Boston

WC1 - Columbus
WC2 - Carolina

WEST

Central
Winnipeg
St Louis/Nashville
Nashville/St Louis

Pacific
Calgary
Las Vegas
San Jose

WC1 - Colorado
WC2 - Dallas

 

[Mickey Marner]

Hopefully whichever West teams make it have a >.500 record. Columbus just spent their life savings and are currently 9th in the East. That's gotta' be horrifying.

 

[CDN24]

I think the better question in the east is who of CBJ/CAR/Pens/MTL ends up on the outside looking in

One of the first 3 will likely be 3rd in the metro leaving the other 2 metro teams and the Habs fighting for the WC spots. Someone ends up in 9th. I thing the Canes probably take the metro 3 spot. Will come down to the wire probably.

 

[57special]

I don’t have the Wild getting in, they have a nightmare schedule with elite team after elite team with no gimmes inbetween

.

Wild have spent all year losing to bad teams and beating good teams. I am hoping for them to go in the tank, but they are by no means a sure thing to miss the playoffs...yet again.

 

[HolyCrap]

There are four wild card spots now?

Correct. As it’s always been this way in the new playoff format.

 

[Pierce Hawthorne]

EAST: Carolina, Columbus

WEST: Colorado, Minnesota

 

[Hockey4Lyfe]

Can I wait a week or two to answer this? Lol. Every Metro team still has a chance to win the division.

Could go from not being in the playoffs to winning the division by the end of the year. It’s nuts.

 

[TheTang58]

Correct. As it’s always been this way in the new playoff format.

Derp. For some reason I was thinking of each conference. Forgot I was on the main board. Carry on.

 

[qwerty]

Wild have spent all year losing to bad teams and beating good teams. I am hoping for them to go in the tank, but they are by no means a sure thing to miss the playoffs...yet again.

I would be more impressed with Minnesota getting in this year than any other year that they have previously especially with the injuries, the removal of core players and the most difficult final 20 games in the league.

 

[deckercky]

Hopefully whichever West teams make it have a >.500 record. Columbus just spent their life savings and are currently 9th in the East. That's gotta' be horrifying.

Columbus is currently ahead of Pittsburgh and Carolina in terms of points percentage. Obviously its not a comfortable hold on the spot, but despite being in 9th place, other teams need to beat them out to make the playoffs.

 

[Luigi Lemieux]

I think the better question in the east is who of CBJ/CAR/Pens/MTL ends up on the outside looking in

One of the first 3 will likely be 3rd in the metro leaving the other 2 metro teams and the Habs fighting for the WC spots. Someone ends up in 9th. I thing the Canes probably take the metro 3 spot. Will come down to the wire probably.

Not happy with the pens play this year but imo they're better than their record. They are 9th in the nhl in goal differential - hard to imagine a team that high up in GD will miss the playoffs. Imo they'll make it in safely after turning it on from here on out.

 

[STLegend]

Nashville
Arizona

Columbus
Montreal

 

[Uncle Scrooge]

I hope the Habs miss and Canes/Pens/Jackets make it. Don't care who ends up in wild card spots.

I want to see the best teams play in the playoffs and the Habs are just 1st round fodder for the real contenders. Pens when healthy are still a threat to anyone and Jackets loaded up.

It just feels like a special season for the Canes and all the attention they've got i want them to finally make it and then push a strong team to like game 7 OT or something. #jerks

Nothing against Montreal but it's the least interesting team to me. It will probably come down to the wire and their last 5 games of the season are insane. Columbus - Winnipeg - Tampa - Washington - Toronto. We could literally see them be in a playoff spot going into that stretch only to be sank by Auston Matthews in the last game of the season Part of me wants that to happen because i want the Leafs/Habs rivalry be really good in the future and that would add even more spice and hate to it.

In the West who knows really but Dallas is just so meh i hope they miss and fire Nill. They needed a spark, got it for 1 game with Zucc but watching their last game against Vegas again was painful.

I think the Avs get it, they were sucking so long that they're clearly enjoying winning hockey games again and i think they can keep it going for the last 20 games.

For Chicago 6 pts is tough to climb at this point so im going to play the odds and say they miss. So if Dallas misses, it'll come down to Minny vs Arizona. I hope the Yotes get in but my money would be on the Wild since they've made it for years.

 

[Michoulicious]

I hope the Habs miss and Canes/Pens/Jackets make it. Don't care who ends up in wild card spots.

I want to see the best teams play in the playoffs and the Habs are just 1st round fodder for the real contenders. Pens when healthy are still a threat to anyone and Jackets loaded up.

It just feels like a special season for the Canes and all the attention they've got i want them to finally make it and then push a strong team to like game 7 OT or something. #jerks

Nothing against Montreal but it's the least interesting team to me. It will probably come down to the wire and their last 5 games of the season are insane. Columbus - Winnipeg - Tampa - Washington - Toronto. We could literally see them be in a playoff spot going into that stretch only to be sank by Auston Matthews in the last game of the season Part of me wants that to happen because i want the Leafs/Habs rivalry be really good in the future and that would add even more spice and hate to it.

In the West who knows really but Dallas is just so meh i hope they miss and fire Nill. They needed a spark, got it for 1 game with Zucc but watching their last game against Vegas again was painful.

I think the Avs get it, they were sucking so long that they're clearly enjoying winning hockey games again and i think they can keep it going for the last 20 games.

For Chicago 6 pts is tough to climb at this point so im going to play the odds and say they miss. So if Dallas misses, it'll come down to Minny vs Arizona. I hope the Yotes get in but my money would be on the Wild since they've made it for years.

The team that is going to finish in the 2nd wild card spot in the East is gonna get eaten alive by Tampa in the first round, no matter who it is.

The team that ends up in the first wild card spot is going to get the best matchup scenario in the East, given the weakness of the metro.

I would put any of Montreal, Colombus, Carolina or Pittsburgh as favorites against the Islanders...

A bit similar as when a few years back the 1st ranked Atlantic division Habs got to face the first wild card spot Rangers.

 

[Uncle Scrooge]

The team that is going to finish in the 2nd wild card spot in the East is gonna get eaten alive by Tampa in the first round, no matter who it is.

The team that ends up in the first wild card spot is going to get the best matchup scenario in the East, given the weakness of the metro.

I would put any of Montreal, Colombus, Carolina or Pittsburgh as favorites against the Islanders...

A bit similar as when a few years back the 1st ranked Atlantic division Habs got to face the first wild card spot Rangers.

True but let's see if the Isles even finish 1st. Personally i think the Caps will. Tied in pts atm and excited to gear up for the playoffs. Yeah the Isles have 2 games in hand but they've been stumbling for a week now and don't look all that impressive. I wouldn't bet against the team that took the division title 3 years in a row.

 

[Michoulicious]

True but let's see if the Isles even finish 1st. Personally i think the Caps will. Tied in pts atm and excited to gear up for the playoffs. Yeah the Isles have 2 games in hand but they've been stumbling for a week now and don't look all that impressive. I wouldn't bet against the team that took the division title 3 years in a row.

Exactly. But no matter who finishes at the top of the metro, I think they are more favorable opponents for the Habs than Boston or Toronto.

 

[HockeyDBspecialist]

I like seeing a lot of MTL

 

[member 298589]

Can I wait a week or two to answer this? Lol. Every Metro team still has a chance to win the division.

Could go from not being in the playoffs to winning the division by the end of the year. It’s nuts.

Agree. Let's have this discussion at the 82 game point of the season.