We’re almost midway through the NHL season, and while the likes of the Tampa Bay Lightning and Toronto Maple Leafs are at the top of the league, as expected, there are teams with a little less hype coming into the year who have snuck into the top ten. Teams like the Calgary Flames and the Columbus Blue Jackets are making a big splash, while the 2018 Presidents trophy winning Nashville Predators have dropped to 5th in the overall standings, which isn’t bad but isn’t exactly good for a team who has arguably the best defensive unit in the league and a deep forward corps.
So the question is, who keeps their pace and rolls into the Stanley cup playoffs, and who runs out of gas for the last half of the season? For me, the team that will drop out of the playoff mix is the Boston Bruins. They have been plagued by injuries and Tuuka Rask, their star goalkeeper has been only average and has lost the starting job to former Islander Jaroslav Halak. I can’t see Rask bouncing back and I doubt Halak will be able to keep this pace up all year.
So now you’re asking, who will fill up the Eastern Conference wildcard spot? I’ve got to give the first spot to the Montreal Canadiens. Carey Price is still an elite goalie and the youth of Jonathan Drouin, Max Domi and others will lead them to the postseason.
So who will occupy the last playoff spot in the conference? The answer is the Florida Panthers. Again, they will bounce back from a horrific start and be a very good team in the second half of the season, as they did last year. With their young talent in Aleksander Barkov and Aaron Ekblad, and the veteran leadership of Roberto Luongo and Derek Mackenzie, this team will squeak into the playoffs.
Now onto the Western Conference. The top 3 in the Central division are pretty much set in stone, with Winnipeg, Nashville and Dallas loicking down those spots.In the Pacific, the Flames and Sharks will lock down the first 2 spots with the Golden Knights locking down the 3rd spot. As for the wild card spots, Colorado will certainly take the #1 spot, while Vancouver will spoil St.Louis second half comeback.
But what do I know. I’m just a ten year old aspiring GM.
Leave a comment on who you think will make it.
Johnny