NHL’s Eastern Wild-Card Chaos: Contenders And Pretenders

Parker Wotherspoon, Brady Tkachuk and Jeremy Swayman

Marc DesRosiers-Imagn Images

The NHL’s Eastern Conference wild-card race has been a mashed-up mess for a while now.

With no one finding a way to separate themselves, it looks like it could stay that way for a while longer.

Seven teams have a points percentage at or above .500. The Ottawa Senators currently hold the top wild-card spot at .553.

The teams currently in divisional positions have created some separation from the wild-card group. In the Metropolitan Division, Washington, Carolina and New Jersey are the top three while in the Atlantic Division, Toronto, Florida and Tampa Bay seem to be a cut above.

Not all of these teams will likely stay in the race for the wild-card spots. Even fewer would be legitimate contenders for the Stanley Cup.

Let’s go through the wild-card contenders and judge them on whether they are contenders for a playoff spot or they’re mid-season pretenders that will likely fall off.

47 games, 24-19-4, 52 PTS, .553 P%

The Senators have been ready to take the step into the playoffs for a few years now, but they’ve consistently found ways to crown themselves as the ‘Kings of the Mediocre.’ They’ve undone any progress they made with losing skids.

Thankfully for Ottawa, the Eastern Conference’s wild-card racers have had pretty mediocre moments. That might mean that it is the Senators’ chance to get into the post-season for the first time since 2016-17.

They have high-end scorers such as Tim Stutzle, hard skill in Brady Tkachuk, a true do-it-all defender in Jake Sanderson and a number of other players playing important roles.

If Linus Ullmark can stay healthy in goal, they are probably the best of the bunch. If they get in, they would be a tough matchup for any team, but facing Toronto, who they would play if the playoffs started today, would be pure cinema.

47 games, 24-19-4, .543 P%

The Canadiens have been on a tear as of late, and the young sqaud looks like they are starting to figure things out.

Nick Suzuki and Cole Caufield have been stellar up front. Both have a legitimate shot at reaching the point-per-game mark, which no Canadiens regular has done since Alexei Kovalev in 2007-08, Saku Koivu in 1996-97 and Pierre Turgeon, Vincent Damphousse and Martin Rucinsky in 1995-96. To put it lightly, what they are doing would among the best seasons in a Habs sweater over the last 30 years.

The young blueline in Montreal has evolved over the season. Lane Hutson is in a virtual tie with Macklin Celebrini for NHL rookie of the year, putting up 39 points so far. Kaiden Guhle continues to grow as a defensive stopper. Mike Matheson and David Savard have been solid veterans on the back end to help steady the boat as well.

In net, Sam Montembeault has been hot and cold, but when he’s on his game, he can be unbeatable. Recent call-up Jakub Dobes has been incredible for the Habs in net over his five-game run, and he could be a solid complement to Montembeault.

This team is making some noise, and if they manage to get into the playoffs, they’ll be a fiesty matchup for whatever team they play.

47 games, 22-18-7, 51 PTS, .543 P%

The Columbus Blue Jackets are fun. They’ve put together a very solid stretch of hockey recently, and it’s driven them to being one point out of a playoff spot more than halfway through the season.

This squad has been through quite a bit over the last few years with the tragic passing of Johnny Gaudreau being heartbreaking. Sean Monahan signed in Columbus to play with his best friend, and he’s been at the heart of the celebrations of Gaudreau’s life all year long.

Monahan has had a resurgent season, scoring at a point-per-game pace and looking like a more mature and intelligent version of the player he was with Calgary in his prime. Kirill Marchenko and Dmitry Voronkov have taken another step and look like impact players. Kent Johnson and Adam Fantilli are showing signs of becoming high-end offensive players. Zach Werenski is having a Norris Trophy-level season.

Unfortunately, the team’s goaltending is dreadful, and they likely won’t be able to keep playing at this level in spite of it. The Jackets are a year away from truly entering this conversation.

48 games, 23-19-6, 52 PTS, .542 P%

At the end of the day, this team is still the Boston Bruins.

They’ve been a picture of consistency for more than a decade, and although they seem to be in the twilight of this core group’s competitive window, they can’t be counted out.

David Pastrnak is still a scoring machine with 22 goals and 53 points. He’s been tasked with carrying a much bigger load for the Bruins this year as only he and Brad Marchand (37) have surpassed the 30-point plateau this season. The depth the Bruins have become known for just isn’t there this year.

Only the Pittsburgh Penguins have a worse goal differential than the Bruins in this group, and overcoming that will be tough in the long run.

Making more difficult is that Jeremy Swayman has been subpar through the first half of the season after missing training camp, and Joonas Korpisalo has been unreliable in relief. This Bruins team may make the playoffs because they still have the ceiling that they’ve shown the last couple of years, which makes them a contender for the purpose of this exercise, but they are the flakiest contender of the bunch.

47 games, 23-20-4, 50 PTS, .532 P%

What a weird year for the Rangers.

They have all of the talent and skill that had them in the Eastern Conference Final in two of the last three years, led by their Vezina-caliber netminder Igor Shesterkin and Norris-level defenseman Adam Fox, who remain two of the best at their position.

The offense has been their issue this year. Mika Zibanejad is having his worst season with the Rangers, while Alexis Lafreniere and Filip Chytil have hit another wall in their development.

The Rangers have been in turmoil behind the scenes all year, and the team hasn’t sat on its hands in an attempt to deal with it. They’ve already moved 2019 second-overall pick Kaapo Kakko and captain Jacob Trouba in separate deals, and they seem poised to do more.

They have the foundation to get back in this race, but they need to get going soon or it might be too late. With that said, if they do get back on track and they end up as a wild-card team, they could be one of the most dangerous wild-card teams in recent memory.

48 games, 22-20-6, 50 PTS, .521 P%

The Flyers are kind of just hanging around this group without much movement up or down.

Amid their rebuild, they’ve done an excellent job of finding ways to play meaningful games, and this season looks like they’ll be right in the thick of the race once again. They’ve benefitted from the impressive play of rookie right winger matvei Michkov who has injected a jolt of flair and excitement into the team.

All in all, the Flyers should be happy to be in the mix. They could get hot at the end of the year and squeak in, but it would require the team to get stable goaltending for an extended period of time, something they haven’t had in a while.

47 games, 21-21-5, .500 P%

The Red Wings have gone all-in to get to the playoffs over the past couple of years, and the best it’s gotten them is a last-second elimination last year. While it was fun to see meaningful games in Hockeytown once again, the Wings have signed aging vets and relied on middling roster fillers to play bigger roles than they are capable of while leaning heavily on their top line and top pair.

Lucas Raymond has developed into a wicked play-driver on the wing who can elevate everyone around him. Dylan Larkin remains a steady, underrated top-line center, and Patrick Kane has recently come back to form as well.

Moritz Seider and Simon Edvinsson have been as steady as they come on the back end, and they’ve played some of the toughest competition in the NHL to this point.

The Wings need to be patient and allow the rest of their young talent to emerge. Despite the Yzerplan trying to speed things up, the Wings are still a year away.