John Shannon is out of his tree on this. For the 9–12 teams to all make the playoffs, one of two things will have to happen:
1. Four teams that now have 52 to 54 points (L.A., Dallas, Colorado, Minnesota) will have to finish ahead of four teams that now have 57 to 60 points (San Jose, Winnipeg, Calgary, Vancouver). But then you'd have just two Pacific Division teams in the playoffs – Anaheim and L.A. This is impossible under the current playoff setup. So scratch that idea.
2. One of Chicago (64 points), St. Louis (68), or Nashville (70) will have to finish behind all four of those teams, so they not only drop out of top 3 in the Central, but out of a wild-card spot as well. That will require a massive losing streak, which is a real long shot at this point in the season.
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‘You see in Calgary, [Ryan] Huska is no joke. It’s good. He’s really set on a specific model defensively. If you can be reliable, you have the freedom to play offence.’
—Ethan Wyttenbach
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