Quote:
Originally Posted by gamesaver
You can miss the playoffs with 96 points if certain conditions are met, but most importantly one divison has to be extremely strong compared to the other. This is why the Wild Card system was implemented, but it can happen, the increased amount of cross divison games makes this more probable. Lets say Vegas checks out, but because the rest of the Pacific is just trash, they are safe to coast for the number 3 seed with less than 96. Meanwhile in the Central things get serious as Stars, Avs and Wild are rollling. At the same time, Blues are making their comeback. With 3 point division games and more games against teams from the other division (most of them trash) there is a chance all of those 4 teams are going to end up with 96 points or more. One of them would miss as first and second seeds in the Central are Preds and Jets.
|
Assuming teams are on the schedule where they play certain teams in their division 4 times and the other conference division 3 times, the following records could occur.
Pacific
Team A 82-0-0=164 points
Team B 78-0-4=160 points
Team C 74-0-8=156 points
Team D 61-0-21=143 points
Central
Team E 79-0-3=161 points
Team F 69-0-13=151 points
Team G 65-0-17=147 points
Team H 59-0-18=136 points
Team I could have a record of 54-0-28 for 136 points. One of the two 136 point teams will miss the playoffs, and it will be based on which has more ROWs. Based on your analysis of what could happen, I should probably make the black line 137 points, as that is the only number that truly will guarantee a team's entrance into the playoffs.
Or, like the original post in this thread states, no team in the Western conference has ever achieved 96 points and missed the playoffs. I did the math fairly quickly, so it might even be a higher number. Maybe lower.