The NHL has been off since February 9, as its players compete in Sochi on various Olympic teams around the world. The league will resume play on Tuesday, February 25. TheSportsNotebook is going to be running a series of articles between now and then to get us ready for the final portion of the regular season, leading into the playoffs in April. We’ll start here with a review of the Stanley Cup betting odds…
The Anaheim Mighty Ducks are leading the NHL’s Pacific Division, and have moved past the Chicago Blackhawks in both the Western Conference, and the league overall for the best record in hockey. The smart money in Las Vegas has taken notice, with Anaheim now at 5-1 to win the Stanley Cup, narrowly better than defending champion Chicago, at 11-2. Is it time to take the Ducks seriously as one of the league’s elite?
Right now though, the Red Wings are kind of puttering along. They have 50 points, which puts them as one of a group of eight teams jousting for five playoff berths in the Eastern Conference (Pittsburgh, Boston and Tampa Bay having separated themselves at the top).
Are the Red Wings destined for mediocrity in 2014, or will we see a turnaround? Let’s take a closer look at what they’ve done and speculate on what might lie ahead.
Tampa Bay has stepped up and become the third-best team in the Eastern Conference coming into Tuesday’s games, trailing only the conference powers, Pittsburgh and Boston, and being only two points back of the Bruins at that. How has this come about?
The NHL season hits what I would consider its first real breakpoint of the regular season, and that’s New Year’s Day. The league’s new tradition of the Winter Classic will feature the Detroit Red Wings and Toronto Maple Leafs playing outdoors at the University of Michigan football stadium on January 1, and its good a vantage point as any to see how the new season is shaping up.
This year was supposed to be different for the Edmonton Oilers. The franchise that had fallen on hard times since the dynasty run of five Stanley Cups from 1984-90, was poised to return to the playoffs. The fans of Edmonton haven’t seen so much as a single postseason appearance since a surprise run to the Finals in 2006, and it looked like an improving young team would make this the year. Instead, Edmonton is nowhere close. What’s the problem?
The NHL Pacific Division is proving to be the superior of the two Western Conference divisions in the league’s new alignment for this season. A format that locks in three playoff spots for each division and then floats the final two berths in the postseason bracket, would see the Pacific put the max of five teams into the playoff field.
Colorado reached back to the glory days in looking for a contemporary answer. Patrick Roy was the hero of those great teams, and the former goalie was hired as head coach. Now in his first season, Roy has the Avalanche positioned where they would make the playoffs if the season ended today
The NHL Central Division is home to the 2013 Stanley Cup champions, the Chicago Blackhawks. The champs of last spring are looking every bit the part of a team ready to make another run at glory. With 60 points in the bank, Chicago again has the best record in hockey and has a firm, though not infallible, grip on its division.
…the Isles got it going last year, made the playoffs and gave the heavily favored Pittsburgh Penguins a tough six-game series in the first round.
But it’s all gone awry in the early part of the new season and New York is 12 points out of the playoffs. Why?
The NHL Metropolitan Division has thus far been defined by dominance from the favorite and injuries holding back other potential contenders. The Pittsburgh Penguins are off and running to another big year, and have a 12-point lead in this division. But in the rest of the Metropolitan leaves this division confined to only the minimum three teams in the playoffs.
Each division is guaranteed its top three teams in the postseason, with only the final two berths able to float. As it stands today, the Atlantic Division would get the maximum of five teams in the playoffs–Boston, Montreal, Tampa Bay, Detroit and Toronto would all qualify.