NHL Eastern Conference wild card chase

With the calendar getting closer to summer and the temperature warming up, there’s still one more thing that hockey fans need before the ice melts: playoffs.

With less than two weeks remaining in the regular season, the race for the playoffs is in full swing and heating up. While the Western Conference is a little more sorted out, there’s a chance for several teams in the Eastern Conference to make a push for the playoffs.

To put it into perspective, the gap between the Western Conference’s second Wild Card seed, the Minnesota Wild, and the first team out, the Calgary Flames, is five points. In the East, there are two teams within five points away from the second Wild Card seed, with two others just one and two points out of the threshold.

Ottawa Senators

As of Friday, April 4, the Ottawa Senators are the first seed with 86 points and seven games remaining. Assuming nothing goes wrong for Ottawa, which is 5-4-1 in its last 10 games played, it will be its first playoff appearance since the 2016-2017 season, when the Senators fell to the Pittsburgh Penguins in the Eastern Conference Finals.

This also means it would be the first playoff appearance for Tim Stützle and captain Brady Tkachuk. Of course, the Senators will want to be careful with Tkachuk, as he missed the team’s most recent game with an upper-body injury and is considered day-to-day.

Montreal Canadiens

The Montreal Canadiens currently hold the second Wild Card seed with 81 points and seven games remaining. In just his third season as the head coach of Montreal, Martin St. Louis hopes to hold onto his current playoff spot for Montreal’s first playoff appearance since the 2020-2021 season when it lost in the Stanley Cup Final to the Tampa Bay Lightning.

Should Montreal, who finished last in the Atlantic division in the last three seasons, reach the playoffs, it has a solid offense with impressive players such as Cole Caufield, Kirby Dach, Nick Suzuki and former second-overall pick Patrik Laine. However, it would be a true test for its young goaltending tandem of Jakub Dobes and Sam Montembeault, ages 23 and 28, respectively.

In 57 games, Montembault has posted a .900 save percentage, a 2.86 goals-against-average, and is tied with seven other goaltenders for the third most shutouts in the league with four.

New York Rangers

The first team, “In The Hunt”, if you will, is the New York Rangers. The final year of legendary broadcaster Sam Rosen’s career has not been the most exciting one to call. After winning the President’s Trophy and falling to the Florida Panthers in the Eastern Conference Finals last season, the Rangers have had a disappointing year following their 12-4-1 start.

After trading captain Jacob Trouba and young talents Kappo Kakko and Filip Chytil, the Rangers sit at 79 points with seven games remaining. One piece that has allowed the Rangers to make their push is JT Miller, who spent some time with New York earlier in his career, the return piece in the trade for Chytil.

Despite his extension, there have been games where Igor Shesterkin has not looked like the Vezina-winning goaltender he once was, but it can also be argued that he hasn’t had much of a defense playing in front of him this year.

Fortunately for the Rangers, they will be getting some help from Gabe Perreault, one of their top prospects, who signed with the team once Boston College was eliminated from the NCAA Division I Men’s Hockey Tournament

Columbus Blue Jackets

Looking for its first playoff appearance since the 2019-2020 season, the Columbus Blue Jackets have 77 points with eight games remaining on their schedule.

The Blue Jackets were a team that held a wild card spot for a while and almost looked like a shoo-in to make the playoffs. However, their 3-6-1 record in their last 10 games, which featured games against other teams in the hunt such as the Rangers and Islanders, has forced them to trickle down in the standings.

Of course, a playoff appearance would be the perfect storybook ending on a season that began with a tragedy when one of Columbus’ top players, Johnny Gaudreau, lost his life in a bicycle accident before the start of the season. The Blue Jackets have played with Gaudreau in their hearts all year.

Right behind defenseman Zach Werenski, who leads the team in points (74), is winger Kiril Marchenko, with 70 in his third season in the league. Rounding out the top five in points, with 47, is young phenom Adam Fantilli.

Making the playoffs would be beneficial from a personal perspective for Fantilli, as it provides him with experience that could be helpful in the future if Columbus can get over the hump it faced for years and become a consistent playoff team.

However, if the Blue Jackets want to earn that second Wild Card seed, it will need a better performance from starting goaltender Elvis Merzlikins. Merzlikins is 25-20 this season with a .891 save percentage and a 3.20 goals-against-average.

Detroit Red Wings

The Detroit Red Wings find themselves in a situation familiar to them from last season. In the 2023-2024 season, the Red Wings competed with the Philadelphia Flyers, Pittsburgh Penguins and Washington Capitals for the final playoff spot. In the end, the Capitals moved on to the postseason before being swept in the first round by the New York Rangers.

Now, a year later, the Red Wings have 75 points with eight games left to play. Being six points behind the final Wild Card spot, the Red Wings have a sizeable gap to close. Similar to the Blue Jackets, the Red Wings also held a playoff spot for a while, but a 4-5-1 record in their last ten games has moved them to the fifth seed.

Given how close they were last season, with the talent on their team, Detroit falling short would be a bit of a surprise. One of the problems for Detroit is the number of goals scored against them. Of Detroit’s top five point scorers, Lucas Raymond, Alex DeBrincat, Dylan Larkin, Patrick Kane and Moritz Seider, all five have a plus-minus rating with negative value.

Daniel Studer is a third-year majoring in broadcast journalism. To contact him, please email dbs5866@psu.edu.