One of the biggest questions now that the NHL has decided to temporarily suspend the season is what will happen in the playoffs. The league did not explain what the plan was at this point because there is no clear timeline on when the season will resume (if at all), but many have speculated about how they would decide which teams qualify should there not be time to play any more regular season games.
The prevailing thought if the season is forced to go right into the playoffs, would be that points percentage — rather than points in the standings — is how the seeding is determined. That’s because teams have not played the same number of games to this point, with the Carolina Hurricanes and New York Islanders bringing up the rear with 68 games played, three fewer than those who have completed the most.
In that case, some interesting changes would happen to the standings. The Atlantic Division standings would stay the same, with the Boston Bruins, Tampa Bay Lightning and Toronto Maple Leafs still leading in points percentage. The Metropolitan would be where it would come into play, however, as the Islanders currently have a better percentage than the Blue Jackets, despite trailing them by one point in the standings. The Blue Jackets just so happen to hold the final wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference.
Over in the Western Conference there is a similar situation. The Nashville Predators are just barely ahead of the Winnipeg Jets in percentage, despite being two points behind them in the standings. The Vancouver Canucks are also just ahead of the Calgary Flames, meaning both divisions would have a swap.
Of course, none of this is certain to play out at this point. The NHL may resume the regular season and play out the dozen or so games left for each team, or may not be able to return to normal at all this year. There are also other options like a play-in tournament that some have suggested. For now, we’ll just have to wait and see what comes about in the next weeks and months. The full standings by points percentage is as follows:
Atlantic Division
x-Boston Bruins: .714, 44-14-12
x-Tampa Bay Lightning: .657, 43-21-6
x-Toronto Maple Leafs: .579, 36-25-9
Florida Panthers: .565, 35-26-8
Montreal Canadiens: .500, 31-31-9
Buffalo Sabres: .493, 30-31-8
Ottawa Senators: .437, 25-34-12
Detroit Red Wings: .275, 17-49-5
Metropolitan Division
x-Washington Capitals: .652, 41-20-8
x-Philadelphia Flyers: .645, 41-21-7
x-Pittsburgh Penguins: .623, 40-23-6
w1-Carolina Hurricanes: .596, 38-25-5
w2-New York Islanders: .588, 35-23-10
Columbus Blue Jackets: .579, 33-22-15
New York Rangers: .564, 37-28-5
New Jersey Devils: .493, 28-29-12
Central Division
x-St. Louis Blues: .662, 42-19-10
x-Colorado Avalanche: .657, 42-20-8
x-Dallas Stars: .594, 37-24-8
w1-Nashville Predators: .565, 35-26-8
Winnipeg Jets: .563, 37-28-6
Minnesota Wild: .558, 35-27-7
Chicago Blackhawks: .514, 32-30-8
Pacific Division
x-Vegas Golden Knights: .606, 39-24-8
x-Edmonton Oilers: .585, 37-25-9
x-Vancouver Canucks: .565, 36-27-6
w2-Calgary Flames: .564, 36-27-7
Arizona Coyotes: .529, 33-29-8
Anaheim Ducks: .472, 29-33-9
Los Angeles Kings: .457, 29-35-6
San Jose Sharks: .450, 29-36-5
x = Divisional Playoff Spot
w = Wild Card Playoff Spot
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