If you\u2019re a sports fan, you know what \u201c.500\u201d means. In general, it means you\u2019re average. Mediocre. Just OK. And specifically, it means you\u2019ve won as many games as you\u2019ve lost.<\/p>\n
The exception: the NHL. Since 1999, the league has given out points for losing, which is dumb but we\u2019ve been over that<\/a>. In the NHL, we rank teams based on their points percentage, and because of those loser points, you can have a percentage north of .500 even if you\u2019ve lost more than you\u2019ve won.<\/p>\n Most years, it\u2019s annoying. This year, with the loser point being well and truly out of control, it\u2019s messing up the standings even more than usual. So this week, let\u2019s take a look at five teams that are fake. 500 \u2014 which is to say, they\u2019re sitting at .500 or better even though they\u2019ve lost more games than they\u2019ve won. We\u2019ll name and shame those teams here, and rank them from least to most fake.<\/p>\n Bonus five: The NHL\u2019s fakest fake .500 teams<\/p>\n 5. Columbus Blue Jackets \u2013 <\/strong>A classic example, as they\u2019ve won 13 games and lost 16 but the league says they\u2019re over .550.<\/p>\n 4. Ottawa Senators\/Toronto Maple Leafs \u2013 <\/strong> It feels like we\u2019ve spent the last month talking about how the Leafs are a mess and the Senators are the only good Canadian team, so it\u2019s mildly surprising to see them sporting identical records. Both teams are 13-11-4, which means both teams are comfortably over .500 and it\u2019s fake.<\/p>\n 3. Los Angeles Kings \u2013 <\/strong>They looked great against the Chicago Blackhawks on Saturday, but at 13-8-7 that still means they\u2019re a .589 team that\u2019s lost two more than they\u2019ve won.<\/p>\n 2. Chicago Blackhawks\/San Jose Sharks (tie) \u2013 <\/strong>Seeing last year\u2019s 31st and 32nd place teams sitting over .500 in December is impressive, as long as you don\u2019t notice that San Jose has lost 16 of 30 and Chicago has lost 17 out of 29.<\/p>\n 1. Seattle Kraken \u2013 <\/strong>They\u2019re comfortably over .500 despite winning just 11 of 26 games, meaning only Nashville have fewer wins. More on them in a bit.<\/p>\n Honorable mentions:<\/strong> Yes, there are somehow too many fake .500 teams in this league to fit into a list even when you cheat and use ties. I didn\u2019t include the New York Rangers or Utah Mammoth, since I figure their records come closest to feeling like an accurate representation of who they are. And I didn\u2019t mention the Edmonton Oilers because they\u2019re going to win 10 games in a row any second now and make all of this moot.<\/p>\n By the way, let\u2019s slip in two more loser point-related notes here, both involving Boston. First, congratulations to the Bruins for being the last team standing without a loser point, an honor they earned when the Winnipeg Jets lost a shootout to the Montreal Canadiens last week. As we now know, they\u2019ll be richly rewarded in some way during the 2026-27 season, because the hockey gods hate the loser point<\/a>.<\/p>\n And in a related story that I didn\u2019t catch until a reader flagged it for me<\/a>: Because of their lack of loser points, the Bruins are now in a position where they could pull off one of the dumbest achievements that\u2019s even possible in this dumb league. As of this morning, the Bruins were tied for second in the Eastern Conference in wins, while also being tied for first in regulation losses. Yes, there\u2019s a realistic chance that at some point this year, the same team could be alone in first place in a conference in both the \u201cW\u201d and the \u201cL\u201d column.<\/p>\n That would be so stupid. I want it to happen so bad.<\/p>\n OK, on to this week\u2019s rankings\u2026<\/p>\n Road to the Cup<\/p>\n The five teams with the best chances of winning the Stanley Cup.<\/p>\n I don\u2019t want to be the bearer of bad news, but the Oilers might be Oiling again.<\/p>\n That\u2019s 15 goals in their last two games, with the Sabres up next.<\/p>\n 5. Vegas Golden Knights (14-6-8, +6 true goals differential*) \u2013 <\/strong> They\u2019re almost fake .500 themselves, thanks to all those loser points. But that might be enough in the Pacific.<\/p>\n 4. Carolina Hurricanes (17-9-2, +12) \u2013 <\/strong>How worried should we be getting about Freddie Andersen? He\u2019s given up three goals or more in each of his last seven starts, and hasn\u2019t had a game with a save percentage over .900 since Nov. 1. It\u2019s hardly contributed to a crisis in Carolina, since Brandon Bussi and Pyotr Kochetkov have both been good. But at 36 and playing on a one-year deal, you wonder if this could be the end of the Andersen era in Carolina.<\/p>\n 3. Tampa Bay Lightning (16-10-2, +15) \u2013 <\/strong>An interesting note: Over the weekend, the Lightning briefly moved ahead of the Avalanche in terms of Cup odds from Dom\u2019s models. Presumably that\u2019s largely based on the lack of competition in the East, but it\u2019s still surprising given the Avs\u2019 dominance.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, they\u2019ve lost three straight in regulation and visit the suddenly lukewarm Leafs tonight.<\/p>\n 2. Dallas Stars (20-5-5, +27) \u2013 <\/strong>Ho hum, just seven wins in eight games, and points in all of their last ten. They\u2019re pushing Colorado in terms of total points, getting as close as one point back on Saturday, although the Avs still hold a game in hand.<\/p>\n 1. Colorado Avalanche (21-2-6, +52) \u2013 <\/strong>Filthy.<\/p>\n *Goals differential without counting shootout decisions like the NHL does for some reason.<\/p>\n Not ranked: Washington Capitals \u2013<\/strong> I\u2019ve been accused by Caps fans of napping on their team so far this season. I think they may have a case.<\/p>\n As recently as last week\u2019s newsletter<\/a>, I basically wrote off the Metro as being a battle between the Hurricanes and Devils and a bunch of also-rans. The top-five rankings have reflected that, those two teams being the only ones in the division to get any love. Meanwhile, the team that finished first in the division last season was overcoming a slow start to end up in the same spot this year, and nobody seemed to be paying attention.<\/p>\n And \u2026 yeah, guilty, I suppose. It wasn\u2019t unreasonable to think a team that was only barely fake .500 in mid-November wasn\u2019t a real contender. But you could make the case they\u2019ve been the league\u2019s best team, non-Avalanche category, ever since then. They won nine of ten including six straight, a streak that finally ended on Friday in a shootout loss to the Ducks. They\u2019ve been as high as second spot in goals differential, a position they share with the Stars after last night\u2019s shutout win over Columbus.<\/p>\n That\u2019s not to say that this stretch has been dominant. In fact, that nine-of-ten stretch came against a schedule that was basically a who\u2019s-who of struggling teams around the league, including the Kings (twice), Leafs, Jets and Oilers. Mix in a few blowouts against teams that they should beat, like San Jose and Columbus, and the wins pile up. But the only team they played over that stretch that really feels like a contender right now is Tampa, and that\u2019s the game they lost.<\/p>\n As always, you can only beat the teams you get to play, and taking care of business against struggling opponents is part of being a winning team. And the Caps do seem to have hit a tipping point last week, with the Other Rankings lads moving them all the way up to third<\/a> on Friday \u2014 not just top spot for any Metro team, but ahead of everyone else in the entire conference.<\/p>\n I\u2019m not there yet. Neither are the oddsmakers, who still have the Caps well behind the Hurricanes, Lightning and Panthers in their Stanley Cup futures listings (although some books have moved them ahead of the Devils). That\u2019s probably just fine for Washington fans, who\u2019ve been able to credibly bang the \u201cnobody believes in us\u201d drum for going on three seasons now.<\/p>\n For now, Caps fans will just have to settle for watching a fun season play out. They\u2019ve got Logan Thompson making a run at the Vezina, Jakob Chychrun at least making Cale Makar sweat a bit for the Norris, and maybe even Spencer Carberry building a case to be the first back-to-back Jack Adams winner since the \u201980s. And of course, Tom Wilson\u2019s push for Team Canada will be front-page news up here for the next few weeks, which will just shine a bigger spotlight on what the Capitals are doing right now.<\/p>\n For now, they\u2019ve got the Hurricanes up next in a Thursday night showdown on home ice that\u2019s an early contender for game of the week.<\/p>\n The bottom five<\/p>\n The five teams headed towards dead last and the best lottery odds for Gavin McKenna (we think<\/a>).<\/p>\n We had what I think is our first official vote of confidence for a beleaguered coach over the weekend, and it wasn\u2019t the one most of us would have expected.<\/p>\n Reached out to Ken Holland regarding today’s speculation of a potential coaching change in L.A. and the Kings GM says \u201cthere’s zero truth” to that.<\/p>\n \u2014 Pierre LeBrun (@PierreVLeBrun) December 5, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n Huh. I picked Jim Hiller to be my first coach fired before the season began, although it was supposed to have already happened by now<\/a>. Instead, he had the Kings near the top of the division by mid-November. But since then they\u2019ve lost six of nine, so keep an eye on the situation.<\/p>\n 5. Buffalo Sabres (11-13-4, -14) \u2013 <\/strong>The good news: They were the only team in the league to get both Saturday and Sunday off, so the players are probably all caught up on their Christmas shopping. The bad news: In our second round of predictions, the Sabres were the only team in the East to not get a single vote as a playoff contender<\/a>.<\/p>\n 4. St. Louis Blues (11-12-7, -25) \u2013 <\/strong>This feels like the sort of list you don\u2019t want to be dead last on<\/a>.<\/p>\n 3. Vancouver Canucks (11-15-3, -21) \u2013 <\/strong>If you missed it last week, be sure to check Harman\u2019s look into what\u2019s surely the most pressing question in Vancouver right now: Can they tank, and if so what do they need to do?<\/a> That\u2019s a question that will take on some extra urgency after reports that Quinn Hughes may well and truly be in play<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s not like me, Jim + Fitzy hopped on a call, I wasn\u2019t a part of that,\u201d said Quinn Hughes when I asked for his reaction to HNIC report about conversations about his future occurring between the #Canucks<\/a> and Devils. \u201cBut obviously I\u2019m aware that things like that could happen.\u201d<\/p>\n \u2014 Thomas Drance (@ThomasDrance) December 7, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n And yes, my reaction to that quote was the same as everyone else\u2019s: \u201cFitzy\u201d is a terrifyingly familiar way to refer to another team\u2019s GM.<\/p>\n 2. Calgary Flames (11-15-4, -16) \u2013 <\/strong>They won consecutive games in regulation for only the second time this season. And more importantly, Dustin Wolf has looked like last year\u2019s version in those games. They get the Sabres tonight.<\/p>\n 1. Nashville Predators (10-14-4, -27) \u2013 <\/strong>I\u2019m telling you, Juuse Saros to the Oilers<\/a> makes at least a little bit more sense than you might think it does.<\/p>\n Not ranked: Seattle Kraken \u2013 <\/strong>It kind of feels like the bubble has burst in Seattle after the Kraken spent most of the first two months looking like surprise playoff contenders. Despite few of us having them as a legitimate playoff contender coming into the season, they looked the part up until a few weeks ago.<\/p>\n (Fun fact: The Kraken were the last Western team to have a three-game losing streak this season. Yes, including the Avalanche.)<\/p>\n Now we get to the bad news, because it\u2019s been ugly lately. The Kraken have lost five straight, including the last four in regulation. That span includes two shutouts, plus a pair against the Oilers that saw Seattle outscored 13-4. Those games allowed Edmonton to push past them into a playoff spot, and they\u2019re even behind the Sharks today by points (but not percentage).<\/p>\n So it\u2019s over. Unless we\u2019re all wrong again.<\/p>\n That doesn\u2019t feel likely right now. The Kraken have been a team loaded with star power, and scoring is an issue. The penalty kill has been brutally bad. The five-on-five numbers are ugly. Philipp Grubauer remains a sub-.900 goalie for the fifth straight year, and Joey Daccord hasn\u2019t been good enough to make up for the other weaknesses on most nights. Jaden Schwartz, who\u2019d been their leading scorer, is on IR.<\/p>\n If there\u2019s any optimism, our staff isn\u2019t finding it. Harman had them at a 2\/10 to make the playoffs in his recent roundup of early surprises<\/a>. And in our staff picks, they had more of us thinking they\u2019d plummet all the way to dead last (one voter) than thought they\u2019d make the postseason (zero).<\/p>\n All that said, we\u2019ve been wrong on this team before. And there are certainly some winnable games on the schedule between now and the holidays, including the Sabres, Flames, Sharks and the struggling Kings twice. They\u2019ve got the Wild tonight, and that team hasn\u2019t made much sense at all lately<\/a>.<\/p>\n It\u2019s the Pacific, so anyone who pretends they know anything is lying. But if the Kraken are going to stay in this race, it\u2019s time for them to start surprising us again.<\/p>\n\n
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