Mirtle made the case<\/a> for making a change now, and it\u2019s hard to argue against. But with the players having clearly pulled the chute on their coach, keeping Berube in place could help the tank efforts while also sending a message about who\u2019s actually in charge in Toronto.<\/p>\n7. New Jersey Devils (32-31-2, 66 points)<\/p>\n
How deadline moves will affect them:<\/strong> Tom Fitzgerald sat out the deadline entirely, with no selling to be found. The big name here would have been Dougie Hamilton, but Fitzgerald claims he wasn\u2019t interested in that.<\/p>\nOverall outlook:<\/strong> Like a few other teams, including the Leafs and Panthers, the Devils would rather view this season as a brief step back than the start of a rebuild. That\u2019s fair, but it does limit their tanking options somewhat. They\u2019ve still got two more games against the Rangers, which could end up being important.<\/p>\nOn the schedule front, there\u2019s more good news. Five of their last seven games are against the Canadiens (twice), Senators, Bruins and Red Wings, four teams that could be fighting tooth-and-nail for three playoff spots.<\/p>\n
One other key to keep an eye on: Loser points. With just two on the year, the Devils have the fewest in the league. That\u2019s good, and not just because it\u2019s been proven that the hockey gods hate loser points. It\u2019s a small detail that a lot of tanking teams miss, but if you\u2019re going to lose, get it done in regulation. The Devils seem to get that.<\/p>\n
What they can do to get even worse:<\/strong> Jacob Markstrom is 36, so starting him on back-to-back nights, which the Devils have already done twice in March, is a nice bit of tank-work by Sheldon Keefe, even if it didn\u2019t really work. (Markstrom won three of those four games, because he\u2019s clearly not a team player.)<\/p>\n6. Winnipeg Jets (26-28-10, 62 points)<\/p>\n
How deadline moves will affect them:<\/strong> Winnipeg\u2019s big move at the deadline was selling off Logan Stanley and Luke Schenn to the Sabres.<\/p>\nStanley took meaningful strides this year, but for most teams, losing a third-pair caliber contributor wouldn\u2019t be a huge deal. This might actually be a big blow for the Jets, though, because it\u2019s forced Haydn Fleury, who\u2019s struggling mightily, into an everyday role. Winnipeg has been outscored 19-5 with Fleury on the ice at five-on-five, and the underlying play-driving numbers are just as brutal.<\/p>\n
Overall outlook:<\/strong> The Jets were in 32nd place in early January, but they\u2019ve gone on an 11-7-5 run that\u2019s pushed them outside the bottom five. And because the Western Conference is a mess, the team is still holding out hope for a last-minute heater that squeaks them into the playoffs.<\/p>\nWinnipeg seems like a team that will get caught in the middle. A playoff spot feels unlikely for them because their recent success has mostly been built on beating bad teams (only three wins against teams in a playoff spot in 2026), their schedule is getting tougher, they still lack offensive generators outside of the top line, and they still get outshot and outchanced most nights.<\/p>\n
At the same time, though, it\u2019s tough to imagine them finishing bottom-five when they\u2019ve still got elite talent in Connor Hellebuyck, Kyle Connor and Mark Scheifele. Importantly, because they\u2019re still alive in the playoff race, their games have real meaning, so their top players are going to stay motivated to play their best down the stretch.<\/p>\n
What they can do to get even worse:<\/strong> Keep Fleury in the lineup every game instead of giving Ville Heinola a proper look. Not only is Scott Arniel keeping Fleury in the lineup, but he\u2019s played at least 17 and a half minutes in three of his last four games.<\/p>\n5. St. Louis Blues (27-29-10, 64 points)<\/p>\n
How deadline moves will affect them: <\/b>The Blues could have looked a lot worse post-deadline than they actually are. Colton Parayko nixed a trade to the Sabres, and their best forward, Robert Thomas, is still on the team as well.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Justin Faulk\u2019s departure means a far bigger top-four role for Logan Mailloux. Mailloux was unplayable in the first half of the season, but he\u2019s improved considerably and suddenly doesn\u2019t look out of place eating up 22+ minutes per night; whether that newfound stability lasts will have a huge impact on the performance of the Blues\u2019 top-four defense the rest of the way.<\/p>\n
Brayden Schenn\u2019s loss will be felt, but it won\u2019t be crushing, as he was only playing at a 38-point pace before the trade.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Overall outlook:<\/b> Between Thomas, Jordan Kyrou, Philip Broberg, Dylan Holloway, Parayko, and high-pedigree youngsters such as Jimmy Snuggerud, Jake Neighbours and Dalibor Dvorsky, the Blues have a roster that\u2019s probably too talented on paper to tank further than their current position. Lately, we\u2019re seeing signs of that as St. Louis has won five of its last six games since the Olympic break. There\u2019s a decent chance the Blues could pass the Jets and even climb out of the bottom five.<\/p>\n
One of the biggest game-changers is that Thomas (10 points in his last six games) and Holloway (12 points in his last eight games) are healthy and finally getting hot. Both of them missed most of January and February \u2014 now that they\u2019re healthy and playing together, the Blues are icing a legitimately productive top-line, which you certainly can\u2019t say about every basement dweller.\u00a0<\/p>\n
What they can do to get even worse: <\/b>Hope their goaltending regresses to where it\u2019s been for most of the season. Heading into the Olympic break, Jordan Binnington and Joel Hofer were arguably the worst goaltending tandem in the NHL this season.<\/p>\n
As important as Thomas and Holloway have been to the Blues\u2019 improved play lately, their lights-out goaltending has arguably been an even bigger driver. Hofer has a .948 save percentage in his last five games, and Binnington has allowed just five goals combined in three starts since the Olympic break.<\/p>\n
4. New York Rangers (27-30-8, 62 points)<\/p>\n
How deadline moves will affect them:<\/strong> Not as much as Rangers fans may have hoped, given that GM Chris Drury didn\u2019t trade anyone of significance last week. That includes Vincent Trocheck, who\u2019d been widely assumed to be on the move and whose value will probably never be higher.<\/p>\nDrury also didn\u2019t move Adam Fox or find a way to offload Mika Zibanejad, although those are much easier to understand due to Fox\u2019s age and Zibanejad\u2019s contract. But the Trocheck decision stings, both in terms of the tank and missed opportunity.<\/p>\n
In fairness, Drury did move Artemi Panarin before the Olympic freeze, albeit for an underwhelming return. So he didn\u2019t skip the midseason market entirely. He just didn\u2019t do as much dismantling as Rangers fans would have liked, or as his midseason letter seemed to imply.<\/p>\n
Overall outlook:\u00a0<\/strong>Could the Matthews-less Leafs rival the Rangers for last place in the Eastern Conference? It\u2019s possible. For now, though, the Rangers still have a five-point cushion on Toronto, and could even finish as low as 31st, though they\u2019ll need to stop beating teams like the Jets, which they did on Thursday night.<\/p>\nTheir schedule doesn\u2019t feature as many \u201cmust lose\u201d showdowns with the worst of the worst as the western teams have; they face the Blackhawks in a few weeks, but that\u2019s it for teams in the mix for dead last. The flip side is that most of their games are against teams playing for postseason spots or seeding, which is good news.<\/p>\n
What they can do to get even worse:<\/strong> Is Igor Shesterkin hurt? Doesn\u2019t he look kind of hurt to you? I\u2019m pretty sure he\u2019s hurt. Let\u2019s maybe shut him down just in case.<\/p>\n3. Chicago Blackhawks (25-29-11, 61 points)<\/p>\n
How deadline moves will affect them:<\/strong> They did a good job of selling, which you\u2019d expect given how much practice they have. Moving Connor Murphy and Jason Dickinson will hurt their depth, so that\u2019s nice work by Kyle Davidson. Giving their captain away for free was just showing off.<\/p>\nOverall outlook:<\/strong> The Hawks have shown flashes this year, even hanging around the playoff bubble for a chunk of the first half. They were 10-5-2 in mid-November, but have won just 14 of 48 since. So really, the Hawks don\u2019t have to change much. Keep doing what they\u2019ve been doing for months, and they\u2019ll end up right where they always do.<\/p>\nIn the bigger picture, that could be a problem \u2014 you don\u2019t want guys such as Connor Bedard, Alex Vlasic and Frank Nazar to go years without ever playing a meaningful game. We could call that the Taylor Hall dilemma, and it\u2019s not great for long-term success. Teams can mumble about a culture of excellence all they want, but at some point you have to do a bit of winning. That leaves the Hawks with a tough needle to thread; they want to lose down the stretch, but not so much that the stench lingers into the future.<\/p>\n
What they can do to get even worse:<\/strong> It doesn\u2019t matter, because Gary Bettman will rig the lottery for them anyway.<\/p>\n(I kid, I kid.)<\/p>\n
(He\u2019s obviously rigging it for the Rangers this year.)<\/p>\n
2. Calgary Flames (26-32-7, 59 points)<\/p>\n
How deadline moves will affect them:<\/strong> GM Craig Conroy pulled off a masterclass for the tank by dumping Nazem Kadri and MacKenzie Weegar (in addition to Rasmus Andersson earlier in the year) for strong returns.<\/p>\nCalgary\u2019s blue line, in particular, is very inexperienced and unproven now. Up front, the Flames brought in Ryan Strome as a stopgap center\/reclamation project to presumably flip again next year. It was a smart move, and he\u2019s had a decent start (four points in four games), but he\u2019s unlikely to keep that up.<\/p>\n
Overall outlook:<\/strong> The Flames are always a hard-working, spirited team that punches above its talent level, but compete can only take you so far. With Kadri, Weegar and Andersson gone, the Flames\u2019 lack of proven, high-end skill is probably only matched by the Canucks. We saw evidence of that this week as the Flames didn\u2019t really look close in lopsided losses against the Capitals and Rangers. They did bounce back with a surprisingly high-scoring victory against the Devils, but we aren\u2019t betting on them having too many outings like that left in the tank.<\/p>\nThere\u2019s a natural tailwind for the tank as well, since Calgary has the second-toughest remaining schedule in the Western Conference. That somehow includes three more games against Colorado.<\/p>\n
What they can do to get even worse:<\/strong> The heavy lifting to get worse was already achieved at the deadline. Getting shutout 4-0 by the Rangers was huge \u2014 a similar result next week against the Blues would be icing on the cake.<\/p>\n1. Vancouver Canucks (20-37-8, 48 points)<\/p>\n
How deadline moves will affect them:<\/strong> This was already an awful roster after the Quinn Hughes and Kiefer Sherwood trades, and management further leaned into the rebuild by dealing a couple of quality veterans with term in Conor Garland and Tyler Myers.<\/p>\nGarland wasn\u2019t playing his best hockey before the trade, but he was still the team\u2019s best play-driving winger. Myers was having a tough year, but his departure means tougher matchups and top-four usage for 21-year-old rookie Tom Willander. Willander will be an important piece on the blue line for a long time, but the short-term results aren\u2019t going to be pretty.<\/p>\n
Overall outlook:<\/strong> It\u2019s going to take a miracle for anyone to catch the Canucks. Vancouver has an 11-point cushion on 31st, the club has lost 25 of its last 30 games, and its underlying numbers are atrocious as it\u2019s controlled just 36 percent of five-on-five scoring chances since the Olympic break.<\/p>\nThatcher Demko is out for the year, so there\u2019s no threat of goaltending bailing them out. They\u2019re so desperately lacking dynamic, game-breaking talent that can help them control play and generate offense.<\/p>\n
This Canucks team is reminiscent of the pre-Connor Bedard Blackhawks or the pre-Macklin Celebrini Sharks.<\/p>\n
What they can do to get even worse:<\/strong> Wait until the offseason to make any potential coaching change. The Canucks should consider hiring a new coach for next season, given how structureless and porous their defensive play has been under Adam Foote, not to mention the lack of meaningful progress among their young players. Pulling the trigger on that move before the season ends probably won\u2019t change the 32nd-place outcome anyway, but keeping the status quo all but guarantees it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"We\u2019re entering the stretch drive of the NHL regular season, and about a third of the league\u2019s teams…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":655490,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[42],"tags":[3113,291,3000,1323,3111,2994,1302,293,62,2996,1304,67,132,68,3114,292],"class_list":{"0":"post-655489","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nhl","8":"tag-calgary-flames","9":"tag-chicago-blackhawks","10":"tag-fantasy-hockey","11":"tag-florida-panthers","12":"tag-nashville-predators","13":"tag-new-jersey-devils","14":"tag-new-york-rangers","15":"tag-nhl","16":"tag-sports","17":"tag-st-louis-blues","18":"tag-toronto-maple-leafs","19":"tag-united-states","20":"tag-unitedstates","21":"tag-us","22":"tag-vancouver-canucks","23":"tag-winnipeg-jets"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116228582793060672","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/655489","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=655489"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/655489\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/655490"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=655489"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=655489"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=655489"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}