NHL Predictions: After the Trade Deadline

By: Tim Durr

A few days after Monday's trade deadline, the final 1/4 of the NHL season has officially started. We've given analysis of the moves on the podcast with a special NHL deadline edition and opened Tuesday's show with more discussion about the final deals that came in Monday night.

Now, I've decided to dive into some predictions for the final stretch of the regular season and playoffs.

First let's look at the current standings and then check out my predictions for how the remainder of the season will turn out.   Green shows improvement, Red shows decline. (X) = would miss the playoffs

                  Current Standings                              Future Predictions

ATLANTIC	GP	W	L	OTL	PTS
Montreal	64	41	18	5	87
Tampa Bay	65	39	20	6	84
Detroit	62	36	15	11	83
Boston	62	31	22	9	71
Florida	64	28	23	13	69
Ottawa	62	28	23	11	67
Toronto	64	26	33	5	57
Buffalo	64	19	40	5	43
METROPOLITAN	GP	W	L	OTL	PTS
NY Rangers	63	39	17	7	85
NY Islanders	65	41	21	3	85
Pittsburgh	63	36	18	9	81
Washington	65	35	20	10	80
Philadelphia	64	27	25	12	66
New Jersey	64	27	27	10	64
Columbus	63	26	33	4	56
Carolina	62	24	31	7	55
CENTRAL	GP	W	L	OTL	PTS
Nashville	65	41	17	7	89
St. Louis	63	40	18	5	85
Chicago	64	38	21	5	81
Winnipeg	65	32	21	12	76
Minnesota	63	34	22	7	75
Colorado	64	28	25	11	67
Dallas	64	28	26	10	66
PACIFIC	GP	W	L	OTL	PTS
Anaheim	66	42	17	7	91
Vancouver	63	36	24	3	75
Calgary	63	34	25	4	72
Los Angeles	63	30	21	12	72
San Jose	65	32	25	8	72
Arizona	64	20	37	7	47
Edmonton	64	18	36	10	46

ATLANTIC	GP	W	L	OTL	PTS
Detroit	82	49	20	13	111
Montreal	82	52	23	7	109
Tampa Bay	82	49	25	8	106
Florida	82	37	32	13	87
Boston (X)	82	37	34	11	85
Ottawa (X)	82	33	36	13	79
Toronto (X)	82	30	46	6	66
Buffalo (X)	82	23	52	7	53
METROPOLITAN	GP	W	L	OTL	PTS
NY Rangers	82	51	23	8	110
Washington	82	46	25	11	103
Pittsburgh	82	46	25	11	103
NY Islanders	82	49	29	4	102
Philadelphia (X)	82	35	33	14	84
New Jersey (X)	82	32	36	12	76
Columbus (X)	82	31	45	6	68
Carolina (X)	82	28	45	9	65
CENTRAL	GP	W	L	OTL	PTS
St. Louis	82	51	25	7	109
Nashville	82	49	24	9	107
Chicago	82	48	27	7	103
Minnesota	82	41	31	10	91
Winnipeg	82	38	31	13	89
Colorado (X)	82	35	33	14	84
Dallas (X)	82	33	37	12	78
PACIFIC	GP	W	L	OTL	PTS
Anaheim	82	52	22	8	112
Vancouver	82	44	33	5	93
Los Angeles	82	39	28	15	93
San Jose (X)	82	39	33	10	88
Calgary (X)	82	40	36	6	86
Arizona (X)	82	23	50	9	55
Edmonton (X)	82	22	47	13	55

If the season plays out how I predicted it will, here is what the playoff matchups would look like:

Eastern Conference

1. Detroit Red Wings vs. 8. Florida Panthers (Red Wings in 6)

2. New York Rangers vs. 7. New York Islanders (Rangers in 7)

Metropolitan 

2. Washington Capitals vs. 3. Pittsburgh Penguins (Penguins in 6)

Atlantic

2. Montreal Canadiens vs. 3. Tampa Bay Lightning (Lightning in 5)

Conference Semi-Finals

1. Detroit Red Wings vs. Pittsburgh Penguins (Red Wings in 7)

2. New York Rangers vs. Tampa Bay Lightning (Rangers in 5)

Conference Finals

1. Detroit Red Wings vs. New York Rangers (Rangers in 6)

Western Conference

1. Anaheim Ducks vs. 8. Winnipeg Jets (Ducks in 5)

2. St. Louis Blues vs. 7. Minnesota Wild (Blues in 4)

Pacific

2. Vancouver Canucks vs. 3. Los Angeles Kings (Kings in 6)

Central

2. Nashville Predators vs. 3. Chicago Blackhawks (Blackhawks in 7)

Conference Semi-Finals

1. Anaheim Ducks vs. Los Angeles Kings (Ducks in 6)

2. St. Louis Blues vs. Chicago Blackhawks (Blues in 7)

Conference Finals 

1. Anaheim Ducks vs St. Louis Blues (Blues in 6)

Stanley Cup Final

New York Rangers vs. St. Louis Blues (Rangers in 6) 

P.S. Jon didn't hold a gun to my head and tell me to write this either. The trade for Keith Yandle improves the play of a team that has already been one of the best in the second half of the season and I'm predicting they'll get their first Stanley Cup since 1994.