Momentum Shift: While the Eastern Conference seems wide open, it’s much tougher to hold down a playoff spot in that conference than the Western Conference, where the cutoff is five points lower. That means while a team has to be 6-7 games over .500 at this point in the season to hold a wildcard spot in the East, a team can be .500 to three games over .500 to hold one in the West.
That being said, some not so good teams in the West, who were seen as sellers and willing to have a fire sale to prepare for the future, are in the race and have pulled back. David Pagnotta said, “Trotz and Armstrong in Nashville and St. Louis respectively…even though they’re kind of going a little bit better, they haven’t taken off the for sale sign. They’re still willing to listen.”
The Nashville Predators are one point back of a playoff spot with two more games played, but are .500 and have won six of their past 10 games. It doesn’t seem like Steven Stamkos and Ryan O’Reilly want to go anywhere, and young players like Luke Evangelista and Matthew Wood are doing well to support them.
Nashville is a team that has the tools and a combination of veterans and youth, but never put it all together over the past two seasons. Players like Jonathan Marchessault and Michael Bunting could still be trade pieces, even while the Predators are fighting for a spot in the playoffs.
The St. Louis Blues had a decent year last season where they squeaked into the playoffs and then almost went to the second round past the Presidents’ Trophy winners. Everything came crashing down this season, from bad performances to injuries and it exposed how many of the veterans need to be moved out and the youth have to step in.
A number of the veterans on this team as well are on the trade block, but it could now just be players like Brayden Schenn and Oskar Sundqvist, even though there’s more who could be on the way out by the end of the summer. The Blues are more on their way to being back as full sellers as they are three points back with three extra games played and are three games under .500.
