Where it all went wrong for Central and East Division teams outside of the playoff picture
Wed, 12 May 21 12:00:23 +0000
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The 2020-21 shortened NHL regular season is nearing its end, and not all at once at that. Because this is the NHL and all, it won't technically be over until two games into the first round. Even so, we know who's going to the dance, and we know which teams are on the outside looking in.
The tense playoff races that we've become accustomed to in the loser-point era didn't really materialize this season, as three of four divisions were pretty much sorted out by the 50-game mark and the teams on the outside were serious longshots by mid-April. This has given the players, coaches, management, and of course fans the opportunity to languish in the misery of defeat and imagine the better days that surely lie ahead. In the interest of reflection (and filling time in a week of basically meaningless games), I thought it might be a good idea to look back on the fifteen teams that couldn't break their divisions' top-four, sorting out what went wrong, what bright spots can be found in the disappointment, and charting a path forward.
I'll be starting with what could loosely be considered the "Eastern Conference" - the East Division (Buffalo Sabres, New Jersey Devils, Philadelphia Flyers, New York Rangers) and the Central Division (Detroit Red Wings, Columbus Blue Jackets, Chicago Blackhawks, Dallas Stars). Statistics come courtesy of TopDownHockey.
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NHL
Buffalo Sabres
Chicago Blackhawks
Columbus Blue Jackets
Dallas Stars
Detroit Red Wings
Detroit Red Wings
New Jersey Devils
Philadelphia Flyers
NHL
Ben Bishop
Oliver Bjorkstrand
Mackenzie Blackwood
Adam Boqvist
Kirby Dach
Rasmus Dahlin
Alex DeBrincat
Max Domi
Pierre-Luc Dubois
Jack Eichel
Brian Elliott
Adam Fox
Johnny Gaudreau
Vladislav Gavrikov
Claude Giroux
Carter Hart
Kevin Hayes
Miro Heiskanen
Nico Hischier
Filip Hronek
Jack Hughes
Seth Jones
Kaapo Kakko
Patrick Kane
Duncan Keith
Anton Khudobin
John Klingberg
Joonas Korpisalo
Dominik Kubalik
Alexis Lafrenière
Patrik Laine
Kevin Lankinen
Scott Laughton
Anthony Mantha
Elvis Merzlikins
Artemi Panarin
Joe Pavelski
Ivan Provorov
Sam Reinhart
Jason Robertson
Jack Roslovic
Tyler Seguin
Moritz Seider
Damon Severson
Yegor Sharangovich
Igor Shestyorkin
Jeff Skinner
Dylan Strome
Malcolm Subban
P.K. Subban
Joe Thornton
Jacob Trouba
Linus Ullmark
James van Riemsdyk
Jakub Voracek
Jakub Vrána
Scott Wedgewood
Mika Zibanejad
John Davidson
Chris Drury
Jeff Gorton
Don Granato
Jarmo Kekäläinen
Ralph Krueger
John Tortorella
Alain Vigneault