Heretic Posted January 29, 2015 Share Posted January 29, 2015 Good article on Sportsnet. I agree that the playoffs are in the Canucks own hands and that they need to win the majority of their home games - not just 51%, like 80% would be nice here out. What 6 Canadian teams must do to make playoffs Winnipeg Jets' Mark Scheifele (55), Evander Kane (9) and Michael Frolik (67) celebrate after Frolik scored against the Arizona Coyotes. [Trevor Hagan/CP] CANADIAN PRESS JANUARY 26, 2015, 1:12 PM COLUMBUS, Ohio — Four Canadian teams are in playoff positions at the NHL’s all-star break. The Montreal Canadiens are the lone Eastern Conference team, while the Winnipeg Jets, Vancouver Canucks and Calgary Flames are in the top eight in the West. Here’s what those teams have to do to keep the spots in the second half of the season and what the others in contention, the Ottawa Senators and Toronto Maple Leafs, need to do to make it. The Edmonton Oilers are 20 points out of a playoff spot and are largely considered out of post-season contention. Playoff chances are from Sports Club Stats. MONTREAL CANADIENS Record: 29-13-3, 61 points Place in standings: Third in Atlantic Division Chances of making playoffs: 98.8 per cent What they have to do: Hope Carey Price stays healthy. The all-star goaltender is Montreal’s best player, and as long as he’s on the ice and contributing, the Canadiens will be fine. WINNIPEG JETS Record: 26-14-8, 60 points Place in standings: First Western Conference wild card Chances of making playoffs: 92.4 per cent What they have to do: Don’t let up and the first playoff game in Winnipeg for this version of the Jets awaits. This team "turned a corner," according to defenceman Dustin Byfuglien, and a 7-2-1 stretch going into the break gave it a nice cushion. VANCOUVER CANUCKS Record: 26-16-3, 55 points Place in standings: Third in Pacific Division Chances of making playoffs: 92.4 per cent What they need to do: Play better at home, according to all-star winger Radim Vrbata, talking about the Canucks’ 11-8-1 record at Rogers Arena. With 23 home games left the rest of the way, that’ll determine if Ryan Miller and Vancouver can hold on despite some inconsistency. CALGARY FLAMES Record: 25-19-3, 53 points Place in standings: Second Western Conference wild card Chances of making playoffs: 72.2 per cent What they need to do: Beat the other teams in the hunt and "you try to avoid the losing streak," captain Mark Giordano said. Up one point on the defending Stanley Cup-champion Los Angeles Kings and with others not far away, it’ll be a test of Bob Hartley’s young group. OTTAWA SENATORS Record: 19-18-9, 47 points Place in standings: 10 points out of second Eastern Conference wild card Chances of making playoffs: 16.7 per cent What they need to do: Hope one of the current playoff teams falls off its current pace because erasing a 10-point deficit this late is almost impossible. Winger Bobby Ryan said the Senators need to gain a point or two the rest of this month and close the gap in February and March just to put themselves in striking distance in April. TORONTO MAPLE LEAFS Record: 22-23-3, 47 points Place in standings: 10 points out of second Eastern Conference wild card Chances of making playoffs: 4.5 per cent What they need to do: Get on a roll fast and figure out how to play interim coach Peter Horachek’s system. Losers of six in a row, the Maple Leafs are in danger of not only a lost season but huge changes on the horizon this off-season. A run to the playoffs now looks improbable but it might affect the organization’s plans. http://www.sportsnet.ca/hockey/nhl/what-6-canadian-teams-must-do-to-make-playoffs/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheRussianRocket. Posted January 29, 2015 Share Posted January 29, 2015 Montreal, Vancouver, Winnipeg: - keep up their play and don't dig themselves into a hole which they won't be able to climb out of. If they can prevent that from happening, they'll make it. Calgary: - have had a great start and are a young team. Try their best and anyway the season ends, this will have been a great year for the Flames. Will be tough to hold down that spot with teams like LA getting inspired and pushing back like usual for a playoff spot. Ottawa: - keep up the retool and they'll get in soon. Toronto, Edmonton: - try again next year, the year after, and the year after that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigbadcanucks Posted January 29, 2015 Share Posted January 29, 2015 IMO, for the Canucks to make the playoffs: (1) the Sedins have to start to playing with some crispness and urgency and stop turning the puck over deep in the opposing team's zone (especially on the powerplay); (2) the power play has to get better. It's total ineffectiveness at this point is an open invitation for opposing teams to run amok on the Canucks. Opposing teams probably know that it doesn't matter if they're handicapped, because the Sedins and the rest of the players on the PP are not capable of mounting any kind of threat. (3) the team has to show better collective effort, and the players, to a man, have to show better individual effort for the full 60 minutes (unlike the little spurts of inspired play that they've shown all season long); (4) play with a pack mentality, which has been missing for a few years now. Seeing how there are no wolves on this club, the team has to play like a pack of hyenas. You know, little wild dogs that can only take down its prey if everyone in the pack takes a bite. Seeing how we have lost our lead dogs in Bieksa, Dorsett and Richardson ("dog on a bone kind of player", as described by Tortorella last season), this is going to be a tough order to fill (Sedins are like passive husky dogs that roll over to have their bellies rubbed). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Toni Zamboni Posted January 29, 2015 Share Posted January 29, 2015 if the canucks could make a real improvement on their power play and face-offs, they would be a lot more poised to make a push for the playoffs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nuxfanabroad Posted January 29, 2015 Share Posted January 29, 2015 You could justify such an article in Dec perhaps, but today it sounds like a junkie's trip. The Fleas have a much better shot at the #1 pick, than a whiff of the PO's. Furthermore, they set out tables & stalls for a marked-down flea market at the city park, unawares of an approaching blizzard/ice storm. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CALGARY! Posted January 29, 2015 Share Posted January 29, 2015 You could justify such an article in Dec perhaps, but today it sounds like a junkie's trip. The Fleas have a much better shot at the #1 pick, than a whiff of the PO's. Furthermore, they set out tables & stalls for a marked-down flea market at the city park, unawares of an approaching blizzard/ice storm. LOL what is this post about, who are the Fleas? What team are you talking about? Are you referring to the blizzard that is coming/already hitting the eastern part of the continent? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nuxfanabroad Posted January 29, 2015 Share Posted January 29, 2015 Well Cowtown, there's that old Harley Davidson slogan.."If I had to explain, you wouldn't understand". It's a cruel joke to imply the Maple Fleas have a PO-shot..Never mind what is mathematically conceivable, the very notion is morally unethical! The metaphor of a numbing cold front represents the warmth of a reception Nonis will receive when he tries to flip his failing cast. It's got to be the worst possible time to sell underperformers like Kessel & Phaneuf. There's probably already 10 GM's that would like to dump stock, about now. The coming cap will reflect the economy, & GM's are finally realizing youth is the way to go. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CALGARY! Posted January 29, 2015 Share Posted January 29, 2015 Well Cowtown, there's that old Harley Davidson slogan.."If I had to explain, you wouldn't understand". It's a cruel joke to imply the Maple Fleas have a PO-shot..Never mind what is mathematically conceivable, the very notion is morally unethical! The metaphor of a numbing cold front represents the warmth of a reception Nonis will receive when he tries to flip his failing cast. It's got to be the worst possible time to sell underperformers like Kessel & Phaneuf. There's probably already 10 GM's that would like to dump stock, about now. The coming cap will reflect the economy, & GM's are finally realizing youth is the way to go. Oh lol thanks for breaking it down for me, I thought you meant Fleas to mean the Flames, and I even checked the forcast to see if we were getting a blizzard lol, but yeah, the Leafs don't have a great shot at making the playoffs, the east has really picked up this year, the gap is starting to shrink in terms of qualitiy of teams from top to bottom, as it has been in the west for a while. 2 years ago it was Pittsburgh and Boston and the rest were all duds, now there is alot more solid quality teams out east. I would say for the Canadian teams Montreal is a lock, they are playing a well rounded game and have good forward depth, a decent d core and a great goalie. Ottawa have alot of great prospects, and, although I don't know about playoffs this year I could certainly see them in the hunt next season. toronto, who knows, they are such a hot and cold team, they can heat up and beat top tier teams, then go on 5,6 7 game losing streaks getting blown out each time. If they heat up again, go on a big win streak and then play slightly above .500 they have a remote shot at playoffs this year. But yeah, your right, they should be more concered with how to unload Phaneuf and Kessel while yeilding some sort of half way decent return. In the west Vancouver has games in hand still, they just need to stay healthy and find a way to chip a few more goals in, as they have been trending down for 2 months now in goals for, if the Sedins have eneough gas in the tank and the bottom 6 can chip a few more in there is no reason for the Canucks not to be in the playoffs. Winnipeg has been surprisingly consistent this season, and have proven they can play with( and beat) the big guns of the league. I fancy Winnipegs top 4 D core as one of the strongest in the league this season tbh, and even with all the blueline injuries they have faced this year they continued to win games. Im quite sure playoff hockey will return to Winnipeg this year, and, I can even see them giving one of their divisional rivals a hard time, maybe even squeezing out a series win, especially if they draw St.Louis in the first round. Calgary needs to keep it up down the stretch now, as long as they can avoid another long losing streak they could squeek into the playoffs. Its tough though, for Calgary, Van and Winnipeg, cause you look at the teams below and they are good teams who all seem to be underacheiving to date, LA, Minnesota, Colorado and Dallas all have the talent to make a strong push, so Calgary is going to have to keep the young group focused and take it one game at a time. Like Ive said countless times before playoffs or not this season is already a huge sucess in my mind, just seeing the massive leaps forward our prospects have made, at the NHL level, AHL and the ones still in JR. They are giving us a great glimpse of whats to come. Edmonton, well, even I gave up on them. Havent tried my Oilers jersey on in over a year now. I always used to pull for them and say this is gonna be the year. Now granted they have played alot better since Eakins got canned, but the gap is just to far for them to have a shot at playoffs this year. Theyve got 2 first rounders in this deep draft year, and if I were them I would consider moving one of Hall or Yak and their lower 1st round pick to try and bolster the D depth, hope Nurse continues developing as positvly as he has, maybe find someone with half a brain to GM the team and try to attract some free agents and build some depth outside the first line. Who knows, I just don;t know with them anymore. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nuxfanabroad Posted January 29, 2015 Share Posted January 29, 2015 I really like where Cal is headed..esp that Bennett kid. Still think they're a yr (or so) away. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LuckyLuciano Posted January 30, 2015 Share Posted January 30, 2015 What 6 Canadian teams must do to make playoffs...WIN Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ForsbergTheGreat Posted January 30, 2015 Share Posted January 30, 2015 Well as of the standings today. If 92 points is the barrier, than the final record for each team will be. Canucks need 17-16-3 Flames need 16-12-5 Jets need 14-14-4 Oilers need 27-3-3 Habs Need 11-19-5 Leafs need 20-8-4 Sens Need 20-10-5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vancouvercanucks2010 Posted January 31, 2015 Share Posted January 31, 2015 They forget the Oilers.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coastal.view Posted January 31, 2015 Share Posted January 31, 2015 Well as of the standings today. If 92 points is the barrier, than the final record for each team will be. Oilers need 27-3-3 i'm prepared to bet against this happening what odds are you gonna give me ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CALGARY! Posted February 1, 2015 Share Posted February 1, 2015 Well as of the standings today. If 92 points is the barrier, than the final record for each team will be. Canucks need 17-16-3 Flames need 16-12-5 Jets need 14-14-4 Oilers need 27-3-3 Habs Need 11-19-5 Leafs need 20-8-4 Sens Need 20-10-5 I like those odds, but I'm gonna go on a limb and say the West will need 96-97 to break into the big show this year Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JustABandwagoner Posted February 1, 2015 Share Posted February 1, 2015 How about lets NOT make the playoffs Draft Picks>Playoffs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LuckyLuciano Posted February 1, 2015 Share Posted February 1, 2015 UH...HELLO! YOU PLAY TO WIN THE GAME! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Tortorella Posted February 1, 2015 Share Posted February 1, 2015 The correct answer is to pay the fkn refs Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hobble Posted February 1, 2015 Share Posted February 1, 2015 What the Jets need to do: Get back to playing defense and stop losing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ronalds.Kenins41 Posted February 2, 2015 Share Posted February 2, 2015 I really like where Cal is headed..esp that Bennett kid. Still think they're a yr (or so) away. Most underrated team IMHo. it was only a few years ago when critics were saying the oilers have a better future than the flames ;how things have changed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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