Yesterday I looked at the Eastern Conference Standings and saw that the playoff race may not be as close as it seems right now. Because of injuries and trades there will probably only be one spot available with a couple of teams fighting for it. At first look it seems that in the Western Conference there are three teams fighting for the final two spots.
My predictions are purely based on the strength of schedule (including home and away games). To find out the exact method used, just take a look at yesterday’s post. With that said, here are my Predicted Western Conference Standings:
1 – San Jose – 116
2 – Chicago – 114
3 – Vancouver – 104
4 – Phoenix – 103
5 – Los Angeles – 102
6 – Colorado – 97
7 – Nashville – 95
8 – Detroit – 94
9 – Calgary – 93
10 – St Louis – 88
11 – Dallas – 86
12 – Minnesota – 84
13 – Anaheim – 83
14 – Columbus – 78
15 – Edmonton – 61
You’ll notice that Colorado has a much tougher schedule than Nashville, Detroit and Calgary as they are expected to finish only three points ahead of Detroit, despite their six points lead at the moment. It is however quite clear that, when looking at those predicted standings, there are four teams fighting for three spots. In my opinion, the Nashville Predators are the one with the best chance to find themselves in ninth place at the end of the year.