The chase to not be eliminated can be a fickle and strange thing this type of year because those teams that are fighting for their lives are usually the ones that have big fantasy impact. Here we go with this week’s edition of Magic Elimination Numbers…
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It is just that time of year where the changes seem to occur nightly. With two weeks left in the season, there is still quite a bit to be settled. The oddites that abound when the playoff race twists and turns is never dull. When you throw fantasy hockey into the equation, there are many subplots. As we put up the standings, remember that these results are as of the end of Saturday Night’s games.
Let’s start with the Eastern Conference first…..
EASTERN CONFERENCE:
Eastern |
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| Rank | Team | GP | W | L | OT | RW | PT | GF | GA | L 10 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | x-NY Rangers | 75 | 47 | 21 | 7 | 43 | 101 | 206 | 168 | 5-5-0 |
| 2 | Boston | 74 | 43 | 28 | 3 | 34 | 89 | 241 | 182 | 5-5-0 |
| 3 | Florida | 74 | 36 | 24 | 14 | 31 | 86 | 184 | 203 | 6-2-2 |
| 4 | x-Pittsburgh | 74 | 46 | 22 | 6 | 37 | 98 | 248 | 193 | 8-1-1 |
| 5 | Philadelphia | 75 | 44 | 23 | 8 | 40 | 96 | 238 | 208 | 7-2-1 |
| 6 | New Jersey | 75 | 42 | 27 | 6 | 31 | 90 | 204 | 195 | 6-3-1 |
| 7 | Ottawa | 76 | 38 | 28 | 10 | 33 | 86 | 230 | 223 | 4-4-2 |
| 8 | Buffalo | 76 | 37 | 29 | 10 | 30 | 84 | 197 | 209 | 7-1-2 |
| 9 | Washington | 75 | 37 | 30 | 8 | 35 | 82 | 202 | 214 | 5-2-3 |
| 10 | Winnipeg | 75 | 35 | 32 | 8 | 31 | 78 | 201 | 217 | 5-5-0 |
| 11 | Tampa Bay | 74 | 34 | 33 | 7 | 31 | 75 | 209 | 252 | 4-5-1 |
| 12 | Carolina | 76 | 30 | 31 | 15 | 30 | 75 | 202 | 228 | 5-4-1 |
| 13 | Toronto | 76 | 33 | 34 | 9 | 29 | 75 | 217 | 239 | 3-5-2 |
| 14 | NY Islanders | 74 | 30 | 33 | 11 | 24 | 71 | 177 | 222 | 4-4-2 |
| 15 | Montreal | 76 | 29 | 34 | 13 | 24 | 71 | 197 | 211 | 4-3-3 |
Sometimes we just get right into the bottom lines and here are the elimination numbers for this week in the East.
- 9. Washington — 4-3
- 10. Winnipeg — 6-1
- 11. Tampa Bay — 7-0-1
- 12. Carolina — ELIMINATED
- 13. Toronto — ELIMINATED
- 14. NY Islanders — ELIMINATED
- 15. Montreal — ELIMINATED
Yes it is getting that close now. By later in the week, the possibility exists of having a three team battle for two spots. Buffalo has managed to climb into a pretty good position behind the elite level goaltending of Ryan Miller in the last six to eight weeks. Getting into the Top 8 is one thing but staying there is completely another. The biggest different has been the trio of Marcus Foligno-Tyler Ennis-Drew Stafford. Buffalo’s key was chemistry stemming from health. Yes, they have a couple injuries but nothing nearly as major as earlier in the year.
The reality is the battle for the 8th and maybe 7th seed comes down to Ottawa, Buffalo, and Washington. If you look at all three teams, they are here in all very unexpected ways. Many figured Washington to win the Southeast Division almost by default. Buffalo was expected to contend for the Northeast crown, and Ottawa ws expected to be pretty close to the Confernce cellar. Yet, none of these things occurred. We are at right around Game 75 and this is crunch time
Now if Nicklas Backstrom comes back for the last few games of the season and well that changes things and for those Backstrom owners (the forward for Washington). Does any one seed want to face a fully functional Capitals team with one motivated Alex Ovechkin? Well for that last fantasy week, there could be a lot of fireworks needless to say and the key will be how Buffalo and Washington fare with their remaining sschedule. Did we forget Ottawa? No, of course not.
These are important things to know for the last couple weeks. Now, what is going on with the numbers from the West? Let us take a quick look.
WESTERN CONFERENCE:
Western |
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| Rank | Team | GP | W | L | OT | RW | PTS | GF | GA | L10 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | x-St. Louis | 75 | 46 | 20 | 9 | 42 | 101 | 192 | 147 | 6-2-2 |
| 2 | y-Vancouver | 75 | 45 | 21 | 9 | 38 | 99 | 229 | 187 | 4-5-1 |
| 3 | Dallas | 75 | 41 | 29 | 5 | 34 | 87 | 198 | 198 | 7-3-0 |
| 4 | Detroit | 75 | 45 | 25 | 5 | 38 | 95 | 230 | 185 | 2-6-2 |
| 5 | Nashville | 75 | 43 | 24 | 8 | 39 | 94 | 213 | 198 | 5-4-1 |
| 6 | Chicago | 75 | 42 | 25 | 8 | 37 | 92 | 229 | 214 | 8-1-1 |
| 7 | Phoenix | 76 | 37 | 26 | 13 | 31 | 87 | 200 | 198 | 4-2-4 |
| 8 | Los Angeles | 75 | 37 | 26 | 12 | 31 | 86 | 175 | 164 | 7-3-0 |
| 9 | San Jose | 75 | 38 | 27 | 10 | 30 | 86 | 205 | 195 | 5-3-2 |
| 10 | Colorado | 77 | 40 | 31 | 6 | 31 | 86 | 200 | 202 | 6-2-2 |
| 11 | Calgary | 76 | 34 | 27 | 15 | 31 | 83 | 186 | 208 | 5-2-3 |
| 12 | Anaheim | 75 | 32 | 32 | 11 | 29 | 75 | 189 | 209 | 4-5-1 |
| 13 | Minnesota | 74 | 31 | 33 | 10 | 23 | 72 | 159 | 204 | 3-7-0 |
| 14 | Edmonton | 75 | 30 | 36 | 9 | 25 | 69 | 200 | 220 | 5-2-3 |
| 15 | Columbus | 74 | 24 | 43 | 7 | 20 | 55 | 172 | 237 | 5-5-0 |
Now the West is the strangest but we are going to leave tonight simply with the elimination numbers. As discussed in previos weeks, the East projection was at 90 points and the West was at 93. Here are the West elimination numbers.
- 9. San Jose 3-3-1
- 10. Colorado 3-1-1
- 11. Calgary 5-1
- 12-15 are noe eliminated
Keep in mind, 93 points may not be enough depending on tiebreakers. Our question this week to our readers is who will stand out amongst the bubble teams to help your fantasy teams. Think long and hard about it and next week we will spotlight the West a bit more as the picture becomes more clear.
