Trade deadline comes day after Thrashers finally find a way to win
Today the news wires and twitter feeds will be buzzing throughout the NHL world as yet another trade deadline day is upon us. And with that, just as I do every trade deadline day, I will turn the blog over to you the cyber-reporters of the hockey blogosphere to report and discuss in the comments section below the deals from around the NHL as they happen.
As always, AJC Thrashers beat writer Chris Vivlamore will be on the job bringing us any news of trades involving the home team. You can follow him on twitter –>HERE<–.
Today’s player swap- meet comes just a day after our Thrashers managed to pull off only their second win in the month of February. Trailing 2-0 entering into the third period, Captain Andrew Ladd injected life into the team with a power play goal just 53 seconds in. Then, the Thrashers unleashed their secret offensive weapons on the Leafs…Tim Stapleton and Ron Hainsey.
Ron Hainsey celebrates his game-winning overtime goal Sunday evening with his teammates. The win was only the second this month for the Thrashers (AP Photo/David Goldman)
Stapleton, who was placed on waivers just last Saturday, tied things up with 4:36 remaining in the third. It was his first goal of the season and only the fourth of his NHL career. Hainsey then finished off the dramatic come back with a goal halfway through overtime.
I would call yesterday’s outcome a big win for the Thrashers, but after losing five straight and nine of the previous ten games in the month of February…really any kind of win is big. We’ll take what we can get in Thrasherville these days.
Not to be overlooked here is the fine play of Chris Mason…not just in the win Sunday but also Friday night after coming in to relieve Ondrej Pavalec to start the second period against Florida. Mason stopped all 25 Panthers shots he face in two periods of play and overtime then turned aside 22 of the 24 shots faced against Toronto. That’s a .959 SV% to help his team net three points over the weekend.
So as we enter into NHL Trade Dealine-A-Palooza 2011, both Atlanta and Toronto sit at 63 points after playing 63 games. Ninth place Buffalo is two points ahead of them but have a pair of games in hand while Carolina remains in eighth place with 67 points.
Is the win enough to get this team back into the playoff race? I dunno, but yesterday’s hero seems to think they’re still in the thick of it.
“[The win] puts us four away and, hey, we are in business here”, Hainsey said after the game. “If we are getting any further away the we are going to have problems. We are back in it”.
Honestly though, I think they’re gonna have to slice off a few more Ws in the coming week or so before the Thrashers are really “back in it”,
As far as being “buyers” or “sellers” today, we’ll have to wait and see. However, General manager Rick Dudley did tell C-Viv before the game yesterday that he’s expects to be actively pursuing trades today. So maybe a deal or two in the offing for the Thrashers.
Time will tell just what, if anything, will come of such pursuit. But if Dudley could get anyone to take… say… Fredrik Modin off our hands for the remainder of the season, then that would be nice.
And with that, I now turn this little online hockey forum over to you and the trading begins.
Tell us what you think about the site
Customer Care »
Vacation stops, manage subscriptions and more
AJC Services
Sections
Other Editions
Visitor Agreement | Privacy Statement
© 2013 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
323 comments Add your comment
glovesave29
February 28th, 2011
6:11 pm
So Mannino gets the call up…let’s hope Chris stays healthy. Anyone heard when Ondrej will return?
Brendan
February 28th, 2011
6:13 pm
I don’t think today’s moves were horrible. Got something for Modin. Got something for Rissmiller. Made a waiver claim that won’t hurt us, per se. But, at the same time, we didn’t exactly make a deal that puts us into the playoffs, either. The time to have done that was back in January.
litz
February 28th, 2011
6:17 pm
Brendan – I think it was clear in the “blockbuster” deals that DID get done, that the price was way too high for one of those “trades to guarantee a playoff spot”.
As bad as people are reaming Dudley, can you imagine if we’d given up Bogo + several draft picks, and lost position in the next three drafts? We barely have a present … we *cannot* mortgage our future.
Dandylions
February 28th, 2011
6:20 pm
When grown men have to “talk” about how large their salary is, how large their company is, etc, etc, – it usually means they are small in “other” areas!
Red Light
February 28th, 2011
6:22 pm
Brendan:
Wasn’t it Rissmiller and Brashear for Todd White?
R. Stroz
February 28th, 2011
6:22 pm
After years of seeking revenge on the city of Calgary for taking the Atlanta Flames, my vengeance is satisfied….they have Modin.
Buzzeng
February 28th, 2011
6:24 pm
Now THAT, Stroz, is comment of the year! Maybe of the last 31 years!
Joe Friday
February 28th, 2011
6:27 pm
“As bad as people are reaming Dudley, can you imagine if we’d given up Bogo + several draft picks, and lost position in the next three drafts? We barely have a present … we *cannot* mortgage our future.”
I would’ve liked Penner, but it would have been too much to give up our #1 for just next year out of him. If some kind of deal could’ve been swung where we gave up our #1 IF he signed an extension, and we could have thrown in Oduya or Hainsey, then sure, I would’ve done it, but that was too much to give for one year plus a few weeks out of him. Penner would’ve fit in well here, methinks, but oh well.
Let the boys battle here on out and let’s pray hard for the right owner to buy the club, it needs to be a hockey guy. Please let it be a hockey guy. I’m sure Vivs is right about it being a group, but there needs to be one guy out front that’s a true hockey guy.
Iron League 13
February 28th, 2011
6:54 pm
For those talking lines here’s my estimate factoring in the injuries of course…
Ladd – Lits – Wheeler
Kane – Antro – Stewie
Thorbs – Shremp – Dvorak
Boults – Stapleton – Macho
If I could toy around I’d try this for a top 6…
Ladd – Lits – Stewie
Kane – Thorbs – Wheeler
Bottom six is just about irrelevant right now isn’t it?
Anyways that top six experiment has everything to do with A.) Antro clearly not playing to his size B.) Antro likely needs to recover a bit more on the 3rd line (if he can) C.)Thorbs can center well enough and he works hard enough for me to think he’d do well maybe not in faceoffs, but he’d be Hell in front of the net. You can’t tell me that second line isn’t rad. They’d be TOUGH.
Badger Bob
February 28th, 2011
7:45 pm
I’m guessing all of us who were under/under on Modin’s GP/goals were winners. Getting anything for guys who were UFAs ignored by most teams last summer (i.e., Modin and Dawes) isn’t bad.
While Duds didn’t hit any home runs today, I’m more impressed with the signings (Buff/Stuart/Thorbs). He wants to define the team and give us that missing identity by signing such guys before the last minute. That alone is a big departure from the Policies of the Unfireable One.
Smoothie
February 28th, 2011
7:47 pm
I think we can expect more of Stapes at C on the 2nd line b/w Kane and Stew as he earned it with his play. Countless backchecks leading to takeaways, good passing, excellent speed into the zone and for once he was Johnny on the Spot. Also, we play a small team that isn’t very physical and likes to get up and down. Mason better bring his A tender game.
R. Stroz
February 28th, 2011
8:04 pm
Policies of the Unfireable One
Does that make Waddell a UFO?
Tom
February 28th, 2011
8:35 pm
Dandylions, next thing you are going to say LAC drives a Porsche.
“Life’s been good to me so far” – Joe Walsh
World Be Free
February 28th, 2011
8:42 pm
Joe Friday hit the nail on the head.
Dudley did the best he could do today with little $$$ and not much of real value to trade. Most of the teams that were active spend above $50M, several close to the cap. Dudley is stuck at $43M and change-not his doing. Neither is the empty cupboard of talent his doing either. It’s tough flighting with one hand firmly tied behind his back. And also remember that a number of clubs did not get involved in trades at all.
Penner would never resign here or just about anywhere else outside Californa. His girlfriend is from Suthern California, so he was going to sign in Anahiem or Los angeles when his current contract is up.. The Kings gave up more than we could offer, again not Dudley’s doing.
We are in a rebuilding program whether we like it or not.
World Be Free
February 28th, 2011
8:44 pm
We get to see Ben Maxwell tomorrow
Red Light
February 28th, 2011
9:01 pm
When Burmistrov and Slater/Cormier return, although it may not be this season for all we know, Schremp, Stapleton and Maxwell are merely depth acquisitions. They eventually will play themselves in or out of a job, and Dudley didn’t give up much to get them when you think about it. If you have little depth, you have to try to get some somehow, and he did just that. If a goal scorer only doesn’t score like Bergfors, then what good is he? Duds has shopped him for a long time and took the best deal he could. At least you get a solid NHL player in return for a few weeks, and if you have any hope of a playoff berth, at least Dvorak won’t be a passenger on the train, like Bergfors has been.
The Maxwell, Stuart and Wheeler acquisitions are with an eye on the immediate or near future, and Dvorak is a now and maybe for a year or two more deal. They have been reluctant to add payroll so Dudley did the best he could in my estimation. He’s dealing from a short deck and all the face cards are in someone else’s hands. We’ve known this for a month now, so I simply must ask, what did you really expect would happen?
In year’s past, we would have seen this team sign Bergfors and then try to pass him off as the next coming of Marian Hossa. If a trade doesn’t work out, admit it and move on.
Badger Bob
February 28th, 2011
9:02 pm
Just catching up on a busy day of trades and comments – Rawhide, this is certainly one of the most lively places in the blogosphere!
Regarding some of the Kovy trade re-analysis with Bergie being gone, it is disappointing that Dudley didn’t know Bergie’s character better. He certainly knew all about Cormier. So Bergie’s (appropriate) departure does make that trade look like less of a win. But you’ve got to add in the NJ 1st round pick that helped bring in Buff. This Monday morning quarterbacking gets complicated…
Cliff Fletcher
February 28th, 2011
9:12 pm
another day, another confrontation for lac. i guess we have all been called stupid at one time.
Badger Bob
February 28th, 2011
9:20 pm
Someone also mentioned UFAs this offseason. The only big name at forward is Brad Richards. Following is a list of UFA forwards. With a cap-min budget and re-signing Ladd, Wheeler and Bogo, we don’t sign any of these. With a mid-range budget we should have $7-$8M to sign Richards, Williams, or perhaps two of the others. Any preferences?
Player / Team / Pos / Points / Age
Richards, Brad / DAL / C / 63 / 30
Williams, Justin / LA / RW / 49 / 29
Jokinen, Jussi / CAR / LW / 44 / 27
Leino, Ville / PHI / LW / 41 / 27
Moulson, Matt / NYI / LW / 40 / 27
Parenteau, Pierre / NYI / LW / 38 / 27
Vrbata, Radim / PHO / RW / 37 / 29
Ryder, Michael / BOS / RW / 36 / 30
Jones, David / COL / RW / 36 / 26
Kopecky, Tomas / CHI / RW / 35 / 29
Laich, Brooks / WAS / C / 34 / 27
Glencross, Curtis / CGY / LW / 32 / 28
Fleischmann, Tomas / COL / C / 31 / 26
Hudler, Jiri / DET / C / 30 / 27
Miettinen, Antti / MIN / LW / 30 / 30
Badger Bob
February 28th, 2011
9:22 pm
FYI, I left out the 31+ year olds (Selanne, Tanguay, Hejduk, Recchi, Morrison, Cole, Brunette).
ZAvalanche
February 28th, 2011
9:32 pm
Bob, Hejduk is going nowhere, he has a rock solid no-trade, declined to waive it and said he wants to be an Av till he retires. The others I cannot speak to their intentions. Selanne, Tangs, Brunette and Recchi have all proven they are willing to to move cities. Though I would be hesitant to take any of them. Recchi, Selanne and Brunette are too old and Tanguay is just too streaky and can’t do a thing without a strong passer (sadly, I know this all to well).
ZAvalanche
February 28th, 2011
9:37 pm
Also, Flash and Jones won’t be moving. Flash may never play hockey again (pulmonary embolism took him out of the season) and Jones is a player the Avs are building around, along with Duchene and now Eric Johnson as well. I like the list though
. If we could pull even one of those players in it would make a big change in Thrashy’s demeanor.
World Be Free
February 28th, 2011
9:38 pm
Badger-Glencross has turned into a very good hockey player. He will be in demand this summer and cal-GARY will not have the cap space to resign him, unless he takes a major hometown discount.
Anyone else notice how many pending UFAs did NOT get traded today?
Badger Bob
February 28th, 2011
9:39 pm
ZA, yep, that’s why I left those guys out. For help at left wing, I’d like two of Jokinen (perhaps we could then win a shootout), Leino, Moulson, Parenteau or Glencross. Not huge production, but the kind of depth production we desperately need.
I was actually surprised that Tanguay is only 31 – seems he’s been around forever. And yes, no thanks on him.
Iron League 13
February 28th, 2011
9:42 pm
Badger Bob – I agree with your assessment, Duds seems more deft at the ins and outs of the GM duties than Waddell as of late OR simply more highly regarded by players (shrugs). I don’t recall vets re-upping so easily.
ZAvalanche
February 28th, 2011
9:44 pm
Bob, I think Tanguay has been in since ‘99 or so and I think he came in with Drury, but I may be wrong (too lazy to check). Glencross and Parenteau are studs and will be big. I also think the pick up of
Wheeler is going to be huge in the next few years. A bit more size on the D line would be nice right now.
Badger Bob
February 28th, 2011
9:46 pm
“Those guys” being the over 31 crowd. Agreed it may be tougher to get the UFAs from cap-min teams like COL, NYI, CAR and PHX.
ZAvalanche
February 28th, 2011
9:57 pm
Bob, yeah, those teams are not going to move any salary. I cannot imagine what is going on inside the head of the Avs owner, he once paid Roy, Blake, Bourque, Sakic, Forsberg, Drury, Hejduk (that alone is worth their total team payout this year). So why not continue to build a team in that fashion? We sold out every game from 95 to 2003 because we had talent, now, meh, Thrashy and the Avs are looking very similar……
LAC
February 28th, 2011
9:58 pm
Williams resigned today, I believe it was, with the Kings and Moulson did recently with NYI.
LAC
February 28th, 2011
9:59 pm
You know “cliff” you have a lot of GALL using the name of a GREAT Man and GM.
ALL you do is critize others because of their point of view and act like an idiot doing so.
Hope all is well at the trailer park tonight !
Dandylions
February 28th, 2011
10:15 pm
Dandylions, next thing you are going to say LAC drives a Porsche. No, normally an oversized pickup truck but in the south that doesn’t always apply!
Cliff Fletcher
February 28th, 2011
10:16 pm
no lac i like to talk hockey – and i will not be calling for rick dudley’s resignation any time soon. dudley is a good hockey man, very well respected across the league. he is the best man available to get this franchise in the right direction. and you are correct williams did resign with the kings 4 yres $14M good stanley cup experience. moulson also resigned, leino will probably resign in philly if the flyers can make the cap space for him. free agency is rarely the place you get better anyhow gotta get it through draft and development. cliff fletcher wouldn’t want it any other way, that’s why i use his name and proudly i may add.
HookyBob
February 28th, 2011
10:20 pm
Going into the NHL trade deadline day with minimal $s to spend is like going to a gunfight with a knife. Poor Duds.
Dennis Weidman goes for a 3rd round pick and an AHLer.
Maxim Laperrie goes for a 3rd round pick.
Chris Higgins goes for a 3rd round pick.
Brad Boyes goes for a 2nd.
Bergors has to be worth at least a 2nd rounder. I gotta think we could have gotten any of these players for Berfors (and throw in an AHLer in Rissmiller if needed). I’m thinking this didn’t happen cause we don’t have the budget to resign anyone. Nothing against Dovorak,..but I don’t think we got much of a return for Bergie.
With all the things the owners have confirmed this year I think we, the fans, are just a bit snakebitten.
Tell me, how do these owners find their way home each night?
Rembrandt
February 28th, 2011
10:21 pm
“ALL you do is critize others because of their point of view and act like an idiot doing so.”
LAC just painted his self-portrait with that statement.
Hockey Biltong
February 28th, 2011
10:33 pm
Is someone channeling Stendek????
Hockey Biltong
February 28th, 2011
10:34 pm
Is someone channeling Stend3k????
Tom Lysiak
February 28th, 2011
11:01 pm
HookyBob – Dudley announced to the world weeks ago that he had told the GM’s that Bergy was available. A 2nd was even rumored (on ESPN Insider, I believe) his asking price back then. I don’t think anybody was interested at close to that price. He has earned his reputation and I’ll bet Duds would have jumped at a 3rd weeks ago. Who knows though?
ZAvalanche
February 28th, 2011
11:27 pm
Actually, I think Cliff has some pretty good insight and truly enjoys talking hockey. Keep on keeping on brutha.
As far as the trade deadline, I thought it was pretty boring compared to 10+ days ago. Duds did what he could with what he had. We all Thrashy fans, can’t we just get along, lol!
ZAvalanche
February 28th, 2011
11:38 pm
Biltong, I thought that name was banned! Ha! BTW, if you got a good recipe for biltong lemme know, I pretty much lived off of it for a month
Thrashy Thrashy
March 1st, 2011
12:16 am
Bergie made it tough to get much of a return for him. The fact that he’s due to be a fairly pricey player this offseason for somebody means that Dudley was stuck. Something tells me that being in Craig Ramsay’s doghouse means that you’re a real sourpuss. Rammer is not the type of guy who buries somebody on a whim.
East Point Bob
March 1st, 2011
12:24 am
Having looked over some stats, I find Schremp, to be a fairly decent looking player. Surprised NYI put him on waivers. I find the deal with Florida to be a poor one. After comments to the contray, Dudley did what he said he would not do, trade for older player. That I found disturbing, even with the waiver deal. We did garner three draft picks, so that could blossom some day. Overall, not enough was done to inhance the team and I do not believe they will make the playoffs, close, but not in, like last season. Lastly, to stan drulia and cliff, every time you guys blog, it is to attack someone. Why ?
You seldom, if ever, post comments prudent to the topic, only attacking one guy, with whom you disagree. You likely will disagree with me, will I be attacked ? Everyone has his or her thoughts about the team, ownership etc… if you disagree, fine, but do it in a positive manner, you guys look like a couple high school kids who just got cut from the team and have to whine about it by attacking another person and in turn you look like, what was it ??? Punks ??? Give it a rest, it is getting very old.
Thrashy Thrashy
March 1st, 2011
12:34 am
I don’t mind if we get older players who can still play the game. Dudley obviously didn’t feel the need to explain that caveat. Besides, I think anyone with a pair of eyes could see that Modin is an example of someone who can’t. Dvorak is a useful veteran player who provides something (PK stability) that we need. We also need a guy who can fill it up, but the odds of a penny-pinching organization like this acquiring a guy like that at the deadline, especially when it would be giving up a premium to obtain him, were nil.
Brendan
March 1st, 2011
1:49 am
Litz, good comment @ 6:17PM. I’m not a fan of mortgaging the future. There are very, very few times when I’d advocate doing that. Pretty much, it boils down to a window of opportunity closing, due to ‘one missing piece’ of the puzzle. Imagine if that ‘one piece’ missing is a goaltender? And suddenly a Hasek, Belfour, Luongo, Vokoun, Thomas, Kiprussoff type emerged at the trade deadline? Now, imagine that the previous three seasons ended in the CF or SCF, without a Cup win, precisely due to a failure in net. Mortgage the future then? Yes. The window is closing, and the missing piece is there. Gotta go for it, while you still can. It’s important to see the “big picture.” In the big picture, Vancouver and Washington have NEVER won the Cup. In preseason, Vancouver vs. Washington was a likely Stanley Cup Finals. Washington and Vancouver probably helped their causes with their deals today. I wouldn’t say either club “damaged” their chances.
I somewhat chuckle when I hear fans say, “it’s not worth winning the Cup compared to a decade’s worth of playoff appearances.” Yes, it is. The goal is banners hanging from the rafters. Does anyone in St. Louis jump up and down about the franchise’s long history of playoff appearances? Or, do Blues fans say, “I’d have traded 15 years of playoff berths for a Cup?” How ’bout in Chicago, where the Blackhawks used to make the playoffs for 28 straight years. The Blackhawks, from 1962 to 1997, made the playoffs 35 times in 36 seasons. No Cups. You trade playoff berths for Championships, every time you can. The Florida Marlins might not exactly be an exempliary baseball team, but they have NEVER LOST a playoff series.
Red Light, you are correct, sir. Rissmiller and a boughtout Brashear for Todd White. Now Rissmiller is a Panther, for Dvorak, along with Bergfors. See?? Todd “Milkcarton” White was good for something after all. Can it be argued that Todd White also drove Marian Hossa out of Atlanta? What’s the return on Hossa, these days? Daultan Leveille, Eric O’Dell (via Christensen), and Angelo Esposito. Colby Armstrong walked for nothing in free agency, to Toronto.
Red Light, what’s the official return on the Kovalchuk trade, now?
Brendan
March 1st, 2011
2:12 am
One of the things that makes Rawhide’s blog a good one … is the lack of cyber fighting and name calling. If, as posters, you find yourselves in such a situation … sometimes it’s best to just put that person antagonizing you on your permanent ignore list. (Stendec, Habs Troll, Pucks-n-snot, Brian come to mind.) Lots of times, when someone engages you on a ridiculous premise, you inadvertantly lend undue validity to their allegations/viewpoints. Plus, it drags YOU down to their level. And who, exactly, aspires to do that? Sometimes, staying above it … really is the best course of action. If someone asks you how often you beat your wife or kids, you don’t dignify the question with an answer. You put them on “permanent ignore.” And if you let take them off that list, do so knowing that you really should ‘know better.’ If someone is calling you names, it means they’ve run out of ideas to argue. And the person doing the ‘name calling’ is revealing more about themselves … then, perhaps, they ever intended.
No blog is perfect. It doesn’t exist. But when you objectively look around, this one is one of the very best. That’s a tribute to the blogmaster … who occasionally has to internvene to keep a few sociopaths off the bandwidth. He does a great job of it. This blog works best … when we’re actually discussing hockey … knowledgeably and persuasively, without disrespecting the blogmaster or the posters below. There’s nothing more American than to disagree about things. Several posters actually take the time and effort to put some research into their posts. And even when they do, they’ll “agree to disagree” about their opinions. I always used to like Pasi Nurminen, for example. If someone said to me, “Brendan, Pasi Nurminen is NOBODY in the annals of hockey history. Surely, you must know that.” That person is probably right. It doesn’t change that I liked Pasi a lot, who is on my list of all-time favorite Thrashers.
Acer
March 1st, 2011
5:39 am
Read it too Brendan. Not moving Bogosian and any high picks were Dudley’s best move. People around the Thrashers are used to waiving good bye to those pieces when the Thrashers are in playoff range. In these times, I’m super glad that Waddell isn’t the GM.
J-man
March 1st, 2011
6:30 am
The trades of Sopel and Modin were “we’re out of the hunt” sales. The pickup of Schremp and trading for Dvorak were “we’re in the hunt” buys. I’m not expecting a schizophrenic message like that to be successful.
Red Light
March 1st, 2011
6:36 am
Atllanta Thrashers traded Ilya Kovalchuk, Anssi Salmela, a 2nd-round draft pick in 2010 to the New Jersey Devils for Johnny Oduya, Patrice Cormier, Radek Dvorak, a 2011 fifth round draft pick, a 1st-round draft pick in 2010, and a 2nd-round draft pick in 2010 (both sent to Chicago in the Byfuglien deal).
Atlanta Thrashers traded Marian Hossa and Pascal Dupuis to the Pittsburgh Penguins for Colby Armstrong, Eric O’Dell, Angelo Esposito and Daultan Leveille.
Red Light
March 1st, 2011
7:04 am
Glencross is making $1.2 million this year and the Flames projected cap space for 2011-12 is just $5 million. Moulson was extended for three years at $3,133,333. Williams got $3,650,000 for four more seasons. Parenteau re-signed for next year at $1.2 million. Flyers likely will have to make a deal to fit Leino, Powe, Carcillo and Nodl under the cap. Jones, who is the big bodied scorer many teams covet, is still restricted according to Cap Geek and the Avs have plenty of money to spend. Hudler signed for another year in Detroit at $2.875 million.
No to Vrbata, Miettinen, Ryder and Kopecky. Yes to Laich, Richards and Jokinen, but doubt the Thrashers can compete in the open market for those three.
GHSwrestler12
March 1st, 2011
7:17 am
http://blogs.ajc.com/iceman-thrashers-blog/2011/02/28/trade-deadline-day-comes-after-thrashers-finally-find-a-way-to-win/?cp=all#comment-53004
Tony, i dont understand why the 2 of you dont like this trade. I do because Bergy didnt fit here and Dvorak is excellent at the PK and he has plenty of playoff experience.
Red Light
March 1st, 2011
7:46 am
Division leaders and margin over second place teams
Vancouver-14 points • Detroit-10 points • Philadelphia-6 points • Boston-6 points
• Tampa Bay-5 points • San Jose-2 points
Eastern Conference teams within 10 points or less of 6th place (Montreal)
Toronto • Atlanta • Buffalo • Carolina • NY Rangers
Buffalo has played the fewest number of games: 61
Western Conference teams within eight points or less of 4th place (Phoenix)
Columbus • Anaheim • Nashville • Minnesota • Dallas • Calgary • Los Angeles • Chicago
Columbus has played the fewest number of games: 61
Teams on life support (7 ore more points out of the 8th spot)
NJ Devils • Florida • St. Louis
Teams virtually eliminated from the playoffs
Edmonton • Colorado • Ottawa • NY Islanders