Thanksgiving Standings An Important Indicator for NHL Playoffs

Good morning and happy Friday, November 25th.

The NHL was off yesterday for American Thanksgiving but there is still plenty to report from around the hockey world. Enjoy and have a great weekend! 🍻

If you want to know your team’s chances of making the playoffs, simply take a gander at this morning’s NHL standings.

The rule of thumb, at least in the salary cap era, has been that teams sitting in a playoff position on American Thanksgiving will be in the postseason next spring. It’s not a perfect indicator. But there is something to it.

Since 2005, 76.3% of teams in a Thanksgiving playoff position did end up qualifying. Last season, 12 of the 16 Thanksgiving playoff teams made it.

If that holds true this season, the NHL 2022-23 playoffs won’t look much like last season’s postseason.

These are the teams that are in the playoff position that missed last season: New Jersey Devils, New York Islanders, Detroit Red Wings, Winnipeg Jets, Vegas Golden Knights, and the Seattle Kraken.

If the Red Wings make the postseason, it would be their first playoff appearance since 2016. The Devils have missed the playoffs nine out of the past 10 seasons.

This is only the Kraken’s second season in the NHL. To make the playoffs this season would be an impressive accomplishment.

Key teams not in the playoffs on Thanksgiving this year: Florida Panthers, Pittsburgh Penguins, Washington Capitals, Edmonton Oilers, Minnesota Wild, and Nashville Predators.

If the Penguins don’t qualify, it would end the Penguins’ streak of 16 consecutive seasons in the playoffs. The Capitals and Predators have both been in the playoffs every year since 2015.

The hockey world lost a legend with the passing of Borje Salming yesterday at the age of 71, following a short battle with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).

TRIVIA: Who holds the record for most NHL games played by a Swedish-born player?

• Maple Leafs’ four major areas for improvement at the quarter mark

• On Tap: Bruins go for record home start

• Eichel on pace for career-best season with Golden Knights

• Though far from panic, Oilers making no excuses for mediocre first quarter of season

• Bill Guerin explains why the Wild traded for Ryan Reaves with Kyper and Bourne

• In his second AHL game, Shane Wright scores his second and third AHL goals

• JFreshHockey early NHL trophy favorites: Jack Adams | Selke | Calder | Vezina | Norris | Hart

• Fantasy hockey MVP for each team at Thanksgiving

• Wild activate G Fleury ahead of matchup with Leafs

• Konecny out 10-14 days for Flyers with upper-body injury

• How to add game-like intensity to your drills in practice

• Try this great stickhandling warm up drill by VT Hockey Development

TRIVIA ANSWER:

Nicklas Lidstrom with 1,564 games played