The Daily Faceoff Show: Are all 8 Eastern Conference playoff spots locked up?

It’s been a good run for the Boston Bruins as of late.

Not only did the Bruins bring back longtime franchise cornerstone Tuukka Rask on a one-year deal on Tuesday, they also have somewhat quietly won five out of six games since the NHL’s COVID pause. This has boosted Boston’s overall record to 19-11-2, while perhaps creating a scenario where all eight Eastern Conference playoff spots are locked up.

As hard as it is to say “locked up” with any conviction when there’s still four months and more than half the season to play, the facts are overwhelming.

The Bruins’ hot streak has given them a four-point lead on the Detroit Red Wings for the Eastern Conference’s final wild card spot. However, when you factor in that Boston has four games in hand on Detroit, the Bruins have a 125-points percentage advantage on the Red Wings and Columbus Blue Jackets, the next closest contenders.

Factoring in that the Bruins currently hold the final wild card spot while still being five points behind any other team currently in an Eastern Conference playoff position, it starts to get hard to see which team currently on the outside has a chance to make a run.

On Tuesday’s episode of The Daily Faceoff Show, Frank Seravalli and Mike McKenna discussed this subject.

Seravalli: “When I look at the rest of the East, I’m looking at this and I’m saying: ‘hold on a second.’ I don’t know if any of these teams below the Bruins can mount any kind of significant comeback.

“You’re going to need either one team that’s in that top eight to epically collapse, in addition to one of those teams below them to slide up and go on a significant run.”

McKenna: “I think you’re right, Frank. It really is eight teams that are currently sitting in a playoff spot right now.

“I believed in Detroit. I really thought that was a team that was overachieving, but starting to become reality for them. They’re not defending well enough. They’re third in the league in high danger chances. Nedeljkovic has done everything he can to keep them in the mix.

“I don’t see anybody jumping up from that lower pack there.

“The Flyers are maybe the one team that would have the skill to do it out of that group.”

To put this in perspective, based on the current pacing, there would be more than a 20-point gap between the eighth and ninth place teams in the East. There hasn’t even been a gap larger than 10 points at season’s end in 19 years.

You can watch the full episode here…