By Basil Stroh

NHL Public Relations

Eastern Conference Wild Card Race: After a thrilling finish in 2023-24 – when the last playoff spot was secured during a chaotic 15-minute span during many clubs’ season finale – another down-to-the-wire battle is brewing in the Eastern Conference this season. Eight teams (Nos. 7-14) are separated by seven points, including a two-point gap between Wild Card 2 and the first four teams outside the bracket. The three teams that have occupied a Wild Card spot over the past month (since Feb. 6) all are seeking their first appearance in the Stanley Cup Playoffs since at least 2019-20, and have combined for four trips in the past eight seasons: Columbus, Detroit and Ottawa.

Western Wild Card Race: Just like the East, the “playoff line” (difference between lowest-ranked playoff team and the first team outside the bracket) in the Western Conference also is zero – as a tiebreaker would decide which team was in if the playoffs started today. Overall, five teams (Nos. 8-12) are separated by six points – including a two-point gap between four of those clubs – with one of those clubs coming off a division title in 2023-24 and the others all seeking a playoff spot after not being part of last year’s bracket: Calgary, Vancouver, St. Louis, Utah and Anaheim.

The Gr8 Chase: Capitals captain Alex Ovechkin (884 goals) has spent more than half his life climbing the NHL’s all-time goals list and now nears the summit of a mountaintop long believed to be unreachable: breaking Wayne Gretzky’s all-time record of 894. Staring down a 42-goal deficit ahead of his 20th NHL season, the 39-year-old Ovechkin has overcome a broken leg – yielding the longest absence of his career – to move within 11 goals of the record entering the final 21 games of the season for the Eastern Conference-leading Capitals.

Leaders of the Pack: The two conference leaders combined for one playoff win last year: the Western Conference-leading Jets are pursuing the first No. 1-rank in team history (division, conference or NHL) and the Eastern Conference-leading Capitals hold a seven-point advantage after qualifying as the lowest-ranked playoff team in 2023-24. Winnipeg is on pace to set franchise records for wins and points in a season as it vies for its first Presidents’ Trophy, while a first-place finish in the overall standings by Washington (No. 17 in 2023-24) would represent the second-largest standings leap by the No. 1 seed in NHL history (current mark: the NY Rangers went from No. 19 in 1992-93 to No. 1 in 1993-94).

From MVP to Scoring Leader?: The 4 Nations Face-Off MVP and reigning Hart Trophy winner is the frontrunner for the Art Ross Trophy approaching the final quarter of the season as Nathan MacKinnon pursues that honor for the first time, pacing a group of five players tracking toward a 100-point season – with Maurice “Rocket” Richard Trophy race leader Leon Draisaitl hot on his heels (one point back).

A sampling of some of the trends to monitor as the rush to the Stanley Cup Playoffs intensifies over the final 341 games and 45 days of the 2024-25 regular season:

* Five teams that missed the 2024 Stanley Cup Playoffs currently occupy a playoff position (NJD, CBJ, DET, MIN & CGY). There has been playoff turnover of at least five teams in all but one season under the Wild Card format (implemented in 2013-14).

* The “playoff line” – the difference between the lowest-ranked playoff team and the first team outside the bracket – is zero points in both conferences. The last time that was the case entering the final quarter of the season was 2013-14, the first under the Wild Card format.

* The margins are slim in both conferences as the “playoff line” – the difference between the lowest-ranked playoff team and the first team outside the bracket – has been four points or fewer for the entire season in both the East and West (where it has never been above three points).

* The “playoff line” in the Western Conference has been zero or one point for nine straight days (the case for 87% of game days overall this season). In the Eastern Conference, it has been two points or fewer through 97% of game days this season.

* Seven teams have held an Eastern Conference Wild Card spot through play across the 50 game days since Jan. 1, with a shakeup of some sort on nearly half of those dates (22 of 50).

Over that same time frame, four different teams in the Western Conference have finished play in a Wild Card spot: Colorado (46 days) and Dallas (4 days) as Wild Card 1, and Calgary (27 days) and Vancouver (23 days) as Wild Card 2.

* Toronto and Florida swapped first place in the Atlantic Division for five consecutive days from Feb. 26 to March 2. Last season, the Panthers defeated the Maple Leafs in their 82nd and final game to clinch the No. 1 seed (en route to winning Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final on home ice in South Florida).

* In the Pacific Division, the difference between the top two seeds has been four points or fewer since Jan. 13, as Vegas (24 days) and Edmonton (14 days) have taken turns at No. 1 over that span (days over 4 Nations Face-Off break excluded).
* Winnipeg (42-15-4, 88 points), Toronto (38-20-3, 79 points) and Edmonton (35-21-4, 74 points) either lead or sit within four points for first place in their division. There has never been a season that concluded with three Canadian-based teams winning a division.
* Eight teams in the Eastern Conference playoff hunt have had a winning streak of five or more games since the calendar flipped to 2025, including one active run: Tampa Bay (8-0-0), Toronto (5-0-0), Detroit (7-0-0 & 5-0-0), NY Islanders (7-0-0), Columbus (6-0-0), Washington (6-0-0), Ottawa (5-0-0) and Montreal (5-0-0; active). In the Western Conference, three teams have done so including the top two teams: Central Division rivals Winnipeg (11-0-0) and Dallas (5-0-0, 2x).

* In the Eastern Conference, 14 teams have been inside the playoff bracket since U.S. Thanksgiving, including two who were out at that time but are now in (CBJ & DET) and Washington – which has turned a two-point deficit into a seven-point lead as the No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference.

* Much like they did last year, the Oilers have jumped into a playoff spot after being outside the bracket around the quarter mark. At U.S. Thanksgiving, the Oilers sat one point outside the bracket and four points back of their current rank of No. 2 in the Pacific Division (and seven points behind the No. 1 seed in the division, a position they held for 14 days since then).

Art Ross Trophy: Current leader Nathan MacKinnon is in pursuit of his first career Art Ross Trophy as the NHL points leader – and second ever by an Avalanche or Nordiques player. MacKinnon is one of three players on pace for at least 120 points (after four hit the mark in 2023-24) with Leon Draisaitl and Nikita Kucherov also on track. It has been more than 30 years since the NHL had three or more 120-point players in consecutive seasons (1991-92 and 1992-93). Only four players have captured their first Art Ross Trophy at age 29 or older: Daniel Sedin (2010-11), Henrik Sedin (2009-10), Roy Conacher (1948-49) and Elmer Lach (1947-48).

Maurice “Rocket” Richard Trophy: Current leader Leon Draisaitl had a hat trick of awards in 2019-20 (Art Ross Trophy, Hart Memorial Trophy & Ted Lindsay Award) but is trying to score his way to a career-first by topping the League in goals. In contention for the Art Ross Trophy as well, Draisaitl could become the fourth player to win both the Art Ross and “Rocket” in the same season – only Connor McDavid (2022-23), Alex Ovechkin (2007-08) and Jarome Iginla (2001-02) have done so in the 25 completed seasons in which both awards have been presented. Draisaitl is on pace to give the NHL a 60-goal scorer for a fourth straight season – something that last occurred more than 30 years ago.

William M. Jennings Trophy: The Jets have the fewest goals against in the NHL, with only Connor Hellebuyck currently in contention to claim the award if they finish that way (min. 25 GP). He can become the first goaltender to be the lone Jennings Trophy winner in consecutive seasons (Martin Brodeur, Patrick Roy and Brian Hayward all won in consecutive campaigns while sharing it with a teammate or with a netminder from another team). Hellebuyck could become the fifth goaltender on record to pace the NHL in wins, shutouts, save percentage and goals-against average at the end of a season – he currently leads all four categories. The 4 Nations Face-Off netminder also can become the first American to top the NHL in wins at least three times, and just the second active netminder (from any country) with three seasons as the wins leader (Andrei Vasilevskiy: 5x).

Presidents’ Trophy: It has been eight years since a team repeated as the No. 1 seed in the regular-season standings, achieved by only the Capitals (2015-16 & 2016-17) over the past dozen seasons. Six teams have finished as the No. 1 seed in the League standings in seven seasons since Washington’s repeat (BOS 2x, along w/ NYR, FLA, COL, TBL & NSH) and the current frontrunners indicate another new name could be added to the list as only one of the League’s top six teams has won in the span.

Connor McDavid (22-53—75 in 54 GP) is on pace to record his eighth career 100-point season, which would tie Marcel Dionne (8) for the third most in NHL history behind Wayne Gretzky (15) and Mario Lemieux (10).

* Nikita Kucherov (27-60—87 in 57 GP) is on pace to join Connor McDavid (3x) as the second active player to record three 120-point seasons.

* Cale Makar (22-45—67 in 61 GP) is on pace to record back-to-back 90-point seasons. He is tracking towards becoming the fifth defenseman in NHL history to post consecutive 90-point campaigns, in which he would join Paul Coffey (3 from 1988-89 to 1990-91 & 4 from 1982-83 to 1985-86), Al MacInnis (2 from 1989-90 to 1990-91), Denis Potvin (2 from 1977-78 to 1978-79) and Bobby Orr (6 from 1969-70 to 1974-75).

*  Calder Trophy Race: An intriguing Calder Trophy race includes Canadiens defenseman Lane Hutson (4-44—48 in 61 GP) leading the rookie points race followed by Flyers forward Matvei Michkov (19-25—44 in 59 GP) and Sharks forward Macklin Celebrini (18-26—44 in 50 GP). Hutson is tracking towards becoming the fourth defenseman in the modern era (since 1943-44) to lead rookies in scoring at season’s end, in which he would join Quinn Hughes (2019-20), Brian Leetch (1988-89) and Bobby Orr (1966-67). Leetch and Orr went on to win the Calder Trophy. Michkov and Celebrini are both on pace to score 25 goals – it would be the first time since 2017-18 multiple rookies reached that benchmark in the same season.

* Lane Hutson and Macklin Celebrini played together at Boston University in 2023-24 and can become the second pair of finalists for the Calder Trophy the season after playing U.S. college hockey together following Matty Beniers (winner) and Owen Power (University of Michigan) in 2022-23. The only other Calder Trophy finalists to play for a junior club team the season prior to being finalists together were Ken Smith and Ted Lindsay – despite playing for St. Michael’s for the 1943-44 season, Lindsay was loaned to the Oshawa Generals for the 1944 Memorial Cup due to a wartime shortage of players and skated alongside Smith in the tournament prior to being finalists for the Calder Trophy alongside winner Frank McCool in 1944-45.

* Another possible contender for the Calder Trophy is Flames goaltender Dustin Wolf, who leads all rookie goaltenders in wins (20-12-4) with a 2.58 goals-against average, .913 save percentage and two shutouts. He could become the first goaltender in 16 years to win the award (last: Steve Mason in 2008-09).

The NHL is averaging 6.0 goals-per-game at this point of a season for the fourth consecutive campaign, the longest such run since a 26-season stretch finished in 1995-96.

* 43% of games have resulted in a comeback win, tied for the third-highest percentage at this stage of a season in NHL history and marking the sixth time in the last seven seasons that at least 40% of games have resulted in a come-from-behind win.

* A total of 74.2% of games that required extra time this season saw the winning goal scored in overtime (144 of 194) – marking the highest percentage at this stage of a campaign in NHL history.

* There have been 16 go-ahead goals scored in the final minute of regulation this season. Over the last 20 years, only 2009-10 and 2021-22 (both w/ 17) have seen more at this stage of a campaign.

COURTESY NHL PUBLIC RELATIONS