Rigamarole - A Foot In The Crease - Episode 4.26

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With about a month remaining until the end of the 2008 / 2009 NHL regular season, it’s proving to be harder than it’s been in recent memory to start projecting which teams are likely to have playoff success because quite frankly, we don’t know which teams are going to be in the playoffs for the most part yet. Right now the NHL is experiencing great parity in both conferences – certainly a good thing to hold interest down the stretch in the final month.

In the Western Conference, all but two teams – the Phoenix Coyotes and Colorado Avalanche – are still legitimately in the playoff picture. Seventh through thirteenth place is separated by just four points, perhaps a reason there was not as much selling of big names at the trade deadline as we’ve come to expect. There simply were not as many sellers as there have been in past years. Involved in that mix of seven teams are the seventh place Edmonton Oilers, twelfth place St. Louis Blues and the thirteenth place Los Angeles Kings, all no doubt ready to slide out of rebuilding mode and see what all the building they’ve done can do with the chips on the line in the playoffs. Unfortunately, the odds are low as only two of that pack of seven teams will likely make it to the big dance unless the sixth place Columbus Blue Jackets can be tracked down.

In the East, while fewer teams can entertain playoff hopes, higher seeds are still available. Due to the recent slides of early season Stanley Cup picks, the New York Rangers and Montreal Canadiens, the gap between fifth and tenth place is only six points. With a win the eighth place Florida Panthers can jump all the way to fifth place and tie the Montreal Canadiens.

All of a sudden, games late in the regular season that may have seemed meaningless just a few weeks ago hold the potential for extreme impacts on the playoff picture in both the Eastern and Western Conference. But hey, all that was just rigamarole.