NHL weekend rankings: The Wild, the Habs, and the 10 teams we haven't ranked yet

With the calendar about to flip over to April, we’re down to three weeks left in the regular season. And that means we don’t have many of these columns left. The finish line is in sight.

It’s safe to assume that the last few weeks will be dedicated to breaking down the various playoff races, unless every bubble team in the East just voluntarily folds their franchise to avoid landing a spot that it’s clear nobody wants. But in this semi-calm before the storm, a few of you have pointed out that we’ve yet to visit an annual tradition around here: Recognizing the teams that made it through the entire season without ever landing in either the Top of Bottom 5.

This is the true middle-of-the-pack, although as you’ll see, they come in some very different flavors. And this year, the numbers reinforce that in a pleasingly symmetrical way: There have been 11 different teams that showed up in the Top 5, and 11 more than had at least one appearance in the Bottom 5. That leaves us with an even 10 teams that didn’t appear on either list all season long. Let’s divide them into categories.

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Battle of Ontario? Avs vs. Stars? Ranking the best potential first-round matchups

With just a few weeks left in the season, the playoff picture is coming into focus. And while we’re not sure which teams will claim the final wildcard spots in either conference, we’re pretty much locked in on 14 of the 16 playoff teams. That means we can start turning our attention to the potential first-round matchups, and arguing over which ones will be the best.

That’s easy: It’s Dallas vs. Colorado.

Look, I get that some people think this is happening too soon, and that the 1-vs-4 format means that some prime matchups arrive earlier than they should. I get that. But also: This series is going to absolutely rock. I can’t wait.

The downside of that monster meeting looming on the horizon is that other potential matchups can’t compete. But that doesn’t mean that the rest of the first round can’t have a few bangers. So today, let’s go through the series that have at least an 25% chance of happening, based on the calculations from hockeyviz.com as of yesterday afternoon.

We’ll count this down from the fifth best matchup to number one, with an added rule that each team can only appear once. Try not to pass out from the suspense of which matchup will be number one.

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12 of NHL history's greatest record-breaking goals, ranked from worst to best

With the Alex Ovechkin goals chase now down to single digits, it no longer feels like a question of if he’ll break Wayne Gretzky’s mark this season, but rather when.

We’ve already covered that question, a few weeks back. But there’s a second, and maybe even more important question that’s now looming: Will the record-breaking goal be any good?

The NHL is already worrying about this, especially the possibility that the record-breaker falls victim to their very bad and nit-picky replay review system. Other fans have been openly antagonizing the hockey gods with ideas for the most Team Chaos-worthy way the record could fall. (Personally, I’m a big fan of the “Ovechkin has an empty-net look against the Penguins but Sidney Crosby throws his stick for an automatic goal, meaning Sid's the one who actually ‘scores’ the record-breaker” scenario.)

Whatever happens, it will be a cool moment. But how cool? Just in case Ovechkin is looking for inspiration, today’s column is going to look at a dozen historic NHL goals that broke an important record. To be clear, we’re not worried about individual milestones, or important game-winners or sudden death snipes. We want the guys who broke a significant record, did it with a goal, and did it in style. Just like how we all hope Ovechkin will over the next few weeks.

We’ll use a modified version of the scale we established for the goalie goals ranking, with an emphasis on the creativity and/or skill of the goal itself. We’ll go from worst to best, which means there’s really only one pick for 12th spot…

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NHL weekend rankings: A lot can change in 2 weeks, but I still believe in the Blue Jackets

Welcome back to the rankings, which took a week off last week. That gives us more recency bias to chew on than a typical week, and that means a minor shakeup in the Top 5 that features a new number one and the return of an old friend.

But first, let’s do a quick reset on how much things have changed in two weeks, if only to remind us of how much this league and its storylines can pivot in a short time.

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The Contrarian: The Ovechkin goals record chase is bad, and other fake arguments

Welcome back to The Contrarian, the feature where you state the obvious and then I argue against it, because I’m a sportswriter and that’s just what we do, whether we mean it or not. This time around, you want to debate Alex Ovechkin, Connor McDavid, the playoff format, and the Olympics, among other topics. Or then again, maybe you don’t. Let’s wade into the mailbag and find out.

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When the players and the writers disagree on the best player: Breaking those ties

With a month left to go in the regular season, some of the award races are more of less settled. Connor Hellebuyck is going to win the Vezina, and will also be a first-team all-star. Barring an injury, Leon Draisaitl will win the Rocket Richard. Sasha Barkov seems set to win another Selke, and Spencer Carberry is pulling away in the Jack Adams race.

But other awards are still up in the air, including the big one: The Hart Trophy, for league MVP, as voted on by the writers. That means we can assume that the Ted Lindsay for best player as voted on by the NHLPA is also up for grabs. And that means there’s at least a decent chance that we get a split, with the players and the writers picking different players for their top honors.

I can’t decide whether or not I hate when that happens.

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Help me become a better contrarian

Hey folks…

Thinking of doing another edition of The Contrarian. You send in a statement that you think is obvious or inarguable, and I’ll try to come up with the contrarian view.

We've done a few of these, and the ones that work best find that sweet spot of feeling difficult but not impossible. "Mark Messier was a bad signing for the Canucks" and "Ray Bourque's Cup win was good" worked great. Stuff like "Connor McDavid is good at hockey" or "The Leafs have a bad playoff record", not so much.

Send me your sure-thing statement via email at dgbcontrarian@gmail.com.

NHL weekend rankings: An unpredictable trade deadline shakes up the Top 5

Well, that was something.

The annual trade deadline didn’t deliver huge numbers as far as the actual volume of trades, but the ones that did happen were significant, with more big names moving than just about any year in recent memory. A lot has changed since we last did this one week ago, and the rankings will reflect that.

We’ll get to those in a minute. But first, let’s close the book on a fascinating week with a few final deadline thoughts.

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Your favorite GM vs. himself: The roster he traded for against the one he traded away

Your favorite GM probably has his hands full this week, so let’s do him a favor and put him in a position where he can’t lose. Specifically, let’s put him in a contest against… himself.

Yeah, this is going to get weird, but stick with it. Today’s post will be all about one question: Who’d win, a starting six made up of the players a GM has acquired in his career, or one of players he’s traded away?

But first, a few ground rules™:

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Weekend rankings: The 5 most interesting names to watch on deadline week

Five days to go, and pretty much the entire hockey world is all deadline, all the time. While we overhype the deadline every year, this season really does feel different. I can’t remember many previous years where it felt like such a wide range of outcomes were in play, from a week full of big names being moved and shaking up races to a quiet week that feels like a total bust and ends with James Duthie quietly playing solitaire on live TV for six hours.

History tells us that the next few days will play out more like the second option than the first, but for now, a lot of scenarios are in play. Here are the five I’m most interested in.

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