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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