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2025-26 NHL Miscellaneous Thread

The Islanders have 4 games left.

It doesn’t say that DeBoer is an interim coach, like Bowness and Torts. So I guess he’s the permanent replacement.
 
Surprised that DeBoer was willing to take himself out of the market for that freaking job, but here we are. Roy was clearly just running 6 or 7 guys into the ground and getting increasingly pitiful results, so I get where Darche is coming from even if I think he’s pretty late to the decision point.
 
Detroit comes back from 4-1 down at home to the Wild and tie it up. But Kaprizov gets the winner on the PP with under 2 minutes to go.
 
Playoff races got a little more clarity over the weekend, with Ottawa looking much more likely for that WC2 slot now and Philly surging into Metro 3 with a boost from Porter Martone joining them out of college. The Islanders threw a big ball of chum in the water with a late, later than late coaching change but I’m thinking that Roy did too much damage over-playing their core to make that ploy work. Columbus is mired in a slump while Detroit seems to have completely lost their team composure … plus Larkin is beat up and keeps getting hurt. Something could shift, but both Ottawa and Philly have do-able schedules down the stretch.

Out West, both Nashville and St Louis have gotten traction this week and LA keeps ringing up loser points while San Jose looks to have spit the bit. They’re all dueling for that one WC spot, to have the great pleasure of getting gigged by Colorado in the first round. Utah looks safe enough in WC1, unless the wheels come all the way off or something. Technically Winnipeg is still in the mix as well, but … barely. I’m guessing Nashville actually pulls off what would have looked like a miracle back in January. And for the record, none of those teams are any good. They’re all below New Jersey who is dead in the water and next up for elimination in the East.
 
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LA has 19 regulation wins. Maybe that speaks to the general suckitude of the West, but that someone could make the playoffs with 90 or fewer points is ridiculous.
 
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LA has 19 regulation wins. Maybe that speaks to the general suckitude of the West, but that someone could make the playoffs with 90 or fewer points is ridiculous.
IMO the Kings, Blues, Sharks and Preds are all teams I would classify as “not good.” The last Eastern team that bad to make the playoffs was that terrible Capitals team in 2023-24 that oozed into the post season with a goal diff over -20. These teams are all that bad or worse.

As for Detroit … they pulled a classic Buffalo this season, which is honestly kind of hilarious given the arrogance of their fan base. They were right there and making all sorts of “we’re back, baby” noises and then … wham. The winged wheel blew a tire. I remember the fans that showed up at Lenovo for their game with the Canes right after Christmas. They all had their chests puffed out, making big noise. Not sure which el foldo act I liked better this year, theirs or the Rangers. It’s NYR, for the record. They’re DFL in the East and still have an above NHL .500 record on the road. Freaking hilarious.
 
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LA has 19 regulation wins. Maybe that speaks to the general suckitude of the West, but that someone could make the playoffs with 90 or fewer points is ridiculous.
Only 6 teams in the West are above real .500. The leaders in the Pacific would not even qualify for the WC in the East. 2 teams in the West will make the playoffs with records below real .500. Only 4 teams in the West have more wins than NJ, which is 13th in the East. Meanwhile, the East has 12 teams at or above real .500.
 
The Rangers are 28th in goals scored at home with 101 and 31st in 1st period goals with 21, 2 more than Detroit. Only St. Louis, LA, Chicago and Vancouver have scored fewer goals at home than the Rangers, and they all have more remaining home games than the Rangers. The Canes lead with 153 goals scored at home.
 
No sympathy for NYR, NJD or NYI. Couldn‘t happen to better part of the US. Enjoying the fact that Buffalo is making those 3 teams look even worse!
 
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