November 13, 2025

Before this season began, I predicted to a friend that this season would look different than previous ones when regular season ends. I told him the finals would look something like Winnipeg vs. New Jersey. It seemed to me there were some teams ready to make their mark and start challenging the teams we’re used to seeing in the playoffs. Anaheim, San Jose, Chicago and Utah are all primed to shake things up and displace one or more of the teams expected to be there at the end. Who falls off at the expense of the new blood will be fun to watch play out. Edmonton? Dallas? Calgary, St. Louis and Nashville are only teams in the entire league I definitely don’t believe are making the playoffs. Even Buffalo has a chance because the East is a mess of parity and any team that gets hot at the right time can sneak into a Wild Card spot. Nashville may be the slowest team in the league, Calgary’s offense is so bad that Kadri is their best player and St. Louis has two second lines and two fourth lines. Someone in Nashville is going to get fired and it shouldn’t be the coach. You can’t coach speed. At least Buffalo has some intriguing pieces in Tage Thompson, Dahlin, and Power. There’s enough around those guys to push them up the standings in the East if they get hot. I strongly suspect Lindy Ruff is the wrong coach for that team.