Everyone knows about the season Chicago’s had – undefeated in regulation through their first twenty-four games, current leader for the President’s Trophy with a 31-5-4 record (66 points) through 40 games.  With the nucleus of a team that won the Cup just three years ago, the Hawks are among the favorites to do it again.  Their only real question mark is whether goalies Corey Crawford and Ray Emery can keep up their strong regular season play, and who will actually start the playoffs as the #1.  Emery’s come back from the dead – again – to post a shining 15-1 record with three shutouts, a 1.90 GAA and .924 save percentage.  Crawford’s numbers are almost as good, and he’s the goalie the Hawks have more invested in monetarily and for the future.

One of the biggest surprises – and under-the-radar stories – is taking place in Anaheim where Bruce Boudreau has had the Ducks playing at an elite level since taking over midway through last season.  Anaheim came into this season in a bit of turmoil with franchise players Ryan Getzlaf and Corey Perry set to go UFA, but the Ducks got off to a strong start and were able to re-sign both their key pieces in-season (what a novel concept, wish we’d do it more often).  Overseas goalie Victor Fasth has been a revelation in his first NHL year, going 14-4-1 with three shutouts, a 2.17 GAA and .923 save percentage.  Fasth gave the team a needed lift when starter Jonas Hiller struggled early, but both goalies have shared the load for the most part.  Like in Chicago, goaltending is still a question mark for the Ducks come postseason time though, in what may finally be the last go-around for ageless winger Teemu Selanne.  Or maybe not.

Vancouver struggled early without key players such as Ryan Kesler and got caught in the middle of a well-chronicled and messy goaltending situation, but Kesler’s return has helped propel the Canucks past the Minnesota Wild to gain a bit of a foothold for the #3 seed.  Will Cory Schnieder be able to hold up in the postseason though?  Or will coach Alain Vigneault pull the plug at the first sign of trouble and go to Roberto Luongo?  More importantly, will it even matter?  Goaltending wasn’t really the problem in Vancouver’s wipeout last postseason.  

Goaltending isn’t a question for the defending Stanley Cup champions (at least inasmuch as we know who’s in net), but Conn Smythe winner Johnathan Quick has struggled so far this year coming off of offseason surgery, and in the first year of a new ten-year deal, posting a 2.55 GAA and .897 save percentage.  Ironically backup Johnathan Bernier‘s had the far better year, going 9-2-1 and is a big part of the reason the Kings are in a comfortable position as opposed to the dreaded bubble.  LA’s defense got hurt by the injury to Willie Mitchell early on, but their trade deadline acquisition of Robyn Regehr, and continued improvement by younger defensemen such as Slava Voynov and Jake Muzzin have helped the Kings keep rolling along after a slow start.

San Jose has had an up-and-down year, but for a team currently in a playoff spot, they were able to reload for the future by dealing off pending UFA’s Doug Murray and Ryan Clowe, neither of whom was playing a big role on the Sharks this year.  Their forward depth hasn’t really been all it’s cracked up to be, with guys such as the well-paid Martin Havlat (a potential buyout candidate at the end of the season with three more years left on his deal and declining production) and post-buyout signee Scott Gomez failing to impress, but goalie Antti Niemi and their defense – coached by old friend Larry Robinson – has carried the load thus far for the fifth-seeded Sharks.

I don’t remember whether St. Louis was my preseason pick to win the Cup or just the Western Conference, but either way I had them making a big run this year.  It hasn’t really materialized yet as they’ve struggled all year, particularly in goal where Jaroslav Halak‘s been in and out of the lineup due to injuries (and had a down year because of it) and Brian Elliott‘s flopped after a career year last season.  If it wasn’t for young Jake Allen filling the void to the tune of a 9-4 record, the Blues might be on the outside looking in.  Especially with an offense that has a lot of solid role players, but not really that one guy that can carry the load for any length of time.  Chris Stewart leads the team with 31 points in 40 games, and their next-best guy (Alex Steen) has a mere 25.  St. Louis is currently five points up on ninth place though, so they should still be able to make it.

The less I can say about the Minnesota Wild, the better off I’ll be.  Cold hard facts are that Zach Parise and Ryan Suter have lived up to their paychecks thus far in year #1 of their 13-year marriage, and their absence has clearly been felt by both teams that they left.  Parise leads the team with 15 goals (second in points with 32, just behind the always underrated Mikko Koivu) and Suter has 29 points in 40 games, proving that there is indeed life after Shea Weber.  Currently the Wild actually have one of the most stable goaltending situations in the West with Nicklas Backstrom having another solid year and the unquestioned starter there.  Minnesota’s only concern with Backstrom is long-term, the fact that Backstrom isn’t signed past this season.

Minnesota and the Detroit Red Wings of all teams, are sitting on top of the bubble.  The Wild have 46 points with 8 games left, while the proud Wings have 45 points with just 7 left – and two points ahead of a trio of teams knocking on the door for the postseason.  Detroit’s one team I pegged right before the year, the fact they’d struggle without vet leadership like Nicklas Lidstrom and Tomas Holmstrom (not to mention their contributions as players) but still had enough talent to squeeze out a playoff berth.  They’ll have to work to get that playoff berth though, with Phoenix, Columbus and even Dallas post-Jagr still just two points behind.  Of the three, Columbus is the biggest overall surprise, hanging in the race mostly on the back of Vezina – yes you read that right – candidate Sergei Bobrovsky.  The Flyers castoff has carried a putrid offense and questionable defense on the brink of postseason contention with a sparkling 2.01 GAA and .931 save percentage, going 15-10-6 for a team where Vinny Prospal is the leading point-getter with a mere 24 on the season.

Surely the West playoff run will be every bit as tense as the East’s…but now I’ll largely give the forum to Derek to talk about the Rangers and the East playoff chase in-depth other than my nightly standings updates, since he’s the only one on here whose team ‘might’ make the playoffs at this point.