5th place (Washington) to 11th place (Ottawa) is separated by TWO points.
5. Washington 32 GP 37 PTS
6. Toronto 34 GP 37 PTS
7. New Jersey 31 GP 36 PTS
8. Carolina 34 GP 36 PTS
9. NY Islanders 31 GP 35 PTS
10. Pittsburgh 32 GP 35 PTS
11. Ottawa 34 GP 35 PTS
I also noticed that. It really tells you that EVERY point counts, every goal you give away is going to bite you in the ***, especially with how tight the EC is right now. I can't say good luck to Ottawa but may the best teams make the playoffs
edit: NyQuil, are you banning yourself from the Lounge?
Every year this usually happens and every year the surprise teams hit a mid season skid, crashing back to where they came from.
You can pretty much guarantee that Washington, Toronto, New York, and Pittsburgh will all finish below Ottawa.
I wouldn't say any of those are guarantees. I think the herd will thin out a bit, but, it's hard to predict which teams will stumble, and which will continue to play above expectations. For a while last year, everyone was expecting Carolina to falter. Buffalo was considered to be an overachieving team for quite a while last year.
As far as I'm concerned, it's going to take in the mid-90's in terms of points to make the playoffs. The Sens need to be on pace for that level. Where they sit in the standings at this point matters little, as far as I'm concerned. The large amount of home games this team has coming up should hopefully allow us to get back on track.
Nope but I believe the Sens understand how important this home stretch is and they will improve the record substantially.
You see, this would be common sense, but with the Sens this year that means nothing! I wouldn't bet money on them understanding the importance of anything half the time.
Isles or Rangers? In the old NHL it would be a safer bet. But i still think you are right.
Sens arent really that different from last year at this moment, except we dont have the amazing start to fall back on.
Looking at the stats by winning percentage, the Sens are 22nd in the NHL
16 Tor .544
17 Bos .533
18 Col .531
19 Min .531
20 Van .530
21 Car .529
22 Ott .515
3 teams to catch right now for a playoff spot. Intuition made me think that if there is more parity, it should require less points to make the playoffs. Any math majors that can formalize that one way or the other?
Isles or Rangers? In the old NHL it would be a safer bet. But i still think you are right.
Sens arent really that different from last year at this moment, except we dont have the amazing start to fall back on.
Looking at the stats by winning percentage, the Sens are 22nd in the NHL
16 Tor .544
17 Bos .533
18 Col .531
19 Min .531
20 Van .530
21 Car .529
22 Ott .515
3 teams to catch right now for a playoff spot. Intuition made me think that if there is more parity, it should require less points to make the playoffs. Any math majors that can formalize that one way or the other?
Well, theoretically if the league had optimum parity, every game would go to overtime (and a lot are going to overtime this year), so the bonus point comes into play.
If every game went into overtime, every game would have 3 points up for grabs. With 1230 games in the NHL per season, that's 3690 points distributed between 30 teams, so 123 points.
Now, if no games went to overtime (or the bonus point was scrapped), that's 2 points per game available, so 2460 in total divided by 30 teams, would be 82 points to make the playoffs (or exactly .500).
Those are obviously both extremes, so the true answer should lie somewhere in between.
It's a guarantee. I'm making it right now. I'll wear a Darcy Tucker "beating heart/leaf" avatar for 1 week if they don't finish ahead of all those teams.
...although they say, keep your friends close, keep your enemies closer. 
