Almost Certainly Not Making It
Columbus, Montreal and Detroit have basically no chance.
The Blue Jackets are a ridiculous franchise and if they were actually good, I'd have to re-assess everything.
Are jean-jackets still cool? Do I still like rap music? Coffee? Long walks on the beach with Benji the Austrailian Sheppard?
If Columbus was a good team, the world would tilt on its axis, is what I'm saying.
But also, don't worry about it, cause they won't be.
The Red Wings are teaching us a lesson about overrated GMs and seem like a perpetual bubble team. The Blue Jackets and Canadiens are starting to assemble good players, due to prolonged suckage, but they will still be bad.
The Capitals did a lot of stuff to try and make Ovechkin's final yeas fun, but they won't be.
The Flyers will still be fairly awful, and the Islanders are, like Detroit, just a bubble team going nowhere.
Of the 11 teams fighting for 3 spots, we have eliminated Columbus, Montreal, Detroit, Washington, Philadelphia and Long Island.
That leaves: