NHL playoff standings update: Who will be the West’s No. 1 seed?
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Tim KavanaghESPN.com
Over the weekend, the Boston Bruins became the first team to clinch a playoff berth, and any reasonable observer would conclude that they will be the East’s No. 1 seed, barring a tremendous collapse in the closing weeks.
The West’s race for No. 1 is another story.
Through 67 games, the Vegas Golden Knights lead the charge with 88 points and 30 regulation wins. With one game in hand, the Dallas Stars have 85 points and 30 regulation wins. Taking a peek at the two clubs’ schedules, the Knights have eight games against teams currently in playoff position (out of 15 total), including a matchup against the Stars on April 8 on ABC/ESPN+. Of the Stars’ 16 remaining games, only six are against teams in a playoff spot.
Of course, other teams could enter the mix as well. The Minnesota Wild are at 84 points and 27 regulation wins through 67 games, while the Los Angeles Kings are at 85 and 28 through 67. This race is far from over.
As we enter the final stretch of the regular season, it’s time to check in on all the playoff races — along with the teams jockeying for position in the 2023 NHL draft lottery.
Note: Playoff chances are via FiveThirtyEight.
Jump ahead:
Current playoff matchups
Today’s games
Last night’s scores
Expanded standings
Race for No. 1 pick
Current playoff matchups
Eastern Conference
A1 Boston Bruins vs. WC2 New York Islanders
A2 Toronto Maple Leafs vs. A3 Tampa Bay Lightning
M1 Carolina Hurricanes vs. WC1 Pittsburgh Penguins
M2 New Jersey Devils vs. M3 New York Rangers
Western Conference
C1 Dallas Stars vs. WC1 Edmonton Oilers
C2 Minnesota Wild vs. C3 Winnipeg Jets
P1 Vegas Golden Knights vs. WC2 Colorado Avalanche
P2 Los Angeles Kings vs. P3 Seattle Kraken
Monday’s games
Note: All times Eastern. All games not on ESPN, TNT or NHL Network are available via NHL Power Play, which is included in an ESPN+ subscription (local blackout restrictions apply).
Colorado Avalanche at Montreal Canadiens, 7:30 p.m. (NHLN)
Buffalo Sabres at Toronto Maple Leafs, 7:30 p.m.
Dallas Stars at Seattle Kraken, 10 p.m.
Sunday’s scoreboard
Watch “In the Crease” on ESPN+ for highlights from every game.
Detroit Red Wings 5, Boston Bruins 3
Pittsburgh Penguins 3, New York Rangers 2 (OT)
New Jersey Devils 3, Carolina Hurricanes 0
Vegas Golden Knights 5, St. Louis Blues 3
Winnipeg Jets 3, Tampa Bay Lightning 2
Calgary Flames 5, Ottawa Senators 1
Nashville Predators 5, Anaheim Ducks 4 (OT)
Arizona Coyotes 5, Minnesota Wild 4 (OT)
Expanded standings
Atlantic Division
Points: 105
Regulation wins: 43
Playoff position: A1
Games left: 17
Points pace: 133
Next game: @ CHI (Tuesday)
Playoff chances: 100%
Tragic number: N/A
Points: 88
Regulation wins: 34
Playoff position: A2
Games left: 17
Points pace: 111
Next game: vs. BUF (Monday)
Playoff chances: >99%
Tragic number: N/A
Points: 84
Regulation wins: 32
Playoff position: A3
Games left: 15
Points pace: 103
Next game: @ NJ (Tuesday)
Playoff chances: >99%
Tragic number: N/A
Points: 73
Regulation wins: 28
Playoff position: N/A
Games left: 15
Points pace: 89
Next game: vs. MTL (Thursday)
Playoff chances: 39%
Tragic number: 27
Points: 70
Regulation wins: 26
Playoff position: N/A
Games left: 16
Points pace: 87
Next game: @ EDM (Tuesday)
Playoff chances: 5%
Tragic number: 26
Points: 69
Regulation wins: 24
Playoff position: N/A
Games left: 17
Points pace: 87
Next game: @ TOR (Monday)
Playoff chances: 7%
Tragic number: 27
Points: 69
Regulation wins: 24
Playoff position: N/A
Games left: 16
Points pace: 86
Next game: @ NSH (Tuesday)
Playoff chances: 2%
Tragic number: 25
Points: 58
Regulation wins: 17
Playoff position: N/A
Games left: 16
Points pace: 72
Next game: vs. COL (Monday)
Playoff chances: <1%
Tragic number: 14
Metropolitan Division
Points: 94
Regulation wins: 32
Playoff position: M1
Games left: 17
Points pace: 119
Next game: vs. WPG (Tuesday)
Playoff chances: >99%
Tragic number: N/A
Points: 94
Regulation wins: 32
Playoff position: M2
Games left: 16
Points pace: 117
Next game: vs. TB (Tuesday)
Playoff chances: >99%
Tragic number: N/A
Points: 84
Regulation wins: 27
Playoff position: M3
Games left: 16
Points pace: 104
Next game: vs. WSH (Tuesday)
Playoff chances: >99%
Tragic number: N/A
Points: 78
Regulation wins: 25
Playoff position: WC1
Games left: 16
Points pace: 97
Next game: vs. MTL (Tuesday)
Playoff chances: 86%
Tragic number: N/A
Points: 76
Regulation wins: 29
Playoff position: WC2
Games left: 14
Points pace: 92
Next game: @ LA (Tuesday)
Playoff chances: 48%
Tragic number: N/A
Points: 71
Regulation wins: 25
Playoff position: N/A
Games left: 15
Points pace: 87
Next game: @ NYR (Tuesday)
Playoff chances: 13%
Tragic number: 25
Points: 59
Regulation wins: 22
Playoff position: N/A
Games left: 16
Points pace: 73
Next game: vs. VGK (Tuesday)
Playoff chances: <1%
Tragic number: 15
Points: 47
Regulation wins: 15
Playoff position: N/A
Games left: 17
Points pace: 59
Next game: @ SJ (Tuesday)
Playoff chances: <1%
Tragic number: 5
Central Division
Points: 85
Regulation wins: 30
Playoff position: C1
Games left: 16
Points pace: 106
Next game: @ SEA (Monday)
Playoff chances: >99%
Tragic number: N/A
Points: 84
Regulation wins: 27
Playoff position: C2
Games left: 15
Points pace: 103
Next game: @ STL (Wednesday)
Playoff chances: 97%
Tragic number: N/A
Points: 79
Regulation wins: 29
Playoff position: C3
Games left: 15
Points pace: 97
Next game: @ CAR (Tuesday)
Playoff chances: 73%
Tragic number: N/A
Points: 78
Regulation wins: 25
Playoff position: WC2
Games left: 18
Points pace: 100
Next game: @ MTL (Monday)
Playoff chances: 97%
Tragic number: N/A
Points: 73
Regulation wins: 24
Playoff position: N/A
Games left: 18
Points pace: 94
Next game: vs. DET (Tuesday)
Playoff chances: 31%
Tragic number: 31
Points: 63
Regulation wins: 21
Playoff position: N/A
Games left: 16
Points pace: 78
Next game: vs. MIN (Wednesday)
Playoff chances: <1%
Tragic number: 17
Points: 59
Regulation wins: 18
Playoff position: N/A
Games left: 15
Points pace: 72
Next game: vs. CGY (Tuesday)
Playoff chances: <1%
Tragic number: 11
Points: 50
Regulation wins: 14
Playoff position: N/A
Games left: 16
Points pace: 62
Next game: vs. BOS (Tuesday)
Playoff chances: <1%
Tragic number: 4
Pacific Division
Points: 88
Regulation wins: 30
Playoff position: P1
Games left: 15
Points pace: 108
Next game: @ PHI (Tuesday)
Playoff chances: >99%
Tragic number: N/A
Points: 85
Regulation wins: 28
Playoff position: P2
Games left: 15
Points pace: 104
Next game: vs. NYI (Tuesday)
Playoff chances: 98%
Tragic number: N/A
Points: 81
Regulation wins: 30
Playoff position: P3
Games left: 16
Points pace: 101
Next game: vs. DAL (Monday)
Playoff chances: 92%
Tragic number: N/A
Points: 80
Regulation wins: 34
Playoff position: WC1
Games left: 15
Points pace: 98
Next game: vs. OTT (Tuesday)
Playoff chances: 94%
Tragic number: N/A
Points: 73
Regulation wins: 24
Playoff position: N/A
Games left: 15
Points pace: 89
Next game: @ ARI (Tuesday)
Playoff chances: 16%
Tragic number: 25
Points: 61
Regulation wins: 17
Playoff position: N/A
Games left: 17
Points pace: 77
Next game: vs. DAL (Tuesday)
Playoff chances: <1%
Tragic number: 17
Points: 54
Regulation wins: 12
Playoff position: N/A
Games left: 15
Points pace: 66
Next game: vs. NYI (Wednesday)
Playoff chances: <1%
Tragic number: 6
Points: 50
Regulation wins: 14
Playoff position: N/A
Games left: 15
Points pace: 61
Next game: vs. CBJ (Tuesday)
Playoff chances: <1%
Tragic number: 2
Race for the No. 1 pick
The NHL uses a draft lottery to determine the order at the top of the first round, so the team that finishes in last place is not guaranteed the No. 1 selection. As of 2021, a team might move up a maximum of 10 spots if it wins the lottery, so only 11 teams are eligible for the draw for the No. 1 pick. Full details on the process can be found here. Sitting No. 1 on the draft board for this summer is Connor Bedard, who has been lauded as a generational talent.
Points: 47
Regulation wins: 15
Points: 50
Regulation wins: 14
Points: 50
Regulation wins: 14
Points: 54
Regulation wins: 12
Points: 58
Regulation wins: 17
Points: 59
Regulation wins: 18
Points: 59
Regulation wins: 22
Points: 61
Regulation wins: 17
Points: 63
Regulation wins: 21
Points: 69
Regulation wins: 24
Points: 69
Regulation wins: 24
Points: 70
Regulation wins: 26
Points: 71
Regulation wins: 25
Points: 73
Regulation wins: 24
Points: 73
Regulation wins: 24
Points: 73
Regulation wins: 28
Notes on traded picks impacting the top 16:
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Adam Rittenberg
BOULDER, Colo. — Colorado coach Deion Sanders said he feels “healthy and vibrant” after returning to the field for preseason practices after undergoing surgery to remove his bladder after a cancerous tumor was found.
Sanders, 57, said he has been walking at least a mile around campus following Colorado’s practices, which began last week. He was away from the team for the late spring and early summer following the surgery in May. Dr. Janet Kukreja, director of urological oncology at University of Colorado Cancer Center, said July 30 that Sanders, who lost about 25 pounds during his recovery, is “cured of cancer.”
“I’m healthy, I’m vibrant, I’m my old self,” Sanders said. “I’m loving life right now. I’m trying my best to live to the fullest, considering what transpired.”
Sanders credited Colorado’s assistant coaches and support staff for overseeing the program during his absence. The Pro Football Hall of Famer enters his third season as Buffaloes coach this fall.
“They’ve given me tremendous comfort,” Sanders said. “I never had to call 100 times and check on the house, because I felt like the house is going to be OK. That’s why you try your best to hire correct, so you don’t have to check on the house night and day. They did a good job, especially strength and conditioning.”
Colorado improved from four to nine wins in Sanders’ second season, but the team loses Heisman Trophy winner Travis Hunter, the No. 2 pick in April’s NFL draft, as well as record-setting quarterback Shedeur Sanders, the son of Deion Sanders. The Buffaloes have an influx of new players, including quarterbacks Kaidon Salter and Julian “Ju Ju” Lewis, who are competing for the starting job, as well as new staff members such as Pro Football Hall of Fame running back Marshall Faulk, who is coaching the Buffaloes’ running backs.
Despite the changes and his own health challenges, Deion Sanders expects Colorado to continue ascending. The Buffaloes open the season Aug. 29 when they host Georgia Tech.
“The next phase is we’re going to win differently, but we’re going to win,” Sanders said. “I don’t know if it’s going to be the Hail Mary’s at the end of the game, but it’s going to be hell during the game, because we want to be physical and we want to run the heck out of the football.”
Sanders said it will feel “a little weird, a little strange” to not be coaching Shedeur when the quarterback starts his first NFL preseason game for the Cleveland Browns on Friday night at Carolina. Deion Sanders said he and Shedeur had spoken several times Friday morning. Despite being projected as a top quarterback in the draft, Shedeur Sanders fell to the fifth round.
“A lot of people are approaching it like a preseason game, he’s approaching like a game, and that’s how he’s always approached everything, to prepare and approach it like this is it,” Deion Sanders said. “He’s thankful and appreciative of the opportunity. He don’t get covered in, you know, all the rhetoric in the media.
“Some of the stuff is just ignorant. Some of it is really adolescent, he far surpasses that, and I can’t wait to see him play.”
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Adam Rittenberg
LSU starting quarterback Garrett Nussmeier aggravated the patellar tendinitis he has been dealing with in his knee but will not miss any significant time, coach Brian Kelly said Friday.
Kelly dropped in ahead of a news conference Friday with offensive coordinator Joe Sloan to tell reporters that Nussmeier did not suffer a severe knee injury or even a new one. According to Kelly, Nussmeier has chronic tendinitis in his knee and “probably just planted the wrong way” during Wednesday’s practice.
Nussmeier ranked fifth nationally in passing yards (4,052) last season, his first as LSU’s starter, and projects as an NFL first-round draft pick in 2026.
“It’s not torn, there’s no fraying, there’s none of that,” Kelly said. “This is preexisting. … There’s nothing to really see on film with it, but it pissed it off. He aggravated it a little bit, but he’s good to go.”
Kelly said Nussmeier’s injury ranks 1.5 out of 10 in terms of severity. Asked whether it’s the right or left knee, Kelly said he didn’t know, adding, “It’s not a serious injury. Guys are dealing with tendinitis virtually every day in life.”
LSU opens the season Aug. 30 at Clemson.
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