Eastern Conference Playoff Pace

I’ve seen a few comments around the web today that the Leafs are only three points out of a playoff spot. While this is true I wanted to compare teams as we approach the quarter pole of the NHL season based on points per game (P/G) and then how many points they’d have at that pace if they played 82 games (P/Gx82). Differences in schedule strength will skew these results right now but it’s at least an exercise worthy of five minutes of thought:

Toronto sits at 13th in the East via this simple metric. Maybe the best thing about this is that they have 65 games left to figure it out and lurch up the standings.

Another good positive? If the West keeps hammering the East in interconference play it’ll depress the number of points needed to make the playoffs in the East. Pittsburgh is holding that eight seed with 86 projected points right now. Let’s cross our fingers.