U.S. Thanksgiving has arrived and just one Canadian NHL team is currently sitting in a playoff spot. With no games on the schedule tonight, the Ottawa Senators hold that distinction as they are second in the Atlantic Division with 28 points.
The Montreal Canadiens are only one point back of Ottawa, tied with the Pittsburgh Penguins and the Philadelphia Flyers for the final wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference with 27 points. Pittsburgh holds the tiebreaker with 11 regulations wins to Montreal’s seven.
Goaltending has been a struggle for Montreal this season as Samuel Montembeault has not been reliable this season with an .852 save percentage and 3.71 goals-against average and just four wins in 12 appearances. Jakub Dobes has been better (.897 save percentage and 2.89 GAA) but has also struggled at times so far this campaign.
Meanwhile, the Toronto Maple Leafs have tumbled to the bottom of the Eastern Conference standings, sitting ninth in the wild-card race with 23 points, one point ahead of the last-place Buffalo Sabres.
In the Western Conference, the Edmonton Oilers are fifth in the wild-card race, followed by the Winnipeg Jets (sixth) and Vancouver Canucks (seventh), with the Calgary Flames second last in the west with 19 points, one ahead of last-place Nashville.
Blaiz Grubic of the Sound of the Hockey conducted a study of the past eight NHL seasons and calculated that 76.6 per cent of teams in a playoff spot at American Thanksgiving would go on to make the postseason. Teams that held the top two spots in their division at the time make the playoffs 89.1 per cent of the time.
Last season, the Senators and Canadiens overcame slow starts to make the playoffs while the New York Rangers and Boston Bruins fell out.
In the Atlantic Division, the Tampa Bay Lightning have surged to the top with 30 points and five straight wins while Boston holds the third spot. The two-time reigning Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers are eighth in the wild-card race with 25 points.
It is even closer in the Metropolitan Division with the New Jersey Devils leading the way with 31 points but are just five points clear of the Rangers, who sit last in the division.
The Canadiens held the top spot in the Atlantic Division on Nov. 5 as they went 8-3 in October, but November has been less kind, going 4-4-3. The injuries have piled up, with regulars Kirby Dach (foot), Alex Newhook (ankle), Patrik Laine (core muscle) and Kaiden Guhle (adductor) all out long term.
It’s been a similar story in Toronto as injuries have put a damper on the season. Goaltender Anthony Stolarz as well as defencemen Chris Tanev and Brandon Carlo are all on the injured reserve while captain Auston Matthews, Matthew Knies and Nicolas Roy all returned Wednesday after multi-game absences due to injury.
Goaltender Joseph Woll also missed the first month of the season on personal leave while Scott Laughton, acquired at last season’s trade deadline, has only been healthy enough to play in five of 23 games this season.
The Oilers have not looked like themselves so far this season after back-to-back trips to the Stanley Cup Final the past two seasons. Edmonton is seventh in the league in goals scored with 77 but have had issues keeping the puck out of the net with 95 goals allowed, the worst of all NHL teams.
Stuart Skinner and Calvin Pickard are both struggling mightily this season. In 18 appearances, Skinner is 8-7-3 with an .878 save percentage and 3.18 GAA while Pickard’s numbers have plummeted to an .847 save percentage and 4.04 GAA and has allowed 33 goals against in nine appearances.
In Winnipeg, the Jets are without reigning Hart and Vezina trophy-winning goaltender Connor Hellebuyck due to knee surgery that was announced on Nov. 21 and he is expected to miss four to six weeks.
Much like Edmonton, Vancouver has also had issues keeping the puck out of their net. After a solid season last year, goaltender Kevin Lankinen’s numbers have slipped this season to an .880 save percentage and 3.63 GAA.
Thatcher Demko, who signed a three-year, $25.5 million contract extension on July 1, has continued to struggle with injury this season. He is currently on the injured reserve with a lower-body injury and has played in 10 games.
Last season, he appeared in only 23 games after missing the first two months and most of March due to injuries.
Pending unrestricted free agent Kiefer Sherwood leads the Canucks with 12 goals while defenceman Quinn Hughes is the only player on the roster playing above a point-per-game pace with 22 points in 19 games.
In Calgary, the rebuild is well underway as they are 8-14-3 this season. Calgary nearly made the postseason in 2024-25 as they finished tied with second wild-card spot winner St. Louis, but the Blues got in with one more regulation win than the Flames.
Calgary struggles mightily in the goal-scoring department as their 60 goals this season is third worst in the NHL, with only the Predators (58) and Seattle Kraken (59) below them.
They don’t have a single player on the roster scoring at a point-per-game pace this season with Nazem Kadri leading the team with 18 points in 25 games.
The Oilers, Canucks and Flames are all in the bottom five in goal differential this season.
The Western Conference has seen the Colorado Avalanche sprint ahead with a 17-1-5 record. The Avs have won 10 straight games as they sit atop the Central Division, five points ahead of the second-place Dallas Stars.
This season has also seen rebuilding teams such as the Anaheim Ducks, Chicago Blackhawks and San Jose Sharks take steps forward through the first two months of the season.
The Ducks, who have missed the playoffs the past seven seasons, lead the Pacific Division this season with 29 points, while San Jose and Chicago, the bottom two teams in the NHL last season, are both firmly in wild-card contention with 25 points each, two behind the Utah Mammoth who hold the final spot in the Western Conference.
