NHL Playoff race update (Vol. 3): What your team needs to do

Your updated look at the NHL playoff races for the 2025-26 season.

We are now at the halfway point of the 2025-26 NHL season and things are starting to get real in the playoff races, and a line in the sand is starting to develop between the playoff contenders and playoff pretenders. Now that another month is gone and we are into January, it is time for an updated look at the playoff races in both conferences and what every team needs to do to earn a spot.

While the Western Conference has, arguably, three of the best teams in the NHL right now, there is a massive gap between the top-half of the conference and the bottom half of the conference. It is laughably top-heavy.

The Eastern Conference remains a bit more chaotic and jumbled up, as every team enters play on Friday with a points percentage better than .512 for the season. By comparison, there are only nine teams in the Western Conference above that mark.

Just as a refresher from the previous updates: We are looking at each team’s current points pace, and what they need to do over their remaining games to meet the current playoff cut line, as well as the 95-point line. The 95-point line is typically a guaranteed playoff spot in most seasons. Sometimes you can get in with fewer points than that depending on the conference in the season.

That might be the case this year. Especially in the Western Conference.

For now, let’s start in the East where there have been some big movers in both directions over the past month.

First, the standings.

The Pittsburgh Penguins and Florida Panthers are currently in a tie for that last playoff spot with both of them on a 95-point pace entering play on Friday. That is the normal “you are in” line for the playoffs. So let’s just say 96 points should be your target right now in order to get ahead of that.

The New York Islanders, Buffalo Sabres and Philadelphia Flyers are both just above that pace.

The Carolina Hurricanes, Tampa Bay Lightning, Detroit Red Wings and Montreal Canadiens are all well above that pace at the top.

This could be the year the Yzer-plan finally pays off in Detroit. I still don’t know if I fully trust Philadelphia and Buffalo to maintain their current paces, and you have to think the return of Matthew Tkachuk for the Panthers makes a big difference for them in the second half.

Buffalo is the significant change here from the last update in terms of a positive move, while the Washington Capitals have gone in the complete opposite direction and now find themselves on the outside looking in based on current paces.

Let’s talk about those teams a little more, plus the rest of the Eastern Conference before we get into the Western Conference playoff race.