Photo by Scott Levy/NHLI via Getty Images

Who would have thunk it? Every season since this whole “loser’s point” thing that Senor Bettman introduced after Lockout: The Sequel, the playoff picture has been cloudy up until the last week of the season. This time around, the playoff picture is crystal clear, and the games remaining are more about jockeying for positioning than qualifying for the postseason.

In the Atlantic, Boston is finally playing Boston hockey again, and have regained their playoff spot while Toronto free-falls towards Conor McJesus and Florida falls back from the high heavens. With a seven point cushion for fourth place, Boston (along with Montreal, Detroit, and Tampa Bay) are essentially locks for the postseason.

In the Metro, Washington –currently in fourth place– has a 12-point lead on Philly with two games in hand. The Rangers, Isles, and Penguins are all ahead of Washington, and the Rangers have two games in hand on all of them.

So there you have it: Rangers, Isles, Pens, Caps, Lightning, Habs, Wings, and Bruins. There are your Eastern Conference playoff teams.

In the West, the Central is already decided with Chicago, St. Louis, Nashville, and Winnipeg. Only Dallas poses a legitimate threat with games in hand, but they have to leapfrog Colorado and hope that Winnipeg tanks the second half. In the age of the loser point, regaining 11 points in less than 40 games is an incredibly difficult feat.

Assuming Calgary continues its fall from grace to start the season, the Kings will jump over them for the last spot in the Pacific with Vancouver, Anaheim, and San Jose.

While this looks like a potential nightmare for Bettman and the precious parity of the league (only two new teams will qualify this year), it will do wonders for the trade deadline. We haven’t had this many clearly identified sellers since 2004. With just 34 days until the trade deadline, it’s fair to assume that the 14 teams out of the playoffs will become big time sellers, as the race to get McJesus or Jack Eichel intensifies.

For the Rangers, this may mean lower prices on potential targets Mike Santorelli, Antoine Vermette, and/or Andrej Sekera. In theory, with fewer teams vying for a playoff spot, the demand will be less than in prior years. The games leading up to the end of the year may be meaningless, aside from home ice, but at least deadline day will have some meaning again.

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