The Eastern Conference can be regarded as having six Safe Playoff Teams in Washington, New Jersey, Carolina, Toronto, Florida, and Tampa Bay. Hard to see any of those six not making it. Pittsburgh last season down the stretch had two windows to get in; 3rd Place in the Metro and the last Wildcard spot. This season things are most likely going to be limited to the final wild card spot or possibly both wildcard spots in a best-case scenario. The odds were much stronger to sneak in last season due to 3rd place in the Metro being up for grabs to go with the wildcard spot.
Pittsburgh dropping two of three out of the break against the Islanders, Red Wings has them still sitting around a .500 PT%, playing below last year’s pace and for now six points off the final wild card pace. Wrote about it a few weeks ago, Pittsburgh with the hole they put themselves in, need that final wildcard spot to likely settle around 86-87 points. With 43 games to go, Pittsburgh will need to play around .600 hockey the rest of the way to get to the 90–91-point range, which is accumulating 52 out of a possible remaining 86 points. Something to keep in mind, the last 16 games the Penguins have played right around .600 hockey……………..
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Rumblings
Will die on the hill that making the postseason this season should have more weight to Penguins management than it does. It can have a big financial windfall long-term in not losing the average fan and just getting a buzz around the team moving forward that they can actually toe this line of somewhat being interesting and still build for the future. When you start missing the playoffs three consecutive seasons, it easily starts leading to six or seven straight non-playoff seasons when your improving prospect base is still bottom-10 and the core is on its last leg. Doesn’t mean Kyle Dubas veers off his long-term plan, but let’s not act like moving a second rounder or third rounder for something that helps now is going to crush the future. If the Penguins continue on this swing of playing around .600 hockey for next couple weeks, this month is the time to make some tweaks to better position themselves than wait. 
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The Penguins believed they dodged a bullet on Kris Letang. Letang was skating towards the bench in Saturday’s game vs the Islanders and felt his knee buckle and [hide] there were significant concerns internally imaging was going to find something wrong. Instead, all Letang is dealing with is a tweak and could return Sunday. 
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The Penguins and Jesse Puljujarvi’s agent Markus [hide] Lehto continue to try to work on a solution. Puljujarvi prior to Christmas made a soft trade request due to a lack of playing time, according to a source, and the two sides have been trying to work out a new destination. Puljujarvi’s $800,000 minors salary is problematic for some teams if they acquire him and things don’t work out. A Penguins source said Mike Sullivan will never play Puljujarvi again after the request, though, I think the individual might have been joking? or Not…….. The Puljujarvi camp was led to believe the former 4th overall pick was going to be claimed by the To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!
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A significant development in Vancouver has emerged where the Vancouver Canucks are heading down the path of no returns where NHL executives around the league strongly believe one of JT Miller and Elias Pettersson will be traded by the deadline. The Canucks internally have pretty much made the decision the two can no longer co-exist and it’s bringing down the organization.
So who goes?
Two sources close to the situation indicate head coach Rick Tocchet is at the point where he can’t stand Miller and has been a strong advocate behind the scenes for trading Miller, while the front office is more lean trade Pettersson. Tochett’s weight in the organization, though, is not as strong as it once was and close associates of Tocchet indicate To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!
NHL teams regard the Canucks as drastically undervaluing Pettersson, while drastically overvaluing JT Miller. Pettersson, 26, and signed for seven more seasons, 3/4 of the league To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!
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