: Jim Rutherford is very unpredictable so many shouldn’t be shocked that the Canucks drama has gone from JT Miller is 99% getting traded to now the rest of the league believing Elias Pettersson could be moved any day. The Pettersson noise has gotten very loud since the Mikko Rantanten trade Friday Night as Rutherford has brought in three-team scenarios to the table surrounding the star forward.

Could Pittsburgh be a player here?

Buffalo and Vancouver are very deep in the process of a Pettersson trade as the Sabres line up with the Canucks stance that any Pettersson trade has to include a center coming their way. But playoff revenue is very important to the owner and Rutherford has pressure to bring back multiple NHL players in return to not hinder a playoff push. That’s seen Rutherford explore avenues to try to facilitate a three-team trade. There are whispers To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!

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Wild Card Race Trends Based off P%

Pittsburgh enters Sunday with the 2nd least amount of points (48 pts) in the Eastern Conference and the 2nd worst Points% in the East @ .471.

51 Games in and 31 to go, the Penguins are currently playing at a 77-point pace, 10 points off last years mark. The Final Wild Spot over the last week has trended up near normal levels with Ottawa, Columbus playing at a 90-point pace. Time is just running out and the math is brutal right now.

And what has played out in the most negative way for the Penguins is the trend of others. The Penguins 3-6-1 in their last 10 games, has lost 11 of 15 games since Christmas Break.

Ottawa Senators | 49 GP, 54 Pts, .551 P% | Ottawa without their #1 goaltender have bounced back with a 6-3-1 run after losing six of their previous seven games before their current 6-3-1 run that started January 11th with a 5-0 thrashing of the Penguins at PPG Paints Arena.

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Columbus Blue Jackets | 50GP, 55 Pts, .550P% | L10: Columbus 7-2-1 | Since December 19th the Blue Jackets are 12-4-2, accumulating 26 of possible 36 points, including a six game winning streak from Jan 4 – January 16. All six wins were against teams currently outside the playoffs, a stark difference from the Penguins who have just one win in their last six games against teams currently outside the playoffs.

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Boston Bruins | 51 GP, 56 Pts, .549P% | L10: Boston 5-3-2 |

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New York Rangers | 48 GP, 52 Pts, .542 P% | L10: New York 7-0-3 | Since January 1st the Rangers are 8-1-3 and with a lot of cap space to be active and boast the best goaltender in the game where catching the Devils isn’t crazy talk.

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Montreal Canadiens | 49 GP, 53 Pts, .541P% | L10: Montreal 6-2-2 | Since getting embarrassed by the Penguins on home ice in a 9-2 drumming on December 12th, the Canadiens have put together quite the turnaround with a 13-5-2 run over their last 20 games. On December 13th the Penguins were five points ahead of the Canadiens in the standings. Now Montreal is five points ahead of the Penguins with two games in hand.

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Detroit Red Wings | 49 GP, 51 Pts, .520P% | L10: Detroit 6-3-1 | The Red Wings have some life in the Wild Card Race by popping off a 10-4-1 run under Todd McLellan. On Dec 31st with the Penguins-Red Wings New Years Eve matchup, Pittsburgh was seven points ahead of the Wings. 26 Days later the Red Wings are three points ahead of the Penguins with two games in hand.

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New York Islanders | 48GP, 49 Pts, .510P% | L10: New York 7-3-0 | Riding a four-game winning streak, the Isles have put together a 7-2-0 run and have the goaltender where you can’t rule them out just yet.

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Philadelphia Flyers | 50GP, 50 Pts, .500P% | L10: Philadelphia 5-4-1 |