Which Fringe Playoff Teams will Actually Make it?

Every hockey fan knows that teams in playoff position at Thanksgiving usually stay in and teams outside playoff position at Thanksgiving usually stay out. In fact, nearly 80 percent of playoff teams at Thanksgiving actually make it to the postseason. And so, on today’s episode, the guys break down both the Eastern and Western Conference playoff pictures and try to figure out which bubble teams are destined to defy the odds and which ones will become just another statistic. Plus, The Athletic’s own Julian McKenzie joins the conversation about the Eastern Conference playoff race and closes out the show discussing his upcoming book, “Black Aces: Essential Stories from Hockey’s Black Trailblazers”.
#nhl #hockey #blackhawks

0:31 Western Conference playoff picture
6:43 Minnesota Wild’s excellent goalie tandem of Jesper Wallstedt and Filip Gustavsson
10:37 Anaheim Ducks, Los Angeles Kings, and Vegas Golden Knights
12:00 Are the Anaheim Ducks actually Stanley Cup contenders?
13:38 The only Western Conference bubble teams are the Utah Mammoth and the Seattle Kraken
18:44 Connor Bedard is putting himself in the Hart Trophy conversation
19:48 Are the Edmonton Oilers capable of turning things around?
23:02 Is Connor Hellebuyck the only thing making the Winnipeg Jets a playoff team?
25:25 Eastern Conference playoff picture
25:34 Who are the Eastern Conference bubble teams outside the playoffs?
53:13 Julian McKenzie’s book “Black Aces: Essential Stories from Hockey’s Black Trailblazers”
57:51 Julian on Hockey Hall of Famer Herb Carnegie
1:01:01 Julian on former NHL enforcer Georges Laraque

For more Athletic Hockey Show content:
Join The Athletic Hockey Show Discord Server:   / discord  
Follow The Athletic Hockey Show wherever you listen to podcasts: https://podfollow.com/the-athletic-ho...

Follow the hosts of The Athletic Hockey Show:
Follow our hosts on Bluesky:
Max Bultman: https://bsky.app/profile/mbultman.bsk...
Mark Lazerus: https://bsky.app/profile/marklazerus....
Jesse Granger: https://bsky.app/profile/jessegranger...
Sean Gentille: https://bsky.app/profile/seangentille...
Sean McIndoe: https://bsky.app/profile/downgoesbrow...
Hailey Salvian: https://bsky.app/profile/haileysalvia...
Scott Wheeler: https://bsky.app/profile/scottcwheele...
Chris Peters: https://bsky.app/profile/chrismpeters...

Follow our hosts on X:
Max Bultman: https://x.com/m_bultman
Mark Lazerus: https://x.com/MarkLazerus
Jesse Granger: https://x.com/JesseGranger_
Sean Gentille: https://x.com/seangentille
Sean McIndoe: https://x.com/DownGoesBrown
Frank Corrado: https://x.com/frankcorrado22
Hailey Salvian: https://x.com/hailey_salvian
Corey Pronman: https://x.com/coreypronman
Chris Peters: https://x.com/chrismpeters

Subscribe to The Athletic: https://theathletic.com/hockeyshow

Thumbnail Photo: Michael Reaves/Getty Images