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We are a little more than halfway through the NHL's regular season and the playoff hopes for 17 of the league's 30 teams have already been decided and the postseason field for the Eastern Conference is already nearly set.
Using a system that simulates the rest of the season millions of times, SportsClubStats.com has determined the probability each team has of making the playoffs.
Of the NHL's 30 teams, 23 still have a realistic shot (at least 5%) to play in the Stanley Cup playoff. Of those teams, 10 are locks or near-locks (at least 95%) to make the playoff including four teams in the Western Conference and six in the Eastern Conference.
That leaves 13 teams that still have a realistic shot at one of the remaining six playoff spots (4 in the West, 2 in the East) and one of those will almost certainly go to the Washington Capitals, which would leave just one spot in the East up for grabs.
BusinessInsider.com