We\u2019re roughly 80 percent through the NHL season now. The Trade Deadline arms race is over. We more or less understand who every team is. Looking at the field of probable playoff teams\u2026which supposed Stanley Cup contender looks like a paper tiger?\u00a0Let\u2019s resume our annual exercise.<\/p>\n
MATT LARKIN:\u00a0The\u00a0Minnesota Wild\u00a0<\/a>are hiding in plain sight. They feel like a contender given they have two superstars in Kirill Kaprizov and Quinn Hughes. But here\u2019s a double-take stat: only one team in the entire NHL allows more scoring chances per 60 at 5-on-5 this season. They have the league\u2019s 20th-best penalty kill. They\u2019re extremely low-ceiling at center after failing to address the hole at the Trade Deadline. Worse yet, they\u2019re likely headed for a first-round matchup with the Dallas Stars, meaning one of the two powerhouses is guaranteed to go home in Round 1. The Wild have a lot to like but are also flawed.<\/p>\n MIKE GOULD:\u00a0The Detroit Red Wings<\/a> have been hanging out in the top three of the Atlantic Division for most of the season, but I\u2019m not even convinced that their decade-long playoff drought will come to an end this year. It certainly isn\u2019t the foregone conclusion it\u2019s been dubbed by some other media members (not naming names). The Wings have fallen into Wildcard territory by going 4-5-1 in their last 10, and their center depth was already suspect before they lost Dylan Larkin and Andrew Copp to injuries. I\u2019ve always felt the Wings are a tad too one-dimensional to be true championship contenders, much less a perennial playoff team, and it\u2019d really be a waste if Dylan Larkin turns 30 before this team truly gets off the ground. If they don\u2019t make it this year, I wonder if we might see Detroit go into an aggressive\u00a0retool \u2014 similar, perhaps, to when the Buffalo Sabres traded Ryan O\u2019Reilly, Sam Reinhart, and Jack Eichel. I just don\u2019t know if this core has what it takes, but we\u2019ll see.<\/p>\n ANTHONY TRUDEAU:\u00a0Is it cheating to pick the\u00a0Vegas Golden Knights<\/a>, who are only a lock due to shoddy Pacific competition? The Knights aren\u2019t just disappointing, they\u2019re plain bad, barely on pace to clear 90 points. Still, as Scott and Hunter alluded to in\u00a0Monday\u2019s power rankings<\/a>, they\u2019re grouped in with the heavyweights more often than not because of a roster that looks great on paper. That same roster is drowning on the ice due to bad depth and worse goaltending; Vegas\u2019s vaunted size, experience, and star power (Mark Stone and Jack Eichel are scoring at career-best rates) can only provide so much playoff optimism for a team that\u2019s won fewer games than the lottery-bound New Jersey Devils. Unless the playoffs magically jolt Adin Hill (.917 postseason SV%) awake, these guys are going to get shelled by the Oilers. Hill has played the worst hockey of his career since returning from a lower-body injury in January (.851 SV%, 2 quality starts in 12 GP), and the Golden Knights have beaten Edmonton just five times in 18 tries since their smothering series victory over the Oil in 2023.<\/p>\n SCOTT MAXWELL:\u00a0I have to agree with Matt on this one. Among all the teams grouped into the Stanley Cup contender conversation, the\u00a0Minnesota Wild\u00a0stick out like a sore thumb. It was a conversation they joined not through their play, but because they made a deal for Hughes, and they still have yet to live up to it with the on-ice product. Before Hughes arrived, the Wild had a 49.19% 5v5 expected goal share and were tied for 20th in expected goals against per 60 minutes with 2.77, so I was expecting improvement once Quinn joined. However, the improvement is only marginal, as they have a 51.05% 5v5 xGF% and are 15th in xGA\/60 at 2.74. They\u2019re far from a bad team, but I certainly wouldn\u2019t label them as a Cup contender this season, especially when they have to run through the Stars and likely the\u00a0Colorado Avalanche<\/a>\u00a0in the first two rounds (and both teams are a step above them at this point in time).<\/p>\n