Last Man In

OTTAWA, ON - There remains little more than 10 games in the regular season, and the Eastern conference playoff picture is nearly settled, with one significant exception. 5 teams separated by a single point sit mired in a nailbiting battle for the 8th and final playoff spot. 

Here are the standings after matchday 165 which took place Saturday March 26:

8. New York Rangers 81 PTS, 72 GP (38-29-5)
9. Toronto Maple Leafs 81 PTS, 72 GP (36-27-9)
10. Florida Panthers 80 PTS, 69 GP (34-23-12)
11. Carolina Hurricanes 80 PTS, 71 GP (37-28-6)
12. Ottawa Senators 80 PTS, 71 GP (33-24-14)

Whoever comes out on top in 4 weeks' time extends their season, receives some extra cash, and earns a date with the regular season Eastern conference champions. Barring a late surge from a contender, it looks like that team should be either the Columbus Blue Jackets or the New Jersey Devils. 

Given their extra games in hand, the Florida Panthers should be the frontrunner to claim the final spot. On paper they look like a strong team, but results have been hard to come by for the Panthers this season. Ottawa lost to the Panthers 4-2 last week, but has two more chances to even the score against their division rivals before the season is out. 

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One has to wonder whether any of these teams even want the last playoff spot. In an ironic twist, most positioned themselves as sellers at the trade deadline, and moved out big pieces of the teams' cores that they will certainly miss in a potential playoff series:

Ottawa traded away 3/4 of their top penalty kill unit in Adam Larsson, Jay Beagle, and David Backes, receiving no roster pieces in return. 

Carolina moved out both halves of their top d pair in Seth Jones and Ryan Suter.

New York traded away the best goalie in the league Frederik Andersen last month, and was shopping some big names at the deadline, but could not find a partner.

Toronto made a shocking pivot at the deadline after pushing "all in" and acquiring Drew Doughty and TJ Oshie just last month. Seemingly unimpressed by the impact of these new additions, LedTasso threw in the towel on this season, trading away top defenseman Alec Martinez in favor of the younger Dmitry Orlov.

Florida exchanged Andrew Copp for the leadership of Joe Thornton, but otherwise did not tweak their roster at the deadline. Their big move was stealing Andersen away from the Rangers last month. 

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Here in Ottawa, fans are enjoying the meaningful games down the stretch, but there aren't many who are convinced that this is our year. A growing concern among the fanbase after a second consecutive middling season has been that the Senators might be trending towards perpetual mediocrity. GM Noddan has been urging patience, pointing to the team's clean cap space and exciting top prospects. But with a core well into their 30s and no established youth to speak of, patience is wearing thin.