from Tom Gulitti of The Record,

These next four weeks leading up to the All-Star game in Nashville will be important, however, for teams that have been struggling. You can’t win the Stanley Cup in January, but your chances to win it can fizzle.

Columbus probably is out of it despite a coaching change. Pittsburgh also made a coaching change two weeks ago, but the results have yet to improve and the team sits five points out of a playoff spot. It will only get harder in the coming weeks to make up ground.

Although Penguins captain Sidney Crosby still has time to turn around what so far has been the most disappointing season of his career, he’d better start doing it soon.

How much longer will GM Bob Murray allow the Ducks to founder under coach Bruce Boudreau? Murray’s show of faith in Boudreau has been admirable, but the time for patience might be running out.

At the other end of the spectrum are Dallas (26-7-2) and Washington (25-6-2), which have been the league’s most impressive teams to date. We’ll also start to learn more about them in the coming weeks as other teams start to push.

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