from Justin Bourne of Sportsnet,

How late is too late for a struggling team in the National Hockey League to right the ship and become a playoff contender? We’ve become conditioned by the idea that teams tell us who they are awfully early in an NHL season, because it’s mostly true. I’ve cited Elliotte Friedman’s interesting statistic several times in these columns, but once more for good measure:

From 2005-06 to 2019-20, just nine of 59 teams who were four points out after games on November 1 came back to make the playoffs. If you fall behind early, it’s not a great sign about your prospects.

You’ll note though that, hey … nine out of 59. That’s over 15 per cent of playoff teams that start poorly who find their way back to a measure of success. Those 15 per cent are wonderful stories, and they’re part of what the shortened seasons have robbed from us in 2019-20 and 2020-21. We’ve missed teams having the opportunity to rise above substantial trials and tribulations with a dramatic push on the last laps.

Any time a team had any run of bad luck the past two seasons -- maybe a stretch of concurrent injuries, or maybe a bunch of players withheld due to COVID protocols, or maybe just some bad bounces for a number of games in a row -- it all but turfed their seasons. Some were saved by that 24-team play-in shmozzle of 2019-20, but it was a forced solution, and one that discounted the value of every mile of the full-length marathon. Make no mistake about an NHL season, “the grind” and “the dog days” are part of the test of it all. Stockpiling points through the best and worst versions of your roster, and being allowed to overcome imperfect miles with great ones brings the deep satisfaction of having earned it. It feels great to have a season back where teams have a chance to get back in it.

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