The National Hockey League’s Stanley Cup playoffs have been set in the final week of regular season play and the American Hockey League playoffs are all but set to go as fans get ready for postseason excitement in the quest to raise the respective leagues’ championship trophies.
The Los Angeles Kings are the only California-based team to qualify in the 16-team NHL bracket while the Coachella Valley Firebirds, Ontario Reign and Bakersfield Condors will carry the torch for the Golden State in the AHL, the top developmental league for the NHL.
The Kings won Stanley Cup titles in 2012 and 2014 and will be looking to make history again in this decade.
The Kings (43-27-11) are in a race with the Vegas Golden Knights (45-28-8) for third place in the Pacific Division standings. Both teams have one regular season game left. The VGK lead the Kings by one standing point. The loser in the race for third place in the division will fall to a wild card spot alongside the Nashville Predators (47-30-5).
Both teams have clinched playoff berths; it’s just not certain where they will be seeded.
The Central Division-leading Dallas Stars (52-21-9, 113 points) have the best record among Western Conference teams while the Vancouver Canucks (50-22-9, 109 points) have the second-best conference record while bidding to outlast the Winnipeg Jets (51-21-6, 108 points), the runner-up team in the Central Division standings, for the conference’s No. 2 seed.
The Anaheim Ducks (26-50-5) and San Jose Sharks (19-53-9) were both shut out of the Stanley Cup playoffs while those two teams’ AHL affiliates – the San Diego Gulls (Ducks) and San Jose Barracuda (Sharks) – will miss the Calder Cup playoffs.
The Sharks will finish with the NHL’s worst record this season while the Ducks have the 32-team league’s third-worst record.
Both the Gulls and Barracuda enter their final two regular season games tied for last place in the 10-team Pacific Division standings and rank among the bottom five teams in the 32-team league.
The Gulls have missed postseason play for the second consecutive season while the Cuda last made the playoffs in 2021.
NHL or bust
The National Hockey League admits 16 of its 32 teams into postseason play. The league is divided into four geographic regions with eight teams in each. Eight teams from each conference will qualify for postseason play.
Playoff qualification is largely by division with wild cards. The top three teams in each division, based on regular season finish, qualify for the playoffs while the next two highest teams in each conference, regardless of division, will also qualify for the playoffs.
The Western Conference playoff field has been set. The eight qualifying teams include the Kings, VGK, Stars, Canucks, Jets, Predators, Colorado Avalanche and Edmonton Oilers.
Pairings will be announced following the end of regular season play this weekend.
The Eastern Conference playoff field has been set with the following qualifiers: Florida Panthers, Boston Bruins and Toronto Maple Leafs from the Atlantic Division, New York Rangers, Carolina Hurricanes and New York Islanders from the Metropolitan Division, and wild cards Tampa Bay Lightning and Washington Capitals.
The Capitals, Detroit Red Wings, Philadelphia Flyers and Pittsburgh Penguins all battled for the final wild card berth while separated by just four standings points.
The Rangers have set a franchise record with 54 wins as the top team in the 32-team league.
The race for the two Eastern Conference wild-card qualifiers was filled with intrigue with seven teams within nine points of one another with a month remaining in the regular season. The Buffalo Sabres and New Jersey Devils since dropped off the pace.
The race for the Western Conference wild-card qualifiers was more defined entering the stretch with six teams within 13 points of one another battling it out for the two spots. The St. Louis Blues, Minnesota Wild, Seattle Kraken and Calgary Flames failed to make the grade.
The Blues, Wild, Flames, Kraken, Arizona Coyotes, Ducks, Chicago Blackhawks and Sharks have also been eliminated from the Western Conference playoff field.
Teams on the outside in the Eastern Conference are the Red Wings, Penguins, Flyers, Sabres, Devils, Montreal Canadiens, Ottawa Senators and Columbus Blue Jackets.
The NHL regular season concludes Thrusday, April 18. The Stanley Cup playoffs face off Saturday, April 20, in eight best-of-seven elimination series.
The 2024 Stanley Cup champion should be crowned sometime in late June.
The Golden Knights are the defending NHL champion while the Panthers finished runner-up in the 2023 Stanley Cup playoffs.
Qualification for the American Hockey League’s Calder Cup playoffs is division-based. For instance, seven of the 10 teams in the Pacific Division will advance while six of the eight teams in the Atlantic Division will qualify. Five out of the even teams in each of the Central and North divisions qualify.
A total of 23 of the league’s 32 teams will taste postseason action but only one will drink from the cup. The Hershey Bears are the AHL’s defending champion while the Coachella Valley Firebirds finished runner-up in the 2023 Calder Cup playoffs.
Hershey (52-13-0-8) became the first team to qualify for the 2024 AHL playoffs. The Firebirds (45-14-6-4) are the only other team to reach 100 points thus far.
Birds of a feather
Locally, time is ticking down on the season for the Gulls, who host Pacific Division-leading Coachella Valley in a home-and-home series this weekend. The Gulls will host the Firebirds at 6 p.m. on Saturday in their final regular season home game while the teams will meet in Palm Springs on Sunday at 3 p.m. at Acrisure Arena.
Sunday’s game is already a sellout for division-leading Coachella Valley.
While faring better in the win-loss column compared to last season’s last place finish among AHL teams, this season’s San Diego edition remains a puzzle still to be solved.
An atrocious 2-10-3 start with a tiresome 13-game winless streak (0-10-3) set a negative tone to start the season. The team rebounded to reach the 0.500 mark in early February but inconsistent play since then has been the primary culprit in keeping them near the bottom of the standings.
The Gulls (25-35-5-9-1) skate into Saturday’s home ice finale with a 3-5-1-1 record in their last 10 games while riding a 0-3-1 winless spell. The team is in danger of finishing in last place in the division for the second consecutive season. On the plus side, should the Gulls sweep their weekend series against the Firebirds, there is a possibility to leap over both the Barracuda and Henderson Silver Knights into eighth place.
The Gulls are currently a whopping 18 standings points arrears of the Calgary Wranglers, the division’s final playoff qualifier.
It wasn’t close.
Bright spots for the Gulls include the play of rookies Olen Zellweger, Ben King, Nikita Nesterenko, Judd Caulfield, Nathan Gaucher and Tomas Suchanek and the leadership of captain Chase De Leo.
Zellweger represented the Gulls at the midseason AHL All-Star Classic and has since been recalled to the Ducks while Nesterenko (33 points in 68 games), King (30 points in 60 games), Caulfield (24 points in 59 games), Gaucher (25 points in 70 games) and Tomas Suchanek (2.93 goals-against average, 0.900 save percentage, 13-10-5 record in 28 appearances) have matured as the season has progressed.
Zellweger racked up 37 points (12 goals, 25 points) in 44 games from his defensive position prior to his call-up to the Ducks where he’s since logged nine points (two goals, seven assists) in 25 NHL games.
Nesterenko has appeared in three games for Anaheim this season with one goal to his credit while Suchanek recently signed a three-year entry-level contract with the parent club.
Gaucher is first-round draft pick by the Ducks (22nd overall in 2022) while Zellweger is a second-round pick (34th overall in 2021).
De Leo, a La Mirada native, has secured his place in franchise history as the team’s all-time leading scorer with 186 points and counting.
De Leo is playing in his fifth season as a Gull spread over two stints. His milestone moment came March 30 in a game in Tucson when he picked up an assist in a 7-3 loss to the host Roadrunners.
He catapulted himself into position with a three-assist performance in a showcase 4-0 win in Tucson the previous evening.
“It’s cool. I think it’s exciting, it’s been a long time coming,” said De Leo, who began his hockey career on inline skates with the OC Blades before transitioning to ice hockey as a youth. “A lot of work has gone into it. Different teammates, different coaches since I’ve been in the organization. Everybody’s been a part of it. It would’ve been nice obviously, nicer to get the win, two points, but it’s an exciting milestone and thanks to everyone that’s been a part of it.”
De Leo, one of the team’s most popular players with fans, passed San Diego alumnus Sam Carrick for top franchise scoring honors. Carrick, currently with the Oilers after eight years in the Anaheim organization (seven with the Gulls), had previously held the No. 1 club career scoring mark with 181 points (85 goals, 96 assists).
De Leo enters this weekend third in overall team scoring behind Andrew Agozzino (61 points in 70 games) and Glenn Gawdin (55 points in 68 games) with 48 points (15 goals, 33 assists) in 50 games. De Leo, who worked his way back into the lineup following an early season injury, tops the team with 0.96 points per game.
Carrick sent him a congratulatory message that was played on the Pechanga Arena San Diego scoreboard in his first home game back from the Tucson series. De Leo raised his stick on the bench in acknowledgement of applause from fans.
“Yeah, that’s cool,” De Leo said. “Obviously, Sam was my captain when we were here, learned a lot from him and he made it. He didn’t take the easy route, he grinded, took him a long time to finally earn his spot in the National League, and he motivated me every year, being alongside him. Just the proof that it could be done.
“I appreciate that from him, first off. As far as you know, it’s a team sport. There’s five guys out there at all times. Like I said, it’s lots of ups and downs, and sometimes you think you’re by yourself in the moment and it’s just a nice reminder that you’re not alone in those tough times. You’ve got your brothers. This is a brotherhood here that we have in San Diego and just such a privilege to be a leader and just the lead the way in front of all my brothers.”
De Leo said he knew the milestone was in the making in the latter stages of this season. The Gulls took flight when De Leo and Suchanek joined the team prior to midseason to provide a much-needed boost.
“I think every game, obviously, my job is to contribute offensively and help my team, but not cheap for offense, you know? (I’ve) never been that guy to cherry pick or take short cuts. It’s exciting. Obviously, I want to be on top, I think everybody does.”
Gulls head coach Matt McIlvane lauded De Leo on his milestone-tying game, likely the team’s most complete contest of the season.
“For me, Chase’s game was all about his skating and his work,” the San Diego bench boss said. “He drove so much play. He worked back and I think his commitment to that drove the play of our team. That is how steady our group was and good on him. He is a gifted offensive player to be abl to collect three points and it is something he is able to do on any given night.”
Suchanek recently made waves by becoming the first rookie Gulls goaltender to record three shutouts in a season following the 4-0 shutout over the Roadrunners.
The Gulls enter Saturday’s regular season home game coming off back-to-back losses to the host Colorado Eagles — 6-0 on Tuesday and 5-3 on Wednesday.
De Leo was brutally honest in his assessment of Tuesday’s lackluster showing.
“I feel like we were watching, obviously,” the Gulls captain said. “I thought they out-skated us and out-competed us. It doesn’t matter, X’s and O’s. Obviously, it comes down to if we’re not moving our feet and not competing, probably not going to win on any night.
“It’s tough, I mean, it’s tough to make excuses. We have a long summer coming, unfortunately. So, even for me, it’s been a few games here, every day for me is a tryout. As goes for all the other guys, you know, we’re all replaceable. There’s all guys that want to be in our exact position. So, I don’t know, fatigue (six games in 10 days) is a good excuse, but I think we got our asses kicked tonight, so we’ll be ready to respond tomorrow.
“I don’t even think anything needs to be said, I think that we call can kind of take accountability and look at ourselves in the mirror. We’ve all got another level to our game and the expectation of this team, this organization. Obviously, that wasn’t good enough. Tomorrow’s a new day, a new opportunity to get better, push and have a big response.”
De Leo and his teammates did just that in Wednesday’s Rocky Mountain rematch, a 5-3 setback. The Gulls netted the game’s first goal off the stick of Josh Lopina. The Eagles tied the game with the lone goal in the second period before taking a 3-1 lead on the opening two goals in the third period. The Southern California visitors struck back on goals by Brayden Tracey and Agozzino to trail 4-3 late in the game. An empty net goal with 30 seconds to play finally sealed the Gulls’ fate.
“Some sort of a response,” McIlvane noted. “I thought we defended hard, certainly through two periods. I think we were really competitive. Trying to get that thing into the back of the net felt like a task at times but thought Calle (goaltender Calle Clang) was really sharp in the game as well. Then in the third period, somehow, some way, the game opened up. Our issue today was defending around our net. We had some defensemen in there that are probably seeing looks they haven’t seen a lot in a while for this league, or guys jumping in, getting used to stuff, but overall better effort from our team.”
McIlvane has only two words for this team to end the season: finish strong.
“That’s it,” he said. “You look at our past stretch, going back to the home game to Tucson (3-2 shootout loss on April 7), they score late on a faceoff, force overtime. Then going to Bakersfield, we come away victorious (4-2 on April 10), and really tight game in Ontario, where we end up going to overtime (4-3 loss on April 12). Heck of a game against Coachella and they end up scoring late (2-1 loss on April 14). We were in these fights all the time. Really, yesterday’s game (6-0 loss) was not necessarily part of the trend, but a little bit of an anomaly of the way we’re going. We just want to make sure we’re finishing strong. It’s something that we can be really proud of.”
“Just finish strong,” Tracey said. “We know our situation. We know theirs but that’s not going to change anything. It’s another game for us. We’re just going to go on with our heads down and go to work. And that’s all we can expect.”
Puck drops: NHL welcome to Utah
The NHL Board of Governors gave their go-ahead on Thursday to add Utah to the league’s stable for the 2024-25 season following the sale and relocation of the Coyotes’ hockey assets to Salt Lake City for $1.2 billion — $1 billion to Arizona owner Alex Meruelo and $200 million as a relocation fee to be split among existing NHL owners.
The Coyotes have been declared inactive. Meruelo has been given five-year window by the league to being an expansion team back to The Grand Canyon State if a suitable new arena can be built in the Phoenix area.
The Coyotes spent 28 years in Arizona after relocating from Winnipeg in 1996. The franchise originally played in the World Hockey Association from 1972-79 before being admitted to the NHL in a merger of the two leagues.
The new Utah club will be owned by billionaire Ryan Smith and his wife Ashley, current owners of the NBA’s Utah Jazz and Real Salt Lake of Major League Soccer.
The Coyotes’ hockey assets include players under contract or whose rights belong to the organization, coaching staff and general manager contacts along with scouting and management groups and other associated staff.
Because of arena issues, the Coyotes were forced the past two seasons to play in a 4,600-seat arena at Arizona State University, which Meruelo eventually deemed unsuitable to support the NHL.
“We thank Alex Meruelo for his commitment to the franchise and Arizona, and we fully support his ongoing efforts to secure a new home in the desert for the Coyotes,” NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman said. “We also want to acknowledge the loyal hockey fans of Arizona, who have supported their team with dedication for nearly three decades while growing the game.”
As part of the deal, the Coyotes have until 2029 to re-establish themselves as an expansion franchise. Meruelo retains all intellectual rights to franchise logos and trademarks. If Merulo cannot meet the deadline, the NHL will cancel the franchise and the Coyotes will cease to exist.
Meruelo retains ownership of the Coyotes’ AHL franchise in Tucson where the Roadrunners have played since their inception for the 1996-97 season.
A possibility exists that Meruel could move the AHL club to Phoenix in a bid to create continuity for the NHL’s possible return to that city.
The Roadrunners have qualified for the upcoming Calder Cup playoffs and are near to setting franchise records for wins and points in one season in their final two regular season games. Tuscon and Ontario are vying for the No. 2 seed in the Pacific Division playoffs.
The division’s seven playoff qualifiers are rounded out by the Eagles, Abbortsford Canucks, Condors and Wranglers.
