Regular season records show that there's not much difference between the NHL's best and bubble teams in the Western Conference.

So how good do teams have to be at this point in the season if they plan on making the playoffs? I guess on a similar note, how bad can teams afford to be and STILL make the playoffs? If we can assume 93 points will guarantee a playoff spot, then this is how each team has to finish if they hope to make a playoff run.

Ever wonder which team's blue line chips in the most points? Check out this list to see the league leaders as we head into the Olympic break.

FTR takes a look at the NHL standings, not by the traditional points system but by points-per-game.

How would the NHL standings look if teams didn't get a point for overtime/shootout losses? A look at standings without the charity point.

There's a lot of excitement here in Toronto these days over the fact the Leafs are "just four points" from eighth place heading into tonight's game against the Senators. Problem being, if you look...

Here's someone finally doing the legwork on a stat once proposed by Tom Benjamin and something I'd been meaning to get around to eventually: quantifying the impact of players' injuries based on their salaries and time missed.

Part of the reason I wanted to do this was, in looking at how GM Doug Wilson had revamped San Jose's roster by cutting depth and adding a top end stud, it was really clear how top heavy he had elected to go. And that's really becoming the norm under the cap these days

So, during the regular season anyway, Philadelphia's 'tenders have posted a better than league average save percentage in seven of the past 10 seasons. And there haven't been all that many playoff goats, either.

Which stats do you often rely on in evaluating players (or settling message board arguments)? Which do you think are overlooked by bloggers in terms of their usefulness? Which are over-relied on or have potential weaknesses that aren't often accounted for?

This year's schedule is remarkably condensed, with the regular season starting a week earlier and ending one day earlier than 2008-09 while having a 14-day Olympic break stuffed in the middle

What follows is the rankings for all 30 teams in six key categories: points percentage, goals for per game, goals against per game, special teams (power play and penalty killing) and goaltending (save percentage)

This has been a truly homer series, one of the most starkly divided best-of-sevens I can remember, and for that alone, it makes sense that Detroit finishes the job and wins its fifth Stanley Cup in 12 seasons.

Pittsburgh needs Crosby to break free, and my guess he only does that by (a) getting away from Lidstrom and Zetterberg and (b) getting some significant time on the power play. He should do both in Game 3.

A stats-based look previewing Game 3 of the Stanley Cup finals.

Picking through the stats, the Red Wings are the class of the postseason to this point. Detroit leads in a whole whack of categories: goal differential, shot differential, taking few penalties, faceoffs, hits and, obviously, Stanley Cup wins.