Leafs fall 7 points out of 8th, 9 back of 6th

Toronto Maple Leafs have solid youth core

If there's any silver lining in tonight's 4-2 loss to the Detroit Red Wings, it may be that Toronto can hope for slumps by 3 different teams. The Buds are just nine points back of the 6th place tie (Montreal Canadiens, New York Rangers), so if any of Buffalo, Montreal or New York hit the skids, Toronto or Carolina could sneak in.

The beauty of this run is that it has been fueled by young players such as James Reimer, Luke Schenn, Carl Gunnarson, Phil Kessel, and now Nazem Kadri is also up with the big team and contributing. The line of MacArthur, Kulemin and Grabovski has been superb all season and every effort should be made to re-sign Clarke this summer.

Eveb if Toronto were to win all seven of its remaining games, they'd need Buffalo to lose 4 of 7 or Montreal to lose 5 of 7, or New York to lose 4 of 6. Here's how they stand now, 10pm March 26th, 2011:


EASTERN DIV GP W L OT PTS

6 MONTREAL NE 75 40 28 7 87

7 NY RANGERS ATL 76 41 30 5 87

8 BUFFALO NE 75 38 28 9 85

9 CAROLINA SE 75 35 30 10 80

10 TORONTO NE 75 34 31 10 78


Second-youngest team in NHL, Leafs may soon be looking to 2011-2012

With just seven games to go, the Buds are not out of it mathematically, but if they lose to the Sabres next week, it will be over psychologically. Even if the run is over, it's been awesome and we now have a solid young core to build on. Bring in a Brad Richards, another winger or two and a 2nd goalie whose last name is not Gustavsson and you'll be looking at a 100 point season.



The West will shake out further in a few hours, however it remains one of the closest playoff races in NHL history, with 4th place and 10th place separated by just 8 points:

4 PHOENIX PAC 76 41 24 11 93
5 LOS ANGELES PAC 75 43 26 6 92
6 NASHVILLE CEN 75 40 25 10 90
7 CHICAGO CEN 73 40 25 8 88
8 ANAHEIM PAC 74 41 28 5 87

9 DALLAS PAC 73 38 25 10 86
10 CALGARY NW 76 37 28 11 85