As of Wednesday afternoon, the Florida Panthers were three points out of a playoff spot but had three more gamed played than Pittsburgh, the team in the final Wild Card slot. They were four points behind Washington with the same number of games played. They need a healthy roster if they want to make a legitimate run, so these quick updates from Florida regarding Aleksander Barkov and Anthony Duclair are important:

Barkov not on the ice for practice, but skated prior.

Duclair still in a yellow no-contact jersey.

— Jameson Olive (@JamesonCoop) February 8, 2023

Barkov was injured in their last game but the coach said it's probable he plays Thursday even if he doesn't practice (sounds like pain management). Duclair, meanwhile, just needs to get comfortable in his return from an Achilles surgery. We just saw with Max Pacioretty what can happen if things go wrong upon a return from that type of injury. All the same, this team that has yet to win three games in a row at any point this season has won two in a row and host San Jose Thursday night. Look for Barkov to be back in the lineup, though the team is officially calling him a game-time decision.

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Alex Stalock was back at practice for Chicago on Wednesday:

Stalock on the main ice while the Blackhawks start practice on the other rink. Jujhar Khaira joining practice.

I have not seen Jonathan Toews emerge from the room as of yet.

— Tracey Myers (@Tramyers_NHL) February 8, 2023

It was great to see him having such a good season following the bout with Covid-19 issues that caused him to miss a season. He hasn’t been in the lineup for over three weeks and seeing as he has a league-minimum contract that expires after this season, he is a trade candidate. A handful of good starts over the next few weeks could see him on a Cup contender down the stretch, and one injury away from having a lot of fantasy value. Something to keep in mind.

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There were only a pair of games in the NHL on Wednesday night and with the final third of the season around the bend, now makes a good time for a quick retrospective. Let's look at some preseason predictions from yours truly and which ones have a good chance of coming true, or at least stand a reasonable chance. These preseason breakout players, season-long predictions, and long-shot predictions are all available to read for anyone that wants to double-check what was written. We are eschewing obvious ones like Cole Caufield, Jake Oettinger, Cole Perfetti, and Matty Beniers. We are also going to leave off players that were injured and predicted for a down year so, for example, we won't include Aleksander Barkov's goal total.

Tomorrow, we'll get to the (likely) misses from my preseason predictions/breakouts/longshots.

Matias Maccelli

Of all rookies with at least 25 games played this season, Maccelli is second in points per game (0.7) behind only Matty Beniers. League-wide, that mark puts him in the same range as names like Viktor Arvidsson, Jonathan Marchessault, and Jonathan Huberdeau. Injuries have kept him off the ice but he's showing the early makings of a top-end playmaking winger. Those same injuries will keep his games played limited and thus will also limit any hope of a Calder Trophy run, but Maccelli has had a good rookie season. Let's hope he can finish strong, but I've seen what I've hoped to see already.  

Taylor Raddysh

There isn't much to celebrate in Chicago these days, but Taylor Raddysh does have 14 goals on the season. That is tied for the league among Blackhawks skaters and makes him a threat to push for 25 markers. There aren't many assists to go along with those goals (10) because this team is horrific from top to bottom, but double-digit power-play points and pacing for over 90 hits have made him useful in deeper banger leagues. Not sure we're seeing a breakout in terms of "he'll be very productive for years to come" but he's made the best of an awful situation this season.

Gustav Forsling

Looking at just his point-per-game mark of 0.57, Forsling hasn't improved significantly over his 0.52 from a year ago. However, he is averaging over a half-shot per game more, added 0.31 hits per game, is on pace to crack 100 blocks (let alone 90) for the first time, and already has a career-best five power-play points. Better production at 5-on-5 from guys like Barkov, Sam Reinhart, and Anton Lundell would help Forsling immensely.

Arthur Kaliyev

It really is a shame that Kaliyev got injured because he could have come close to posting a 20-goal, 50-point season, pushing 200 shots and 20 PPPs. That would have been an excellent sophomore effort. As it is, nine goals and 19 points in 34 games, averaging 2.3 shots per game while skating less than 12:30 per night, is a pretty good stretch of games for the 21-year-old. For more thoughts on Kaliyev's season, I had a long Twitter thread a week ago that shed some light on his successes and need for development moving forward. All told, lots to like from his season and let's see him get some good games in down the stretch once healthy.

Filip Chytil

With 18 goals in 42 games, Chytil has produced more tallies this season than he did in his previous 125 regular season games. He leads regular Rangers forwards in goals per 60 minutes at 5-on-5 with 1.50 (Chris Kreider is next-closest at 1.01). League-wide, he is top-10 by this measure, just trailing Connor McDavid's 1.54 goals per 60 minutes. His primary points (goals and first assists) per 60 minutes at 5-on-5 is in the 97^th percentile of the league, slightly ahead of Jason Robertson. His raw point totals will stay meagre until he earns consistent top-6, top power play minutes for the Rangers, but it may not be that far off if he keeps playing the way he has this season. Of all the forwards on the Kid line, Chytil is starting to show the most upside.  

Nashville Does Not Have A 30-Goal Scorer

One of my most prevalent preseason premonitions was a bad season from Nashville on the heels of a year that saw a number of players have career campaigns. If it weren't for a Vezina-calibre performance from Juuse Saros (with great backup work from Kevin Lankinen), they would be nowhere near a playoff race. As for the goal scoring, this could come down to the wire. Barring a huge hot streak from anyone else on the roster, it'll be up to Filip Forsberg to reach 30 goals as he sits with 19 in 49 games. He needs 11 goals in the next 33 games to make me a liar.

Pittsburgh Misses Playoffs

Assuming the top-3 in each of the Atlantic and Metro Divisions are, more or less, locked into their spots, there are five teams fighting for two Wild Card positions: Washington (60 points in 53 games), Pittsburgh (59 in 50), the Islanders (59 in 54), Buffalo (56 in 50), and Florida (56 in 53). Given Pittsburgh's games remaining and already being in a playoff spot, they are favoured to hold on here as The Athletic has them a little over 80% for a playoff spot. However, they are still in a fight for the postseason and two of their next six games are against the Islanders. Two regulation losses from the Penguins there would make things awfully interesting.

Johnny Gaudreau Fails To Reach 80 Points

This is another prediction that could come down to the wire. As of Wednesday afternoon, Gaudreau had 49 points in 51 games. That works to a 79-point pace so, yes, this will be close. The obvious concern with Gaudreau leaving Calgary was getting away from what was arguably the best line in the NHL last year to go to a non-playoff team that was still in its rebuild. The lack of top-end centres, particularly whenever Boone Jenner is injured, has hurt Gaudreau's upside. Combine that with a downturn in shots on goal and shooting percentage, and we have what he's done this season. We will check back in April.  

Montreal Does Not Produce A 60-Point Forward

As of this moment, Nick Suzuki is on pace for a 64-point season. However, he has just 11 points in his last 25 games (seriously) and that's not all on losing Cole Caufield to injury because Suzuki had eight points in the 20 games leading to Caufield's surgery. It has been a year since the team hired Martin St. Louis to be the coach and in that year, Montreal's goals per 60 minutes at 5-on-5 is reduced by more than half when Suzuki is playing away from Caufield (1.8) than when he is with him (3.7). He could get there if he keeps up this season's pace, but the Caufield injury, a bunch of trade deadline candidates, and a poor power play are putting this point projection in peril.

New Jersey Wins The Metro (Longshot)

The first longshot prediction that could still come true is New Jersey taking their division title. One of the non-playoff teams from last year I was extremely high on was New Jersey; I even did a preseason betting YouTube video elsewhere covering bets on them to win the East, surpass their predicted point total (90.5), and a Calder Trophy win from Alexander Holtz (yikes). Now, they sit six points behind Carolina for first in the division so there is work to do, and their play over the last couple of months has declined. With all that said, they still have a shot to take the division title, something that didn't seem achievable six months ago. (We will just ignore everything I said about Boston before the season started, at least until tomorrow's Ramblings.)  

Seattle Is A Playoff Team (Longshot)

Before the 2022-23 campaign, when looking at the Pacific Division, it wasn't hard to imagine a lot of turmoil:

• Vegas traded Max Pacioretty in a cap crunch, had Mark Stone enduring back problems, and had question marks in goal
• Edmonton is always an enigma
• Calgary shuffled a lot of top-end players but lost two of the top wingers in hockey
• Vancouver is… well… *gestures at everything over the last five years*
• San Jose looked on the cusp of a rebuild (which is happening)
• Anaheim had a lot of variance, and ended up on the wrong side of it

Outside of Los Angeles – a good playoff team that added Kevin Fiala, had impact prospects on the roster/on the way, and was likely to get better health from the blue line – it seemed like a lot of upheaval was likely. Seattle had the seventh-best expected goals against mark at 5-on-5 after Christmas last season. They were going to have Matty Beniers in the lineup, added Andre Burakovsky and Oliver Bjorkstrand, and just drafted Shane Wright. At the least, they added an entire scoring line. It seemed plausible they could sneak into a playoff spot. That looks like a checkmark, barring a complete collapse.

Adam Fox Reaches 90 Points (Longshot)

It will require a sustained hot streak to get there as he's on pace for 80 points right now, but it's not hard to imagine a world where Fox gets to 90 points. The team is scoring 8.2 goals per 60 minutes at 5-on-4 with Fox on the ice this year. His previous two seasons saw him with an on-ice goal rate at 5-on-4 of 10.6 per 60 minutes. If the team were doing that this year, over the course of a full 82-game season, he adds an extra six points, putting him on an 86-point pace. It doesn't seem like he'll get to 90 points but it's within reach, and some better fortune would have had him in position to do it.