Hard as it might be to believe, the 2024-25 NHL season is already more than halfway over: The average team has played 53% (or 43.1 out of 82 games) of the regular-season schedule by now. That means struggling squads are quickly running out of time to turn things around -- a feeling of urgency made even more acute by the looming March 7 trade deadline, just 52 days from today.
There's a hierarchy to teams in the panic-mode category, too: Some are still right in the mix, such as the Boston Bruins, with playoff odds around a coin flip despite an underperforming start.