Every year on Thanksgiving Day in the U.S., I like to pause and reflect on the standings, pondering which teams are out that will work their way back in and which clubs will drop out of the current playoff spot they're in.
This used to be a more obvious exercise. But Year 11 of the salary-cap era has crunched the talent gap -- and the standings -- more than ever.
"It's insane," one general manager said this week of the tight standings.
The difference in the top 23 or so teams in the NHL right now is so little -- seven teams are within five points of the wild-card spots in the two conferences.