New year, new me? Maybe not so much: In the last five seasons, 80% of teams in a playoff position on Jan. 1 go on to make the postseason. Most teams don’t become radically better or worse, either, with notable hat tips to last year’s Blues and Sabres, the ‘15–16 Ducks (25th to 6th place) and the ‘14–15 Maple Leafs (11th to 27th place). The Predators are hoping to find themselves on the positive end of that after firing Peter Laviollete, the sixth head coach to get axed this season. With the first half of the season in the books, here’s how we see teams stacking up this week:
31.