The 10 game mark in the NHL is actually a really important date.

After some research I have found out a few things when the standings are at the 1/8 mark and quite surprisingly over half of the teams in a playoff spot at the 1/8 mark of the season wind up making the playoffs by the end of the year.


So with all the teams in the NHL having hit the 1/8 mark or 10 game mark this year I wanted to see exactly now much importance the first ten games would have on a season and I went back 5 years since the Golden Knights started playing to see what the standings looked like at the 1/8 mark each season and see how many teams in a playoff spot at the 10 game mark of each 82 game season (8 game mark of the 56 game season and the COVID stopped 2019-20 season I didn’t look at because the season was all wonky) wound up making it at the end of the year and I was surprised to find out that in the 4 years I checked that out of the 48 teams who wound up making the playoffs in those 4 seasons, 34 of them were in a playoff spot at the 10 (or 8) game mark and that was really surprising as it evened out to having 11 of the 16 teams in a playoff spot at the 1/8 mark winding up making the playoffs at the end of the year, now I know things can change and it could end up being completely differently but if we were to apply that number to this year then 11 of the 16 teams in the playoffs in the standings below could easily wind up making the playoffs by the end of the year. 



And while I was looking at the previous 1/8 mark standings I also found something else and I know that some say that teams can overcome a slow start to the and I think that is definitely true but if a team has a really bad start in the first ten games they almost never come back as in the three 82 game seasons I checked no team who had 7 points or less at the 10 game mark wound up making the playoffs at the end of the season and only 1 team (Edmonton) was able to make the playoffs in the shortened 56 game season after starting with 6 points or less at the 8 game mark so for a team to make the playoffs after a slow ten game start is tricky and normally there isn’t too many teams who have a bad start as in those four seasons only about 5 teams had that bad of a start but while there is only one in the east who had 7 points or less to start the season (Columbus with 6) the West has a extraordinary 6 teams start the season with 7 points or less in the first ten games (Preds, Ducks and Yotes with 7, and Blues, Sharks and Canucks with 6) so with the vast amount of bad starts in the West I think there would definitely be a good chance that a team who had a bad start could get into a playoff spot by the end of the season and if I had to bet it would be the Blues or the Predators but it is extremely difficult to overcome a bad start in the first ten games and those 7 teams who had 7 points or less in the first ten games may have their playoff fates already sealed, 


 

while back to my first point if I had to predict 11 teams who were in a playoff spot at the ten game mark this season who could remain in a playoff spot until the end of the year it would probably VGK, CAL, EDM, DAL, COL, MIN, CAR, NYR, TB for sure and if I had to go with two other teams who I could see holding onto a playoff spot it would probably be BOS and NJ as I think those two have played quite well to start the season and the five I would say fall out of the playoff race would probably the Jets, Kraken, Flyers, Sabres and Islanders as expect for maybe the Jets and Islanders those teams have no business being in the playoffs and I think the Islanders and Jets can’t keep up this pace and I think in the west the Kings and Blues would be able to get back in a playoff position while in the East I can see the Maple Leafs, Panthers and Penguins should be able to claw their way back into a playoff spot but that is just my opinion and I would love to here yours and who you think can remain in a playoff spot and who will either fall out or get back in and do you see any teams with 7 points or less being able to make the playoffs or are their fates sealed, I would definitely like to know what you think and let me know what changes you think would happen with the 1/8 mark standings. 

Below is this years 10 game mark standings as well as the 4 other years 1/8 mark standings (excluding the 2019-20 COVID postponed season). 


This year (2022-23) 1/8 or 10 game mark standings.



VGK 8-2-0, 16 PTS  

EDM 7-3-0, 14 PTS 

CAL 5-4-1, 11 PTS 


DAL 6-3-1, 13 PTS 

WIN 6-3-1, 13 PTS 

COL 5-4-1, 11 PTS 


MIN 5-4-1, 11 PTS 

SEA 4-4-2, 10 PTS 


LA 5-5-0, 10 PTS 

CHI 4-4-2, 10 PTS 

NAS 3-6-1, 7 PTS 

ARI 3-6-1, 7PTS 

ANA 3-6-1, 7 PTS 

ST.L 3-7-0, 6 PTS 

VAN 2-6-2, 6 PTS 

SJ 3-7-0, 6 PTS 




BOS 9-1-0, 18 PTS 

BUF 7-3-0, 14 PTS 

TB 6-4-0, 12 PTS 


CAR 7-2-1, 15 PTS 

NJ 7-3-0, 14 PTS 

NYI 6-4-0, 12 PTS 


NYR 5-3-2, 12 PTS 

PHI 5-3-2, 12 PTS 


DET 5-3-2, 12 PTS 

WAS 5-4-1, 11 PTS 

FLO 5-4-1, 11 PTS 

MON 5-5-0, 10 PTS 

PIT 4-4-2, 10 PTS 

TOR 4-4-2, 10 PTS  

OTT 4-6-0, 8 PTS 

COLU 3-7-0, 6 PTS 



2021-22  1/8 or 10 games mark standings.


11/16 teams who were in a playoff spot wound up making the playoffs.


ST.L* 7-2-1, 15 PTS 

WIN  6-2-2, 14 PTS 

MIN* 7-3-0, 14 PTS


EDM* 9-1-0, 18 PTS 

CAL*   6-1-3, 15 PTS 

SJ      6-4-0, 12 PTS 


NAS* 5-5-0, 10 PTS 

VGK   5-5-0, 10PTS 


DAL* 4-4-2, 10 PTS 

COL* 4-5-1, 9 PTS 

LA*     4-5-1, 9 PTS 

VAN   4-5-1, 9 PTS

ANA  3-4-3, 9 PTS 

SEA   3-6-1, 7 PTS 

CHI 1-7-2, 4 PTS

ARI 0-9-1, 1 PTS 




FLO* 9-0-1, 19 PTS 

BOS* 6-4-0, 12 PTS 

TB* 5-3-2, 12 PTS


CAR* 9-1-0, 18 PTS 

PHI 6-2-2, 14 PTS

NYR* 6-2-2, 14 PTS 


WAS* 5-1-4, 14 PTS 

COLU 7-3-0, 14 PTS 


NYI 5-3-2, 12 PTS 

NJ 5-3-2, 12 PTS 

TOR* 5-4-1, 11 PTS 

BUF 5-4-1, 11 PTS 

PIT* 4-3-3, 11 PTS 

DET 4-4-2, 10 PTS 

OTT 3-6-1, 7 PTS

MON 2-8-0 4 PTS 


2020-21  1/8 or 8 game mark standings. 


13/16 teams who were in a playoff spot wound up making the playoffs. 


VGK* 6-1-1, 13 PTS 

ST.L* 5-2-1, 11 PTS 

COL* 5-3-0, 10 PTS 

MIN* 5-3-0, 10 PTS 

ANA 3-3-2, 8 PTS 

LA 3-3-2, 8 PTS 

ARI 3-4-1, 7 PTS 

SJ 3-5-0, 6 PTS 



TOR* 6-2-0, 12 PTS 

MON* 5-1-2, 12 PTS 

WIN 5-3-0, 10 PTS 

CAL* 4-3-1, 9 PTS 

EDM* 3-5-0, 6 PTS 

VAN 3-5-0, 6 PTS 

OTT 1-6-1, 3 PTS 



FLO* 6-0-2, 14 PTS 

TB* 6-1-1, 13 PTS 

CAR* 6-2-0, 12 PTS 

DAL 5-2-1, 11 PTS 

COLU 3-2-3, 9 PTS 

NAS* 4-4-0, 8 PTS 

CHI 2-3-3, 7 PTS 

DET 2-5-1, 5 PTS 



WAS* 5-0-3, 13 PTS 

BOS* 5-1-2, 12 PTS 

PHI 5-2-1, 11 PTS 

PIT* 4-3-1, 9 PTS 

NJ 3-3-2, 8 PTS 

BUF 3-3-2, 8 PTS 

NYI* 3-4-1, 7 PTS 

NYR 2-4-2, 6 PTS 


2018-19  1/8 or 10 game mark standings.


10/16 teams who were in a playoff spot wound up making the playoffs.


EDM 6-3-1, 13 PTS 

VAN 6-4-0, 12 PTS 

SJ* 5-3-2, 12 PTS 


NAS* 8-2-0, 16 PTS 

COL* 6-2-2, 14 PTS 

MIN 6-2-2, 14 PTS 


CHI 6-2-2, 14 PTS 

WIN* 6-3-1, 13 PTS 


ANA 5-4-1, 11 PTS 

DAL* 5-5-0, 10 PTS 

CAL* 5-5-0, 10 PTS 

ARI 5-5-0, 10 PTS 

VGK* 4-5-1, 9 PTS 

ST.L* 3-4-3, 9 PTS

LA 2-7-1, 5 PTS 




TB* 7-2-1, 15 PTS

BOS* 6-2-2, 14 PTS 

TOR* 7-3-0, 14 PTS


PIT* 6-2-2, 14 PTS

CAR* 6-3-1, 13 PTS 

COLU* 6-4-0, 12 PTS 


MON 6-2-2, 14 PTS 

BUF 6-4-0, 12 PTS


WAS* 5-3-2, 12 PTS 

NJ 5-4-1, 11 PTS 

NYI* 5-4-1 11 PTS 

OTT 4-4-2, 10 PTS 

PHI 4-6-0, 8 PTS 

NYR 3-6-1, 7 PTS 

FLO 2-5-3, 7 PTS

DET 1-7-2, 4 PTS 


2017-18  1/8 or 10 game mark standings.


11/16 teams who were in a playoff spot wound up making the playoffs. 


LA* 8-1-1, 17 PTS

VGK* 8-2-0, 16 PTS

VAN 6-3-1, 13 PTS 


ST.L 7-2-1, 15 PTS 

NAS* 5-3-2, 12 PTS 

WIN* 5-3-2, 12 PTS 


CHI 5-3-2, 12 PTS 

ANA* 5-4-1, 11 PTS 


DAL 5-5-0, 10 PTS 

COL* 5-5-0, 10 PTS 

SJ* 5-5-0, 10 PTS 

MIN* 4-4-2, 10 PTS 

CAL 5-5-0, 10 PTS 

EDM 3-6-1, 7 PTS 

ARI 0-9-1, 1 PTS 




TB* 8-1-1, 17 PTS

TOR* 7-3-0, 14 PTS

OTT 5-1-4, 14 PTS


NJ* 8-2-0, 16 PTS 

COLU* 7-3-0, 14 PTS 

PIT* 6-3-1, 13 PTS 


BOS* 4-3-3, 11 PTS 

NYI 5-4-1, 11 PTS 


PHI* 5-5-0, 10 PTS

CAR 4-4-2, 10 PTS

FLO 4-5-1, 9 PTS

DET 4-5-1, 9 PTS

WAS* 4-5-1, 9 PTS

BUF 3-5-2, 8 PTS

NYR 2-6-2, 6 PTS 

MON 2-7-1, 5 PTS





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