After a 3-1 loss to the Winnipeg Jets on Sunday night, the Vancouver Canucks' playoff hopes have all but evaporated, with their 2024-25 season approaching an unceremonious close.
The Canucks were already on the outside looking in, but the St. Louis Blues tightened their vice grip on the second wildcard spot in the Western Conference with their ninth straight win, a 2-1 triumph over Colorado on Saturday.
As a result, the Canucks now trail the Blues by six points, or three games, with just one game in hand. Effectively, the Canucks need to gain points on two games the Blues drop in regulation. With only eight games remaining in their season, the Canucks are running out of runway to see that happen.
At the time of this writing, MoneyPuck, the widely popular hockey analytics site, gives the Canucks a measly 9.7% chance of qualifying for the Stanley Cup playoffs.
This pales in comparison to that of the Blues, who have ascended all the way up to an 88.4% chance of making the playoffs, even surpassing the Minnesota Wild at 87%.
As for the other wildcard contenders, the Utah Hockey Club is virtually eliminated with their 0.7% chance of making it. The Calgary Flames, who were once neck and neck with the Canucks, have a very distant outside chance of making the playoffs at 15.5%.
For the doomer Canucks fans out there curious about the team's chances of landing the No. 1 overall pick, MoneyPuck currently gives them a 0% chance. Calgary has a 0.1% chance of doing this, while Utah is ever so slightly higher at 0.6%.