Not often named among Stanley Cup contenders, Anaheim has been one of the most consistent clubs this season.
With a 29-17-10 showing through 56 games, the Ducks sit second in the Pacific and just two points back of the division-leading San Jose Sharks. They also rank among the best in nearly all statistical categories.
It starts on the blue line, where Anaheim boasts one of the league's most impressive units. Veteran Kevin Bieksa is the lone rearguard older than 25, with a young core of Hampus Lindholm, Cam Fowler, and Sami Vatanen leading the way. The next wave, including Shea Theodore and Brandon Montour, has also made critical contributions.
The team's commitment to a strong defensive game has been key to its success this season, and it's paid off for netminders John Gibson and Jonathan Bernier, who have allowed just 141 goals - sixth-lowest league-wide.
That dominance extends to special teams. The St. Louis Blues and Calgary Flames are the only teams in the West firing better on the man advantage than Anaheim, which is converting at a 20.8 percent clip. It also sits seventh on the penalty kill, negating 84 percent of its calls against.
Anaheim's only true weakness is its trouble finding the back of the net. Seven skaters have double-digit goal totals, but the trio of Rickard Rakell, Ryan Kesler, and Jakob Silfverberg have combined for more than one-third of the tallies. With just 147 goals this year, Anaheim sits 19th league-wide, but still sports a plus-six goal differential, thanks to its strong defensive game.
With the trade deadline less than three weeks out, it may be worthwhile for the Ducks to dip into their depth of riches on the blue line to build up their scoring arsenal. Boosting the offensive touch of a team that sits third-best since the turn of the calendar could set them up for a return to the winner's circle.
A new coach has breathed new life into what was previously a struggling New York Islanders team.
With a 3-1 victory over the Philadelphia Flyers on Thursday night, New York improved to 7-1-2 since Doug Weight replaced Jack Capuano and now sits just two points back of the final wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference.
However, if the Islanders are serious about this season and their future, they need to rid themselves of certain horrendous contracts that continue to hamper the team's ability to acquire high-end assets that could aid John Tavares and company.
With that considered, here are three contracts the Islanders should be pushing to get off their books:
Jaroslav Halak
A goaltender making over $4.75 million to play in the minors - those don't come along too often.
However, that's exactly what Jaroslav Halak has become. The 31-year-old has struggled mightily this season - no one can dispute that - but he's also not been given the chance to redeem himself.
The Islanders carried three goalies for a long stretch of the campaign, usually leaving Halak as the odd man out. The veteran's agent voiced his displeasure earlier in the season, and Halak was later assigned to the American Hockey League after clearing waivers.
Despite Halak thriving in the minors, he's also taking up cap space while Thomas Greiss has established himself as the Islanders' No. 1 goalie.
It's time to deal the veteran.
Casey Cizikas
It's hard to understand what exactly Casey Cizikas did to push Garth Snow to sign him to a long-term deal.
The 25-year-old notched a career-high 30 points in 80 games last season, while his previous career mark in goals was nine, set in 2015.
This season, he's on pace for 34 points and nine goals once again - hardly an improvement.
Factor in his Corsi-for percentage of just 47.86, and it's hard to understand why the team committed five years and nearly $17 million for a fourth-line center.
Cal Clutterbuck
When Cal Clutterbuck is doing his thing - scoring in addition to strong physical play - he can be a valuable asset.
However, this season he's not scoring at his usual clip, and therefore his value is certainly decreasing.
After recording a commendable 15 goals last season, Clutterbuck has managed just three to date - on pace for just five, which would be his lowest mark in a full 82-game season.
Of course, that drop in goal production comes after the 29-year-old inked a five-year, $17.5-million extension in December.
Combined, Cizikas and Clutterbuck will make just under $7 million for each of the next four seasons. That's for two skaters who play just over 14 minutes per game and whose major contributions have been killing penalties.
Those dollars would be better spent elsewhere.
Andrew Ladd, not so fast
With such a list, it's hard to ignore Andrew Ladd and his monstrous seven-year, $38.5-million contract.
In an ideal world, this would be off the books, but with no-movement and no-trade clauses littered throughout the contract - along with money, which is largely owed in signing bonuses - it's not an easy deal to get rid of.
It's also worth considering that despite his slow start, the 31-year-old is now chipping in offensively on a more consistent basis.
Ladd has four goals and six points in his last six games, and could be one of the many players who thrives under new leadership behind the bench.
Now, as they ready for an enormous back-to-back on the road beginning with the Minnesota Wild on Friday night, the club's eager to discover if it has finally found some traction before heading into its mandatory bye week.
"I'm excited for this," head coach Jon Cooper told Joe Smith of the Tampa Bay Times. "I want to see where we're at. This will be a good gauge."
A win over the Western Conference leaders would be a tremendous boost for the Lightning, who emerged from the basement of the East on Thursday night - but only by virtue of a superior goal differential.
However, this club's in no position to trade points. If the Lightning fail to consolidate a win over the Wild with another versus the Winnipeg Jets on Saturday, they would only be spinning their wheels into the break - which in itself could sap them of any momentum.
But if they earn four points in the space of two nights, and welcome the added benefit of banged-up forwards Tyler Johnson, Alex Killorn, and Ondrej Palat taking several days of rest (not to mention moving another week closer to the return of Steven Stamkos), the Bolts could put themselves in a position to make a run.
The performance by Montreal's captain certainly wasn't lost on his coach, Michel Therrien.
"Patch was a true leader tonight, a true captain," Therrien told reporters following the win. "He took charge, he played a hell of a game, and he deserves a lot of credit."
Pacioretty's 27 goals this season are now nearly double the next highest scorer on the Canadiens; both Alexander Radulov and Paul Byron have found the back of the net 14 times.
Thursday also marked the second time this season that Pacioretty has recorded at least four points in a game, having tallied four goals and an assist in Montreal's lopsided victory over the Colorado Avalanche on Dec. 10.
Don Sweeney's Boston Bruins might have defeated one of the best teams in hockey - the San Jose Sharks - in their first game without Claude Julien behind the bench. But at least one supporter still needs to be convinced the grass will indeed be, at the very least, green, in the Bruce Cassidy era.
If the Wild deem that Carter isn't suffering ill effects from his surgically repaired labrum, and think he can assist them over the final few months of the season and into the playoffs, they will have the opportunity to sign him for the stretch run.
They'll have to make the decision before March 1 in order for him to be included on the postseason roster.
Carter underwent shoulder surgery at the recommendation of the Wild, an agreement established in good faith.
"(General manager Chuck Fletcher) was really good and fair," he told Russo in September. "He just told me to get surgery, get healthy, and depending where we both stand when I get healthy enough to play, we can go from there. He just said it's not fair to me to play hurt and it's not fair to the coach and team to not know if I can play through it.
"He said they'd help me with surgery, and I don't think they have any responsibility to take care of me, so I appreciate that."
With the schedule steaming toward the stretch run, "On the Fly," theScore's NHL roundtable series, takes a look at four potential can't-miss first-round playoff series.
Battle of Ontario
O'Leary: It's been a while since the rivalry between the Toronto Maple Leafs and Ottawa Senators meant something other than pride, but a renewal of hatred could be in the cards come April.
From 2000 to 2004, the Leafs and Sens met four times in the postseason, building an everlasting feud with a list of antics as long as the stretch of Highway 401 that separates the cities.
It can be linked all the way back to then-Senator Marian Hossa clipping former Leafs defenseman Bryan Berard with an errant high stick, which nearly ended the latter's career. From then, an uncalled hit from behind, a broken-stick mockery, a bench brawl, and almost everything imaginable in between developed immense animosity between the division rivals - and even more entertainment.
Toronto won all four series in the early 2000s, but has yet to reach the playoffs in a full season since Patrick Lalime's leaky Game 7 performance pushed the Maple Leafs to round two in 2004.
As of now, Toronto and Ottawa are scheduled to meet in the opening round, which would reignite one of the best rivalries of the modern era.
The cities are only a few hours apart, the two teams will have spent the entire regular season jockeying for position as mutual members of the Metropolitan Division, and most importantly, Sidney Crosby and Brandon Dubinskyclearly don't care for each other.
Throw in John Tortorella's disdain for the Penguins (who could forget his classic "Pittsburgh whines enough for the whole league" rant in 2015?), which dates back to his New York Rangers days, and you have the recipe for another can't-miss postseason battle.
Their 2014 playoff clash didn't even go seven games, but was still one of the most entertaining series of the last few years. There's a long way to go, but the standings have them on course to meet again, and we can only hope they do.
Albertan supremacy
Hagerman: You'll have to go back 26 years to remember the last postseason Battle of Alberta.
If you were lucky enough to be around then (I was not), you might recall the first-round matchup between the two clubs - won by Calgary - turned out to be Mark Messier's last series as an Oiler.
The matchup featured the likes of Al MacInnis, Theo Fleury, Doug Gilmour, Joe Nieuwendyk, Glenn Anderson, Grant Fuhr, Gary Roberts, and Gary Suter - a who's who of Alberta hockey legends.
Now we have the likes of Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl, Johnny Gaudreau, and Sean Monahan. And while both clubs are young and exciting, this matchup goes to the next level based on their respective fan bases, which go ballistic when the teams clash at either rink.
Some movement in the standings would be required over the next couple months, but these rivals going head-to-head would be quite the spectacle.
We meet again
Wilkins: If the playoffs started today, hockey fans would be treated to the latest rendition of one of the game's greatest rivalries: the Montreal Canadiens taking on the Rangers.
The sides met in the third round of the 2014 postseason, battling it out in a six-game series with the Rangers ultimately emerging for a Stanley Cup Finals date against the Los Angeles Kings.
The Rangers opened that series with a pair of victories in Montreal, while Canadiens fans can't forget what happened to star goalie Carey Price, injured in the series opener following a hit by Rangers forward Chris Kreider. That left backup Dustin Tokarski to carry the load between the pipes.
The two Original Six franchises have met on 14 other occasions in the postseason, winning seven apiece.
The 22-year-old forward fired home the winner in overtime to defeat the Arizona Coyotes on Thursday night, ending a back-and-forth affair in which Montreal allowed the home team to rally from a two-goal deficit, take the lead, then later tie the game late in the third period.
