People in the media are always looking for some sort of measuring stick throughout the season for NHL teams. Some look at the first 20 or 30 games, the All-Star break, or the Christmas Break. But one that is often used as well is American Thanksgiving. The thought is that by Thanksgiving, pretty much all of the teams in playoff spots will make the playoffs come April.
Is it true though?
I went and looked at the standings for the previous five seasons and wanted to see if the pundits were correct. For each year, I took the standings after the Thursday games on Thanksgiving weekend.