Erik Gudbranson looks at the standings almost every day.
Sure, it’s only November, but it’s never too early to start thinking about the playoffs and see which teams are atop the division standings.
“Every single point matters,” the Vancouver Canucks defenseman said. “You want to stay with that group.”
For more than a decade, the status of that group at Thanksgiving has been a significant indicator of who gets to keep playing beyond mid-April. Since the salary-cap era began in 2005-06, 78.4 percent of teams in playoff position by the fourth Thursday in November have made it.