My how the standings have changed in the past week.
Last week the Caps were in the middle of a large pack of teams out of/on the edge of playoff contention, and the Caps were coming off two lopsided losses on their West Conference trip. They had a legitimate possibility of finishing as low as 8th worst in the league if they continued to struggle.
Now, with the Caps having finished that trip in style and gained separation on most of those teams, AND with almost 1/3 of the remaining schedule having been played, the Caps' playoff chances have improved slightly but not hugely - but barring an epic collapse on their part it's hard to see how they could finish much lower than 13th. They still have games in hand on teams below them, who aren't playing very well results-wise, and the schedule for these other teams to pass them is rapidly shrinking.
The most beneficial hopes left are that the Caps either play well enough to sneak into the playoffs and get youngsters some experience at least, or that they completely fall apart and finish something like 2-11, which MIGHT sink them back into the bottom 10 if teams below them play well enough. This team is resilient enough, though, that I don't expect the latter, so I guess we might as well root for the playoffs - but the most realistic expectation is the worst one: something like a finish 15th from the bottom, but out of the playoffs. Ugh.
