The calendar has officially flipped to April.
Which means the National Hockey League (NHL) playoffs are just around the corner.
Many Canadian hockey fans are wondering if 2025 can be a repeat of 1986.
That’s the last time every team from north of the border qualified for the NHL playoffs.
As of today, five of the seven Canadian teams the Toronto Maple Leafs, Winnipeg Jets, Edmonton Oilers, Ottawa Senators and Montreal Canadiens would make the postseason, while the Calgary Flames and Vancouver Canucks and five and six points out respectively.
Winnipeg sits in first place overall with 106 points, while the Maple Leafs are first in the NHL Eastern Conference and second overall with 94 points.
Edmonton is third in the Pacific Division, while Ottawa and Montreal hold down the Wild Card positions in the East.
If the playoffs started today we would also see the Battle of Ontario between the Maple Leafs and Senators. The last time that happened was 2004.
Montreal would meet Washington.
The Jets would face the Blues, and talk about a pair of heavyweights. St. Louis has won nine straight games.
The Oilers would skate with the Kings.
Here’s a look at the remaining schedules for the Canadian NHL teams currently in postseason positioning.
Toronto (eight games): vs. Florida (Wednesday), vs. Columbus (Saturday), at Florida (April 8), at Tampa Bay (April 9), vs. Montreal (April 12), at Carolina (April 13), at Buffalo (April 15), vs. Detroit (April 17)
Ottawa (nine games): vs. Buffalo (Tuesday), vs. Tampa Bay (Thursday), vs. Florida (Saturday), vs. Columbus (Sunday), at Columbus (April 8), vs. Montreal (April 11), vs. Philadelphia (April 13), vs. Chicago (April 15), vs. Carolina (April 17)
Montreal (nine games): vs. Florida (Tuesday), vs. Boston (Thursday), vs. Philadelphia (Saturday), at Nashville (Sunday), vs. Detroit (April 8), at Ottawa (April 11), at Toronto (April 12), vs. Chicago (April 14), vs. Carolina (April 16)
Winnipeg (eight games): at Los Angeles (Tuesday), at Vegas (Thursday), at Utah (Saturday), vs. St. Louis (April 7), at Dallas (April 10), at Chicago (April 12), vs. Edmonton (April 13), vs. Anaheim (April 16)
Edmonton (nine games): at Vegas (Tuesday), at San Jose (Thursday), at Los Angeles (Saturday), at Anaheim (April 7), vs. St. Louis (April 9), vs. San Jose (April 11), at Winnipeg (April 13), vs. Los Angeles (April 14), at San Jose (April 16)
As for the NHL team geographically closest to Niagara, the Buffalo Sabres – they currently sit in last place in the Eastern Conference and will miss the playoffs a fourteenth consecutive year- the longest playoff drought in the NHL.
Rod Mawhood is a lifelong Niagara native who has had the pleasure of working in all three mediums – Radio, Print and TV – for over 20 years. His first announcing gig was with the then St. Catharines Stompers. Since then he’s worked in radio and TV in Toronto, and currently is the announcer for the Niagara IceDogs and Niagara River Lions.
Rod also covers the Buffalo Bills for FOX Sports and the Buffalo Sabres for NBC Sports.
