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Columbus Blue Jackets playoff tracker: It's going to take a miracle now
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- Columbus Blue Jackets playoff tracker: It's going to take a miracle now
It's now going to take a miraculous series of fortunate events for the Blue Jackets to qualify for the playoffs.
After being swept and shut out by the Toronto Maple Leafs and Ottawa Senators in a road back-to-back set this past weekend, the Jackets are eight points out of the Eastern Conference's second wild card with six games left to play. They've slipped to the lower tier of teams chasing the Montreal Canadiens for the second wild card, which is the East's last ticket into the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
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They're saying all the right things, but also coming to grips with reality.
"Finish as strong as we can, that's all we can do," Blue Jackets defenseman Zach Werenski said. "You just see what happens. It's tough to look at standings with how it's gone, but our focus just has to be game-by-game, try to get as many points as we can, and at the end of the year we'll see how it shakes out."
MoneyPuck , DraftKings , FanDuel and BetMGM think it will take a miracle for the Jackets to make the postseason. Dropping three straight games, including back-to-back losses without scoring a goal, has almost completely sunk their playoff odds.
Columbus Blue Jackets skate off the ice after losing to Colorado Avalanche at Nationwide Arena on Friday, April 4, 2025 in Columbus, Ohio.
Columbus Blue Jackets ' odds of qualifying for the playoffs drop again
The Blue Jackets have already exceeded preseason forecasts about their season, but they've now got a steep uphill climb to clinch a playoff spot. There's only 12 points left in their six remaining games, but Montreal is eight points ahead of them.
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DraftKings now gives the Blue Jackets +7,000 odds to make the playoffs and no longer offer odds on them missing. A week ago, they were +330 to make it and -425 to miss. BetMGM no longer offers odds for the Blue Jackets to make or miss the playoffs, and DraftKings has it +4,000 for them to make it and -20,000 to miss.
According to MoneyPuck, which uses percentages, the Blue Jackets' chances to qualify for the postseason have plummeted to just 0.3%, which is the lowest among teams that still have any kind of percentage chance to qualify. MoneyPuck also projects the Blue Jackets to finish with 83 points, which the site projected at 85 points a week ago.
Blue Jackets reporter Brian Hedger can be reached at bhedger@dispatch.com and @BrianHedger.bsky.social
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This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Columbus Blue Jackets playoff tracker: It's going to take a miracle
