NHL standings tighten ahead of the Olympic pause as Colorado holds league lead

The NHL standings are giving teams one last sprint before the schedule pauses for the Winter Games, and the table is starting to look like two different seasons at once: a clear front-runner in the West, and a messy, crowded race for the final playoff tickets in both conferences. As of Tuesday, February 3, 2026 (ET), Colorado is setting the league pace, while the wild-card cut lines remain within striking distance for a wide middle class.

The next 48 hours matter more than usual, too, because the league’s break arrives Thursday night—meaning bubble teams get only a couple more chances to bank points before a long reset.

NHL standings snapshot: leaders and cut lines

Here’s a quick look at where the top of each division and the playoff “cutoff” lines sit heading into Tuesday’s slate:

Eastern Conference: first place strong, bubble crowded

At the top, Tampa Bay and Carolina are level on 74 points, but the bigger story is the traffic behind them. The Atlantic’s second and third spots are separated by a point, with Detroit on 70 and Montreal on 69, and Boston sitting in a wild-card position at 68 points. Buffalo is right there at 67, and then the “first-out” group isn’t far behind: Columbus and Washington are both on 61 points.

That gap—roughly a few wins between safety and stress—creates a familiar dynamic heading into a break: teams in the middle can’t afford a flat finish to this week, because two weeks without games can harden the standings and make post-break catch-up more difficult.

Western Conference: Colorado’s cushion, Pacific’s logjam

The West has a clearer headline. Colorado’s 81 points give it the league’s best total and a meaningful cushion atop the Central, with Minnesota (74) and Dallas (73) tracking behind. The top of the Pacific is a different kind of pressure: Vegas and Edmonton are tied at 64 points, and Seattle is close enough at 61 to keep the division from settling.

The wild-card race is similarly tight. Anaheim currently holds a wild-card spot at 61 points, with Utah next at 60—and Los Angeles also sitting on 60 points, underscoring how a single overtime result can swing positions quickly. In short, the West has one runaway at the top, and a jostling pack everywhere else.

What to watch on Tuesday night

Tuesday’s schedule features several games that can directly move the table, particularly for teams clustered around the cut lines. One marquee matchup is Toronto visiting Edmonton at 8:30 p.m. ET, a high-profile meeting that also lands with extra intensity because it’s the final stretch before the league-wide pause.

In the East, the most meaningful scoreboard watching is concentrated around the wild-card chase. With multiple teams in the high-50s to low-60s range, any two-point win becomes disproportionately valuable—and regulation wins matter even more because tie-breakers can decide seeding when clusters persist into March and April.

Calendar pressure: Olympic break, then trade deadline

The standings snapshot is also being shaped by what’s next. The league plays through Thursday, February 5 (ET), then pauses for 19 days, with games resuming Wednesday, February 25. That makes this week a natural point for teams to assess whether they’re “in it” enough to buy, or far enough back to rethink.

The next major inflection point arrives soon after: the NHL trade deadline is Friday, March 6 at 3:00 p.m. ET. Teams that enter the break on the wrong side of the line may feel immediate pressure to climb quickly once play resumes—because waiting too long can turn a small deficit into a structural one.

Sources consulted: National Hockey League; NHL Media; Reuters; Fox Sports