[Hieronymus]

I remember reading a Sports Illustrated pre-season article back from the days of 21 teams, and it had a section with a line to the effect of “and here we have the five teams we predict witll not make the playoffs, which in hockey is like not making the telephone book.”

I also recall at least one season where the team with the second worst overall record made the playoffs, because they happened to be in the same five-team division as the worst team.

[Dr. Sivana]

I also recall at least one season where the team with the second worst overall record made the playoffs, because they happened to be in the same five-team division as the worst team.

Sounds like the old Smythe Division, where you could have won the division with a 40% win record. If I recall, the teams played each other an equal # of times regardless of the division. Each team played each other team 20 times.