O Canada: Marner heading rookie class, all 7 teams in playoff mix

Every Tuesday, theScore's editors will examine the fortunes of the north's seven NHL franchises. Welcome to "O Canada."

Calgary Flames

Plus: After a relatively slow start to the season, Sean Monahan has enjoyed a very productive January. The center recorded at least a point in seven of Calgary's 11 games, with five goals and five assists. The 10 total points match his best monthly output of the season so far, and the Flames still have two games to play before the calendar turns to February.

Minus: Following Monday's loss in Toronto, the Flames have now dropped three in a row after allowing the opposition to score 13 combined goals to begin those games.

Take: Despite the losing streak, the Flames remain in a Western Conference wild-card spot, albeit with a 10th-ranked point percentage of .510. Monahan and Johnny Gaudreau need to step up in order to hold on.

Edmonton Oilers

Plus: Jordan Eberle is also quietly beginning to awaken. The Oilers winger recorded three goals and three assists over the team's past four games, level with Connor McDavid. Four of those points came in a 7-3 win over Calgary on Jan. 21 in which Edmonton completed a season sweep of the Battle of Alberta for only the third time in team history.

Minus: Milan Lucic, who's making $6 million, is on pace for 18 goals this season. Patrick Maroon has already reached that total in 49 games, and carries a cap hit of $1.5 million.

Take: Thanks to those wins over the Flames, the Oilers sit nine points ahead of Calgary in the Pacific Division, and only three points behind first-place Anaheim. A playoff berth seems all but guaranteed at this point.

Montreal Canadiens

Plus: Max Pacioretty has recorded at least 20 goals in each of the past four seasons, and has accomplished the feat in eerily familiar fashion.

Minus: Alex Galchenyuk has re-aggravated a knee injury that kept him out of the lineup for 18 games earlier this season. He'll miss at least one game, but the hope is that the issue isn't as serious this time.

Take: The Canadiens continue to sit comfortably atop the Atlantic Division, but can ill afford to get uncharacteristically poor performances from Carey Price, whose January save percentage sits at .887. The second-place Senators are only eight points back with three games in hand.

Ottawa Senators

Plus: General manager Pierre Dorion is enjoying a nice first year on the job, but Bryan Murray's fingerprints remain all over the Senators. The team's former coach and GM (and current senior adviser) will be inducted into Ottawa's ring of honor prior to Tuesday's game against Washington.

Minus: Bobby Ryan has been showing signs of life lately, but the fact he ranks ninth on the Senators in total points while earning a team-high $7.25 million is unacceptable.

Take: Mike Condon has been putting in yeoman's work in order to keep the team afloat, but the Senators will need Craig Anderson (personal) or Andrew Hammond (ankle) to return in order to solidify the position and give Ottawa a chance to hold on to a fairly unexpected playoff spot.

Toronto Maple Leafs

Plus: After seeing both William Nylander and Auston Matthews win rookie of the month honors, Mitch Marner is tracking to add his name to the list after recently overtaking the latter for the scoring lead among first-year players.

Minus: Frederik Andersen is on pace to make 75 starts for the Maple Leafs this season, a workload that is essentially unseen in today's NHL. Curtis McElhinney was scooped off waivers to serve as backup, and will need to show he's capable of giving Andersen some much-needed relief down the stretch.

Take: It's becoming more and more difficult to deny the Maple Leafs are indeed as good as their record suggests. It's perhaps a year or two earlier than expected, but playoff hockey seems set to return to Toronto.

Vancouver Canucks

Plus: Henrik Sedin recently hit 1,000 career points, and brother Daniel Sedin is 32 points shy of the mark. Treasure the twins while we still can.

Minus: The Loui Eriksson signing continues to look like a flop. The Swedish winger, who's on the books through 2021-22 at $6 million a season, ranks sixth on the Canucks with 21 points (10 goals, 11 assists) through 48 games.

Take: Vancouver sits only one point behind both Calgary and St. Louis in the quest for a wild-card playoff berth, and eighth in the Western Conference in terms of point percentage. Few expected the Canucks to be in the mix, and it will be interesting to see if they consider themselves buyers or sellers in advance of the trade deadline.

Winnipeg Jets

Plus: Patrik Laine has been dominating the headlines in Winnipeg this season, but Nikolaj Ehlers is here to remind us there's more than one high-end young talent on the Jets roster.

Minus: Ehlers' effort aside, the Jets lost to Anaheim on Monday, and while they appear to remain in striking distance of a playoff spot, their point percentage ranks ahead of only Arizona and Colorado out West. Not company you want to be keeping at this point in the season.

Take: Ondrej Pavelec has posted a record of 2-1-0 with a .907 save percentage since being recalled from the AHL, but the fact the Jets are relying on him to save their season speaks volumes about their goaltending situation.