Teams still have close to thirty games left as February rolls on. Already we have seen elite teams such as Dallas and Chicago separate themselves from the rest of the pack. The question now is who is going to use the final 30 games of the season to also separate themselves?

Plenty of the divisions have logjams right now, and the races could go a number of ways. For example, in the Metropolitan Division, only ten points separate the second and seventh best teams. Those ten points are miniscule when you take into account all of the points still up for grabs. Here are a few of the teams that are in position to take advantage of those remaining points.

Anaheim Ducks

At one point in the season, the Ducks were sitting at the bottom of the Pacific Division they were supposed to easily dispose of. Plenty of experts picked them to win the Stanley Cup, and so far this season the Ducks supporters have been proven wrong.

However, there is still plenty of time for the Ducks to change their fortunes. Right now, they are only eight points behind the Los Angeles Kings, who lead the Pacific race. The Ducks are currently on a road trip, which sees them face the mighty Blue Jackets, Oilers and Canucks. All joking aside, this road trip should turn out well for them.

They then get to finish February with a long home stand. That concludes with a match up with the Kings that could very easily decide who is leading the Pacific Division come March. The Ducks are 16-8-4 at home this year, so that home stand should get them right in the middle of the race for the Pacific crown.

Detroit Red Wings

The Florida Panthers are a fascinating story. Jaromir Jagr makes it to the All-Star game in his 40s. Roberto Luongo is having a renaissance after being traded by the Canucks. Aaron Ekblad is one of the most exciting young defenders in the game.

With that being said, we are all waiting for them to collapse. So are the Detroit Red Wings, who despite missing Pavel Datsyuk at the beginning of the season find themselves second in the Atlantic Division.

They appear poised to take the division in the final portion of the season. Dylan Larkin could be the rookie of the year, and the team has plenty of depth at the forward position. Niklas Kronwall leads a fundamentally sound blue line corps. The Red Wings also cannot go wrong with either Petr Mrazek or Jimmy Howard in net.

Colorado Avalanche

Although the Central Division is rough, the Avalanche would be in the playoffs right now if they started tomorrow. Their offense is on par with the Blackhawks and Dallas, which their 150 goals this season proves.

The team also benefits from the fact that they do not have to play the Central Division for the rest of February. Their away games consist of Ottawa, Detroit, Buffalo, Edmonton and Vancouver. Only Detroit is right now in the playoffs.

While the team is still young, they have the talent to overcome it. Matt Duchene, Nathan MacKinnon and Gabriel Landeskog are all former top three picks. The tandem has 122 points between the three of them, and the three are improving as the season moves along.

Montreal Canadiens

The former top team in the NHL has gone from bad to worse since the injury of star goalie Carey Price. Their struggles show how amazing a player Price really is. I mean the guy won the Hart Trophy as a goalie! No goaltender ever does that. The last time that happened was in 2001-2002.

One has to assume that the Canadiens will return to their former glory once Price makes his eventual, delayed return. While the team may not make it to the top of the Atlantic Division this season, the team is only three points behind the Penguins for eighth place. They also have a better goal differential than Pittsburgh, showing that while short lived, their dominance over the NHL was immense.

Calgary Flames

I really got no real good reason for thinking the Flames will be a playoff contender. I’ve been repeating it for months, how the Flames are going to climb out of their slumber and get into the playoff race. It just never happens.

It is just hard for me to believe that the same team that beat a veteran Canucks team in the playoffs last year could be this bad. They were a mere three wins away from facing the Blackhawks in the Western Conference finals!

The star of the team, Johnny Gaudreau, is still on the team. Johnny hockey has been his old, dominant self, scoring 21 goals and notching 49 points. The defense that came up big for them last year is largely intact. Karri Ramo is still between the pipes for the Flames. There is no reason their play should have dropped this far in as short a time span.