Today’s date is December 20th — 5 days before Christmas and 11 before the calendar flips to 2026 — and the Eastern Conference standings remain RIDICULOUSLY close 🫣 Entering play today, all 16 (!!!) Eastern teams are at or above .500 as the NHL continues to see major parity as we near the unofficial halfway mark of the 2025-26 regular season 👀 For comparison, on December 20, 2024, SIX East teams sat below the .500 mark. Today, the Metropolitan Division (2nd to 7th) is separated by 5 points & the Atlantic (1st to 5th) by only 2 points. The Devils passed the 20 win & 40 point mark last night,sitting right up there atop the East after struggles in the past month, but now winners in 4 of their last 6 games. Over in the Western Conference entering play today, there are 7 teams that sit BELOW the .500 mark, however the top three teams in the league come from the Central.