The Top Storylines to Follow in Final Week of the 2014-15 NHL Season

This is it. The final week in the NHL's regular season.

With the playoffs just around the corner, there are some great storylines to follow down the stretch, from playoff races to individual honors up for grabs.

Who is about to miss the postseason is just as important as who will find a way in.

Click ahead to check out the top storylines to watch the rest of the way.

Presidential, Sweet

Kathy Willens/Associated Press

The race for the Presidents' Trophy has been a bit of a blowout the past couple of years, with the Boston Bruins and Chicago Blackhawks locking up the NHL's top spot with relative ease.

This year, a few teams still have a shot at the league's regular-season title.

The Anaheim Ducks and New York Rangers are the two most likely as they each battle for their conference's top seeding. Thanks to a four-game winning streak, the Rangers have the upper hand at 109 points with three contests remaining (against the New Jersey Devils, Ottawa Senators and Washington Capitals). The Ducks sit at 107 with two games left on their schedule (vs. the Dallas Stars and Phoenix Coyotes).

If the Rangers and/or Ducks struggle, the St. Louis Blues may be the next best bet with three games left (against the Winnipeg Jets, Chicago Blackhawks and Minnesota Wild). They currently have 105 points and can finish with a maximum of 111.

Will the Defending Cup Champs Have a Chance to Defend?

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Teams that win the Stanley Cup typically see their light fade more slowly. The Los Angeles Kings, defending Cup champs, are at risk of becoming the first to miss the playoffs in the season immediately following the claiming of the NHL title since the 2006-07 Carolina Hurricanes.

The Kings are in a back-and-forth battle with the Calgary Flames and Winnipeg Jets for the final two playoff spots—either as the third seed in the Pacific Division or the second wild-card spot.

A head-to-head contest against the Flames this week could determine their fate. The two are currently tied with 93 points, but the Flames own the first tiebreaker of more regulation victories. The Kings play the Edmonton Oilers and San Jose Sharks in their other games remaining.

Tight Race for the Scoring Title

Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports

Six players who are producing at least one point per game are atop the leaderboard, with only two points separating the top five.

Sidney Crosby of the Pittsburgh Penguins is first with 81 points in 74 games, while rival Alex Ovechkin of the Washington Capitals trails by one with 80 points in 79 contests. John Tavares of the New York Islanders also has 80 in 79, with Dallas Stars winger Jamie Benn at 80 in 80.

Philadelphia Flyers winger Jakub Voracek sits fifth with 79 points in 79 games. Any of these five could come out on top with just one big multipoint game. For that same reason, you can't rule out the Stars' Tyler Seguin, who has had four games with two or more points in his last seven outings. 

The Art Ross Trophy race is going down to the wire.

Can the Senators Pull off the Impossible?

John E. Sokolowski-USA TODAY Sports

The Senators were 14 points out of a playoff spot on February 7. A month later, they are just two points behind three teams in the Eastern Conference playoff hunt with two games to play.

They have racked up an 18-3-3 record in their last 24 games. Their impressive run has made for an interesting final couple of weeks in the Eastern Conference picture.

They still need help from the teams ahead of them, and games against the Pittsburgh Penguins, New York Rangers and Philadelphia Flyers won't be easy. Nevertheless, they still have a shot, and considering where they sat 30 days ago, that's an amazing accomplishment.

Former Finalists' Streaks at Risk

Mark Humphrey/Associated Press

If the Senators manage to get in, it will likely be at the cost of one of the two finalists from back-to-back Stanley Cup championship series in 2008 and 2009.

The Detroit Red Wings and Pittsburgh Penguins are currently in the wild-card spots in the Eastern Conference after spending the better part of a decade as two of the best franchises in the league. Following the 2004-05 lockout, the Penguins missed the playoffs in the return season and not since. They won the 2009 Stanley Cup against the Red Wings after losing to the Wings the previous spring.

The Wings have an NHL-best 23-season playoff streak hanging in the balance but have a fairly friendly finish with two games against the Carolina Hurricanes and only one against a top playoff team, the Montreal Canadiens. The Penguins go head-to-head with the Senators in a key matchup and then face the New York Islanders and Buffalo Sabres.

The Rookie Race

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Filip Forsberg of the Nashville Predators and Johnny Gaudreau of the Calgary Flames couldn't be more different. Yet the vastly different players have produced nearly identical numbers and are the top forwards in the hunt for Rookie of the Year honors.

On defense, teenager Aaron Ekblad of the Florida Panthers and John Klingberg of the Dallas Stars are also in a neck-and-neck battle for the title of best freshman at their position.

The foursome represents the front-runners for the Calder Trophy this year. As of Sunday night, Gaudreau and Forsberg were tied in scoring with 61 points. Both have strong plus/minus numbers and average more than 17 minutes per game.

Although some still love the fact he's a teenager and a draft-year rookie, Ekblad has fallen behind Klingberg in points, and the Stars defender has played far fewer games. That may split the defensive vote, leaving the points leader among the forwards to pull it off.

Gaudreau plays the Phoenix Coyotes, Los Angeles Kings and Winnipeg Jets. Forsberg plays the Colorado Avalanche, Minnesota Wild and Dallas Stars.

Late riser Mark Stone has also crept up thanks to 14 goals and 42 points in his last 42 games.

Odds-on Lottery Favorites

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Two teams are looking at landing one of two of the draft's elite prospects this spring in Jack Eichel and Connor McDavid.

Call it the race for last. The loser lottery.

The last-place team has a 20 percent shot at taking the first pick and an 80 percent chance of landing second. And that is as hotly contested a battle as the ones taking place for the playoff spots. The Buffalo Sabres have 54 points, the Arizona Coyotes have 56, and the Edmonton Oilers have 59.

The Sabres have just two games remaining, with the other two teams playing three more.

The NHL draft lottery will take place April 18, and one of these teams—maybe two—will be landing a generational talent.

Fallout Boys

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The Toronto Maple Leafs, Philadelphia Flyers and San Jose Sharks stand out as teams that will be extremely active in the firing/trading department after awful regular-season displays.

All three are looking at top-10 draft picks this spring instead of a Stanley Cup opportunity, which means plans didn't go as they'd hoped.

There will be plenty of speculation this week as to the direction each of these teams should go. Phil Kessel's name will be skewered in Toronto, both Joe Thornton and Patrick Marleau will be under fire in San Jose, and everyone but Claude Giroux and Jakub Voracek will be talked about as potential fallout boys in Philly.

Who Has the Most Hart?

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An interesting fact: Since the NHL first gave out the Hart Trophy in 1924, only six different goaltenders have been judged the most valuable player to their team in the NHL (with Dominik Hasek winning twice in back-to-back seasons in the late 1990s).

The last to win it was Jose Theodore in 2002 as a member of the Montreal Canadiens. If a goalie wins again this year, it will certainly be another Habs netminder.

Carey Price is the runaway favorite for the Vezina Trophy as the league's best goalie and a popular choice for the Hart as well. His Canadiens are in the bottom third in league scoring, and he has faced the fourth-most shots in the league but still manages to lead in wins, save percentage, goals-against average and shutouts.

There are some other good candidates. Alex Ovechkin has a double-digit lead in the goal column. John Tavares is in the hunt for the league scoring title and is far and away his team's best player statistically. Sidney Crosby leads the NHL in points per game and has a good shot at finishing atop the leaderboard as well.