OK, I did some rough after-schedule projections and came up with the following:
I separated teams into play-off teams (now they are - Kings 1, Wave 1, Heat, Ducks 2, Gulls 2), "tough" teams (OC2, Wave 2, Gulls 1, Goldrush2, Flyers - have no idea on them, just based on their drop-off from AA), wanna-be play-off teams (Mariners, Bears, Ice Dogs, Goldrush1, Gulls 3, Condors, Empire), and finally participants - all the rest (7 teams)
Also - not sure what to make of Lady Ducks as now teams that play them have 16 games scheduled and teams that do not play them have 15. Does it mean those games do not count?...
Anyway, Heat has the best schedule out of top 5 teams - just 4 games with tier 1-2 and 12 with other teams. Ducks 2 - toughest schedule - 8/8.
Flyers have the best tier-2 schedule 4-12 (6 games with tier-3 though), GR2 - 5-10 with only 4 games out of 10 with "wanna-bees", having 6 easy games. Wave 2 here have toughest schedule - 7-9 (7 games with top-2 tiers)
In tier-3 Empire, Ice Dogs and Gulls 3 are luckiest - 6-9 (or 10 if to include Lady Ducks) and Dogs with Empire have only 3 games vs their own tier (Gulls 3 have 4). Goldrush1 drew bad luck here - 10-5 (10 games with top 10 teams - not missing anyone).
What all this mean? Top 5 teams should easily qualify (well, Ducks 2 could not lose points to tier-3 and lower teams and need to win half of tough teams - quite probable). Next 3 play-off teams should come out of Flyers (again, have no idea how the team looks like - I know they lost their best players from Squirt A level), Gulls 1, Goldrush 2, OC2 and if chips falls right - Empire and Ice Dogs. Wave 2 and Gulls 3 somewhere in close pursuit. 22-24 points should be play-off barrier. If tier-2 teams won't be having too many upsets from tier-3 teams - then play-off level shifts towards 24+
That's my prediction - it is not set in stone and teams are yet to play. Would be nice to see if any "wanna-bees" make a run and challenge tier-2 teams. Tier-2 - with such a different schedule - fluctuating from 4-12 (12 being easier games) to 7-9 - could find themselves in different spots in standings.
Games start this weekend!