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Four disappointing teams that should be back in the playoffs next season

March 24, 2017, 12:12 PM ET [8 Comments]
Adam Proteau
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The end of the NHL’s regular season is only a few weeks away, and it feels like, with every passing day, at least one more franchise has its playoff hopes snuffed out as reality sets in. Some of those teams have faced the music for weeks, if not months now, while others have had the bitter taste of disappointment settle into their systems very recently. But although all will have the same cry of “just wait ‘till next year!”, there’s a good chance many will be outside of the post-season mix once again in 2017-18.

Indeed, if the season ended today, three Eastern Conference clubs (the Carolina Hurricanes, New Jersey Devils and Buffalo Sabres) and four Western Conference teams (the Colorado Avalanche, Arizona Coyotes, Vancouver Canucks and Winnipeg Jets) would miss the post-season for at least two years in a row. As their plight indicates, it's a process and an achievement to get out of the league's have-not group, and sometimes that process feels like an exercise in wheel-spinning. So which current non-playoff teams have the best chance to make the post-season in the spring of 2018? Here’s one observer’s best estimate of four franchises you can expect will at least be challenging for a playoff wild card berth, if not a slot in the top three in their division:

1. Tampa Bay Lightning. The Lightning won 96 regular-season games in the two years that preceded the current campaign, leading many to expect they’d be right back near the top of the Atlantic Division again this year. But a ravenous injury bug attacked them, and a porous defence dug them a hole that even a strong second half of the season (including a 12-2-3 run from early February through mid-March) couldn’t pull them out of. There’s still a chance they can make a late run for the final wild card berth, but their current three-game losing skid could be the thing that ultimately closes the door on their playoff chances.



That said, when the Bolts get captain Steven Stamkos back at full strength next season – and when GM Steve Yzerman uses some of the salary cap flexibility he created at the NHL trade deadline to help him keep his core of young talent together this summer – there’s every reason to expect they’ll be very competitive and battling for home ice advantage in the 2018 post-season. Tampa will always be an attractive destination for free agents, and Yzerman has proven to be an active dealmaker who’ll do his utmost to win, and win sooner than later. With a few tweaks (particularly, to their blueline) the Lightning should be a force to reckon with next year.

2. Dallas Stars. Like the Lightning, the Stars also had some big blows on the injury front this season –  forwards Jason Spezza and Patrick Sharp have played a combined 105 games – and their play in their own end has been calamitous. The result has made them of the most disappointing teams in the league, and while that may cost head coach Lindy Ruff his job, it doesn’t take away from the fact Dallas still has a lot of talent that isn’t going to be traded away in a basement-to-ceiling rebuild in the off-season.

Stars GM Jim Nill will have more than $20 million in salary cap space to play with, but the big question centers around his goaltenders, as both Kari Lehtonen and Antti Niemi are signed through next year at a total cap hit of $10.4 million. Nill might need to use some of that cap space to take on a bad contract to unload either Niemi or Lehtonen, but many hockey people believe it would be worth it.

 The Stars’ offence suffered a precipitous drop this season (from an average of 3.23 goals-for per game last year to 2.72 in 2016-17), but with Jamie Benn, Tyler Seguin and a healthy Spezza, it’s unlikely they’ll be hurting for goals next year.

The issue in Dallas clearly is preventing the other team from scoring, and if there’s a new coach in town and a better player between the pipes, the Stars could quickly remind people there was a reason why they were the West’s best regular-season squad in 2015-16.



3. Winnipeg Jets. This is the Jets’ sixth NHL season since the former Atlanta Thrashers organization set up shop in Manitoba, and fan patience with management’s patience is wearing thin. That’s not reason enough on its own for GM Kevin Cheveldayoff to make major changes to his roster, but he does have cap space – some $18 million, according to capfriendly.com – and, more importantly, he’s got a young defenceman in Jacob Trouba who may still be amenable to a trade out of town, at a time when talented blueliners are at a premium and who could command quite a bit in return. And both he and head coach Paul Maurice are at a point where results need to be seen, and soon, if they’re both to remain in town for the long term.



As such, if the Jets don’t mind trading within their division, might Trouba be part of a package that could land Winnipeg one of Colorado’s stellar young forwards? Stranger things have happened. Regardless of where Trouba ends up, I’ve got a hunch Jets management makes at least one deal of significant consequence this summer, and that move helps propel them back into the playoffs - and to at least one playoff game victory once they’re there. Talents such as Mark Scheifele, Dustin Byfuglien and Patrik Laine need just a little more balance and depth around them to take this franchise to the next level in the competitive cycle.



4. New York Islanders. The Islanders may yet squeak into the playoffs this year, but they’re not looking like a team that can do much damage even if they do. And that’s simply not acceptable for a franchise that has employed John Tavares for eight seasons now. They’d looked as if they’d turned a corner in the 2016 post-season after winning a playoff round for the first time since 1993, but this year they’ve fired their head coach, put their goaltenders on a carousel and their defence is one of the worst in the league. That definitely counts as a step backward.



Nevertheless, there are encouraging signs for next year: the late-season emergence of rookie Joshua Ho-Sang (three goals and seven points in his first 11 NHL games) bodes well for the Isles’ offence; after a dip in production in 2015-16, winger Anders Lee has set new personal bests in goals (27) and points (44) and is under a very reasonable $3.75-million cap hit for the next two seasons; and Nick Leddy is a staple on the back end. GM Garth Snow doesn’t have much cap flexibility, with approximately $2.4 million in space for next season. But if he can make the right moves on the trade front and bolster his blueline while adding depth to the forward unit, the Isles have a better-than-decent shot at getting back on an upward trajectory.

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