These 2023-24 non-playoff teams could make it in 2024-25 – and these playoff teams could miss

Credit: Dec 27, 2023; Chicago, Illinois, USA; Winnipeg Jets center Adam Lowry (17) defends Chicago Blackhawks center Connor Bedard (98) during the second period at United Center. Mandatory Credit: David Banks-USA TODAY Sports

Parity has defined the NHL for much of the salary-cap era, and a product of that parity is playoff turnover. One season’s lottery team is the next season’s surprise contender, and vice versa. Look at the rollercoaster ride that was the New Jersey Devils over the past three seasons, from 28^th to third to 24^th in the overall league standings.

This past season, three teams made the Stanley Cup playoffs who had missed the year before: the Washington Capitals in the Eastern Conference and the Nashville Predators and Vancouver Canucks in the Western Conference. They pushed out the Devils, Minnesota Wild and Seattle Kraken, respectively.

Which teams might swap places in the revolving door this coming season? It’s time to play our annual game of Three In, Three Out.

MISSED 2023-24 PLAYOFFS, COULD MAKE 2024-25 PLAYOFFS

New Jersey Devils

This one is an absolute tap-in. The Devils were a borderline juggernaut in 2022-23, finishing with the NHL’s third-best record, but spent so much of 2023-24 trying to play catchup. They couldn’t overcome long-term injuries to their top defense pair of Jonas Siegenthaler and Dougie Hamilton and significant missed time from top forwards Jack Hughes and Timo Meier. They received putrid goaltending from Vitek Vanecek, Akira Schmid and Nico Daws. Through March 8, the day they traded for Jake Allen, the Devils had the league’s 30^th-best goaltending at .901. Post-Allen? They were 18^th in SV% at .912. They’ve since added Jacob Markstrom to form a strong tandem. They’ve insured themselves against repeat injuries to their defense by adding veterans Brett Pesce and Brenden Dillon. If this team misses the playoffs in 2024-25, I’ll be stunned.

Chicago Blackhawks

If you think I played it too safe with the Devils, it’s time to provoke some spit takes. Chicago? One year after it finished with the NHL’s 31^st-best record? Hear me out. We’ll start with the Connor Bedard piece of it. He averaged 0.897 points per game as an 18-year-old. The only two 18-year-olds this millennium to exceed that scoring rate are Sidney Crosby and Connor McDavid. They both underwent major production leaps as second-year players, winning the Hart and Art Ross Trophies and making the playoffs. Given Bedard is on a generational talent trajectory, it’s reasonable to believe he can explode into the 100-point stratosphere as a sophomore – if he has a decent enough team around him. General manager Kyle Davidson set out to provide that this offseason, adding Tyler Bertuzzi and Teuvo Teravainen to the top-six forward group, with Ilya Mikheyev and Pat Maroon sprinkled in for depth. Factor in Taylor Hall’s return from injury and that’s a vastly improved forward corps. With TJ Brodie and Alec Martinez added to the D-corps and Laurent Brossoit, arguably the NHL’s best backup this past season, improving their crease, the Hawks look significantly improved on paper. Best of all, they achieved that without a bunch of ill-advised long-term contracts. Which brings us to the next team on this list…

Seattle Kraken

Improvement isn’t always a good thing. The Kraken are determined to correct course and get back into the playoffs after missing out this past season. Adding Chandler Stephenson to the forward group and Brandon Montour to the blueline should help them do that, sure. Stephenson brings speed, playmaking and the ability to man multiple forward positions. Montour is one of the game’s more dynamic offensive blueliners. Both are Stanley Cup winners. It seems extremely unwise to pay two 30-year-olds, neither of which is a true star, a combined $13.39 million for the next seven seasons, which is why I placed Seattle among my free agency losers, but that doesn’t change the fact this team clearly got stronger in the present. In hockey’s weakest division, Stephenson and Montour might be enough to make Seattle the fourth-best club in the Pacific.

MADE 2023-24 PLAYOFFS, COULD MISS 2024-25 PLAYOFFS

Los Angeles Kings

Rob Blake was hired as Kings GM seven years ago. His club has yet to win a playoff series during his tenure. The 2023-24 Kings were enough of a disappointment in his eyes to fire coach Todd McLellan partway through the year. You’d think the Kings would thus rank among the most aggressive improvers this offseason. But while they’ve been busy…they’ve arguably been busy making themselves worse. They freed themselves from Pierre-Luc Dubois’ contract, but in the process they still removed a 40-point scorer and shifted from Cam Talbot to Darcy Kuemper in net, which, based on last season, is a downgrade in net at a higher price. They watched Matt Roy, one of the game’s better shutdown blueliners, and Viktor Arvidsson, who is injury prone but effective when healthy, walk as UFAs. They handed a three-year deal to checking forward Warren Foegele and a four-year deal to stay-at-home blueliner Joel Edmundson, chewing up more than $7 million in combined cap space on depth players. So the Kings are…worse in net, worse offensively and worse defensively than they were a year ago. Even if exciting young forward Quinton Byfield takes another step forward, it won’t offset how badly Blake has struck out this offseason. The Kings are in real danger of missing the playoffs.

New York Islanders

Hey, at least they brought in Anthony Duclair this time. That qualifies as doing a lot given the catatonic standard GM Lou Lamoriello has established in recent offseasons. It sometimes feels like I pick on the Isles a lot in this space, but it’s simply because their roster is so…stale. They’re currently returning virtually the same team that finished with 94 points and bombed out of the first round, one year after they…returned virtually the same team that finished with 93 points and bombed out of the first round. Given how likely the Devils are to overtake them in the Metropolitan Division and how competitive the Atlantic Division continues to be, it’s difficult to see how the Isles, with their popgun offense and historically bad penalty kill, make the postseason. Do you think they’re better than Carolina, the New York Rangers, New Jersey, Washington, Florida, Boston, Toronto or Tampa? Not to mention Detroit?

Winnipeg Jets

It feels like 2023-24 was the season Winnipeg needed to make a run. Despite a strong regular season that included a Vezina Trophy turn from Connor Hellebuyck and some of the best team defense in the NHL, the Jets flamed out in Round 1 of the playoffs. They’ve since said goodbye to defensemen Dillon and Nate Schmidt, forwards Tyler Toffoli and Sean Monahan and backup goaltender Brossoit, with scoring forward Nikolaj Ehlers hoping for a trade out of town. General manager Kevin Cheveldayoff’s key additions include depth defensemen Colin Miller, Haydn Fleury and Dylan Coghlan and bottom-six forward Mason Shaw. This roster is decimated, and three of Winnipeg’s Central neighbors, the Blackhawks, Predators and Utah HC, have been busy making upgrades. Wins won’t come as easily for the Jets this coming season.

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