Which Round 1 loser inspires the most – and least – hope for next season?
For this week’s Roundtable, we pour one out for the fallen teams of Round 1.
Perusing the wreckage of the Montreal Canadiens, New Jersey Devils, Ottawa Senators, Tampa Bay Lightning, St. Louis Blues, Colorado Avalanche, Minnesota Wild and Los Angeles Kings…which Round 1 loser’s trajectory are you MOST and LEAST optimistic about going forward?
MATT LARKIN: It’s all relative according to expectations. Optimistic: Montreal Canadiens. They broke through as a playoff team, and so many of their key contributors are nowhere near peaking yet. Lane Hutson just completed a spectacular rookie season, Ivan Demidov only got a late-season cup of coffee, Juraj Slafkovsky hasn’t given us a wire-to-wire consistent campaign yet…so there’s room for growth in 2025-26, while also not a significant level of pressure yet. Pessimistic: Colorado Avalanche. Again, it’s all relative, as the Avs could finish ahead of Montreal, but I’m worried Colorado swung and missed on a crucial opportunity this season and may have seen the end of its true Stanley Cup contention window. The Avs botched the Mikko Rantanen negotiation, traded their top prospect in Cal Ritchie for a rental, turned over half their team within a single season and couldn’t escape round 1. They only have so many prime years of Nathan MacKinnon and Cale Makar left and are beginning to look more top heavy, especially on defense.
SCOTT MAXWELL: Optimistic: The Minnesota Wild were one of the league’s top teams to start the season and really only faltered when Kirill Kaprizov got hurt. Once he returned, they gave the Vegas Golden Knights a bit of a scare in the first round. Add in the fact that they are finally free of the $14+ million shackles that were Ryan Suter and Zach Parise’s buyout cap hits and they have a really strong prospect pool that is already starting to come to fruition with Zeev Buium and Brock Faber, and this team has a chance to be a strong contender going forward. Pessimistic: You can’t help but wonder what’s next for the Los Angeles Kings. This was their best chance to beat the Edmonton Oilers, and they still botched it. They clearly lack the high-end talent, and it’s tough to see any player on their team developing into that, especially when a lot of the prospects they drafted have developed short of expectations. On top of that, their two franchise cornerstones in Anze Kopitar and Drew Doughty are in their twilight years and are already showing signs of decline. It’s not a totally unsolvable situation, but it feels like they’re in need of a big shakeup if they want to take that next step.
PAUL PIDUTTI: Optimistic: It’s clear the Ottawa Senators have turned a corner. Their young and previously fragile core should get a confidence boost from its first taste of the playoffs. Rebounding from a sloppy start, the Sens finished on a 35-18-5 heater and held up down the stretch. This group needs further development and some reinforcements, but their path to relevance is taking shape. How they manage 2025-26 given the renewed burden of expectations in Ottawa will be intriguing. Pessimistic: I loved following the L.A. Kings this season — their hybrid group of impactful young, old, and prime-aged players was a legitimate defensive juggernaut. But I’m with Scott here… When you look at the pieces, it’s difficult to see this as more than a competitive team without the upside to scare anyone. Jim Hiller provided that new coach bump, Darcy Kuemper was fantastic, and Anze Kopitar defied his birth certificate again. Yet, outside of Quinton Byfield and Brandt Clarke, there’s not a lot more juice to squeeze from the current roster, and it’s feeling like a team that Lord Stanley will continue to swipe left on.
STEVEN ELLIS: I’m siding with Matt on the Optimistic: Montreal Canadiens. I still believe they would have put up a bigger fight had Samuel Montembeault not gotten hurt. Not that Jakub Dobes was bad, but that extra difference could have been massive. They’ve got a young core and two decent picks in the first round. That’s a lot of potential trade chips on the table to get them the pieces they need to win now. Pessimistic: Tampa Bay Lightning. It’s been a while since we last looked at this team as anything but a true contender. But we’ve likely seen the last of Andrei Vasilevskiy in peak form and Victor Hedman isn’t getting any younger. I appreciate that they continue to find good players for cheap, but they just aren’t anywhere as scary as they were from 2020-22.
ANTHONY DI MARCO: Optimistic: Minnesota Wild. As I reported yesterday, GM Bill Guerin is gearing up for an aggressive summer with the buyout penalties to Parise and Suter finally dropping to a reasonable amount of under $2M on the cap. With a rock solid D-corps, great goaltending/young goaltending duo and impressive prospect pool, a shot in the arm in the way of an addition at center will push them into a Cup contending status. Pessimistic: Los Angeles Kings. Rob Blake is no longer in the GM chair, but he really derailed the Kings’ trajectory with trying to fast-track the rebuild with major swings via trade. He traded away Brock Faber, Gabe Vilardi, Alex Iafallo and Rasmus Kupari; in return, he wound up with Darcy Kuemper and Kevin Fiala. Also, many of the L.A.’s promising prospects they had have not exactly met expectations. What is Quinton Byfield ultimately? Is Alex Turcotte an everyday player? With guys like Anze Kopitar, Phillip Danault and Drew Doughty already on the back nine, I fear what lies ahead for the Kings.
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