These 2024-25 non-playoff teams could make it in 2025-26 – and these playoff teams could miss
Playoff turnover brings excitement and optimism to many NHL fan bases because it happens so often. This past season, we saw five of 16 participants change year over year. The Boston Bruins, New York Rangers, New York Islanders, Nashville Predators and Vancouver Canucks went from in to out, replaced in the field by the Ottawa Senators, Montreal Canadiens, New Jersey Devils, Minnesota Wild and St. Louis Blues.
It’s thus always a worthy exercise to predict some playoff teams to miss the following year and some non-playoff teams to slide in the following year.
Which 2024-25 non-playoff teams could claw their way back in for 2025-26? And which playoff teams could miss the big dance?
It’s time for our annual game of Three In, Three Out.
MISSED 2024-25 PLAYOFFS, COULD MAKE 2025-26 PLAYOFFS
Anaheim Ducks
The Ducks, out of the playoffs since 2017-18, showed a pulse last season. Their .488 points percentage was their highest since 2018-19. Defenseman Jackson LaCombe blossomed into a high-impact player. Goaltender Lukas Dostal established himself as the long-term No. 1. Their highest-ceiling player, 20-year-old center Leo Carlsson, had 29 points in 31 games from February onward, while rookie Cutter Gauthier finished the year with seven goals in his final 12 games. The young core took a major collective step forward. Now they upgrade at head coach from the mercurial Greg Cronin to all-time great Joel Quenneville, whose off-ice exploits will always be in question but never his on-ice ones. Chris Kreider and Mikael Granlund join their top-nine forward group. Everything about this team’s trajectory points upward. If they can improve their league-worst defensive play even to just top-20 defensive play, they can jump from 80 points into the mid 90s.
Columbus Blue Jackets
The Blue Jackets were right there for much of 2025-26. They were 16-16-6 when the calendar turned to 2025 and went 24-17-3 the rest of the way, winning their final six games of the regular season and missing the playoffs by just two points. Incredible year-end heater by goaltender Jet Greaves aside, so much of the Blue Jackets’ success felt sustainable. They were the NHL’s fifth-youngest team by average age. On top of defenseman Zach Werenski putting together a dominant, MVP-tier campaign, they saw breakouts from forwards Adam Fantilli and Kirill Marchenko. Even the flashy Kent Johnson delivered his best season yet. The Blue Jackets will continue breaking in young contributors – defenseman Denton Mateychuk should stick for good this coming season – and they’ve retained most of their 2024-25 roster while adding center Charlie Coyle via trade. The vital cog going forward is Fantilli, who has a superstar ceiling and buried 31 goals as a sophomore. If he fully arrives as an all-star caliber player this coming season, that could push Columbus over the top. It feels like the Jackets can find the extra win or two necessary to punch their postseason ticket this time around, even if they’ve been quieter than expected with all their cap space this offseason.
Utah Mammoth
They improved from a 77-point team to an 89-point team in their first season after relocating from Glendale (and Tempe) to Salt Lake City. And that was despite two of their top four defensemen, John Marino and Sean Durzi, missing more than half the season with injuries. It’s fair to assume they’ll have better health luck going forward. Then we factor in the trade for high-end scoring left winger JJ Peterka, the depth signings of left winger Brandon Tanev and defenseman Nate Schmidt, and the fact key young forwards Logan Cooley and Dylan Guenther broke out last season and haven’t yet peaked. You don’t have to squint to see why this 89-point team looks like a 95-point team now.
MADE 2024-25 PLAYOFFS, COULD MISS 2025-26 PLAYOFFS
Ottawa Senators
The Sens ended an eight-year playoff drought in 2024-25 on the back of improved defensive play under coach Travis Green. They’ve finally caught up to the Atlantic Division pack and have some true stars entering their primes, most notably unicorn power forward Brady Tkachuk and smooth-skating blueliner Jake Sanderson. But the Sens as a team didn’t look too competitive in Round 1 of the playoffs, struggling to finish their chances and narrowly avoiding a sweep with an overtime win in Game 4, and their offseason has been somewhat stagnant. Jordan Spence was a nice get for their third defensive pair, and Lars Eller is a fine No. 4 center, but…where will the extra goals come from? The Sens’ prospect pool has graduated most of its most promising forwards and isn’t likely to yield significant internal help this season. So we have a 97-point team that looks pretty much the same for 2025-26. With the Canadiens on the rise, Ottawa looks like the fifth-best team in its own division right now, which doesn’t leave a ton of margin for error in the playoff race.
St. Louis Blues
The Blues were an incredible but improbable story during 2024-25’s stretch run, relying on a 12-game winning streak across March and April to propel them into the postseason. Dylan Holloway’s breakout provides serious excitement for the future, while Jimmy Snuggerud showed plenty of ability after finishing his NCAA career and turning pro late in the season. So why would I list the Blues among teams that could slide out of the playoff picture? Because I wonder if they were slightly ahead of schedule last season. They actually allowed more 5-on-5 scoring chances than they generated in 2024-25 – yes, even from March onward then they were positively on fire in the win column. Another key stat to know from March onward: the Blues had the second-highest shooting percentage in the NHL. Everything broke their way. They made a questionable trade of promising young two-way forward Zach Bolduc for potentially-good-but-we-don’t-know-yet young defenseman Logan Mailloux, they signed forwards Pius Suter and Nick Bjugstad, and on the whole I see a good, not great team that doesn’t look much different from one that needed an unsustainable late run to make the playoffs on a tiebreaker. I still feel the Blues have turned a corner in their retool, but it wouldn’t shock me to see them take a small step back toward the playoff periphery.
Toronto Maple Leafs
Mitch Marner’s playoff struggles are well documented, but he’s the NHL’s eighth-leading scorer since debuting in 2016-17. He’s also an excellent two-way forward who plays in all situations. Matias Macelli and Nicolas Roy were savvy additions but don’t come close to replacing Marner’s production. Now the Leafs’ top-end scoring will largely depend on Auston Matthews fighting off the chronic injury that reduced him from superstar to merely great in 2024-25, while they’ll hope John Tavares can repeat a 38-goal season at 35 years old. The Leafs, despite their reputation as a tighter-checking team under coach Craig Berube, were a mid-pack defensive team at best this past season, relying heavily on fantastic years from goaltenders Anthony Stolarz and Joseph Woll. If I’m placing a bet, I still have the Leafs making the playoffs next season – calm down – but they may slide back in a highly competitive Atlantic Division. If Matthews can’t stay healthy and the goaltending regresses, the Leafs could be playing white-knuckle April games to earn a berth. If they don’t add another top-fix forward by any means necessary between now and October, GM Brad Treliving’s offseason is a massive failure.
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POST SPONSORED BY bet365
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