Worst team next season

[jackjohnson]

Ducks or Sharks.

I can't see the Flames bottoming out with some of the vets they still have. Future trades will secure a bottoming out though.

Kinda wild how all 3 are in the pacific division.

Feels very top heavy with Oilers Knights and Vancouver.

I'd say they have the best team in the league, a top 6 team in the league and the Knights are well they won the cup.

They have 4 playoff teams and 4 non playoff teams

Playoff teams:
Canucks
Knights
Oilers
Kings

Non playoff teams:
Krakens (borderline)
Flames
Ducks
Sharks

Krakens would be a bubble team that would barely miss playoffs. I dont think they could dusplace any of the top 4 pacific teams. Central would also have jets, stars, preds and avs as guaranteed playoff teams. If Preds hadnt made tge huge improvements they did this off season i would have said it would be between them and kraken for wild card spot but after free agency its clear now that the preds will be a playoff team imo.

 

[Daishi]

It's got to be the Sharks. The Ducks are obviously trying to tank right now, but they have a long way to go to catch up.

Feels like the Ducks have tanked at least a decade. They and the Sharks seem to have a 30 year ish playoff drought incoming.

 

[KrisLetAngry]

They have 4 playoff teams and 4 non playoff teams

Playoff teams:
Canucks
Knights
Oilers
Kings

Non playoff teams:
Krakens (borderline)
Flames
Ducks
Sharks

Krakens would be a bubble team that would barely miss playoffs. I dont think they could dusplace any of the top 4 pacific teams. Central would also have jets, stars, preds and avs as guaranteed playoff teams. If Preds hadnt made tge huge improvements they did this off season i would have said it would be between them and kraken for wild card spot but after free agency its clear now that the preds will be a playoff team imo.

For me I have the Kings or Kraken getting in.
It's possible the Central gets 5 teams but highly doubtful.

I really wanted to put a fine line on 3 top teams and 3 bottoming out teams though.

 

[jackjohnson]

For me I have the Kings or Kraken getting in.
It's possible the Central gets 5 teams but highly doubtful.

I really wanted to put a fine line on 3 top teams and 3 bottoming out teams though.

LA is still better than Seattle though and Krakens didnt improve their roster that much this off season to be ahead of kings.

 

[BLNY]

SHARKS, BABY!

ALL THE 1ST OVERALLS ARE OURS!

GIven that it's "shark week" ...

 

[KrisLetAngry]

LA is still better than Seattle though and Krakens didnt improve their roster that much this off season to be ahead of kings.

Montour
Stephenson

Berniers a year older.

I am not saying they will 100% beat the kings but they did add to there roster.

 

[weastern bias]

GIven that it's "shark week" ...

 

[jackjohnson]

Montour
Stephenson

Berniers a year older.

I am not saying they will 100% beat the kings but they did add to there roster.

Yeah but still not enough. LA will have more of their young players improving and have some good prospects jumping in.

 

[The Gr8 Dane]

Sharks Hawks Ducks CBJ

 

[Canadienna]

A lot of reasons really, don’t like their goaltending at all, don’t like their defense at all, don’t think Suzuki is a true 1C, and their second line is just gross.

Remember you are comparing these guys to players on teams like ANA, CBJ, CHI, CGY and SJ. Not the top NHL teams.

Montembeault, or guys like Mrazek, Jones, Merzlikins, Vladar.

Suzuki, or guys like Monahan, Couture, Kadri, Zegras.

To be honest, I don't see how you came to your conclusion.

 

[Panthaz89]

the Sharks had a -150 goal differential last season, only one other team was even below -100

it's still them, and possibly still by a significant margin

That is absolutely insane and considering they only scored 181 they weren't far off from being doubled.

 

[Nikolajs Sillers]

I'll bet there will be unexpected bad team ala last years Jersey.

 

[The Hanging Jowl]

SHARKS, BABY!

ALL THE 1ST OVERALLS ARE OURS!

Couldn't you have at lease said "All your first are belong to us"?

 

[weastern bias]

Couldn't you have at lease said "All your first are belong to us"?

I thought about it, but I figured being last in wins 3 years in a row is cringe enough as it is, lol

 

[JPeeper]

The bottom 6 teams from the past two years have been the same 6 teams, Chicago, Anaheim, San Jose, Montreal, Utah and Columbus.

From what I can gather most of these teams are banking on their young guys developing or just staying healthy to see any improvement. Sharks, Ducks and Columbus could see improvements if that happens, Chicago added some NHL guys but I still think their roster is awful. Utah made some moves to try and be competitive and Montreal I think will be pretty mid to bad again.

Just based on divisions though I don't think anyone got better relative to the teams in their division so the bottom will be fairly similar again in 2025 if I were to guess.

Flames will be in tough to out tank Anaheim and San Jose in their own division unless Celebrini and Smith give San Jose a massive boost and Anaheim stays healthy.

 

[JasonDemersWasOkay]

Utah 32nd Armstrong and tourigny get fired and Ryan smith cries more for taxpayer money

 

[BurnabyJoe7]

Calgary is in the conversation. When you're sole adds in FA are Mantha and Lomberg you've basically given up and are focusing on some value at the deadline. Why not start the firesale? It's like they're playing poker and slowly losing all their chips, but refusing to sit out any hand before seeing the flop.

They should be trading Coleman and Backlund this offseason before their values drop. Andersson or Weegar will have good years so they can flip at least one next summer or even at the TDL.

 

[Drake1588]

It's the obvious and boring answer, but the Sharks again. They have the worst team on paper, and zero organizational intention of competing for the playoffs (or even respectability yet). They will be focusing on pro development, playing the kids, and securing another high draft pick.

 

[Crede777]

Columbus and Calgary have done nothing, and I can easily see either of them being the worst.

For Columbus, improvement will come from within due to young talented players just getting older / more experienced.

 

[madmike77]

Calgary is in the conversation. When you're sole adds in FA are Mantha and Lomberg you've basically given up and are focusing on some value at the deadline. Why not start the firesale? It's like they're playing poker and slowly losing all their chips, but refusing to sit out any hand before seeing the flop.

They should be trading Coleman and Backlund this offseason before their values drop. Andersson or Weegar will have good years so they can flip at least one next summer or even at the TDL.

They’re already 21 million under the cap. They can’t really sell anyone else or they’ll be under the cap floor.

 

[Bizz]

next year's bottom five:

28. Carolina
29. Calgary
30. Anaheim
31. Toronto
32. Vegas

 

[Blackhawkswincup]

Sharks look safe bet

 

[Luigi Lemieux]

Pittsburgh

I wish. Reality is they'll probably finish like 16-20th.

 

[frisco]

Flyers
Best Forward: Thomas Konecky
Best Defenseman: Cam York
Best Goalie: Someone named Samuel Ersson

Torts effect clearly wore off in the second half. More of the same next year.

My Best-Carey

 

[WhatTheDuck]

Okay, maybe tank is a bit strong. They look like they're not ready to buy in for their run just yet. They mostly just sat out free agency. Long term, this is probably a good strategy, but I expect they'll be very comfortably out of a playoff spot again this year.

I could be surprised.

It's easy to forget with the way the season turned out for them, but the Ducks actually started 9-6-0 in the first fifteen games last year, including a stretch where they won six straight and eight of ten. There were some unlikely miracle comebacks that propped that record up, but point being - we have already seen stretches where this group was more competitive, when the key young players were all healthy and playing. They could actually spread scoring across three lines and run with most teams. But then the injuries started to pile up (Zegras, Carlsson, Mintyukov, McTavish, Killorn all missing significant time) and Drysdale was traded for a prospect, suddenly the talent level dropped below a competitive level again.

Gauthier - Carlsson - Killorn (played together in the final game of the season after Cutter signed, instant chemistry. Two top young talents flanked by our most dependable vet winger)

Zegras - McTavish - Terry (shouldn't be anyone who is certain all three aren't capable of producing 70+ points if healthy)

Vatrano - Strome - Fabbri (three dependable [Fabbri health aside] veterans led by Vatrano coming off a 37 goal year)

Regenda - Lundestrom - Leason [Johnston] (there are other options to crack the roster including big Sam Colangelo who looked good in a short debut after signing after his college season. I have responsible Lundestrom flanked by the two 6'5 wingers who are both capable PKers.

It's not a world beating lineup by any means (and the lines may end up totally different for sure) but I also don't think you need a miracle to compete with that group either. Mostly you just need the top young guys to stay healthy and start to fulfill their potential. The goaltending is there, and the defense is solid if unspectacular, depending again on top young guys like Mintyukov, Zellweger, Luneau, Lacombe and how far along they are. Fowler, Gudas, Dumoulin, Vaakanainen make for fine veteran compliments.