Sixteen tickets have been punched to chase Lord Stanley. The string has been played out, and for the other half of the field, a long summer awaits, with six months to stew until the puck drops again in October.
After the exit interviews this week, the real work begins. With that, here are 10 burning questions facing the NHL’s 16 non-playoff bound teams:
Does the New York Islanders’ ownership have a pulse?
Across the parking lot at Belmont Park, the Islanders would be listed as an “also ran” if the 2024-25 season was a horse race. Yep, they were there. But not really in the mix. And they don’t appear to be getting any closer. Their coach, Patrick Roy, was vocally critical on multiple occasions – of both his players and the players who were handed to him by GM Lou Lamoriello. So, what’s the plan? Lamoriello made a great trade at the deadline, bringing in Cal Ritchie and a first-round pick for center Brock Nelson. The Islanders need serious surgery, though. Their prospect pipeline is barren, their AHL team was toxic. The Hall of Fame Lamoriello is sharp as ever at 82, but is he the right leader to embark on a retool or rebuild? Will Roy remain as coach? Islanders ownership seems reticent to make change. Islanders fans are begging for a cohesive plan and action.
Will Denver’s David Carle make the jump to the NHL?
The Blackhawks, Flyers, Bruins and likely Penguins, Rangers and others want to know. Carle, 35, is the in-demand coach in this cycle. The two-time NCAA National Champion and back-to-back World Junior gold medal-winning coach has seemingly been more open to leaving Denver for the right opportunity in recent weeks. He will take his time to get a full view of the available jobs on the coaching landscape; Carle is a meticulous planner, nothing happens with him by accident. It will take a massive offer and a significant partnership built on trust in order to get him to leave Denver, where he could make a great living and have a job for life at his alma mater.
Who faces a steeper uphill climb this offseason: Buffalo or Nashville?
Honestly, it’s a difficult question to answer – because both franchises appear to be in such dark places. The Sabres spent the majority of the season in the basement of the Eastern Conference despite legitimate playoff hopes. The Predators finished 30th overall in a year in which some picked them to win the Central Division after their gaudy free agent acquisitions. Where do they go from here? Many are expecting wholesale front office and coaching changes in Buffalo. That likely won’t happen in Nashville, where GM Barry Trotz is in Year 2 and coach Andrew Brunette has a long-term contract. Buffalo can’t possibly embark on another rebuild. Nashville made long-term bets on aging players, and they still didn’t make the playoffs. It only gets worse from here for the Preds.
How aggressive should the Calgary Flames be this summer?
With a win in their season finale on Thursday night, the Calgary Flames will become the first team since 2018 to hit the 96-point mark and fail to make the postseason. It’s a relatively historic barrier to entry, at least in the salary cap era. Now what? Dustin Wolf nearly singlehandedly dragged the NHL’s 30th-ranked offense into the playoffs. The need is clear: they scored more than three goals in just 17 of 81 games. The Flames also arrive at this point, largely because of Wolf, ahead of schedule of spinning up a competitive build in time for the new Scotia Place’s opening in 2027. Wolf (likely) won’t allow them to be worse than a middle of the pack team. Is it time to get moving and for GM Craig Conroy to add this summer? If so, bet on a trade (or offer sheet) over adding aging free agents.
Is the Yzerplan broken?
Little Caesars Arena, one of the crown jewels of the NHL, opened in 2017 and has yet to host a Stanley Cup playoff game. Put another way: Steve Yzerman was hired as GM in 2019. The Montréal Canadiens played in the 2021 Stanley Cup Final, tore it down and completely built it up again – and they’re back in the playoffs before the Detroit Red Wings. No one said progression is linear, but Detroit regressed this season. Yzerman’s repeated failures in evaluating defensive talent at the pro level have dearly cost Detroit. Getting Axel Sandin-Pellikka over to North America is a big step. But the seat would be scorching hot now for any GM who is not a franchise icon.
Can the Blackhawks land a running mate for Connor Bedard?
Everyone has talked about the Blackhawks acquiring a top-end forward to play with No. 98 as if it’s like ordering chicken nuggets in a McDonald’s drive-thru. If it were that easy, the Kraken, Flyers and Blue Jackets would’ve already done it. The Hawks are in a fascinating spot. Bedard clearly needs a mental and physical reset this summer and to re-tool some of his skating and shot deception. They have an all-important coaching search on tap. But they also have so many positional boxes checked. They’ve got a legitimate embarrassment of riches on the back end, they’ve got their future goalie in Spencer Knight, and they have all the bottom-six forwards they need to compete already in their system. They just need the elite producer to go alongside, and that might be the hardest piece of the puzzle to find – but they’ve got the prospects, picks and cap space to find them.
Should the Vancouver Canucks move on from Elias Pettersson?
Missing the last 12 games of the season due to injury certainly didn’t send Pettersson into the offseason with an air of good feelings. This was one of the most turbulent seasons in Canucks history and so much of it involved Pettersson – from the feud with J.T. Miller that sent him cross-continent, to the injuries and a precipitous decline in play and production that hurt Vancouver’s playoff chances. Now what? Pettersson’s full ‘no-move’ clause kicks in on July 1. He has $78.3 million and seven years remaining on his contract – including a massive $10 million signing bonus due this summer. Is the play to put any potential rumor to bed now and declare he’s coming back? The Canucks can work with him on a cohesive offseason training plan. Or should they shop around and see if they can unload his contract and cut bait regardless of return?
Will the Rangers convey their 2025 1st Round Pick to the Penguins?
It’s an enormous offseason for Rangers GM Chris Drury. Everyone is expecting a coaching change on Broadway, and that’s the first step. Drury has already begun remaking this Rangers team, starting with the maligned Jacob Trouba trade from December. Forget trying to move the contracts of Mika Zibanejad or Chris Kreider. The biggest obstacle facing New York is how Drury will reinvent their defense corps, given that they’ve struggled to defend in front of Igor Shesterkin across two different coaching staffs now. And the other question looming is the Draft. They traded their first-round pick to Vancouver for J.T. Miller, who flipped it to Pittsburgh. It’s Top 13 protected. But the Rangers have an 80-percent chance to pick No. 11 overall. Is the play to convey the pick to Pittsburgh, then make sure that you keep your potentially unprotected 2026 first in a better/deeper Draft in case next season goes sideways?
What does Don Sweeney have up his sleeve in Boston?
The bad rumor that there was a resignation coming in the Bruins’ front office didn’t jibe because Sweeney has been pounding the pavement in recent weeks on the amateur scouting front. They deserve an award for their stealth tank job, doing it right, going from the playoff mix at the 4 Nations break to 28th place. The result: Boston has an 80 percent chance to pick inside the top five in June, including equal 9.5 percent shots at both No. 1 and No. 2 overall. That’s big. If you know anything about the Bruins, it’s that they don’t accept mediocrity and they won’t tear it down. They can’t, anyway. They’ve got top players at each position – David Pastrnak, Charlie McAvoy, Jeremy Swayman – and a will to turn it around quickly.
Can Kyle Dubas deliver on his promise to reboot the Penguins?
It has to sting for Pittsburgh ownership to watch the Washington Capitals, in a similar situation just two seasons ago, achieve their success this season. Washington clinched top spot in the East and they’ve got a prospect pipeline that is the envy of the league. Their window to win again is just opening this season. Now, Dubas has vowed to restart the Penguins and essentially accomplish the same exact thing. He’s going to try to deliver on what he hasn’t been able to already in the first two years of his tenure, and what his predecessor in Ron Hextall could not either – which is revamp around a core of expensive, aging players. He’s got extra picks and a thin prospect pool. He’s also going to have $20+ million in cap space for the first time. Buckle up.
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