<p>Plenty of teams still fight on the Stanley Cup playoff periphery, with the Wildcard races still very much in progress, but for the cellar&nbsp;dwellers –&nbsp;the teams already eliminated (or virtually eliminated) from contention – the 2023-24 NHL season is essentially over.&nbsp;</p>



<p>It’s been a rough&nbsp;year for these&nbsp;clubs, so let’s sprinkle some optimism&nbsp;dust on them. Seemingly every year, at least one non-playoff team from the previous season experiences a massive glow-up. Last season it was the New Jersey Devils. This season: the Vancouver Canucks.</p>



<p>So, Roundtable:&nbsp;<strong>Which non-playoff team will break out (or bounce back) in a big way next season?</strong></p>



<p><strong>MATT LARKIN:&nbsp;</strong>The&nbsp;<strong>New Jersey Devils&nbsp;</strong>deserve a mulligan for 2023-24. The injury bug bit them badly early on, and they spent much of this season without their top pair on defense in Dougie Hamilton and Jonas Siegenthaler. Their goaltending totally flopped, too. But Jake Allen has given them stability that bodes well in their crease for next season, while GM Tom Fitzgerald has vowed to pursue an additional big-fish upgrade in goal. Talent wise, this team is still stacked, and Jack and Luke Hughes will keep getting better. Improved injury luck and even league-average goaltending would make this a 100-point team next year. Another sleeper squad to break out: the Chicago Blackhawks, depending on how aggressive they decide to be in free agency.</p><div class="injected-ad injected-video" data-nn-ad-tech-injection-count="0" data-nn-ad-tech-max-gap="130" data-nn-ad-tech-current-gap="220"></div>



<p><strong>SCOTT MAXWELL:&nbsp;</strong>They aren’t officially out of it yet, but I’m going to go with the West’s mulligan option:&nbsp;<strong>the Minnesota Wild</strong>. They’re in one of the most unique situations in the league considering that they have almost $15 million in dead cap space thanks to the buyouts of Zach Parise and Ryan Suter, and you had to figure that with such a small margin for error in terms of spending, there was going to be one season during this stretch where it just didn’t go their way. That said, they still have a really good team with Kirill Kaprizov, Matt Boldy, Joel Eriksson Ek, Jared Spurgeon, Jonas Brodin, and perhaps most importantly, a blooming Brock Faber and Marco Rossi on entry-level deals, along with several excellent complementary pieces. On top of that, they’re about to substitute Marc-Andre Fleury with one of the best goalie prospects in the league in Jesper Wallstedt to share the crease with Filip Gustavsson. It’s a good core to build around, and they’ll have around $9.5 million in cap space this summer with no significant free agents. A postseason return is no guarantee with that dead cap space on the sheets, but it feels like everything’s set for the Wild to do so next season after barely missing this season.</p><div class="injected-ad" data-nn-ad-tech-injection-count="1" data-nn-ad-tech-max-gap="130" data-nn-ad-tech-current-gap="213"></div>



<p><strong>FRANK SERAVALLI:&nbsp;</strong>I’m going to go with the&nbsp;<strong>Buffalo Sabres</strong>. I know, look at this moron, picking the team with the longest playoff drought in pro sports. I covered their last playoff appearance in 2011, and that feels like a lifetime (and 75 pounds) ago. Here’s the thing: I am a Buffalo Believer. I love what Kevyn Adams is doing with that defense corps. Rasmus Dahlin, Owen Power, Mattias Samuelsson and now Bowen Byram is a legit Top Four that rivals just about any back end in the business. But they need help up front. Tage Thompson and Alex Tuch can’t do it alone. JJ Peterka was one of the breakout players of the season. But Buffalo needs more firepower. They need to get bigger, they were pushed around a lot this&nbsp;season, and they need some veteran&nbsp;savvy. Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen was a bit of a revelation in net, and Devon Levi will only improve. Since Jan. 1, they’ve played at a 91-point pace, which is close to this year’s playoff cut. They don’t award postseason spots based on half seasons, but they were a lot closer one year ago, and I think they can bounce back big time.</p><div class="injected-ad" data-nn-ad-tech-injection-count="2" data-nn-ad-tech-max-gap="130" data-nn-ad-tech-current-gap="195"></div>



<p><strong>STEVEN ELLIS:</strong>&nbsp;Let it be known that Matt always takes the easiest, low-hanging fruit every single week and it’s super lame. But I’m going with the&nbsp;<strong>Montreal Canadiens</strong>. I’m not convinced they’re a playoff team, but they’ve shown some promising signs recently. They’ve been in a rebuild since making the Stanley Cup Final in 2021, but they’ve also gone with such a young core with a 24-year-old captain, too. Nick Suzuki, Cole Caufield, Kirby Dach, Alex Newhook, Joshua Roy, Kaiden Guhle, Arber Xhekaj, Jayden Struble and Jordan Harris is an interesting young core to build around – and the recent rise of Juraj Slafkovsky is exciting, too. The Canadiens should have Lane Hutson in the mix next year and David Reinbacher isn’t far away, either. Mix in an underrated but solid goalie duo of Samuel Montembeault and Cayden Primeau – and potentially another high-caliber draft pick forward or defender at the draft this year – they’re bound to be a better team next year. They’ve still got some holes to fill in the lineup with under $10 million in cap space, and they’d benefit from shedding Christian Dvorak’s $4.45 million cap hit, but I think the Habs will be closer to a playoff spot than the absolute bottom next year.</p><div class="injected-ad" data-nn-ad-tech-injection-count="3" data-nn-ad-tech-max-gap="130" data-nn-ad-tech-current-gap="208"></div>



<p><strong>MIKE GOULD:&nbsp;</strong>I’ve been critical of the&nbsp;<strong>Ottawa Senators&nbsp;</strong>in the past but I think they have a chance to make something special happen next year with a summer to let things settle down. That organization has been through a&nbsp;<em>lot</em>&nbsp;over the past few years. With Steve Staios now firmly in place as GM, I look forward to seeing them hire a head coach this summer and move forward from there. They’ve got so many talented players in place. It’s just a matter of assembling the right collection of depth players (and starting to make good draft picks again). A lot of the legwork has already been done, notwithstanding some of the shoddy GM practices under the previous regime. We’ve been fooled by the Sens many times before, but I’m willing to say next year will be the one.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p><div class="injected-ad" data-nn-ad-tech-injection-count="4" data-nn-ad-tech-max-gap="130" data-nn-ad-tech-current-gap="135"></div>



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