In the present day, we start by addressing the offseason query marks going through every NHL group as they head into the summer time. This week, we’ll concentrate on 4 of the groups that missed the playoffs, lots of whom face important challenges. Subsequent week, we’ll flip our consideration to the remaining 4 non-playoff groups, after which we’ll transfer on to the playoff groups as they’re eradicated – groups whose offseason questions are usually much less urgent.
Throughout the league, there was a flurry of teaching adjustments, together with the latest dismissal of Mike Sullivan in Pittsburgh. Within the Jap Convention, the Rangers, Penguins, Bruins and Flyers are all presently with out a everlasting head coach. Greg Cronin (previously of the Anaheim Geese) and Dan Bylsma (most just lately with the Seattle Kraken) now be a part of Peter Laviolette, Mike Sullivan, and John Tortorella amongst coaches who served throughout the 2024-25 season and are presently available on the market.
Boston Bruins – What route are the Bruins headed?
The Bruins missed the playoffs for the primary time in eight years, a season that additionally noticed them put up their lowest goals-per-game (GF/gm) and highest goals-against-per-game (GA/gm) marks of that span. On the commerce deadline, Boston shifted towards youth, buying Fraser Minten from Toronto within the Brandon Carlo deal and Casey Mittelstadt from Colorado in trade for Charlie Coyle. Different youthful additions embrace Marat Khusnutdinov, Jakob Lauko, William Zellers, and a stockpile of draft picks.
The choice to commerce a franchise pillar like Brad Marchand raises questions on whether or not the Bruins are getting ready for a full organizational reset. Because the retirements of Patrice Bergeron and David Krejci, Boston had managed to cobble collectively aggressive rosters — till this previous season. Now, important contracts awarded to David Pastrnak and Jeremy Swayman, together with present giant cap hits like Charlie McAvoy‘s, will make supplementing the core more and more tough.
Pastrnak, Swayman, Elias Lindholm, Hampus Lindholm, Mittelstadt, and Nikita Zadorov all carry cap hits north of $5 million, combining for $54 million of Boston’s $92.4 million cap for 2024-25. Even with the cap rising to $95.5 million in 2025-26, greater than half of Boston’s area might be tied up in simply six gamers. In the meantime, Joe Sacco stays a candidate for the everlasting head teaching position however nonetheless holds the “interim” tag and an eight-year worst GF/gm and GA/gm won’t look good on his resume. Whether or not Boston chooses to weaponize its younger property to retool rapidly or lean right into a longer-term rebuild will change into clearer as offseason trades and signings unfold.
Buffalo Sabres – When will the tides flip?
Fourteen seasons with out a playoff look. Eighteen seasons with out a playoff sequence win. For the Sabres, falling brief is not unfamiliar territory. But there are indicators of hope: Buffalo boasts one of many NHL’s strongest farm programs, and lots of of their prospects have already graduated to the NHL roster.
Regardless of their continued absence from the playoffs, the final three seasons mark the very best goals-for-per-game (GF/G) totals the franchise has posted in over a decade. The 2024-25 marketing campaign represents their second-highest GF/G season, trailing solely the 2022-23 group. The persistent concern, nevertheless, stays their purpose differential — the Sabres haven’t scored extra objectives than they’ve allowed since 2010. (For context: iPhones nonetheless had house buttons in 2010.)
Offense has not been the issue. Because the begin of the 2022-23 season, the Sabres rank sixth within the NHL in scoring. This yr’s squad matched the goals-per-game charge of the Stanley Cup-winning 2023-24 Florida Panthers and outpaced the 2024 playoff-bound Montreal Canadiens — a group that certified for the postseason regardless of a adverse purpose differential.
The true issues lie on the opposite aspect of the puck: protection and goaltending.
Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen (UPL) and Devon Levi, each extremely regarded prospects, have but to ship constant outcomes. Since Linus Ullmark‘s departure, the one Sabres goaltenders to keep up a save proportion above .900 are James Reimer (.901 SV%, 22 video games performed) and Craig Anderson (.902 SV%, 57 video games performed). And it isn’t simply the goalies — the group has ranked among the many league’s worst defensively over the previous three seasons, sitting sixth-worst in anticipated objectives in opposition to and bottom-ten in anticipated objectives proportion, scoring probability proportion, and high-danger probability proportion. Their group save proportion has been the third-worst within the NHL over that span. With out boosting the protection, the Sabres are doomed for a fifteenth season with out a playoff look.
Columbus Blue Jackets – Can They Remedy the Goaltending?
The Blue Jackets completed the 2024–25 season because the NHL’s eighth-highest scoring group and ranked second in objectives scored at even power. Whereas the facility play underwhelmed, it was goaltending that in the end price Columbus a playoff berth. Utilizing MoneyPuck’s uncooked Targets Saved Above Anticipated (GSAx) metric, Elvis Merzlikins ranked Thirteenth-worst amongst goaltenders who performed 20 or extra video games, whereas Daniil Tarasov ranked 18th-worst. On a per-60-minute foundation, Tarasov was the Thirteenth-worst performer and Merzlikins the sixteenth.
Regardless of the struggles, Tarasov stays a extremely regarded prospect with a excessive ceiling. Nevertheless, inside expectations for the Blue Jackets are clear: it is playoffs or bust. The offense was firing at an elite degree, Zach Werenski stayed wholesome and delivered a full season worthy of Norris Trophy consideration, and the younger ahead group persistently drove play and completed at excessive charges. Briefly, the whole lot was in place — besides the goaltending.
Merzlikins is signed by 2027–28 at a manageable $5.4 million cap hit, whereas Tarasov is a restricted free agent this summer time and Jet Greaves has one yr remaining on his present deal. The important thing query is whether or not Columbus will deal with the place in free company. Including a goaltender would probably require a further $5 million or extra in cap area, elevating the potential for a $10M-plus funding of their crease.
Obtainable UFA choices embrace Ilya Samsonov, Frederik Andersen, Alexander Georgiev, Jake Allen, Ville Husso, and Alex Lyon. Buying and selling both Merzlikins or Tarasov seems unlikely, but when the Blue Jackets are critical about turning their high-octane offense right into a playoff run, higher goaltending might be important.
Detroit Purple Wings – Will administration complement the roster?
Exit interviews revealed frustrations among the many Purple Wings gamers, most notably from captain Dylan Larkin, who was outspoken concerning the group’s inactivity on the commerce deadline. “We didn’t do something. We didn’t achieve any momentum from the commerce deadline. Guys had been form of down about it,” Larkin stated, making a pointed comparability to the extra aggressive strikes made by Montreal and Ottawa. The stagnant method appeared to deflate the roster heading into the stretch run.
Detroit faces a number of clear deficiencies: the penalty kill, defensive construction, and a necessity for a top-line winger to pair with Larkin and Lucas Raymond.
Patrick Kane or Alex DeBrincat look like the plain inside choices to fill the top-line winger spot, however the chemistry between Kane and DeBrincat complicates issues. Kane spent nearly all of his 5-on-5 ice time alongside DeBrincat — logging 997:57 minutes away from Raymond and simply 12:40 alongside him. In the meantime, Larkin’s most typical 5-on-5 linemates included 398 minutes with DeBrincat, 218 minutes with Kane, 153 minutes with Vladimir Tarasenko, 82 minutes with Jonatan Berggren, and smaller stretches with Christian Fischer and others. Lucas Raymond, in the meantime, rotated by 225 minutes with DeBrincat, 134 with Tarasenko, 112 with Elmer Soderblom, 95 with J.T. Compher, and 57 with Andrew Copp. Discovering a pure left-winger to stabilize the highest line is vital for reinforcing an offense that ranked simply twenty second in goals-for per recreation (GF/G).
The penalty kill, nevertheless, stays the Purple Wings’ most evident weak spot. Detroit completed lifeless final in PK proportion, permitting 55 objectives whereas shorthanded — accounting for over 21% of their complete objectives in opposition to. Amongst gamers with at the least 50 minutes of penalty kill time, J.T. Compher posted the worst goals-against charge (GA/60) in all the NHL. Moritz Seider, Detroit’s chief in PK ice time, recorded the sixth-highest GA/60 league-wide, whereas Andrew Copp ranked seventh. In complete, six Purple Wings gamers appeared among the many 25 worst PK performers within the NHL by GA/60.
Shoring up the penalty kill wouldn’t solely deal with their league-worst shorthanded play however would probably enhance Detroit’s even-strength protection as properly. Higher penalty killers are typically defensively sound throughout all conditions — a vital want for a group that ranked Twelfth-worst in goals-against per recreation throughout the 2024-25 season.
That is your Jap Edge Jap Convention replace for the week. Keep tuned for updates on NYI, NYR, PIT and PHI subsequent week, and the remainder of the Jap Convention following.
Thanks for studying, be happy to chirp me within the feedback under or be happy to succeed in out on X – @FHFHockey. Within the meantime, you possibly can catch updates from me on the 5 Gap Fantasy Hockey Podcast.
