The NHL offseason can drag, but the playoff picture doesn’t stay frozen for long. Rosters are mostly in place, camp is still a few weeks away, and the bigger question is which teams from last spring can actually hold onto their spots.
A few clubs that made the postseason last season look a lot shakier now, and the margin in the NHL is usually thin enough for that to matter fast. Here are three playoff teams from last year that I don’t think get back in.
Anaheim Ducks
No team had a rougher offseason than Anaheim, and it started with the kind of move that immediately puts a front office on the back foot. The Ducks were forced to pay Leo Carlsson on a five-year deal worth an $18 million annual average value after the Philadelphia Flyers’ offer sheet changed the tone of their summer.
That wasn’t the only young player creating pressure. Several teams were also interested in offer sheeting defenseman Pavel Mintyukov, and that pushed Anaheim into giving him a five-year contract with a $7.2 million AAV.
Part of the urgency there came from what had already happened on the blue line. John Carlson, whom the Ducks paid a first-round and third-round pick for at the 2026 Trade Deadline, and Jacob Trouba both left in free agency.
The result is a defense that looks bottom-10 in the league, with only $9 million in cap space and Cutter Gauthier still unsigned. Gauthier reportedly turned down a four-year deal with a $13 million AAV.
Anaheim also gave AJ Greer a four-year contract with a $4.25 million AAV, which is a steep price for a player who should be filling a fourth-line role. With that much turnover and that kind of damage on the back end, the Ducks look like a team that won’t have enough to claim a playoff spot in the Pacific Division.
Boston Bruins
Boston was one of last season’s surprise playoff teams, helped in part by the Toronto Maple Leafs’ and Florida Panthers’ decline opening a path in the Eastern Conference.
Jeremy Swayman’s rebound mattered a lot in getting the Bruins back in. But there are real reasons to think last year’s result was more of a one-off than the start of a run.
Conor Geekie gave Boston a huge early boost, but that start wasn’t sustainable. He won’t likely be the player he was at the beginning of last season, and he also doesn’t look like the version that managed only two goals over the final 22 games.
Last season he shot 21.5 percent, which is a number that stands out even after he has now posted back-to-back seasons above 21 percent. If that comes back down, Boston loses offense it can’t really afford to lose.
The bigger issue is the conference around them. Florida looks like a lock, and the Bruins don’t appear better than any of the three Atlantic Division teams that grabbed playoff spots that way last season. That leaves them chasing one of the wild-card spots, and there are other teams in the mix that I’d trust more.
Washington is one of them, and the second wild-card spot should be a fight. Boston isn’t being written off as a lottery team, but in a tighter Eastern Conference, it’s hard to see them being good enough to get back in.
Los Angeles Kings
Last season, it seemed like nobody really wanted the second wild-card spot in the Western Conference, and Los Angeles simply ended up with it.
The bigger problem was offense. The Kings finished 29th in goals, and while Peter Laviolette should help, this doesn’t look like a roster built to suddenly become dangerous.
A full season of Artemi Panarin would help, and so would Kevin Fiala if he can play a full season. But the overall mix still looks wrong: a defense corps that underwhelms and a forward group that already had trouble scoring.
Their minus-22 goal differential also tells the story. It was worse than any other playoff team this season.
With young teams like the San Jose Sharks and St. Louis Blues expected to take a step in the West, the Kings don’t look set up to make it six straight playoff seasons.
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