The biggest hockey story that happened last season was the emergence of the Columbus Blue Jackets, Toronto Maple Leafs and Edmonton Oilers. All three of these teams have been in the bottom of the standings for the past couple of years, but through a couple of rookies and young players, better defense, and goaltending, all three teams made it to the playoffs. Whether these teams can make it to the playoffs this season remains to be seen. But they did give hope to other teams that could make the playoffs this season.
Here are some teams that haven’t been in the playoffs for a while but could surprise this season. The odds of any of these teams making the playoffs are still slim, but they could make some noise this season. It should be noted that people said the same thing about Toronto, Edmonton, and Columbus last offseason, too.
Arizona Coyotes
Since Arizona has been a bottom-dweller for the past couple of years, some of their best players — Oliver Ekman-Larsson, Max Domi and Derek Stepan — could be considered sleepers. With the moves that Arizona made this offseason, it looks like they are in the midst of a youth movement. Shane Doan, Mike Smith and even the coach Dave Tippett are all out. New coach Rick Tocchet will have a lot of young players to get acquainted with. Clayton Keller is a Calder trophy favorite considering his great college year. Dylan Strome is someone who also had a great season in the OHL. Lastly, with 33 points in 78 games, Christian Dvorak will be another young player that could benefit from this youth movement. Keller will likely be a taken in the mid to late rounds and would be the Auston Matthews equivalent in this analogy. Strome and Dvorak may not be drafted in a lot of leagues, but pay attention to them if they get hot early on.
At 26 years old, Antti Raanta is another intriguing pick if you are looking for a bench goalie. Raanta played in 26 games last season for New York and had a 2.26 GAA and .922 SV %. Since he’s never been a full-time starter, it remains to be seen if he can handle it. He’ll be worth a taking a flier on in the late rounds just to see if he can sustain those numbers for a full season.
Carolina Hurricanes
[the_ad id=”384″]Carolina and Arizona are very similar. Their best defensemen are very underrated. Justin Faulk had 17 goals and 37 points in 75 games. They also have a lot of young stars. Mainly Sebastian Aho, who had 49 points last season, which put him fifth in rookie scoring. He improved a lot later in the season, and the 20-year-old could take another step this year. At 22 years old, Elias Lindholm will be in his fifth season. His highest point total was 45 points last season. However, he played only 72 games and will likely get a bigger role in 2017-18. Carolina is an irrelevant team, so a lot of their players fall under the radar. Jeff Skinner and Jordan Staal both quietly had decent seasons and could be valuable mid-round picks.
Like Arizona, they also acquired a goaltender in the offseason — Scott Darling, who used to be a back-up but put up very good numbers in limited time. Darling had a .924 SV % and went 18-5-5 for Chicago last season. Like Raanta, it remains to be seen if he can sustain those numbers for a full season, but he’d be worth taking a flier on in the late rounds. Since Carolina is in the Metropolitan Division, it will be hard to see them make a run at the wild card. But they should be fun to watch, and they’ll have their moments.
Buffalo Sabres
If any team should be inspired by Toronto and Edmonton, it’s the Buffalo Sabres. For the last couple of years, Buffalo had been in the same spot as those two teams. However, due to injuries that kept a lot of key players out and not so great coaching, Buffalo fell to last place in their division again. However, when Jack Eichel returned in the second half, he had an outstanding 57 points in 61 games, which is better than what a lot of players did with a full season. Eichel will likely be a first or second round pick because of this. Rasmus Ristolainen had 45 points in 79 games. Ryan O’Reilly, Evander Kane, and Kyle Okposo all played well when healthy.
And let’s not forget goalie Robin Lehner, who had a .920 SV% on a last-place team. Sam Reinhart likely won’t be drafted in many leagues, but he is worth keeping an eye on. If the new coach, Phil Housley, can keep these players in check and improve the defense, the Sabres will be in the playoff hunt in no time.
Winnipeg Jets
This is the only team on this list that made the playoffs the year before. But they were swept in the first round by the Anaheim Ducks, so they don’t have a ton of playoff experience. Besides, a lot of their players either weren’t on the team or improved in a big way. It would be really surprising if Blake Wheeler, Patrik Laine, Dustin Byfuglien and Mark Scheifele get past the fourth round in any league. However, don’t be too upset if you can’t get any of those players because the Jets still have a lot of players who will go under the radar. Nikolaj Ehlers, who had 64 points last year and will likely be on the top line for Winnipeg next season, would be a good mid-round pick. Jacob Trouba, who had 33 points in 60 games as a defenseman, will also go unnoticed. Trouba is even more valuable in leagues that count hits and blocked shots. Bryan Little and Mattieu Perrault will also bring value to your team. Lastly, if you want to take a risky pick, draft Kyle Connor, who is a hyped 2015 draft pick that has been really good for the Michigan Wolverines. He could start right away and help the Jets.
The biggest question mark for the Jets is their goalie situation. Connor Hellebuyck went 26-19-4 with a SV% of .907 and 2.89 GAA in his second season. This, of course, isn’t terrible, but it’s not great, either. The encouraging thing is that Hellebuyck is 24 years old and will only get better in time. In the meantime, Winnipeg GM Kevin Cheveldayoff signed Steve Mason in the offseason to be a tandem with the young goalie. Mason went 26-21-8 with a .908 SV % and GAA of 2.66 last season in Philadelphia. However, Mason has shown signs of being really good and will benefit from a better defense in Winnipeg. If the Jets can figure out their goaltending situation, they are in good shape to be a playoff contender for years to come.
New Jersey Devils
Of the teams mentioned, this would be the most shocking if they actually made noise. Their defense is still very bad. However, Taylor Hall is one of the best left wingers in the league. He was injured for a bit of the season but still had 53 points in 72 games. Corey Schneider single-handedly was the reason the Devils didn’t tank to get Auston Matthews in the 2015-16 season. He had a down year last season, though, because the team’s defense was so bad. Schneider had a .908 SV% and a 2.82 GAA, his worst NHL season. However, the Devils hired Roland Melanson as their new goalie coach this offseason. Melanson was Schneider’s goalie coach in Vancouver and could help him out this season.
The Devils did end up with the first overall pick in the 2017 draft and selected Nico Hischier. Hischier will be a top six forward right away and could get 50+ points this season. Because of the hype, Hischier will be a mid-round pick in one-year leagues and one of the top picks in dynasty and keeper leagues. Adam Henrique could be a decent pick-up in the late rounds. Pavel Zacha, who was the 2015 sixth overall pick, had 24 points in 70 games last season. That isn’t great, but he’ll be relied upon more this season. The Devils acquired Marcus Johansson from the Washington Capitals. Johansson had 58 points in 82 games for Washington with an average of 17 minutes per game. Since New Jersey isn’t as good as the Capitals, Johansson will be relied upon more to be the power-play guy. He’d be worth taking a flier on. Defense is still a big question mark for the Devils, but if Hall and Schneider can get back to form, Hischier, Johansson, Henrique and Zacha can make an impact, New Jersey could make some noise this season, despite their defense.