The Vegas Golden Knights won the Stanley Cup in 2023 after missing the playoffs in the 2021-22 season. Otherwise, it’s a rarity for a team to miss the playoffs one season and hoist Lord Stanley’s Mug the next. The only other time in the past decade a team won it all after missing the playoffs was in 2019 with the St. Louis Blues (who also were in last place halfway through that season).
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There are plenty of teams that missed the playoffs last season that look to make the playoffs this time around. However, which teams can go even further and win the Stanley Cup this season? Non-playoff teams have a handful of question marks, and Cup teams check off a lot of boxes; the teams on this list have their flaws but a lot going for them that make them intriguing picks to win it all.
Ottawa Senators
There’s the trio of the Buffalo Sabres, Detroit Red Wings, and Ottawa Senators to choose from as three rebuilding teams that missed the playoffs last season with good arguments to compete moving forward. All three also have glaring weaknesses that will likely keep them out of the playoffs. The Sabres and Red Wings both lack depth and have questions in the net (with neither team possessing a proven starting goaltender.) The Senators, meanwhile, have a new head coach and general manager (GM), took a big step back last season, and, at the moment, lack an identity. So, why are they the team that can go from missing the playoffs to winning the Cup?
The first thing working in their favor is the core they have in place. Brady Tkachuk, Tim Stutzle, and Thomas Chabot are cornerstones to build around. Tkachuk is a power forward who plays a unique style while Stutzle is a fast-paced playmaking forward but both are entering the primes of their careers and look to lead an offense that has plenty of complementary skaters in it. Those skaters include Claude Giroux, Drake Batherson, Ridley Greig, and Shane Pinto, all of whom give the Senators a great forward unit.
There were also the offseason additions that addressed the big needs on the roster. The Senators needed depth, so they added David Perron, Michael Amadio, and Nick Jensen. They needed a reliable starter, so they acquired Linus Ullmark in a trade with the Boston Bruins. They needed a head coach who could work with both the stars and role players, so they hired Travis Green, a role player himself back in his playing days who has worked with star power in his previous stops.
The Senators look like a playoff team heading into the season. On top of that, if they can get into the playoffs, they can make some noise as well in part because of their roster build. They have forwards who can pivot and win both high-scoring and low-scoring contests while also possessing a reliable goaltender who can help them put together a deep playoff run. The Senators are known as a snake-bitten franchise but don’t sleep on them heading into the new season.
Seattle Kraken
The Seattle Kraken are a team that can go in a lot of directions this season. This is their fourth season in the NHL and it’s hard for the casual fan to know if they are good, bad, or name five players on their roster. Like the Anaheim Ducks, they’ve become one of the teams out west that unless they overachieve are an invisible franchise. That’s why they were one of the most active teams in the offseason, making a coaching change and adding elite talent to make them relevant this season.
They missed the playoffs last season but with three underrated units, the Kraken look to make some noise. The forward group doesn’t have an elite skater but Chandler Stephenson is a reliable two-way center who will take it to the next level. The defense was already a strength with Vince Dunn, Jamie Oleksiak, and Adam Larsson leading it but they also signed Brandon Montour to shut opposing offenses down and open up the offense from the point. Yes, Philipp Grubauer is inconsistent in the net as the starter but Joey Daccord proved he can split starts and give the team a reliable tandem.
Pair the great roster with a head coach who has plenty of experience at the American Hockey League (AHL) and NHL levels in Dan Bylsma and this team has all the ingredients for a Cup run. Sure, the Kraken could miss the playoffs again and they lack the star power to carry them in a playoff series but they could take the league by storm.
Minnesota Wild
The Minnesota Wild haven’t won a playoff series in a decade with their last series victory coming in 2015. They also have never won a title, this goes back to both their inception in 2000 and their days as the North Stars. Let’s ignore the decades worth of heartbreak for the State of Hockey and focus on this team.
Last season was a bump in the road for the Wild as they never recovered from a slow start and fired head coach Dean Evason because of it. With John Hynes behind the bench, they will have a balanced roster as their head coach focuses on defense and structure while the stars take over games on offense.
Speaking of the stars, that’s the big reason the Wild can contend for the Cup. Kirill Kaprizov is one of the best wingers in the NHL and Brock Faber proved at 21 years old that he’s one of the best defensemen in the game, finishing in second place in the Calder Trophy voting. It’s not just Kaprizov and Faber: the Wild also have Joel Eriksson Ek, Matt Boldy, and Ryan Hartman to take them to the next level.
The catch will be how Hynes and his style works with the Wild and the roster in place. The other obstacle is goaltending as Marc-Andre Fleury isn’t the same elite goaltender he was a few years back (to be fair, he’s 39) and Filip Gustavsson isn’t someone they can lean on for a playoff run. Otherwise, the Wild can not only make the playoffs but bring the team’s first Cup title in franchise history.
New Jersey Devils
There are two ways to look at last season for the New Jersey Devils. Either it was a bump in the road and they are a great team that looks to be competitive for the foreseeable future. Or, they have lingering issues — notably that they can’t recover when a key player goes down to injury (like Dougie Hamilton last season), and because of that they will always be a step behind in the standings. The latter option is a possibility but considering how the Devils looked in 2022-23 and the star power they have, they look like a team poised to bounce back and compete for a Cup not just this season, but within the next five seasons.
It all starts with Jack Hughes, one of the game’s most-dynamic forwards who can exploit any team on the rush but also create scoring chances in the offensive zone. Along with Hughes, there’s a young core that’s only getting better with Nico Hischier, Jesper Bratt, and Timo Meier rounding out the forward unit and Luke Hughes and Simon Nemec anchoring the defense. Granted the defense won’t have Hughes to start the season, which may lead to a slow start, but the other skaters are there to carry them through the first few months.
What makes this season different from last season is that GM Tom Fitzgerald overhauled the roster, notably the defense and goaltending to make sure both units don’t let the Devils down. In the offseason, they acquired Johnathan Kovacevic, Brenden Dillon, and Brett Pesce to fix a defense that struggled outside of the top pair. Likewise, they acquired Jake Allen at the 2024 Trade Deadline but found their starter in the offseason when they acquired Jacob Markstrom from the Calgary Flames. Both the defense and goaltending units were improved and will look better with Sheldon Keefe as the head coach: he leads balanced teams that play well iin the defensive end.
The Devils are expected to be in the playoffs again. The question is what will separate them in the playoffs against teams like the Carolina Hurricanes, New York Rangers, and Florida Panthers? They might be exposed when the game slows down and if their skilled forwards are asked to play physically but those are minor issues that can be addressed both throughout the season and at the 2025 Trade Deadline.
Other Non-Playoff Teams That Can Make a Cup Run
The Red Wings and Sabres are in the same conversation as the Senators as a borderline playoff team but they have different attributes that will make them Cup contenders. The Red Wings will become an elite team if the young skaters, notably Lucas Raymond and Moritz Seider, continue to improve to take them to the next level. The Sabres meanwhile will be a dominant team with their defense leading the way and making an impact on both ends of the ice.
The four last-place teams from 2023-24 are long shots to make the playoffs, much less a long playoff run, but the Chicago Blackhawks and Montreal Canadiens are the two teams that can do it. Why? They have the elite young talent to get them over the hump. The Blackhawks have Connor Bedard entering his second season and looking to establish himself as one of the best in the league while the Canadiens have a great core with Nick Suzuki, Cole Caufield, Kirby Dach, and Juraj Slafkovsky leading the way.
For a team to miss the playoffs one season and win the Cup the next is a script that movie makers dream of. It’s a rarity but not out of the question, especially considering the elite players some of the teams that missed the playoffs last season have.
