NHL Teams Experiencing the Most Early Problems in 2014-15 Season

Though the 2014-15 NHL season is only one week old, the woes of the underachievers are making headlines through the early going.

During the offseason, teams do their best to sell hope and inspire their fan bases. Free agents are signed and management teams are shuffled. Platitudes are spoken about how this year is going to be different.

So far, these promises haven't come to fruition for most of the teams that finished low in the 2013-14 standings. However, a couple of solid teams from last year are also currently struggling to get out of the cellar.

Here's a look at the teams with the biggest problems through the early part of the season and the odds that they'll be able to snap out of their funks.

All stats courtesy of NHL.com.

Buffalo Sabres

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What Were the Expectations? In his season preview, John Vogl of the Buffalo News figured last year's 30th-placed team would be better but would still have a long way to go to compete for a playoff spot.

In Vogl's estimation, the Buffalo Sabres' offseason upgrades improved their leadership, positivity and competitive spirit.

What Are the Problems? Four games into the new season, the Sabres only have two points to show for their efforts, thanks to Tuesday's shootout win over the Carolina Hurricanes. The win came one day after Sabres coach Ted Nolan told John Vogl: "That was like an NHL team playing against a peewee team," following Buffalo's 5-1 loss to the Anaheim Ducks.

Odds That They'll Rebound: 50-1. Buffalo has three first-round picks in the 2015 draft and the team's fanbase hasn't been shy about suggesting the best strategy is to finish low and increase the odds of drafting potential future superstars Connor McDavid or Jack Eichel.

New arrivals such as Brian Gionta and Josh Gorges are character guys, but their influence doesn't look like it'll be enough to break the Sabres' losing habits this season.

Carolina Hurricanes

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What Were the Expectations? Though the Carolina Hurricanes promoted Ron Francis to general manager and hired new coach Bill Peters during the offseason, the team didn't make many changes to its personnel.

"This team is good enough to win the whole damn thing, OK?" owner Peter Karmanos insisted at the April press conference to announce Francis' promotion, per NHL.com. "We had both of our goalies [Cam Ward and Anton Khudobin] out for [many] games. We were just a few points away from making the playoffs."

What Are the Problems? With both Ward and Khudobin healthy and contributing, the Hurricanes are winless in their first three games and earned their lone point against fellow cellar-dwellars Buffalo.

Injuries have been a factor in the early going and rumours are now swirling that the Toronto Maple Leafs are hoping to pluck captain Eric Staal away from the PNC Arena.

Odds That They'll Rebound: 35-1. The Hurricanes have had some tough luck in the early going with injuries to Jordan Staal and Jeff Skinner, as well as Eric Staal. But Peter Karmanos is looking through rose-tinted glasses if he thinks a team that hasn't made the playoffs for the last five seasons is even close to making a mark in the playoffs, let alone winning "the whole damn thing."

Colorado Avalanche

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What Were the Expectations? Last year's Cinderella team, the Colorado Avalanche climbed from 29th in the NHL in 2012-13 to third overall in just one year under the guidance of Jack Adams trophy-winning coach Patrick Roy and executive vice president of hockey operations Joe Sakic.

What Are the Problems? Often scorned by the advanced stats gurus last season, the Avalanche made their mark thanks to outstanding goaltending from Semyon Varlamov, great coaching from Patrick Roy and an aggressive group of young forwards.

J.D. Burke of The Hockey Writers was just one voice who thought that the Avs' success wouldn't be sustainable. So far this season, the stats men look correct. Colorado is off to a 1-2-1 start, with a minus-eight goal differential.

Odds That They'll Rebound: 20-1. Colorado's defense remains suspect, but the talented group of forwards led by sophomore Nathan MacKinnon won't be held down for long.

The Avs might not contend for the Central Division title this year, but they will be in the running for a playoff spot when April rolls around.

Edmonton Oilers

JASON FRANSON/Associated Press

What Were the Expectations? That the drought might end. The Edmonton Oilers haven't made the playoffs since 2006, when "Leon Draisaitl was 10 years old, no one had a Twitter account, let alone an iPhone, and Daryl Katz had yet to make his first formal pitch to buy the club" (per the Edmonton Journal).

Despite the fact that Edmonton took a step backward to finish 28th in the NHL last season, coach Dallas Eakins was retained and improvement was expected.

What Are the Problems? The Oilers still can't win. Four games into their new campaign, the team is 0-3-1 and every loss has carried a degree of shame. Edmonton got blown out against the Los Angeles Kings and Arizona Coyotes, and after building a lead against the Vancouver Canucks, they couldn't bring it home for the two points.

Adding injury to insult in this case, goaltender Viktor Fasth left Tuesday's game against the Kings in the first period with a groin issue, which further weakens Edmonton's lines of defense.

Odds That They'll Rebound: 70-1. It looks like this season will be more of the same in Edmonton—a sad state of affairs for a hockey hotbed that, for decades, has called itself the "City of Champions." 

No Oilers coach has lasted more than two seasons since Craig MacTavish left his spot behind the bench in 2009. Now Edmonton's general manager, he'll likely be more than willing to use the hook on Eakins if he can't turn the team's fortunes around in a hurry.

Florida Panthers

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What Were the Expectations? Bless their hearts, new Florida Panthers owners Vincent Viola and Doug Cifu are doing their best to treat their team like it plays in a normal hockey market. Ownership spent enthusiastically on free agents over the summer in an attempt to improve the team and is now incurring taunting from outsiders in the face of its ticket-transparency plan.

What Are the Problems? No one is coming to games. And the on-ice product still stinks.

The Panthers were embarrassed by a record-low attendance of 7,311 against the Ottawa Senators on Monday. Beat writer Harvey Fialkov estimated the number of people in the house at about 5,000. 

It's never easy in Florida at the beginning of the season, before the Canadian snowbirds come down to roost, but it'll be hard to build a fanbase with a team that continues to lose. Through three games, the Panthers are 0-2-1 and have scored just three goals.

Odds That They'll Rebound: 60-1. Pairing Willie Mitchell with star rookie Aaron Ekblad is a solid strategy as a teaching tool, but other free-agent signings like Jussi Jokinen, Dave Bolland, Derek MacKenzie and Shawn Thornton have largely been invisible in the early going.

Like the Oilers, the Panthers seem like a team that's stuck in quicksand. The new personnel haven't changed that predicament. Ownership is trying to take a long-term approach to growing the fanbase, but that strategy could hang the current team out to dry this year.

Philadelphia Flyers

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What Were the Expectations? Head coach Peter Laviolette earned his walking papers after guiding the Philadelphia Flyers to an 0-3 start at the beginning of the 2013-14 season. 

Craig Berube led the Flyers to a playoff spot after taking the reins. It was hoped that he'd snap the team out of its traditional early-season funk.

What Are the Problems? Philadelphia's still not winning. Under Berube, the team's off to an 0-2-2 start.

Team defense remains an issue, with the Flyers ranked 27th in goals against.

Odds That They'll Rebound: 15-1. Slow starts have become standard procedure in Philly; the Flyers also started 0-3 in the lockout-shortened 2012-13 campaign. 

The Flyers are making progress too. Tuesday's shootout loss to the Anaheim Ducks was the team's best effort of the season against a formidable foe, while Wayne Simmonds is showing signs of another career year ahead.

Once Claude Giroux finds his groove, expect to see the Flyers dance up the Metropolitan Division standings—just like they did last season.