The Biggest Disappointments from the 2014-15 NHL Regular Season

A Kings dynasty? That died a nasty death.

The Bruins? Who you foolin'?

Maple Leafs? We stare at you in disbelief.

These are all smart-aleck things that can be said after the facts of the 2014-15 NHL season played out. Not everybody expected the Maple Leafs to make the playoffs. (Well, except for the advanced analytics people who were cheerleaders of their every Corsi-related personnel move of the offseason and belittled anyone who questioned them.)

But everybody expected the Kings and Bruins to at least make the postseason. Those two teams combined to win three of the past four Stanley Cups, after all. So when each team shockingly failed to qualify this past weekend, it set off tremors still being detected by hockey seismologists. 

The Kings and Bruins each will occupy one of the following eight slides of shame in Bleacher Report's list of the biggest disappointments of 2014-15. Roll tape...

The Dearth of High-End Scoring Again

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Jamie Benn won the Art Ross Trophy, so good for him and the Dallas Stars. But, 87 points? That was tops in the NHL?

That tied Stan Mikita's numbers for the 1967-68 Chicago Blackhawks as the lowest scoring title output since the NHL expanded in 1967 (and, it should be noted, the NHL's season was only 72 games then). The next-lowest total belongs to Martin St. Louis (94 points) with Tampa Bay in 2003-04.

Goaltending is much better than the days when players regularly posted numbers way above 100 points, and so is the coaching. The salary cap has created parity that is unparalleled in league history. But 87 points, for an 82-game season—that's pretty low for a scoring title. 

If it's a sign we're all heading to another dead-puck era, then the NHL will need to tweak some things again to make goals more likely to happen. Nobody wants to see 2-1 games every night.

Taylor Hall (and the Rest of the Edmonton Oilers)

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After two straight years of better than a point-per-game scoring, Hall's production dropped sharply this season, to 38 points in 53 games.

Injuries continue to be a problem for the talented forward, but he insists he won't change his hard-charging style of play. Well, something may have to change, because not only did Hall's play regress, but he also hasn't come close to making the Oilers a winning team since coming out of junior as a No. 1 pick.

Of course, the defense and goaltending have been the bigger problems in Edmonton, but Hall's bad year was a rude surprise to all up north.

Nathan MacKinnon

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He came into training camp 12 pounds heavier, but everyone—including yours truly—thought that portended to a great upcoming sophomore season for the NHL's reigning Calder Trophy winner.

Instead, MacKinnon went his first 10 games without a goal and, despite a good game here and there, never came close to the dynamism of his first season. Teams seemed to have scouted him better, backing the D off a little and poke-checking pucks away when he tried to stick-handle by them. That seemed to frustrate him, and then his season ended prematurely to injury.

He has way too much talent not to expect a rebound. But in the end, MacKinnon suffered through a sophomore jinx-type of season.

San Jose Sharks

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While some around the game expected a decline with the Sharks, probably most of them still expected to see them squeeze into the playoffs. It didn't happen, and one has to believe ownership finally will really shake things up in the front office and coaching staff. 

Todd McLellan's time seems up as coach. So does that of GM Doug Wilson, who didn't help his reputation any by seemingly disparaging Joe Thornton to a group of season-ticket holders, which prompted Thornton to lash back at Wilson through the media.

Wilson and Thornton attempted a "Nothing to see here, move on" clarification of the situation after, but does anyone really think these two shouldn't perhaps be separated now, moving forward?

Antti Niemi's play ranks up there as one of the larger disappointments of any goalie in the league. It'll seem strange not to see springtime play from the Shark Tank this year.

Toronto Maple Leafs

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On Sunday, the Maple Leafs announced they had fired GM Dave Nonis, along with interim coach Peter Horachek. More changes are expected to be made by the management group left, led by Kyle Dubas, Mark Hunter and Brendan Shanahan.

The Leafs were truly an awful club to watch in the second half. They played with no passion, the defense and goaltending stunk, and Phil Kessel played with the intensity of a nursery rhyme.

Under a new group of forward-thinkers and analytics experts, some thought the Leafs were ready for a good, playoff-style season. But it wasn't hard to analyze the Leafs before long: brutal.

Lou Lamoriello

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The 72-year-old boss of the New Jersey Devils deserves his place in the Hall of Fame as an innovator and successful GM. But Lamoriello's time has seemed up for at least a couple of years now.

But New Jersey Advance Media reported not long ago that Lamoriello will return again as GM—after failing to take the team anywhere by inserting himself as coach in place of Pete DeBoer during the season.

Lamoriello's arrogance was tolerated during the years of Martin Brodeur and Scott Stevens and Claude Lemieux. He was a winner, so no one questioned him. But it's been 12 years since the Devils last won the Cup, and despite a trip to the Final in 2012, the Devils failed to qualify for the postseason for the third straight season and fourth in the last five.

Lamoriello loves holding those around him accountable with their livelihoods. He can't seem to do the same with himself.

Boston Bruins

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Stanley Cup winners in 2011, 102-point winners the following season and, last year, the best regular-season team in the East.

None of that counted for much by the time Boston's lost final weekend in Florida was finished. The Bruins failed to make the playoffs, despite a 96-point showing, and heads figure to roll—at least if CEO Charlie Jacobs' January comment, about it being "unacceptable" that his team was in ninth place at the time, are to be considered.

Cap mismanagement, the trading of locker room leader and favorite Johnny Boychuk, a lengthy injury to captain Zdeno Chara—it all played a role in Boston's disappointing season. Let's not get too carried away in ripping them, though. Getting 96 points is still pretty good. The B's will be back.

Los Angeles Kings

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Everybody—everybody—thought the Kings would find a way into the playoffs. They had skated over fine lines of adversity so many times before, it seemed fait accompli hockey again would be played late into the spring at the Staples Center.

It still is a shock that it didn't happen. All of that size, talent, goaltending and experience, plus Darryl Sutter and Dean Lombardi making the personnel decisions? It doesn't seem possible they're not in.

But they're not. A little bit of complacency finally caught up with them. At times, that same problem appeared in recent regular seasons, but the Kings always got their act together by the end. Not this time.