8 NHL Teams Destined to Be Worse During the 2025-26 Season
As the NHL offseason winds down and we all start to think about what's to come next year, hope always reigns supreme. Usually, anyway.
Even in the most hopeful thoughts in the most hopeless situations, the dream of having everything break right exists. Not a game has been played and everyone is tied for first. Everyone has the same shot at the Stanley Cup, don't they?
Well, yes, they do in Dreamland at least. Here in reality, where the cold, hard truths are unavoidable, understanding what's real and what's just wishful thinking brings out the resignation that things may not go well again. For some teams, the levels hit last season will be hard to replicate.
Every team wants to be better than it was last season, but that's just not going to happen for all of them.
Here, we've circled a few teams who are going to either come back to the pack or fall even further behind it. Not every team has to be already bad to get worse just like how not every good team is going to improve.
If you came here for the cheery outlook, we've brought the rain for your parades instead.
Toronto Maple Leafs
1 of 8
Last season: 108 points (52-26-4)
The Maple Leafs had all the appearances of being a team that was poised to get over the hump in the postseason. They won the Atlantic Division and escaped the first round of the playoffs beating Ottawa.
All they had to do was get through the Florida Panthers to make the Eastern Conference Final to take another big step forward.
However, beating Florida is really hard to do.
Instead of running it back again, they lost Mitch Marner and his 100-point skill to Vegas and will try to get tougher and harder to play against to make up for that. It's a different plan of attack, but they're doing it in, arguably, the hardest division in the NHL.
They've still got the Tampa Bay Lightning on their heels. The Panthers aren't going anywhere. Now they've got the Senators and Montréal Canadiens looking to return to the postseason while Detroit and Buffalo try to get back to the playoffs and the Boston Bruins figure out if they're rebuilding or rising from the dead one more time.
This isn't to say the Leafs won't be a playoff team, they almost certainly will be, but repeating a 108-point season and winning the division sets a high bar in what's going to be a brutal division. Their hope will be that the scars earned in the regular season get them farther in the postseason this time around.
Calgary Flames
2 of 8
Last season: 96 points (41-27-14)
We are big fans of what the Calgary Flames accomplished last season. Their bold run deep into the season gunning for the playoffs was inspiring. Seeing rookie Dustin Wolf take over in goal and nearly help them reach the postseason was incredible, as was the leadership shown by Jonathan Huberdeau and Nazem Kadri.
While the Flames fell short of the playoffs, cruel reality made itself known this offseason.
Defenseman Rasmus Andersson is a year away from free agency and even though trading him should be easy if he's not going to re-sign, it makes trading him nearly impossible if he only wants to sign long-term in one place.
Andersson and MacKenzie Weegar are elite defensemen in a group that needs a lot of help. Kevin Bahl is solid for a defensive defenseman, but they lack depth and puck-movers. Offensively, their depth is short as well, though younger guys like Matt Coronato and Connor Zary are a lot of fun and veterans such as Yegor Sharangovich and Mikael Backlund are as solid as it gets.
If the Flames want to make a playoff run again, they'll need Wolf to be even better in goal and for everyone to remain on the same page they left off on last year while the younger guys take steps forward.
And they'll need to do that all while Vegas, Edmonton, Los Angeles and Vancouver circle around them in the Pacific Division while the Ducks, Kraken and Sharks lurk behind them seeking to make their own leaps.
It's foreboding to say the least.
New York Islanders
3 of 8
Last season: 82 points (35-35-12)
Even though the future is starting to look up for the New York Islanders, the present still could have a bit of pain involved.
Their 82-point season had all the ups-and-downs a team figuring out their future should have. The highs and lows were in equal measure and as fun as the highs were, the lows were maddening and disheartening.
The Isles parted ways with Lou Lamoriello and brought in Mathieu Darche as GM and with that, a renewed sense of hope centered around No. 1 pick defenseman Matthew Schaefer.
As high as landing Schaefer is, the Isles traded Noah Dobson to Montréal. They added Jonathan Drouin in free agency and with hopefully healthy seasons from Mathew Barzal, Anthony Duclair and Adam Pelech along with a continued return to form for goalie Ilya Sorokin, they can compete in the Metropolitan Division.
That said, it's going to be really difficult. What coach Patrick Roy can do for this group will be tested and with the Eastern Conference being as rough as it is and the best in the Metro Division being as good as they are, it may not be too much of a surprise if the Isles have another down year.
It also may be a good thing for them in the long run in a rebuild that's virtually under way now.
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Winnipeg Jets
4 of 8
Last season: 116 points (56-22-4)
Before you start writing nasty comments at seeing the Jets on this list, understand that the reason for this is that we don't believe they're going to be a 116-point team again.
They had one of the greatest seasons from a goalie when Connor Hellebuyck took home the Vezina and Hart trophies, which helped spur them on to being the best team in the NHL regular season. Winnipeg also had tremendous years again from defenseman Josh Morrissey and forwards Mark Scheifele, Kyle Connor and Nikolaj Ehlers.
However, losing Ehlers to Carolina in free agency is a big loss for their offense and will require guys like Gabriel Vilardi and Cole Perfetti to step up to replace those lost goals and assists. Fortunately, they're returning basically their entire defensive unit and are just waiting to get RFA Dylan Samberg re-signed to finish things off there.
The Jets are going to be very good again. Unfortunately, so will the Dallas Stars, Colorado Avalanche, Utah Mammoth and St. Louis Blues in the Central Division. The Minnesota Wild are going to be tough, too, and if Nashville and Chicago can get things sorted out, they may not be pushovers, either.
If Winnipeg goes for 116 points again, it will be a massive accomplishment. It's just hard to see that happening given everything else going on around them.
Detroit Red Wings
5 of 8
Last season: 86 points (39-35-8)
Picking any teams outside of the top three or four in the Atlantic Division to say they'll be better or worse is like playing with fire.
So many things could break right or wrong for all of them, and those occurrences will have a domino effect on everyone else in the race. But when you look at what the Detroit Red Wings have cooking for next year compared to last year, it's a little uncomfortable.
Their biggest move was, ideally, shoring up their goaltending by adding John Gibson in a trade with Anaheim. His ability is great, but if he's unable to stay healthy, the Wings will be right back to where they've been before.
Detroit's biggest additions up front were 36-year-old James van Riemsdyk and bottom-six forward Mason Appleton. Re-signing Patrick Kane was virtually automatic all things considered. On defense they got depth help with Jacob Bernard-Docker and Ian Mitchell.
The Wings needed answers in a few areas and got their biggest one, goaltending, addressed...only with a player whose injury history will have everyone on pins and needles hoping he avoids any further issues.
If Gibson stays healthy and plays like we've seen in the past, we'll look dumb for saying the Red Wings will have a worse record than last season. But if he's average and the depth issues that seem apparent for the rest of the team come true, we'll probably be correct in our analysis even though we won't be terribly happy about it.
Los Angeles Kings
6 of 8
Last season: 105 points (48-25-9)
Watching Ken Holland take over as GM of the L.A. Kings has been fascinating. After all, they appeared to be high-risers last year and all they had to do was finally beat the Edmonton Oilers in the playoffs to prove it.
And then that didn't happen, and Rob Blake was out as GM.
Holland's approach to making the Kings better equipped to handle the Oilers in the playoffs was to replace Vladislav Gavrikov with even older veterans Brian Dumoulin (33) and Cody Ceci (31). He also added Corey Perry and Joel Armia, and he re-signed Andrei Kuzmenko up front.
We know adding Perry is supposed to mean they'll automatically make the Stanley Cup Final and all, but a team that has so many youthful parts to it that got a lot of action last year on a very good team opting to go older and a little slower when they deal specifically with Edmonton and Vegas as chief rivals is a bold choice and not one that points them in the direction of improving upon the 105-point season they had a year ago.
Pittsburgh Penguins
7 of 8
Last season: 80 points (34-36-12)
The year is 1984. The Pittsburgh Penguins have the worst record in the NHL and select Mario Lemieux with the No. 1 pick. Fast-forward 21 years and they were among the worst teams in the NHL when they won the leaguewide lottery coming out of the lockout to select Sidney Crosby.
The Crosby lottery will be 21 years after the 2026 NHL draft lottery in which the team winning will be poised to select Gavin McKenna with the No. 1 pick. We're not saying the Penguins are planning to tank the season, but it would be some kind of poetic if it worked out that way.
Their disappointing 80-point season last year came with a lot of injuries, a lot of older players looking much older and a handful of trades that saw older players sent out for younger ones and draft picks. That trend may yet continue considering the rumors circulating around defenseman Erik Karlsson and forward Bryan Rust.
Pittsburgh just added goalie Arturs Silovs from Vancouver to join the fray in net with Tristan Jarry and Joel Blomqvist, but the roster right now outside of Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and Kris Letang is a mishmash of veterans with expiring contracts. They're poised to be gritty but also not very good outside of their superstars.
Washington Capitals
8 of 8
Last season: 111 points (51-22-9)
If you believed the Washington Capitals were going to be a threat for the Presidents' Trophy and have the best record in the Eastern Conference before last season, you're either the blindest homer or a complete liar.
Head coach Spencer Carbery showed how great of a coach he is by pulling all the right strings for his group built around Alexander Ovechkin.
While Ovechkin's pursuit of Wayne Gretzky's all-time goal scoring record rallied everyone, that doesn't diminish the work put in by guys like Dylan Strome, Tom Wilson, Aliaksei Protas and Pierre-Luc Dubois up front to keep the Caps offense roaring along.
Logan Thompson taking over in goal while John Carlson had a resurgent year on defense with Jakob Chychrun highlighted how much overall talent the team has to work with.
All of that said, is this a team that can meet or surpass 111 points next season? We don't want to bet against Carbery and his Caps, but it's going to be a tough bar to get over.
Carolina should be just as good if not improved. The Devils will have a surgically repaired Jack Hughes back and who knows what version of the New York Rangers we'll see. They could be much better or a lot worse - good luck figuring that out though. The same can be said for the Columbus Blue Jackets, too.
Plus, there's the rest of the Eastern Conference to contend with as well. The Capitals should be very good again and should be a playoff team again. Are they a Presidents' Trophy-caliber team, though?
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