The 5 Biggest Disappointments of the 2025-26 NHL Season So Far

We're more than halfway through the 2025-26 NHL season, and we've got tons to look forward to. The Olympics, the trade deadline, and the number of teams still in the playoff race are all going to keep us more than entertained these next few months.

Still, there were plenty of disappointments to go around from the first half of the season. We had teams expecting bounce-backs and falling short, we had trades that aren't moving the needle as much as we hoped, and we had complete implosions.

Which disappointments have stung the most so far? Which teams could go on a second-half redemption tour, and which are too far gone? Here are the biggest disappointments of the NHL season so far.

The Rangers' Implosion

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Artemi Panarin

Starting off strong, there's no better word for the Rangers' current situation than "implosion."

Management made bold move after bold move last season, trading away a captain, former franchise cornerstones, and basically anyone they thought would yield a good enough return to shore up their defense.

Fast forward to mid-January this season, and none of those moves -- not even hiring coaching legend Mike Sullivan -- have seemed to help. This team just endured an 8-4 loss to a disappointing Senators team Wednesday night, the latest L in an uninspired five-game losing streak.

There has been brutal injury luck with top defenseman Adam Fox and world-class goaltender Igor Shesterkin, both currently out. But the Rangers were hanging by a thread when these two were healthy, and now there's no thread to even hang on to anymore.

Where does this franchise go next? Keep trading and get some killer future assets for Artemi Panarin? The buyers' market will be hungry this trade deadline.

The Devils' Implosion

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Nico Hischier and Jack Hughes

Nothing on this list quite touches the amount of disappointment Devils fans have endured the past few seasons.

On paper, this is a solid team at every position (with a non-perfect yet viable situation on defense). GM Tom Fitzgerald made the right moves in net when that tandem went awry, and it paid off. When this team is fully healthy, you see the vision, and we've seen them at the top of the league for months at a time.

There's still something fundamentally off about a team that loses one or two players and completely falls apart. It's like the whole team is relying on a healthy Jack Hughes, and the thing about Jack Hughes is he keeps getting injured.

The play without Jack was bad enough, then Fitzgerald fumbled acquiring Quinn Hughes, and you saw the life sucked out of the team.

Now, Dougie Hamilton's agent is publicly trying to find a new team for his client. When news like that hits the media in the way it did, it signals a general sense of dysfunction within the team. It's not like we needed that clue, though -- the Devils are playing brutal hockey. It stinks because we've seen this exact roster thrive at the top of the league when everything is clicking.

The Ducks Coming Crashing Back Down to Earth

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We really thought this would be the year the Ducks stopped playing with our hearts, put their young talent together, and showed us some true consistency. They started out this new, Trevor Zegras-less era on a bright note and spent a lot of time early on atop the Pacific Division.

After the encouraging start, they just haven't been able to recover from rough patches and string together meaningful wins. They're 1-8-1 in their last 10, typically sound goaltender Lukas Dostal is going through it, and Leo Carlsson has completely cooled off.

Could their most recent, gutsy 3-1 win over the Stars provide some confidence and a turning point? We'll see. The problem here, though, is the inability to find that winning flow and shake off losses. We'll need to see a convincing win streak if the Ducks are to salvage their season.

The Senators' Derailed Window

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Brady Tkachuk

Wednesday's 8-4 win over the Rangers could be the turning point the Senators have been looking for all season, but they've got a long way to go -- and they've got to earn back our trust that they're still the team that put up a fight in the playoffs last season.

It looked like they were headed into a franchise sweet spot after finally making the playoffs in the Brady Tkachuk era last season. There wasn't some grand expectation to follow up their first-round exit with a Stanley Cup, but the excitement around the window opening was there, and we thought we'd seen the foundations of a Senators team that would eventually hoist the Cup.

Despite glaring flaws and inconsistencies, they were at least in the playoff conversation in the tight Atlantic Division early on. If they'd used the last month to gain traction and put together some win streaks, they might still be in the playoff conversation.

Instead, the last month has seen divisional rivals gain traction just as the Senators have lost it. Now they're sitting at last in the Atlantic by four points, and the issues plaguing them aren't going to magically improve.

Starting goaltender Linus Ullmark had been struggling all season, and he stepped away from the team on personal leave just as he was turning it around. His replacement, backup Leevi Merilainen, frankly, shouldn't be in the net for an NHL team with playoff hopes.

Ottawa signed veteran James Reimer recently, so perhaps he'll stabilize the goaltending situation. Even then, it could be too late in a division where every game matters. The Senators are going to have to address potential weaknesses and pivot more quickly if they don't want to throw this window away.

The Collapse of Last Year's Presidents' Trophy Winners, The Jets

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Connor Hellebuyck

Employing the most consistent goaltender in the league will conceal some blemishes for any team. We've seen that with Connor Hellebuyck and the Jets over and over again when playoff time rolls around, and the elevated level of competition exposes holes throughout the lineup.

If you weren't convinced this was the case, Hellebuyck's time injured this season probably sold you. The team fell apart when he was gone, but worse yet, things have only gotten bleaker upon his return. Even with Winnipeg's current three-game win streak, last year's top team is now dead last in the Central, with an 18-22-5 record.

We knew deep down that this team wasn't as good as last year's regular season record -- we saw evidence of weakness year after year in disappointing playoff runs. We just didn't think it would get this bad this fast.