Buy or Sell Every NHL Draft Lottery Team Improving During the 2026-27 Season
One of the undeniable truths of life in the NHL is that some teams just aren't going to make the playoffs. With the league at a round number of 32 teams, that means half of those teams are headed to the golf course when the regular season ends.
Last season's Sad Sixteen all made efforts in the offseason to try to change their luck and make a run at the playoffs. But you can't expect all of them to turn things around enough to unseat last season's playoff teams, and some franchises simply didn't put in the kind of effort this summer needed to change their fortunes.
The catch here is that every team will preach they're gunning for the playoffs and the Stanley Cup, but who among last season's lottery teams are selling a box full of wishes and which ones have a strong case to right what went wrong? That's what we're going to decide on today as the summer rolls along.
What are they buying, what are they selling and what are we deciding? Let's have a look.
Columbus Blue Jackets
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The Blue Jackets nearly had the summer from hell when defenseman Zach Werenski sounded like someone who wanted out of town.
Fortunately for everyone in Ohio, the 2026 Norris Trophy winner had a change of heart and a strong desire to see GM Don Waddell do more to improve their chances of making the postseason and beyond.
What's making that harder is Kirill Marchenko's lack of desire to stay with the team. The Jackets have a good goalie in Jet Greaves, a great player in Werenski, and some fun young talent like Adam Fantilli on a team that had 92 points last season. They're also in a division that is wide open outside of the top two teams.
If they deal Marchenko, they could get a great haul that helps them keep competing right now.
Decision: Buying
Detroit Red Wings
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Hoo boy, Detroit. Dylan Larkin's trade demand hasn't been rescinded or settled and the Red Wings have yet to find a GM to replace the reassigned Steve Yzerman and their offseason outside of all of that hasn't been overly exciting (no offense to Viktor Arvidsson) and one of those moves saw them trade goalie prospect Sebastian Cossa to Utah.
If the Red Wings can get all the loose ends tied up before camp opens in September, things would be a bit clearer, but even with everything looking so foggy, what is more than apparent is that they're in the toughest division in the NHL and everyone else is either better or got better.
Decision: Selling
Washington Capitals
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The Capitals didn't need to have Alex Ovechkin back for one more season given everything else they've done this summer but having him join up with Alex Tuch and Jordan Kyrou makes them a much more formidable team.
With Tuch and Kyrou joining Ovechkin, Tom Wilson and Dylan Strome as well as a healthy Pierre-Luc Dubois, the Capitals look ready to storm back into the playoffs.
After trading John Carlson last season, this is Jakob Chychrun's team on the blue line now, but Logan Thompson in goal makes this Capitals team very good and a legit challenger to Carolina in the Metropolitan Division.
Decision: Buying, big time
Toronto Maple Leafs
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The Maple Leafs had just about a full makeover this summer. A new GM (John Chayka), a new star goalie (Sergei Bobrovsky), a new superstar (Gavin McKenna) a new star defenseman (Darren Raddysh) and a new bottom six forward group makes them almost unrecognizable.
If not for Auston Matthews, William Nylander, John Tavares, Matthew Knies and Morgan Rielly, we wouldn't know these were the Leafs at all. The star talent is very good and hoping for Bobrovsky and Anthony Stolarz to recreate their days in Florida may work. But it's hard to see how this team improves from where it was last season and finds way to claw into the playoffs given the rest of the competition in the Atlantic. It's not impossible, but the climb starts Day One.
Decision: Selling
New York Islanders
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Having a wunderkind like defenseman Matthew Schaefer helps make the future and the present feel so much brighter. His Calder Trophy-winning season helped give the Islanders a huge lift when things appeared to be getting darker.
What helps them now is Schaefer running their defense while Ilya Sorokin holds down the net. With veteran forwards Bo Horvat. Mat Barzal and Brayden Schenn, the Islanders might have enough of a stew to compete for a playoff spot in the Metropolitan Division.
Unfortunately, GM Mathieu Darche wasn't able to change up enough to make it entirely believable that they will. With Pete DeBoer as head coach, however, they're going to be tough to play every night.
Decision: Buying hesitantly
Florida Panthers
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Many fans around the league celebrated seeing the Panthers miss the playoffs last season after winning back-to-back Stanley Cup championships. Everyone loves to hate a winner especially one with a lot of players fans love to hate in the first place.
This summer, GM Bill Zito did everything he could to make sure Florida would be back with a vengeance. The Panthers added Brady Tkachuk to join his brother Matthew and make them even more ferocious up front. With Brad Marchand already there, the Panthers know how to push all the buttons.
They'll be even tougher with Garnet Hathaway and even meaner with Radko Gudas back on the blue line. Jacob Markström takes over for Sergei Bobrovsky in goal and Akira Schmid will back him up.
But Florida's most important (re)addition to the lineup is the return of captain Aleksander Barkov. The Panthers year out of the playoffs may have been just a chance for them to recoup for another run at the title.
Decision: Buying big-time
New York Rangers
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It was a miserable season for the Rangers and the hill they've got to climb to return to the playoffs seems large. Oddly enough, however, they've had a decent offseason. They added Pavel Dorofeyev from Vegas, Sean Durzi from Utah and Marcus Pettersson from Vancouver.
The Rangers didn't subtract Adam Fox, and they've still got Igor Shesterkin in goal which gives them an advantage on the blue line and in net. If things can stay peaceable with J.T. Miller and coach Mike Sullivan, things could improve steadily, but despite the solid additions they've made, they need more.
Decision: Selling
New Jersey Devils
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Something we've been saying about the Devils for a few years now is that they should be a lot better than they've shown and the same applies to last season. Jack Hughes' early season injury got them behind and trade speculation made things worse.
Now the Devils have a new GM in Sunny Mehta, and their forward and defense corps are largely unchanged apart from adding Anthony Mantha and Evan Rodrigues. They sent Jacob Markström to Florida and Jake Allen will be their No. 1 goalie full-time with Nico Daws assuming the backup role and that's assuming they don't make another move for a goalie. There's a good team here and they could very easily be a playoff team with Hughes, Luke Hughes, Timo Meier, Jesper Bratt and Dougie Hamilton running the show.
Decision: Buying
St. Louis Blues
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The Blues are going to feel very different yet very similar in the new season. Jordan Kyrou is gone to Washington and Connor McMichael takes his place albeit with lower expectations. Robert Thomas is still a Blue after all the trade rumors last season and that's a good thing. Same goes for Colton Parayko as well as Jordan Binnington (for now anyway).
Coach Jim Montgomery's team has some fun young players in Jimmy Snuggerud and Dalibor Dvorsky and a new veteran in Brandon Carlo on defense. The Blues look built to grind teams up and wear opponents down which they very well may do, but you wonder if they can score enough to hang in the wild card race.
Decision: Selling
Chicago Blackhawks
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The Blackhawks had a busy summer adding Bo Byram from Buffalo and then locking him up with a six-year, $75 million extension. The re-signed Connor Bedard to a five-year, $75 million extension of his own and then brought back team legend Patrick Kane on a two-year, $16 million deal.
Chicago feels like Byram will be their No. 1 defenseman and that Bedard will carry them to the postseason while Kane can teach this young team about what it takes to win as Blackhawks. With Frank Nazar, Anton Frondell and Artyom Levshunov as the rest of their young core, the only things standing in their way of returning to the playoffs are patience (that's running out) and the rest of the Central Division that's very good.
Decision: Selling, but not as hard as in the past
Winnipeg Jets
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It's been a hold-your-breath offseason in Winnipeg thanks to trade speculation that still swirls around goalie Connor Hellebuyck. As long as they've got him, they've got a chance to get back to the playoffs sooner than not. A healthy summer and well-earned rest could mean he'll be at his best which bodes well for the Jets.
Winnipeg did make some soft moves to prepare for his potential departure by adding Stuart Skinner, but if he's Hellebuyck's backup, that's a pretty solid duo. The rest of the team is largely unchanged apart from drafting forward Viggo Björck with the No. 8 pick who could be an instant impact player for them. If he can join Mark Scheifele, Kyle Connor, Gabe Vilardi and Josh Morrissey as their star group, we're kind of diggin' Winnipeg.
Decision: Buying with Hellebuyck, selling without
Nashville Predators
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The Predators showed life last season after looking hopeless the year before. They got more offense and had a much-improved season from goalie Juuse Saros. Although they could've been sellers at the deadline, veterans like Steven Stamkos and Ryan O'Reilly didn't want to go.
This summer, Nashville added some edge with Ross Colton and Ilya Lyubushkin and defensive prowess with Jack Drury. Mavrik Bourque's arrival from Dallas with Lyubushkin was the headline move and they'll hope his growth turns him into a star in Music City. Filip Forsberg could use the support up front and captain Roman Josi would love to get his team back to the playoffs. The catch? They're in a brutal division and the wild card race will be crowded.
Decision: Selling, but not happy doing it
San Jose Sharks
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The stars are aligning in San Jose, and the playoffs are only a matter of time.
The Sharks nearly pulled it off last season thanks to Macklin Celebrini arriving as a superstar in his second season and with another year under his belt, we're only wondering how much better he can be.
Although Celebrini was nearly able to get the Sharks to the playoffs all by himself, his fellow young teammates are bound to improve. Will Smith, Michael Misa and Sam Dickinson should all take steps forward and 2026 No. 2 overall pick Ivar Stenberg joins the party up front as well. San Jose added help on defense with Darnell Nurse and Michael Kesselring (via trades) and Jacob Trouba (via free agency).
We love what the Sharks have cooking and can't wait to see how it plays out.
Decision: Buying big-time
Seattle Kraken
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Oh, what could've been for the Kraken this summer.
They had a trade agreed upon with Dallas to acquire Jason Robertson only to have Robertson nix it. They've said they want to move Shane Wright but have yet to do so. Free agency has been quiet, and they made one trade with Florida to acquire Mackie Samoskevich to deepen their forward group.
The Kraken lurked around the wild card race but weren't able to string wins together enough to be truly serious. They'll hope for a return to consistency for goalie Joey Daccord this season and that Jared McCann can pop off in a contract year. Otherwise, it's looking like another tough year in the northwest.
Decision: Selling
Calgary Flames
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The Flames offseason saw them add another young blue liner to their core in Simon Nemec from New Jersey while they traded Blake Coleman and Olli Määttä to Minnesota for Jake Middleton. That's it, that was their whole summer apart from the NHL Draft.
Calgary struggled offensively last season and young goalie Dustin Wolf struggled. Wolf's goalie partner Devin Cooley helped make things not quite as bad, but the Flames needed a lot of help and didn't really get any in the offseason. It's very hard to feel optimistic about them as they prepare to say goodbye to the Saddledome this season.
Decision: Selling
Vancouver Canucks
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The Canucks were the league's worst team last season and if there were any efforts in selling that they'd be a playoff team this season they'd be made in vain. New coach Manny Malhotra will have a lot on his plate and even though there is some talent here, the malaise hanging over everything has to be eliminated first.
With Elias Pettersson and Filip Hronek, they've got a star forward and defenseman to focus on. Guys like Jake DeBrusk (if they hang onto him), Marco Rossi, Brock Boeser and Zeev Buium give them reason to believe good things can happen now. Younger players like Jonathan Lekkerimäki, Liam Ohgren and Tom Willander provide hope for the future. New veterans Brendan Gallagher and Paul Cotter will round out the lineup and add grit, too.
If Thatcher Demko can have a healthy season, he can be a huge difference maker for them. But that's a lot of "ifs" for the Canucks to just be a bit better and not necessarily a playoff team.
Decision: Selling
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