Which bottom-dwelling NHL team could make the playoffs in 2026-27?
While seemingly two thirds of the NHL keeps fighting for postseason positioning, a sad-sack tier of probable non-playoff teams has finally broken off from the pack and sunk to the bottom of the overall standings.
Among the probable non-playoff teams of 2025-26 – which is most likely to turn things around and make the playoffs in 2026-27?
MATT LARKIN: The Florida Panthers are such an obvious answer that no fruit has ever drooped lower for any Roundtable question, so I’ll let one of you have that tap-in. I’ll pivot and say the Chicago Blackhawks instead. They hung in the race a lot longer in Year 3 of the Connor Bedard era than they did in his first couple seasons. They were 13-12-6 when he got hurt in December, immediately plunged into a six-game losing streak and never recovered. But Bedard has inched much closer to his superstar ceiling when in the lineup, while Spencer Knight has been one of the best goalies in the NHL this season. I expect prospect Anton Frondell and his mature game to transition seamlessly in what could be a Calder Trophy 2026-27 campaign, and it helps that he’s getting a late-season taste of the NHL now. The Hawks’ prospect pool is also so bursting that they can afford to spare some blue-chippers in a trade and pursue an impactful prime-year addition for their lineup. My gut feeling says they step forward the way the San Jose Sharks did for much of this year.
PAUL PIDUTTI: With the grotesque state of the Pacific Division these days, lottery teams in the Western Conference are also only a few points back of a Wildcard spot. Weird times. While I think their days as a serious Stanley Cup threat are over, I can see the Winnipeg Jets returning to the playoffs next season as a Wildcard entry. There are red flags — an aging core, a roster with only a couple of impact players under 30, a gnarly Central Division for the foreseeable future. But the Jets won the Presidents’ Trophy by five points… (checks notes)… last season? Mark Scheifele, Kyle Connor, and Josh Morrissey are still great players. Connor Hellebuyck had a shaky start and an injury, but there’s little doubt he has plenty of game left — just ask Team Canada. Always in a fragile state economically, Winnipeg isn’t likely to rebuild and may be the rare team that can both get some help in the draft lottery with a top pick and pursue free-agent help. I’m betting low on the Jets.
STEVEN ELLIS: Winnipeg and Florida are the easy ones. I’m going with the Toronto Maple Leafs – a team I was not high on one bit heading into the season. This team doesn’t have the assets for a rebuild, so unless there’s a retool, I don’t see them blowing things up, roster-wise. I, like many others, have wondered if a coaching change could have been enough to awaken the demon before it was too late. A change feels inevitable at this point – both on the bench and in the GM box, too. The need to find actual scoring depth and reliable defense is clear, though making that happen through free agency will be tough. Still, I think a rise back to the playoffs is possible – but it might take dangling top prospects like Easton Cowan or Ben Danford to make it happen. Given the team’s contention window, it’s absolutely worth getting aggressive here. But, seriously, seeing how the New Coach Bump has proven successful in recent years, you have to wonder if just having a new voice in town could improve their situation. Beyond that, everyone else took the easy answers, so I’m sticking with Toronto.
SCOTT MAXWELL: They barely qualify as a bottom-dweller, but I’m going with the Washington Capitals. Alex Ovechkin’s status beyond this season is uncertain, but I think even if the Great 8 retires, the Capitals are well-positioned to return to the playoffs in 2027. They have a very strong defense corps which, even if John Carlson doesn’t return, is about to get even better with Cole Hutson. They have one of the better goaltenders in the league right now in Logan Thompson, and he is more than capable of elevating their play. And then their offense is still strong and will find ways to score, especially if Ryan Leonard takes more steps next season. Besides, if there’s any team whose pro scouting department I trust to find a way to replace Ovechkin in the aggregate, it’s the Capitals. Plus they’re due for an “evening out” in their regression after this season’s course correction from last year’s anomaly. The East looks like a tough conference to crack, but I have no doubt the Capitals will be more in the mix next season.
ANTHONY TRUDEAU: I’ll bite on the Florida Panthers. There just isn’t much to be concerned about from the Cats’ perspective. It’s so much easier to call a bad season a wash when you’re sitting on back-to-back Stanley Cups, and even Florida knew that the physical toll of three straight runs to the Cup Final would come to collect eventually. Even if there’s some soft tanking involved in their litany of day-to-day designations, their injury record is preposterous all the same: Captain Aleksander Barkov tore his ACL before the puck dropped on the season, each of Matthew Tkachuk, Seth Jones, and Dmitry Kulikov had to sit for months due to injury, and it seems like Niko Mikkola and Brad Marchand are done for the season. Taking the spring off for the first time since 2019 was never the plan for the Panthers, but it should provide them with some well-needed recovery time and motivation ahead of the 2026-27 campaign.
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