Detroit’s team defense was the major problem, and made the Red Wings among the league’s worst clubs in high-danger chances allowed. Outside of rookie phenom Moritz Seider, Detroit didn’t have many standouts on the back end. The poor habits being exhibited just seemed to permeate everywhere else over time and hampered any progress Detroit was able to make.
First and foremost, Detroit’s defense must be addressed. Filip Hronek and Jordan Oesterle are the only veterans signed for next season. To improve their execution defensively, the Red Wings will need the right personnel leading the way.
After that are bigger-picture issues. Is GM Steve Yzerman still committed to this extended rebuild? Who will he trust in as his next coach? Those questions need answering — and not with words but actions. Larkin and Bertuzzi, in their mid-20s, are signed for one and two more seasons, respectively; are they willing to play more of their prime years for a non-contending team? Blashill had been at Detroit’s helm since 2015-16. Who will take over next?
There are some great contributors in place on the ice — Seider, Raymond and Alex Nedeljkovic among them — so the key will be figuring out how best to support that young core going forward.
Until Yzerman starts working his magic in the offseason, it’s tough to proclaim that the Red Wings will be markedly better next year. There are some impressive prospects in Detroit’s pipeline, including Simon Edvinsson and Jonatan Berggren, who could find their way into the big club’s roster conversation. If the Red Wings intend to ride with their young core again and see how far it can take them, there could be another spring with no playoffs on their horizon.
But if the payoff for that is crafting an identity and foundation for the team that will sustain it for years to come, well, maybe that’s worth pursuing.
2022 draft picks: 1st, 1st (CGY), 2nd, 2nd (EDM), 3rd, 3rd (ANA), 3rd (CAR), 4th, 4th (TB), 4th (NYR), 5th, 6th, 7th, 7th (STL)
It took Montreal 50 games to hit 10 wins. What didn’t go wrong for this team?
Within months of having played Tampa in the Stanley Cup Final, Montreal had fired GM Marc Bergevin (on Nov. 29) and coach Dominique Ducharme (on Feb. 9). It wasn’t any one glaring issue that made the Canadiens so hapless, either. Carey Price being unavailable because of injury and a stint in the NHL’s player assistance program was not ideal, but hardly insurmountable. Montreal was just a disjointed team. Exciting talents such as Cole Caufield were floundering. The defense was atrocious. One thing after another made attempts at improvement feel more and more futile.
GM Kent Hughes and coach Martin St. Louis stepped in along the way and gave Montreal a pulse; it was just too late to salvage much in the standings. But St. Louis got Caufield firing, Price returned to game action and the Canadiens played with appreciably more pride.
It should go without saying that St. Louis deserves to have the interim tag removed and sign a long-term deal as Montreal’s coach. That will be the easiest move Hughes makes before September.
From there, Montreal has to determine what’s next for Price. So much of how Hughes navigates the coming months will hinge on his starting goaltender. Can Price step back into that elite, full-time role Montreal is accustomed to getting from him? Given Price’s recent injury issues, does Hughes have to address the goaltending position either way, even with Jake Allen signed for another year? Figuring out who’ll be manning the crease is job one.
After that, Hughes will need to put his defense back in order following Ben Chiarot‘s trade and with Shea Weber out indefinitely with lingering injuries. Trading Jeff Petry has long been on the table, and Montreal doesn’t have a deep swatch of veterans signed after him. Hughes will have to restock the shelves. What decisions he makes will push Montreal in its next direction, likely leaning into the youth movement brought by Caufield, Nick Suzuki and others while balancing veteran contributions.
Montreal responded well to St. Louis. Over his first two months, the Canadiens were better than .500 at 12-11-4. Montreal did begin to fall off again later in April — losing Allen to injury didn’t help — but that shouldn’t reflect poorly on St. Louis. Give him an offseason and training camp to really get a feel for this team, and there will be plenty of reasons for optimism.
Depending where Montreal falls in the draft lottery and how Hughes can wield the many picks he has — including seven in the first three rounds of July’s draft — the Canadiens could avoid a full rebuild and come back as a retooled group.
The goaltending. For the second straight season, the Devils’ best-laid plans for their netminders went awry. In 2020-21, it was veteran Corey Crawford retiring after signing as a free agent. In 2021-22, it was another veteran in Jonathan Bernier playing just 10 games after the Devils signed him to pair with Mackenzie Blackwood. To their chagrin, Blackwood regressed to a .894 save percentage and played barely above replacement level … when he played. The Devils ended up using seven goaltenders this season because of injuries, finishing near the bottom of the league in save percentage for the second straight season.
Injuries were the story among the skaters too. Jack Hughes, having his best NHL season, was limited to 49 games, scoring 56 points. Free-agent prize Dougie Hamilton missed 17 games because of a jaw injury in an underwhelming first season in New Jersey. Nico Hischier also missed time.
Goaltending is the whole ballgame. The Devils were 12th in expected goals against per 60 minutes in all situations and 28th in goals-against average. They have to make a decision on Blackwood, figure out what they have in Nico Daws, then see if Bernier can return from his hip ailment or if the Devils need to find a veteran solution for the third straight offseason.
Beyond that, the Devils will have considerable salary-cap space to address a few other vital needs: replacing veteran defenseman P.K. Subban, who is an unrestricted free agent; adding skilled size to Hughes’ line; and re-signing leading scorer and restricted free agent Jesper Bratt, who leveled up considerably this season.
The other issue to address is coach Lindy Ruff, who has a .398 winning percentage in two seasons with the Devils and is signed through next season. Will New Jersey make a change in the offseason or will Ruff have a chance to coach under better goaltending conditions (in theory)? If he stays, it wouldn’t be surprising to see a change in assistant coaches given the Devils’ special team struggles.
Meanwhile, the Devils are back in the draft lottery, where they’ve had some luck. Given their depth at center, would they opt for Slovak winger Juraj Slafkovsky or his countryman, defenseman Simon Nemec?
Not to put too fine a point on it, but the Devils won’t be doing anything except wallowing in the draft lottery again if they can’t get better goaltending. There’s a lot to like here: New Jersey should be a top-10 scoring team next season, given its talent. If the Devils use their considerable cap space smartly, they could finally circle back to playoff contention.
After two straight trips to the NHL’s penultimate playoff round, the Islanders had the most disappointing season of any team in 2021-22, digging themselves an early-season hole from which they could never escape.
They started with 13 straight road games as the finishing touches on their new arena were completed, going 5-8-0. When they finally played at UBS Arena, it was not a happy homecoming: The Islanders went winless in their first seven games in the new barn, as part of an 11-game winless streak overall. On Dec. 5, the Islanders were 5-10-5. They never recovered to enter the playoff picture.
They went from being the 12th-ranked defensive team at even strength (per expected goals against) over the previous two seasons to being 25th this season. Typically dependable players like Anthony Beauvillier and Kyle Palmieri didn’t hit their offensive marks, while forward Oliver Wahlstrom couldn’t build on his promising rookie season.
There were personal highlights, such as Brock Nelson‘s best goal-scoring season, Noah Dobson‘s breakout year and Ilya Sorokin‘s Vezina-caliber goaltending. But it didn’t add up for the Islanders, who looked slow and old in a fast and young league.
Keys to the offseason
GM Lou Lamoriello must address the team’s blue line. Dobson needs a new contract. Andy Greene and Zdeno Chara are both free agents and past their prime, while free agent Sebastian Aho was generally ineffective. Sorokin and Semyon Varlamov — who will be in the final year of his contract next season — can only paper over so much of the Islanders’ troubles on defense.
After that, Lamoriello has to determine whether the team’s struggles were anomalous or systemic. Will he try to trade off some of his 30-and-older players on long-term contracts? Or does he run it all back next season with hopes that the pieces he’s assembled still can click for a Cup run?
One thing we do know: Barry Trotz will not be backed, as he was fired on May 9.
Realistic expectations for 2022-23
Bringing back Cal Clutterbuck and Zach Parise on new contracts would indicate that Lamoriello is willing to keep this core together for another kick at the can. With a few tweaks, especially on defense, perhaps the Islanders have another run in them, especially with their goaltending. A better start and some new bodies in the lineup should mean they’ll be a heck of a lot closer to the postseason than they were this season.
Projected 2022-23 cap space: $23,303,929
2022 draft picks: 1st, 2nd, 2nd (TB), 3rd, 3rd (BOS), 4th, 5th, 5th (WPG), 5th (BOS), 6th, 7th (NYI)
What went wrong?
The Senators thought the rebuild was over. They thought wrong.
Why? Let’s start with goaltending. Matt Murray was hardly the Senators’ savior there, losing seven straight to start the season and six straight in the back half of his campaign before exiting in early March with an injury. That’s not what Ottawa needed from its supposed starter. And with his own subpar play, Filip Gustavsson didn’t fill the void effectively.
Murray wasn’t the only one who fell below expectations, though. Tim Stutzle also came out slowly (on the score sheet anyway), notching only one goal in his first 21 games, epitomizing a lineup that struggled to score as a whole. Ottawa just never got the leaps and bounds from some of its younger stars early on, then couldn’t overcome its deficiencies later. That became especially true after Drake Batherson, the Sens’ leading point-getter, was lost to an injury right before the All-Star break.
Then there were the defensive inconsistencies: odd-man rushes, sloppy in-zone coverage, bad decision-making with the puck. All the little negative habits that add up to negative results.
Keys to the offseason
Murray hasn’t played an NHL game since March 5. How is GM Pierre Dorion going to address that position for next season? Anton Forsberg has had a solid final third of the season and signed a three-year deal to stick with the Senators. If Murray can get healthy, will Ottawa trust him to stay that way and be part of a tandem with Forsberg? Do the Sens have any other choice? Shoring up the goaltending, one way or another, will be critical to Ottawa’s hopes for a turnaround.
Dealing with their defensive problems will also be key. Dorion added Travis Hamonic at the trade deadline, but he’ll need to do more work to help Ottawa keep the puck out of its own net. The Senators have cap space available to rectify these issues; it’s on Dorion to find the right mix.
Realistic expectations for 2022-23
At this stage, it’s hard to think of Ottawa in the playoff conversation next season. Unless, of course, Dorion takes some big swings in free agency and can get some difference-making defensive players. The Senators have great talent up front in Stutzle, Batherson and Brady Tkachuk. Even if all three improve upon this campaign, more tweaks are necessary before we can say Ottawa realistically moves the needle next season.
Projected 2022-23 cap space: $8,803,143
2022 draft picks: 1st, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th
What went wrong?
This season was a debacle for the Flyers. Coach Alain Vigneault was fired after an 8-10-4 start and replaced by assistant coach Mike Yeo on an interim basis. Under the former Wild and Blues head coach, the Flyers would win just 16 of their next 56 games. They missed key players to injury in center Sean Couturier (29 games played), forward Kevin Hayes (44 games) and defenseman Ryan Ellis (4 games), a significant offseason acquisition who was expected to solidify the defensive corps. A slight uptick in goaltending quality by maligned franchise netminder Carter Hart was undercut by a penalty kill that saw the Flyers finish near the bottom of the league.
It was a season also marred by tragedy, as Hayes lost his brother, former NHL player Jimmy Hayes, last August. It was also overshadowed by the saga of captain Claude Giroux, the career Flyer whose time with the team ended after a deadline trade to the Florida Panthers.
Too many injuries, too many ineffective performances and not enough impact from GM Chuck Fletcher’s offseason additions in Ellis, Rasmus Ristolainen, Keith Yandle and Martin Jones (although Cam Atkinson played well in his first season in Philly).
Keys to the offseason
Fletcher has spoken about an “aggressive retool” in the offseason, believing there are enough pieces on the roster, with some augmentation, to contend next season. That retool is going to have to be quite aggressive: The Flyers need to replace Giroux’s offense and probably add another established scorer beyond that.
Will they seek to move forward James van Riemsdyk, who carries a $7 million cap hit into the final year of his contract? Will those rumors about Ivan Provorov‘s availability result in a trade? There are plenty of directions to take the retool.
Obviously, an NHL draft lottery win would help. The Flyers could certainly use a Shane Wright or a Logan Cooley at center, or Simon Nemec on defense.
But beyond the roster, Fletcher will need to hire a new head coach. There has been a lot of speculation that the Flyers will seek out TNT commentator and Philly fan favorite Rick Tocchet to take over the bench. Or does a team seeking better fundamental 5-on-5 play make overtures to another coach-turned-commentator in John Tortorella?
Realistic expectations for 2022-23
If they’re healthier. If their offseason acquisitions are uniformly more impactful than last season’s were and don’t detract from other areas of the team. If they choose the right coach. If some of the younger players getting time this season — Noah Cates, Ronnie Attard, Bobby Brink, Morgan Frost, Owen Tippett — level up, and Hart continues to trend back to his previous standards. If all of this — or at least most of it — happens, the Flyers could return to playoff contention. But that’s a lot of ifs.
Projected 2022-23 cap space: $13,003,333
2022 draft picks: 1st, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 5th (BUF), 6th, 7th, 7th (ARI), 7th (MIN)
What went wrong?
Not much was expected from the Sharks this season, but they improved incrementally.
They were a .438 points percentage team last season; they had a .468 points percentage through 77 games this season. Their goaltending improved from 29th last season to 20th this season, thanks to the acquisitions of James Reimer, Adin Hill and eventually goalie Kaapo Kahkonen, whom they acquired from Minnesota in a trade for defenseman Jacob Middleton.
But their offense dropped from seventh in expected goals per 60 minutes in all situations last season to 27th this season. Part of that could be attributed to the loss of forward Evander Kane, as the Sharks terminated Kane’s deal for what they said was a breach of contract and for violating COVID-19 protocols. He was their leading scorer last season, but it was clear that the relationship had run its course.
Keys to the offseason
The first is finding the next general manager after Doug Wilson stepped down this season. Joe Will is the team’s interim GM and may end up running their draft as they meticulously comb through candidates to succeed Wilson, who was with San Jose for 19 seasons.
Whoever takes over inherits a veteran roster filled with long-term contracts. The Sharks have $42.6 million in salary committed to the 2024-25 season for Logan Couture, Erik Karlsson, Brent Burns, Marc-Edouard Vlasic and now Tomas Hertl, whom they signed before the trade deadline. That’s an expensive core with ample trade protection. Unless something dramatic changes, the Sharks will have to find ways to build around that talent thriftily.
To that end, they have some interesting free agents: productive forward Alexander Barabanov (UFA), center Jonathan Dahlen (RFA), defenseman Mario Ferraro (RFA) and Kahkonen (RFA).
Realistic expectations for 2022-23
Another season in hockey purgatory, as the Sharks hope an affordable supporting cast can solidify around their talented but aging core. They need more players like center Thomas Bordeleau, the University of Michigan product who made his debut this season. They could have another one in forward William Eklund, the seventh overall pick in last year’s draft, but he had a rough season in the Swedish Hockey League. The regular-season ceiling for this team feels like a wild card.
Projected 2022-23 cap space: $21,135,834
2022 draft picks: 1st, 2nd, 2nd (NSH), 2nd (TOR), 2nd (FLA), 3rd, 4th, 4th (WSH), 4th (CGY), 5th, 6th, 7th
What went wrong?
The Kraken weren’t the Vegas Golden Knights. That much was clear. Our expectations for Seattle, based on the Knights’ recent expansion success and Seattle drafting under the same rules, were inflated. Given the talent on the roster, the Kraken should have been better than a points percentage under .400, even if they inevitably became a seller at the trade deadline anyway.
At the very least, they should have been a team that established a discernible identity in their inaugural season; yet in the end, Seattle’s style and direction are as mysterious as their namesake sea monster.
Their goaltending was supposed to help define them. Instead, Philipp Grubauer gave up more than 18 goals below expectations and cost his team at least three wins, per Evolving Hockey. Through 76 games, the Kraken had the worst team save percentage in the NHL. Whatever gains they made at 5-on-5 during the season were undermined by the league’s most porous goaltending.
But the Kraken didn’t give their netminders much goal support, either. They were near the bottom of the goals per game rankings, watching players like Joonas Donskoi struggle and others like Jaden Schwartz and Brandon Tanev limited by injuries.
Keys to the offseason
The arrival of No. 2 overall pick Matty Beniers gives the Kraken a potential No. 1 center next season and a glimpse of the future. How to achieve that future will involve the NHL draft, where the Kraken will have five picks in the first two rounds. But the short-term prospects for Seattle will rise or fall on GM Ron Francis’ moves this offseason.
They have 10 free agents, three of them unrestricted. They’ll have around $21 million in open cap space. They can see what worked and what didn’t this season and adjust accordingly. That goes for the players and the coaches, whose player usage and systems contributed to the team’s offensive malaise.
But mostly, they need to find a way for Grubauer to shake off this season and become the goalie they thought they signed last summer — the one who was going to be the foundation for what they’re building in the Emerald City.
Realistic expectations for 2022-23
The Kraken found some franchise foundations in their first year. Jared McCann was the goal-scoring ace that the analytics portended. Yanni Gourde was as solid as expected. Jamie Oleksiak had a strong season. So consider the inaugural season as the opening draw in a card game; they’ll keep some, give some back, take new ones and hope the hand turns out better. This is clearly a slow build for Seattle. Another season outside the playoffs, considering what’s in the 2023 draft, wouldn’t hurt.
Projected 2022-23 cap space: $12,373,333
2022 draft picks: 1st, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th
What went wrong?
The Canucks waited too long to make significant changes. GM Jim Benning and coach Travis Green were fired on Dec. 6, 2021. Benning had been at the helm since 2014, and the Canucks made the playoffs just twice during his tenure. One of those times was a second-round exit in the 2020 bubble playoffs that proved to be an anomalous tease.
After a .446 points percentage in 2020-21, this clean sweep probably could have happened in the offseason. Instead, the regime returned, with Benning having made overly aggressive moves in an effort to save his job — like the Oliver Ekman-Larsson deal, for a future contract headache he figured wouldn’t be his — and augment a roster that had already proven not to be championship-caliber.
Green was fired after the Canucks stumbled to an 8-15-2 start, months after Vancouver handed him a two-year contract extension. Enter miracle worker Bruce Boudreau, who has gone 31-15-9 as head coach and pushed this roster as far as it could go. Enter team president Jim Rutherford and general manager Patrik Allvin as well, who were charged with evaluating that roster in another lost season.
On the ice, the team got outstanding goaltending from Thatcher Demko, star Elias Pettersson regained his form, it was another big offensive season from defenseman Quinn Hughes and a career year from forward J.T. Miller, whom the Canucks decided to hang onto rather than move at the trade deadline despite next season being the last one on his contract. But the team’s problems, like their penalty kill, were solved too slowly for the Canucks to make the cut. Too much, too late.
Keys to the offseason
The first key is bringing back Boudreau. His contract has a team option for a second season, although it’s been reported that he could walk away from that option. As long as the term is right, bringing back Boudreau is a no-brainer: He cracked the code on this team and changed the vibe of the franchise.
They’ll have calls to make on Miller, who makes $5.25 million against the cap next season before becoming an unrestricted free agent; it’s hard to imagine he’s not part of the solution in Vancouver, given his breakout season. Forward Brock Boeser is a restricted free agent whose name continues to circulate in the trade rumor mill. Captain Bo Horvat, like Miller, goes UFA in summer 2023.
They have upwards of seven UFAs on a roster that Allvin and Rutherford would no doubt like to reshape a bit more in their image, while figuring out which pieces of the core they’ll retain.
Realistic expectations for 2022-23
It feels like Boudreau just ran out of runway this season. Given a full offseason, training camp and 82-game campaign, we have faith that he can get the Canucks back to the playoffs. They have some foundational pieces in place — you could do a lot worse than starting with Pettersson, Hughes and Demko — and a very smart managerial team to add more. The long-overdue end of the Benning Era should lead to prosperity next season.
Projected 2022-23 cap space: $2,673,334
2022 draft picks: 2nd, 3rd (NYR), 5th, 5th (CHI), 6th, 7th
What went wrong?
While there were things that impacted the Golden Knights beyond their control this season, they missed the playoffs for the first time in franchise history due to unforced errors, cap mismanagement and straying too far from their identity.
Having selected Robin Lehner as their primary goalie and needing the cap space, they shipped beloved Vezina Trophy winner Marc-Andre Fleury to the Blackhawks last offseason. That ended up destabilizing their goaltending: The Knights went from 2nd in team save percentage to 20th, and Lehner didn’t finish the season after opting for shoulder surgery. The Knights used much of that cap space to acquire winger Evgenii Dadonov … whose cap hit they desperately tried to unload with a deadline trade to the Ducks, only to have the move canceled by the NHL after it turned out Anaheim was on his no-trade list.
Vegas tried to move Dadonov because it was a capped-out team attempting to bring back players from long-term injured reserve. This underscored a two-fold problem this season: The financial constraints of their own making, which were only exacerbated when the Knights traded for Jack Eichel in a November 2021 blockbuster; and the incredible number of injuries they dealt with in the second half of the season, from star winger Mark Stone to defenseman Alec Martinez to key forward Reilly Smith to Lehner.
Eichel was the latest in a series of high-profile player acquisitions that turned the “Golden Misfits” into a roster crushed under the weight of its payroll and expectations. That was evident in the final games of the season, when the Knights stumbled to their elimination with home losses to New Jersey and San Jose; a de facto playoff game loss at Dallas; and then a loss in Chicago. Outside of the Devils, the other three defeats were in the shootout, where Vegas went a stupefying 0-for-17.
After that, it was goodnight for these underwhelming Knights.
Keys to the offseason
How does owner Bill Foley react to this? He’s spent the last three seasons collecting star players like they’re Pokémon. The Knights were a Stanley Cup favorite — and they didn’t even make the postseason. The key to the offseason is the scope of that reaction. Does it mean coach Peter DeBoer or GM Kelly McCrimmon are out of a job? Does it mean another aggressive offseason acquisition of high-priced veteran talent? Or do the Knights write off this injury-plagued season and run it back with much of the same roster, including a sharper Jack Eichel for 82 games?
Aside from those philosophical discussions, there are some immediate questions to be addressed. Smith is an unrestricted free agent that’s likely gone. Do they revisit a Dadonov trade? Could they seek to move Max Pacioretty one year before unrestricted free agency? Perhaps most importantly: What’s the status of Robin Lehner and of Lehner’s relationship with DeBoer?
Realistic expectations for 2022-23
Challenging for the Stanley Cup. Injuries were a huge factor this season. As anyone in Vegas knows, sometimes your luck is rotten. But the other issues that impacted the Knights were self-inflicted, and many of them can be corrected in the offseason with better cap management and some tweaks to the roster. They have enough talent on this roster to win the Cup. They just have to find the right mix, the right flexibility and, above all else, the right direction.
Projected 2022-23 cap space: $16,271,310
2022 draft picks: 1st, 2nd (STL), 2nd (NYR), 3rd (CBJ), 4th (ARI), 6th, 7th
What went wrong?
Some teams don’t have enough talent to compete with the NHL’s best. Winnipeg has top players, but too many of them had a tough season at the same time. So much so, coach Paul Maurice didn’t think he could get enough out of the group anymore, leading him to resign in December.
It’s not often that a coach just up and quits on a team that’s underperforming. Did that have a residual effect on the Jets’ overall confidence? Maybe. But the club’s struggling stars were the real issue.
Mark Scheifele and Blake Wheeler both missed time early in the season and didn’t find an offensive groove until later. Nikolaj Ehlers was one the Jets’ best forwards, but he too was felled by injury midseason, and that hurt the Jets’ chances of making a run up the standings. It felt like one thing after another took Winnipeg’s assets out of the lineup, and the more they fought to stay above water, the harder another wave of adversity would land.
Eventually that roller coaster seemed to take a mental toll on the entire team, effectively ending any last-ditch hope of contending for a wild-card spot.
Keys to the offseason
GM Kevin Cheveldayoff will need to decide on his next coach. Dave Lowry stepped in for Maurice, but is that a long-term slot for him? Probably not.
Whoever fills the role will face arguably the next most important task for the Jets: putting this wasted year behind them and starting fresh. It’s not as if the Jets’ require a massive overhaul. They have good players and good prospects. Connor Hellebuyck is a strong goaltender. This was just a nightmare season in nearly every regard.
Inevitably, Cheveldayoff will swap some personnel or make alterations here and there. He’ll have to manage Pierre Luc-Dubois’ next deal as well, which will be a priority negotiation between the club and its pending restricted free agent.
Realistic expectations for 2022-23
Winnipeg should enter training camp with a massive chip on its shoulder. This was not the year the Jets intended to have, and there are far too many good players in this lineup to have it happen again. There should be high expectations for the Jets going forward, both inside and outside the organization.