Last season, only one minor playoff drought ended when the Vancouver Canucks returned to the postseason for the first time since 2020. The five longest playoff droughts remain intact. They are the Buffalo Sabres, who last made the playoffs in 2011, the Detroit Red Wings (2016), Ottawa Senators (2017), Anaheim Ducks (2018), and San Jose Sharks (2019).
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The question is, which drought will most likely end this season? With three of the above teams in the Atlantic Division and the other two in the Pacific, there’s a good chance that one of them will slide into the playoffs even as a wild-card team. Here’s our rankings, starting with a team that should have little to no chance of making the 2025 Playoffs.
5. San Jose Sharks
Forget making the playoffs. The Sharks might be the furthest team from contention in the NHL (although the Columbus Blue Jackets might have something to say about that). In their defense, they were active this offseason, and it’s clear they are taking a step forward. They signed Barclay Goodrow, Tyler Toffoli, and Alex Wennberg to strengthen the forward unit while adding Jake Walman to help the defense.
Yet, they still don’t have the pieces to contend and are far from making a push for a playoff spot. Sure, the Pacific Division isn’t the toughest, and a lot can go their way, but the bottom line is that they have questions in all three positions and lack the elite talent to build a competitive team around.
The good news is that the young players are on the way. Will Smith is moving up in the pipeline, and Macklin Celebrini, the top selection in the 2024 NHL Entry Draft, will make an impact shortly. The playoffs are far-fetched, but the rebuild is starting to take shape. So fans might have to be a little more patient.
4. Anaheim Ducks
The Ducks have a path to the playoffs, but like the Sharks, a lot has to go right. They have pieces in place that make a rebuild look like it’s on track, but they lack direction. For a team looking to add young players to the roster to allow them to develop, they have seven skaters 30 years old or older taking up valuable ice time.
If the young skaters get their ice time and start to take significant strides, the Ducks could take the league by surprise. Mason McTavish, Trevor Zegras, Leo Carlsson, and Cutter Gauthier could lead a dynamic forward unit, while Pavel Mintyukov and Olen Zellweger could take off on defense to make it a faster group that impacts the game at both ends of the ice. On top of that, John Gibson, who has been on the trade block for years, must play at a high level. Suddenly, the Ducks could slide into the playoffs as a wild card.
The bottom line is that the Ducks will have to talk themselves into being a playoff team (like the paragraph above does). They are still a few pieces away, and their young core is not ready to take the league by storm. Maybe they will be next season, but that also requires them to build around their young core, and the front office hasn’t been able to do that in recent seasons.
3. Ottawa Senators
The Senators entered last season looking to take the next step and make the playoffs. Yet, they took a step back in a disastrous campaign that forced ownership to clean house, firing general manager (GM) Pierre Dorion and head coach DJ Smith and replacing them with GM Steve Staios and coach Travis Green. The Senators had to move some players around this offseason, notably trading Jakob Chychrun to the Washington Capitals, and failing to make the playoffs this season could have them rebuilding again after a failed rebuild.
Despite all the chaos and drama that seems to stick with the Senators, regardless of who runs the team (or owns it), they have a good roster in place. The top six includes Brady Tkachuk, Tim Stutzle, and Drake Batherson, while the defense, even without Chychrun, is still strong, with Thomas Chabot, Artem Zub, and Jake Sanderson anchoring the unit. If Linus Ullmark, their big addition of the offseason, is great in net, the Senators could take a significant step forward in the Eastern Conference.
The Atlantic Division will again be a gauntlet, and with the Montreal Canadiens seeing their rebuild come into form, it’s only going to get harder. It’s also hard to say that all the moves the Senators made moved the needle (they are better, but how much better) to make them a playoff team. However, all the pieces are in place to see the team make a push for a postseason berth.
2. Buffalo Sabres
Maybe this is their year, right? That’s what the fans have been saying since 2011, eager to see the longest drought in the NHL come to an end. The Sabres were so close in 2022-23, finishing with 91 points, while the Florida Panthers, the final wild-card team, ended up with 92 points. They were close, and then so far in 2023-24 – they ended the season seven points out of a playoff spot and fired head coach Don Granato as a result (they never recovered from the slow start).
This season, however, could be the one when they bounce back and make the playoffs. The big thing in their favor is the star power capable of willing them back. Tage Thompson battled injuries last season but is a superstar who proves time and time again that he can take over a game when he gets going. There’s also Alex Tuch, Rasmus Dahlin, Owen Power, and trade deadline addition Bowen Byram, who impressed in his brief time with the team last season.
Then there’s Lindy Ruff, who is returning to the Sabres bench. There are a lot of concerns, considering how his tenure with the New Jersey Devils ended, but considering he took them to the 2023 Playoffs, he can take their young roster to the next level. The Sabres will be doubted until they get into the playoffs, but they have a team capable of making the playoffs and possibly finishing near the top of the Atlantic Division.
1. Detroit Red Wings
Last season, the Red Wings looked poised to make the playoffs in an underwhelming Eastern Conference. They went 8-12-3 in their final 23 games to miss the postseason by a tiebreaker won by the Capitals. All the pressure is on this team – from the front office to the players – to make the playoffs, and anything short of that will be a disappointment.
It’s easy to see this lineup make the playoffs. Lucas Raymond, Alex DeBrincat, and a healthy Dylan Larkin will lead the offense, and with Moritz Seider at the blue line, the defense will be great as well. Patrick Kane and Vladimir Tarasenko are the veterans who will put this team over the top.
The question is goaltending, an issue that has haunted the Red Wings for years. It’s why GM Steve Yzerman pulled out all the stops this offseason to address the need, adding Cam Talbot and Jack Campbell to a unit that already has Alex Lyon and Ville Husso. Finding stability in the position will have them near the top of the Eastern Conference and snapping a playoff drought that has gone on too long for the Hockeytown fanbase.
The irony of this list is that the three Atlantic Division teams have a more likely path to the playoffs than the Pacific Division teams. It speaks to the gap between the good and bad teams in the Western Conference while also showing how close a lot of teams in the Eastern Conference are to being contenders.
Which team do you think will end their playoff drought? Let us know in the comments sections below.
