Three NHL Teams Who Could Return to Playoffs

These three NHL teams are due for a big jump in 2024-25.

Mar 21, 2024; Newark, New Jersey, USA; New Jersey Devils center Jack Hughes (86) celebrates his goal against the Winnipeg Jets during the third period at Prudential Center. Mandatory Credit: Ed Mulholland-USA TODAY Sports / Ed Mulholland-USA TODAY Sports

The Stanley Cup Playoffs are almost like a game of musical chairs in the sense that there's a few new teams that make it to the dance each year, as well as a few teams who get left out in the cold.

Last season, three new teams made it to the playoffs after missing out the year before, those being the Washington Capitals, Nashville Predators and Vancouver Canucks. As a result, the New Jersey Devils, Minnesota Wild and Seattle Kraken failed to make the playoffs after doing so in 2023.

That begs the question, which teams may swap places this season? Without further ado, here are three teams who missed the playoffs last season but could make it this season.

New Jersey Devils

The Devils showed so much promise in 2022-23, finishing third in the league standings with 112 points and winning their first playoff series in 11 years, against the rival New York Rangers no less. However, last season was an unmitigated disaster as New Jersey floundered to an 81-point finish, largely due to terrible goaltending and injury issues.

This season, the Devils will hope to bounce back to being a contender once again. They seemingly solved their goaltending woes with the addition of Jacob Markstrom, forming a solid tandem with trade deadline pickup Jake Allen. New Jersey also fortified its blue line by signing Brett Pesce and Brendan Dillon, and the continued development of Simon Nemec and Luke Hughes should help as well.

Health will be paramount for the Devils, as Jack Hughes missed significant time last season and Dougie Hamilton played just 20 games. If their stars can stay on the ice, though, a return to the postseason is the bare minimum expectation for the Devils.

Detroit Red Wings

The Red Wings came oh so close to ending their long playoff drought last season, only losing the final wild card spot to the Capitals due to tiebreakers. It's now been eight years since Detroit's last playoff appearance, and the once-proud franchise is determined to get back to that point.

Unlike other teams on the list, the Red Wings didn't make sweeping changes this offseason. The big addition former All-Star forward Vladimir Tarasenko, who just won his second Stanley Cup with the Florida Panthers. Other additions include depth pieces such as Tyler Motte and Erik Gustafsson, while their losses include David Perron, Shayne Gotsisbehere and Jake Walman.

Goaltending will be a bit of a question mark with Ville Husso, Alex Lyon and newcomer Cam Talbot between the pipes, but it should at least be good enough to not sink their chances.

With another year to build chemistry, the Red Wings should be able to improve enough to finally get back to the postseason. If they don't, then expect there to be serious questions about general manager Steve Yzerman's job.

Utah Hockey Club

Last year, the Arizona Coyotes were pretty competitive for about half the season, until a 14-game losing streak that started in late January and spanned all of February completely sunk their playoff hopes. That was the same time the relocation rumors began, and now that the team has officially been reborn as the Utah Hockey Club, there is optimism for a big first season in Salt Lake City.

By inheriting Arizona's crop of players, prospects and draft picks, Utah had a wealth of options available to them this offseason. The new team has made the most of those resources, acquiring Mikhail Sergachev and John Marino to add some much-needed juice to the blue line. Utah also boasts a strong, cost-effective goalie tandem in Connor Ingram and Karel Vejmelka, as well as a forward corps led by one of the game's most-underrated players in Clayton Keller and an up-and-comer in Logan Cooley.

It's no secret that Arizona struggled to ice a competitive team for years, as its lone playoff appearance over the past decade coming in the 2020 bubble. Now in Utah, and with stable ownership for the first time in an age, this team can finally focus solely on playing hockey and reaching its true potential.

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