If your favorite team missed the NHL playoffs, don’t fret. The NHL Draft and free agency will be here before you know it. There were some surprises among playoff misses, notably with big-market teams. Who among the NHL’s 16 non-playoff teams is poised to have a busy summer?
The Rangers were only the fourth team in NHL history to miss the playoffs the season after winning the Presidents’ Trophy, so you can bet there will be changes. They’ve already made one move, announcing Peter Laviolette would not return as the team’s head coach for the 2025-26 season.
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More moves will come from the Rangers, though their hands are tied a bit. General manager Chris Drury cleared the albatross contracts of Jacob Trouba and Barclay Goodrow. But they’ve already tied the added cap space in an extension for Will Borgen, acquiring Carson Soucy and J.T. Miller, and the most expensive contract for a goalie in NHL history for Igor Shesterkin.
The Rangers have about $11.4 million in cap space entering the offseason, though that’s with restricted free agents K’Andre Miller and Will Cuylle needing extensions. The odds are they will trade Miller, but Cuylle will get a bump from his ELC cap hit. They don’t have much draft capital, but I expect Drury to be busy. They were one of the most disappointing teams in the NHL this season, so I doubt they run back the same roster.
I don’t think anyone expected the Blackhawks to be a playoff team, but it was fair to expect improvement (I know I did). That did not happen, as they more or less finished in the same place in the standings as they did a season ago.
The good news is the Blackhawks are loaded with assets to have a big summer. They have $33.8 million in cap space and 12 draft picks across the first two rounds of the next three drafts. They also have a top-five prospect pool and are even first in some rankings. GM Kyle Davidson has the assets to make significant improvements, and I expect him to do so.
That’s not to say the Blackhawks will become a cap team, but Connor Bedard needs help. His frustration was visible this season, and they need more players around him to help the organization take a step forward in their rebuild. I expect Davidson to trade some of his surplus draft picks for NHL talent, and they’ll likely be players in free agency.
Every offseason feels like a crucial one for the Sabres, but it’s true. If you want to break a 14-year playoff drought, eventually, you’ll have to make some big moves during the summer. That’s something they did not do last offseason, as they entered the 2024-25 season with just over $8 million in cap space.
I’m not sure how much of that is GM Kevyn Adams’ fault. When you leave that much cap space open, ownership is likely setting an internal cap. Regardless, that can’t be the case this offseason. The Sabres have $24 million in cap space to work with and have 10 draft picks in the 2025 draft alone.
The Sabres have a few notable RFAs to re-sign — JJ Peterka, Bowen Byram, Jack Quinn and Ryan McLeod — but chances are not all of them will remain with the organization. Peterka is the most fascinating among the Sabres’ RFAs. His name was out there at the trade deadline, and he could be an offer sheet candidate this summer.
Even if the Sabres trade Peterka or lose him to an offer sheet, I expect them to add more NHL talent. They have a good prospect pool, so they have the assets to make moves. Eventually, they have to spend to the cap if they want to jump into playoff contention. Otherwise, it’ll be more of the same.
The Flyers could go a few ways this offseason. They have seven picks in the first two rounds of the 2025 draft and $26.5 million in cap space, but will they go all-out in free agency and the trade market? Who they hire to replace John Tortorella as head coach will say plenty about the direction GM Danny Briere is thinking in the short- and long-term.
If Rick Tocchet departs from the Vancouver Canucks, he’ll likely be a top option to take over for Tortorella. Tocchet doesn’t seem like the type of coach you hire if you plan to tank for a couple of more years, so would Briere deal some of those draft picks and go on a modest spending spree in free agency? It’s possible.
My guess is that Briere and the Flyers decide to build through the draft and sign some second-tier free agents to short-term contracts to help improve their roster. However, there is potential for them to do more if they decide they want to be more competitive sooner rather than later.
This offseason might be the most important of Steve Yzerman’s tenure as Red Wings GM. They’ve been stuck in no man’s land the last couple of seasons — not good enough to make the playoffs but not bad enough to have a top-10 pick in the draft. Their roster needs significant improvement if they want to get over the hump and break their nearly decade-long playoff drought.
The Red Wings have assets to work with this offseason. Yzerman will have $22.2 million in cap space and nine draft picks in the 2025 draft. They also have all their picks in the 2026 and 2027 drafts and a top-five farm system, so there’s ammo to be active.
Yzerman has faced plenty of criticism for his rebuild in Detroit, and understandably so. Drafting hasn’t been a problem for the Red Wings under his watch. They’ve nailed their draft picks for the most part, but adding NHL talent has hindered their rebuild greatly. Additions like Ben Chiarot, Jeff Petry, Andrew Copp, J.T. Compher and Justin Holl have all not worked out. That’d make me nervous about what Yzerman could do to add NHL talent, but the potential is there to be busy.
You can feel it coming for Utah HC. They missed the playoffs, but they’re close and will be a popular pick to make the postseason in 2025-26. GM Bill Armstrong will have $22.3 million in cap space this offseason with no notable UFAs or RFAs to re-sign. They also have a top-10 prospect pool and plenty of draft capital over the next three drafts.
This year’s UFA class doesn’t appear to be great, but I expect Utah to be active in trying to improve their roster. If it’s not in free agency, Armstrong will be scouring the trade market to bolster their group, and I wouldn’t be surprised if Utah were one of the teams to offer sheet an RFA. They have all the assets necessary to do it, so that’ll be something to monitor once the offseason gets underway.
The Penguins are one of the most fascinating teams for me this offseason. Will they try to be competitive in the final year or two of their legacy players, will they try to rebuild, or will they do something in between?
GM Kyle Dubas has already improved the Penguins’ farm system, but they could use more young talent. The Penguins have 30 draft picks over the next three drafts, so they have plenty of draft capital. Dubas will use some of those to add more prospects to their system, but I’m sure some of that surplus will go into adding NHL talent.
The Penguins have $23.7 million in cap space to work with, and it’ll likely be even more since it seems like an Erik Karlsson trade could happen this summer, per Elliotte Friedman on the April 23 edition of 32 Thoughts. I would continue rebuilding and see if you can luck into Gavin McKenna in the 2026 draft, but I expect the Penguins to be busy regardless.
Last but not least is the Bruins, who were among the most disappointing teams in the NHL this season. They hung around in the playoff race for most of the season before ultimately deciding to sell off at the trade deadline. The result was them falling into the NHL’s basement and putting themselves in a prime position to nab a much-needed blue-chip prospect in the 2025 draft.
Not only will the Bruins likely have a top-five pick in the draft, but they’ll also have $34.4 million in cap space. They’re not exactly a team that rebuilds, even though I’d argue they desperately need it, given the state of their roster and barren prospect pool. They will likely try to build a team that can contend for the 2025-26 season since they have all that cap space, but GM Don Sweeney may be limited in what he can do since they don’t have many tradeable assets because their prospect pool is so weak. Still, the pressure is on in Boston. They will be busy trying to get back into playoff position in an ultra-competitive Atlantic Division.
It’s rare to see so many major-market teams miss the playoffs, and that’s part of why you can expect most of these teams to be busy this offseason. Most of these organizations don’t rebuild, and some have already been rebuilding long enough. And with the salary cap ceiling rising to $95 million, you can bet these teams will put the extra money to use.
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