NHL: New Jersey Devils at Toronto Maple Leafs — The 5 most disappointing teams from the 2023-24 NHL season ft. New Jersey Devils

The 5 most disappointing teams from the 2023-24 NHL season ft. New Jersey Devils

Modified Apr 26, 2024 06:33 GMT

Now that the NHL regular season is over, we have had time to dissect what went wrong with 16 teams that didn't qualify for the playoffs.

Although several teams battled until the final buzzer of their respective seasons, some teams never made it that far, packing it in weeks before the lights went out.

On that note, let's examine the five most disappointing teams from this past season and the reasoning behind their collapses.

5 most disappointing teams from the 2023-24 NHL season

#5 Calgary Flames

In 2022, the Calgary Flames won the Pacific Division, and everyone wanted out. First, Johnny Gaudreau left, and then Matthew Tkachuk.

In their place, Jonathan Huberdeau, Nazem Kadri, and MacKenzie Weegar came to town.

After coming within a point of qualifying for the NHL playoffs, the Flames ran it back with a similar lineup, minus 30-goal scorer Tyler Toffoli, who they dealt away.

Unfortunately, as a dismal start, the Flames opted to start trading away players like Nikita Zadorov and Elias Pettersson while not finding a suitor for their most valuable player, Jacob Markstrom.

Instead of making a push after the All-Star Game and trade deadline, the Flames imploded down the stretch, and Huberdeau has yet to score 100 points with his new team in two seasons.

Although the franchise is trending towards a rebuild, there's enough star power in the lineup that missing the NHL playoffs was avoidable in 2023-24.

#4 Buffalo Sabres

The Buffalo Sabres maintain the longest playoff drought in the NHL, with 2023-24 marking the 13th season the franchise hasn't skated in the postseason.

After a memorable run to almost qualify in 2022-23, the Sabres took a step back this season, and it was a collective effort.

Whether it was Tage Thompson, Alex Tuch, or even Rasmus Dahlin, almost everyone in the Buffalo lineup had dips in production, which led to a tumble down the Eastern Conference standings.

Ultimately, management fired Don Granato and returned Lindy Ruff for another stint behind the bench.

If there was any positive news to come out of the Sabres season, it was the emergence of Ukko-Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen, who took over Devon Levi's starting role.

#3 Ottawa Senators

The Ottawa Senators didn't even make it until the end of 2023 before firing their head coach D.J. Smith and returning a veteran bench boss for the third time.

Armed with an incredibly talented NHL lineup with Brady Tkachuk, Tim Stützle, Claude Giroux, and Joshua Norris, the Senators came close to making the playoffs in 2023-24.

In the offseason, they signed veteran Vladimir Tarasenko and brought in goalie Joonas Korpisalo to make saves.

Unfortunately, Korpisalo never made those saves, and Tarasenko was traded to the Florida Panthers at the deadline. Now, Ottawa is closer to a top pick than to advancing to the playoffs, and many questions surround the franchise's future.

Will Tkachuk stay long-term? Can the Senators get a new arena deal? Who will coach them in 2024-25?

Even though we don't have those answers today, there's plenty of time to sort some out by September. For now, they have to deal with the disappointment of the 2023-24 campaign.

#2 Seattle Kraken

The Seattle Kraken gets some benefit of the doubt because they are an expansion franchise that just finished their third season in the NHL.

However, they set the bar pretty high in 2022-23, coming within one game of skating in the Western Conference Finals.

Whether or not that was a fluke run or just a team getting hot at the right time, we will never truly know since the Kraken failed to make it into the playoffs this season.

After a 100-point season, Seattle finished this campaign with 81 points, a significant 19-point drop in the standings. Although there are several reasons for their slide down the charts, none stand out more than the others.

Instead of winning more games this season, building upon the success from 2022-23, the Kraken lost 13 overtime games, and not enough players could duplicate their statistics from the previous seasons.

The Kraken didn't disappoint anyone; they could not rise to the occasion for a second consecutive season as they continue to work out their growing pains as the NHL's newest franchise.

However, missing the playoffs 12 months after almost advancing to the final four is quite a step back.

#1 New Jersey Devils

The New Jersey Devils almost won the Metropolitan Division in 2022-23, then eliminated their Hudson River rivals, the New York Rangers, before bowing out of the second round of the playoffs.

After some dormant years, the Devils were back. Led by Jack Hughes and Jesper Bratt, New Jersey was predicted to be a top contender and a dark horse team worthy of the Stanley Cup until they weren't.

Injuries to star players like Hughes and Dougie Hamilton derailed their campaign, and the combination of Vítek Vaněček and Akira Schmid gave the Devils some of the worst goaltending numbers.

Initially thought to be contenders, New Jersey's season was all but over by Christmas, which forced a handful of moves at the NHL trade deadline.

Unfortunately, the Devils did not acquire a number-one goalie to help them in their playoff fight.

As the clock ticked down on their season, it was apparent that 2023-24 was not their year. If New Jersey can stay healthy and recoup the energy from 2022-23 while landing an elite netminder, they will avoid this list next year.