Welcome back to the world's most trusted weekly salary cap article, and boy, do we have some clubs we have to sort through this week. Every season, there's turnover when it comes to who misses out for a run at the Stanley Cup that had a chance the season prior. It's one of the things that makes this league so much fun: The changing landscape of who makes playoffs each year. I wanted to look at the clubs that missed out on playoffs this season that were at the dance last year and try to see what could have contributed from a salary cap standpoint and if the road back to the playoffs could be immediate, or a long-term process via a teardown.

New York Islanders

I forgot that the Islanders made playoffs last season. Really, I'm not trying to be funny, the other clubs I had listed down I remembered, but I had to go back and look at what transpired last season. The Islanders salary cap…I don't know where to start here. I've been pretty vocal that I cannot at all stand that Mat Barzal is at a $9.15M hit, it hinders so much of what the Islanders otherwise could be able to do. First up this offseason will be either an arbitration hearing or settlement with Noah Dobson and either way, this may get ugly, as they were open about dealing him at the deadline altogether. If there's good news, it's that the salary cap is going up with is going to really benefit mid-tier players get offers, and New York may be one of the clubs that brings in players falling around that $3.5-5M dollar range.

If there's one saving grace, it's that Ilya Sorokin is under contract until 2027-2028…with the bad news coming via the blue line in front of him as they'll have Ryan Pulock at $6.15M, and Scott Mayfield at $3.5M, where I can only imagine a buyout in two seasons. I know they also have Adam Pelech at $5.75M, but just eye test, I can work with that number for and let that one run its course before the 2027 season comes to a close. I'd say it's unlikely that from a number on a white board frame of mind that this team is back in the playoff mix come next season and can't see where exactly the road goes.


Boston Bruins

I want to say that the Boston Bruins could really do some creative things this offseason. Will that be the case? I'm leaning no, but I've said it here before that it's always easier to go for the teardown route than try and retool. They have David Pastrnak under contract until 2028, that's a great start and I have to think that they'll probably have Morgan Geekie signed somewhere in the range of a $6x6M contract. Casey Mittelstadt is on a no-risk deal and I'm not leaving out that Elias Lindholm might still have value for this team. I do also think that Jeremy Swayman bounces back a bit next season even though now that $8.2M cap hit isn't aging great. The issues for this club are largely on the blue line and it's about 50/50 for me if you can rebuild a defensive core in an offseason. Sometimes it works out where you can get a decent back end together that can be excellent on the kill, but my worry with that as always is the sticker tax to bring a player in, and I don't like bad money on the blueline.

This club has been in a tailspin for the past month, but I'm trying to be optimistic when it comes to this offseason for the B's. Why not try and get creative here? They have all their own picks, go out and see what an offer sheet for select players would look like, why not? There's hardly been any development coming in from the draft for this club in the past five seasons, so to me this would mean that you could look to supplement that value in lieu of an offer sheet. I get it, it's not a popular play between GM's, but if all goes wrong next season it's clean house for Boston anyways.

Nashville Predators

This team "won" the offseason last summer but quickly found themselves as one of the worst clubs in the NHL by American Thanksgiving. They swung big on the money they gave out, signing Stevn Stamkos to a contract with an $8M AAV hit, Jonathan Marchessault at $5.5M, and Brady Skjei at $7M. While I still stand by that I don't like the Skjei signing, Nashville has an opportunity to turn things around quicker than any of the clubs we're going to go over.

Nashville has no major free agents they need to worry about re-signing in the next two seasons, they still have enough top end money to put together a solid top power play unit, and while Juuse Saros struggled tremendously from the middle of February on, his extension helps alleviate pressure to go out and try and find someone in net. What's also beneficial for this club, is that they have three picks in the first round, with one of them likely coming in as a top five pick.

This club didn't move assets at the deadline, and there's no rumblings that a coaching or front office shakeup is coming, and I can see them getting in on free agency early just like they did last season and using their $18M in available spend on getting a solid top six in order. Their buyout money and Skjei contract aside, they have a good enough chance to be competitive again sooner rather than later.

New York Rangers

There's a lot to unpack here. Let's get the elephant out of the room from the rumors online: This club is not buying out either Chris Kreider or Mike Zibanejad. Just Kreider alone would cost this club $3M this season, $4M next season, and then just over $1.5M for the next two seasons after that. The asset management with this club has been brutal, and I can't see any mid-level contracts that are worth having on your books outside maybe Carson Soucy on the blue line at $3.25M? Still, like Nashville above, they have their goaltender signed in Igor Shesterkin on a number that is going to go up north of $10M, and even with all their top-heavy contracts on the forward groupings, I could see a world where next season they rank just outside the top ten in money spent with that position group.

To me, this would be a case where I would at least hold a long meeting on the direction that I want to go. It is going to be very hard to move any pieces that I have that are going to garner any sort of value, but with no first round pick this season, I might lean on trying to see what's out there closer to the draft and consider building this one back up from the studs. Like Boston, this is a group that needs to either figure out spend on the blueline and one bright spot is that if they go the arbitration route with K'Andre Miller, I can expect to see that number on the lower side.

Vancouver Canucks

I thought that this club could make a deep playoff run as we came in, now it's looking like this will be the team that ultimately ends up starting at zero and working back up. They have already been open that they are not going to pursue re-signing Brock Boeser, and I can see them looking to move Elias Pettersson. Keep in mind, if moving Pettersson were to happen, they would need to have a deal in place by July 1^st as his no-trade will come into effect. That's the worst-kept secret in hockey and will likely get 60 cents (or less) on the dollar in a trade. It’s just the reality, and it's a harsh one.

I hate to see Quinn Hughes moved, but he has a contract that doesn't include a no-trade and so does Thatcher Demko in net. Demko was the one to where I was surprised had no suitors at the deadline and can see one of two things happening with him along with some other pieces on this team. Either they look ship players off in the summer, or this is the team that comes into camp next season with all intentions of moving players at the deadline.

I want to see this team right back to where they were last season soon, but I'd have to have a hard look after Thursday on the direction I want to move into. They have just under how much salary I would want to have this summer around $13.5M and if the writing is on the wall that they are looking to move off their current larger contracts, then this could be a bottom out candidate by the time the puck drops again this October.

*Salary Cap data from PuckPedia.com  

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