Every season there is plenty of turnover in the playoff picture as, on average, a couple teams per conference fail to make the playoffs the year after doing so.
This, of course, means the door opens for a couple non-playoff teams to get back to where they want to be.
With that in mind let’s take a look at a couple Western Conference teams who could bounce back and make the NHL playoffs in 2016-17.
Calgary Flames
With a core featuring the likes of Johnny Gaudreau, Sean Monahan and Sam Bennett, among others up front, as well as Mark Giordano, T.J. Brodie and Dougie Hamilton on defense, the Calgary Flames’ top players can match up against pretty much anyone’s.
Last year was obviously disappointing, but arguably their two biggest issues have been addressed. The Flames had the worst 5 v 5 goaltending in the league last year. Given most of every game is spent in that game state, it’s not hard to see why they struggled, obviously. Karri Ramo, Jonas Hiller and Joni Ortio have all let go while Brian Elliott, one of the NHL’s best goaltenders over the last few seasons, and Chad Johnson have been brought in to replace them. Even if Elliott’s numbers dip a little bit compared to what they were in St. Louis, the Flames are still unquestionably better between the pipes.
Another big problem for the Flames has been their possession woes. They have been routinely out shot and out chanced for a couple years now and, while some of that is undoubtedly on a lack of reliable depth, Bob Hartley and his staff were certainly part of the problem. Glen Gulutzan is somewhat of an unknown commodity at this point, but he seems like a forward thinking guy and should be an improvement behind the bench.
I still have some concerns about the team’s depth – particularly on the wings, although Kris Versteeg certainly helps – but with the star power they have and reliable goaltending the playoffs are certainly a realistic possibility.
Winnipeg Jets
The Winnipeg Jets might be the league’s most underrated team heading into the 2016-17 season.
For starters their forward is absolutely loaded from top to bottom. They have a handful of reliable point producers in Blake Wheeler, Mark Scheifele, Bryan Little and Mathieu Perreault, among others. I think Nik Ehlers is ready to handle a larger role and rookies Kyle Connor and Patrik Laine will add some depth and scoring punch to a lineup that already had a lot of it.
Depth on defense could be an issue, in large part due to the absence of Jacob Trouba, but with Dustin Byfuglien, Tobias Enstrom and Tyler Myers there is enough talent there to prevent the blue line from being a complete disaster.
Perhaps the biggest reason to be optimistic about the Jets is their upgrade in goal. Ondrej Pavelec, who posted sub league average numbers on a yearly basis, has been waived and Connor Hellebuyck will take over in goal. He has posted excellent numbers everywhere he has played and last season he led the league with a .940 save percentage at 5 v 5 before he was surprisingly sent down.
It’s unlikely he maintains those numbers going forward, obviously, but if he can provide even league average goaltending he’ll be an upgrade over Pavelec – and there’s certainly reason to believe he can.
Playing in the league’s toughest division won’t help the Jets cause, but I think they have enough talent on their roster to surprise some people this season.
Written by Todd Cordell (@ToddCordell)