Every season there is plenty of turnover in the playoff picture as, on average, a couple teams per conference fail to make the NHL 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 Eastern Conference teams who could bounce back and make the NHL playoffs in 2016-17.
Toronto Maple Leafs
I think the Toronto Maple Leafs may take the largest leap forward in all of hockey this season.
Despite what their record suggested, they weren’t all that bad last season. They routinely out shot and out chanced their opposition, but came away losers much more often than not due to a) bad goaltending and; b) the league’s worst shooting percentage.
If the Leafs regularly out played their opponent, how come they didn’t win more often (goaltending aside), you might ask?
Well, they simply didn’t have any talent in their lineup. Phil Kessel was traded, James van Riemsdyk missed more than half the season, their top prospects (William Nylander, Mitch Marner, etc.) were all cut and sent to the AHL/junior for more seasoning and the list goes on. You can out shoot your opponent all you want, but if it is Daniel Winnik, Shawn Mathias, Michael Grabner, Bryon Froese and co. taking the shots, you’re probably not going to score much even if they’re coming from good locations.
The Leafs may be inexperienced but talent definitely won’t be an issue this season. JvR, Nazem Kadri and co. will all produce their fair share of offense and they’ll be surrounded by a ton of elite prospects like Auston Matthews, Nylander and Marner. Again, there will be some growing pains along the way but all three of those guys, among others, should be able to produce immediately.
The defense has some question marks, but I think Nikita Zaitsev, Morgan Rielly and Jake Gardiner can and will carry the load on the back end.
With Frederik Andersen and Jhonas Enroth between the pipes their goaltending should be better than last season, too.
Factor in the Leafs have the league’s best coach, and play in the worst division, and I think the playoffs could be in the cards this season.
New Jersey Devils
No team in the NHL scored fewer 5 v 5 goals than the Devils last season. No team scored fewer 5 v 5 goals per 60 minutes played, either.
Despite that, the New Jersey Devils were in the thick of the playoff race until late in the year when all-star goaltender Cory Schneider went down with an injury.
With a little more scoring the Devils could have seriously contended for a wild card spot. Knowing that the Devils were on a mission to improve the team’s offense this off-season and boy did they ever.
The biggest move was acquiring Taylor Hall, obviously. Over the last four seasons only Sidney Crosby, Jamie Benn and Patrick Kane recorded more 5 v 5 points than Hall, so he will be an immense help in that game state.
Perhaps equally as important, though, is the Devils cut a lot of dead weight off their roster. Bobby Farnham, Stephen Gionta, Tuomo Ruutu and Jordin Tootoo, among others, brought next to nothing to the table offensively and were let go.
The Devils replaced those guys with P.A. Parenteau and a few young, offensively gifted players like Reid Boucher, Beau Bennett and Pavel Zacha. There will be growing pains for some of the young players, but there is no doubt each is an upgrade over the player they replaced.
These additions allow the Devils to dress legitimate offensive talent in their bottom-6 and, as a result, they won’t need to solely rely on Hall, Adam Henrique and Kyle Palmieri to score goals.
On top of all that Mike Cammalleri, who recorded 38 points in 42 games last season, is healthy and ready to go.
Admittedly the defense has some question marks, especially after trading Adam Larsson, but Andy Greene and Damon Severson should be able to carry the load and newcomer Yohann Auvitu appears ready to make an impact.
With a much improved offense and one of the NHL’s elite goaltenders the Devils have what it takes to make some noise this season. Getting to the playoffs will be tough – there are some excellent teams in the Metro – but they just may be able to do it.
Written by Todd Cordell (@ToddCordell)
