ESPN.com · Apr 14, 2025
Offseason keys for NHL teams, including draft, free agency
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The 2024-25 NHL regular season will end Thursday, with exciting races for playoff seeding and the draft lottery order right until the final horn.
But not every team gets to participate in the postseason. This is the place where we look ahead to the offseason for all the teams eliminated from contention: Who will those teams try to add via free agency, trades and the draft? How much better will the team be in 2025-26?
Read on for a look at what went wrong for each eliminated team, along with a breakdown of the biggest keys this offseason and realistic expectations for next season. Note that more teams will be added to this story as they are eliminated.