Is it time for your middle-of-the-pack NHL team to panic?

It’s April, and that means the NHL’s best teams are sizing each other up and jousting for home ice ahead of the Stanley Cup Playoffs while the bottom feeders scour the Frozen Four and CHL postseason for their next franchise-changing stars. 

For organizations that fit neither description, the spring is a particularly frustrating time of year: out of the playoffs, but not by enough to land a blue-chip prospect like 2023 No.1 pick Connor Bedard or his presumed successor Macklin Celebrini, these clubs wonder how long they’ll be stuck in hockey purgatory. Find out below whether your playoff bubble team is on the cusp of a major turnaround or due for more sixth-placed finishes.

New Jersey Devils

A popular preseason pick for the Presidents’ Trophy and even the Stanley Cup, the Devils did not expect their title hopes to end with the 2023-24 regular season. Highly touted rookies Simon Nemec and Luke Hughes were expected to replace Ryan Graves and Damon Severson on defense while trade acquisitions Tyler Toffoli and Timo Meier rounded out a top-six already brimming with homegrown talent. Six months on, Toffoli is in Winnipeg after another trade, and the Devils could finish below .500 a year after winning 52 games. As much as a lost season hurts, it does little to throw off New Jersey’s long-term trajectory.

For their part, Nemec and Luke Hughes have outperformed even the most optimistic expectations. Hughes leads all rookie blueliners in points and has filled seamlessly for Dougie Hamilton, who tore his pec after just 20 games, at the helm of a power play that scores 22% of the time. More injuries necessitated a call-up for Nemec, a critical puck mover for a team that has struggled to escape the zone; his 54.6% share of high-danger chances leads Devils defensemen. The problem for the Devils has not been their rookies but regression from veteran defensemen John Marino and Jonas Siegenthaler (who have struggled away from Graves and Hamilton, respectively) and disastrous goaltending (.896 team SV%). Jake Allen and Kaapo Kahkonen have mercifully halted Jersey’s carousel of incompetence in goal, but the double act’s deadline arrival was too little too late.

For the Devils, getting things back on the rails should be as simple as getting Hamilton healthy, which could allow Nemec and Hughes to form a dynamic full-time connection, and following through on GM Tom Fitzgerald’s promise to “go big-game hunting” for a goaltender. Marino should be fine in sheltered minutes, Siegenthaler and Hamilton offset each other’s weaknesses, and Jack Hughes (who has dealt with injuries throughout 2023-24) and Nico Hischier are one of the league’s best 1-2 punches at center. A more enterprising coach than the deposed Lindy Ruff and reliability in the cage should vault the Devils right back into contention.

Minnesota Wild

When the Wild bounced out of another first round, it was worth wondering why GM Bill Guerin worked to extend veteran leaders Mats Zuccarello and Marcus Foligno. The current roster construction has not worked in the postseason, and though they have done excellent work in the Twin Cities, wouldn’t Guerin have been better off giving the duo a chance at the Stanley Cup and stocking up for the future? Those whispers became screams when the Wild stumbled out of the blocks and fired coach Dean Evason after winning just five of their first 19. Replacement John Hynes (31-21-5) has improved the team’s defense (12th in scoring since his hiring) despite captain Jared Spurgeon’s year-ending injury, but the Wild’s poor start has doomed them to the murky middle. Luckily for Guerin, his shrewd drafting has offset his overly loyal contract policy to give the State of Hockey a suddenly exciting future. 

Austrian center Marco Rossi has finally adjusted to the physicality of the North American game after two seasons of AHL gestation, and his skill has taken care of the rest. If Rossi, already a 20-goal scorer, can develop further as an opportunistic sniper, he and shutdown Swede Joel Eriksson Ek will give Minnesota’s forward group a formidable spine. While Rossi has shown exciting potential, defenseman Brock Faber is already a star. The local product has been just as effective for the Wild as he was for the Golden Gophers; Faber posts positive possession metrics across the board despite having to log a team-leading 25 minutes a night against the opposition’s best. His mobility and hockey sense are also assets on offense, where his 42 points lead Wild defensemen by a wide margin. The 21-year-old is special.

Rossi and Faber joined Minnesota a year after 23-year-old Matt Boldy played himself into a seven-year, $49-million contract with a 31-goal sophomore effort. Next season, with Filip Gustavsson struggling to recapture his 2022-23 form and Marc-Andre Fleury contemplating retirement, the trio will likely be joined by Jesper Wallstedt, popularly regarded as the best goalie prospect in hockey. In Boldy, Faber, and Wallstedt, the Wild could see three franchise cornerstones emerge in consecutive seasons, with Rossi as a bonus. It’s hard to imagine Spurgeon (34) or Foligno (32) playing out their contracts at a high level thanks to their age and injury history but, with after Parise and Suter buyouts set to become negligible at the end of next season, at least Guerin will be able to afford an overpay or two. The important thing for Minnesota is the talented young nucleus rapidly forming around superstar Kirill Kaprizov (39G, 86P in 69GP).

St. Louis Blues

The next few months will determine whether the St. Louis Blues’ status as a directionless pretender is a minor blemish on GM Doug Armstrong’s stellar resume or comes to define the later stages of his time with the team. After a gloriously improbable Stanley Cup run in 2019, Armstrong recklessly chased a repeat effort by attracting veterans like Brandon Saad, Justin Faulk, Torey Krug, and Nick Leddy to St. Louis with contracts sure to outlast their respective primes. That has happened quicker than anyone expected, and without Alex Pietrangelo, Ryan O’Reilly, and Vladimir Tarasenko around to hold things together, the Blues are stuck with an old, expensive supporting cast built around a phantom core. That doesn’t mean St. Louis is beyond saving.

Armstrong’s questionable free-agency plays have not stopped him from assembling a sneakily deep prospect pool. Jimmy Snuggerud is one of the top players in college hockey, AHL standouts Zach Bolduc and Zach Dean are due for a breakthrough, and 2020 fifth-round defenseman Matt Kessel has become an NHL regular. After three 2023 first-round selections, the Blues will surely improve with time. That’s especially true if Robert Thomas, the team’s leading scorer (23G, 77P in 77GP) and an elite defensive center, can go from a top-line player to a superstar; he’s flirted with that leap at times this season.

While it’s an essential function of any winning team, prospect development alone will not bail the Blues out long-term. Of their older players, only Leddy, who can still fall back on elite athleticism well into his 30s, has aged gracefully. If this season has been a glimpse into the future for Faulk, Saad, Krug, and even captain Brayden Schenn, the Blues are stuck with albatrosses on the ice and against the salary cap, some of whom have trade protection until 2027. With so many declining players locked into his lineup, Armstrong must consider selling the veterans he can if youth is to save the day.