The 2026 Stanley Cup playoffs are underway, which means that while some teams are looking forward to their shot at the best trophy in sports, the others will be looking ahead to the offseason.
What went right and wrong for each of the eliminated teams? How should they modify their rosters this summer via trades, free agency and the draft? And what is each club's outlook for 2026-27?
Read on for full breakdown on every team that is no longer eligible to win the Stanley Cup in 2026. More teams will be added to this story as they are eliminated, so keep this page bookmarked.
Note: Profiles for the Atlantic and Metro teams were written by Kristen Shilton.
Ryan S.
Clark analyzed the Central and Pacific teams.
Stats are collected from sites such as Natural Stat Trick , Hockey Reference and Evolving Hockey .
Projected cap space per PuckPedia.
Dates listed with each team are when the entry was published. Teams are listed alphabetically by publication date.
Jump ahead to a team: ANA | BOS | BUF | CGY CHI | CBJ | DAL | DET EDM | FLA | LA | MIN NSH | NJ | NYI | NYR OTT | PHI | PIT | SJ SEA | STL | TB | TOR UTA | VAN | WSH | WPG
Projected cap space: $12.9 million 2026 draft picks: 1st, 4th, 5th, 6th
What went right?
The Sabres looked lost and destined to extend their historic playoff drought to 15 seasons when they were sitting 30th overall in the NHL with an 11-14-4 record on Dec. 8.
GM Kevyn Adams was fired on Dec. 15.
Somewhere in between -- on a road trip through Western Canada -- Buffalo bonded over โdrinking beers,โ according to Sabres captain Rasmus Dahlin and that might have helped flip a switch.
The Sabres ran off 13 wins in 14 games into the new year and finished the regular season from that point on with a league-high .784 points percentage to grab top seeding in the Atlantic Division.
In that 51-game stretch, Buffalo stood out in every category -- it ranked third in offense, first in defense, and leaned on an excellent goalie tandem of Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen and Alex Lyon.
Tage Thompson hit the 40-goal mark for a second straight season, Zach Benson collected career-best totals, blueliner Mattias Samuelsson was a standout at both ends of the ice, and all of Bowen Byram , Jack Quinn , Ryan McLeod and Josh Doan found significant roles.
Head coach Lindy Ruff is a Jack Adams Award finalist for a reason -- he took stock following Kevyn Adams' firing and found a way to get the best of this group -- to put Buffalo back into the postseason after a 14-year drought.
What went wrong?
The Sabres did so much right in the regular season that their middling power play didn't stand out as an issue -- but it truly became one.
Buffalo finished 21st overall with the extra man but the wheels truly came off in that department starting in the beginning of April.
Buffalo went 11 straight games without a man-advantage goal until Dahlin finally stopped the bleeding in Game 5 of their first-round series against the Boston Bruins .
The Sabres' special-teams production was hit-or-miss after that.
And they were truly abysmal at home versus on the road this postseason.
Buffalo's goaltending became a serious issue in its second-round series against the Montreal Canadiens , when Ruff had to toggle between Lyon and Luukkonen as both struggled to perform behind a Sabres team with increasingly lax attention to defensive details.
Buffalo's stars never came out consistently in the postseason, either.
Thompson had just two goals in the first six games, Tuch had zero points through six games, and overall their whole top line never found an offensive rhythm.
While Montreal appeared more powerful by the game, the Sabres were too often shadows of their former selves, as several key players got their first postseason experience.
Keys to the offseason: Kekalainen's first task will be nailing down an extension with Tuch.
The pending unrestricted free agent will be a coveted player on the open market -- after producing 33 goals and 66 points during the regular season -- if he chooses to test it.
Kekalainen will have to prepare an offer Tuch can't refuse if he intends to retain his top-line winger.
Krebs and Benson are both pending RFAs in need of new deals as well.
Once Kekalainen handles that business, he can start to search for what the Sabres were lacking in the end -- suitable depth scoring, a little extra physicality and some defensive help.
There are some intriguing names out there -- Rasmus Andersson , Anthony Mantha and Viktor Arvidsson among them -- who might just give Buffalo a bit of a boost to take another step next season with their young core well in place.
Realistic expectation for 2026-27: The Sabres aren't about to start another playoff drought. They'll be back.
Projected cap space: $40.5 million 2026 draft picks: 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th
What went right? The Ducks have built a team that blends a young, homegrown core with veterans who have won elsewhere. That all led to the Ducks taking a significant step forward in 2025-26.
Whether that step was going to include a return to the playoffs was the biggest question as the season went on.
The Ducks made their first playoff appearance since 2018 and advanced to the second round for the first time since 2017, beating the two-time defending Western Conference champion Edmonton Oilers .