Which NHL non-playoff teams could make a run next year?

source : yahoo.com

The NHL regular season is over!

Congrats to the teams that made the playoffs! For the rest of you, back to the drawing board.

How will the teams that didn’t make the postseason make a run next year? Some teams need a bit of work – looking at you New Jersey and secondary scoring starved Philly.   

Some teams need major work – Buffalo Sabres, Arizona Coyotes, Edmonton Oilers – and will likely be helped by the draft.

Some have most of the right parts but need to play better – like the Los Angeles Kings. The Kings should have made the playoffs, but just didn’t turn on the off switch in time, along with a few other issues. 

Others just need to get healthy and some are young and need a few tweaks to get into the race.

There were quite a few surprise playoff teams this season, from Ottawa to Vancouver to Calgary. We take a look at the playoff teams on the outs that should make the playoffs next year. Of course, the draft lottery on April 18, could completely shift this list around say … the Avalanche wins the No. 1 pick.

Absent of that happening, here is a list of five non-playoff teams we think can make a postseason run next year.

1. Dallas Stars (41-31-10, 92 points, 10th in the Western Conference)
Like the screeching sound of a Pantera guitar riff, the Stars will roar into the 2016 playoffs. Dallas needs to make maybe one addition on defense, but ultimately is solid at forward and goal.
Dallas has its own version of Anaheim’s Corey Perry and Ryan Getzlaf in Jamie Benn and Tyler Seguin. The rest should just fall into place around those pieces.

To finish out the season, Dallas went 7-3-0 in their last 10 games and 14-6-0 in their last 20.
“A lot of times you look around this league, two guys will have a different winger there, but the constant is they stay together,” coach Lindy Ruff said about Benn and Seguin. “Two guys have elite talent, different elite talent for me, Benn is more physical in-tight talent where Tyler has elite speed and an elite shot. Maybe even an elite one-timer, where Jamie probably doesn’t have that part of it, but he has the in-tight grit stuff where he can dominate a game.”

If Seguin didn’t miss time with a knee injury, there’s a chance they both could have finished 1-2 in scoring. Benn won the Art Ross.

Also, John Klingberg’s emergence (40 points in 65 games, playing 21:50 per-night) has leveled out the D to some degree, but Dallas probably needs one more solid defenseman to become a true contender.

2. Florida Panthers (38-29-15, 91 points, 10th in the Eastern Conference)

This team will be better – if all its young talent progresses as the Panthers hope.

Florida’s 5-on-5 CF% per Puckalytics finished 15th in the NHL, which is decent, especially for a team that missed the playoffs.. Forwards Jonathan Huberdeau, Nick Bjugstad and Aleksander Barkov all have high-end potential. Bjugstad and Barkov could give the Panthers a strong 1-2 punch down the middle for the future. 

Aaron Ekblad gives Florida a cornerstone for decades on D, and should start to play even more important minutes next year. All these players are age 22 and under.

And with Jaromir Jagr signed for one more year to lead the way, he can show all the young players 

the wonder of playing hockey in a state without an income tax. And they have Roberto Luongo in goal, who should get some Vezina love this year.

Considering Florida’s success this season, it could happen sooner than later. Issue would be goal scoring. Florida had just two players (Bjugstad and Brandon Pirri) who scored more than 20 this year.

3. Columbus Blue Jackets (42-35-5, 89 points 11th in the Eastern Conference)

This should be met with a big ‘Duh’ based off how the Blue Jackets finished. They had nine straight wins and went 9-0-1 in their last 10 games. 

The Jackets have two nice building blocks with Nick Foligno and Ryan Johansen, who each had career highs in points with 73 and 71 respectively. They also have former Vezina Trophy winner Sergei Bobrovsky in goal. 

Maybe defenseman Ryan Murray will finally get healthy? That could be said for the rest of the Jackets that had 508 man-games lost to injury according to Man-Games Lost, which led the league. Per the site, no other team had over 500. This was a team that was supposed to contend this year, if it didn’t have such a rough injury start. If they don’t make the playoffs next year, they’ll have a problem.

4. Colorado Avalanche (39-31-12, 90 points 11th in the Western Conference)

Another team with a ton of man-games lost to injury – 495 to be exact again per Man-Games Lost. Regardless of whether you agree with Patrick Roy’s nutso coaching style, few teams could survive losing a combination of a No. 1ish center (Nathan MacKinnon), a No. 1 goaltender (Semyon Varlamov) and a No. 1 defenseman (Erik Johnson) at various points during the year and each for extended lengths.

Defenseman Tyson Barrie had a quiet breakout year with 52 points in 79 games played. His shot attempts differential was in the negative according to the NHL’s enhanced stats site. But then again, so was almost every key player for Colorado – hence the ‘Roy Effect’ for this team.
Whether you agree or disagree with how Roy handles his coaching responsibilities and his look at #fancystats, this was the first time he has missed the playoffs as a pro or junior coach. With the amount of talent amassed on this team, it should be better when at full strength next year.

5. Carolina Hurricanes  (30-40-11, 71 points 14th in the Eastern Conference)

The Canes are another team that was quite decent from a #fancystats perspective, their CF% at 52.5 percent 5-on-5 again per Puckalytics. They were doomed by injuries at the start of the year – with center Jordan Staal being out until late December. After he came back, the Canes played much better. Carolina went 14-7-3 in January and February.

If you gave me a team with him, his brother Eric at forward, defenseman Justin Faulk and goaltender Cam Ward as building blocks, you think that would be a pretty decent starter set.

Throw in younger forwards like Elias Lindholm and Jeff Skinner and you have some good, talented players. Outside of Faulk, defense remains a question, which should be addressed in the offseason. Add in a high-end draft pick, there’s a decent shot Carolina improves quite a bit next year.

Honorable mention: The Bruins missed the playoffs on the final day. And in spite the doom and gloom surrounding that team, they really aren’t in horrible shape to make the postseason next year. Ditto for the Kings really. Maybe a summer of rest will do well for both squads that have played a lot of hockey over the last few years.

Séries LNH : une course très serrée

source : univershockey.ca

Qui des Sénateurs d’Ottawa ou des Bruins de Boston favorisez-vous pour être des séries? (Crédit photo : Marc Desrosiers – USA TODAY Sports) 

Les séries éliminatoires de la Ligue nationale approchent à grands pas et la lutte, tant du côté de l’Association Est que de l’Association Ouest, est plus féroce que jamais. Les deux prochaines semaines seront déterminantes pour certaines formations du circuit.


Dans l’Est, les Bruins de Boston ont retrouvé le chemin de la victoire et par le fait-même, la dernière place donnant accès aux séries, grâce à une poussée de trois gains, après avoir essuyé six revers consécutifs (0-4-2). Bien que la concession du Massachussetts recommence à enchaîner les victoires, c’est loin d’être dans la poche. Les Sénateurs d’Ottawa lui souffle au cou, eux qui accusent trois points de retard en plus d’avoir une partie en moins.

Parlant des Sénateurs…

Les troupiers de Dave Cameron étaient loin d’être de la course il y a environ un mois. Les blessures des deux gardiens réguliers éliminaient pratiquement leurs chances d’accéder à la fameuse danse du printemps, mais c’est tout le contraire qui s’est produit. En l’espace d’un mois, le portier Andrew Hammond a complètement sauvé la saison des Sens et le brio du « Hamburglar » a eu pour effet d’inspirer ses coéquipiers. L’équipe a connu un bref ralentissement la semaine dernière avec trois revers de suite, ce qui aurait pu leur coûter une participation dans les séries.

Il faudra également surveiller les Panthers de la Floride d’ici la fin, mais leur revers contre les Bruins mardi soir risque d’avoir anéanti leurs espoirs d’être du bal printanier, bien que mathématiquement, ils ont encore des chances.

Dans l’Ouest, les champions en titre de la Coupe Stanley, les Kings de L.A., tentent désespérément de s’accrocher à une place dans les séries. Avec encore six matches à disputer avant la fin du calendrier régulier, L.A. peut toujours espérer. Pour ce faire, il doit lutter avec les Jets de Winnipeg et les Flames de Calgary, deux équipes qui surprennent en cette saison 2014-15 bien malgré leurs jeunes effectifs.

Il n’est pas surprenant d’apprendre que les Kings se retrouvent dans cette situation. Pratiquement chaque année, ils connaissent des saisons plutôt ordinaires, avant de tout détruire sur leur passage dans les séries. L’image d’une équipe bâtie sur mesure pour les séries, comme en témoignent leurs deux conquêtes de la Coupe Stanley au cours des trois dernières années (2012 et 2014).

Player of the day - Valeri Bure

Valeri Vladimirovich Bure (Russian: Валерий Владимирович Буре; born June 13, 1974) is a Russian former ice hockey right winger. He played 10 seasons in the National Hockey League (NHL) for the Montreal Canadiens, Calgary Flames, Florida Panthers, St. Louis Blues and Dallas Stars. A second round selection of the Canadiens, 33rd overall, at the 1992 NHL Entry Draft, Bure appeared in one NHL All-Star Game, in 2000. He led the Flames in scoring with 35 goals and 75 points in 1999–2000, a season in which he and brother Pavel combined to set an NHL record for goals by a pair of siblings with 93.

Bure left his home in the Soviet Union in 1991 to play junior hockey in the Western Hockey League (WHL) for the Spokane Chiefs. A two-time WHL all-star, he was the first Russian player in the league's history. Internationally, he represented Russia on numerous occasions. He was a member of the bronze medal-winning squad at the 1994 World Junior Championship and was a two-time medalist at the Winter Olympics. Bure and the Russians won the silver medal in 1998 and bronze in 2002.

Back and hip injuries led to Bure's retirement from hockey in 2005. He now operates a winery in California with his wife, Candace Cameron. Bure paired with Ekaterina Gordeeva in 2010 to win the second season of the figure skating reality show Battle of the Blades.

Early life

Valeri Bure was born June 13, 1974, in Moscow, Soviet Union.^[1] He is the younger son of Vladimir and Tatiana Bure.^[2] Vladimir, whose family originated from Furna, Switzerland, was an Olympic swimmer who won four medals for the Soviet Union at three Olympic Games between 1968 and 1976.^[3] Nobility also ran in Bure's history: his ancestors made precious watches for Russian tsars from 1815–1917 and as craftsmen of the imperial family, were granted noble status.^[3]
Bure was around nine years old when his parents separated.^[2] In 1991, he joined his father and brother, Pavel in moving to North America as his elder sibling embarked on a National Hockey League (NHL) career with the Vancouver Canucks. His mother arrived two months later.^[4] They settled initially in Los Angeles where Vladimir continued to train and coach both Valeri and Pavel in hockey and physical conditioning.^[4] However both ultimately became estranged from their father, along with his second wife and their half-sister Katya, by 1998. Neither brother explained a reason for the split.^[5]

Playing career

 

 Junior

Bure played three games during the 1990–91 season with HC CSKA Moscow of the Soviet Championship League prior to leaving the Soviet Union.^[6] As a 17-year-old, Bure was eligible to play junior hockey upon his arrival in North America, and joined the Spokane Chiefs of the Western Hockey League (WHL). In doing so, he became the first Russian in the league's history.^[7] He joined the team one year before the Canadian Hockey League, of which the WHL is a member, instituted an import draft.^[8]

Bure recorded 49 points in 53 games in 1991–92 for the Chiefs, his first season in the WHL.^[6] The Montreal Canadiens selected him with their second round pick, 33rd overall, at the 1992 NHL Entry Draft. The NHL Central Scouting Bureau praised Bure as being a good skater. In its assessment, the Bureau added: "very smart around the net; good passer, playmaker. Good shot, quick release. Will take a hit to make the play. Good competitor."^[9] He returned to Spokane for the 1992–93 season where Bure led his team and finished second overall in WHL scoring with 147 points.^[10] His 68 goals that season remains a Chiefs' franchise record.^[11] He was named to the WHL's West Division First All-Star Team.^[12] Bure attended Montreal's training camp prior to the 1993–94 season, but was again returned to junior.^[7] He recorded 102 points in his final season in the WHL and was named to the Second All-Star Team.^[6][13] In three seasons with Spokane, Bure recorded 298 points and stands fourth on the Chiefs' all-time scoring list.^[8]

 

 

 

Montreal Canadiens

Upon turning professional in 1994–95, Bure spent the majority of the season with Montreal's American Hockey League (AHL) affiliate, the Fredericton Canadiens. He had 23 goals and 48 points in 45 games for the club.^[6] Bure earned a recall to Montreal late in the season and made his NHL debut on February 28, 1995, against the New York Islanders. His first goal came two weeks later, on March 15, against goaltender Wendell Young of the Pittsburgh Penguins.^[1] In 24 games with Montreal, Bure scored 3 goals and added an assist.^[6] Playing in his brother's shadow – Pavel had become a superstar in Vancouver – Valeri struggled to live up to the expectations placed on him.^[14] He scored 22 goals and 42 points in his first full season in Montreal, 1995–96, but scored only 14 goals the following season.^[15] He struggled with injuries that season as he suffered two concussions as well as a kidney injury.^[14]

At five feet, ten inches tall, Bure was a smaller player in the NHL. His linemates Saku Koivu (five foot ten) and Oleg Petrov (five foot nine) were similarly diminutive, and the trio were known in Montreal as the "Smurf line".^[15] After playing 50 games for the Canadiens in 1997–98, Bure was traded. He was sent to the Calgary Flames in a February 1, 1998, deal in exchange for Jonas Höglund and Zarley Zalapski.^[1] The deal was welcomed by Bure, who appreciated both the ability to play closer to his family on the west coast as well as increased opportunity to play with a young Flames team.^[16] He recorded his first career hat trick in one of his first games in Calgary, against the Edmonton Oilers.^[1] Bure appeared in 16 games with the Flames that season and scored 38 points in 66 games combined between Montreal and Calgary.^[6]

 

 

 

Calgary Flames

Bure's offensive ability emerged in Calgary as he became one of the team's leading scorers.^[14] His totals of 26 goals and 53 points in 1998–99 were both third best on the team; at one point of the season, Bure scored the game-winning goal in four consecutive victories for Calgary.^[1] The departure of Flames' star Theoren Fleury provided additional opportunity for Bure in 1999–2000, and he responded to become one of the NHL's early scoring leaders. He used his speed and skating ability to good effect and was eighth in league scoring by mid-December.^[17] Bure was named to the World team at the 2000 All-Star Game where he played on a line with his brother. Pavel was named most valuable player of the game by scoring three goals, two of them assisted by Valeri, in a 9–4 victory over North America.^[18] Bure completed the season as the Flames leader in goals (35) and points (75, 14th overall in the NHL) and was the only player on the team to appear in all 82 games.^[1] Pavel Bure scored 58 goals for Vancouver, and the brothers' combined total of 93 goals set an NHL record for a set of siblings.^[1]

Though his offensive production declined in 2000–01, Bure's 27 goals was second on the team to Jarome Iginla's 31 and he finished third with 55 points.^[19] He became embroiled in a power struggle with his coaches, first Don Hay who was dismissed mid-season, and then Greg Gilbert, as both wanted him play a more defensive-minded game. Bure struggled to adapt and at one point was held out of the Flames lineup by Gilbert in response.^[20] Bure was rumoured to have asked for a trade out of Calgary, and the Florida Panthers (who had acquired Pavel), Buffalo Sabres and New York Rangers were among the teams who showed interest in his services.^[21] On June 24, 2001, the Flames traded Bure, along with Jason Wiemer to the Panthers for Rob Niedermayer and a second round draft pick.^[13]

 

 

 

Florida, St. Louis and Dallas

As his contract had expired, Bure was a restricted free agent. He did not sign until late September, a delay which resulted in his being a brief hold-out from Florida's training camp in advance of the 2001–02 season.^[22] Injury interrupted the start of Bure's Panthers career as a knee ailment that began bothering him before the season worsened as he played the first games of the campaign.^[23] Tests revealed damage to his right knee that required arthroscopic surgery to repair; Bure missed 37 games while recovering.^[24] A second knee injury ended Bure's season in mid-March as the Panthers had fallen out of playoff contention. His brother had already been traded by that point, and the Panthers were also making him available in potential deals.^[20][25] He appeared in only 31 games and recorded 18 points.^[6]

Bure remained with the Panthers as the 2002–03 season began, but his year was marked by an offensive slump.^[20] He was also hampered by a hairline fracture to his wrist after Keith Primeau slashed him during an early December game against the Philadelphia Flyers.^[26] With only 5 goals and 26 points in 46 games for Florida,^[6] Bure was traded on March 11, 2003, to the St. Louis Blues in exchange for defenceman Mike Van Ryn.^[27] Another knee injury, this time a sprained ligament, kept Bure out of the Blues lineup for much of the remainder of the season.^[28] He recorded two assists each in five regular season and six post-season games for St. Louis.^[6] After the season, the Blues placed Bure on waivers, and he returned to Florida upon being claimed by the Panthers.^[29]
Free of injury for the first time in two seasons, Bure was one of the Panthers' offensive leaders in 2003–04.^[30] He reached 20 goals for the fifth time in his NHL career,^[6] and as the season's trade deadline approached, was Florida's leading scorer with 45 points.^[31]

However, as the Panthers were out of playoff contention, they traded Bure to the Dallas Stars on March 9, 2004, in exchange for Drew Bagnall and a draft pick.^[31] Bure was placed on the Stars' top line with Mike Modano and Jere Lehtinen,^[32] and he recorded 7 points in 13 games to conclude the regular season. Bure added three assists in five playoff games.^[6]

An unrestricted free agent following the 2004 playoffs, Bure did not play anywhere in 2004–05 as the entire NHL season was canceled due to a labour dispute. He signed a one-year contract with the Los Angeles Kings for the 2005–06 season when the league resumed operations.^[33] He never played a regular season game for the Kings. A back injury suffered during the pre-season, initially just described as "soreness", kept him out of the regular lineup.^[34] The injury ultimately required surgery, and a second surgery on his hip caused Bure to miss the entire season.^[35] He opted to retire following the surgeries.^[36]

International

Bure made his debut internationally with the Russian national junior team at the 1994 World Junior Championship.^[37] He was the leading scorer of the bronze medal-winning Russians with eight points in six games and was named to the tournament's All-Star Team.^[1] That same year, Bure first played with the senior team as he scored three goals in six contests at the 1994 World Championship in a fifth-place effort.^[37]

After appearing in one game at the inaugural World Cup of Hockey in 1996,^[37] Bure made his first of two appearances at the Olympic Games in 1998. The tournament marked the first time he played with his brother Pavel since they were briefly teammates with CSKA Moscow in 1991.^[16] Valeri scored one goal in the tournament,^[6] and Russia advanced to the gold medal game. They settled for the silver medal after being shut out by Dominik Hašek and the Czech Republic.^[38] Bure returned for the 2002 Salt Lake Games. He scored a goal in the tournament as Russia won the bronze medal.^[37] Russia invited him to play at the 2004 World Cup of Hockey, but as he was without an NHL contract at the time, Bure declined to play due to a lack of proper insurance in the event of injury.^[39]

 

 

Personal life

Bure married actress Candace Cameron in 1996. They were introduced by Cameron's Full House cast mate Dave Coulier at a charity hockey game.^[40] The couple has three children: daughter Natasha and sons Lev and Maksim.^[41] Bure cited his family as the reason he retired from hockey. He felt he could return from his surgeries, but wanted to spend time with his children and allow his wife to return to acting.^[42] The family are devout Christians.^[43]

In 2007, Bure and his wife opened a Florida restaurant called "The Milk and Honey Café", but closed the business when the family moved to California.^[36] They operate a Napa Valley, California winery, Bure Family Wines.^[42] Bure developed an interest in wine early in his NHL career that he described as growing into a passion: "I fell in love with the behind-the-scenes work and being able to start from the vineyard and put it into a bottle. It's an amazing process."^[36] Bure modified the Russian imperial seal his great-grandfather stamped on his watches to use as his company's label.^[42]

Bure returned to the ice in 2010 as a contestant on the second season of the Canadian Broadcasting 
Corporation's figure skating reality show Battle of the Blades.^[44] The series is a competition that pairs a former professional hockey player with a figure skater. Bure's partner was Ekaterina Gordeeva.^[45] The pair won the competition and shared a $100,000 prize donated to charities of their choice. Bure's donation was made to Compassion Canada.^[46]

 

 

Career statistics