Looking at the losers – Annenberg Media

“The Silver Shield” is a column by Kasey Kazliner about the National Hockey League.

The first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs has seen a mix between lopsided series wins and nail-biting matchups thus far. While three series are still yet to conclude, nearly half the bracket has already started making offseason plans as the second round approaches. Nashville, Vegas and Toronto all stand on the brink of elimination but are still alive. However, Winnipeg, Los Angeles, Washington, Tampa Bay and the New York Islanders all saw their campaigns get cut short by superior opponents.

So, what went wrong for the defeated, and what lies ahead for them?

Winnipeg Jets (4-1 loss to Colorado Avalanche)

The Jets were simply unprepared for the Avalanche, a team that is always a dangerous threat in the postseason. It didn’t matter that Winnipeg’s 110-point season — its second-best in franchise history — put the team in position to make a deep run in the playoffs.

It also didn’t matter that the Jets had swept Colorado in the regular season; the Avalanche are simply built differently when the weather starts to warm up. The Jets, lacking true deep-playoff ability, fell flat-footed.

Colorado’s depth shined in the series win. Winnipeg’s defense and superstar netminder Connor Hellebuyck couldn’t handle the likes of skaters Cale Makar, Nathan MacKinnon and Mikko Rantanen on the top lines; other impact players like Artturi Lehkonen also stood out for the Avs.

Lacking consistent offensive production in Games 2-5, the Jets were susceptible to surrendering pucks in their own zone, which proved costly. The Avalanche appeared one step ahead of them, punishing Winnipeg’s distraught defense with their star-studded cast.

Looking ahead for the Jets, while the team has its cornerstone players locked down on contracts, certain pieces like defenseman Brenden Dillon will need to negotiate new deals. With a top goalie and plenty of prime talent — there’s no reason why Winnipeg shouldn’t still be in win-now mode — but in a stacked Central Division after falling short once again, it should be an interesting offseason for the men of Manitoba.

Los Angeles Kings (4-1 loss to Edmonton Oilers)

It’s now been 10 years since the Kings won a playoff series, which was their magical Stanley Cup season in 2014. L.A. fell to the Oilers for the third consecutive year in the first round, as Edmonton proved once again that its electric offense headlined by forwards Connor McDavid and Zach Hyman was too overwhelming for the Kings’ weak special teams.

Poor discipline plagued Los Angeles in the series. The Oilers ended up finishing 9-for-20 with the extra man across the five games, while the Kings had trouble scoring on the power play themselves, going 0-for-12 when it was all said and done.

L.A.’s offense was inconsistent as the series went on, only tallying a combined four goals in the final three games. The Kings also allowed 12 points from McDavid and seven goals from Hyman across the five-game set.

The Kings’ biggest question mark for the offseason is goaltending; the team doesn’t have a single netminder signed for next season. Los Angeles will also want to take a deep look at how it can improve its offensive production as its Cup-winning core ages. For one, the Pierre-Luc Dubois trade — a move that was supposed to spearhead an uptick in goal-scoring for the team — is retrospectively looking like a disaster.

The Kings promoted assistant coach Jim Hiller to lead the squad following the firing of Todd McLellan, so it’ll be interesting to see if L.A. keeps Hiller as head coach or if it looks in another direction. But if one thing is for certain, the Kings will need to find a way to either avoid playing Edmonton in the playoffs or gain the tools to defeat the Canadian foe to avoid continued suffering in the postseason.

Washington Capitals (4-0 loss to New York Rangers)

I don’t know if I’ll go as far as saying that the Capitals were undeserving of a playoff spot, but it certainly wasn’t surprising to see them get demolished by the Presidents’ Trophy winners. Winger Alex Ovechkin’s Stanley Cup-winning pedigree simply didn’t matter, as the Rangers showed why they are worthy of snapping their 30-year Cup drought.

New York simply dominated the series on both ends. Washington’s defeat leaves it in a tough position, as the team doesn’t appear weak enough for an overhaul but not in a position to win a title anytime soon. After all, the Caps still have some hefty contracts and a 39-year-old future Hall of Famer in Ovechkin, who is still hoping to shatter Wayne Gretzky’s goal record.

The Capitals have some framework for future success, but fans shouldn’t be too excited just yet. The team will look to continue to bolster its prospect pipeline and will have to deal with limited cap room as the offseason approaches, so decisions will have to be made about the direction of the franchise as its best player continues to slow down and age.

Tampa Bay Lightning (4-1 loss to Florida Panthers)

The stepchild of the Sunshine State finally got revenge on the Lightning, who are not the perennial Cup contenders they once were. Team captain Steven Stamkos might’ve skated in his last game in a Tampa Bay uniform, which if the case, inches the Lightning toward a new era following two Stanley Cups in the last five seasons.

The Panthers exposed Tampa Bay’s defense in the series. The Lightning struggled to protect goalie Andrei Vasilevsky and couldn’t display offensive prowess like it had done in the regular season. Tampa Bay’s power play unit was quiet in the series, despite leading the league in extra-man production prior to the playoffs.

The main issue for the Lightning is that they don’t have a strong future in hand. It makes sense because they were a win-now team for so long, but now it’s coming back to bite them. Also, trading valuable draft capital for winger Tanner Jeannot is now looking like a costly move; the team’s depth is nowhere near what it once was.

What Tampa Bay has going for it, though, is its top-heaviness; Nikita Kucherov, Brayden Point and Victor Hedman are still elite players, and a first-round series loss shouldn’t discourage fans from believing that the Lightning could be great again. Letting Stamkos walk could open up the door to signing new free agents — but losing him could also leave gaps to be filled — so the front office will have to look at the big picture this coming offseason.

New York Islanders (4-1 loss to Carolina Hurricanes)

The Islanders are another team that consistently qualifies for the playoffs but can never truly perform when it matters most. This season, New York particularly struggled to hold leads and showed this weakness against the Hurricanes in Game 2, when Carolina scored five unanswered goals to take an important 2-0 series lead.

Netminder Ilya Sorokin didn’t man the crease after Game 3, which was concerning, considering that his eight-year deal will kick off starting next season. Overall, for the Isles, a largely up-and-down year capped off with a playoff appearance should induce mixed emotions. While the team surged following a coaching change and accomplished something half the league couldn’t, the road ahead appears rocky.

Longtime Islanders Matt Martin and Cal Clutterbuck are facing expired contracts and keeping the core together might be difficult for New York’s front office. Addressing the lackluster penalty kill should be another priority for the Islanders, as the team finished toward the bottom in limiting power plays yet again.

Like Tampa Bay, the Isles don’t have a flashy prospect pool to work with, which is never a good sign for the future. Tightening up consistency issues that were abundantly present in 2023-24 will be a tall order for New York, a team that found an identity with Patrick Roy at the helm, but couldn’t climb over the hump of the Hurricanes.

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