Now that the 2024-25 NHL season has concluded, it’s time to hand out grades for how each team did based on preseason expectations and results, along with the overall play of the clubs. For instance, a team that had no expectations entering the season and ended up making the playoffs will get a good grade.

For this series, among teams that didn’t make the playoffs, we will go from the bottom of the league to the highest-finishing team that was just outside of the playoffs, and for playoff-clinching teams, we will go from the first team eliminated to the Stanley Cup champions. Which team was your biggest surprise in 2025? Which team was your biggest disappointment in 2025? Let us know in the comments below!

32nd: San Jose Sharks

What Went Right in 2025?

There is a blueprint for the Sharks to take care of their future. Ahead of the 2024-2025 season, they went into a full-scale, tear-it-down rebuild. Getting multiple key pieces in the 2024 Draft including a future franchise player that can guide them on the road back to the playoffs.

Not only did they land potential franchise superstar Macklin Celebrini, who went on to lead the team in points, but they also saw Will Smith, their 4th overall selection from 2023, finish 5th on the team in that same category. At the 2025 trade deadline, they acquired two first round picks in trading away Mikael Granlund and Jake Walman so as to load up their draft pool.

Despite finishing with the league’s worst record for the second consecutive season, they’ve shown a general sense of improvement in their play, especially given their increase in goal differential. Throughout the 2023-2024 season, they were sitting at minus-150, and despite finishing the year on an 11-game losing streak, they finished with a minus-105 goal differential, which was minus-98 entering the final week of the regular season.

What Went Wrong in 2025?

There was a list of things that went wrong in 2024, but that’s to be expected for a team that is in the beginning of a rebuilding phase. But they were bottom 10 in multiple categories this season: Goals for per game, power play, scoring chances per 60 minutes, shots per 60 minutes, and high-danger chances per 60 minutes, which explains how they struggled to generate chances offensively.

On the other side of the puck, they gave up the most goals per game, had the worst penalty kill, and were bottom 10 in scoring chances allowed per 60, shots allowed per 60, and high-danger chances allowed per 60.

Expectations for Next Season

Some are going to argue that the Sharks should get a better grade because they were more competitive than they were last season, yet they were still in contention for the first overall pick. However, finishing with the league’s worst record won’t get them a good grade. That said, they weren’t expected to win a lot, and they did get excellent production from Granlund and revived his playing career, and added much-needed veteran presences and top six forwards in Tyler Toffoli and Alex Wennberg.

To add, they have a terrific young pipeline of prospects that are on the rise that include Yaroslav Askarov, Sam Dickinson and Quentin Musty. Celebrini, Smith, Askarov, William Eklund, Shakir Mukhamadullin, Collin Graf and Jack Thompson are all just getting their feet wet in the NHL, and the priority is going to be the development of this young core.

They’re also going to look to find improvement while further developing the franchise cornerstones with Ryan Warsofsky leading the way in his second year as their head coach. There’s a strong likelihood they’ll draft Michael Misa with the 2ndd overall pick and that they’ll either sign players in free agency or move on from some of their current ones ahead of the deadline to add more draft picks.

Final Grade: C+

31st: Chicago Blackhawks

What Went Right in 2025?

It’s the same situation as the Sharks: The Blackhawks are never going to have a quick turnaround on this rebuild, but in a year in which they weren’t much better than they were last season, they did look different and younger by the end of the year. Frank Nazar III and Sam Rinzel look like they have a long-term fit on this team.

Trading Seth Jones and getting out of his contract was one of the best things they did this season after he was cast in an ill-fated role as the team’s top-pairing defenseman and dealt him to Florida for a 2026 first round pick and goaltender Spencer Knight, while retaining $2.5 million of his salary for each of his remaining seasons after he told them he wanted to go to a contender.

Even though the early returns don’t show it, the Blackhawks now have their goalie of the future, as Knight was previously viewed as the heir apparent to Sergei Bobrovsky with the Panthers early in his NHL career. Chicago also added another first round pick to accelerate their rebuild.

What Went Wrong in 2025?

There was only a slight improvement from last season after they had one of the more aggressive free agency periods of any team. They finished the year with 25 wins, which is fewer wins during Connor Bedard’s sophomore season than in the season that they were riding the bottom of the league vying to get him.

What’s worse for them is that Bedard didn’t take the next step, and his point production stayed where it was at. He wasn’t bad by any means, but the fact that he didn’t take the step forward like Chicago envisioned is disappointing.

Plus, while they went from a minus-111 goal differential in the 2024 season to a minus-70 goal differential this season, that’s not saying a lot, even after firing head coach Luke Richardson. While he didn’t make much of an impact, Chicago didn’t do enough to convince anyone that they’re going to take the next step.

Expectations for Next Season

This makes next season a very crucial juncture for their rebuild, because another season without progress would mean much bigger questions for general manager Kyle Davidson. They haven’t had a 70-point season or a 70-point pace since the 2021 season, and they’re looking to make an impact on the standings.

Bedard, Nazar and Knight will all be on contract years, which puts the onus on Davidson to invest in the future to ensure they stay. The first two are coming off entry-level contracts, while Knight is going to be looking for his third contract, yet it’s going to be his first one as the starting goaltender. The 2026 season will be very interesting for many reasons, though the Blackhawks must provide optimism for a fanbase that is seeking it for the first time in almost a decade.

Final Grade: C-

30th: Nashville Predators

What Went Right in 2025?

At the NHL surface… pretty much nothing. Unless if you consider the fact that some of the young players got more ice time in the big league, such as Justin Barron, Zach L’Heureux and Fedor Svechkov. When talking about their prospects, Matthew Wood averaged over a point per game with the University of Minnesota before he went on to sign his entry-level contract. There’s also the fact that the Predators have three first round picks in the upcoming Draft.

What Went Wrong in 2025?

Everything that could go wrong did go wrong in 2025. Last season, they made the playoffs, and looking to make a serious push to further boost their playoff case, they signed all of Steven Stamkos, Jonathan Marchessault and Brady Skjei to get themselves into discussions of making a deep playoff run as they were crowned offseason champions.

As fate would have it, it turns out that signing aging players in free agency doesn’t seem to work for a team that was supposed to be contending for the playoffs. And they didn’t even end up getting close to coming back to the conference finals. Instead, they ended up with the third-worst record in the league, consistently disjointed, with the signings being disasters and with head coach Andrew Brunette not installing anything that even resembled consistency.

There is no way to sugarcoat this. It’s very confusing yet appalling that they were 6th in shots per game, they were dead last in goals per game, and that they had a top 10 penalty kill in the league yet gave up the 7th-most goals per game. Juuse Saros just had the worst season of his career and is about to start an eight-year extension that Barry Trotz gave him. The season was a failure in every regard, which leads to two questions: Was 2024 a fluke? And can they bounce back next season?

Expectations for Next Season

There are many different ways in which Nashville can go next season. Entering last season, they were a team on the rise, and entering this season, they entered as a team that could potentially go far. But now, things are bleak at the Music City as they ended up in the lottery following what is easily the most disappointing season in franchise history. There are legitimate questions on how they will fare next season, which can lead to speculation about job security being in question.

Final Grade: F

29th: Philadelphia Flyers

What Went Right in 2025?

To an extent, the season went just about what they thought it would be. Matvei Michkov made his arrival to kickstart the new era of the Flyers. He led all rookies in goals, with 24, and the sky is the limit for him in driving this offense. The defensive structure also excelled, as it was on pace to catch up with other playoff teams in limiting chances against.

Michkov wasn’t the only one who was encouraging in the season. Jamie Drysdale, Tyson Forester and Noah Cates took steps forward in their development, and Bobby Brink had a good first impression in his first full-time season with the team. There are other young players on the pipeline to look forward to, such as Jett Luchanko and Oliver Bonk.

The veterans were also solid, as Travis Konecny set a career-high in points just before his long-term extension was set to kick in. The Flyers, however, can’t stay as a rebuilding team all this time, and general manager Danny Brière knew this when he traded away Joel Farabee, Morgan Frost and Scott Laughton.

What Went Wrong in 2025?

For all the positives that the Flyers had, there were a bunch of negatives that come with it too. Goaltending was a very hot mess, with a league-worst .888 save percentage at even strength. It was so bad that it was the worst ever save percentage recorded by a team since the 2010 season. Samuel Ersson wasn’t the reliable goaltender they wanted, and it showed when they let games slip out of their control.

The power play was also one of the worst in the league, as they were bottom three in that category, converting on just 14.9% of their chances. On total offense, they were 24th overall, which hasn’t been helpful to them. A woeful mid-March also killed their chances of a surprise playoff berth, in which they lost 11 of 12 through that point, prompting them to fire John Tortorella.

While some of the young players like the aforementioned Drysdale, Forester and Cates impressed, others disappointed this season. Cam York and Owen Tippett had down years, regressing from where they were the season before.

Expectations for Next Season

Philadelphia has missed out on playoff hockey for five consecutive seasons. With Rick Tocchet as their new head coach, there is a lot of work to be done with the new bench boss and to address goaltending and goal-scoring, especially with the power play. They’re not projected to be aggressive in free agency given the amount of talent they already have waiting.

This means the Flyers are banking on their players to take steps forward in their development, so by the time training camp arrives, there is serious competition for roster spots. They also have to take advantage of the Draft, as they have three first round picks and two second round picks. Brière must be smart with his draft choices and to ensure that the players he drafts develop to players that the Flyers’ brass can trust to be next up. He’s been patient with his players continuing to grow, and it’s time that it should pay off.

Final Grade: C-

28th: Boston Bruins

What Went Right in 2025?

One of the best things the Bruins did in 2024-2025 was deciding to go on rebuild mode at the trade deadline. After years of perennial playoff contention, they were going to take a step back. Firing Jim Montgomery to promote Joe Sacco to interim head coach didn’t give them a boost—it merely delayed the inevitable.

General manager Don Sweeney did the smart thing and turned the Bruins into sellers. They got tons of draft capital: Four picks in the first and second rounds, and some young faces in Casey Mittelstadt and Fraser Minten. Late-season chemistry between David Pastrnak and Morgan Geekie was an added bonus, though Geekie is an RFA and is about to get into contract talks.

What Went Wrong in 2025?

When a team loses seven of their first 11 games, it is a bad omen for the season that is about to transpire. Finishing with one of the worst records in the league in 2024-2025 has to feel miserable. It would have been realistic for them to lower their expectations with their big flaws being shown over the last few years because of the elite goaltending of Jeremy Swayman and Linus Ullmark. Yet the front office had playoff aspirations when they signed both Elias Lindholm and Nikita Zadorov to big contracts. The lack of a true no. 1 center bit them badly.

And now that the two-headed monster has been broken up, the goaltending faltered. Swayman was mediocre after a lengthy contract dispute and Joonas Korpisalo was barely even playable. The offensive help faded, as they finished 29th in scoring, averaging just a paltry 2.63 goals for per game, and converted just 15.5% of their power play chances.

For a team that relies on defense as their comfort zone, losing Hampus Lindholm to a season-ending patella fracture in mid-November was a crushing blow. It didn’t help that Charlie McAvoy suffered a Grade 5 AC joint separation on his shoulder and an infection that resulted from a pain-killing injection he received after the United States defeated Canada during the round robin of the Four Nations Face-Off.

Expectations for Next Season

There’s still a 40-goal scorer on the team in Pastrnak, and the question is whether or not McAvoy and Hampus Lindholm return to full health, and if Swayman can return to form. But the upcoming Draft is crucial for the Bruins, as they will have a high first round selection and two picks in the second round. Those picks have much larger meaning because the prospect pool isn’t that deep.

After the draft picks, the focus turns to which players of the young core will be ready for full-time NHL roles, and how the Bruins prioritize with veteran players in free agency. It’s not like the team is going to start from scratch all over again, but they have to have a season that won’t get away from them as quickly as this one did.

Final Grade: D-

27th: Seattle Kraken

What Went Right in 2025?

While the Kraken have not been able to figure it out, they’re playing this like an expansion team that is early into their phases. They lack high-end impact players, but both Shane Wright and Matty Beniers are the young one-two punch of this franchise that could be something more. They still need to realize that untapped potential that they both have at the NHL level.

Beniers found instant chemistry with Kaapo Kakko and Wright found his way to being a key player on the team. All three of the trades they made worked out, too. Moving on from Will Borgen led to them getting Kakko. At the deadline, they got a pair of first round picks in 2026 and 2027 while trading away Oliver Bjorkstrand and Yanni Gourde, and trading Brandon Tanev got them a second round pick in 2027. Ever since Kakko was acquired, he put up 30 points in 49 games with Seattle.

What Went Wrong in 2025?

They made some bad investments this past summer. Brandon Montour was decent in his first year in Seattle, but the Chandler Stephenson signing was the definition of a bad contract. He wasn’t terrible by any means, but it was clear he played his best hockey with the Vegas Golden Knights.

The underlying defensive metrics and the fact that they sent Philipp Grubauer to the AHL showed that they still have work to do on their own end of the ice. The one year of Dan Bylsma as their coach meant a completely new coaching staff, which meant that assistant coach Jay Leach, the architect of their defensive structure, was gone. As a result, they were bottom 10 in shots allowed per 60 minutes, scoring chances allowed per 60 and high-danger chances allowed per 60.

Grubauer underperforming again didn’t help out, and in the games that Joey Daccord started, you’d believe that this is a team that would be primed for playoff contention. He was one of Seattle’s more consistent players, but that’s not saying much because he took a step backwards in his play ever since signing a long-term contract that can be argued that he signed it prematurely.

Expectations for Next Season

At the minimum, the Kraken have to contend for a wild card berth. But to get there first, they have to strengthen their defense. While Bylsma wasn’t all that impressive, he did manage to get the Kraken from bottom five in goals per game in 2024 to league average this season. The continued development of the young players, like Beniers, Wright, Kakko and Ryker Evans, will also be another focus so as to find the consistency that has evaded them.

They have to spend money wisely in free agency, because they spent a lot of it with short-term improvement in mind. They weren’t close to realizing their potential. With Jason Botterill being the new general manager, this is a big offseason for them.

Final Grade: D+

26th: Buffalo Sabres

What Went Right in 2025?

Not a lot went right for the Sabres this season. With their intentions of being a playoff team, there were only flashes, such as overcoming a slow start to hold a playoff spot on Thanksgiving.

However, Tage Thompson did bounce back to 2023 form, with a 44-goal campaign and averaging a point per game, and Rasmus Dahlin continues to be a standout on the back-end, with 62 points. General manager Kevyn Adams managed to trade away Dylan Cozens and landed Josh Norris in return, but unfortunately, his injury troubles continued to pop up. Should the Sabres finally break through in the future, they must hold onto Thompson.

What Went Wrong in 2025?

Once again, they are intent of being a playoff team, yet they’ve missed out on the playoffs for the 14th consecutive year, tied with the NFL’s New York Jets for the longest active drought in North American professional sports. But unlike the Jets, the Sabres had their chances. They were in the mix, up until a 13-game winless streak through December tanked their chances.

They entered the season with playoff aspirations and they ended up regressing from an 84-point season last year, while spending more than three months of the year in last place in the Eastern Conference. And even worse, they keep trending towards the wrong direction. That’s emphasized with the over $6 million in unused salary cap space.

Adams didn’t boost the team at the deadline to make them better. The goaltending was awful, with the second-worst save percentage in the league, only in front of the Flyers. They gave up the 4th-most goals per game (3.47), and it’s even more disappointing considering that they were 7th in the league in scoring (3.27). They just can’t stop getting in their own way, and it’s true given that they have the third-most first period goals only to give up the 4th-most third period goals.

Expectations for Next Season

The following season will be Adams’ 6th season as the general manager of the Sabres, and it’s likely going to be what might be his last chance. If Buffalo doesn’t make the playoffs last year, one can assume that sweeping changes are going to be made both at the front office and on the coaching ranks.

They have the talent to make the playoffs, but it’s on management to help fill in the holes and get them out of this slump. There are several key personnel decisions to make, and the most important of them are between JJ Peterka (since traded to Utah and extended) and Bowen Byram, who are part of the big fish among this year’s RFA class. The other RFAs on Buffalo include Jack Quinn, Ryan McLeod and Devon Levi. Who gets brought back and who ends up without a qualifying offer?

After that, Buffalo needs to look at outside help. The Sabres need to upgrade their goaltender situation, and if Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen and Levi can’t deliver as their tandem of the future, Adams must look at veteran netminders that can either support one of them or even take the no. 1 goaltender spot, whether it be free agency or on the trade market. This will help them a lot towards getting more consistent winning runs throughout the season and not winning when it’s already too late.

It’s easier said than done, but next season is playoffs or bust. The overwhelming consensus is that this season has been a major disappointment, and for very good and valid reasons, despite glimmers of hope. But it’s on the front office to fill the holes this team has to get out of this slump.

Final Grade: F

25th: Anaheim Ducks

What Went Right in 2025?

Nobody expected the Ducks to make the playoffs, but there had to be some improvement and progress with the young core. They got some improvement in a facet. Leo Carlsson had his first fully healthy season of his career, and the end result of a 20-goal season. Lukas Dostal won them 20 games and was top 20 in save percentage, showing that he is the franchise goalie of the future. Jackson LaCombe improved from 17 points through 2024 to 14 goals and 43 points in 2025.

There was progression from the other key building blocks of this team, and that includes Mason McTavish and Cutter Gauthier. McTavish had his first career 20-goal, 50-point season on a contract year, and Gauthier also had 20 goals in his rookie season.

What Went Wrong in 2025?

The defensive structure around Dostal is still leaky. They finished the 2024 season with a minus-91 goal differential, and while they improved in their own zone in 2025, it still is not enough to keep up with the rest of the league, as it was a minus-42. There is progress, but the underlying metrics show that they still need catching up to do.

They gave up the most shots per 60 minutes, the most scoring chances per 60, and the most high-danger chances per 60. This is part of the reason why there is a big gap between them and the playoff teams, even for there showing improvement. They’re also very inconsistent from period to period under head coach Greg Cronin, who was fired for Joel Quenneville, and their special teams were brutal to watch, especially their power play, which had a league-worst 11.8% conversion rate. Their penalty kill didn’t fare much better, as they were tied for 27th (74.2%) with the San Jose Sharks and St. Louis Blues.

Expectations for Next Season

In one way, they’re on a similar path as the Utah Mammoth are. They still have work to do to make the playoffs next year, but they were nearly at a point per game pace. Their young core getting another year of experience, along with what they do in the summer, could have them contending for a wild card spot.

Acquiring Chris Kreider from the New York Rangers was a start. But they also have to take care of business with Dostal and McTavish, who are both pending RFAs and are expected to get significant pay raises. In McTavish’s case, he just completed the final year of his entry-level contract. Getting new contracts with these two are the top priority, though it should still give them enough cap space to add more help around their core to move out of the rebuilding phase and get to the phase where they compete for the playoffs.

Final Grade: B-

Thank you for reading this article. With the 2025 season coming to a close, we will be producing a few more NHL based articles. If you enjoyed it, please make sure to hit the thumbs up at the bottom of the page, and check out our other Content below.

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