4 Teams Stuck In NHL Purgatory

Purgatory in the NHL is not the place a team wants to be and it is more likely to lead to many years of average or worse play with nothing to show from it in the way of top prospects or deep playoff runs. There are these kinds of teams every season and this season showed four of them clear as day.

Nashville Predators

The Nashville Predators were supposed to be a championship caliber team after adding three major pieces in free agency to an already sound core that got the group into the playoffs the year prior. They have the elite goalie, defense, and forward, but after such a failure of a season, hope has gone down the drain and it is anyone's guess which direction Barry Trotz will try to take the Predators this offseason. My prediction is that they run it back another time and if that doesn't work out, then it is time to blow up the roster and make moves.

The Predators dropped the ball on the prime years of Roman Josi and missed those years of Ryan O'Reilly, Steven Stamkos, and Jonathan Marchessault. There are also no game-changing prospects or young players on the team right now. Maybe Tanner Molendyk can be one down the line, but not much says the Predators will climb back into contention where they hope to be and the offseason moves will likely indicate they are attempting to do just that.

New York Islanders

The New York Islanders seem to have missed their shot at a Stanley Cup when they lost back-to-back conference finals against the Tampa Bay Lightning. The Islanders have gone downhill since and missed the playoffs this season with poor numbers from most. Ilya Sorokin is still a very good goalie, but there isn't much pop in the lineup. The team played a certain way to be able to go deep in the playoffs, but that has changed since Trotz was the head coach.

There are arguably no elite players on the team and they are just built to be an average team as nobody seems to take the reins and lead the team with stellar numbers. Injuries don't ever help, but other than the upcoming first overall pick, there isn't a great deal to look forward to that will help change the fortunes in New York quickly.

Vancouver Canucks

The Vancouver Canucks haven't made good moves over the last year and a half and some would say that their second-round appearance was more luck and a one-off rather than the real Canucks. With how their team is constructed now, there is very little chance they can even get out of the first round, never mind make the playoffs. They also have some players that will prevent the team from dropping to the bottom of the standings and the GM doesn't want the team to rebuild, rather build around Quinn Hughes. Not trying to lose their best player is the right move, but it is going to be very tough to do what the organization is hoping for as there isn't star power outside of Hughes, especially with what happened to Elias Pettersson.

Boston Bruins

The Boston Bruins sold in a season where injuries really hurt them. I think that was the wrong move as now they appear to have burned the bridge with Brad Marchand. Jeremy Swayman had a tough year after all the weight was put on his shoulders, and injuries may continue to be a concern. The Bruins have some elite talent if everything can come together, but I still don't think it is enough. There are too many holes and David Pastrnak and a healthy Charlie McAvoy can't carry the entire team on their backs for the whole season. They fell far in the second half of the season and the team has been horrible in drafting talent, so they constantly have to look externally for upgrades.