In the next tier, Konsta Helenius is quickly proving to be an impact player, while Noah \u00d6stlund showed a lot of potential when healthy, too.<\/p>\n
The Sabres still need work at center and on the right side of the blue line in particular. Plus, there are some questions around Alex Tuch\u2019s future and the goaltending situation heading into summer. Still, there is a foundation with a lot of upside to keep building around.<\/p>\n
While Jarmo Kek\u00e4l\u00e4inen\u2019s first moves as general manager weren\u2019t all sparkling \u2014 like the decision to add both Logan Stanley and Luke Schenn on defense, both of whom were in the press box to end this playoff run \u2014 the vision was there at the deadline. The Sabres did try to acquire a righty in Colton Parayko and were in the Robert Thomas mix. With the right moves and more internal growth, this team should be poised to take another step next year.<\/p>\n
Anaheim Ducks<\/p>\n
The future is bright<\/p>\n
Part of what has made this year\u2019s playoffs so interesting is the rise of young teams. The next wave of contenders has started making an impact sooner than expected, and disrupted the playoff picture, and the Ducks have been at the heart of that.<\/p>\n
It wasn\u2019t just that this team knocked out the Edmonton Oilers with ease in Round 1 or made a push against the Vegas Golden Knights. It\u2019s who drove the bus for Anaheim.<\/p>\n
The Ducks have seasoned veterans up and down the lineup, from Mikael Granlund, Alex Killorn and Chris Kreider up front, to Radko Gudas and Jacob Trouba on the back end, among others. But the real question was how some of their up-and-coming stars would handle the pressure of a playoff environment, and whether they would be able to play to their strengths when play tends to tighten up.<\/p>\n
After the Oilers spoiled Game 1 with a late win, some of Anaheim\u2019s young guns quickly answered those questions.<\/p>\n
Leo Carlsson was one of the best scoring chance creators across the whole playoff field through two rounds. The Ducks outscored opponents 9-7 at five-on-five and earned a 58 percent xG in his minutes, which helped him earn a team-best average Game Score of 1.89. Cutter Gauthier showed the national stage what a dangerous shooter he could be, and Beckett Sennecke came up clutch, especially against Vegas, when his team craved scoring.<\/p>\n
Jackson LaCombe looked like he could be on a Zach Werenski-caliber path during the regular season, and his postseason only added more weight to that comp. He had one of the toughest workloads in the playoffs, facing a heavy dose of Connor McDavid, Jack Eichel and Mitch Marner. Despite those matchup minutes, his two-way play still shone at times and helped the Ducks control play with a 61 percent xG share at five-on-five.<\/p>\n
While there were some rookie mistakes and lapses to learn from \u2014 and a lot of defensive work to be done \u2014 the Ducks showed a lot of promise earlier than expected.<\/p>\n
Philadelphia Flyers<\/p>\n
Defense alone doesn\u2019t win championships<\/p>\n
The Flyers have a strong defensive foundation. Thank head coach Rick Tocchet and John Tortorella before him for instilling those systems, plus a roster filled with shutdown threats. Philadelphia\u2019s 1-1-3 neutral zone strategy and rush defense were a driving force behind the team\u2019s Cinderella run down the stretch and through Round 1.<\/p>\n
But now it\u2019s time to kick up play at the other end of the ice.<\/p>\n
In today\u2019s NHL, the best defense is a strong offense. The Colorado Avalanche embody that better than any other NHL team. The Carolina Hurricanes\u2019 high-pressure style is another nod to that line of thinking; yes, Carolina plays shutdown defense, but it also overwhelms opponents with waves of offense.<\/p>\n
The Flyers aren\u2019t built for that yet. The roster isn\u2019t loaded with scoring talent, and the systems aren\u2019t fully in place to maximize it. There are signs that it\u2019s coming; Porter Martone was a bright spot, Matvei Michkov still has untapped upside and Trevor Zegras bounced back in new surroundings. But even with a top-10 prospect pipeline<\/a>, this team is still missing a game-breaker down the middle and some NHL-caliber talent to push Travis Konency and Owen Tippett a little lower on the depth chart<\/a>. It\u2019s understandable for a rebuilding team that jumped ahead of schedule, but it\u2019s a crucial next step that has to be addressed.<\/p>\n So does the power play.<\/p>\n Teams can\u2019t be too over-reliant on the power play in the postseason; just ask the Dallas Stars after their Round 1 elimination. It\u2019s even tougher to rely on that scoring when fewer calls are made in later rounds. But when those opportunities come<\/a>, it helps to actually have an advantage.<\/p>\n A few teams in recent history have managed without. The 2011 Boston Bruins are the prime example of that, scoring just 3.83 goals per 60 on their way to the Stanley Cup. The key was that every other element of their game was so strong, the power play wasn\u2019t as pivotal.<\/p>\n The Flyers don\u2019t have that luxury \u2014 not after generating the worst shot quality of the playoff field at five-on-five, and scoring even less. Operating at just 6.3 percent on the power play (3-for-36) was a glaring weakness. And it wasn\u2019t just a new development in the playoffs, or bad luck. It was a genuine flaw that needs a lot of work moving forward.<\/p>\n Minnesota Wild<\/p>\n Safe is death<\/p>\n With their season on the line, the Wild came out swinging in Game 5 with the opening goal just 34 seconds into action. Minnesota played fast and aggressively, forcing the Avalanche into early mistakes to take a 3-0 lead in the first period.<\/p>\n The Wild were 40 minutes away from extending their season. Then two things happened: Colorado flipped a switch and amped up the pressure, and Minnesota flatlined in response<\/a>.<\/p>\n Via MoneyPuck<\/p>\n Score effects were a factor here; leading teams often go into a defensive shell to protect that edge, while trailing teams can pump up the shots and risk to get back into the game. But even after adjusting for that, and limiting to just five-on-five situations, the Avalanche were still the better team over the next 40 minutes. With two goals in the last four minutes of play, Colorado forced overtime, where Brett Kulak won it and ended the Wild\u2019s season.<\/p>\n As much as Colorado forced a short-handed Minnesota team to contain them in the second and third periods, the Wild\u2019s game strategy was all wrong. Playing it safe against a team as dynamic as the Avalanche was the kiss of death.<\/p>\n And it\u2019s something that held this team back in the big picture, too.<\/p>\n Sure, the Wild made the big swing back in December with a franchise-altering trade to bring in Quinn Hughes. But management didn\u2019t do enough after acquiring him to maximize this season.<\/p>\n Until Hughes extends (or leaves) Minnesota, this team is on a ticking clock to make the most out of his time there. Add in the rising costs of Kirill Kaprizov\u2019s extension for next year, plus a potential new deal for Hughes in 2027 if he does stay, and this team will have less cap flexibility to work with. The goaltending situation is another pressure point, because a Jesper Wallstedt-Filip Gustavsson tandem won\u2019t last forever; Wallstedt is trending toward becoming a starter in his own right, and there are only so many minutes to share.<\/p>\n Bringing in Michael McCarron proved to be a solid bottom-six addition. But he became a lot more important than any contender should want or need. The Joel Eriksson Ek injury obviously played into that, just as Jonas Brodin\u2019s forced Jacob Middleton into a top-four role that was above his depth in this situation. Teams can\u2019t anticipate injuries like that, but it\u2019s something every team has to prepare for at this time of year. That\u2019s why depth matters so much, and this team had months to add some.<\/p>\n If there was a time to go all-in, this was it. Even with the gauntlet path through the Central Division, adding Hughes gave the Wild their best chance to do some playoff damage.<\/p>\n Now, next year has just become all the more important \u2014 so it\u2019s up to this team to change its safe strategy, top to bottom, to actually make the most of it.<\/p>\n Data via Evolving-Hockey<\/a>, HockeyViz<\/a>, HockeyStatCards<\/a>, All Three Zones<\/a>, HockeyStats<\/a> and Natural Stat Trick<\/a>. This story relies on shot-based metrics; here is a primer<\/a> on these numbers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It\u2019s easy to nitpick the little things and moments \u2014 especially after a heartbreaking Game 7 overtime loss.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":324584,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[163,824,165,164,2064,4227,404,2067],"class_list":["post-324583","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-anaheim","tag-anaheim","tag-anaheim-ducks","tag-anaheim-headlines","tag-anaheim-news","tag-buffalo-sabres","tag-minnesota-wild","tag-nhl","tag-philadelphia-flyers"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/324583","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=324583"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/324583\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/324584"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=324583"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=324583"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=324583"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"\/](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Screenshot-2026-05-19-at-2.01.16\u202fPM.png\")
<\/a><\/p>\n