Why Your Team Isn’t Making the Playoffs

August 26, 2010 –Adam Steevens

With NHL training camps just around the corner, hockey pundits everywhere are firing up their own 2011 predictions, and The Hockey News just published their pre-season power-rankings, and they’re predicting that a handful of playoff teams last season will miss the dance next year.

In the East, they’ve pegged the Panthers, Islanders, Rangers, Leafs, Thrashers, Senators, and the Hurricanes as non-playoff teams, while in the West, the Oilers, Blue Jackets, Wild, Stars, Ducks, Predators and the Avalanche carry the similar distinction.

THN has the Colorado Avalanche just missing the playoffs at ninth place, and with their second-half performance last season, it’s a surprise to see them miss the cut.

“The young Avs didn’t make any franchise-altering moves, but lost shot-block specialist Brett Clark to free agency. Colorado is relying on the same players it did last year when the team surprised everyone with a playoff appearance: Matt Duchene, THN cover boy Chris Stewart, T.J. Galiardi, Peter Mueller and more brought this team along last year and will be counted on to do the same. Craig Anderson had a terrific 2009-10, but in this volatile goalie age can he live up to expectations he didn’t have a year ago? After we saw another young team – the St. Louis Blues – burst onto the playoff scene only to fall back a little the year after, we’re anticipating much of the same from the Avalanche.”

They seem much like the Blues team in 2009 – a young team got hot at just the right time, and they got incredible goaltending from Craig Anderson, but can the 29 year old repeat his performance in 2011? The loss of Wojtek Wolski is significant as well, as he’s flirted with the 20 goal mark consistently since breaking into the league.

THN has also placed the Ottawa Senators on the no-playoff list, burying them at 10th place in the East:

“Unrestricted free agency cost the Senators a tough-as-nails defensive defenseman, but they gained one of the best, albeit aging, puckmoving blueliners in the game. Sergei Gonchar was brought in to help out the league’s 21st-ranked power play next to youngster Erik Karlsson. Without any other off-season moves to address a shaky situation in goal, however, it will be a touch-and-go year in Canada’s capital. Without an extravagant 11-game winning streak in 2009-10, the Sens wouldn’t have finished as high as they did and a run like that can’t be expected again.”

The addition of Gonchar will help the Senators immensely, and while I also think they won’t repeat their second-half streak next year, I think Ottawa will definitely find themselves in the playoffs again, although at a lower seed. The Senators have a situation in net, but it’s nothing a deadline deal (maybe with Spezza?) couldn’t fix.