The meaty part of the NHL offseason has already come and gone with the NHL Draft in the rear view mirror and most of the top free agents already signed. While there are still some big trades and smaller free agent signings to be made, most teams have already set the tone for their offseason.
So let’s take a look at three teams that have whiffed so far.
There is still time for these teams to change their offseason, and one big trade can still impact things, but through the first week, these teams have dropped the ball. So far.
Los Angeles Kings
The Kings have hit a wall in their rebuild. They are back to being a consistent playoff team, but they have lost in the first round to the Edmonton Oilers four years in a row. They still need something more. Specifically, more goal-scoring.
They replaced general manager Rob Blake with Ken Holland to help get them over the hump, and the early returns are not promising.
While the Kings did add some depth forwards like Corey Perry and Joel Armia in free agency, the biggest moves were reshaping a defense that was already one of the best in the NHL.
Along with allowing Vladislav Gavrikov to walk in free agency (to the New York Rangers), they also traded Jordan Spence to the Ottawa Senators. That is two big-time players leaving, while they were replaced by free agents Cody Ceci and Brian Dumoulin on multi-year deals.
Ceci is best-suited to be a third-pairing defenseman, but would be badly overpaid in that role. If he plays higher in the lineup, he is going to get exposed in a role he shouldn’t be in.
Dumoulin was at one point a strong shutdown defender, but has rapidly declined.
For the money they spent on Ceci and Dumoulin, they could have kept a superior player in Gavrikov.
They also did not do enough to upgrade an offense that is still middle-of-the-pack.
Not only are they still not good enough to beat the Oilers on paper, but they may have gotten worse.
Columbus Blue Jackets
When the offseason began, the Blue Jackets seemed like one of the most intriguing teams in the NHL with a chance to make some serious moves.
They are starting with a rapidly improving young core that took a big step forward in 2024-25 to compete for a playoff spot, had more salary cap space than almost any team in the NHL and also had some serious trade capital with two first-round picks (that they were willing to move) and a deep farm system.
The only moves so far: Acquiring Charlie Coyle and re-signing defenseman Ivan Provorov for eight years at over $8 million per season. It might be one of the biggest overpays of the summer so far.
Columbus might still take another step forward this season due to the young talent in the organization, but so far, they have really missed a big opportunity to speed up the process even more.
Detroit Red Wings
The Red Wings’ playoff drought is at nine years, and without any postseason play this season, it will reach a decade.
They have experienced six of those seasons under the leadership of general manager Steve Yzerman, whose rebuild has been especially methodical.
There might be some frustration brewing over the slow pace, and captain Dylan Larkin seemed to indicate some of that at his end-of-season media availability when he said the locker room was upset at the lack of help management gave the roster at the trade deadline.
The Red Wings need more scoring depth. They need more defense. They need a little bit of everything.
So far this offseason, the only move Yzerman has made was to send away Vladimir Tarasenko in a salary dump move, while also acquiring goalie John Gibson from the Anaheim Ducks. Gibson had a nice bounce-back year in 2024-25, but it was in a small sample size, and his career had rapidly declined in the four seasons prior to that. If adding Gibson is their only move this summer, that would be highly underwhelming for a team that still needs a lot of help to get back into the playoffs.
