Only one team can win the Stanley Cup each season. And for these five teams, their chances at winning the Stanley Cup at the end of the 2023-24 NHL season are practically zero.
Of course, anything can happen in hockey. We’ve seen many examples of teams making incredible turnarounds over the course of a season to make a deep playoff run all the way to the end. However, those stories are few and far between and there are a handful of teams this season you shouldn’t get your hopes up about.
Whether it be that these teams are committing to a full rebuild or that they have finished their window of competing opportunity, these are five NHL teams that you can count on not winning the 2024 Stanley Cup Final.
Philadelphia Flyers: The rebuild has just begun
The 2023-24 season will be the first full year of Danny Briere’s tenure as general manager with the orange and black. So far, Briere has impressed as GM with his savvy moves to ship out roster mainstays to make room for the team’s upcoming rebuild, but the job is only just beginning.
Last season, the Flyers were bad on accident. This year, they’ll be bad on purpose. With No. 7 overall pick Matvei Michkov waiting in the wings for a debut likely three years from now, the Flyers’ main goal this season will be to evaluate their young talent and continue to stock their cupboard for the future.
Chicago Blackhawks: The rebuild is still ongoing
The presence of Connor Bedard is going to give the Chicago Blackhawks a baseline level of competence they didn’t have last season. But one player does not a hockey team make. Even after drafting Bedard and trading for Taylor Hall to bolster their offense, this Blackhawks roster is bad. Fun, perhaps, but bad all the same.
So, while Bedard is going to give Blackhawks fans — and the NHL world as a whole — a reason to tune into games, Chicago’s rebuild still has a long way to go before they’ll see a Stanley Cup Final in the Windy City again.
Columbus Blue Jackets: Johnny Gaudreau and Patrik Laine can't solve everything
With the embarrassing Mike Babcock incident and his subsequent resignation still looming large over the team, the Blue Jackets no doubt want to get this season started as soon as possible to put it all behind them. However, the 2023-24 season likely won’t be kind to this team in the slightest. Johnny Gaudreau and Patrik Laine are a solid one-two offensive punch when they’re on their game, but the rest of this Columbus lineup is uninspiring, to say the least.
There are some good pieces here — with Zach Werenski holding up the defense and Adam Fantilli a hopeful sign of what’s to come down the road — but the Eastern Conference is way too stacked for this team to handle.
San Jose Sharks: They're even worse now with Erik Karlsson gone
Erik Karlsson is now a member of the Pittsburgh Penguins after the long-awaited trade made waves this offseason. With Karlsson and his Norris Trophy winning 101 points scored from last season now gone, the Sharks are going to have to find other ways to score. And spoiler alert: It’s not gonna be easy!
The Sharks already were a bottom feeder team in the NHL with Karlsson, so it’s not hard to wonder how low they’ll sink without him. Don’t be surprised if by season’s end, the Sharks are sitting dead last in the NHL with a shot to draft No. 1 overall in the spring.
Montreal Canadiens: They just aren't ready yet
The Canadiens have some incredibly talented young players. Cole Caufield, Nick Suzuki, Kirby Dach, Juraj Slafkovsky, and David Reinbacher are going to be a formidable core in the East someday. But, today is not that day.
It will be fun to see Montreal’s core come together across another season, but don’t expect any major surprises out of this team this year. While not the worst team on this list by far, don’t get your hopes up for seeing the Canadiens back in a playoff hunt this season. Not with how stacked the Atlantic Division still is.
