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The NHL regular-season schedule will near its halfway point as the calendar flips to 2025. That should provide enough time and evidence for each club’s ownership and management to properly evaluate where their franchises are and whether significant changes are necessary.
Here are five NHL clubs that have been disappointments so far and could benefit from an organizational reset:
Buffalo Sabres
The Sabres’ steady decline starting in late November and throughout December will likely keep them out of the playoffs for a 14th straight season.
The Buffalo fan base will not have the stomach for a third rebuild in a decade, and it is unlikely that owner Terry Pegula will dismiss Lindy Ruff less than a year into his second stint with the club. So, the reset could start with the dismissal of GM Kevyn Adams and a significant shakeup of the roster, but only if they can move members of their core player group. Moving some draft picks around will help as well.
Related: Flyers Should Aggressively Pursue Sabres’ Dylan Cozens
Nashville Predators
The Predators could be the biggest disappointment this season after adding free agents Steven Stamkos, Brady Skjei and Jonathan Marchessault to a club that made the playoffs last year.
GM Barry Trotz does not have much flexibility to make moves since most of his core group has no movement clauses. That could limit his reset to trading a veteran like Ryan O’Reilly, replacing coach Andrew Brunette or promoting some of the organization’s prospects to provide some youth and energy.
Related: Opinion: Predators GM’s Comments About A Rebuild Raise Doubts
New York Islanders
The Islanders are an organization whose window may have passed, with the third-oldest average NHL roster and management’s inability to address their chronic lack of offensive firepower.
Hiring coach Patrick Roy has not had enough of the desired motivational effect, either. GM Lou Lamoriello has little cap space to upgrade his roster, and he will have to make a decision before the March 7 NHL trade deadline about whether to trade pending free agents Brock Nelson and Kyle Palmieri.
Related: New York’s State: Troubling Times For Rangers, Sabres And Islanders
Montreal Canadiens
The recent excitement from Patrik Laine’s scoring exploits has served as a distraction from the fact that the Canadiens’ rebuild has moved at the pace of a tortoise.
The club has some excellent building blocks in Nick Suzuki, Cole Caufield, Lane Hutson and Juraj Slafkovsky. But it’s weighed down by the bad contracts of Josh Anderson and Brendan Gallagher and a lack of quality depth.
There are questions on whether Martin St-Louis is the right coach to get the most out of the current group and whether GM Kent Hughes can start being proactive in the trade market and free agency to help hasten the Habs’ progress.
Related: Patrik Laine’s Red-Hot Start Sparks Hope for Canadiens, But Is It Sustainable?
Chicago Blackhawks
Hawks GM Kyle Davidson’s plan of adding a veteran supporting cast – including Teuvo Teravainen, Tyler Bertuzzi, T.J. Brodie and Ilya Mikheyev – to help phenom Connor Bedard has not resulted in Chicago taking positive steps.
The 19-year-old’s early season struggles were a factor in the dismissal of coach Luke Richardson. Davidson has several expiring contracts that could be moved before the trade deadline, but the question is whether he will try to make more substantive moves like dealing some of the recent additions or defenseman Connor Murphy with a year left on his contract.
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