The NHL Playoffs will begin on Saturday, and 15 of 16 teams have already booked their tickets to the postseason. Some teams look scary and ready to compete, while others might be a pushover.
Some teams have a terrible history regarding the postseason, or they had a good regular season but aren't built for the playoffs. Here are three teams that are on fraud-watch.
New Jersey Devils
The main reason why the New Jersey Devils are on this list might not even be their fault. On March 2nd, Jack Hughes heavily crashed into the boards against the Vegas Golden Knights. He immediately left the game after lying on the ice for some time. A few days later, it was announced that he would require shoulder surgery and miss the rest of the season.
Hughes is likely New Jersey's best player and most important player. Without him, there is a massive hole down the middle of the lineup. Head Coach Sheldon Keefe typically has Hughes and Nico Hischier as the top two centers. However, Dawson Mercer, who usually plays right wing, is occupying the second-line center role in Hughes' absence.
In the playoffs, line-matching is a key strategy that can lead to wins. Losing Hughes takes away any line-matching advantage for the Devils, considering Hischier's line will likely have an assignment against their opponent's top line.
New Jersey is set to take on the Carolina Hurricanes in Round 1. Luckily, the Canes are in the same boat with having Jack Roslovic as their second-line center. However, Carolina has much better forward depth in their bottom six compared to New Jersey. The injury to Hughes weakens the Devils' forward depth, pushing others up the lineup.
Since Hughes was ruled out of the lineup, the Devils have played 19 games. In that span, they have a 9-9-1 record, which would leave them 24th in the league. This proves that the team has missed the 23-year-old's presence and offensive abilities. New Jersey will have to do its best to survive that first-round matchup against Carolina.
Edmonton Oilers
The Edmonton Oilers, who advanced to the Cup final last year, might not have the same success this year. Kris Knoblauch's team has been riddled with crucial injuries in the back half of this season.
Connor McDavid missed some time with a lower-body injury in late March. Leon Draisaitl has dealt with multiple injuries and is currently out with an undisclosed injury. Zach Hyman and Mattias Ekholm have also dealt with undisclosed injuries. Furthermore, defenseman Ekholm is projected to miss entire first round.
All these important players could be entering the first round of the playoffs might not be at their best. Furthermore, the Oilers will likely be taking on the Los Angeles Kings in the first round for the third straight year. The Kings have been healthy for the most part this season, and are on pace to claim home-ice advantage for the first time against the Oilers.
In addition, Los Angeles has been the best team in the NHL since March 6. They have a 17-4-0 record in that span, and have the best home record in the league at 31-5-4. If there was a year when the Kings could defeat the Oilers in the playoffs, it could be this season.
Minnesota Wild
The Minnesota Wild nearly blew it in terms of qualifying for the playoffs. In early December, the Wild were the best team in the NHL. However, as the season went on, they drastically dropped in the standings.
February was the worst month the team saw this season. In the eight games they played that month, they posted a 3-5-0 record and accumulated six points in that stretch. Only the San Jose Sharks, Hurricanes, and Chicago Blackhawks rank lower in that span.
There is a reason behind their bad stretch of form in the winter. Superstar Kirill Kaprizov missed 28 straight games with a lower-body injury. In addition, Joel Eriksson EK missed 21 games due to a lower-body injury with a similar timeline to Kaprizov.
They both returned from injuries for the same game on April 9th against the Sharks. Eriksson Ek scored four goals, with Kaprizov contributing another two tallies and a helper in an 8-7 overtime win. Having two first-liners back in the lineup made a huge difference for the Wild.
About the playoffs, Minnesota don't have the best track record and history. Since 2016, the Wild have qualified for the playoffs seven times, but have won zero playoff rounds. They are not a great playoff team, and even with Kaprizov, who is a 100-point scorer, the team is no match for the Golden Knights.