Here at THN.com, we regularly discuss the mushy middle of the NHL – where teams are not good enough to be near the top of the league but not bad enough to be at the bottom and secure a top draft pick.
With next season on the horizon, it’s a fun time to look at which teams have been the biggest mushy middle teams of the past five years.
With that said, here are our picks for the NHL’s top five mushy middle teams in alphabetical order:
Calgary Flames
The Flames have made the Stanley Cup playoffs just once in the past five years. In the other four seasons, Calgary has finished either fourth or fifth in its division.
They have not been good enough to challenge for a championship but also haven't drafted in the top five since selecting Sam Bennett with the fourth overall pick in 2014.
When you look at the Flames’ roster, they’re missing the type of generational talents that teams can only acquire via the draft. While Calgary GM Craig Conroy seems confident he can build a genuine Cup contender out of the assets he’s managed to get through free agency (Nazem Kadri) and trades (Morgan Frost and Joel Farabee), we’re not so sure — especially when you're in a division that includes Edmonton, Vegas and Los Angeles.
Unless the Flames decide to tear things down and rebuild, it feels like they are going to have more mushy middle finishes for the foreseeable future.
Detroit Red Wings
The Red Wings haven’t made the playoffs in nine seasons. Only the Sabres have spent more time out of the post-season.
At the same time, Detroit has picked in the top five of the draft just once in the past 35 years.
It's difficult to land a generational talent when you're not picking in the top five. The Red Wings have managed to get lucky and draft Simon Edvinsson (sixth overall in 2021), Lucas Raymond (fourth overall in 2020) and Moritz Seider (sixth overall in 2019) in recent years, but imagine what this team would look like with a few top three picks.
Don't expect that trend to change anytime soon.
The Red Wings’ additions this summer, which include signing goalie John Gibson, won't move the needle for them in the highly competitive Atlantic Division. Unless something drastic changes, Detroit is almost assuredly headed for another mediocre season.
Even if they do sneak into the post-season, the Wings will probably be roadkill against superior opponents. And that means more mushy middle developments for a franchise that once was the gold standard for NHL organizations.
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Nashville Predators
To their credit, the Predators have made the playoffs in three of the past five years. However, once they got there, Nashville was easy pickings every time, winning only four games combined in three first-round losses. In the two seasons they failed to make the playoffs, the Preds finished fifth and seventh in their division.
Nothing to write home about, any way you cut it.
It’s no wonder that the Predators have had only one draft pick higher than 15th overall in the past five years — Brady Martin, who went fifth overall this year.
The Preds, which went big in free agency in 2024 when they acquired Steven Stamkos, Jonathan Marchessault and Brady Skjei, are not good enough to vault past Winnipeg, Dallas and Colorado — or even Minnesota — in the Central. But they also stubbornly refuse to tear it all down and start from scratch.
That’s why they appear destined to be a mushy middle team at least for next season, if not longer.
New York Islanders
The Islanders stand out from the other teams in this mushy middle list, having made it to back-to-back conference finals in 2020 and 2021. But since then, they’ve lost twice in the first round and missed the playoffs twice.
The Islanders did get lucky this summer by winning the draft lottery and landing elite defenseman Matthew Schaefer with the No. 1 pick. But that doesn’t take away from the fact that this Isles team is still a far away from being a legitimate Cup threat.
The Islanders almost certainly have some tough sledding ahead as they attempt to rise through the Metropolitan Division ranks. And yet, the Isles have some solid veterans, such as Mathew Barzal, Bo Horvat and Anders Lee, who will prevent them from finishing low enough to get another top-level draft pick. So if the Islanders are a mushy middle team next season, no one should be surprised.
Pittsburgh Penguins
It’s hard to believe the Penguins, an organization with multiple players who are locks to be first ballot Hockey Hall-of-Famers, have managed to miss the playoffs for the past three years. But Father Time remains undefeated.
Evgeni Malkin is 39 years old. Sidney Crosby turned 38 earlier this month. And Kris Letang is 37.
So it's hardly a surprise that the Penguins, which won three championships with those three players, have gone seven years without winning a playoff round. Unfortunately, Pittsburgh’s struggles have not led to high-end draft picks.
Since 2021, the highest the Penguins have drafted is 11th overall, selecting Benjamin Kindel this summer. It's hard to retool when you're cupboard is bare. While Pittsburgh did acquire top-end prospect Rutger McGroarty a year ago from the Winnipeg Jets, Penguins management doesn’t appear willing — or able — to strip down the roster completely and start over.
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