The NHL’s 2025-26 season is at the quarter mark, so it’s a great time to look at positive surprises and disappointments at this point in the year.

We began this process by examining the teams that have surprised positively. In this file, we’re focusing on teams that have been disappointments up to this point. Here are five teams in alphabetical order.

Edmonton Oilers

After falling short in back-to-back duels in the Stanley Cup finals, the Edmonton Oilers had sky-high expectations entering this season. To say they’ve failed to live up to them so far is a major understatement.

In 23 games, Edmonton has posted a thoroughly mediocre 9-9-5 record and sank to 12th place in the Western Conference.

Their offense hasn’t been terrific, but their defense has been a serious issue, as their goals-against average is fifth-worst in the league at 3.57 per game. Even for this offense-heavy Oilers team, that is a lot.

The Oilers don’t have much in the way of salary cap space, but they made multiple moves this past summer, and it feels like GM Stan Bowman is locked in with this current group.

It would still shock many if they failed to make the playoffs. However, their performance roughly 25 percent into the season suggests that’s not nearly as far-fetched a situation as once thought.  

New York Rangers

The New York Rangers re-jigged their defense corps and made some calculated changes up front in the off-season, but the Blueshirts came out of the gate poorly. To add to that, they own the worst home record in the NHL at 1-7-1.

It’s no wonder that the Rangers sit in 14th place in the Eastern Conference with a 10-10-2 record. Getting just one win at Madison Square Garden is certainly a factor.

Defense and goaltending have been relative bright spots for this Rangers team, but offense has been another story.

New York's 2.50 goals-per-game average is third-worst in the league, ahead of only the Calgary Flames and Nashville Predators. When you compare where the Flames and Preds are in the standings to the Rangers, it makes sense that the Blueshirts are where they are in the standings.

St. Louis Blues

The St. Louis Blues were an inspiration last year with a late-season charge and a memorable playoff appearance against the Winnipeg Jets in the first round. 

However, this season, they’ve been dreadful, owning the league’s worst goals-against average of 3.76 and currently sitting in 13th in the West with a 6-9-6 record.

Some believe the Blues will be selling off talent as they balance the need between staying competitive and shipping off some of their veteran players.

Blues Place Alexandre Texier On Waivers To Terminate ContractAlexandre Texier's time with the St. Louis Blues is officially coming to an end, and it looks like he already has options to sign with another team.

For the long haul, making some trades is the right thing to do for St. Louis. Better that than being a "mushy middle" team that comes close, but ultimately fails to make the playoffs.

Toronto Maple Leafs

When the Toronto Maple Leafs were winning a lot of the time – as they were last year, and many regular seasons before that – there was never any question they’d be a playoff team.

But suddenly, there are plenty of questions after 21 games. Only the Buffalo Sabres are lower in the Eastern Conference standings than Toronto, and its 9-9-3 record. That’s about as bad a start as anyone could have forecast for the Leafs.

The injury bug has bitten hard into the Maple Leafs' lineup, but their poor defense, among other inconsistencies, has resulted in their drop in the standings.

Do The Maple Leafs Have 'Too Much Vanilla' Or Not Enough Marner?Toronto Maple Leafs GM Brad Treliving said the solution to dealing with the team's bad start is not to point fingers and dig in together. But they seriously need Marner's two-way play right now.

They’re going to get some of their injured players back soon enough, but it’s getting later and later to turn their season around, and before they know it, it will be too late. 

Vancouver Canucks

The Vancouver Canucks had an all-around miserable season last year, and this season, the misery looks to be continuing. Vancouver has a 9-11-2 record, which puts them in 14th place in the West.

While it’s currently a close race where only four points separate the Canucks from the Winnipeg Jets in the second wild-card spot, there are a lot of hungry playoff contenders for Vancouver to leap over.

Thus, the Canucks need a reversal of fortune sooner rather than later. First-year coach Adam Foote has a tough task ahead of him, and who knows – Jim Rutherford and Patrik Allvin may supervise some roster changes.

“I’d Probably Say Wing Right Now”: Canucks Head Coach Adam Foote Speaks On What Position He Believes Best Fits Lukas ReichelLukas Reichel has reportedly been made available for trade; here's where Canucks Head Coach Adam Foote believes he fits into the lineup.

But two straight seasons without playoff hockey in Vancouver would be a disaster, so there’s real pressure to turn things around. Only time will tell whether this group responds well to the challenge.

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NEW YORK (AP) — Brayden Schenn and Pius Suter scored goals and the St. Louis Blues snapped a four-game losing streak with a 2-1 win over the New York Islanders on Saturday.

Jordan Binnington finished with 28 saves for the Blues, whose four straight losses included three in either overtime or a shootout.

Anders Lee scored for the Islanders and Ilya Sorokin made 20 saves, but the Islanders fell in the opening game of a seven-game homestand following a successful seven-game road trip in which they went 6-1-0.

Schenn gave St. Louis the lead just 42 seconds into the game when he buried a pass from Pavel Buchnevich to deflate the home crowd at UBS Arena.

Sorokin made a sprawling glove save in the final two minutes of the first period to preserve the one-goal deficit, but the stop did not jump-start the Islanders’ offense.

Suter extended the Blues’ lead to 2-0 when he scored on a rebound with 2:09 remaining in the second period.

Lee cut the Islanders' deficit in half with 3:20 remaining in the third period.

Blues defenseman Justin Faulk left the game late in the third period.

It was only the second time this season the Islanders failed to score more than one goal.

Up Next

Blues: Visit New York Rangers on Monday night.

Islanders: Host Seattle Kraken on Sunday.

Follow Michael Whitaker On X

The Detroit Red Wings managed to seize victory from the jaws of defeat on Saturday afternoon, wrestling two points away from the Columbus Blue Jackets thanks to a two-goal third period comeback that was capped by the overtime game-winner from Alex DeBrincat. 

DeBrincat cut down the wing and roofed a shot into the upper corner of the net past goaltender Jet Greaves, guaranteeing the extra point for the Red Wings and giving them the victory in the wake of what was a disappointing 5-0 shutout loss to the New York Islanders on Thursday evening. 

It was DeBrincat’s seventh goal of the season, and he scored it in true goal-scorer’s fashion, finding a sliver of open net from a sharp angle, just as he has throughout his entire NHL career.

ALEX DEBRINCAT COMPLETES THE COMEBACK IN @ENERGIZER OT 🫨 pic.twitter.com/GIl4tRplsK

— NHL (@NHL) November 22, 2025

Afterward, head coach Todd McLellan said DeBrincat is one of the few players he’d want to have the puck on his stick in that moment.

Bookmark The Hockey News Detroit Red Wings team site to stay connected to the latest news, game-day coverage, and player features. 

"That's a tough spot for goaltenders to cover," McLellan said. "You see a lot of shots even going in off helmets, the goaltender's mask or helmet. That's what Cat does. We pay him to make that shot. He's done it his whole career. I can't think of, maybe another one or two guys I'd want in that situation, but Cat would certainly be one of them." 

DeBrincat himself chalked it up to a bit of luck on his part. 

"I saw him down on the post as I was going by that guy (Blue Jackets defenseman) and I feel a lot of goalies do that nowadays and you just have to hopefully find your spot," DeBrincat said of his goal. "Maybe a little lucky there, but at that point in overtime, it's probably my last rush to create something and just lucky enough to put it in."

However, it’s easy to argue that for a player like DeBrincat—who has twice scored 40 goals and added 39 more last season—a shot like that was pure talent, not luck.

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For the better part of the season, the Florida Panthers have hung around the bottom of the Atlantic Division standings, despite not being separated by many points.

But, a recent strong stretch with more consistent performances has reintroduced the Panthers back into the division race, and now they sit just four points back of the division-leading Detroit Red Wings with two games in hand. 

There are still teams between the Panthers and Red Wings. The Boston Bruins sit in second with 26 points, three more than the Panthers, but the Panthers have three games in hand. The Tampa Bay Lightning and the Ottawa Senators sit one point ahead of the Panthers with the same number of games played. 

The Montreal Canadiens are currently tied with the Panthers for 23 points, and the Toronto Maple Leafs sit two points back. The Buffalo Sabres sit in last in the Atlantic with 20 points. 

The division is very tight, and there has been plenty of movement in the standings through the first 20 games or so, but the Panthers have the experience to take advantage of the opportunities given to them. 

The Panthers are about to enter a stretch of games against teams on the outside looking in, when referring to the playoffs, and it's time they go on a run. It all starts tonight with a rematch against the Edmonton Oilers before matchups with the Nashville Predators, Philadelphia Flyers, Calgary Flames, Maple Leafs, Predators and Columbus Blue Jackets. 

Sergei Bobrovsky will be in between the pipes tonight when the Panthers host Connor McDavid and the Oilers. 

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"Probably one of the best days of my life."

That's how Jonathan Aspirot described his NHL debut with the Boston Bruins on October 28th, following a 5-2 comeback win over the New York Islanders.

A few weeks earlier, Aspirot had been having a fine 2025 training camp with the Bruins after signing with the organization over the summer. Some observers even felt he was a decent bet to make the team, but when the final cuts came, Aspirot was sent to the American Hockey League for his seventh straight season there.

But as he got to work again in Providence, Rhode Island, with the odds starting to stack against him at age 26, he was still hopeful that providence would smile on him.

"I try to believe in myself all the time, just trying to keep up positive thinking and just keep working and keep believing in my dream," Aspirot told the media after his debut

The NHL dream started to take shape back in his days with the QMJHL's Moncton Wildcats, where he was teammates with future Senator Jordan Spence. That's where the Sens noticed Aspirot for the first time, and while he was passed over in the NHL Draft, the Sens did sign him to a two-year AHL contract with Belleville ahead of the 2019-20 campaign.

GM Pierre Dorion liked what he saw that season and signed him to a three-year entry-level agreement with Ottawa. Aspirot spent the next three years in the organization without getting a sniff in Ottawa, and in 2023, the Sens chose not to sign him to a qualifying offer.

The same thing then happened in Aspirot's next stop.

He signed yet another AHL deal, this time with the Calgary Wranglers. The Flames liked what they saw and gave him an NHL deal for 2024-25. Last spring, they chose not to sign him to a qualifying offer.

Rinse and repeat.

But this year in Boston, Aspirot's solid performance at camp was still fresh on the mind of GM Don Sweeney, a man who spent 15 years patrolling Boston's blue line. Sweeney has been pulling his hair out with injuries this season, including the one to Charlie McAvoy, who took a puck to the face and had facial surgery this week.

But even before that, fellow defensemen Hampus Lindholm and Jordan Harris both went down in October, and Harris is still on LTIR with a right ankle fracture. When Lindholm was briefly placed on injured reserve on October 26th, Sweeney called on Aspirot to make his NHL debut.

As Aspirot can now attest, making the NHL is extremely hard. But staying in the NHL is even harder.

241 men have come and gone in NHL history with only one career game to their credit. As they lived out their dream in a perfect, glorious moment, they had no idea their first game would also be their last. Given how long it took to get here, Aspirot was certainly a candidate to join the NHL's one-and-done club.

But his debut was almost a month ago, and he's played in 10 of the club's last 12 games. He looks right at home in the show..

"He never really has chances against," Bruins head coach Marco Sturm told the media. "That's where I look a lot of times. He never really shows up in a bad way, again, because of his skating mobility and his core, because he's very, very strong and thick.

"He closes a lot quicker than other guys, and he competes. Given that he competes hard, he fights for his job every day, and that's something I really like about him."

As the Senators went shopping this week for a decent NHL defenseman who could add to their left-shot depth, it turns out they may have had a pretty good future option in Aspirot a couple of years ago. That's not to scold the team for letting him walk. He was here for four years, and at some point, you have to turn the page and take a look at other prospects.

What raises an eyebrow? He was here for the very darkest years of the Senators' long rebuild, as they rostered some very fringe NHL veterans, and they didn't bring him up for a single NHL shift in four years.

Aspirot's accomplishment is not only a fine tale of perseverance, but it's a good reminder that so-called 'older' hockey prospects who haven't made it yet aren't necessarily washed up in their mid-20s.

By Steve Warne
The Hockey News Ottawa

This article was originally published at The Hockey News Ottawa. Read more:

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Flyers rip off three goals in 26 seconds to run away from Devils originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia

So much for those slow starts.

The Flyers erupted for four first-period goals Saturday night en route to a resounding 6-3 win over the Devils at Xfinity Mobile Arena.

Their second, third and fourth goals all came within a span of 26 seconds, sending the crowd into an absolute frenzy, perhaps the loudest it has been here this season.

According to Flyers media information, it marked the franchise’s fastest three-goal spurt ever.

“I’ve lived it here, this crowd,” Rick Tocchet said. “When they get something to cheer about, it’s loud.”

Prior to Saturday night, the Flyers had been outscored 9-1 in the first period over their last six games.

Tyson Foerster took the roof off the building with back-to-back goals in 17 seconds to make it 4-1. The 23-year-old winger was asked if that was the loudest he had heard the building in his time here.

“Yeah,” Foerster said, “and when Anaheim came to town [last season].”

Noah Cates started the onslaught with a game-tying 1-1 goal. Matvei Michkov then gave the Flyers the lead 3:06 minutes later on a breakaway.

“Some good shots, some nice plays,” Tocchet said. “It was a good start.”

Bobby Brink added a goal in the second period. Trevor Zegras put New Jersey away with a third-period goal.

“It was nice to have that killer instinct,” Tocchet said.

Cates (one goal, two assists), Foerster (two goals) and Sean Couturier (two assists) finished with multi-point games.

“I think we worked pretty well on the forecheck and created chances off of that,” Couturier said.

The Flyers (11-6-3) have picked up at least a point in 12 of their last 16 games (10-4-2).

This was the first of three matchups between the Flyers and Devils (13-7-1) this season. New Jersey was without star forward Jack Hughes, who’s recovering from finger surgery.

• The offense was nice for the Flyers, who have struggled to score in parts of the season.

But through 20 games, the Flyers have given up just 2.80 goals per game.

“We’re hungry to learn and keep building,” Cates said. “That’s the best part about it.”

Last season, the Flyers were 8-10-2 through 20 games and had surrendered 3.50 goals per game.

The efforts defensively and in net have been huge.

“I’ve seen some really good things,” Tocchet said. “Obviously the goalies have been really good for us.

“If we can continue to play well without the puck, give our goalies sight lines, let them play half the net, then we can work on other stuff. I do like the play without the puck.”

• Dan Vladar converted 32 saves on 35 shots.

He made an excellent third-period stop to deny a 2-on-1 opportunity for the Devils. It was a big save because a goal there would have provided New Jersey some life. But Vladar kept it a 5-2 game.

“Just timely saves with him has been this whole season,” Cates said. “He has just been huge for us — in the locker room, on the ice. Just stability for us to play our game.”

The Devils scored their third goal later in the final stanza, but it came with just 6:35 minutes left. Zegras then padded the Flyers’ lead back to three.

New Jersey opened the scoring with a power play goal. It didn’t score again until the second period when the Flyers had a commanding 5-1 lead.

Devils netminder Jake Allen had a rough first period. He stopped 23 of 29 shots on the night.

• Nikita Grebenkin was a healthy scratch for the fourth time in the last five games. More on that here.

Egor Zamula entered the lineup for Noah Juulsen, who sat for the first time this season. Playing alongside Nick Seeler, Zamula was on the ice for five of the Flyers’ goals. He finished as a plus-5 and so did Seeler.

“Overall, the team played very good,” Zamula said. … “Vladdy was outstanding, some key saves.”

• After holding a celebration of life Friday night for Bernie Parent, the Flyers saluted their legendary goaltender before Saturday night’s game.

A video tribute was played and a replica of Parent’s iconic white mask was placed on the Flyers’ net.

The Hockey Hall of Famer died Sept. 21 at the age of 80.

• Next up for the Flyers is a four-game road trip, which starts Monday against the Lightning (7 p.m. ET/NBCSP).