Patience Rewarded: 3 Rebuilds Set to Take Next Step

Exhaustion finally caught up with the Florida Panthers last season. In the three campaigns before 2025-26, they played 314 games, the most by any team over a three-year span in NHL history, and three straight trips to the Stanley Cup Final eventually came due.

Aleksander Barkov went down in training camp, needed ACL and MCL surgery, and never played. Sam Reinhart, Brad Marchand, Anton Lundell, Evan Rodrigues, Niko Mikkola, and Dmitry Kulikov all missed time as well.

What does it say about the scale of that collapse that a back-to-back champion became the first defending champion to miss the playoffs entirely since the 2014-15 Los Angeles Kings? Panthers general manager (GM) Bill Zito answered emphatically, prying Brady Tkachuk from the Ottawa Senators in June to join his brother Matthew on the hunt for a third Stanley Cup in four years.

The Favourites for the Cup

Online betting sites think they have a genuine chance of claiming it. The latest odds from online sportsbooks currently list the Cats as the narrow +650 favourites to lift the Cup this season, with the reigning Presidents’ Trophy winners Colorado Avalanche just behind at +700, both of whom are ahead of the reigning champion Carolina Hurricanes.

The Canes beat the Vegas Golden Knights 4-2 in last season’s Finals for their first title since 2006, going 16-3 in the postseason along the way, the fewest losses by a champion since the 1987-88 Edmonton Oilers. That’s the ceiling.

Below it, three organizations that spent years scratching and clawing their way into contention may finally have their chance at competing with the big boys this season. Here are three rebuilds that could finally yield fruit in 2026-27.

San Jose Sharks

The San Jose Sharks’ rebuild began in July 2022, when Mike Grier took over as general manager (GM) and immediately sent Brent Burns to Carolina as his first move. Timo Meier left too, and Erik Karlsson went to the Pittsburgh Penguins. The Tomas Hertl trade to Vegas was the point of no return, and the resulting bottom was brutal.

In 2023-24, the Sharks won just 19 games and finished with a league-worst 47 points, a season that included conceding ten goals twice in one week. The following campaign brought a last-place 20-50-12 record and 52 points.

The draft rewarded the suffering. Will Smith was claimed at fourth overall in 2023 and then the big one, Macklin Celebrini, at the top of the board in 2024. Sam Dickinson and Michael Misa followed before Yaroslav Askarov arrived by trade. Last season, the rebuild gathered steam as the Sharks went 39-35-8 for 86 points, which was 19 more wins and 34 more points than the season before, finishing just four points short of the final wild card.

Celebrini’s 115 points broke Joe Thornton’s franchise record. But at the other end of the ice was the problem: a 3.54 goals-against average that ranked 30th league-wide.

Grier has since moved with conviction. Jacob Trouba signed for four years and $33 million, Darnell Nurse came over from Edmonton, and Mason Marchment got five years. Celebrini signed a five-year, $94 million extension. William Eklund, Kasper Halttunen and Brandon Svoboda went to Ottawa for the No. 9 pick, which opened space for No. 2 pick Ivar Stenberg, who is expected to debut on opening night.

Books have San Jose around +4000 to go all the way. A generational centre, a rebuilt blue line, and a Pacific Division that Vegas won with just 95 points make up a genuine opening.

Utah Mammoth

July 23, 2021, was a turning point. That was the day the Arizona Coyotes sent Oliver Ekman-Larsson and Conor Garland to the Vancouver Canucks in a deal that eventually produced Dylan Guenther. Derek Stepan and Darcy Kuemper were later moved for picks, and a league-worst 25-50-7 season followed. If that wasn’t bad enough, the franchise lost its Glendale lease and relocated to Mullett Arena, a university rink with fewer than 5,000 seats, and in April 2024, the NHL approved the move to Salt Lake City.

But the patience and the decision to move to Utah eventually began to pay off. Logan Cooley arrived in the 2022 first round. In June 2024, GM Bill Armstrong sent J.J. Moser and Conor Geekie to the Tampa Bay Lightning for Mikhail Sergachev. It was a sign the rebuild was over.

Utah went 38-31-13 in its first season, then 43-33-6 last season to take the West’s first wild card. The Mammoth led Vegas 2-1 before dropping two overtime games and falling in six as Clayton Keller finished with 88 points, Guenther with 40 goals, and Nick Schmaltz with 74 points in the regular season.

This summer brought Vincent Trocheck from the New York Rangers and Anders Lee on a three-year deal, while JJ Peterka went to the Boston Bruins for two first-round picks. Utah’s Cup price sits around +3000, and the risks are real. MacKenzie Weegar’s underlying numbers last season were dreadful, and Karel Vejmelka played 64 games with an .897 save percentage.

Still, the Mammoth have depth down the middle and a core entering its prime, which makes them the most balanced of the three.

Montreal Canadiens

On Nov. 28, 2021, with his team sitting 6-15-2, GM Marc Bergevin was fired from the Montreal Canadiens. Jeff Gorton took over hockey operations, Kent Hughes became GM, and Martin St. Louis replaced Dominique Ducharme behind the bench.

The draft did the heavy lifting. Montreal took Juraj Slafkovsky first overall and Lane Hutson 62nd in 2022, David Reinbacher fifth in 2023, and Ivan Demidov fifth in 2024. The losing lasted two more seasons, with 68 points and then 76.

Then the league’s youngest playoff team stretched the Washington Capitals to five games in 2024-25.

Hutson won the Calder Trophy with 66 points, and Hughes landed Noah Dobson from the New York Islanders for Emil Heineman and two first-rounders. Last season, Montreal went 48-24-10. Nick Suzuki’s 101 points were the first 100-point season by a Canadien since Mats Naslund in 1985-86, and Cole Caufield’s 51 goals were the first 50-goal season by a Hab since Stéphane Richer.
 
Last season saw a massive leap forward as Montreal beat Tampa Bay in seven, winning Game 7 on just nine shots. Alex Newhook’s overtime winner in Game 7 against the Buffalo Sabres followed. Carolina ended the run in five games in the Eastern Conference Final, but not until the Habs faithful had dared to dream once again.

Now, Chris Kreider has signed for one year, and St. Louis is extended through 2029-30. NHL.com’s Dan Rosen has picked Montreal to become the first Canadian Cup winner since 1993, and the books have them near +2250.

Can they actually do it, or is one conference final the best it will get? Are the Sharks and Mammoth right behind them?