The team got off to a rocky start, however, failing to qualify for the playoffs until the 2008-0 season when they were swept 4-0 by the Detroit Red Wings. It wouldn’t be until the 2013-14 season when the Blue Jackets would get another opportunity in the playoffs, though the result wasn’t much better as they were eliminated in the first round once again, this time by the Pittsburgh Penguins in six games.
The Blue Jackets followed that up with another two consecutive missed playoff bids. In the 2016-17 season, the Blue Jackets shocked the hockey world, going from last place in hop over to this web site the Eastern Conference and in 27th place in the NHL to a 108-point campaign and a playoff opportunity. Unfortunately, another first-round loss to the Penguins once again, this time in five games, ended the Blue Jacket season once again.
For the Blue Jackets, that season was just a glimpse of what was to come, however. The team earned 97 and 98 points in the 2017-18 and 2018-19 seasons respectively, qualifying for the playoffs for three consecutive seasons. They’d even made it to the second round of the postseason for the first time in franchise history last season.
With a very exciting roster and a ton of young talent just waiting to make the jump to the NHL, the future looks bright in Columbus. Though the last few seasons may not have ended the way fans would have liked, the team has proven they’re committed to making things work.
Florida Panthers
It’s been a rough tenure for the Florida Panthers franchise. In the team’s 27 seasons, they’ve failed to qualify for the postseason 20 times. In four of the five seasons that the team qualified for the postseason, they were eliminated in the first round. To be fair to the Panthers, their first trip to the postseason was about as successful as it gets for a team that was in just its third season at the time.
Fresh off of the franchise’s first 40-plus win season, the Panthers eliminated the Boston Bruins in five games in the first round of the playoffs to win their first playoff series, in their first playoff appearance no less. They weren’t done there, however, as they went on to eliminate the Philadelphia Flyers in six games to qualify for the Eastern Conference Final.
A seven-game series win against the Pittsburgh Penguins catapulted the Panthers into the Stanley Cup Final for the first and only time to date in the history of the franchise. Unfortunately, the fun ended there. A sweep at the hands of the Colorado Avalanche ended the Panthers season and they have yet to get past the first round of the playoffs in the years since.
Ottawa Senators (1992)
The Ottawa Senators have yet to win the big one in their 25 years as a franchise. This hasn’t always been the case, however, as the original Ottawa Senators founded in 1883 won 11 Stanley Cups and played in the NHL for 17 years from 1917 until 1934. The current iteration of the Senators – though still young, have had their fair share of successful seasons as well.
In the late-1990s to mid-2000s, the Senators were one of the better teams in the NHL in the regular season. Unfortunately, that didn’t necessarily translate to postseason success.
In the history of the franchise, the team has failed to qualify for the postseason only eight times – including in each of its first four seasons. With 16 playoff berths – including a run of 11 straight appearances from 1996-97 until 2007-08, the Senators had consistently made the playoffs. In fact, the team had never gone consecutive seasons without a playoff appearance until the 2018-19 season – one of hockey’s most impressive streaks.