The NHL is officially in the second half of their season, and what an entertaining start it’s been. The season’s gone in a million different directions, with some wild surprises and even wilder disappointments. Let’s take a look at the players having the most disappointing seasons in 2024-2025.
The drama in Vancouver continues growing and Elias Pettersson’s performance continues to fuel the rumors and speculation. The 26-year-old center is playing in the first year of his mega-extension that pays him an average salary of $11.6 million. The feud between him and forward JT Miller is forcing the organization to consider whether they can continue with both players, and if Pettersson continues to struggle he could be on his way out.
Through 34 games, he has just 10 goals and 18 assists, a step back from the two straight seasons he’s averaged a point per game. He’s struggled to ascend to the team’s number one center role, and it looks like he will continue to be one of the league’s biggest disappointments in the second half, barring a huge turnaround effort.
After the tenuous contract negotiations, it seems neither the Bruins nor Jeremy Swayman have emerged on the other side. Swayman has been a very poor version of himself this season and the Bruins are a bubble playoff team at the halfway point.
He’s started 29 games, compiling a 13-13-3 record. It’s not awful by league-wide standards, but for one of the most talented net minders in the NHL, it’s a noticeable regression. He’s also struggling to make a lot of the saves he excelled at the past few seasons, resulting in him posting a 2.91 goals against average and .891 save percentage. Both would be career-worst numbers for Swayman, who has no real answers as the second half of the season hits.
The New York Rangers easily take the cake for the most disappointing team this season, and that has trickled all the way throughout the organization. Top center Mika Zibanejad is no exception, as he’s having one of the worst offensive seasons of his tenure in New York.
Through the first 39 games of the season, he has just eight goals and 16 assists for 24 points. He’s on pace for a 50-60 point season, which would be somewhere between a 10-20 point dropoff from last season and a far cry from the 75+ point seasons he regularly put up with the Rangers over the last six seasons.
If not the Rangers, the Nashville Predators are the biggest disappointment in the NHL this year and their huge free agent class is the symbol of their failure. Winger Jonathan Marchessault is hitting his stride finally, but defender Brady Skjei has been out of sorts and forward Steven Stamkos, the crown jewel of their offseason makeover, has still not settled in with his new team.
The long time captain of the Tampa Bay Lightning has been largely ineffective in hs first season in Nashville. The 13-time 25+ goal scorer and seven-time 40+ goal scorer is struggling to put the puck in the net. Over 40 games, he has 12 goals and 13 assists for 25 points. He should still hit the 25 goal mark, but it’s a considerable reduction in output for Stamkos and the biggest reason why he’s been so disappointing this season.
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