On the Fly: 3 teams poised to make the playoffs next season after missing out in 2017

With few playoff spots remaining as the regular season winds down, this week's "On the Fly" roundtable focuses on teams outside the postseason picture that have a solid chance of recovering and making the dance next year.

Florida Panthers

Josh Gold-Smith: The Panthers had so many things go right for them last season and over the summer that it appeared they'd have no problem taking a step forward in 2016-17. That obviously didn't happen, as injuries to their top two scorers, their best defenseman, and their veteran starter in goal helped derail a club that enjoyed its best season in franchise history one year ago.

Still, there will be reasons for optimism in Sunrise as they look to start fresh next fall. Jonathan Huberdeau, Aleksander Barkov, Aaron Ekblad, and Roberto Luongo likely won't all suffer significant injuries again, and if the aging Luongo does get hurt once more, James Reimer has proven to be a more than capable starter when he's not getting banged up himself.

Florida has its core locked up long term, and it remains a promising group that was in the playoff mix earlier this season before all of the injuries and a controversial coaching change.

Panthers management shouldn't overreact to this disappointing campaign. This club is talented enough to get right back in the postseason next spring.

Winnipeg Jets

Navin Vaswani: I say it every year around this time: Imagine Winnipeg had a goalie.

Poor play at the position has torpedoed yet another Jets season, and this one feels more painful because Mark Scheifele exploded, Patrik Laine scored all those goals, and Blake Wheeler was, well, Blake Wheeler.

The Jets are a damn talented squad, with five players hitting the 50-point mark on the season. If Bryan Little and Mathieu Perreault are healthy, they make it seven. Only problem is, none of those guys play goal.

Only the Avalanche have allowed more goals than the Jets this season, and at this point, Colorado's barely an NHL team. Allowing 3.15 goals a game, the Jets rank 28th in the league. Also 28th, their 76.7 percent penalty-killing rate. Simply not good enough.

Connor Hellebuyck has a .905 save percentage in 54 games. Awful. Michael Hutchinson's at .902 in 27 games. Horrific. Let's not even bother with Ondrej Pavelec.

Here's what the Jets have been dealing with in the crease since returning to Winnipeg.

*2016-17 stats don't include Thursday's action

This isn't hard to figure out: The one year the Jets had some NHL-caliber goaltending, they made the playoffs.

Ben Bishop and Ryan Miller are free agents this summer. Hell, even Jonathan Bernier looks like a great option at this point. The Jets will land one of the three in free agency to stop the insanity, and playoff hockey will return to Winnipeg in 2018.

Philadelphia Flyers

Sean O'Leary: It feels like an eternity ago that the Flyers were being mentioned in the same breath as their Metropolitan Division competitors, but that was the case after Philadelphia won 10 consecutive games in December.

Much has changed since - the Flyers have dropped off dramatically, holding onto slim postseason hopes as they sit four points back of a wild-card position.

While the second half of the season has been a huge disappointment in the City of Brotherly Love, the Flyers still own the tools to contend in the future. Captain Claude Giroux admitted offseason hip surgery has hurt his game, and Philly still boasts two of the most underrated producers in the NHL in Jakub Voracek and Wayne Simmonds.

During Ron Hextall's tenure as general manager, the Flyers have drafted well - namely Travis Konecny and Ivan Provorov, who have already emerged as key pieces on the roster. Bolstering the blue line and making an improvement in goal are necessities for Hextall in the offseason, but the Flyers could be closer to a return to the postseason than you may think.

(Photos courtesy: Action Images)