Since the turn of the century in the league in the NHL, only two teams have made the postseason in the first round of the playoffs with a goal differential of -20 or worse: the Montreal Canadiens (2024-25 season) and the Washington Capitals (2023-24). A couple of years ago, the Capitals made the playoffs as the worst team in the modern era of the league in the NHL, including a -37 goal differential in the East.
Expansion West Division Los Angeles Kings team from 1969 playoffs named one of the worst postseason teams in the history of the NHL
The Habs also made the postseason this past season in the 2024-25 campaign in the East with a -20 goal differential in the playoffs. Since half of the teams in the league in the NHL make the postseason every year, there were bound to be a few teams that got in the playoffs with less-than-stellar records in the team standings.
Back in the day in the mid-to-late 20th century around the NHL expansion in the time of the Original Six teams, well over 70 percent of the league made the postseason.
The Los Angeles Kings also had one of the worst teams in league history in the NHL in terms of goal differential to make the postseason in the playoffs. In the 1969 postseason, the Kings in the second year of the franchise's existence in the NHL made the playoffs in the West Division in the league with a -75 goal differential (second worst in NHL history).
The Kings were also one of just a handful of teams to make the playoffs with a goal differential of -60 or worse and with fewer than 25 wins in a regular season in the history of the NHL. LA and head coach Red Kelly only scored 185 goals in the 1968-69 regular season, second from the bottom in the league in that campaign in the late 1960s decade.
The Hockey Writers named the 1968-69 Kings' team as one of the worst teams to ever make the Stanley Cup playoffs in the history of the NHL for the postseason.
In the 1969 postseason, the Kings defeated fellow West Division expansion rival foe, the Oakland Seals, in a 4-3 series defeat in the first round of the playoffs. But the Kings were quickly swept by the St. Louis Blues in four games in the second round of the 1969 playoffs.