Ranking Every NHL Teams Offseason
Finally. The start of the NHL season. Sure the offseason can seem long, but there were plenty of big strories from around the league to keep things interesting. Sure most of those things happened within 23 minutes of each other on June 29, but exciting none the less. So with all of the moves made over the offseason were grading how each team did.
30. COLUMBUS BLUE JACKETS
After finishing 27th last season, the Blue Jackets made little changes in the off season.
A large part of that is due to the teams difficult cap situation. They brought in Sam Gagner who’s a sneaky good signing, and give them more depth at center, but aside from that the Blue Jackets were relatively inactive. Will they regret taking Dubois over Puljujarvi at the draft?
29.VANCOUVER CANUCKS
Another team that struggled last season, the Canucks were also quiet during the off season. They signed sought after free agent, Loui Eriksson, but it came at a hefty price.
The hope is that he can find chemistry alongside the Sedin’s. The Canucks haven’t committed to going full rebuild but they definitely seem to be trending downward.
28. DETROIT RED WINGS
This is likely the year we see Detroit’s payoff streak finally come to an end. They barely made the post season last year, and look like a team that’s going to regress. The biggest blow to the team was losing Pavel Datsyuk to the KHL, but the hope is that they can replace him with guys like Frans Nielsen and Thomas Vanek. They also lost good young prospects Martin Frk and Teemu Pulkinnen to waivers. At the draft the Wings were also forced to trade down in order to move Datsyuk’s cap-hit. That could sting if Jakob Chychrun becomes a stud defenseman.
27. ANAHEIM DUCKS
Despite the fact that the Ducks have been one of the best teams in the league over the last few seasons, they had a less than stellar offseason. They started by firing Bruce Boudreau, one of the best coaches in the league, and replacing him with the far inferior, Randy Carlyle. Then they traded away Fredrik Andersen so that they wouldn’t lose him for nothing in the expansion draft. However if John Gibson struggles or gets injured then they might regret moving Andersen so early on. They also have yet to resign key players Hampus Lindholm and Rickard Rakell.
26. NEW YORK ISLANDERS
After making it to the second round of last years playoffs, the Islanders are likely to take a step back this season. They lost offensive weapons Kyle Okposo and Frans Nielsen and replaced them with Jason Chimera and Andrew Ladd. Both those players are older and less productive than the players they lost.
25. LOS ANGELES KINGS
The Kings find themselves near the bottom of this mainly because of the loss of Milan Lucic. His physical style of play will surely be missed. They did add Teddy Purcell to replace some of Lucic’s offence, but he is no doubt an inferior player. Overall the Kings got worse, not better.
24. DALLAS STARS
The Stars made some minor moves in the off season. They added Dan Hamhuis but lost Jason Demers, Alex Goligoski and Kris Russell. Luckily the Stars have plenty of young defenseman who should be able to fill the void left by those veteran players. However the reason Dallas is so low on this list is that they failed to address their goaltending problem. Entering this season with the tandem of Kari Lehtonen and Antti Niemi could once again prove to be the Stars achilles heel.
23. BOSTON BRUINS
The Bruins made a splash during free agency by signing veteran David Backes, but they lost Loui Ericsson to Vancouver. Backes will will provide the Bruins with some offense, physical play and leadership in the locker room, but his 5 year contract will hurt them in a few seasons. They also failed to improve their back end, and the continued regression of Zdeno Chara could spell doom for the B’s.
22. OTTAWA SENATORS
The Senators wern’t a playoff team last year, and with minimal changes it doesn’t look like that’s going to change. They big move that the Senators made was swapping Mika Zibanejad for Derek Brassard which makes them slightly better in the short term, but not by much. On the plus side they were able to lock down Cody Ceci and Mike Hoffman to team friendly contracts
21. CHICAGO BLACKHAWKS
The Blackhawks once again had to part with key players in the offseason, and traded away the likes of Teuvo Teravainen and Andrew Shaw. They're the type of sacrifices the Blackhawks had to make, but it will no hurt them during the upcoming season. On the plus side they brought back Brian Campbell to solidify their top-4.
20.WINNIPEG JETS
The most notable acquisition for the Jets was drafting sniper Patrick Laine. The young Finn should give the Jets another scoring threat up front, and should be able to grow with their core group of players. However, the Jets are near the bottom of this list for their handling of Jacob Trouba. They couldn’t get the RFA to sign and he has since requested a trade. Losing the young rearguard could be a tough loss for the Jets.
19. CAROLINA HURRICANES
Carolina was another team that had a quiet offseason with their only notable addition being Teuvo Teravainen from the Blackhawks. However with the continued development of Carolina’s young stars, and Sebastian Aho joining the team, they are no doubt going to be much better in 2016-2017.
18. BUFFALO SABRES
Overall they're isn’t much to dislike about the Sabres offseason. They weren’t able to lure Steven Stamkos north, but they managed to sign Kyle Okposo. They also swapped Mark Pysyk for Dimitry Kulikov which gives them a physical force on the back end. Are they a playoff team? Not yet, but they're well on their way.
17. COLORADO AVALANCHE
The biggest change for the Avalanche this offseason wasn’t on the ice it was on the bench. The Avs struggled possesion wise under Patrick Roy, and a new coach might be able to get more out of their young stars. I also liked the addition of Joe Colbourne who was one of the best 5v5 scorers last season.
16. ST.LOUIS BLUES
The Blues had a tough offseason and lost both David Backes and Troy Brouwer to free agency. They brought in David Perron to give them an offensive boost, but they’ll mostly rely on the growth of their young players. Trading for Nail Yakupov was a nice low-risk move with a lot of upside for the Blues. If he gets time with quality line mates he should be able to crack the 25 goal mark.
15. EDMONTON OILERS
After missing the playoffs for the 10th consecutive year, something had to change in Edmonton. Well, Taylor Hall and Nail Yakupov are out, and in comes Adam Larsson Milan Lucic, Jesse Puljujarvi and Kris Russell. Sure they may have lost both the Hall and Yakupov trades, but at end of the day this is a better team than what we saw last season. And isn’t that the goal?
14. MINNESOTA WILD
The Wild were active as usual during free agency and signed veterans Eric Staal and Chris Stewart. This should give them some much needed depth up front. However their biggest move was bringing in one of the best coaches in the league in Bruce Boudreau. Under his reign the Wild should be a much quicker and tough team to play against.
13. MONTREAL CANADIENS
If the P.K Subban trade was the only move the Canadiens made, then they would no doubt be at the bottom of this list. However, Weber should fit nicely into Montreal’s system and they also added Andrew Shaw, Alex Radulov as well Mikael Sergachev. Overall this team looks a lot better.
12. PHILADELPHIA FLYERS
The Flyers were quiet this summer, but for good reason. They barely made the playoffs last season, but both Claude Giroux and Jakub Voracek had down years, and they should return to their normal form. Philly also has plenty of talented young players who’s continued development has people excited. Look for rookies, Travis Konecny and Ivan Provorov to make a splash.
11. PITTSBURGH PENGUINS
They didn’t do much of anything, but if it ain’t broke no reason to go fixing it.
10. NEW JERSEY DEVILS
The Devils made a splash when they acquired Taylor Hall, but the loss of Adam Larsson leaves a big hole on defense. Hall should help improve their abysmal offence from last year, but if the defense can’t keep the puck out of their net than that improvement is worthless. The hope is that a young guy like Damon Severson can step up and fill that void, and Corey Schneider continues to dominate in net, otherwise the Devils will be in real trouble.
9. WASHINGTON CAPITALS
The brought in a good young centre in Lars Eller, but that was about it. However when you win the President’s Trophy usually you don’t have to change much.
8. SAN JOSE SHARKS
They made it all they way to the Stanley Cup Final last year but lost to Crosby and the Penguins. Could the addition of Mikkel Boedker put them over the top? He should be at least a 50-point player.
7. ARIZONA COYOTES
The Coyotes offseason was all about being better in the future, and they did an exceptional job. With a little bit of creativity they were able to add high end prospects, Jakob Chychrun, Anthony DeAngelo, and Lawson Crouse. Until those players are ready they brought in Radim Vrbata, Alex Goligoski and Jamie McGinn to keep their places warm.
6. TORONTO MAPLE LEAFS
They drafted Auston Matthews which gives them a franchise center to build around, but don’t overlook the addition of Fredrik Andersen. He gives the Leafs the number one goalie they’ve been searching for, and should be a big part of the team moving forward. These additions along with the growth of their young core, have the Leafs trending upwards.
5. NEW YORK RANGERS
The Rangers quietly had a very good summer. They brought in sought after NCAA propect, Jimmy Vesey as well as Josh Jooris Brandon Pirri and Mika Zibanejad. Over the course of a single summer the Rangers have changed the makeup of their team by adding these young players with tons of potential, to ease the transition away from older players like Rick Nash and Dan Girardi.
4. CALGARY FLAMES
The Flames had one major issue going into the offseason, which was in net. They had the leagues worst save percentage last season and so they chose to part with Reto Berra, Joni Ortio and Jonas Hiller. In comes Brian Elliott who had the leagues best save percentage last season, and a more than capable backup in Chad Johnson. They also locked down Johnny Gaudreau and Sean Monahan to long-term deals with team friendly cap-hits.
3. FLORIDA PANTHERS
After last years success the Panthers could be forgiven if they didn’t make any major moves in the offseason. However that wasn’t they case and the Panthers were one of the leagues most active teams. They brought in James Reimer to ease Roberto Luongo’s workload. They shored up their backend by adding Jason Demers, Mark Pysyk and Keith Yandle. And on top of that they locked down all of their key RFA’s
2. NASHVILLE PREDATORS
The acquired P.K Subban in the biggest trade of the summer, which is about as good as it can get.
1. TAMPA BAY LIGHTNING
Resign Steven Stamkos to a team friendly deal. Check. Resign Victor Hedman to a team friendly deal. Check. Resign Andrei Vasilevskiy to a team friendly deal. Check. Resign Alex Killorn to team friendly deal. Check. Resign Nikita Kucherov to a team friendly deal. Check. Steve Yzerman is a wizard.
