NHL team-by-team offseason grades
It is report card time for the NHL’s 32 teams and how they have handled their offseason to this point. While there is still time for teams to improve their roster (or perhaps get worse, if the case may be), most of the most significant moves have already been made. We at least have some sense of how each team has done this offseason. Grades reflect only moves that have been made this offseason and what they mean for each team, and not necessarily the overall strength of each team. Let’s check it out.
Trevor Zegras, Jame Drysdale, Troy Terry, and Mason McTavish. Now they need to build around them. They made some strong moves in that regard this summer by signing forwards Frank Vatrano and Ryan Strome to long-term deals and also getting John Klingberg, the top free agent defenseman on the market, to sign a one-year, $7 million deal. Enough to get them in the playoffs? That might be a stretch. But they should be a lot more competitive in a wide-open Pacific Division.
Jakob Chychrun, which is a good thing because he has so much value given his age and contract that they would need to be overwhelmed in an offer to even consider it. The problem is the rest of this roster is so weak, and nothing has been done to improve it that it is difficult to see this team being any better than it has been.
Pavel Zacha is a nice gamble, but he is far from a sure thing. We also need to see how going from Bruce Cassidy to Jim Montgomery behind the bench will work out while they still have yet to re-sign David Pastrnak to an extension. Lots of uncertainty with those things. The good news, though, is that they did bring back Patrice Bergeron and David Krejci on bargain contracts. That should at least help maintain the status quo, even if improvements are difficult to see at the moment.
Jeff Skinner and Kyle Okposo maintain what they did in their bounce-back years? Will Rasmus Dahlin and Owen Power be able to carry the defense? Not enough improvements here.
Johnny Gaudreau and Matthew Tkachuk in the same offseason after that duo drove the bus for this entire team a year ago is a major, major blow. On the other hand, they did manage to get a strong return for Tkachuk with Jonathan Huberdeau (pictured) and MacKenzie Weegar coming from Florida. Getting Huberdeau signed to a massive long-term deal was also a strong move. The return for Tkachuk looks good, but they are still down a superstar forward.
Max Pacioretty from Vegas and Brent Burns from San Jose. This is an all-in season for the Hurricanes and these are two significant additions to the roster. There is just one problem: The Hurricanes announced this week that Pacioretty underwent surgery to repair a torn Achilles tendon and he is expected to miss six months. That should bring him back around February or March. That should be back before the start of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
Kirby Dach, Dylan Strome, and Dominik Kubalik. It is only a matter of time until Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews are also gone in one of the most blatant tank jobs we have seen in years. What really hurts this offseason is how little they got for DeBrincat (one first-round pick and two later picks) and how they just gave away Strome for nothing. This team is going to be lousy.
Valeri Nichushkin and Arturri Lehkonen both signed long-term. They are outstanding play drivers and were key parts of the Avalanche’s Stanley Cup run. They probably overpaid Josh Manson a little bit as he is a bit of a luxury on an already stacked defense, and they are taking a small bet that defense can help turn Alexandar Georgiev into a competent starting goalie to replace Darcy Kuemper.
Patrik Laine re-signed to a long-term contract extension is a big win. They now have two stars locked in place. The long-term deal for Erik Gudbranson and having to give away Oliver Bjorkstrand for very little, on the other hand, are tough moves that keep this offseason from being an A effort.
Mason Marchment is the significant addition here, and it is a little bit of a gamble as to whether or not he is simply a late-bloomer that needed a chance, or if his 2021-22 performance in Florida was a fluke. Losing John Klingberg hurts, and they still need to re-sign restricted free agents Jason Robertson (currently their best player) and starting goalie Jake Oettinger. Those deals will swing the grade a little bit, depending on what they look like.
Lucas Raymond and Moritz Seider) and needed to add some complementary pieces around them with their abundance of salary cap space. General manager Steve Yzerman did a strong job this offseason in accomplishing that. Ville Husso (pictured) should upgrade the goaltending position, while Andrew Copp and David Perron are outstanding additions at forward. This is a team that is not only ready to make a big jump but needs to make a big jump to let their fans know actual progress is being made.
Jesse Puljujarvi or Kailer Yamamoto (at least not yet) in an ill-advised trade. Evander Kane’s re-signing is somewhat of a risk (will he repeat the way he played last year?), while Jack Campbell might make-or-break everything about this team and what it is capable of doing. Campbell is the only outside addition of significance here, and his inconsistencies do not fill me with much confidence that he is going to be the answer behind this defense.
Matthew Tkachuk (pictured) and signing him to a long-term deal. Him and Aleksander Barkov should be an absolute force together. That is an absolutely massive addition. But this team has also lost a LOT this offseason. It cost them Huberdeau and Weegar to get Tkachuk. They lost Claude Giroux and Mason Marchment in free agency. Anthony Duclair is not going to be ready to start the season and will miss most of it. Is Tkachuk good enough to overcome all of that?
Anze Kopitar and Drew Doughty, and have complemented that group with big additions like Viktor Arvidsson, Phillip Danault, and most recently, Kevin Fiala. They took a huge step forward a year ago to make the Stanley Cup Playoffs, and the addition of Fiala, combined with some improvements from young players within could result in an even bigger step forward this season.
Zach Parise and Ryan Suter the Wild are basically operating with a $69.5 million salary cap this season instead of the $82.5 million every other team in the league has. That has already cost them Fiala and Cam Talbot, while they have made no other offseason additions other than bringing back a 38-year-old Marc-Andre Fleury to be their primary goalie. This is still a good team, and they do have some good young players they might be able to lean on, but is it better than the team they had a year ago? Maybe not on paper.
Mike Matheson and paid a steep price by giving up Jeff Petry, but getting Evgeni Dadonov and Kirby Dach for what amounts to Alexander Romanov and the contract of Shea Weber (whose career is over) is a nice win. That does not even include the fact they picked No. 1 overall and got Juraj Slafkovsky in that spot.
Filip Forsberg is the biggest win, but they also made some significant additions from outside. Ryan McDonagh may not be the player he was at his peak, but he can still help the Predators’ defense and getting Nino Neiderrieter at $4 million per year over two years is a potential steal.
Ondrej Palat has been a core part of a championship team in Tampa Bay and should still have some substantial mileage left to give the Devils another much-needed top-six winger. John Marino should be an upgrade over Ty Smith on defense, while they also got Jesper Bratt signed to a very team-friendly one-year deal. Jonas Siegenthaler’s long-term contract is also a sneaky under-the-radar win. The big wild card will be if Vitek Vanecek and Mackenzie Blackwood can solidify the goaltending spot.
Lou Lamoriello never wants to tell anybody about who he has signed or acquired. Maybe they get Nazem Kadri, but if the rumored price (seven years and more than $7 million per season) is accurate that could end up being an ugly deal. Trading the No. 13 overall pick for Alexander Romanov is a pretty lackluster move, while the team still has a significant lack of impact players.
Vincent Trocheck is a nice add at second-line center, but they also lost Ryan Strome (a better offensive player), Frank Vatrano, and Andrew Copp. They are counting on Igor Shesterkin to carry them again and for their young players to take a significant step forward. The latter part is the most crucial variable with this team.
Claude Giroux can still play at a high level. Combined with Brady Tkachuk, Drake Batherson, and Josh Norris (who also signed a massive contract extension this offseason) the Senators should have an outstanding top-six forward group. Swapping out Matt Murray for Cam Talbot in goal is also a nice little upgrade. The bottom-six and defense still has some questions, but the forwards at the top of the lineup are looking strong.
Rasmus Ristolainen and just keep making odd investments. They might unintentionally end up as a draft lottery team.
Evgeni Malkin, Kris Letang, Rickard Rakell, and Bryan Rust for pretty manageable and team-friendly salary cap numbers, while also adding Jeff Petry to their blue line. But the bottom-six looks weak, the goaltending is the same as it has been the past two years when it was a major Achilles Heel, and the Kasperi Kapanen contract continues to be a little baffling. Some good moves here. Some questionable moves here.
Brent Burns’ contract and made a couple of minor moves (Oskar Lindblom) but this is largely the same roster, minus Burns, that was near the bottom of the NHL a year ago. They will be near the bottom of the NHL again this season.
Andre Burakovsky and Oliver Bjorkstrand (pictured) while only having to give up two non-first-round draft picks. They also added Justin Schultz on defense. Very strong offseason for the Kraken.
Robert Thomas is a great move. He is one of the best playmakers in the league and on his way to being a cornerstone player for the Blues. They also managed to get Nick Leddy signed to a long-term contract extension. But those two players were already on the roster and do not really upgrade anything. The subtractions ( Ville Husso, David Perron) and lack of additions are troubling, especially when they kept the inferior goalie (Jordan Binnington) on the roster.
Ryan McDonagh, but that sort of thing is nothing new for them. The complementary pieces always go. They keep the players they truly want. That is what this offseason was about with the long-term contract extensions (eight years each) for Mikhail Sergachev, Erik Cernak, and Anthony Cirelli. They might still have to make another trade (Alex Killorn?) but they always keep their most essential players in place. They also always win.
Calle Jarnkrok and Nicolas Aube-Kubel, but we have to talk about the goaltending situation here. There is no team in the league under more pressure to win, and win right now. After six consecutive First Round exits this team has to do something meaningful this season. They are going to attempt this with a goalie duo of Matt Murray and Ilya Samsonov, two of the worst-producing goalies in the league the past two years. That is not the position to play games with and hope for reclamation projects to work out. It would be a great story if Matt Murray can rebound and help end Toronto’s championship drought, but there is no guarantee that happens.
Bruce Boudreau to stay behind the bench is a huge win. The team looked 110 percent better with him as head coach, and now they get him for a full season. They also kept J.T. Miller (for now) and managed to get Brock Boeser re-signed to a nice team/cap-friendly contract. Would not rule out a playoff appearance for this team.
Bruce Cassidy should be an upgrade behind the bench from Pete DeBoer, and better health will go a long way toward fixing many of their problems. But they also gave away Evgenii Dadonov and Max Pacioretty for nothing because of salary cap issues that are their own making. That is going to hurt. A lot. They are also still well over the league’s salary cap and only have one NHL goalie on the roster under contract.
Dylan Strome is a solid short-term stopgap, especially since they still have a legitimate No. 1 center in Evgeny Kuznetsov on the roster. The big addition here is Darcy Kuemper and Charles Lindgren to replace Ilya Samsonov and Vitek Vanecek. Do not let Kuemper’s struggles in the playoffs overshadow his overall body of work the past few years. He has been one of the most productive goalies in the league over the past four-to-five years and should be a massive upgrade for the team’s biggest weakness the past three years.
Pierre-Luc Dubois to sign his one-year qualifying offer, while they did not trade him (yet). That is it. So far. This team was a pretty massive disappointment a year ago and it is difficult to argue the roster is better now. It might not really be any worse, but it is almost certainly not better. The best hope here is that starting goalie Connor Hellebuyck has a monster season for the Jets during the 2022-23 season.
