LOS ANGELES – It’s August. NHL Training Camps start next month. The Pittsburgh Penguins do not have a third line center. Hall of Famers Jaromir Jagr and Jarome Iginla don’t have jobs. Matt Cullen hasn’t made a decision. Except for those outlying questions NHL rosters are pretty much set. So let’s grade each team’s off season. I grade like a nun, harsh.
ATLANTIC DIVISION
BOSTON- F, Boston did nothing to improve their team.
MONTREAL- B, GM Marc Bergevin had a respectable off season. He locked up Carey Price for a steep price but didn’t bite on Alexander Radulov’s ridiculous demands. Montreal acquired Jonathan Drouin to provide offense but gave up promising D man Mikhail Sergachov. Alex Galchenyuk was retained for three years at a team-friendly rate. Free agent Karl Alzner was signed. Alzner is a solid defenseman but losing Andrei Markov and Alexei Emelin left a big Canadien defense core. The useless Mark Streit was given 700k to look terrible playing defense.
OTTAWA- C+, Ottawa tweaked their Eastern Conference Finalist lineup because they had to. Erik Karlsson’s partner Marc Methot got plucked by Vegas. They hope Johnny Oduya can be a cheap replacement. Dion Phaneuf is still there, much to many Ottawa fan’s chagrin. JG Pageau signed a very team friendly deal. Nate Thompson signed in Ottawa to play his grinding, hard working style of hockey. Guy Boucher style hockey.
TAMPA BAY- B+, GM Steve Yzerman continued to be a mastermind.this summer. Chris Kunitz and his four Stanley Cups were brought in for a measly two million dollars. He moved out Jonathan Drouin for a promising young defense prospect Sergachov. He gambled Dan Girardi can still block shots in the playoffs but in grand Yzerman tradition he got Ondrej Palat to take less than market value to stay in Tampa Bay.
FLORIDA- C-, Dale Tallon was put back in charge but he’s making mistakes like his predecessors.. He brought Evgeni Dadonov in from KHL. I’ve never been impressed with Dadonov. He looks like a KHLer. He let Jonathan Marchessault go and Reilly Smith went to Vegas. He signed Radim Vrbata. I would have kept Jagr instead.
BUFFALO- B, Jason Botterill won his first trade. Marco Scandella and Jason Pominville for Tyler Ennis and Marcus Foligno. Scandella is a very good defenseman and Pominville has had success in Buffalo. Head coach Dan Bylsma is gone but number one goalie Robin Lehner is still there.
DETROIT- C-, Detroit signed Trevor Daley to bring speed and skill to their defense. Three years though maybe one year too long. The Wings dangled all of their goaltenders but no other team bit. Detroit might have more competent NHL goaltenders (Jimmy Howard, Petr Mrazek, Jared Coreau) than competent NHL defensemen.The Wings lost promising forward Tomas Nosek to expansion.
TORONTO- B+, The Leafs signed Patrick Marleau. Marleau brings scoring and veteran leadership. Marleau’s contract is big but so are the Leafs dreams. This move tells their young kids its time to win. Versatile Ron Hainsey brings his leadership and brand new Stanley Cup ring to help the defense.
METROPOLITAN DIVISION-
PITTSBURGH- C-, The off season hit the two-time defending Stanley Cup champs hard. Penguin legends and three-time Cup winners Marc Andre Fleury, Chris Kunitz left. Recent heroes Nick Bonino, Trevor Daley and Ron Hainsey also left. On the bright side Brian Streit left too. GM Jim Rutherford did acquire Ryan Reeves to bodyguard Sid and Geno. Rutherford still needs to find a third and a fourth line center.
NY RANGERS- D, The Rangers definitely got fooled into overpaying Kevin Shattenkirk , a Keith Yandle type defenseman. They probably overpaid Mika Zbanejad too.They traded superb back up goalie Antti Raanta and solid center Derek Stepan for a project defenseman Anthony De Angelo.
NY ISLANDERS- D+, The Islanders traded Ryan Strome for Jordan Eberle to hopefully appease John Tavares. Eberle will not make the Islanders a playoff lock, especially after losing blue line stalwart Travis Hamonic. Picks don’t keep Johnny T happy and content.
NEW JERSEY- A, GM Ray Shero looks like a genius again. He got Brian Boyle, a big, clutch center cheaper than anyone thought and stole talented winger Markus Johansen from Washington for picks. He also drafter the number one overall pick Nico Hischier.
PHILADELPHIA- C+, The Flyers signed goaltender Brian Elliot , a goaltender who will not survive as Philly’s goaltender. He couldn’t handle St. Louis or Calgary. They shipped out Brayden Schenn and acquired Jori Lehtera. That is a downgrade at center. Schenn played Flyer hockey. Lehtera doesn’t. Number two overall pick Nolan Patrick does though, earning the Flyers the “plus”
COLUMBUS- C, The Blue Jackets traded Brandon Saad for Artemi Panarin. Panarin is not a Tortorella guy but who is.
CAROLINA- B+, GM Ron Francis is slowly building a winner in Carolina or wherever they end playing. He signed Scott Darling to be his ace in net. He signed Justin Williams to provide scoring and leadership. Trevor van Riemsdyk slots in nicely as a bottom pair defenseman. Jacob Slevin signed a team friendly deal which should make all the other young blue line studs fall in line.
WASHINGTON- D, The Washington Capitals were fed up with President’s trophies so they gutted their team. Evgeni Kuznetsov and TJ Oshie massive eight year deals. Dimitri Orlov was also overpaid. This meant the Capitals had to give Marcus Johansen to New Jersey and lose Karl Alzner to Montreal.
CENTRAL-
CHICAGO- C+, The Blackhawks got swept by Nashville , so heads were gonna roll. Those heads were Artemi Panarin, Niklas Hjalmarsson ,Tyler Motte and Marcus Kruger. Brandon Saad and Patrick Sharp were reacquired to hopefully bring back their championship ways . Connor Murphy was acquired to bring youth to their blue line. The Hawks need Hall of Famer Marian Hossa to recover from his freak illness.
ST LOUIS- B+, St Louis GM Doug Armstrong is a media darling and overrated but he did have a nice summer. He resigned Colton Parayko to a very team friendly long term deal. He shipped out similarly overrated Jori Lehtera and acquired Brayden Schenn to upgrade their center position.
MINNESOTA- C-, The Wild lost a trade with Buffalo and gave a lot of money to their own guys (Mikael Granlund, Nino Niederreiter) who no one would have given that much to. Assistant coach Scott Stevens leaving does not help the Wild moving forward either.
NASHVILLE- A , GM David Poile has turned into the Stevie Y of the Grand Old Opry. He got Ryan Johansen and Austin Watson to take less than market value. He signed Viktor Arvidsson to a contract that is borderline criminal for his talent. He brought in the best third line center in hockey, Nick Bonino. He signed Alexei Emelin to be a bottom pair defenseman. Solidifying the best defense in the NHL. He also signed Scott Hartnell who will be even nastier now that he has something to prove.
DALLAS- C-, GM Jim Nill worked hard this summer if not always smart this summer, but at least he worked hard. Something he never did for Lindy Ruff. Maybe new head coach Ken Hitchcock threatened to eat him if he didn’t get a goaltender. Nill traded for Ben Bishop to solve their goaltending problem. That was a nice move. Nill acquired Marc Methot, nice move. Nill resigned the mammoth kid defenseman Jamie Olesiak for under a million. The rest of his moves have been questionable at best. Nill overpaid for Alexander Radulov, it will not end well. Then overpaid for Martin Hanzal because anything is too much for the completely overrated Martin Hanzal. Let’s hope Radulov and Hanzal drive Captain Kangaroo crazy and he quits again. The NHL is better without this blowhard retread.
COLORADO- D-, Young stud defenseman Will Butcher refused to play for the Avalanche. He is now a free agent. They still have Matt Duchene. Joe Sakic is still the GM. Nothing positive for this awful franchise.
WINNIPEG- C+, Stave Mason was brought in to be number one goalie, then Connor Hellebuyck was paid 2.25 million to be a backup.
PACIFIC DIVISION-
LOS ANGELES- D, They fired GM Dean Lombardi who probably needed to go, They fired head coach Darryl Sutter who probably didn’t need to go. Pierre Turgeon was brought in to coach the offense. He should play because he’ll probably be more effective than Mike Cammalleri, new GM Rob Blake’s big offseason signing.
ANAHEIM- B, Anaheim figured out a way to protect their most important young defensemen Josh Manson and Sami Vatanen in the expansion draft. Ryan Miller is now John Gibson’s backup.
SAN JOSE- B-, The Sharks kept one of the old captains (Joe Thorton) but let the other walk ( Patrick Marleau). They went on with Martin Jones in net.
VANCOUVER – C- , Vancouver made some small moves but until they figure out life after the Sedins it doesn’t matter.
CALGARY- C-. Trading to get Travis Hamonic gives them the second best defense in the West, unfortunately they will need it because goaltender Mike Smith is not the answer,
EDMONTON- B, The Oilers locked in Conor McDavid and shed the disappointing Jordan Eberle.
ARIZONA- A, Arizona must have got upset when people said Vegas will be better than them because they vastly improved their team. Rick Tocchet was hired as head coach. Who better to teach their young power forwards than an uber power forward. They also went and got a great young goaltender Antti Raanta, a top six center Derek Stepan and a top pair defenseman Niklas Hjalmarsson.
VEGAS- B+, I thought Vegas had a nice expansion draft. I would have kept some of the defensemen they already moved but GM is looking long term. Marc Andre Fleury is an excellent choice to be the face of a franchise. Vegas also picked a few scorers like James Neal and Jonathan Marchessault to keep fans from running to the casinos after two periods.
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