Anaheim: ↓ Traded in Boudreau for Randy Carlyle, which is possibly the worst move of the summer by any team. They also lost Pirri, Stewart , McGinn, Perron and Santorelli. Not the best players, but certainly they provided a nice bit of forward depth. Their replacements - such as Boll - are terrible.
Easily one of the worst off season performances by one of the league's worst GMs.
Arizona: ↑ While they still have a lot of bad players on their roster (Vermette, Michalek, Dahlbeck, Murphy, etc.) and failed to replace them with better depth players, the singing of of McGinn was intelligent and the trades that landed them Jakob Chychrun and Anthony Deangelo were brilliant, as was signing Alex Goligoski.
Also, they improved ten-fold just by firing Don Maloney. They still desperately need a top pairing partner for OEL and some depth, but it's a good start considering where they were.
Boston:↓ Two Words: Don Sweeney. He's terrible. Also, they lost the underrated Louis Eriksson and didn't replace him with anyone comparable. Boston might still get by on another season of Bergeron/Chara, but they don't seem to understand that Krug isn't very good and the future does not look bright.
Buffalo:↓ Love their prospects/young players but the Kulikov move was terrible and they'll miss Pysyk. I'd go so far as to call their defense one of the worst in the league.
Calgary:↑ Getting Brian Elliot was good. They have a beautiful looking D group and some great young forwards. I don't know anything about Glen Gulutzan other than he's not Bob Hartley, which is a huge plus.
Carolina:↑ Re-signed Victor Rask. Continue to build an insane group of young defensemen. Added Teravainen. + some good depth forwards. A good offseason, but still need a goalie to contend for a Playoff spot.
Chicago:↓ Losting Teravainen was a terrible move. Should have sold high on Panarin and been more creative. NHL continues to under-rate defense and Teravainen will be a player Chicago regrets losing. Adding Campbell isn't going to make up for that Seabrook contract either.
Colorado:↓ They already suck and didn't get any better. MacKinnon contract was smart though.
Columbus:↓ Saddled with some of the worst contracts in the NHL they did nothing to improve themselves. Good trade for Seth Jones last season, but their team lacks depth and they failed to address that. Also, Jack Johnson continues to be on their team.
Dallas:↓ They lost Jason Demers and Goligoski. They still have bad goaltending.
Getting Hamhuis doesn't make up for it.
Detroit:↓ What happens when the draft magic dries up? Ken Holland is exposed as a bad GM. Losing Datsyuk (who retires as one of the best in the game, currently) was bad. Signing Glendenning was insane. Picking up Nielson and Vanek won't do anything.
Outside of Brandon Smith, their defense is a train-wreck. Look for them to miss the Playoffs and draft high next year.
Edmonton:↓ They will make the Playoffs and maybe even compete for the West title, but trading Hall was a firable offense and Peter Chiarelli is a joke.
Florida:↑↑↑ From the Gudbranson trade, to the Kulikov trade, to signing Demers and Marchessault and Reimer they had the best off-season in the league and I don't think anyone's within a light-year of what they did this summer so far.
L.A: ↓ Lost Lucic, didn't really replace him with anyone significant. They still have Kopitar, Muzzin and Doughty, so they'll be OK.
Minnesota: ↑ Staal and Stewart were smart pickups. They have a sneakily deep group of forwards including the massively underappreciated Jason Zucker and Neidereitter. I also like their defense and think they'll be a good bet to move up the standings next year.
Montreal:↓↓↓ The P.K Subban trade is inexplicable. Trade your most popular player for a worse, older player on the worst contract in hockey. Then trash your ex-best player on his way out the door in an effort to make yourself look better. Top it off with a controversial firing of the only guy with the guts to oppose the GM and his incompetence.
Nashville:↑ They now have the best D in hockey by six miles. Still a goalie away from being the favorite to win next year's cup.
New Jersey:↑ Adding Hall was brilliant.
New York Rangers:↑ I don't like their roster any more than I used to, but full credit for fleecing Ottawa this week in the Brassard / MZ trade.
New York Islanders: ↓ Nicely replaced Okposo with Ladd, but didn't really improve much. I'm neutral here, but I give the down arrow for not doing enough to augment Tavares' prime and a pretty nice blue-line.
Ottawa: ↓↓↓↓↓ Call 1-800- DOCTORB.....The Extra B is Bargain.
Pittsburgh: → They won the Cup and already have a great team. If it ain't broke...
Philadelphia: ↓ What did they even do? They weren't great last year and aren't better today.
San Jose: ↓ Boedker? Good luck dudes.
St. Louis: ↓ Any team who is on the verge of being a Cup Contender and just wants to get rid of Shattenkirk for the hell of it gets a thumbs down from me. Pietrangelo is the guy you trade, but what do I know? (Don't answer that).
Tampa: ↑ When your team is f'n stacked, you don't need to do anything but work to keep the band together. So far so good.
Toronto: ↑ They drafted Auston Matthews and can bring in Nylander and Marner - a trifecta of elite level talent the likes of which no team in hockey can top. Let's say I was secretly a Leafs fan, then this would be the best thing to happen to the franchise in my entire life. I can't wait. I mean, go Coyotes !!!
Vancouver: ↓ Sorry, signing Erikkson won't make up for that godawful Gudbranson trade or the fact that their GM said this:
To be quite honest, I don’t get it sometimes. There’s a place for analytics. We use analytics. But you use analytics like vitamins — to help you out, not as your staple.
Decisions have to be made by hockey people who know what winning teams look like and how to build them.
No Jim, this is why for most jobs, you need to get a university degree. Such a laughably unintelligent thing to say, it blows the mind that he runs an NHL team. What he actually means is that he uses analytics to find the answers he wants to get. I feel bad for Canucks fans, having just survived both the Maloney and Burke/Nonis eras.
Washington:↓ Lars Eller was a good pickup, but they have to be more aggressive to put their team over the top while Ovechkin is still amazing.
Winnipeg: ↑ Signing Scheifele was great, and drafting Laine was better. That being said, its time to get aggressive and turn this potential into something.
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