There is still a lot of summer to go and a lot of signings and trades that could potentially happen. Nevertheless, a lot of dust has settled after the first week of free agency and a rather hectic draft. While teams in the East like Pittsburgh and Buffalo made big headline grabbing moves, the Pacific division made a number of trades that improved the division as a whole. Let us take a look at some of those moves.
Anaheim Ducks
Key acquisitions: Kevin Bieksa, Carl Hagelin, Shawn Horcoff
Key departures: Kyle Palmieri, Francois Beauchemin, Emerson Etem, Matt Beleskey
The Ducks pulled off a potentially lopsided trade in acquiring the speedy winger Carl Hagelin from the New York Rangers during the draft. All the Ducks had to give up was a 2nd round pick and a struggling Emerson Etem. Etem, The former first-round selection in 2010, was starting to put things together for Anaheim it seemed. However they packed him up and shipped him cross country anyways. Hagelin, in essence, is probably what the Ducks were looking for Etem to be. The Swede has flirted with 40 points and 20 goals in his last two seasons and is probably going to see a bit more Top 6 utilization in Anaheim. He has been inconsistent with New York, but his minutes did not exactly represent a potential boom season. He played alongside Kevin Hayes, J.T. Miller, and Jesper Fast most of the season. That is a very young combination no matter how you slice it. With Matt Beleskey out of the fold, it is possible that Boudreau moves Hagelin into the top 6 of the Ducks full time. This is something they weren't going to be able to do with Etem playing behind the emerging Silfverberg and Corey Perry. In essence, the Ducks traded a third line forward in their system for a potential top six player in their lineup. Hagelin has some work to do yet to prove he can be a consistent contributor, but the Ducks definitely got the better side of that deal.
Hagelin WAR: 5.62 Etem WAR: 0.68
The other key acquisitions are nothing more than depth forwards. Horcoff could be an effective add on the fourth line, but Kevin Bieksa should be someone who plays a fairly significant role in the Ducks defensive depth.
Bieksa's HERO chart is definitely not pretty, but there are a few things to consider along with it.
He has been atrocious at opponent chance and shot limitation. That much is clear. He has been a negative possession defenseman two of the last three seasons, and has been used in a fairly balanced manner. Meaning he has been given neither heavy defensive or offensive zone starts. When evaluating Bieksa's last two years they look very different. To be frank, last year he was pretty bad, and the season prior he was a serviceable 4-6 defenseman. Difference? Alex Edler. In 2014-15 Bieksa logged most his minutes in a split with Ryan Stanton and the defensive train wreck that is Luca Sbisa. The numbers were predictably bad. The prior year he was able to split his time with Edler and Stanton to much better results. Do not expect Bieksa to be a massive contributor with Anaheim, but he is a strong depth add to their defensive corps. A corps that included a carousel of players on the bottom pair almost all year.
The losses of Palmieri, Beauchemin, and Beleskey hurt, the Ducks replaced them well with Hagelin and Bieksa.
Edmonton Oilers
Key Additions: Andrej Sekera, Mark Gryba, Griffin Reinhart, Mark Letestu, Connor McDavid, Cam Talbot, Peter Chiarelli, Todd McLellan
Key Departures: Almost their entire front office, Martin Marincin
The Oilers are undergoing a facelift. Every single year it seems like people say "This is the year for Edmonton." While not a whole lot has changed on the surface in terms of player acquisitions, again we are starting to hear the whispers.
It is, no doubt, an exciting time for Edmonton fans. The firing and departure of several prominent scouting members, a new coach, and a new general manager, has reinvigorated the fanbase with hope. So far Chiarelli has got a pass in a few of his additions. While goaltending is still a big question mark at this point in time, Cam Talbot was a solid add. This may look the same as years prior, where the Oilers took chances on several strong back-ups with other teams in order to strike gold. The difference between Talbot, Scrivens, and Fasth is that Talbot actually has a little bit of long term and consistent success to back up his potential. The 28-year old has a .931 save percentage in 57 games split over two seasons. It is not the biggest sample size, especially for goaltenders, but it is promising. Consider the career numbers of Scrivens before his Oilers job for a moment. Never once did he play over 20 games in a single season, and his .905/.915/.931 season save percentages do not reflect a goaltender capable of starting. The same could be said for Fasth, who had just 30 games NHL experience and a .915ish save percentage prior to the Oilers. Talbot is still a question mark, but he is a better question mark to take a chance on.
Sekera was a fantastic add to the back end for the purpose of stabilizing. Kings fans are well aware of what the Slovakian can bring to the table in that regard. He made young defenseman Brayden McNabb look like an absolute world beater for a few weeks down the stretch (Credit McNabb as well), and the Oilers are probably hoping Sekera can do that with one of their many young defensemen. Reinhart is a good young add, and Gryba was a sneaky good right shooting add as well. Edmonton needed a RH defenseman for balance, and he is also a nice defensive oriented defenseman.
With Klefbom, Sekera, Gryba, Schultz, Ference, and potentially Reinhart and Nurse, you can start to see a better looking defensive corps already.
Letestu is an equally good defensive oriented depth add, while Korpikoski is a bit of a swing and a miss. Overall, the direction is right, McLellan is a heck of a coach who had run his course in San Jose, and I think we can finally feel safe in saying that Edmonton will be better next year. How could they be worse?
San Jose Sharks
Key Additions: Paul Martin, Martin Jones, Joel Ward, Peter DeBoer
Key Departures: Antti Niemi, Scott Hannan (Addition by subtraction?), John Scott (Oh no), Todd McLellan
San Jose simply did not improve. Paul Martin and Joel Ward are nice pieces, but you could argue the Sharks were more than a simple Paul Martin or Joel Ward away from being a playoff contender last season. On top of that, they now have a new coach and an uncertain goaltending tandem in Martin Jones and Alex Stalock. It is still a very talented roster which includes Thornton, Marleau, Pavelski, Couture, Vlasic, and Tomas Hertl, however this is the same roster that could not get it done last year. Maybe a new coaching staff eases the tension a little bit, but San Jose feels like a dying horse on their last leg. DeBoer is a notoriously defensive heavy coach and it will be interesting to see if everyone buys in on that concept. Especially given that last season San Jose was 22nd in 5v5 corsi against per 60, 15th in shots against per 60, and 20th in scoring chances against over 60.
Vancouver Canucks
Key Additions: Brandon Prust?
Key Departures: Zack Kassian, Eddie Lack, Shawn Matthias, Kevin Bieksa, Brad Richardson
This offseason has to be a bitter pill for Vancouver to swallow right now. Across the board you could argue that Kassian, Lack, Matthias, Richardson and Bieksa, are all better players then certain members of the Canucks team that remain on the roster. Players like Sbisa, Dorsett, the newly acquired Brandon Prust, etc. etc. They also opted to hitch the wagon to Ryan Miller, who struggled for the majority of last season. While Lack was not worlds better, he was better. While it is difficult to endure for Canucks fans considering the team made a rather unexpected playoff appearance this season, the reality to management may be that the time is coming to shed salary, move vets, and wait for the kids. The trade deadline is probably going to be extremely active for Vancouver, if not the rest of this off-season. Expiring contracts from players like Vrbata, Prust, Weber, will likely force moves. Then consider that Burrows, Higgins and Miller are up after this coming season, and the Sedins are up in two. With Virtanen, Shinkaruk, Horvat, Subban, McCann etc. and several other prominent youngsters trending towards the NHL, this may just be a tank year. It certainly has looked like it from this offseason.
Arizona Coyotes
Key Additions: Zbynek Michalek, Antoine Vermette, Steve Downie, Boyd Gordon, Brad Richardson, Chris Pronger (Hall of famer with the Coyotes!)
Key Departures: John Moore, Marc Arcobello, Sam Gagner, Martin Erat, Tye McGinn, B.J, Crombeen, David Moss
It is hard to really understand the Arizona Coyotes right now. The organization seems to be a contradiction. They play in a city at odds with their presence, they deal away a number of players only to reacquire them later. It is a team that has to be frustrating to follow. Arizona does not seem to have a lot of direction right now, and their offseason has reflected that. Be that as it may, the rag tag group have made a few fairly good additions. Zbynek Michalek is still a good defensive defensemen, Steve Downie, Vermette, and Brad Richardson are good forward adds, and they will have a healthy Martin Hanzal next year as well. That being said, they have a lot of roster turnover this year it is likely going to be an extremely young team mixed with spare parts. It would be hard to imagine them being much better than last season given their current state, however they probably will be a touch more competitive. Domi, Perlini, Samuelsson, Reider (2nd year), and Duclair could be big youthful additions to the roster.
Calgary Flames
Key Additions: Dougie Hamilton, Michael Frolik
Key Departures: Raphael Diaz, David Schlemko
Calgary has not made too many moves, but the ones they have made have been massive. The acquisition of Dougie Hamilton followed by the subsequent extension was a homerun by all accounts. They followed that up with the signing of Michael Frolik.
For those who think Frolik's five-year, $21-million dollar contract was overpayment, think again. He is worth every penny.
And for the record, Dougie Hamilton, also worthy every penny of his extension.
On top of adding a legitimate top six forward and top pairing defenseman, Calgary did not lose anyone of note. They also have a sophomore year coming from several key figures like Josh Jooris and Johnny Gaudreau, on top of the rookie season of Sam Bennett. Oh, a healthy Mark Giordano will probably also make a difference. Calgary beat the stats almost all of last year. They beat the stats all the way into the second round of the playoffs. While they are a prime candidate for regression ala Colorado from 2012-13 to 2013-14, they have made some great moves to prevent that. Goaltending is still probably an area that could break Calgary overall though.
All in all, the division got much better. Three teams improved, while two took what you could consider steps backwards. Where do the Kings slot in on that? How would you rate their offseason moves versus their division rivals? And finally...
Big thanks to Mimico Hero at Own the Puck for all the work he does on the HERO charts.
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