With the NHL regular season beginning tonight and no time to spare, here is a review of all the offseason moves made by each team and acorresponding letter grade. I worked onthis all summer, dilligently monitoring the free agent pool and trade market, along with each team's salary cap situation. Some of it is controversial, i hope, and many people will disagree. Nevertheless, here, for your amusement, is my offseason review, in no particular order.
CHICAGO BLACKHAWKS: Wow, talk about a complete 180 – the Hawks are going even further south that they already are. They were on the way up, though, by building from within their system. They had a very promising core of young players, including the trio of Rene Bourque, Kyle Calder and Mark Bell, three of the team’s top four scorers last year who combined for 215 points, 45 per cent of the team’s total. Along with Tuomo Ruutu, who missed most of last season, and promising young defencemen Duncan Keith, Brent Seabrook and Cam Barker, they were really going in the right direction. Granted, GM Dale Tallon made a few bad moves in the aftermath of the lockout - Nickolai Khabibulin for $6.75 million a season comes to mind – but what he’s done now is ridiculous. Trading Bell and Calder for Martin Havlat and Michael Handzus makes no sense. Now, Havlat can be electrifying, but at $6 million per the Hawks need him to be their team leader and that is not his M.O. Havlat does not make the players around him better, he’s never played a full schedule in his five NHL seasons and never had more than 37 assists. He may still be able to put up some decent fantasy numbers playing with centre Michael Handzus, a defensive specialist whose best season was 58 points. In the tough Central division, the Red Wings, Predators and maybe even the up and coming Blue Jackets could enjoy playing Chicago eight times each next year. Tallon has traded youth and upside for flash and dash, but he’ll be sorry when their lack of depth is being exploited.
Grade C -
COLUMBUS BLUE JACKETS: like a few other teams, the Jackets appear to have taken some significant steps forward this off-season, at least on paper. I’ve always liked Pascal Leclaire and I thought he was brilliant at times last year. Clearly he was ready to step in and replace Marc Denis, himself a very capable if formerly-underrated starting goalie. Freddie Modin was a solid acquisition from the Bolts, and probably a guy they were only prepared to trade in order to keep their big trio. He has the potential for 25-30 goals at least playing on the second line behind Rick Nash. The team did lose C Jan Hrdina and RW Trevor Letorwski, two solid, “some skill-more effort” kind of guys, in free agency, but they’re hoping to plug those holes from within. However, the Blue Jackets seemingly came out of nowhere to snag RW Anson Carter, who clearly thinks he’s worth more than most teams were willing to give him. But he held out long enough and got probably what he’s worth in the new NHL market (1 year, $2.5 mill) instead of the inflated three- to four-year deal at $3 mill plus per season he was holding out for. Now he’s stuck with Columbus instead of a contender (Toronto or Ottawa?). Nevertheless, with Carter on a line with Nash and Sergei Fedorov (when he comes back from a shoulder injury), the Jackets have a legit top unit. With the return of Nikolai Zherdev, who was enticed back from Russia – where he threatened to play instead of re-signing – by a three-year, $7.5 million deal, the Jackets have some much-needed scoring depth. What he does to the chemistry in the locker room is another question, as I’m not how his teammates will respond to his me-first attitude. Overall, Columbus is better this year. They’re probably good enough to contend – even win – a playoff spot.
Grade: B+
DETROIT RED WINGS: The players they lost this offseason represent a lot more than offence and defence to this team. Steve Yzerman was the heart and soul of the Red Wings for more than 1,300 games and the tough task of replacing his leadership falls to Nicklas Lidstrom. Brendan Shanahan is also a major loss, as the team leader had a resurgence last year with 40 goals. Despite those losses, the Wings are still one of the best teams in the West. Pavel Datsyuk and Henrik Zetterberg are one of the best young duos in the game, but Mikael Samuelsson and Jason Williams will have to improve on their breakout seasons if Detroit wants to remain and elite team. The most exciting move of the season was bringing back goalie Dominic Hasek, who led the Wings to a Cup in 2003. If he stays healthy and true to form (it is the former that is really in question), the Dominator could turn out to be one of the best and most motivated bargains in the league at $750,000 plus a bunch of playoff-related incentives. Other than that Danny Markov is a solid addition on defence, where Lidstrom is happy with his new two-year, $15.2 million deal. Markov is an upgrade on Jason Woolley, who is still a free agent, and centre Greg Johnson adds depth.
GRADE: B
NASHVILLE PREDATORS: How far has this team come? The Preds, quite simply, are one of the model organizations in the NHL. They have built from within, with draft picks and development, created a strong coaching staff, excellent managing and scouting departments and for the most part made good decisions on free agents. The measure of how much hockey in Nashville has changed is J.P Dumont. When the Predators entered the league in 1998-99 they had to give “Hockey 101” classes to teach fans about icing and offsides and the Bubba-cam was the main attraction at Gaylord Arena. They’ve improved every year, though, and this summer a free agent, after taking a look at his options, approached the Preds and offered his services for less than other teams were bidding for him. Dumont, who accepted a two-year, $4.5 million deal after Buffalo cut him loose, could have had more money elsewhere (Detroit was reportedly interested, among others) but wanted to join guys like Paul Kariya and Steve Sullivan on one of the speediest forward corps in the league. Nashville also added one of the top centres on the market this offseason in Jason Arnott, who committed to Nashville for five years at $4.5 mill per season. Forwards Dan Hamhuis, Scott Hartnell and David Legwand, all Preds draft picks, also re-upped with the team. And why wouldn’t they? Barry Trotz is one of, if not the most underrated coach in the league and David Poile has seemingly made one excellent personnel decision after another, right from his selection of Tomas Vokoun in the 1998 expansion draft. Speed, scoring, grit, leadership, defence, goaltending…the Predators are extremely well rounded. This is the year Nashville takes the leap to Western Conference powerhouse.
GRADE: A+
ST. LOUIS BLUES: The positive for St. Louis going into 2006-07? There’s nowhere to go but up. After missing the playoffs for the first time in almost three decades – they had the longest streak in professional sports – the Blues finished dead last in the league. Now there’s a new, dedicated ownership in place, hockey people in the front office and a motivated coach and GM who have to prove it was the team, and not their leadership, that led to last season’s debacle. Coach Mike Kitchen and GM Larry Pleau each get another shot this year, and Pleau has decided going back to the future is the best approach. Doug Weight is back with a two-year, $7 million deal, and reunited with U.S. Olympic teammates Keith Tkachuk and another free agent signing, Bill Guerin ($2 mill this year). Jay McKee was brought in to lead a young defence, though at four years, $16 million they had to overpay to get him in a St. Loo uniform. Maybe the best move Pleau made this summer was the one he waited longest for: Manny Legace. The butt of the late Rodney Dangerfield’s jokes – the guy gets no respect, no respect at all – signed for an eminently affordable $1.4 million contract and replaces a walking punch-line in Patrick Lalime. Not only that, he’s again playing for a contract next year and will want to show all those teams who didn’t even have him on their radar (Ottawa, Tampa Bay, Carolina, among others) made a big mistake. Gritty forwards Dean MacAmmond and Scott Young have moved on, though they aren’t difference-makers. Radek Dvorak and Marty Rucinsky, two guys who are less tough and consistent than those two, have a lot more skill and should be able to create additional offence the Blues were lacking last year. The Blues will be better this season, but it isn’t nearly enough to get back to the playoffs.
GRADE: B
ANAHEIM DUCKS: Though they’re no longer “mighty,” The Ducks are still a hot pick to win the Cup this year. It’s hard to argue with the Chris Pronger-Scott Niedermayer tandem on defence, comeback player of the year and 40-goal scorer Teemu Selanne and his new set-up man Andy MacDonald, and the spectacular goaltending of Ilya Bryzgalov/J.S. Giguere – pick one. All in all, it’s taken Brian Burke only a couple of years to turn Anaheim into a powerhouse contender, albeit with some credit going to Chris Pronger’s wife. Nevertheless, the addition of Pronger makes Anaheim a legit cup contender, if they weren’t already. In fact, I’d place Pronger-Niedermayer in the same league as Pronger-MacInnis, at least without yet having seen them play together. Bringing Stan Chistov back from Russia gives the Ducks some more speed and skill, though he’s never done anything in the big league before and has to prove himself. The Ducks didn’t dip into the free agent market much, but only because they didn’t have to. If young guys like Dustin Penner, Ryan Getzlaf and Corey Perry perform like they should and make up for Joffrey Lupul’s 28 goals last year, Anaheim will be a force to be reckoned with and should win the Pacific, if not the West. The Pronger trade makes the mark here.
GRADE: B+
DALLAS STARS: This Stars team has much the same look and feel as last year, although they’ve added some complementary parts and taken some gambles. First off, Eric Lindros – with a big IF in the “if he’s healthy” category – is both of those things: a solid second line guy at this point in his career but also a gamble. If he plays and performs, $1.55 million plus incentives is a good deal. If he doesn’t turn out, the amount isn’t so much he becomes an albatross. GM Doug Armstrong made another shrewd pick-up in Jeff Halpern, who comes from the sink-hole that is Washington where he wallowed in obscurity for six years. The two-way centre has some offensive flair and should fit in nicely in big D. Underachiever Patrick Sefan is hoping to resurrect his career in Dallas after a trade from Atlanta and Mathew Barnaby arrives with some grit and toughness. The recently acquired Mike Ribeiro also adds centre depth behind Halpern and Mike Modano. Coach Dave Tippett doesn’t have to deal with Janne Niinimaa’s error-prone ways and frustrating offensive potential anymore, though that description almost fits Ribeiro to a T as well. One of the biggest questions the Stars have as the season begins is how the locker room will react to Brendan Morrow as the new captain, and how Modano will respond to his demotion. A sulky Modano is bad news for Dallas, but the team prospered despite somewhat of an offseason for Mike last year. With Marty Turco in net and the even-tempered Tippett calling the shots, Dallas should again make the playoffs despite a more competitive Pacific.
GRADE: B+
LOS ANGELES KINGS: Most teams who lose their top scorer and number two defenceman in the offseason are looking at trouble the next year, but LA might not be. With a new regime in La-la Land – Marc Crawford calling the shots and Dean Lombardi handling personnel – the Kings are starting fresh a year late in the post-lockout world. Familiar face Rob Blake is back to anchor the defence, and at two years and $12 million they paid what they must to get him back from Colorado. If he stays healthy he’s one of the best in the league and he takes a lot of offensive pressure off Lubomir Visnovski, who got worn down at the end of last year. Not only that but Mattias Norstrom might not have to play 30-plus minutes a game anymore. Dan Cloutier, who by all accounts looks rejuvenated this preseason, is now the starter in net – much to Mathieu Garon’s chagrin, though fans in LA are probably happy for now. Cloutier is far from a sure thing though, so he’ll have to prove himself by staying healthy and winning some games. Probably one of the best signings of the offseason in general was the three-year, $6 million contract Lombardi gave centre Alyn McCauley. The defensive specialist makes the Kings solid up the middle, with Craig Conroy and Derek Armstrong. Scott Thornton, who must have been tired of playing in his brother’s shadow in San Jose, signed a two-year deal for $1.5 per season, which is pretty much market value for a guy like him. Despite these additions, the Kings parted ways with Pavol Demitra, Jeremy Roenick, Mark Parrish and Joe Corvo. The draft-day Demitra trade brought highly-touted prospect Patrick O’Sullivan to the Kings, where he should get a chance to play right away. LA should once again contend for a playoff spot and, if they’re close by deadline time, Lombardi has enough cap space – about $4.5 million – to get help. However, it will take all of Crawford’s coaching acumen to get this team to the second season.
GRADE: B+
PHOENIX COYOTES: This might be the classic case of doing too much, too fast. The Coyotes had a good thing going: building from within with young, skilled players like Keith Ballard and Ladislav Nagy at core positions. Now beginning his second season as head coach, Wayne Gretzky has put Phoenix on the map and attracted guys like Ed Jovanovski, Jeremy Roenick and Owen Nolan who otherwise might not have come to the desert. Jovanovski was the biggest splash GM Mike Barnett made this summer, signing the physical blueliner to a five-year, $32.5 million deal that means Jovo-Cop will likely finish his career in Arizona. But is he worth that much? If he’s healthy and performing, more than $6 million a season may not seem unreasonable, it’s still a lot for a guy who hasn’t proved he can play in the new up-tempo reality. Roenick is a decent role player, as odd as that sounds, but at this stage in his career he’s there as much to draw attention to the Coyotes in this football and basketball market than he’s there to score goals. The swap of defenceman Paul Mara for Nick Boynton should pay dividends for both teams, as both have offensive talent. Mara has a bit more grit but, for whatever reason, never meshed with Gretzky. He is also a cheaper option, since Boynton was resigned for $3 million per, though the Yotes have a decent cap position. Owen Nolan might be the most rested player in the league coming off almost three years of inactivity, as he missed most of the 2003-04 season with injuries, recovered the whole lockout season and sat last year. The ideal situation would have Nolan motivated and in great shape, willing to be a leader and example to his young teammates of how to work hard and drive the net. At $1.2 million this might be the last chance any NHL team is willing to give him. The move Barnett made that has me scratching my head is bringing in fighter Georges Laracques and paying him more than a million a season. In today’s NHL, that’s a ludicrous figure for someone who will play about five to seven minutes most games. A whole lot has to come together this season for Phoenix to make the playoffs, starting with the health of Curtis Joseph and the continued development of the aforementioned Nagy and Ballard.
GRADE: C+
SAN JOSE SHARKS: Accustomed as we are to hearing all about San Jose’s team, it’s easy to forget that the Sharks – whom I picked to go the Western finals last year – may be just as good or better in Joe Thornton’s first full season. They’ve lost some key players in D Tom Preissing and LW Nils Ekman, but it’s C Alyn MacAuley’s absence in the middle of their lineup that will be the hardest to fill. However, the trade for LW Mark Bell was one of the savviest moves of the offseason, getting him from Chicago and sending Preissing to Ottawa. Bell is one of the up-and-coming young power forwards in the league and, playing on the left of Joe Thornton or Patrick Marleau, he should have plenty of opportunities to score. A top unit of Bell-Thornton-Cheechoo is pretty fearsome, but even a Bell-Marleau-Steve Bernier or Milan Michalek line should put a lot of pucks in the net. Doug Wilson has done a really good job this summer, making some other crafty acquisitions and also leaving the Sharks with about $7 million in cap space to maneuver. The cap space is important because, with the Evgeni Nabokov-Vesa Toskala situation still not worked out, there is room to trade the less expensive Toskala for a pricier veteran should the opportunity arise. Guys like RW Mike Grier, who got an affordable 3-year, $5.3 million deal, is a gritty addition perfect for the soft ice in the Shark Tank. Overall, the Sharks made a couple moderate splashes this summer but the real headline will come sometime between now and the March trade deadline when a goalie gets dealt.
GRADE: B
BOSTON BRUINS: This wasn’t the Summer of George, it was the Summer of Spend. After years – decades? – of never spending money on anyone, Jeremy Jacobs finally opened up his pocketbook to sign…Marc Savard. Yes, Zdeno Chara also got max money and, as one of the top d-men in the league probably deserves it, but…would you want to be the team who gave him $7.5 million a season? Ottawa made the right choice in my mind, because Chara doesn’t really win games on his own. What he does do is solidify the defence, despite the relative shakiness of Paul Mara, Brad Stuart et al. Besides, new GM Peter Chiarelli had this deal done while they were both still in Ottawa, no doubt. After Chara came the really bizarre signing, Marc Savard. I mean, if you’re not gonna break the bank for league MVP Joe Thornton, why give a guy who has never proved he can be a star on his own $5 million? The only other major move of the offseason happened at the draft, when Andrew Raycroft was dealt to ease the goaltending logjam. Now longtime minor-leaguer Tim Thomas will have to shoulder the load along with Hannu Toivonen, who played decently last year when called upon. Boston fans can hardly be feeling too comfortable with that duo in net. Nevertheless, if the goalies show up, a lot of experts are picking Boston to be one of the most improved teams this season, largely on the basis of the chemistry displayed by Patrice Bergeron, Marco Sturm and Brad Boyes last year. If they keep clicking and Glen Murray, Alex Zhamnov and new addition Shean Donovan can add some scoring depth, Boston has a chance to compete for a playoff spot.
GRADE: B-
BUFFALO SABRES: By far the most active team in the offseason, more so than even New Jersey or Edmonton. GM Darcy Regier had to resign no less than 16 players, though the end result is the 2006-07 Sabres look much the same as the 2005-06 Sabres, with one of the few major differences their new disgusting jerseys. Daniel Briere now has a contract to go with his status as the team’s top scorer – a $5 million award in arbitration – and Maxim Afinogenov, Teppo Numminen, Ales Kotalik, Tim Connolly, Dmitri Kalinin, Brian Campbell and Jason Pominville, among others, all got raises in the offseason. In between all those negotiations and arbitration dates, Regier managed to give Lindy Ruff – now the longest-tenured coach in the league – a new toy in offensive defenceman Jaroslav Spacek (three years, $10 million). Regier did a great job this summer keeping the team together, including most of the supporting cast. He and Ruff also continue to somehow balance the egos of starting goalie Ryan Miller and backup Martin Biron, both of whom signed extensions as well. For reasons that must be eluding Biron, he’s still on the trading block after about two years. Maybe he’ll get dealt mid-season; he can only lie awake at night and count the games going by. Buffalo remains one of the better teams in the league and conventional wisdom says the club that almost won the Northeast Division and beat the Senators in the playoffs will do even better this year. Plus, Biron is a blue chip that can be used during the season to get whatever depth the Sabres are lacking.
GRADE: A
MONTREAL CANADIENS: Another offseason, another few months of wondering how the Habs ever manage to convince ANYONE to come play in Montreal. Who in their right mind wants to play in a market where the press reduce players to tears and ride guys out of town for preseason performances? And that is barely an exaggeration. Nevertheless, the Canadiens somehow managed to entice Sergei Samsonov, to the tune of two years and $7 million. Samsonov should more than make up for Richard Zednik and Mike Ribeiro, both dealt in the offseason to make cap room. Saku Koivu and Alex Kovalev are happy to see him too, but they’ll all need to produce for the Habs not to take a step backwards this year. The question really is: does Samsonov make the Habs better, or ultimately just more disappointing? We should know fairly soon. There’s something about the duo of Christobal Huet and David Aebischer that does not exactly inspire confidence in me, but somehow the French press has taken a shining to “Huey” despite having just a half-season of – albeit stellar – starting play under his belt. Hopefully he continues to perform and the Habs don’t have to learn what Colorado fans did about Aebischer. As for the defence, Janne Niniimaa came over from the Stars in the Ribeiro deal to add depth now that Francis Bouillon is hurt and any offence he provides is a bonus. It’s still the Sheldon Souray and Andrei Markov show, and as they go, the defence goes. One of the positives for the Canadiens heading into 2006-07, though, is Guy Carbonneau’s return to Montreal, where he has been greeted like a savior – hopes for the team are high, and anything less than a deep playoff run could have GM Bob Gainey, another Habs legend, squirming in his seat a bit. Montreal fans don’t really have long memories, after all.
GRADE: B-
OTTAWA SENATORS: It’s been a whirlwind of change for fans in the nation’s capital: a new “starting” goalie and one less enigma, a cornerstone defenceman gone and some new supporting cast members. The biggest move this summer – I made a pun – was the decision by GM John Muckler to keep Wade Redden and let Zdeno Chara go, coincidentally to former Sens assistant GM Peter Chiarelli’s new team, the Bruins (I’m convinced this deal was done in between shots of Chiarelli grimacing at April’s draft while the team he’d already been hired by - the Bruins - but couldn’t work for because of the Sens’ pettiness, did his first daft as head honcho without him). Anyway, any team who would give Chara the max $7.5 million annually can have him. Not that he isn’t worth it - he’s one of the top d-men in the league – but so is Redden. This decision will be the topic of debate until the Sens win a Cup. Chara’s replacement, Joe Corvo, is solid offensively and defensively and is underrated after playing in LA for three years. At about $3 mill a season he’s a bit of a pricey gamble, but the Sens could have done worse than a guy who had 14 goals, 40 points and was a +16 last year.
The biggest splash Ottawa made in the free agent market was signing goalie Martin Gerber, which will turn out to be a calculated error. No one outside the Sens locker room knows what really happened with Dominic Hasek last year, but Bryan Murray seemed to indicate he did not want the Dominator to come back this year despite Hasek’s tearful performance on Off the Record where he told Michael Lansberg he would not play for any other team. Well, he broke that promise and went back to Detroit. I would have liked to see Hasek return – he was highly motivated to prove himself to the fans and organization in Ottawa and said repeatedly he wanted to finish his career there. When the team spurned him he had no choice but to take his competitive fire back to a team he’s already led to the championship. Maybe Ottawa forgot about that one. Fans might start to remember when Gerber, who only had 57 starts in his sole season as a number one, falters like he did in the playoffs for Carolina. Isn’t the gripe in Ottawa a lack of players who can win in June? And $3.5 million a season? Hasek – or a Manny Legace, say – could have been had for closer to $1 million (Hasek signed for an incentive-laden $750k) and the remainder could have gone right into signing Anson Carter, etc. Ray Emery could eventually win the starting job anyway, and then the $3.5 million dollar man is sitting on the bench.
Maybe the best move John Muckler made this summer was trading RW Martin Havlat. Getting D Tom Preissing in the three-team deal might have been below market value for a player of Havlat’s skill, but the Sens were desperate for a top-four d-man after losing Chara and Brian Pothier. Havlat has all the talent in the world but he doesn’t make his teammates better. The Sens decided he wasn’t worth the same bonanza Chicago gave him for his one-dimensional skills.
Bringing in veteran LW Dean McAmmond was another solid move, but it remains to be seen if he adds valuable depth and replaces Brian Smolinski’s production. Cap space is alright though, with about $2.5 million available for moves during the season that could allow Muckler to get help if it’s needed.
The Senators of 2006-07 will have a much different look and feel to them than the powerhouses of the past. This may be the year some other Eastern Conference contenders pass Ottawa by.
Grade: B –
TORONTO MAPLE LEAFS: John Ferguson got to put his own stamp on the Leafs after what everyone knew would happen, happened: the Leafs – the slowest, oldest, least talented team in the league for many years, finally played like it. As a result, Pat Quinn got the ax and Paul Maurice was promoted to the big club, Ed Belfour, Jason Allison, Eric Lindros and Tie Domi were all shown the door, and some defensive help was finally brought in. So Ferguson’s bright idea was to revamp the defence, allow the team’s young players to develop in the big leagues and turn the offence loose in the new NHL of speed and skill. Sounds pretty obvious, no? If you’re in the Leafs organization, I guess not. The end result of this offseason is a team built on youth up front and a veteran defence corps. Andrew Raycroft arrives via Boston to replace the leaky sieve that was Ed Belfour/Mikael Tellqvist, though the latter played well at times last season. Leaf fans were glad to get Raycroft simply so they didn’t have to hang themselves when J.S. Aubin started opening night. Raycroft is a former rookie of the year in the old NHL who had a brutal, injury-plagued season last year and needs to prove himself, big time. After all, he lost his job to a career minor-leaguer and a guy with more consonants than vowels in his name. Pavel Kubina for $5 million per might be a reach, but he’s a above average offensively and defensively and probably would have gotten that kind of cash from a similar team desperate for his services. Hal Gill at $2.1 million is a bit more affordable, but his value comes in the eight match-ups a year against Boston where he can take on Zdeno Chara in a literal clash of the titans. Mike Peca, the other significant addition this summer, is a hometown boy who was beaming from ear to ear at his press conference, so happy was he to finally be a Maple Leaf. He’s had a solid preseason and should stay true to form as a guy who can pot a few goals, but he’s basically the crème de la crème of guys you would rather have on your team than play against. All in all, the measure of this season will not be in how well the new additions play but how the kids mature, namely Alex Ponikarovsky (Pokaroo!), Alex Steen, Kyle Wellwood, Matt Stajan and Staffan Kronwall. If they can score goals and mature defensively, the big problem for most of them, the Leafs will be in good shape to get back to the playoffs. But if things start to go wrong, it could be another long season for John Ferguson – maybe his last in TO.
GRADE: B
COLORADO AVALANCHE: This season will be an interesting one, to say the least. Will the Jose Theodore experiment pay off? Can Marek Svatos bounce back from his injury and help replace some of Alex Tanguay’s scoring? Can JM Liles and Co. compensate for the loss of Rob Blake? In rookie GM Francois Giguere’s first offseason as head honcho, he didn’t exactly do his team any favours. He dealt Tanguay to the Flames for defenceman Jordan Leopold, who could step in as the number three d-man. Other than that, he brought in Ken Klee at a fair $700,000k and centre Tyler Arnason, a bust with Ottawa who has played alright in the preseason. With those the only moves made to replace the talent that left, the answers to the latter two questions seem pretty obvious: Svatos will have to bounce back big if the Avs want to score enough goals to have any chance, and, though the defence corps is solid if unspectacular, guys like Karlis Skrastins – (longest current consecutive games streak in the league – and Patrice Brisebois will have to step up big time. The first question is harder to answer. Jose Theodore, an enigma wrapped in a puzzle, is the key to the season. If he can stay healthy, Joe Sakic might be able to get the Avs contending for a playoff spot. If he has another season of injuries…as much as I like Peter Budaj, Colorado will struggle. The third possibility has Theo reverting to Vesina-winning form, which he is equally capable of doing, and then the sky’s the limit. All in all, I think the Avalanche will be on the outside looking in this April.
Grade: C
CALGARY FLAMES: This team is much the same as it was last year, with one notable exception: left-winger Alex Tanguay arrives from the Avalanche to combine with superstar Jarome Iginla and fix all the scoring problems the team has had throughout the past decade. At least, that’s how the Flames program guide goes. The result could very well be less than exceptional, given Calgary’s offensive frustrations – just ask Tony Amonte, who had a dismal season last year. Amonte, however has looked good in camp and Iginla and Tanguay seem excited to play together. Jim Playfair, in his first season as head coach, has inherited in many ways a better team than the one Darryl Sutter had the past two seasons, when he led the team to within a goal of the Stanley Cup and to a first round upset loss last May. Dion Phaneuf, who might be the best bargain in the league at $471,200, has another year of experience and should contend for the Norris if he can stay healthy. Robyn Regehr is also healthy and the defence is one of the best units in the league, even without Jordan Leopold. So if a few other things go right – Kiprusoff remains his elite self, Jeff Friesen makes the most his chance with a team that actually wants him, and the leadership and grit of Shean Donovan and Bryan Marchment are replaced – Calgary should win the Northwest division again.
GRADE: A-
VANCOUVER CANUCKS: Holy makeover Batman! They got rid of Dan Cloutier, Jarkko Ruutu, Ed Jovanovski, Todd Bertuzzi, Nolan Baumgartner, Keith Carney, and Richard Park, among others. They brought in Roberto Luongo, Willie Mitchell, Marc Chouinard, Jan Bulis and others to try and replace them. Not only that but this offseason, Dave Nonis’ second in charge, was his first chance to really put his own stamp on the team and fix the chemistry problems in the clubhouse. It’s no secret there were rumours for a while Bertuzzi’s friendship with Markus Naslund was dividing the room, so Nonis dealt him and got one of the best goalies in the league in return. Luongo instantly turns a question mark position into one they wont even have to think twice about unless he goes down. Willie Mitchell, who will have to replace the underrated Jarkko Ruutu on defence, was a great addition for $14 mill over five years and Jan Bulis was a solid gamble who will likely get the Anson Carter special playing with the Sedin twins. Chouinard adds depth at centre and Yannick Tremblay and Rory Fitzpatrick help stabilize the defence. Besides the questions all these transactions inevitably create, first year coach Alaign Vigneault will have to adjust to the new NHL but will not get a very steep learning curve. The Canucks have to win, this year, because of the high-price and high-profile veterans brought in and the pressure of missing the playoffs two years in a row. With Luongo in net, Vancouver has enough to get back to the show.
GRADE: A
EDMONTON OILERS: Kevin Lowe was busy this offseason just re-signing all the players who helped the Oil get within a goal of winning the Cup last year. Dwayne Roloson, Shawn Horcoff, Ales Hemsky, and Fernando Pisani all got new deals at substantial raises. Lowe also added free agent Petr Sykora, who should fit in nicely with all the speed and skill Edmonton has, and Marty Reasoner, who returns to the team to add depth and grit at a decent price. Captain Canada Ryan Smyth and his namesake Jason Smith are still the heart and soul of the team, and Roloson finally gives them a goalie they feel confident playing in front of. I’m not so sure. For my money, he has to prove he can do what he did last year in the regular season and in the playoffs by consistently playing full seasons as a starter. He’s never started more than 47 games in a season, but there’s no denying his run in the playoffs and his stats were good splitting time in Minnesota for four years. Can you believe it, I haven’t even mentioned Chris Pronger yet? A lot of people have November 28 circled on their calendars, when Anaheim visits Rexall Centre for the first time. Pronger’s departure is abig whole to fill but also an opportunity for Marc-Andre Bergeron to become a big-time powerplay threat. Joffrey Lupul, the winger who came in return for the emasculated Pronger – rumour has it his wife made him leave – will be under pressure to perform. Despite the high power potential of this offence, Lupul will be expected to improve upon his 28 goals last season with the Ducks. Daniel Tjarnqvist signed a one year deal and will bear some of the load on defence along with Steve Staios. In total, all coach Craig MacTavish has to do to get this team back to the playoffs is stay the course and figure out how to spread the ice time evenly enough.
GRADE: A
MINNESOTA WILD: Doug Risebrough proved this offseason what we’ve known for a few years now: he’s one of the best GMs in the league. He re-signed star winger Marian Gaborik to a 3-year, $19 million deal, traded for winger Pavol Demitra at the draft and signed two underrated free agents, Mark Parrish and d-man Kim Johnsson. Getting Demitra was the key to keeping Gaborik happy and in Minnesota, while Johnsson comes in to replace most of Willie Mitchell’s 30 minutes a game. Parrish, who signed a five year deal, will feel some pressure but ultimately the Wild don’t rely on scoring to win under Jacques Lemaire. As another positive, the Wild are in good cap position to make an addition or two during the season should need be. But if Gaborik and Demitra are clicking, the losses of Mitchell, Marc Chouinard, Filip Kuba and Daniel Tjarnqvist should not be too difficult to overcome.
GRADE: A
NEW JERSEY DEVILS: Lou Lamoriello has proved himself one of the most shrewd general managers in the league after his deft maneuvers to get NJ under the cap in time for the season. He had to make two deals at the last minute, including giving a first round pick to the Sharks for defenceman Jim Fahey just to make cap room and telling last year’s revelation, Brian Gionta, and solid d-man Paul Martin to basically hold tight until he had that money to spend. Lamoriello has given the other GMs in the league plenty to think about, as he has certainly shown himself to be one of the most adept cap managers of the young era. On the other hand, some would argue getting himself into this situation in the first shows he doesn’t really grasp the big picture. Nevertheless, now that Lou’s done everything he needs to do, the Devils are basically maxed out and have to hope the team he assembled can get them back to the playoffs. Much of the trouble began when Patrick Elias got a max deal for $42 million over seven years. Only a few days later, centre Scott Gomez got a drunk arbitrator who awarded him a $5 million contract. Colin White was resigned for $3 million a year, also too much for a slow, one-dimensional guy, while Jamie Langenbrunner got a new contract of pretty good value at five years and $14 million. Now that Gionta is inked for the next three years ($4 million per) and guys like Vladimir Malakhov and Alex Mogilny are gone, the Devils should improve their chemistry and build on last season. Since Lou was so busy massaging his team under the cap this summer he didn’t have any time to sign free agents, Elias, Gionta ad Gomez will again have to carry the offensive load in front of White and Brian Rafalski on defence and, of course, the unflappable Marty Brodeur in net. New Jersey should again contend for the Atlantic division.
GRADE: C+
NEW YORK ISLANDERS: There’s nowhere else to begin but with Rick DiPietro. Fifteen years? I don’t care how much money he’s getting per season, it’s already stupid. The 15-year, $67.5 million deal signed by Donovan McNabb in the – I mean, DiPietro – see, that’s the point. This is hockey, not football. The cap is $44 million, not $90 million. Obviously neither rookie GM Garth Snow, who is simply a puppet for owner Charles Wang, and the owner himself don’t realize what they’ve done. The Isles’ identity is now tied to their American goalie, the first netminder ever picked number one overall, for the rest of his career. At $4.5 million a season the contract is palatable from a cap point of view, and might even seem a bargain if Rick turns into the superstar he can be…but, I mean, come on! He’s the biggest albatross since Glen Sather gave Bobby Holik $8 million a year. Now that’s out of the way…Neil Smith - before Wang the tyrant arrived – made some decent moves this summer, bringing in centre Mike Sillinger, one of the top face-off guys in the league, and defencemen Tom Poti, Brendan Witt and Sean Hill, all solid, veteran additions. Poti moves across town to Manhattan Island from downtown, where the offensive minded d-man was coming off a rough season. Nevertheless, he’s affordable at $2.85 million. Witt, at about $2.6 million per, is good market value while Sillinger at $2.2 million a year is an excellent bargain. Chris Simon, another grit guy who doesn’t provide much in the new NHL has a $1 million deal and a chance to show he isn’t a relic of the olden days. Viktor Kozloz, though past his prime, is a nice gamble for less than a mill. Despite all the front office intrigue and wads of money flying around, the Isles have not made many concrete steps to get better. Miro Satan, Shawn Bates, Jason Blake and the much-richer Mike York (an arbitrator awarded him $2.85 million) still have to provide most of the offence while Alexei Yashin continues to fade into obscurity. The defence in front of DiPietro will get a boost so the Isles should at least be able to contend for a playoff spot. But New York fans shouldn’t get their hopes up.
GRADE: B-
NEW YORK RANGERS: The Rangers surprised a lot of people last year thanks largely to rookies Henrik Lundqvist and Petr Prucha. Oh ya, and that guy Jagr woke up from his long slumber and returned to form as one of the top players in the league. It’s amazing what a little open space on the ice can do for a guy with his speed, skill, and vision. Not only that, GM Glen Sather showed he can design a team in this new league and coach Tom Renney came within a win on the last day of the season of leading his team to the division title. Raise your hand if you predicted that. This summer, Sather was able to add a few pieces he hopes will put the Boys in Blue over the top and make them legit cup contenders. Brendan Shanahan is a big part of that, as the 40-goal scorer has rediscovered his scoring touch and should reach that total again this year in the high-scoring Eastern Conference. At $4 million, it’s a good gamble. The loss of Tom Poti on D was made up by the first of two players the Rangers snagged from the defending champs, Aaron Ward. They also got Matt Cullen for a four-year, $11.2-million deal, though that money might have been better spent. Martin Straka and last year’s plus/minus champ, Michael Roszival both resigned multi-year deals. The Rangers were relatively quiet this summer, but only because they emerged from lockout stronger than anyone expected them to. They should continue to develop this year into one of the East’s better teams.
GRADE: B+
PHILADELPHIA FLYERS: Now that the Simon Gagne episode is finally over – he signed a five-year, $26.25 million contract after holding out most of the summer – the Flyers appear to once again be a contender in the East. Peter Forsberg is by all accounts healthy and ready to dominate again, and Joni Pitkanen and Sami Kapanen are also back and ready to go. Bob Clarke made some modest dips into the free agent pool, signing Geoff Sanderson for $1.5 million a season and some other spare parts. However, the two biggest moves Clarke made this summer were dealing centre Michael Handzus to Chicago for Kyle Calder, a young winger with lots of potential, and singing restricted Ryan Kesler of the Canucks to a $1.9 million offer sheet Vancouver was forced to match, grossly inflating his value. The latter move pissed off a lot of GMs, though it was simply shrewd cap manipulation by the Clarke, who recognized the need to replace Keith Primeau, who will likely retire from his concussion. That’s a big loss, but so were Kim Jonsson in free agency and Eric Desjardins to retirement. Sophomores forwards Jeff Carter and Mike Richards and defeceman Freddie Meyer will have to pick up a lot of the slack or else Philly will suffer. The real question will be whether Robert Esche can hold the goaltending fort down while Antero Niittymaki recovers from his injury. However, Forsberg et al should be enough to keep the Flyers in the playoffs.
GRADE: B-
PITTSBURGH PENGUINS: New GM Ray Shero continued the remaking of the Penguins this summer, with the advantage of a much better idea of the core he has to build around. Coming into the first season after the lockout, Craig Patrick had a truncated timetable and no experience with the new rules, so he made bad decisions like Ziggy Palffy, who retired mid-season, Jocelyn Thibault and – some would argue – Sergei Gonchar. Now, Shero has a known commodity in Sidney Crosby and a goalie in Marc-Andre Fleury who’s finally ready to start. Gonchar ended up with 58 points despite his struggles and should bounce back to his old self – the guy who has the most points of any defenceman over the last three years. Mark Recchi is back as he always said he wanted to be. At $2.28 mill he’s the second highest paid player on the team behind Gonchar at $4.5, but that will change once Crosby’s entry-level deal expires. Winger Mark Eaton also signed to provide depth, grit and a little scoring, while Nils Ekman was acquired in a trade from San Jose. Coach Michel Therrien is hoping he’ll find some chemistry with Crosby and Colby Armstrong, who caught fire when paired with the Croz at the end of last season. It’s those supporting characters, along with Gonchar and Fleury, who will determine the Pens’ season because there are still big depth problems on this team. Sid the Kid is a given; we’ve seen what he can do and there’s no reason to believe he wont continue to do it his whole career. Recchi, Eaton, Ekman, Armstrong, and especially Evgeni Malkin, the dynamic rookie who will miss a month with a shoulder injury, will decide how far they go. Oh ya, did I forget to mention the act of “sports terrorism” committed this summer? Must have slipped from Finland…I mean from my mind.
GRADE: B
ATLANTA THRASHERS: The biggest news Atlanta made this offseason was at the draft when they traded their first ever pick, Patrick Stefan, to the Stars for centre Niko Kapanen. They also lost Marc Savard, Jaro Modry, Peter Bondra and Mike Dunham. Howver, when the Ducks decided $1.55 million was too much for Vitaly Vishnevski, especially with Pronger arriving on the scene, Atlanta was there to take him off their hands. He’s a stay-at-home guy who, with Greg de Vries, will have to most of the legwork on a shaky D. Goal scoring wont be a problem though, since Marian Hossa and Ilya Kovalchuk are back and better than ever, though someone is going to have to step up and play between them. That someone may be Niko Kapanen or offseason-addition Steve Rucchin, a guy used to playing with fantastic wingers. Rucchin signed a four-year, $4.25 million deal, so coach Bob Hartley is surely hoping he finds chemistry on the top line. Kari Lehtonen is once again the key to the season, as the extremely skilled Fin has to remain healthy for the Thrash to have any chance at making the playoffs.
GRADE: C+
CAROLINA HURRICANES: The Cup champs are, well, the Cup champs. Everyone’s gunning for them so two temptations conflict: they want to keep the exact same team together – they did it once so they can do it again – but they also want to make the team better. Add to that inflated egos and there are going to be departures, in this case Doug Weight, Aaron Ward, Martin Gerber, Matt Cullen and Mark Recchi. GM Jim Rutherford was tasked with replacing those guys, but without much cap room to work with – Eric Staal, Rod Brind’Amour, Eric Cole, Justin Williams and Frank Kaberle all got raises and now combine for $17.7 million – he didn’t have many options. Still, with those guys, the team looks more or less the same as it did. Cam Ward was going to start over Gerber anyway, and now John Grahame is backing him up and wondering how come he could never get it done in Tampa. Scott Walker was acquired from Nashville for Josef Vasicek and he should provide some of the scoring punch and energy they got from Weight and Cullen last year and in the playoffs. Wingers Trevor Letowski and Brad Isbister both provide some depth and scoring touch for less than $1 million each. Rutherford also swapped last year’s first round draft pick, Jack Johnson, to the Kings for defenceman Tim Gleason. Johnson decided to remain in university despite the team’s request to replace the injured Kaberle, so they dealt him. Despite the loss of depth on defence, with Cole healthy and Staal still a force, the Canes should be able to win the Southeast for the second season in a row.
GRADE: B
FLORIDA PANTHERS: The big news, besides the Mike Keenan…let’s just call it “departure,” was the early offseason blockbuster trade of Roberto Luongo for Todd Bertuzzi and Alex Auld. Auld and Ed Belfour, who was signed by Keenan to a $750k contract, will have to replace arguably the best goalie in the league. They won’t be able to. The Panthers also lost savvy vets Sean Hill and Alexander Karpovtsev, two d-men they hope can be replaced by one former Ducks number one, Ruslan Salei. He signed for four year and $12.1 million, a good deal for an anchor like him. Salei, along with Jay Bouwmeester (two-year, $4.35 million) and Mike Van Ryn (four-year, $11.6 million) who both re-signed, Ric Jackman, who signed as a free agent for under a mill, and Bryan Allen, who came over in the Bertuzzi trade, form the strength of the team: its defence corps. Bertuzzi will face pressure from within the team to find his old form, though the apathy in southern Florida may mean there’s no external pressure. Nevertheless, he’ll have to find chemistry with captain Olli Jokinen and put the puck in the net if the Panthers want to compete in the East. Guys like Joe Niewendyk, Gary Roberts, Jozef Stumpel, Martin Gelinas and Chris Gratton will have to show they can compete in the new NHL. Young guys Nathan Horton, Juraj Kolnik and Stephen Weiss also have to step up and contribute offensively. Unfortunately, Florida lacks forward depth and too much has to go right for Jacques Martin to get them to the playoffs.
GRADE: B+
TAMPA BAY LIGHTNING: Does putting all your eggs in one basket work? The Lightning will let us know. Brad Richards, Vincent Lecavalier and Martin St. Louis make $21 million combined, or almost half the salary cap. This left GM Jay Feaster with very little room to maneuver this summer and led to moves like dealing d-man Darryl Sydor to the Stars to clear cap space. They also let Pavel Kubina walk and traded Freddy Modin to Columbus. In that deal Feaster got Marc Denis in return, an excellent goalie who’s been largely an afterthought in Columbus the past five seasons. Filip Kuba was also signed for five years and $9 million, a pretty economic option – and a better defensive one – compared to Kubina and his $20 million deal with Toronto. Andy Delmore and Luke Richardson also add depth on defence for cheap. Largely hamstrung by the budget, Feaster did a good job this summer. There are still a lot of holes in the team but the big three can lead them places. Should the Bolts not perform though, Tampa Bay could be so far out of a playoff spot trading St. Louis to a contender may seem an attractive option.
GRADE: B+
WASHINGTON CAPITALS: What a boring summer…the team with the lowest payroll in the league and the most exciting player did virtually nothing in the free agent or trade markets. The biggest splash GM George McPhee made was overpaying for Brian Pothier (four year, $10 million). He’s probably the only guy McPhee could even reach on the phone. Longtime Cap Jeff Halpern, a loyal soldier for six years, left for greener (read: more competitive) pastures but tough guy Donald Brashear arrives to protect phenom Alex Ovechkin. Winger Richard Zednik was also acquired from Montreal in a cap clearing move by the Habs, but he is a second-line scorer at best. Until the Caps can show some improvement and commitment to winning, it will be up to goalie Olaf Kolzig and Ovechkin to get the job done. It’s gonna be another long season.
GRADE: C-
