In the words of Ray Davies, "it's a mixed up, muddled up, shook up world", and while it's fitting, the Kinks singer wasn't talking about the past week in the NHL.
As with every off season, not every team will make moves that seem all that great. Here's a look at a few teams who have made their own head scratching moments this offseason.
Columbus Blue Jackets: You have to love the players they brought in. With Mike Commodore, Christian Backman and Fedor Tyutin, the Jackets have a legitimate defense, while Kristian Huselius is a great secondary scoring option.
What's amazing is that another year has gone by and the Jackets have not filled their biggest hole—center. Yes, they brought in R.J. Umberger, who had a great postseason, but he was also on the Flyers fourth line at times.
If he doesn't pull through, their backup option is Mike Peca. After seeing Brendan Morrison sign with Anaheim, Columbus should really look into prying Pavel Demitra from the grasp of the Canucks. Outside of him, there isn't a realistic option for a number one or two center via free agency, and it could hurt the Blue Jackets—again.
New Jersey Devils: Kudos to Lou Lamoriello for snagging Brian Rolston, who was rumored to have offers from more than half the league (the other half must have been crazy not to want him).
But $2.5 million for Bobby Holik?
The Devils had problems at center last year, both offensively and defensively, which makes Rolston a great pickup. But bringing in Holik only makes sense if he takes over the checking role from John Madden (who moves into a scoring role after a career offensive year).
But that would also mean the end for Travis Zajac, a 23-year-old right handed center entering his third pro season, which happens to be a contract year. Lou isn't one to sign someone he doesn't need, but if a trade isn't in the works (he never addressed the team’s defensive woes), this one goes down as a head-scratcher.
New York Rangers: While the Holik signing was strange, unlike their major rivals, at least the Devils can't say they got worse. After New Jersey beat them out for Rolston, the Rangers turned around and gave $39 million to defenseman Wade Redden (the most overrated and now overpaid defenseman in the league) along with $20 million to Michal Rozsival.
Last season, they each had 38 points.
By contrast, Ron Hainsey (formally Columbus, now in Atlanta) had 32 points, and Mark Streit (formally Montreal, now NY Islanders) had 62 points, and each signed for less that Rozsival and Redden.
The Rangers also decided to let Sean Avery walk, as he signed with the Dallas Stars. With Avery in their lineup, the Rangers won over 60 percent of their games, without him, the number is closer to 30 percent.
GM Glen Sather then decided to trade one of his better defensemen for a forward that has been a complete bust (Nikolai Zherdev) and sign Markus Naslund to replace Jaromir Jagr and Martin Straka, both of whom left the NHL.
Straka and Jagr combined for 112 regular season points (Straka missed 17 games) and another 25 playoff points. Naslund has declined in scoring every season since the lockout. Looks like it's time for Scott Gomez and Chris Drury to earn their money.
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