Vancouver Canucks: The Canucks certainly lost players this summer without replacing. Brendan Morrison and Markus Naslund certainly hurts an already anemic offense and even with the team's addition of Steve Bernier and Pavol Demitra, they haven't done enough to help the team now. Even in the unlikely event Sundin goes to Vancouver, it won't be enough.
Toronto Maple Leafs: I tried so hard to not put these guys on the list because of their draft but then I remembered they traded for Ryan Hollweg and that automatically puts them on this list. Huge overpayment for a guy like Jeff Finger is a bonehead move by Cliff Fletcher (at this point) and the handling of Bryan McCabe is dragging the Leafs' off season through the mud. Luke Schenn is the biggest bright spot.
New York Islanders: It was a tough off season for Islander fans as the team decided to trade down twice from the 5th spot. They still had a good draft but giving up on potential franchise players like Luke Schenn and Nikita Filatov is too much. They added another old man in Doug Weight and the recent firing of Ted Nolan doesn't do much to help this team's stability. Mark Streit was a bright spot but that comes no where near outweighing the dark.
Tampa Bay Lightning: These guys as losers? Yes. Despite a major overhaul, this team has gone about things the wrong way. The signing of Barry Melrose as head coach was a big mistake. He hasn't coached since the early 1990s and is a sub 500 coach. The handling of Dan Boyle was absolutely atrocious and stockpiling on forwards while leaving the defense a gaping hole does not help their situation. Despite getting Stamkos, the Lightning's off season has not been a good one. Not to mention completely disregarding the job of Jay Feaster and having the new owners control the moves of the club has led this team down a dark way. Bye Bye Mullet Bolts.
Chris Bouthillier
With the free-agent frenzy slowing down and June's Entry Draft a distant memory we can no begin to speculate how the '08-'09 season will turn out. While some teams have kept their identities many others have altered theirs. Some teams have taken a step forward, while some have taken two steps back.
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