The Biggest Losers of the 2024 NHL Offseason So Far
We are just a few weeks away from the start of NHL training camps, and minus a few other trades that might still happen, most rosters around the league are close to being set.
Some teams used the offseason to improve their playoff and Stanley Cup chances.
Others did not.
Today we are going to look at the latter teams and some of the biggest losers of the NHL offseason so far. It might be entire teams, or it might also be individual players or position groups that were put into worse situations by their front office.
New York Rangers GM Chris Drury
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The New York Rangers still have an outstanding team with some very real strengths that are going to give them an opportunity to make another run at the Stanley Cup. Their power play is still fantastic.
As long as they have Igor Shesterkin in goal and playing at a high level, they are going to stay in pretty much every game. But it is still a team that has some very real flaws that might be holding it back against the five or six clubs that are either on the Rangers' level or a step ahead of them.
The biggest of those flaws are on defense and the Rangers' five-on-five play, neither of which really improved much over the offseason.
Even worse, Drury seemed to want to make some changes to that and move on from team captain Jacob Trouba and his massive contract, but was unable to make that happen because Trouba didn't really want to leave New York (which is his right given his trade protections).
That's not to say the offseason was a total failure. Dumping Barclay Goodrow's contract and replacing him with Reilly Smith is a net positive at forward, but the lack of change to the defense and the same general core that continues to struggle at five-on-five might put a limit on this team's ceiling.
Los Angeles Kings Defense
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The Los Angeles Kings are finding out that it's really difficult to go from "good" to "great" as their rebuild wraps up and it becomes time for them to compete.
They have run into a ceiling in the first round with three consecutive opening-round losses to the Edmonton Oilers. While one of their biggest problems this past season was a lack of offense in the second half, their defense was the big loser this offseason as they lost the always solid and dependable Matt Roy, replacing him with Joel Edmundson.
Roy, a long-time favorite of the analytics community for his consistently strong defensive numbers, signed with the Washington Capitals in free agency and left a big hole behind on the Kings' defense.
The decision to replace him with Edmundson is a big step backward.
There was a time when Edmundson was a dependable defender who could play a top-four role, but those days have more than likely passed. The Kings invested more than $14 million in him over four years for what is a significant downgrade on defense.
They desperately need Brandt Clarke to take a big step forward.
Vegas Golden Knights
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From the moment they arrived in the NHL, the Vegas Golden Knights have been a perpetual Stanley Cup contender, eventually winning it all during the 2022-23 season. A big part of their DNA has been a fondness for making big moves and blockbuster additions.
If a star player is available via trade or free agency, they tend to be the most aggressive team in trying to land that player no matter what their salary-cap situation is. They always find a way.
But this offseason has not seen that approachโor resultsโfor the Golden Knights. This offseason has been almost entirely about subtraction.
Jonathan Marchessault, Chandler Stephenson, Logan Thompson, William Carrier, Michael Amadio and Anthony Mantha are all gone, with only Alexander Holtz, Victor Olofsson and Ilya Samsonov coming in to replace them.
While there is a strong argument to be made that Vegas may have been better off letting some of those players go because of their new salaries (looking at Stephenson), they are still productive players who made big contributions to last year's team.
Vegas still has a strong roster when healthy, but it is not anywhere near as strong as the one that ended the 2023-24 season. And that roster was not anywhere near good enough, finishing eighth in the Western Conference and losing in the first round of the playoffs.
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Connor Hellebuyck
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Connor Hellebuyck was a season-changer for the Winnipeg Jets in 2023-24, winning his second Vezina Trophy and helping to carry the Jets to one of the best records in the Western Conference.
As long as he is in the lineup and playing at that level, the Jets are going to be a formidable opponent and will have a chance on most nights. That is the power of having an elite franchise goalie.
But the problem with having an elite franchise goalie like Hellebuyck is they tend to trick teams and front offices into thinking their team is better than it actually is because the goalie can mask so many flaws. The front office gets complacent and doesn't feel pressure to change things, the team gets stuck, and it eventually wastes its goaltending gift.
The Rangers did it with Henrik Lundqvist.
The Canadiens did it with Carey Price.
The Jets are doing it with Hellebuyck.
As good as the Jets' regular season was, it was still a very flawed team, especially with its defensive play and the way it supported Hellebuyck.
Nothing that was done in Winnipeg this offseason has changed that. In fact, the support around Hellebuyck has likely gotten significantly worse with the departures of Sean Monahan, Tyler Toffoli, Nate Schmidt, Brenden Dillon and backup goalie Laurent Brossoit. The only significant addition has been a new backup goalie, Kaapo Kahkonen, who is likely to be worse than Brossoit was.
Not only will Hellebuyck likely have a worse defense and less scoring depth in front of him, he also may have to take on an even bigger workload with a lesser backup behind him.
The Jets are not helping their best player.
Moritz Seider and the Red Wings Defense
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The Detroit Red Wings had one thing they needed to improve this offseason.
Their defense.
Not only in terms of adding more high-level talent on that unit, but also adding more depth.
They have one bona fide stud in Moritz Seider, and then a bunch of question marks and bad contracts surrounding him. The lack of depth forced Seider into playing some of the toughest minutes in the NHL during the 2023-24 season.
He was constantly starting in the defensive zone, was playing against every team's best players, and did not have anywhere near enough support on one of the worst defensive teams in the league.
What did the Red Wings do to help him this offseason?
They gave away one of the few other reliable defenders in the roster in Jake Walman in a salary-dump trade and signed Erik Gustafsson, while also taking some significant defensive hits at forward with the re-signing of Patrick Kane and addition of Vladimir Tarasenko in place of David Perron.
That is not enough. It is not enough for the Red Wings' playoff pursuit, and it is not enough to take some of the pressure off Seider.
They really need a young player like Simon Edvinsson to take a huge leap forward and become an immediate star to make a difference.
Seattle Kraken Salary-Cap Situation
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The Seattle Kraken took a huge step backward in year three, largely because their offense significantly regressed. They needed to make some big moves this offseason and signed two of the biggest contracts of the summer in Chandler Stephenson and Brandon Montour, adding both on seven-year deals.
While Montour should be an upgrade on defense over both Justin Schultz and Brian Dumoulin, they spent a ton of money that is only going to crowd up their salary-cap situation for what might only be a marginal upgrade.
The biggest issue is the Stephenson contract as he is not only 30 years old and signed for seven years, but he is also already starting to show signs of slowing down and will no longer have Mark Stone on his wing to help boost his production. Stephenson's effectiveness declined dramatically in Vegas when he was not centering Stone's line, and it's the type of contract that is going to immediately age poorly.
Spending nearly $14 million per year on Stephenson and Montour just seems like the type of moves that will negatively impact your long-term salary-cap outlook.
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