Final Grades for Every NHL Team's 2024 Offseason
The 2024-25 NHL regular season officially begins next week, so it's time to take one more look at the offseason performance of every team in the league.
Who got better?
Who did not?
Who spent smartly?
Who spent poorly?
That's right, it is report card time, and we have grades for every NHL team and their offseason performance.
Let's talk about how every team did this summer.
Anaheim Ducks
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This was, for the most part, a relatively quiet and calm offseason for the Ducks. They made a couple of solid, under-the-radar moves to bring in veteran defenseman Brian Dumoulin and forward Robby Fabbri. Nothing overly exciting and nothing too damaging long-term, as both players are unrestricted free agents after this season.
They are relatively low-reward moves, but also extremely low-risk.
It is fine.
Any improvement the Ducks make this season is going to come from within, and that is what ultimately will determine the short- and long-term paths of the team. This season is about Trevor Zegras bouncing back, Mason McTavish taking a big step forward, and the development of Leo Carlsson, Cutter Gauthier and their young defense.
Grade: B
Boston Bruins
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This offseason can still be somewhat salvaged if they can come to a resolution with restricted free agent goalie Jeremy Swayman, but everything about this offseason has been head-scratching from the Bruins front office.
You can understand why they would want to sign Elias Lindholm and Nikita Zadorov, but they probably gave both players too much money for too many years.
They traded Linus Ullmark, a Vezina Trophy-winning goalie, to a division rival (Ottawa) in a salary cap-clearing move, and they did so before they managed to get their other goalie—Swayman—re-signed.
Then they made a mess of that situation by publicly airing the dirty laundry of the negotiations, putting Swayman on the spot.
Even with Swayman, it is debatable as to how much better they are, if at all.
Without him, they've taken a clear step backward.
Grade: D
Buffalo Sabres
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In a vacuum, there is nothing overly negative about anything the Sabres actually did this offseason,
They made some solid depth moves to try and help fix a team that needed more capable NHL players in its bottom six, and they made a big investment in starting goalie Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen. The latter move is risky given his small sample size as a starting goalie, but it could work.
Here is the problem: The Sabres took a big step backward in 2023-24. They have not made the playoffs in 13 consecutive seasons. The pressure should be mounting to win and compete as soon as possible.
Despite all of that, they are prepared to enter the season with $7 million in salary-cap space.
Their roster is not good enough to have that much unused money sitting there. There had to be somebody available this offseason, either in free agency or by trade, that could have helped close the gap in a tough Eastern Conference playoff race.
That much unused money is unforgivable given what this team has put its fans through for the past decade-and-a-half. For that, their grade drops a couple of letter grades.
Grade: D
Calgary Flames
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The Flames continued their rebuild by sending away starting goalie Jacob Markstrom and forward Andrew Mangiapane. All of it helped them keep stockpiling draft picks and young players, but the true value will not be known for quite some time as they either turn those assets into something...or they don't.
Signing Anthony Mantha is a solid low-risk move that could give them another trade chip at the deadline to keep adding future assets.
Nothing that happened this offseason was unexpected, and it is a team that is very much in a transition phase.
Grade: C+
Carolina Hurricanes
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The Hurricanes lost a lot of big names this offseason with Jake Guentzel, Teuvo Teravainen and Brett Pesce all leaving in free agency.
In their place come a lot of cheaper, depth options including Shayne Gostisbehere, Scott Walker and William Carrier.
Perhaps the biggest moves of the summer, however, were making sure top defenseman Jaccob Slavin stayed in Carolina long-term on what might be one of the best bargain contracts in the league against the cap, and also signing young star Seth Jarvis to a fascinating contract that includes deferred payments.
This is still a good team, and they did bring in some solid players, but none of those additions is really going to change the trajectory of the short-term outlook—especially given the quality of the players that ended up leaving.
Grade: C+
Chicago Blackhawks
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The rebuild has done what it was intended to do—land a couple of top draft picks, including a franchise-changing player in Connor Bedard.
Now comes the hard part of actually building around them.
The Blackhawks brought in some legitimate NHL talent this offseason, acquiring Tyler Bertuzzi, Teuvo Teravainen, Ilya Mikheyev, Alec Martinez and T.J. Brodie. It's not enough to turn this into a playoff team, but it should at least make them more competitive than they have been.
The best move here for the long-term outlook was getting young standout defenseman Alex Vlasic signed to a long-term contract ($4.6 million per season) that is going to look like an absolute steal in a year or two. It might already be a steal.
Grade: B
Colorado Avalanche
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The Avalanche did not have a ton of salary-cap flexibility but did manage to make some shrewd, cap-friendly deals to get Casey Mittelstadt, Jonathan Drouin and Logan O'Connor all re-signed to cheap deals. The addition of defenseman Oliver Kylington is also the type of low-risk, high-reward move that always seems to work out for the Avalanche.
They still have some big questions in goal, while the biggest wild cards here are going to be whether or not they get anything out of Gabriel Landeskog and Valeri Nichushkin this offseason.
If they do, that changes everything from a depth perspective.
If they do not, it is suddenly a very top-heavy lineup that is short on depth.
Grade: B-
Columbus Blue Jackets
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Everything with this team in terms of hockey is taking a back seat given the tragedy involving Johnny Gaudreau and his brother, Matthew, when the two were killed by a drunk driver in New Jersey over the summer. The Blue Jackets lost a great player, but even more their families, friends and the sport lost two great people and ambassadors for the game.
The one big addition for the Blue Jackets this offseason on the ice was to bring in veteran forward Sean Monahan. But the most important decision was the hiring of Don Waddell to be the team's new general manager.
The Blue Jackets have been in desperate need of direction and credibility within the front office, and Waddell has the ability to provide both.
They finally ended the Patrik Laine experience by dealing him to the Montreal Canadiens in exchange for defenseman Jordan Harris. While Laine has a chance to have a big year in Montreal (when he returns to the lineup), the Blue Jackets still did an OK job here to reset some things, give everybody a fresh start and create some salary-cap flexibility next season.
Grade: C+
Dallas Stars
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While the Stars still have one of the best rosters in the Western Conference and the NHL, I am not overly wild about their offseason.
Losing Joe Pavelski to retirement is going to leave a big void, and trade-deadline addition Chris Tanev left in free agency to join the Toronto Maple Leafs.
Logan Stankoven is another great young talent emerging through their farm system and can potentially help fill some of the hole left behind by Pavelski's retirement, but I am not sure I like the defensive additions of Ilya Lybushkin and Matt Dumba.
Grade: C
Detroit Red Wings
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The 2023-24 Red Wings were a very good offensive team that was simultaneously objectively bad on defense, where they needed help on the blue line and in goal.
The 2024-25 Red Wings are setting themselves up to look the exact same way.
While there is reason to expect some regression from their offense, which prompted the need to bring back Patrick Kane and sign Vladimir Tarasenko, they still didn't do much of anything to address their goal-prevention problem.
Jake Walman was traded to San Jose in a salary dump trade, and the big hope on defense is going to be that top prospect Simon Edvinsson can step in and make an impact. He'd better, because this defense is paper thin once you get beyond him and Moritz Seider.
Getting core players Lucas Raymond and Seider signed long-term was a necessary bit of business, and the Red Wings did well getting each of them under $8.6 million per season.
Still, not doing more to address the defense or find a better goalie than Cam Talbot is a potentially huge problem.
Grade: C+
Edmonton Oilers
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The good news—getting Jeff Skinner and Viktor Arvidsson for a combined salary-cap hit of $7 million is tremendous work and adds some serious scoring depth to a roster that has at times been a little too top-heavy in the past.
The bad news—not doing more to upgrade the defense, and then losing Philip Broberg on an offer sheet to the St. Louis Blues, leaves them with some serious questions on the blue line that might be too much to overcome. That's especially true if Stuart Skinner is not able to repeat his miracle playoff run.
This will still be a very good, fun team, but that defense when you get beyond Evan Bouchard and Mattias Ekholm is looking questionable...at best.
Grade: B-
Florida Panthers
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The Panthers have been the NHL's most successful team over the past three years and should be right back in the mix again this season.
Getting Sam Reinhart back at less than $9 million per year after his 50-goal season is a huge win, and Nate Schmidt is the type of player who ends up with the Panthers on a cheap deal as a reclamation project and then immediately turns his career around.
They did not make a lot of big additions, but they also did not really need any.
Grade: B+
Los Angeles Kings
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The Kings took care of two birds with one stone in the Pierre-Luc Dubois trade, dumping the most regrettable contract on the roster and also getting a potential starting goalie (Darcy Kuemper) in return.
They also signed Quinton Byfield to a long-term contract extension that only pays him $6.25 million per year throughout some of his prime years. It should be a salary-cap steal for a core player over the next few seasons.
Beyond that, it was not exactly the most impactful offseason.
Letting Matt Roy leave in free agency and replacing him with Joel Edmundson is a big step backward defensively, while they did not do anywhere near enough to add to an offense that struggled in the second half.
The Kings are a playoff team. But can they actually get through one of the Western Conference contenders—specifically the Edmonton Oilers team that has eliminated them three years in a row—when they get there?
Grade: C
Minnesota Wild
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As has been the case for the past couple of years, the Minnesota Wild have been in an impossible spot in the offseason.
Their salary-cap situation is still wrecked for one more year because of the Zach Parise and Ryan Suter buyouts, significantly limiting their ability to add players to the roster.
As a result, they did not add anybody of consequence and are bringing back largely the same roster.
The one big win here was getting young defenseman Brock Faber signed to a long-term contract extension worth over $8 million per season.
That new deal kicks in next season, right when the Wild are through the worst part of the Parise and Suter buyouts.
Then they can really start trying to build a competitive team.
Grade: C
Montreal Canadiens
15 of 32
The Canadiens made one of my favorite moves of the offseason by getting Patrik Laine from Columbus.
Is he expensive for the next two seasons? You bet.
Did his career get sidetracked a little bit in Columbus and not meet expectations there? Sure did. Some of that was out of his control, and some of it was bad luck.
But even with all of that, he still scored at a 30-goal pace per 82 games and now gives the Canadiens a bona fide finisher to help boost their rebuild.
The only downside is that he is expected to miss the first couple of months of the season following a preseason knee injury.
The other big Canadiens move was to get one of their top young players, Juraj Slafkovsky, signed to a long-term deal. They are taking a bit of a gamble by investing so much ($7.6 million per season) in a player who has scored less than 40 goals in the NHL, but given the way he started to break out in 2023-24, he should have one heck of a career ahead of him.
Grade: B
Nashville Predators
16 of 32
The Predators were already a playoff team—and a pretty good playoff team—and then they went out this offseason and added Steven Stamkos, Jonathan Marchessault, Brady Skjei and re-signed goalie Juuse Saros.
They should be Stanley Cup contenders in the Western Conference.
The additions of Stamkos and Marchessault are especially impactful, because both are coming off 40-goal seasons and give the Predators something they were lacking—elite finishing talent.
Grade: A
New Jersey Devils
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The Devils were easily one of the biggest disappointments in the NHL during the 2023-24 season, and there were two main culprits: Goaltending and injuries.
The injury situation was—and is—out of their control. Sometimes it happens, and there is nothing you can do when Jack Hughes, Nico Hischier, Timo Meier and Dougie Hamilton all miss significant time.
Better injury luck this season makes a massive difference.
Also making a massive difference is the addition of starting goalie Jacob Markstrom, who should solidify a position that has been a key weakness for the past two years. As if that was not enough, they also took defenseman Brett Pesce away from a division rival (Carolina) to add even more depth to an already deep defense.
Grade: A
New York Islanders
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The Islanders did not do a ton this offseason, but they did make one of the better long-term free-agent signings of the offseason by getting Anthony Duclair on a four-year contract worth just $3.5 million per season.
Duclair is not going to be a franchise-changer by any means, but he is a 30-goal talent who brings some major goal-scoring and skill to a team that desperately needs both. Duclair has bounced around the NHL too much the past few years for somebody as talented and productive as he is, and he actually seems to have a long-term home now.
It is a great fit for both sides.
Grade: B
New York Rangers
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The big question here is whether or not the New York Rangers front office realizes what their weaknesses are and what is holding them back.
They are not a great 5-on-5 team.
They do not have a very mobile defense and need to do something to add some talent to it.
They have not really done anything to address those issues this offseason.
Reilly Smith is a fine addition on the wing, but they created some headaches with the Jacob Trouba trade drama and did not really make many meaningful additions to help fix the flaws that will eventually bite them when they run into one of the four or five teams in the NHL that might actually be better than them.
They have an excellent team that will win 45-50 games in the regular season and do extraordinarily well because of the power play and Igor Shesterkin. They might even win a series or two in the playoffs. Whether they have enough to win the Stanley Cup remains to be seen.
Grade: C
Ottawa Senators
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They desperately needed a goalie and ended up getting one of the best ones available this offseason by acquiring Linus Ullmark from the Boston Bruins. It is only a one-year contract, and it might only be a one-year rental, but he should help close some of the gap in the Eastern Conference playoff race.
Having to trade Jakob Chychrun after just one season and getting back less than they gave up for him is a bit of a disappointment for a lot of reasons.
Still, getting Ullmark is a big win for the offseason, even if it may not be enough to overtake some of the teams in the Eastern Conference.
Grade: B
Philadelphia Flyers
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The Flyers overachieved for most of the 2023-24 season and nearly made the playoffs after expectations for the season were extremely low at the start.
Despite that success, the Flyers are remaining patient in their rebuild and did not do much to upgrade the roster with short-term fixes.
They did keep Travis Konecny on a long-term deal, and top prospect Matvei Michkov is arriving sooner than expected, but the roster itself is very similar to the one that faded down the stretch and did not have enough playmakers and offensive talent to get over the hump.
Michkov has enormous potential, but he might have some growing pains in his first taste of North American hockey.
The inactivity overall is a bit of a disappointment.
Grade: C
Pittsburgh Penguins
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If you look at each move individually you can make a justification for it.
In acquiring Kevin Hayes' contract from St. Louis, the Penguins essentially bought a couple of draft picks. Players like Blake Lizotte, Cody Glass, Anthony Beauvillier and Sebastian Aho (the defenseman, not the Hurricanes star) are fine depth options.
Getting Rutger McGroarty is a very intriguing move that adds a high-level prospect to the organization.
But nothing here really moves the needle much and gets them closer to a Stanley Cup or a rebuild. They are kind of just stuck in the middle and do not seem to have much of a direction right now.
There is still a chance they could get back in the playoffs if the power play figures it out, but even if they do get there, the second round might seem like their ceiling.
The one big winner move this offseason was ending the Sidney Crosby speculation by signing him to a two-year contract extension.
Grade: C
San Jose Sharks
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The Sharks are in a very similar boat as the Chicago Blackhawks, just a year behind.
They now have their potential superstar in Macklin Celebrini, and now have to start adding around him.
They made some big veteran additions to get Tyler Toffoli and Jake Walman, but the most intriguing addition might have been goalie Yaroslav Askarov from the Nashville Predators. He has a chance to become a franchise goalie and will only cost $2 million per year starting next season.
The Sharks are still a few years away from being a potential playoff team, but there is no reason why they should not at least be a somewhat competitive team this season on most nights. That will be a big change from the 2023-24 season.
Grade: B
Seattle Kraken
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The Kraken needed to add some offense and made two big signings in free agency, bringing in defenseman Brandon Montour and forward Chandler Stephenson on seven-year contracts that each will cost more than $6 million per season.
While the Montour contract is at least defensible since that is the going market rate for a defender of his caliber, the Stephenson contract is an early contender for one of the worst in the NHL.
He is already showing signs of slowing down, has not been overly productive away from Mark Stone and is simply not the player you need to sign for $42 million over seven years.
Tough offseason for the Kraken, who have not really shown much of a coherent plan early in their existence.
Grade: D
St. Louis Blues
25 of 32
Full credit to the Blues for not only utilizing restricted free agent offer sheets, but for using a double offer sheet to really put pressure on the Oilers to get Dylan Holloway and Philip Broberg.
Broberg is the more intriguing move—and the most important—because they have been needing to do something to their defense for years and have been slow to make changes.
Broberg is still a bit of a mystery and an unknown, but he took some big steps in the playoffs a year ago and might be ready for a breakout with the right opportunity. He will get that in St. Louis.
The Blues' roster is still a little thin even after these additions, and they did not make many other moves outside of the offer sheets.
They were a good start...but probably not enough.
Grade: B-
Tampa Bay Lightning
26 of 32
The Lightning made some pretty major changes this offseason, but it remains to be seen if those moves will result in a better hockey team.
Tampa Bay brought back Ryan McDonagh on defense but also traded Mikhail Sergachev in a salary dump. The Lightning signed Jake Guentzel in free agency but said goodbye to a franchise icon in Steven Stamkos. They also made a couple of other smaller depth signings, like adding Cam Atkinson in free agency.
On one hand, Guentzel is a little younger than Stamkos and might have some more big years ahead of him long-term. The trade-off makes some sense if you get by the fact that Stamkos is the best player in franchise history.
But McDonagh is older than Sergachev and is probably not much of an upgrade—if he even is one on defense.
It seems like, at best, there are a lot of lateral movements here that may or may not produce a better hockey team in the short or long term.
Grade: C
Toronto Maple Leafs
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Chris Tanev is a really outstanding addition to the defense, even if his contract might not age well.
The rest of the offseason? It seems like a big missed opportunity to bring on some real change to the organization.
They are bringing back the same core that has not won anything of consequence in eight years, while also probably overpaying Oliver Ekman-Larsson for a role that will probably result in him playing too many minutes and being asked to do too much.
There are still some big flaws on this roster, especially as it relates to scoring depth.
The only major change was to bring in Craig Berube to be head coach, replacing Sheldon Keefe. A coaching change was probably necessary, but that could not be the only major change that happened here.
Grade: C
Utah Hockey Club
28 of 32
After a decade of drama and uncertainty in Arizona, this team has a new city, new name and new owner that should all at least give it some hope. They wasted little time this offseason in trying to make things better by making two huge additions to the defense, acquiring Mikhail Sergachev and John Marino.
They are both legitimate, top-four defensemen, and along with the return of Sean Durzi give Utah an NHL-caliber defense that might help push the team into playoff contention, especially if some of the young forwards like Logan Cooley and Dylan Guenther can take a big step forward and break out.
They still have over $9 million in salary-cap space and could probably be even more aggressive in trying to turn this team into a winner.
Grade: B+
Vancouver Canucks
29 of 32
The Canucks took a huge step forward in 2023-24 and were surprising winners of the Pacific Division. They have some elite players at the top of the lineup in Elias Pettersson, Quinn Hughes and J.T. Miller, but they needed a little more depth to help support them.
They also need starting goalie Thatcher Demko to be healthy.
That is out of their control at this point, but they did make a couple of strong forward additions in Jake DeBrusk and Daniel Sprong to add some scoring depth. Sprong can not defend and does not do much away from the puck, but he is a legitimate 20-goal talent and is making less than $1 million this season.
DeBrusk's contract might be a little bit of a long-term risk, but he is a good all-around player with 25-30-goal ability. They extend the lineup and could help make the Canucks an even more dangerous team offensively.
Grade: B
Vegas Golden Knights
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The Golden Knights are usually one of the most aggressive and bold teams in the NHL, always swinging for the fences with blockbuster moves.
This offseason was the opposite of that and mostly saw them subtract, saying goodbye to players like Jonathan Marchessault and goalie Logan Thompson. You could make the argument that Vegas already made its big additions for this season at the trade deadline with the additions of Noah Hanifin and Tomas Hertl. That would also be a very fair argument since they will now have them for a full season.
Still, the Golden Knights were the No. 8 seed in the Western Conference a year ago and did not get out of the first round. Then they followed it up with an extremely quiet offseason. Not exactly the most encouraging summer.
Grade: C-
Washington Capitals
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The Washington Capitals made the playoffs in 2023-24 despite being outscored by more than 30 goals for the season. Realistically, they were one of the worst playoff teams of the modern era, and without major changes, they were never going to have a chance to get back this season.
Well, they made some major changes.
They added a pair of top-six forwards in Pierre-Luc Dubois and Andrew Mangiapane, two top-four defensemen in Matt Roy and Jakob Chychrun, and a goalie in Logan Thompson.
While Dubois might have a terrible contract, there is also a very good chance he can bounce back with another fresh start, while the Capitals significantly improved their defense and goal-prevention capabilities.
They might not be a Stanley Cup team, but they seem determined to stay competitive for the remainder of Alex Ovechkin's career as he continues to chase Wayne Gretzky's all-time goals record.
Grade: A
Winnipeg Jets
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The Winnipeg Jets are always one of the most boring teams in the NHL when it comes to roster movement, and this offseason was no different.
That is not a positive development.
Sure, the Jets were a playoff team. But that was almost entirely due to sensational goaltending from Connor Hellebuyck. The problem Winnipeg has is the same problem so many other teams with elite goalies run into. The goaltending is so good that it masks the flaws that exist on the roster, it makes the front office think the team is better than it actually is, and then it never builds enough around the goalie to give the team a better chance to win.
It will get you to the playoffs. It might win you a round, but there is always a ceiling to that approach.
Winnipeg is at that ceiling.
Grade: D
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