NHL Free Agency: One Flaw Each Team Must Address This Summer

There are 29 teams in the NHL who fell short of their goal this season. The time to rebuild or reload  began the second after their final game. Storied franchises like Montreal and Toronto started even earlier, arguably before the end of the regular season.

The NHL has more parity than ever as evidenced by the first eighth-seeded team making it through the playoff grind and lifting the Stanley Cup.

While Los Angeles should absolutely savor its record-setting achievement, they are certainly not a flawless team. GM Dean Lombardi is way too smart to stand pat and think his team is ready for a run to repeat as league champions.

As June comes to a close and the teams with salary cap money charge their negotiating batteries, franchises will look to add the pieces to their roster that could give them the right combination for a historic run of their own.

A playing field...er, rink as level as any in professional sports means that every organization can honestly feel optimistic heading into the 2012-13 season. The collective bargaining agreement aside, the next year offers a ton of hope, from Edmonton and their "next" big thing in first-round pick Nail Yakupov to the free agent super-shoppers who find the best deals on the open market.

In the meantime, here's a list of every NHL team and where they need to focus.

Anaheim Ducks: Defense

What the Ducks need more than anything is a fresh start. After falling on their collective faces out of the gate last year, Anaheim coach Randy Carlisle paid the price, fairly or unfairly. Enter Bruce Boudreau and a renewed sense of self. The Ducks played like a playoff contender for the last third of the season before stumbling at the end.

Former Ducks property Justin Schultz has essentially screwed the Ducks by refusing to negotiate a contract and becoming a free agent. With Schultz eligible to only make the entry level contract for NHL rookies, he basically gets to pick and choose where he plays. Thanks, pal.

With about $31 million in cap space and eight roster spots to fill, the Ducks could be a dark-horse destination for some coveted free agents. Sulking winger Bobby Ryan has stated he wants to leave town and could bring back a top-four defenseman in a trade.

With no trade coming at least until the start of free agency, Anaheim could take a shot at one of the top available defensemen. There's Jason Garrison and Filip Kuba. Or maybe the Ducks could throw out a pile of money to see if Ryan Suter might want to bring his talents to the left coast.

Boston Bruins: Goaltending

Bruins fans will hate to hear this, but you are unproven in net. The sample size for Tuukka Rask is impressive so far, but he hasn't had to shoulder the weight of expectations or the grind of a full season as a starter.

His career record is 47-35 with a nice 2.20 GAA, but that is in a supporting role. Boston can be a tough town if you have a rough start.

No one wants to admit how valuable enigmatic goaltender Tim Thomas was. The Bruins need a bulk supply of Purell if they want to completely wash Thomas out of their memory. A good start by Rask would help.

The Bruins have a stable of young, unproven goaltenders looking to become the guy who makes everyone forget about Thomas. It starts with Rask. After that, it's a crap-shoot.

Buffalo Sabres: Offense

The Sabres have a limited amount of cap room due to some marginal spending decisions that haven't worked out for them: see Leino, Ville. They were unlucky to have some injuries last year, and Ryan Miller, the perennial rock of the franchise, had a horrid start.

It's safe to say they were the Ducks of the Eastern Conference, missing the playoffs on the last day of the season. Chances are Miller will be back to being Miller, and if the Sabres get a healthy start, they will be more competitive. They should be fine on defense if Tyler Myers can stay healthy.

Shopping Derek Roy and even Thomas Vanek could get them quality in return and more free-agent cash to play with.

Calgary Flames: Offense

With the trade for and re-signing of Dennis Wideman, GM Jay Feaster is telling the Flames faithful that Calgary will not be sellers...yet. While the Flames are reportedly shopping defenseman Jay Bouwmeester, nobody wants to pay almost $7 million for the 30 points he annually puts up.

The Flames will likely re-sign Olli Jokinen and add a couple more pieces with any additional cap cash. The trade for and signing of  Wideman is curious in that he plays a similar style to Bouwmeester, meaning the Flames would still need defensemen who actually play defense to help out Miikka Kiprusoff.

Carolina Hurricanes: Defense

The trade for Jordan Staal solidified the 'Canes' intentions to be relevant this coming season. The Staal brothers give Carolina a strong presence up the middle, but the 'Canes need help on the wings and need defensive help to keep Cam Ward upright.

Carolina has three roster spots to fill and about $22 million in cap money. They could be players in the Zach Parise sweepstakes, but I think they would be better served to fortify their blue line. They could re-sign Bryan Allen and bring in a couple of solid wingers at half the cost of Parise.

Chicago Blackhawks: Goaltending

Only four teams scored more than Chicago this season, yet the Hawks finished fourth of five in their division and had to finish strong to earn a spot in the playoffs. Did I mention they were done after six games in their first-round matchup with Phoenix?

While the playoff loss can't be shouldered alone by Chicago's Corey Crawford, there are serious question marks about whether he is their goalie of the future. To convince the Blackhawk brass that he is worth extending, he'll need to have a breakout year, or at least finish in the top half of the league in GAA.

Colorado Avalanche: Re-Sign the Roster

The Avalanche are working on this as we speak. They have been active with their negotiations and have made progress with keeping their young core together. Re-signing Matt Duchene, Ryan Wilson and David Jones has shown the rest of the young Avs players that the front office believes they have the potential to be something special.

Colorado has a pile of restricted free-agent contracts to bang out in the next week, specifically Erik Johnson and Ryan O'Reilly. Colorado seemed to jell after the All-Star break and just missed the playoffs. They have a young roster with a couple of stars in the making in Gabriel Landeskog and O'Reilly.

Keeping this group together is the best move the Avs can make.

Columbus Blue Jackets: Hit the Reset Button

The Blue Jackets are in rebuild mode again. The franchise appeared to be headed in the right direction for awhile, but the wheels seemed to fall off this season. The biggest key to rebuilding is to dump their unhappy captain and biggest negotiating chip, captain Rick Nash.

Columbus drafted a solid, NHL-ready defenseman in Ryan Murray and could actually list their defensive corps as a "building block." They traded for Sergei Bobrovsky, with the hope that regular time in goal can help him recover the form he showed in 2010-11.

Nash will bring back some talent wherever he goes, but probably not equal value. The Jackets need to dump him for the best possible offer and move forward.

Dallas Stars: Offense

The Stars moved second-leading scorer Mike Ribiero to Washington on draft day for basically a draft pick and $4.5 million in salary cap space (no offense, Cody Eakin). The Stars got some great play last season from Keri Lehtonen, who can now correctly say that his name is not spelled Let-one-in.

The Stars could certainly afford to re-sign Sheldon Souray on defense, but their biggest area of concern will be replacing Ribeiro's 63 points. A breakout season from Jamie Benn and consistent production from emerging star Loui Eriksson would help, but Dallas still will need more help on offense if it wants to get back to the playoffs.

Detroit Red Wings: Leadership

The skill set was not at the elite level when Nicklas Lidstrom was in his prime, but he was still a top-10 defenseman. Now Detroit will need to replace the leadership void created when Lidstrom hung up the skates.

There is no denying the talent on the Detroit roster. There are certainly holes on defense that need to be addressed, but the calming influence from their captain was key.

It's no coincidence that the Red Wings' two biggest targets wore a "C" or an "A" on their sweater. Signing one or both is critical, not only for the talent they bring to the ice, but for the leadership they bring to the locker room and rink.

Edmonton Oilers: Defense

The Oilers continue to add weapons on offense with top pick Nail Yakupov, but need a stud defenseman to help keep pucks out of the net. Goalie Devan Dubnyk provided more consistent play at the end of the season. Justin Schultz is on the Oilers' radar, but are the Oilers on his?

The Oilers look like they're building their team from the 1980s with all of the high-powered offense. They need some studs on defense to keep other teams honest. A better defense makes a goalie look better,  too.

Florida Panthers: Who's No. 1?

Seriously, pick a goalie. Jose Theodore had a nice season in South Beach and Scott Clemmensen had another nice season as a backup. Playing goalie roulette in the playoffs equals a first-round exit more often than not.

Think the wiring in your goalie's head isn't affected by yanking him in the playoffs? Stick with one or the other. The carousel is a goalie-killer.

Los Angeles Kings: Nothing, Right?

They won the title so they must be perfect. Wrong! The Kings rode Jonathan Quick to their Stanley Cup. Even they know that. They have a roster full of snipers, but only three guys who scored more than 20 goals.

The Kings barely made the playoffs because of their offensive impotence. If they don't figure it out next year, they may not get a chance to defend that shiny cup of theirs.

Minnesota Wild: Stay Healthy

First-round pick Mathew Dumba will provide excitement and offense with his end-to-end rushes and big hits, if he makes the roster and gains about 15 pounds. The two premier free agents this season have connections to the state of Minnesota. If the Wild can land either one, they immediately become a playoff contender.

In fairness to the Wild, they had a ton of injuries last season. Assuming everyone comes to camp healthy, Minnesota can be relevant. Lest we forget they were at the top of the league in December before the injury bug caught up with them.

Montreal Canadiens: Stability

What a nice picture of the happy Montreal family! Behind the scenes, though, the Canadiens have been more like the Simpsons than the Brady Bunch. Cartoonishly bad last year, the dysfunctional Habitants cleaned out their closets and have started anew with a fresh GM and coach.

First-round pick Alex Galchenyuk could be an opening night player for Montreal, and the Canadiens have a roster full of young talent. They appear to be on the right path, so we'll have to wait and see.

Nashville Predators: Free Agent Turnover

The Predators will not be able to keep Ryan Suter and could potentially lose Shea Weber as well. The compensation package for signing Weber to an offer sheet is a risky endeavor, but he is absolutely worth it in my opinion.

Weber is entering his prime and is arguably the best defenseman in the league. Size, shot and anger are all characteristics that everyone wants in a stud blueliner.

The Predators have done an amazing job at assembling their roster to this point. A failure to keep them together seems to be their undoing.

New Jersey Devils: Financial Unrest

Possibly the biggest obstacle to retaining captain Zach Parise is the potential bankruptcy of the Devils franchise. Without a complete understanding of the complete New Jersey portfolio, I can't responsibly go into specifics.

I just know this much: If the company I work for is making national headlines as "possibly" filing for bankruptcy, I'm sending out my resume 25 minutes ago.

The run to the Stanley Cup Final was nice, but moving forward I want to make sure my paychecks clear.

New York Islanders: Patience

The days of the Islanders being the "other" New York team are coming to a close sooner than you think. Believe it or not, there have actually been some savvy front-office moves from the same franchise that signed Rick DiPietro to his monstrous deal.

There is a ton of young, proven talent under contract. The Islanders drafted a stud of a defenseman, Griffin Reinhart, who could make the roster. If they can convince Lubo Visnovsky to stick around for another year or two, the Islanders could become regular attendees to the NHL playoffs.

New York Rangers: Get Rick Nash

Get Rick Nash. Or a reasonable facsimile. No one will be surprised if/when Nash gets traded to the Rangers. The only question is, who will the Rangers give to Columbus? Almost everyone not named Henrik Lundqvist or Mark Messier has been mentioned in a trade proposal for Nash.

Marion Gaborik will likely miss at least the first two to three months of the season after having rotator cuff surgery, and someone needs to pick up the slack. A big fast winger with silky-soft hands might help the Broadway faithful forget about their injured Slovakian sniper.

Ottawa Senators: Defense

No offense, Eric Karlsson, reigning Norris...ahem...Trophy winner, but the Senators need a little defense. By defense, I don't mean defensemen who can score. I mean dudes who mash opponents when they get near Craig Anderson's crease.

Karlsson is crazy-talented. That is indisputable. But the pink shirt and shiny suit above are pretty indicative of his style on the ice as well: Lots of flash and style, goals and points and baby dolls in red dresses.

The Senators desperately need a big defenseman with a mean streak and a big body. Someone who will cover for Karlsson or Sergei Gonchar when they scoot up the ice. Bryan Allen of the Hurricanes would be a nice fit, as would Justin Schultz, who is rumored to want to play in Canada.

Philadelphia Flyers: Defensive Defensemen

The Flyers finished second in the NHL in scoring, yet were near the bottom third in goals allowed. Some of this can be chalked up to inconsistent bi-polar goalie play.  What was exposed in the playoffs was a defense that got caught out of position far too often.

Re-signing defenseman Matt Carle is a priority. The acquisition of Luke Schenn will help, and Philly can use the depth.

With a limited budget, Philadelphia has to spend wisely. The Flyers were mentioned as a potential destination for unhappy Duck Bobby Ryan, which would be interesting. But what would Philly send back? Especially when Anaheim needs defense.

Phoenix Coyotes: Re-Sign Shane Doan

With all of the instability associated with the Phoenix franchise, Shane Doan has been an absolute rock of consistency. The Coyotes first need to sign their captain, then focus on getting the rest of their pending free agents back.

Dave Tippett has done an amazing job with Phoenix, and with new ownership in place, the right move is to secure the services of Doan. He has been the face of the franchise since it arrived in Phoenix. His re-signing with the Coyotes sends the right message to potential free agents.

Pittsburgh Penguins: Find a Taker for Paul Martin

No. Really. The Penguins cleared out cap space by moving Jordan Staal and it is believed that the main purpose was to become players in free agency. The Penguins will have about $15 million to go after Ryan Suter and/or Zach Parise.

It's hard to imagine how much better the offense could be with a full season of Sidney Crosby and Zach Parise. If the Pens get Parise, his scoring should offset the goals allowed while Martin is on the ice.

Logically, the Penguins need to get better on defense to keep goalie Marc-Andre Fleury sane. All the goals in the world didn't matter in last year's playoff donneybrook with Philadelphia. Getting the back of his neck sunburned from all the goals reduced Fleury to a shell of himself.

The Pens would be better served to go after Suter to build up their defense.

San Jose Sharks: Sell High

 While the aging Sharks stars still have value, San Jose can rebuild without going through any lean times. They have some rising stars in Logan Couture, Brent Burns and Joe Pavelski to go with veterans Joe Thornton, Patrick Marleau, Martin Havlat and Dan Boyle.

Shark fans will hate to hear it, but the stats of all of the older guys are already declining. Put together a package for young, hungry talent and the Sharks will get the taste of playoff failure out of their mouths.

St. Louis Blues: Lock in Young Talent

The Blues had a storybook season that began after their head coach was fired. They had a career year from goalie Brian Elliott and continued development from Alex Pietrangelo and T.J. Oshie.

The Blues need to lock in their young, rising stars to long-term deals. They were eliminated from the playoffs by an L.A. Kings team that employed the Blues' playing style against them. Keeping the core of young guys intact will give St. Louis an edge over its opponents for years to come.

Tampa Bay Lightning: Goaltending and Defense

Steve Yzerman seems to think he may have found his goalie in Anders Lindback. The former Predator backup came to the Gulf Coast via trade and will be thrust into the spotlight this fall.

The Lightning also need help on defense. Don't get me wrong, goalie Dwayne Roloson was hit or miss last year, but the Tampa defense left the netminders hanging more often than not. Size and toughness on the blue line are sorely needed.

Toronto Maple Leafs: Goaltending

The Leafs-Flyers trade was a bit of a head-scratcher. James van Riemsdyk gives the Leafs size, speed and strength up front, but Toronto loses arguably its best stay-at-home defender in Luke Schenn. The biggest issue, though, is between the pipes.

Toronto has played the mediocre goalie-carousel game over the past three seasons. Jonas Gustavsson, James Reimer and Ben Scrivens are not the answer, people! If they are, Toronto better get more scoring besides JVR.

Vancouver Canucks: Toughness

Canuck-heads will argue that Zack Kassian will fill this role, but I'm talking about a proven big, tough goal-scoring power forward. They have a fairly sizable trading card in Roberto Luongo and need to cash it in and get meaner.

Vancouver's collection of smaller skilled players were pushed around in the playoffs by the Kings. The Canucks need a hard-to-move body, or even someone who can scrap if needed. Maxim Lapierre and Alex Burrows can do one or the other, but not both. Kassian has the size and the nastiness to develop into this role, but he's not ready for prime time yet.

Washington Capitals: Scoring

The Capitals are way too talented to be so bad offensively. I realize that they sit in the top half of the league in scoring, but only barely. Washington has apparently solved their goalie problem with the emergence of Braden Holtby in the playoffs, but they need goals.

Alex Ovechkin should automatically benefit from a healthy Nicklas Backstrom. While any team would be happy with a 38-goal scorer, the Capitals are wondering if their 26-year-old star has peaked. Washington will also have to replace Ovechkin's countryman, Alexander Semin. The enigmatic sniper's  numbers have been on the decline since a peak at 84 three seasons ago.

New coach Adam Oates has already said he favors the more defensive style the Capitals employed for the latter half of last season. So it will be interesting to watch the developments.

Winnipeg Jets: Goaltending

Hey kids, if you're an inconsistent goalie with a career losing record and a GAA of 3, you too can sign a five-year, $19.5 million contract. I guess the Jets have decided that they'll stick with Ondrej Pavelec, rewarding him for how good he may potentially be. Pavelec showed some brilliance last year, but countered that by putting up some awful performances as well.

It would be easy to say that the Jets could use a scorer, but they finished in the top 12 in scoring with some non-household-name scorers like Blake Wheeler and Evender Kane. The bottom-five finish in goals allowed is what makes Pavelec's deal so confusing.

Hockey is better when Canadian teams are good, so here's to hoping that Ondrej plays up to his dollar value.