Grading Every NHL Team's 2026 Offseason So Far
There are still a few months of the NHL offseason remaining, but we are far enough into it that we can start handing out some grades for what each team has done so far.
There is still time for more trades, and a few more useful free agents remaining unsigned, but most rosters are starting to take shape. So let's check in with how each team has done.
Grades can absolutely still change before the start of the regular season, so think of this as a progress report.
This is also not a grade of each team's overall roster. It is simply a grade of the moves they have made this offseason and whether or not they are better in the short-term and long-term.
Anaheim Ducks
1 of 32
Grade so far: D
This has been a brutal offseason so far for general manager Pat Verbeek and the Ducks.
He allowed himself to get into a situation where he had to make Leo Carlsson the highest-paid player in the NHL due to an offer sheet situation, had to rush along an extension for fellow restricted free agent Pavel Mintyukov to avoid another offer-sheet situation, still has to pay Cutter Gauthier, has seen a lot of salary cap space both now and in the future evaporate, and he has still done nothing to improve a defense that was a major point of weakness a year ago.
The only major outside addition was A.J. Greer, who also added to the potential salary cap headache for the season.
Does Greer's four-year, $17 million contract move the needle here?
Where are the defensive upgrades going to come from?
This is a team that allowed 2.91 expected goals against per 60 minutes of 5-on-5 ice time a year ago and has done nothing but subtract from its blue line.
It has not been a productive offseason at all.
Boston Bruins
2 of 32
Grade so far: C+
Trading for JJ Peterka has a chance to be a nice upgrade offensively, and he should fit in with some of the core players the Bruins have in terms of his age and contract commitment. He's a good player and a nice addition. He might not be a major play-driver in terms of carrying his own line, but he can put the puck in the net.
The concern with the Bruins offseason might be what they have done on defense.
The Bruins were a very flawed defensive team in 2025-26, allowing 2.93 expected goals per 60 minutes of 5-on-5 play. That was not only 29th in the entire NHL, it was the worst mark among playoff teams.
Their solution to that? Signing Connor Clifton and trading for Will Borgen.
There is a significant drop-off on this defense once you get beyond Charlie McAvoy and Hampus Lindholm (when they are both healthy).
The moves here are probably not going to fix it.
Starting goalie Jeremy Swayman masked a lot of defensive flaws here a year ago, and he is going to have to do that again.
Buffalo Sabres
3 of 32
Grade So Far: B-
This still feels like an unfinished product.
They need another big move.
Trading for Connor Hellebuyck to solve their goaltending question would be a seismic move in the Eastern Conference. But can they pull it off?
If there is a concern, given what they have already done, it is that their offseason so far has mostly involved them subtracting from the roster, having traded defenseman Bowen Byram and losing Alex Tuch in free agency. Those weren't necessarily bad moves from a salary cap perspective, and the Byram trade might actually have turned out to be a long-term win given that it brought them back the No. 4 overall pick (used to select Daxon Rudolph) and the No. 45 pick (traded to Anaheim for Olen Zellweger). That does not even get into the fact that they did not have to pay Byram an absurd amount under an absurd contract.
The other big move was getting forward Zach Benson signed to a long-term contract extension that might turn out to be one of the better value contracts in the league.
They still need something else. The roster on paper, right now, is objectively worse than it was a year ago. But they did get a lot of good value on the moves they did make, and they still have a chance to keep adding.
Calgary Flames
4 of 32
Grade So Far: C+
The big move so far was trading for defenseman Simon Nemec. It wasn't cheap, both in terms of assets (two first-round picks) and salary (more than $7 million per season), but there's a lot to like about the gamble.
For one, Calgary had stockpiled a large number of draft picks and had draft capital to spare.
Second, Nemec is still only 22 years old and has shown flashes of top-pairing offensive ability. There is still a lot of untapped potential here that could be unlocked in the right situation and the right environment. The Flames just have to make sure they can bring it all out of him, given what they had to give up and the money they now have invested in him.
They also continued their rebuild by moving Blake Coleman to the Minnesota Wild for Jake Middleton and a bunch of future draft pick assets.
Between Nemec and Middleton the defense has been re-tooled a bit, but offense is going to remain a huge issue.
Carolina Hurricanes
5 of 32
Grade So Far: Incomplete
The reigning Stanley Cup champions have had a mostly quiet offseason, and it makes you wonder if they have something lurking.
They have $9 million in salary cap space, a potentially attractive trade chip in restricted free agent defenseman Alexander Nikishin, and four first-round picks over the next three years.
What are they going to do with all of that?
Chicago Blackhawks
6 of 32
Grade So Far: C-
The trade for Byram (giving up picks No. 4 and 45 and a prospect) and ensuing contract extension (paying him $12.5 million per year over six years) might be the most controversial move of the offseason that any team has made.
It just seems ... insane.
There is some sound logic to it. Byram is a good player, and he brings a dimension the Blackhawks need. It also isn't a terrible strategy to trade the No. 4 pick for immediate help.
But the player they chose to spend all of that on just seems ... insane.
And if not insane, at least insanely risky.
The Blackhawks need Byram to be a superstar, top-pairing, bona fide No. 1 defenseman. They need him to be a needle-mover and franchise-changer. That is what makes this trade and contract worth it. Trouble is, there is nothing in Byram's resume that suggests he is THAT good, and it's not like we're talking about a small sample size of games here. He's played a lot of hockey for two different teams and has consistently been the same player along the way: good offensive ability, questionable all-around impact.
But, at the end of the day, he does make them a little bit better, and that is worth something.
The bigger issue right now is that they haven't really done much else to improve the team, despite still swimming in salary cap space and having a cupboard full of draft picks and prospects to deal from. This roster is still full of holes and is not even close to being playoff worthy. You are going into year four of the Connor Bedard era. This is not good enough.
Colorado Avalanche
7 of 32
Grade So Far: C
They liked what they saw from veteran defenseman Brett Kulak enough to sign him to a long-term contract extension, keeping him from reaching unrestricted free agency. The $4.5 million salary cap hit for a No. 4-6 defenseman is solid value in this market, and he seems like a good fit based on the way he played down the stretch and in the playoffs.
Getting veteran forward Jaden Schwartz at $3.25 million is also good value.
But is it enough value to make up for all of the departures, including Valeri Nichushkin, Ross Colton, and Jack Drury? Is the roster better today than it was at the end of the regular season? That's certainly up for some debate.
Columbus Blue Jackets
8 of 32
Grade So Far: C+
The best thing Columbus has managed to do this season is smooth things over with Norris Trophy-winning defenseman Zach Werenski, at least to the point where he is not demanding a trade and will be there for at least this season, and maybe next season.
Getting Valeri Nichuskin for nothing but draft picks is also a nice top-six forward add to a roster that badly needs more secondary scoring.
That's still not enough help.
Columbus' big issue right now is the PR battle that comes with the uncertain futures regarding Werenski and Kirill Marchenko, as well as the fact that they still have $23 million in unused salary cap space. Granted, a lot of that cap space is going to be eaten up by restricted free agents Adam Fantilli and Cole Sillinger, but this roster still needs more help, especially offensively.
Dallas Stars
9 of 32
Grade So Far: Incomplete
Everything here is still hanging in the balance on what happens with Jason Robertson.
He is a restricted free agent with an arbitration date set, and that seems to be the deadline for what will happen with him. Will the Stars give in and pay him a long-term contract before then? Will he play out one year and then go to unrestricted free agency next summer? Or will they actually go through with a trade and send him to somebody who will pay him?
What happens there, and what happens with any hypothetical trade, will fully determine and dictate the grade.
So far, though, it has not been an overly promising offseason. Their salary cap situation led them to trade restricted free-agent forward Mavrik Bourque for a couple of draft picks, while a potential deal for Zach Werenski fell through when he vetoed a move to Dallas to remain in Columbus. They are still missing a right-shot defenseman, lost a good young forward, and could potentially lose their best forward.
Pressure is on general manager Jim Nill to successfully navigate through all of this.
Detroit Red Wings
10 of 32
Grade So Far: Incomplete
We have to go with an incomplete here again because everything is on hold until the Dylan Larkin situation gets resolved.
The Red Wings' captain requested a trade earlier this offseason, and until that happens, it's hard to really know what sort of direction this offseason is going to take.
They also now have to find a new general manager after Steve Yzerman was moved into an advisor role, which was a kind way for the Red Wings to say, "you're being demoted through a promotion."
Viktor Arvidsson was a nice addition as a middle-six winger, and they received some good value for goalie prospect Sebastian Cossa to get a first-round pick for a completely unproven goalie, but this roster still is not much better than the team that melted down in the second half of the 2025-26 season.
The new general manager needs to pull off some magic with Larkin and also find more ways to improve a largely mediocre roster.
Edmonton Oilers
11 of 32
Grade So Far: D+
This comes down to two different aspects of the team.
From a roster standpoint, there are some things to like. Getting out of Darnell Nurse's contract without having to retain anything or add in a sweetener was nice business.
Ryan Shea is a nice free agent addition on defense, even if his resume is thin. There is a risk in counting on him to be a key contributor, but even if he settles into a third-pairing role, it's not a bad deal.
Frederik Andersen can be a solid goalie when healthy, and could at least give them a safety net and platoon option with Tristan Jarry.
The re-signings of Connor Murphy and Jason Dickinson are at least fair value, and maybe even a little below market in this offseason landscape.
But I just can't figure out the Mike Babcock thing. I can't figure out why you hitch your wagon to him and Stan Bowman, given what they have done over the past decade-plus. Everybody keeps talking about how Babcock can help them win, but he hasn't won anything of significance in more than a decade.
There have been 40 NHL coaches who have won a playoff series since he last did, including 17 who have won at least one playoff series with multiple franchises.
He hasn't finished higher than third place in his own division since the 2010-11 season.
A lot of his teams in Detroit and Toronto badly underachieved, given their individual talent levels.
What is the appeal here? It seems like a desperation move.
There's also the reality that a lot of the same problems on the roster that have existed for years still exist now, including the goalie questions, the lack of scoring depth, and the lack of quality defense depth.
Florida Panthers
12 of 32
Grade So Far: A
I do not really care if Brady Tkachuk is maybe a little overrated. I do not care if three first-round picks, including the No. 9 overall pick, are a steep price to pay. None of that matters within the context of this team.
Tkachuk is one of the biggest additions of the offseason, and allows him to slide into the perfect role for the player that he is. He might not be the guy you build the team around, but as a No. 2 or 3 option on a contender, he is a tremendous player to have.
It also helps make the Panthers the most chaotic and physical team in the league. They will not only be a Stanley Cup contender again with the Tkachuk brothers and a healthy Aleksander Barkov returning, but they will also turn every game they play into a circus.
The Tkachuks, Brad Marchand, Sam Bennett, and Radko Gudas all on the same roster is a recipe for madness.
The only big question remaining was the goalie spot. They attempted to fill that by bringing back Jacob Markstrom. They don't need him to be a game-stealer. They probably won't need him to win them games. They might just need him to avoid losing games. It is a low bar. He should be able to reach it.
Los Angeles Kings
13 of 32
Grade So Far: C
It has not been a great offseason. It has not been a bad offseason. Everything they have done so far has been fine. But is "fine" good enough for what this team needs?
Mats Zuccarello on a one-year deal might be the best value signing of the offseason in free agency.
Getting Brandt Clarke locked into the contract they did ($7.4 million over five years) is fantastic value given the contracts for Pavel Mintyukov and Simon Nemec. They are all similar contracts, and Clarke is arguably a better player.
Peter Laviolette might be a boring hire, but it's not a bad hire.
They haven't done anything wrong. Everything in a vacuum is fine. But the ceiling has not shifted here. It's still a playoff team that likely does not have the horses to go much further than the first round. The retirement of Anze Kopitar leaves a big hole at center that has not been filled yet.
Minnesota Wild
14 of 32
Grade So Far: B-
Blake Coleman is a really strong addition to their top nine and seems to be a perfect fit for the way the Wild play. He is getting older, but he still brings some juice as a two-way player that can chip in some offense and lock things down defensively.
The big question here remains the lack of depth at center.
It was the big Achilles heel a year ago, and it still is now.
They missed out on getting Vincent Trocheck. But could Dylan Larkin still be an option? Do they have the assets to get him? If they can, that might take this grade from a B- to a solid A.
Montreal Canadiens
15 of 32
Grade So Far: A-
It has been a quiet offseason in terms of outside additions, but they have made two great moves to get more long-term pieces locked in to potentially team-friendly contracts.
Forward Ivan Demidov and goalie Jakob Dobes are now signed to long-term deals, joining them with Nick Suzuki, Cole Caufield, Juraj Slafkovsky, Lane Hutson, and Noah Dobson, all of whom are already signed to long-term deals.
All of them look like steals.
While it may not improve the team in the short term, any time a team can get just about all of its best core players signed to contracts that save them value relative to their market value, it is a huge win for the team. That creates salary cap space flexibility. That gives you a chance to add more significant pieces in the future. Montreal already has one of the best young teams and core groups in the league, and they are set up for long-term success over the next decade.
Nashville Predators
16 of 32
Grade So Far: B
New general manager Chris MacFarland has been one of the busiest general managers in the NHL this season, adding Ross Colton, Jack Drury, Mavrik Bourque, and Nils Hoglander, among others, to his roster in Nashville.
In a vacuum, they are all fair, solid moves. They didn't overpay for anybody. Bourque might still turn out to be a top-six player. Colton and Drury are solid depth. Combined with the veteran forwards coming back in Ryan O'Reilly, Steven Stamkos, Filip Forsberg, Jonathan Marchessault, and some of the young talent coming through the system, they might actually have a deep enough collection of forwards to seriously compete for a playoff spot.
The question is whether the defense is up to the task behind them and whether Juuse Saros still has some high-level play in him.
The overall moves are fine. But it might not be enough, and it does not really help them define a direction on where they are headed from a team-building perspective.
New Jersey Devils
17 of 32
Grade So Far: A
Sunny Mehta is off to a strong start in his first season as the Devils' general manager. He was able to get great value for Nemec in draft-pick compensation, and then managed to get No. 1 center Nico Hischier signed to a long-term deal that might be one of the best of the offseason for any team.
The additions of Evan Rodrigues and Anthony Mantha also bring much-needed depth to the scoring, while holding on to Dougie Hamilton is probably a smart move for the defense.
The Rodrigues and Mantha additions are especially nice, given what they could provide offensively. Mantha scored 33 goals a year ago and signed for a relatively cheap rate, while Rodrigues has an extensive track record as an outstanding middle-six forward for contending teams.
The goaltending is still a big question mark here after trading Jacob Markstrom, but the rest of the team definitely looks better and stronger than it did.
The wild-card here is always going to be Jack Hughes' ability to stay on the ice and avoid his seemingly yearly major injury.
New York Islanders
18 of 32
Grade So Far: D
Matias Maccelli is a solid value signing, but ... that's it?
That's all you have cooked up so far this offseason? Given the way they fell apart down the stretch and missed the playoffs, and given where this team has been over the past couple of years, that is a rather uninspiring offseason so far.
At least they have Matthew Schaefer to build around.
New York Rangers
19 of 32
Grade So Far: A
General manager Chris Drury has not done a lot of things right over the years, but you have to give credit where it is due, and it is due this offseason. He has done well. Very well. Potentially extremely well.
Pavel Dorofeyev is expensive, but he is an in-his-prime finisher who is coming off back-to-back 30-goal seasons. The Rangers desperately needed a finisher like this, and Dorofeyev was a potentially outstanding pickup for that role.
Drury also did extremely well in the Vincent Trocheck trade by acquiring Sean Durzi to add a puck-moving, offensive presence to his defense. Combined with the addition of Marcus Pettersson, as well as the departure of Will Borgen, and that is a nicely re-tooled defense that should have a very capable top-four with Adam Fox, Vladislav Gavrikov, Durzi and Pettersson. It's a big upgrade, and the type of defense they really needed two or three years ago when the rest of the team was better.
Better late than never for that improvement, I guess.
Ottawa Senators
20 of 32
Grade So Far: C
All things considered, the Senators didn't do terribly in the Brady Tkachuk trade. Their hands were tied; they had to move him, only had one team to negotiate with, and eventually walked away with William Eklund, the No. 25 overall pick and a future first-round pick as a result.
Does it make them better? Not at the moment. But Eklund is a nice get, and there is some extra salary cap flexibility next season with Tkachuk's money off the books.
Keeping defenseman Jordan Spence was also a solid move at a really good price. He has excelled in sheltered minutes and is worthy of a bigger role and a chance to show what he can do.
Philadelphia Flyers
21 of 32
Grade So Far: B-
They definitely get an A for effort as it relates to the Leo Carlsson offer sheet. Overpay in terms of money? Sure. But he would have been a perfect fit for their rebuild, and it's the type of move more teams should make.
In the end, however, it just did not work out as Anaheim matched it.
Beyond that, it's just been a lot of new contracts and re-signings for players already on the roster.
I love the Tyson Foerster extension and can see that being good long-term value.
Trevor Zegras' new deal is a sign of rising salaries amid a rising salary cap. Some risk, but not awful.
Dan Vladar's extension is a little bit more of a risk. He's been a below-average goalie most of his career, and the Flyers are banking on him repeating his 2025-26 season over the next several years. I'm not sure how much I like that gamble.
They still need to do more to get a little more offense onto the roster. Will they still be aggressive after missing out on Carlsson? They should.
Pittsburgh Penguins
22 of 32
Grade So Far: B-
They have not yet made a significant move (could a Jason Robertson or Elias Pettersson trade still be lurking?), but have made a couple of nice, smaller moves.
Nicholas Robertson fits the mold of the players they have been taking chances on over the past couple of years and have found success with. Could he find a new level and new gear with a bigger opportunity in Pittsburgh?
Similar question for Kaedan Korczak on defense. He was acquired for Parker Wotherspoon and brings a little more youth and upside, along with some long-term cost certainty to their defense. He has played well in sheltered minutes and is at the very least a very nice depth defenseman that still has some upside.
Beyond that, their offseason mirrors much of what they did a year ago. Andrei Kuzmenko is this year's Anthony Mantha reclamation project. Declan Carlile fits the profile of what Wotherspoon was when he signed in Pittsburgh a year ago.
I still would not sleep on them finding another big trade between now and the start of the regular season.
San Jose Sharks
23 of 32
Grade: B-
This has been a strange offseason.
The Sharks earned high marks for everything they did leading up to and throughout the draft. Getting Michael Kesselring was a nice addition for the defense. They had draft lottery luck that allowed them to get the No. 2 overall pick and use it on forward Ivar Stenberg. They added another top-10 pick by moving William Eklund to Ottawa and picking a top defense prospect. They really did a nice job adding to their already strong young core.
Even the start of free agency was good with the signing of Mason Marchment. He's exactly what they needed at forward as a two-way player that can push play and provide some scoring depth.
But things went a little sideways when they committed $17 million in salary cap space over the next four years to Darnell Nurse and Jacob Trouba.
One of them would have been fine, if only a little questionable. They did, after all, not only need some veterans on defense but also just some bodies on defense.
Both of them are overkill and redundant, and they take away some salary cap flexibility in the future. I don't love the moves there.
Seattle Kraken
24 of 32
Grade So Far: D
This offseason just seems like more of the same for a Kraken team that just can not take the next step.
They also have to deal with the terrible optics of having a trade in place for Jason Robertson, only to have him turn down a huge contract extension and not want to go there.
Overall, Mackie Samoskevich is a fine add and a decent gamble at the price they paid (a late first-round pick). Maybe he breaks out and becomes a top-line player. But it's more likely that he's another middle-six winger that doesn't make a huge difference.
Same story for re-signing veteran forward Bobby McMann. Good player, but very similar to what they already have in abundance.
Shane Wright also seems to be on his way out the door after never fully developing in Seattle.
It was a below average team at the start of the offseason, and nothing has really changed a month into the offseason.
St. Louis Blues
25 of 32
Grade So Far: D
I love that, so far, they have kept Robert Thomas and seem to have made him the focal point of the franchise. The word "underrated" gets thrown around a little too loosely in hockey, but he might actually be underrated. There are few players in hockey who are better playmakers and possession drivers than him. He is good. Really good. Trading him would have been a massive mistake.
I don't love the rest of their offseason.
Maybe Connor McMichael can still develop into a top-line player, but he's a downgrade from Jordan Kyrou.
They had a surplus of first-round picks (four, to be exact), and I like that they used some of them to get a younger, somewhat established player in Mason McTavish, but I don't really love the player they gambled on. McTavish took a big step backwards in Anaheim this past season, and there is some question as to whether or not his skating and all-around play are going to allow him to become the player he was originally expected to be.
Brandon Carlo is an okay addition on defense, but he's 29 and not really the same player he was earlier in his career.
There is a solid young core here with Thomas, Dylan Holloway, Jimmy Snuggerud, and Jake Neighbours, but they still have some big questions on defense and a goalie that they shouldn't trust.
Tampa Bay Lightning
26 of 32
Grade So Far: B-
John Carlson is a really outstanding replacement for Darren Raddysh, and I think there's a chance that Carlson actually has a better season in 2026-27.
Ilya Mikheyev is also a solid value signing that brings some two-way play to the middle of the lineup. He fits.
Beyond that, the rest of the offseason has been a little quiet, and maybe even underwhelming.
A five-year contract for Jeffrey Viel seems like a preposterous overreaction to what Florida has done in terms of adding cage-rattling physicality.
While this is still a very good team on paper with high-end talent, the bottom line is this was a flawed team in terms of depth a year ago, has not won a playoff series in several years, and has not really added much to fix some of those flaws. They're good. They're a playoff team. But are they still a Stanley Cup team?
Toronto Maple Leafs
27 of 32
Grade So Far: B
Winning the draft lottery, keeping the No. 1 pick, and using it to select Gavin McKenna is doing a lot of work for the offseason here. Is there luck involved in that? Completely. But they resisted any temptation there might have been to do something dumb like trade out of that spot, or overthink the pick and not take McKenna. So props for that. They might be the right choice, and it should be a potentially franchise-altering move.
They also didn't overthink it by trading Mathew Knies (at least not yet) or Auston Matthews.
The eight-year contract for Darren Raddysh is a sizable risk, simply because he has such a small track record of playing like a top-pairing defenseman and is already 30 years old. In theory, he is a good fit given his skill set and what Toronto needed coming into the offseason, but it's probably one of the biggest boom-or-bust contracts signed this offseason.
Beyond that, everything here is just kind of a hodgepodge of guys thrown together.
They are really trying to overhaul their depth pieces and improve the bottom-six's defensive play, but scoring depth will still be a big concern. Perhaps an even bigger concern than it was a year ago.
Sergei Bobrovsky is a big name in net, but he is 37 years old and coming off what was, by far, the worst season of his career. That's an expensive gamble at $7 million per year.
Utah Mammoth
28 of 32
Grade So Far: A
The JJ Peterka experience did not work out as they had originally hoped, but they were able to get some first-round picks for him, which gave them the flexibility to trade one for a potential goalie solution in Sebastian Cossa. Cossa is a total wild-card, but does bring some upside to a position that needs a long-term upgrade.
Vincent Trocheck is exactly what they needed down the middle, and his salary cap number is probably a steal in the current market. He's not a No. 1 center, but as a No. 2 or 3 that can play defensive minutes and free up more players offensively, he's a really strong addition.
Anders Lee is also a really strong free agent move. He's getting a little older, but he can still score some garbage goals around the net and bring some complementary scoring.
Nothing overly sexy here this offseason, but just a couple of really solid moves that could add up into a big win.
Vancouver Canucks
29 of 32
Grade So Far: C-
This is going to be another long year for Canucks fans as some sort of rebuild moves on.
Probably their best move of the offseason is one they won't see any return on for at least five years (likely more), and that was getting a 2030 first-round pick for defenseman Marcus Pettersson. Pettersson wasn't really doing much for them in the short-term, and a first-round pick, even four years in the future, is still a nice long-term asset to have.
Beyond that, it's just a lot of deck-chair shuffling.
Nils Hoglander is out.
Brendan Gallagher is in.
Pettersson is out.
Jamie Oleksiak is in.
The unanswered question here is what other moves might follow over the next few months. Do they finally end the Elias Pettersson era? Do Jake DeBrusk or Brock Boeser move somewhere? Still a team to watch this summer.
Vegas Golden Knights
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Grade So Far: D
Despite the D grade for the offseason, I think there's a very good chance this team wins more games in 2026-27 than it did in 2025-26. Especially if the injury luck is a little better, and if the goaltending is even somewhat competent over a full season.
I'm not sure if that will translate into a better postseason showing (because the only thing that would do that is winning the Stanley Cup), but I can easily see more wins here in the regular season.
But the offseason itself has still been .... underwhelming.
Pavel Dorofeyev is a big loss with no immediate help yet coming back. Could they still be in on Dylan Larkin? Maybe. And that would certainly help the grade.
I don't love the Kaedan Korczak for Parker Wotherspoon trade, especially within the context of re-signing Jeremy Lauzon and Rasmus Andersson for a combined salary cap hit of $12 million per year.
When Alex Pietrangelo goes on LTIR, they will still have a lot of salary cap flexibility, and given the way Vegas operates, that could mean another big move. If and when that happens, it would significantly impact the grade here.
Washington Capitals
31 of 32
Grade So Far: A
The Capitals needed to upgrade their offense and forward depth, and wow, did they do that with the Jordan Kyrou, Alex Tuch, and Boone Jenner additions. Tuch's contract might not age well over the duration of it (in fact, it almost certainly will not), but in the short-term, he and Kyrou bring the Capitals lineup exactly what they needed.
They were one of the worst teams in the league a year ago at generating offense off the rush, and both players excel in that area. Jenner is also a solid depth addition, and when combined with the return of a healthy Pierre-Luc Dubois and some of the other forward talent still on the roster (including Alex Ovechkin, who is back for another year), this has the makings of a sleeper contender in the Eastern Conference. Especially if starting goalie Logan Thompson puts together another season that is even in the same ballpark as the one he had a year ago.
Do not let last year's non-playoff season fool you. This was a better team than its record indicated, and in most years would have been a playoff team in the Eastern Conference.
The roster coming back this season is even better. This is going to be a very, very good hockey team and one you need to watch and keep an eye on in the Eastern Conference.
Winnipeg Jets
32 of 32
Grade So Far: C
It has been a typical Kevin Cheveldayoff offseason: Boring. Inactive. Methodical. Dull.
Stuart Skinner is a nice backup goalie upgrade, but will he have to take on a bigger role than that if Connor Hellebuyck gets traded?
Mario Ferraro should help solidify the defense depth, but how much he solidifies it is a big question.
The Jets did not go from the Presidents' Trophy to out of the playoffs in one year by accident. This is a flawed team that has a lot of holes, and while some smaller ones were plugged, there is still a chance a bigger one emerges (if Hellebuyck gets traded) while some others still exist.
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