NHL Free Agents 2011: Biggest Need for Each Team Heading Into Summer
With the Stanley Cup Finals about to come to a close, each team now begins to look forward and set their goals for the following season.
Obviously every team would like to win the Stanley Cup, but for many teams in the league that isn't entirely realistic.
Some teams will set a goal of moving up in their division, while others will simply hope to be able to make the playoffs.
Whatever the team's respective goals are, the first step to getting there is finding what players will help address each team's needs.
So here is a look at what each team needs to address over the summer.
Edmonton Oilers
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The Edmonton Oilers found themselves in the bottom of the standings of the NHL for the second year in a row.
They have a lot of good pieces to their puzzle with the likes of Jordan Eberle and Taylor Hall, but they definitely have some holes left to fill.
Perhaps the thing that the Oilers need to address the most is their blue line.
Edmonton is very big on defense, but not incredibly talented.
The really lack that type of defenseman that can play in every situation that the game has to offer.
The also have the benefit of having an insane amount of room underneath the salary cap, which may go as high as $62 million for next season.
With this space, Edmonton could potentially take a run at restricted free agent Shea Weber, who fits the young mold of their team (at age 25) and gives them that top tier defenseman that plays in all situations.
If they don't want to have to deal with the compensatory picks they would lose for signing Weber, they could try for Drew Doughty, or maybe even see about snapping up Kevin Bieksa from divisional rival Vancouver.
The cap space they have gives them the freedom to do pretty much anything.
Colorado Avalanche
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There are a ton of things that need to be dealt with in the Colorado Avalanche organization from a personnel standpoint.
The most obvious need that one could think of is staying healthy, as the Avalanche had the most man-games lost to injury in the Western Conference.
As for the players on the ice, the biggest need is a legitimate number one goalie that can handle a load of 60 to 70 games for the regular season.
It seemed that the Avalanche had that with Craig Anderson, but things definitely went south with that whole relationship, leaving the Avalanche with two glorified back-up goalies.
Peter Budaj appears to be done with his days in an Avalanche sweater, and Brian Elliott was not much better.
Both goalies gave up soft goals all year long and never seemed comfortable.
A horrendous defensive team didn't help the cause, but something that will give confidence to even the worst of teams is a big time number one goalie.
Possible solutions could include Tomas Vokoun, Jean-Sebastien Giguere, or Ilya Bryzgalov.
The Bryzgalov train seems to have run its course, as his negotiating rights were traded to the Flyers, but that doesn't mean that a deal is done just yet.
In the end, I think the Avalanche look to address the issue with Tomas Vokoun, which would make him the second Panthers goalie the Avalanche have signed in the last three years.
Hopefully this one works out better than the last guy.
Florida Panthers
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The Florida Panthers are another team that has a lot of issues on all sides of the ice that they need to address in the off-season.
The most important thing that they should be looking to address, in my opinion, is offense.
The Panthers were tied for the third fewest number of goals scored in the entire NHL, and their team stats are not a very pretty sight.
Their highest scorer had a grand total of 46 points, and all but seven of the players on this roster scored fewer than 20 points this year.
In the simplest terms possible, that is just not going to cut it by any standard.
The Panthers do have some good young players in Mike Santorelli, David Booth, and Steven Weiss, but they seriously lack a big time scoring threat.
Each of those guys does alright on their own, but with the presence of a big time sniper on that team, defenses will open up a bit more as they try to find out which player they need to take away.
Florida could make a run at Zach Parise or even try to use that excess cap space to try and lure Steven Stamkos (though highly doubtful) from their in-state rival in Tampa Bay.
Florida definitely needs to be thinking offense this offseason.
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New York Islanders
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The Islanders are still looking to find themselves as a team, and I don't think that they are too far away.
Offensively, the Islanders were very respectable this past season, but struggled defensively once again.
The Islanders do seem to have a little bit of a goalie controversy on their hands as they have a ton of money tied up in Rick DiPietro, but had far more success with Al Montoya.
It's hard to say how that sort of thing will play out, but I think the Islanders may be better off going with Montoya, especially with DiPietro's history of injuries.
The biggest thing that could really help the Islanders, in my opinion, would be an offensive minded defenseman.
The highest scoring defenseman for the team had 27 points (4 goals, 23 assists). To add a defenseman that could not only play solidly in his own zone, but also be counted on for about 40 points a season would be a huge boost.
I think some of their defensive issues will begin to be solved as their younger players begin to mature.
Ottawa Senators
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The Senators were absolutely aneomic on the offensive side of the puck this past season. They scored the second fewest goals in the NHL.
The had only one player eclipse the 20 goal mark, Jason Spezza, and a grand total of seven Ottawa players tallied double digits in goals.
This problem absolutely needs to be solved in Ottawa.
To say that Ottawa needs offense is kind of like telling little Jimmy that the fish needs to stay in the water tank in order to live; it just goes without saying.
The Senators have about $14.6 million in cap space coming up for free agency, so they could make a splash come the first of July, should they choose to.
They could make a run at Parise if they wanted, but it's hard to say who the Sens might be most interested in over the summer.
Winnipeg Franchise
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Winnipeg is finally getting a hockey team back, so whatever roster moves this team decides to make will be a good thing by the fans because at least they'll have an NHL product to cheer for again.
This team does have a lot of good things to start with.
They have a very good, young goalie in Ondrej Pavalec.
Andrew Ladd has emerged as a great leader for this team, and is very productive on the ice.
They acquired a stud on the blue line in Dustin Byfuglien, who gives them a defenseman with a lot of size, ability, and a gigantic slap shot.
There's a lot of good stuff here, but they still have a lot of needs to address.
If I'm the new GM of the Winnipeg franchise, I think I really need two things that you can get out of one type of player.
They really need some good two-way forwards who can put the puck in the net, but are still solid in their own zone.
The Thrashers gave up the second most goals in the NHL in the 2010-2011 season, which led to the downfall of what was a very promising season.
On the offensive side of them, two of their top three scorers on the team are defensemen. They need a lot more production from the people up front.
One thing that they finally have is a new owner that is going to be committed to making them better.
Sure, Winnipeg is a lot colder than Atlanta, but if I'm a player on this team, I'm really excited to be moving to Winnipeg.
Columbus Blue Jackets
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The Blue Jackets have been struggling with finding some kind of consistency ever since they came into existence.
As an expansion team, obviously people don't really expect that much from you in the first few years you're around, but Columbus has been around the block a few times now and has only been to the playoffs once.
Defense and consistency in their net are the two big things that continue to give them trouble year in and year out.
They seem to like Steve Mason in goal, and who wouldn't like a goalie that comes in and wins the Calder Trophy for rookie of the year?
So that leaves defense.
Columbus could really benefit from a defenseman that could also put up about 30 points a season, but more importantly a defenseman that is a real shut down guy.
That's a tough combination to find, so they might have to sacrifice one of those two aspects. If I'm the GM, I find that shut down guy that you can play for 25 minutes a game or more.
Columbus has room to play with in the salary cap, so they could go make a big splash if they wanted.
New Jersey Devils
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The New Jersey Devils scored the fewest goals in the entire league this past seasons.
Yeah, it seems that $100 million contract that Kovalchuk signed hurt his wrist shot so much that he could barely even manage 30 goals.
We should spray paint "was it worth it?" on the ice in New Jersey.
Which brings me to the biggest need for the Devils: a set-up man.
During this past season, the Devils' leading assist man was Patrik Elias, with 41.
This was 10 more assists than the next player on the Devils' roster.
Patrik Elias is a fantastic player, but his game is not about being a play-maker: he's a sniper.
The New Jersey Devils will start free agency with about $7 million in cap space, and several players to try and deal with, which will make finding a really good option difficult.
Brad Richards, the best set-up man available, will command a very healthy salary, so he's pretty well out.
Depending on what happens, perhaps a guy like Tomas Fleischmann could be a good answer for the Devils, though I remain pretty sure the Avalanche will re-sign him.
Trying to retain Zach Parise should also be a big point of emphasis for the Devils, but because of his abilities and the fact that he has two 40 goal seasons in the last three years, the Devils may have their hands tied when it comes to being able to match another club's offer.
Toronto Maple Leafs
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The Maple Leafs are very, very close to being serious contenders for the Stanley Cup.
The first step that they will need to take is getting into the playoffs, and they could really use a number one center to help get them there.
Not just a center that happens to play on their first line, but a center that has the ability to score himself and also set up his teammates.
There happens to be a guy like that sitting right at the top of the free agency charts this coming year.
You may have heard of him; does the name Brad Richards ring a bell?
As time has gone by, the Leafs seem to be more and more of a real contender in the Richards sweepstakes, and you'd have to think that Brian Burke would easily want to take the best player available.
Richards provides the ability to not only play on the top line, but when his team is on the power play, he can quarterback the power play from the point with great results.
His vision is great, he has a very underrated shot, and he's only 31.
Minnesota Wild
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The Minnesota Wild will definitely be undergoing a few changes before the start of next season.
According to their GM, they are interested in trading pretty much anybody on the team, with the exception of Mikko Koivu.
So what sorts of things do they need to look for?
Well, Minnesota is pretty well set in goal and on defense.
They have some pretty good talent up front, but still really lack a prime time goal scorer.
Martin Havlat is the closest thing that they have, and he is capable of putting the puck in the net, but he has only broken the 30 goal plateau once in his career.
That might change if the new coach the Wild brings in a more offensive system with him, but Havlat also never managed to score 30 goals with the Chicago Blackhawks.
Bringing an elite goal scorer in that could help make their offense more of a threat is something that would definitely benefit the Wild.
St. Louis Blues
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The St. Louis Blues really did a good job of addressing some serious team needs towards the end of last season.
Getting Chris Stewart gives them a power forward who will be able to score big goals and play physically.
Kevin Shattenkirk gives them a great young defenseman who is solid in his own zone and also produces very well offensively.
Acquiring Jaroslav Halak before the start of last season really gave them a solid number one goalie, and he performed very well throughout the season.
Something else that could seriously benefit St. Louis is a set-up man.
Kevin Shattenkirk actually led the team in assists with 34.
Getting a solid, play-making forward that can play on the same line as Chris Stewart would be a great addition to their team and make their offense even more potent.
Carolina Hurricanes
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Carolina's void is one that is pretty easy to see once you really take a look at their numbers.
Carolina was 12th in the league for goals scored during the 2010-2011 regular season. Pretty good.
However, Carolina was in the bottom 10 of the league for goals against during this past season. Not so good.
They are set in goal with Cam Ward, who played in 74 regular season games this year, so the next place to look is defense.
Carolina would really benefit from some good depth on the blue line, especially when it comes to penalty killing, which ranked 20th in the league.
Carolina's offense is pretty solid, and the team would really benefit from a solid defenseman or two.
New York Rangers
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The Rangers are rumored to be buying out the last year of Chris Drury's contract, which should free up a decent amount of cap space to make some moves in free agency.
Perhaps the thing that they could use the most is a solid number one center that can quarterback their power play as well.
The Rangers are no doubt looking to make space to try and make a run at Brad Richards, who would help take their offense from pretty good to potent.
Richards is number one for the Rangers.
Calgary Flames
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The Flames were one of the league's biggest enigmas this past season.
Calgary is usually very competitive all the way through the year, but an incredibly slow start to the season caused the Flames to fall just short of making the playoffs.
Offense is really never a problem for Calgary, and this year was no different, as they ranked seventh in the NHL in goals scored.
Consistency on defense was the big problem, and that is what they should address the most in the offseason in both their forwards and defense.
19th in the league for goals against is not going to help anybody make the playoffs.
Dallas Stars
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Dallas has a lot of good offense, but a great deal of that offense is set up by the guy that they have said they aren't going to offer a contract extension to: Brad Richards.
Dallas wasn't fantastic at either offense or defense this year, ranking in the middle of the pack in both, but they will need to address the loss of Richards.
Finding a number one center, and somebody to quarterback their power play should be on the top of their list for the offseason.
Buffalo Sabres
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The Sabres are another team that have a lot of good things going for them.
They have a solid core of young, talented players that is coupled with great leadership.
They are deceptively good offensively, and incredibly solid on the defensive side of things as well.
The thing that I think could benefit the Sabres the most is a high profile center.
The Sabres have several good centers, but only one of them broke the 40 point plateau during this past season: Tim Connolly.
With most of their scoring coming from the wings, a higher profile center that could tally 50 to 60 points for them might be something that could vault them from a team that could make the playoffs to a team that could win their division and make a deep playoff run.
I'm going to be very interested to see what Buffalo does with their free agent moves.
Montreal Canadiens
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Montreal is a team on the rise.
They have a fantastic young goalie, great veteran leadership, and some pretty good younger talent as well.
Something they need to address in order to move from the lower seeds of the playoffs to the higher seeds is offense.
They have some good offensive power with Brian Gionta and Mike Cammalleri, but more is needed.
A scoring power forward with some good size is something that would be a great compliment to the skill level that Cammalleri brings.
Plus, a bigger player like that could be in front of the net and help out young star P.K. Suban with his productivity from the blue line would be useful as well.
Size and offense should be on Montreal's wish list.
Chicago Blackhawks
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The Blackhawks are really not in terrible shape as far as their personnel goes.
Salary issues forced them to do some dismantling of their championship roster, but they still are a very threatening team.
To me, the thing that the Blackhawks need most is a clone of Dustin Byfuglien.
Remembering all of the things that he did in order to help get the Blackhawks to the promised land really highlights the lack of those things in this year's team.
Sure, Toews and Kane are fantastic players with an insane amount of skill, but they need that really big body to go be directly in front of the net, with players hanging all over him but not being able to budge him, and just bang home the ugly goals.
Byfuglien did that over and over during the Blackhawks' run to the Stanley Cup, and that is something that they seriously need back.
Los Angeles Kings
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The Kings did their best to address one of their biggest issues at the trade deadline by acquiring Dustin Penner from the Edmonton Oilers.
Penner was okay, but didn't really help out the way that the Kings had hoped.
L.A. was 25th in the league in goals scored this season, and the goals that they did score mostly came from the same line.
L.A. needs secondary scoring in a bad way, especially if Kopitar isn't able to come back from his injury and be as effective of a scorer as he was this past season.
Somebody like Simon Gagne could be a good addition to the team. Somebody to quietly help take the load off of the top line scorers and be very effective on the second power play unit may be needed as well.
Phoenix Coyotes
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Phoenix's inability to sign Ilya Bryzgalov will leave a gigantic hole in their net.
Bryzgalov was easily one of the reasons that the Coyotes had as much success as they have had in the last couple of seasons.
The Coyotes now also join the list of teams that are going to need to be on the lookout for a legitimate number one goalie, unless the Coyotes are convinced that they can get all that they need out of Jason Labarbera.
On the bright side for the Coyotes, they do seem to have a decent amount of space in their salary cap to be able to go find somebody.
They also really need an owner, preferably one who will be willing to put his own money up rather than take a loan from the city of Glendale. That way they won't have to deal with all those Goldwater guys.
Or they can just move back to Canada. Either way, they need an owner.
Nashville Predators
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Acquiring Mike Fisher from the Ottawa Senators was a great start for the Predators, who were still among the league's lowest scoring teams this year.
Only two players on the team managed to reach 50 points this season, but Nashville was a team that managed to get contributions from a lot of different people.
Something that could really benefit Nashville is a big time scorer that could take all those contributions other players are making and add another 30 goals or so to their total.
If Nashville could add somebody like that, they would be one of the best overall teams in the league, since they already have a great defense.
Anaheim Ducks
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The biggest problem for the Anaheim Ducks was in goal.
When Jonas Hiller was injured, the Ducks hoped that Dan Ellis would be able to fill the void left by their number one goalie.
Ellis was okay but not really what they were hoping for. So much so that the Ducks dipped deep into the pool of potential goalies and came up with Ray Emery, who played very well for them.
The biggest thing that the Ducks need this summer is for Hiller to get better and come back ready to perform at the start of the year again.
The Ducks have great offensive numbers and could use a few players to help their depth on defense, but all-in-all, this team looks very good going forward.
I wouldn't expect many big moves from the Ducks.
Tampa Bay Lightning
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Tampa is in a slightly different boat than the rest of the NHL.
Where a lot of teams have people that they don't mind losing to free agency, Tampa Bay is filled with players that they probably are going to want to keep.
Leading the way is restricted free agent Steven Stamkos.
The absolute most important thing that Tampa Bay needs to do to continue their success is re-sign Steven Stamkos to a long term deal.
After that, Tampa Bay has questions to answer in goal.
Will Dwayne Roloson be back for another year, or is he going to retire?
If he retires, do you hitch your wagon long-term to Mike Smith?
If not, what type of goalie do you want to go get? One that is a clear number one and keep Smith as a back-up, or one that will come into camp competing with Smith for the number one job?
After Stamkos, goalie seems to be the biggest question mark for the Lightning.
Boston Bruins
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Boston is another team that you look at and don't see too many holes.
They have two great goalies, a very good defense, and great scoring that comes from a lot of different places.
This definitely explains why they are playing for the Stanley Cup this year and the fact that they were the best team in the NHL in 5-on-5 scoring.
If there is a place where Boston should look to improve themselves this year, it's on their power play.
During the regular season, Boston's power play was ranked 20th in the league and it has been completely non-existent, with very few exceptions, during the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
Boston needs to find a player, or two that can help their dismal power play become more of a threat.
Whether that is somebody like Steven Stamkos who can stand at the top of one of the face-off circles and blast one-timers, or somebody like Tomas Holmstrom who can put on deflection clinics in front of the net.
Yes, I know that Holmstrom is not a free agent, and I know that the likelihood of Stamkos coming to Boston is minimal, they are just my examples.
At any rate, if Boston could actually get their power play to have any type of consistency, they would be almost impossible to stop.
Detroit Red Wings
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The Red Wings are always a very complete team, but will find themselves with some key holes to fill in their line-up this year.
With the retirement of defenseman Brian Rafalski and potentially letting go long-time Wings players Kris Draper and Chris Osgood, the Red Wings will have some major shoes to fill this off-season.
Add in the fact that 41 year old captain Niklas Lidstrom and 41 year old Mike Modano may also be tempted to call it quits after very long careers, and the Red Wings may be on the re-build.
I don't think Lidstrom is going to go just yet, but the possibility remains.
So what do the Red Wings need?
The Red Wings will need to fill those voids, most specifically the one that could be left by Kris Draper.
Draper is an often overlooked part of that team that fills a very important role.
He's easily one of the better third line checking centers to play the game (as an Avalanche fan, it's hard for me to say nice things about Draper, since I hate his guts, so this is high praise!), and is an exceptional penalty killer.
They'd probably benefit from bringing in some younger players as well, because Detroit, as a team, is still pretty old.
San Jose Sharks
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The Sharks may have some potential issues this coming summer, as they only have a bit more than $7 million in cap space to try and re-sign 10 free agents.
The most notable player they will have to try and keep is Devin Setoguchi, but their hands may be tied if another team makes him a substantial offer.
Setoguchi should be the Sharks' biggest focus in the summer time.
Pittsburgh Penguins
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The Penguins will have one of their biggest issues solved by the return of Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin, but that is just part of their solutions.
The Penguins need to have some secondary scoring.
Just take a look at the team's stats. Sidney Crosby played only half of the season, but still lead the team in scoring by about 16 points.
The nearest player was defenseman Kris Letang.
A guy who only played 41 games in the season should not be outscoring a guy who played 70 plus games by the margin Crosby was.
Now, it does give a picture of just how well Crosby had been playing, but it also shows how invisible the rest of the team seemed to be.
Luckily for the Penguins, they were fantastic defensively all season, but some secondary scoring is needed in a bad way.
Philadelphia Flyers
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This one is probably one of the easiest of all of these teams to figure out.
The Philadelphia Flyers need a goalie, and then they need to stick with that goalie through thick and thin.
It's easy to like your goalie when he's winning games for you, but the Flyers seem to refuse to stay with a goalie when things are tough, and you're just not going to win a Stanley Cup when you're basically playing Yahtzee with all of your goalies.
They have acquired the negotiating rights to Ilya Bryzgalov, but now they need to find a way to make it work with his salary, otherwise they could lose him as well.
Goalie, goalie, goalie!!!
Washington Capitals
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Washington used to be a live by the sword, die by the sword kind of team.
Meaning they always loved that run and gun style of play and didn't always seem to play the best defense that they could have.
Well, this year was very different. Rather than being one of the top scoring teams in the league, Washington fell to 19th in the league in scoring.
The big contrast was that they were fourth in the league in goals allowed.
So, it seems strange to say it, but Washington might want to spend a little bit of money this off-season trying to find some supplemental scoring.
You know that Ovechkin is going to get his goals, but more contributions would help, especially if they are able to keep up that kind of defense they showed this year.
Vancouver Canucks
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Vancouver was clearly the best team in the NHL, largely because they had the deepest roster in the league filled with role players who all embraced their roles and performed them exceptionally.
On the down side, Vancouver finds themselves in a bit of a quandary when it comes to salary.
Several of their top players, especially on the blue line, are all free agents at the end of this season and may garner some serious contracts on the free market.
Kevin Bieksa, Christian Ehrhoff, and Sami Salo are all unrestricted free agents.
Vancouver is going to have to make some very difficult choices about who they want to keep and who they want to let go.
So Vancouver's biggest need, in my mind, will be to replace their losses on defense, for as cheap as possible.
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