Steven Stamkos, George McPhee and the Most Successful NHL Moves This Summer

This NHL offseason has been marked with high-profile shake-up trades, big name RFA signings and a fairly weak unrestricted free agent pool that saw most of the big names gone within the first week. Some teams desperately scrambled to add, subtract, tinker and toy with different lineups while others remained quiet, hoping to build from within so to speak. This article serves as a no holds barred ranking of the top four moves based off of their possible positive impacts, both immediate and far reaching. Let’s begin the slideshow.

Honorable Mentions

Hurricanes sign Anthony Stewart

Stewart had a career year, increasing his previous highest point total of seven points in 59 games to 39 in 80 games this past season with Atlanta. Oddly enough, the newly founded Winnipeg franchise decided against qualifying the 26-year-old right winger, allowing the Hurricanes to scoop him up for a paltry 900k a season.

Havlat-Heatley trade

This trade gets an honorable mention solely because of how dead even it is. The Sharks needed speed, the Wild needed a sniper and the newly buddy-buddy trade partners made a deal. Although Havlat had fewer points this past season, he also sheds $2.5 million off of the Sharks' cap, which is often tight on the deep Sharks club.

Brad Richards in the Big Apple

The biggest name of the offseason got scooped up on July 2nd by the New York Rangers. Although this franchise is known for making very bad free agent signings, Richards appears to actually be able to provide the offense that New York has been promised before when inking big names to big deals. The Rangers probably wish it didn't have to cost them $60 million over the next nine years, however.

4. Calgary's Regehr, Kotalik and a 2nd Round Pick for Buffalo's Butler, Byron

A relatively under-mentioned trade saw Buffalo acquire a sturdy stay-at-home veteran in Regehr, a second-round pick in a deep draft as well as recent cap burden Ales Kotalik. The trade is number four on the list because of how little Buffalo had to give up in return.

Although Butler will most likely make the Calgary roster, he took a step back this season, and Byron still needs much more development time to make this trade come close to even. Regehr has played in 75 games or more in the past five seasons and his sturdy veteran presence could lead to a deep Cup run for Buffalo this season. Kotalik has lost a step, or two, or three since his 62-point stint in Buffalo in 2005-06, but may be able to find new light with his old team. If he doesn't, however, his contract can still be waived. 

3. Flyers Move Jeff Carter for Jacket’s Voracek, Couturier and a 3rd Rounder

Philadelphia had no shortage of tricks up their sleeves this offseason, making two surprising moves with the LA Kings and Columbus Blue Jackets, trading away centers Mike Richards and Jeff Carter respectively. Philadelphia won this trade solely because of how desperate Columbus was for a No. 1 center to play along with star forward Rick Nash. Carter, although a definite offensive threat, accumulated only 66 points this regular season and even worse, just two points in the playoffs. Voracek, who is only 21, managed to put up 46 and 50 points on an anemic Columbus offense for the past two seasons. Coupled with super prospect Sean Couturier in the entry draft, Philly GM Paul Holgrem looks like a mastermind for this trade. 

2. RFA Stamkos Signs a Five-Year, $37.5 Million Contract with Tampa Bay

Among the literally hundreds of rumors surrounding Stamkos after July 1st, the most likely was a re-signing with the resurgent Tampa Bay Lightning. This signing is number two on the list for both the amount and term of his contract. GM Steve Yzerman retained the future face of his franchise for a hefty $7.5 million cap hit. This is more than respectable, however, when compared to some of the closest forwards to that hit: Vincent Lecavalier, Dany Heatley and Scott Gomez seem to pale in comparison to Steven Stamkos. Yzerman negotiating a five-year term is genius because it locks in Stamkos long enough to impact the franchise but short enough to ensure that any major downswing in Stamkos’ game (obviously unlikely) won’t burden their cap for the next 10 to15 years down the road a la Rick Dipietro. 

1. Capitals Trade Semyon Varlamov to Colorado for 2012 1st and 2nd Round Picks

We all were thinking it.

Desperate for an elite goaltender, Colorado gambled and seemingly lost in the negotiations with GM George McPhee for Semyon Varlamov by trading away their first and second round picks in the 2012 entry draft. Seeing as how this draft has been touted as the deepest since 2003 AND that Colorado is expected to be in the bottom five teams come next summer, the scales seem tilted in Washington’s favor. Besides the Washington Capitals, no team in the league wants to see Backstrom, Ovechkin, Semin and Russian phenom Nail Yakupov, who is rated to go first overall next year, on the same team. Grouped in with the steal of free agency in Tomas Vokoun’s $1.5 million signing, George McPhee places first in the top four best moves of the offseason for his clever general manager footwork with this move.