NHL Trade Scenarios: One Area in Which Each Team Still Needs to Improve

The Boston Bruins may have won the Stanley Cup last season, but they were far from perfect. Every team has room for improvement. Even after a tumultuous offseason, every team could use an improvement in a certain aspect of their game. Whether its goaltending, depth, forwards, defense, physicality or speed, each team could use something.

We will now look at each and every team and look at their greatest hole heading into the season. 

Anaheim Ducks: Depth

After their deadly Corey Perry-Ryan Getzlaf-Bobby Ryan line, the Ducks don't have much offensive firepower. Their other forwards consist of a mix of unproven and aging players. Guys like Randy Sexton and newly signed Andrew Cogliano have never put up great numbers. Others like Saku Koivu and Jason Blake are over the hill. Teemu Selanne's return will be a great help, but that is uncertain. 

Boston Bruins: High Profile Scorer

The Boston Bruins proved last spring they don't need a big name scorer to win the Cup. Their leading scorer in the regular season had 62 points. The truth is, Boston won as a team. It's going to be very difficult to be able to repeat without a consistent scorer. Boston could definitely use some of the scorers New York has, and if they had one of those guys, they would be a perennial Stanley Cup contender. Not to say they won't contend this year, but it sure makes things a lot easier with a deadly scorer. 

Buffalo Sabres: Veteran Leadership

The Sabres have a pretty solid team going into this season. However, other than Ryan Miller, they really don't have a leader. Their best players are fairly young, from the newly signed Ville Leino to their massive defenseman Tyler Myers. Derek Roy and Thomas Vanek are going to have to lead this team, and they are more than capable of doing it, but even so, all champions need a Mark Recchi type of player on their team, and the Sabres don't have one. 

Calgary Flames: Secondary Scoring

We all know that Jarome Iginla can put up 40 goals every year. The Flames first line is stacked, and their second line is pretty decent with up and coming star David Moss. However, the Flames only had nine players last year that scored 10 or more goals last season. On the contrary, the defending champion Boston Bruins had 12 players. If Iginla's having an off night, who is going to carry the load? The Flames are hoping guys like Tom Kostopoulos, Daymond Langkow and Mikael Backlund do the job. 

Carolina Hurricanes: Physicality

The Hurricanes were in the bottom third in the league in penalty minutes last season. Looking at their roster, they really don't have that one scary goon that will drop the gloves. They're a finesse team more than anything. 

Chicago Blackhawks: Backup Goaltending

Considering backup goaltenders generally play a quarter of regular season games, it may be a huge concern for the Blackhawks that they have an unproven goalie backing up an another unproven goalie. Corey Crawford was great in the regular season, but nobody has seen him shine in the playoffs. What makes matters worse is their backup, Alexander Salak. He's played two career NHL games. It'll be interesting to see if the Hawks address this. 

Colorado Avalanche: Secondary Scoring

The Colorado Avalanche have a great young core with players like Matt Duchene, Paul Stastny and David Jones. They also have some veteran leadership with Milan Hejduk. After this, though, they are pretty thin when it comes to scoring. Guys like Chuck Kobasew and Ryan O'Reilly fill out their roster, and they just don't provide much offensive punch. It'll be interesting to see the impact Gabriel Landeskog, their second-overall pick from this past year's draft, will have on the Avs. 

Columbus Blue Jackets: Defense

They addressed one problem this offseason. They finally got help for Rick Nash in Jeff Carter. Now they need to look at their defense. Are guys like James Wisniewski and Fedor Tyutin going to lead this team to the promise land? Chances are, no. 

Dallas Stars: Defensive Depth

They have Alex Goligoski and Stephane Robidas. After that, it's all question marks. Trevor Daley has been solid, but he's not a first class defenseman. Adam Pardy and Sheldon Souray both are very injury prone, and Nicklas Grossman is unproven. That being said, Goligoski has many defensive liabilities. He's more of an offensive minded defenseman. Dallas is going to find it hard to win many games if Kari Lehtonen doesn't bail them out. 

Losing Brad Richards and James Neal means they lost some scoring too. This means that their secondary scoring needs to step up, and they don't have much of that either. 

Detroit Red Wings: Youth

The Red Wings don't have many holes. They're a great, veteran team with a lot of experience. They have a reputation of being old and slow, though, and they enter this season without much youth. Their core is one year older. Henrik Zetterberg and Pavel Datsyuk are in their 30s now and approaching the twilight of their careers. Tomas Holmstrom and Nicklas Lidstrom will be eligible for social security soon. 

Edmonton Oilers: Goaltending and Defense

The Oilers have many holes. Their defense is very inexperienced and unproven. The 269 goals they allowed was the second highest in the NHL last season. Their forwards are great, but all young and are a few years away from really bursting onto the scene. Their biggest question is at goaltending. Nikolai Khabibulin is another guy who will be eligible for social security soon and their backup, Devan Dubnyk, is not someone who is going to perform well with the leaky Oilers defense. 

Florida Panthers: Physicality

The Florida Panthers were easily the most active team this offseason. They are poised to make the playoffs this season after a long drought. They've made some great additions both offensively and defensively. Guys like Ed Jovanovski also provide veteran leadership. They can use some physical players, though. They don't really have gritty players who are going to grind on the third and fourth lines. That being said, kudos to the Panthers for making huge improvements this year. 

Los Angeles Kings: Veteran Leadership

The Los Angeles Kings are stacked this season. They have the forwards, the defensemen and the goalie to win the Cup. They have it all, and they should make a big push this year. Guys like Mike Richards, Simon Gagne, Dustin Brown, Jason Williams, Jarret Stoll, Dustin Penner and Anze Kopitar make the Kings offense one of the scariest in the league. Defensively, they have standouts like Matt Greene, Drew Doughty, Jack Johnson and Rob Scuderi. Jonathan Quick is no slouch either in net.

One thing missing from the Kings is a Mark Recchi type of player that will be a great locker room presence throughout the season. This can be easily addressed though through the trading deadline. 

Minnesota Wild: Defensive Depth

The Minnesota Wild made some nice acquisitions this summer, getting Dany Heatley and Devin Setoguchi. They have grit with guys like Cal Clutterbuck. Their goaltending is pretty solid, but they are pretty thin on defense. If they get some injuries on defense, they're going to have a tough time finding replacements. 

Montreal Canadiens: Physicality

The Canadiens have great scorers in Scott Gomez, Michael Cammalleri, Brian Gionta and Tomas Plekanec. Their defense is filled with standouts like PK Subban, Josh Gorges and Hal Gill. Carey Price is a dominating goaltender, too. This team just lacks physicality. In the playoffs or later in the season, when games get more important and tension rises, it'll be interesting if the Habs go after someone that will make them a tougher team. 

Nashville Predators: Defensive Depth

The Predators have two of the best defensemen in the league in Shea Weber and Ryan Suter. After that, though, it's a bunch of unproven guys that can be a problem for Nashville. Kevin Klein, Jack Hillen and Jonathon Blum either need to show that they can provide defensive depth for the Predators. If not, they're going to have to go after someone else. 

New Jersey Devils: Center Depth

The Devils don't have much center depth after Travis Zajac. Rounding out the centers for the Devils are Jacob Josefson, who is young and inexperienced, and Dave Steckel, who isn't a scoring threat. Their wings are stacked with guys like Ilya Kovalchuk, Zach Parise and Patrik Elias, but New Jersey is going to need more scoring from their centers if they want to make a playoff appearance. 

New York Islanders: Defense

Mark Streit is the best defenseman on the Islanders, and there's no question that he can stay healthy. After Mark Eaton and Milan Jurcina, the Islanders are very thin on defense and can use some depth. 

New York Rangers: Secondary Scoring

They have Brad Richards. They have Marian Gaborik. They have Brandon Dubinsky. That's great and everything, but they also have guys like Ruslan Fedotenko, who can enter long scoring droughts, and Sean Avery, who can get suspended at any moment. Secondary scoring will hurt the Rangers this year if they don't address it. They need more guys on the third line who can put the puck in the back of the net. 

Ottawa Senators: Everything

Other than their first line, the Senators are absolutely atrocious and need a lot of help. Their defense doesn't have too many holes with Filip Kuba, Sergei Gonchar, Chris Phillips and Erik Karlsson, but let's face it, some of those guys on their defensive unit are pretty old. Their goaltending is highly questionable with Craig Anderson, and their offensive firepower after their first line is flat like last night's beer. 

Philadelphia Flyers: Secondary Scoring

Yet another team that needs secondary scoring. After getting rid of Mike Richards and Jeff Carter and focusing more on goaltending by signing Ilya Bryzgalov, the Flyers now find themselves pretty thin when it comes to secondary scoring. They have gritty guys like Max Talbot, Wayne Simmonds and Jody Shelley rounding out their third and fourth lines. However, it'll be interesting to see if they can carry the offensive load especially if Jaromir Jagr can't withstand the 82-game grind. 

Phoenix Coyotes: Goaltending

Phoenix had one of the best goalies in the league last season in Ilya Bryzgalov. Now he's in Philadelphia, and the Coyotes are stuck with Mike Smith and Jason LaBarbera. Bryzgalov is the man that made the Coyotes a playoff caliber team. Now that he's gone, the Coyotes are going to have a major hole in net that will be very difficult to address.

Pittsburgh Penguins: Wingers

The Penguins enter the season as Stanley Cup contenders. They added Steve Sullivan as a winger to help their plethora of centers; however, he's very injury prone. Chris Kunitz and James Neal are the top wingers for the Penguins. It's uncertain whether Tyler Kennedy and Pascal Dupuis can repeat what they did last season. The Penguins can still use another winger. 

San Jose Sharks: Goaltending

It's understood that Antti Niemi has won a Stanley Cup. However, Antero Niittymaki as the backup goaltender can be a major liability for the Sharks. Backups generally start a quarter of the regular season, and this may not be a great thing for the Sharks, especially since the Kings have two solid goaltenders in the Pacific Division. The Sharks will make another push for the Cup because of their solid scoring and defense, though. 

St. Louis Blues: High Profile Players

The St. Louis Blues are literally a bunch of no name guys. Nobody on that team really sells any tickets. David Backes, Alex Steen, Chris Stewart and Patrik Berglund might be nice players, but they're not the type of guys to lead a team to the promised land. They really don't have any leadership on the team. They didn't do much to address it. Gone are the days of Chris Pronger and Al MacInnis. This team needs a fresh face so they can build the team around him. It's a difficult problem to address this late into free agency, so they'll probably have to wait until the draft or next summer to do something about it. 

Tampa Bay Lightning: Goaltending

Dwayne Roloson will turn 42 this season. As good as he was last postseason, the Lightning can't expect him to be able to do the same. He might've been the reason why the Bolts faltered in the playoffs. There were some solid goalies this year that they could've gone after like Tomas Vokoun, Semyon Varlamov and Ilya Bryzgalov, but they chose to stick with their aging goaltender. 

Toronto Maple Leafs: Primary Scoring

The Leafs have a bunch of guys that would be great secondary scorers, but they really don't have that one guy to carry the torch other than Phil Kessel. Even with Kessel, he couldn't break the 70 point mark last season. Until the Leafs sign a big name scorer, they will continue to miss the playoffs. 

Vancouver Canucks: Clutch Players

Two chances to close out the Stanley Cup Final, and both times, they were embarrassed. It would be nice if the Canucks signed someone who has been clutch in his career. An addition like Max Talbot would've been nice for the team. Instead, they march into 2011-12 with pretty much the same group that has choked year after year. They will be contenders again, but either someone must step up from within or the Canucks organization needs to make a late season deal for a clutch player. 

Washington Capitals: Grit and Physicality

Where have the Capitals struggled most? The playoffs. 

Where do teams need grit and a physical presence the most? The playoffs.

The Capitals haven't been clutch in the spring, but this might have a lot to do with the fact that they really don't have a grind line. Adding some gritty players willing to muck it up with the best of them would help this team magnificently. 

Winnipeg Jets: Primary Scoring

When two of a team's top three scorers are defensemen, that means that they're most definitely not getting any scoring from their offense. In fact, the Thrashers leading scorer last season, Andrew Ladd, didn't even break the 60-point mark. The Jets arrive in Winnipeg with a team that has a lot of players that would be great secondary scorers. They could definitely use a primary scoring threat.