After a flurry of action in early July, the transactions have slowed to a crawl in the National Hockey League with just two weeks until the opening of training camp. Teams that have been unable to fill their areas of need through trades and free agency will likely rely to training camp invites or promoting youngsters within their organizations, which can be a roll of the dice.
With clubs unlikely to change the composition of their roster significantly between now and the start of the regular season, it is a good time to grade how successful teams were over the summer at improving themselves.
New York Islanders – The Islanders made it past the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs for the first time since 1993, but were weakened during the summer with the departure forwards Kyle Okposo, Frans Nielsen and Matt Martin in free agency.
GM Garth Snow filled the vacancies by signing two-time Stanley cup winner Andrew Ladd to a seven-year contract and adding veterans Jason Chimera and P-A Parenteau on short-term deals. Unless superstar John Tavares has a career season and first rounders Mathew Barzal or Michael Dal Colle contribute sooner than expected, it is hard to imagine that New York enters the season better than they ended it last year.
Grade: C
New York Rangers – The Rangers appear to be a team whose window has nearly closed, after losing in the first round to the eventual Stanley Cup champion Pittsburgh Penguins.
New York did not have the cap room to re-sign free agent defenseman Keith Yandle or Eric Staal, and moved on from aging veterans Dominic Moore and Dan Boyle. GM Jeff Gorton is attempting to move the Broadway Blueshirts in a younger direction, swapping Derick Brassard to Ottawa for 23-year-old Mika Zibanejad, inserting rookie Brady Skjei on the blueline and winning the sweepstakes for 2016 Hobey Baker winner Jimmy Vesey.
For New York to remain competitive, they will need Henrik Lundqvist to remain one of the league’s best goaltenders and hope to get more consistent offense from the likes of Rick Nash, Derek Stepan, Chris Kreider and Mats Zuccarello.
Grade: B
New Jersey Devils – The Devils were the surprise of the East, remaining in competition for the playoffs two-thirds into the season when most preseason prognosticators had them in the Auston Matthews sweepstakes.
GM Ray Shero struck gold by acquiring Kyle Palmieri from Anaheim and getting a pair of draft picks for veteran Lee Stempniak, but may have topped that by pulling off the best trade in recent memory with the Adam Larsson – Taylor Hall deal.
New Jersey’s thin blueline will keep goalie Cory Schneider busy, but the addition of Hall will provide head coach John Hynes with a premier scorer that his club sorely lacked.
Grade: A+
Pittsburgh Penguins – Pittsburgh kept a fairly low profile this summer, which is understandable after winning the Stanley Cup. GM Jim Rutherford re-signed late season addition Justin Schultz and lost defenseman Ben Lovejoy to free agency.
The biggest surprise was the lack of movement when it came to veteran goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury. With expansion on the horizon and rookie Matt Murray leading the club to their first championship in seven years, some thought that Fleury would be traded over the summer. That move will likely occur before the trade deadline.
Grade: C+
Philadelphia Flyers – The Flyers rallied late in the season to make the playoffs under first year head coach Dave Hakstol, thanks in part to the offensive exploits of Calder Trophy nominee Shayne Gostisbehere.
GM Ron Hextall spent the latter part of last season and the summer getting his own house in order. After trading away Vincent Lecavalier and Luke Schenn to Los Angeles, buying out RJ Umberger and letting Sam Gagner walk, the Flyers extended forward Brayden Schenn and defenseman Radko Gudas.
The only significant signing was veteran Dale Weise, who will plug in as a bottom-six forward. 2015 first rounders Ivan Provorov and Travis Konecny could have more impact if they make the club out of training camp.
Grade: B
Carolina Hurricanes – The Hurricanes continued their youth movement, sending longtime captain Eric Staal to New York and defenseman John-Michael Liles to Boston at the deadline and buying out James Wisniewski over the summer. They did re-sign goalie Cam Ward to a two-year deal.
GM Ron Francis (who signed a contract extension through 2019) got a nice return in speedy forward Teuvo Teravainen from Chicago for taking Bryan Bickell’s $4 Million contract off the Hawks hands, and added veterans Lee Stempniak and Viktor Stalberg as support players. Former first rounder Haydn Fleury and promising Finn Sebastian Aho could give head coach Bill Peters more to work with.
Grade: B+
Columbus Blue Jackets – Columbus got off to a horrendous start which cost Todd Richards his job and gave John Tortorella another chance behind the bench.
GM Jarmo Kekalainen made the big move last January, shipping out center Ryan Johansen for defenseman Seth Jones. The Blue Jackets path to respectability relies mostly on young players Jones, Alexander Wennberg, Ryan Murray, 2015 top pick Zach Werenski and third overall pick Pierre-Luc Dubois succeeding and goalie Sergei Bobrovsky staying healthy.
Other than the buyout of Fedor Tyutin, the only significant move was the signing of free agent Sam Gagner.
Grade: C+
Washington Capitals – Washington lost a key contributor from the club that won the President’s Trophy, as Jason Chimera signed with the Islanders. Other than the departure of Mike Richards, head coach Barry Trotz has everyone returning.
GM Brian McLellan re-signed forward Marcus Johansson for three years, added depth up front with Lars Eller (acquired via trade with Montreal) and Brett Connolly (free agent – Boston), but is still negotiating with RFA defenseman Dmitri Orlov.
Grade: B-
Michael (@MikeInBuffalo on Twitter) can also be found on HockeyBuzz.com
