Three Winners And Three Losers Of The NHL Offseason So Far

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The NHL offseason is far from over, but with the draft wrapped up and a lot of top free agents off the board already, I think it is a good time to pick a few teams that have had a great offseason so far and a few teams that have had a rough one up to this point.

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Winner: Chicago Blackhawks

Chicago had some luck on their side for them to have a successful offseason so far with them winning the NHL Draft Lottery. The Blackhawks then made a no-brainer pick at the number one overall spot, drafting generational talent Connor Bedard. Chicago did not stop there as they got Bedard some help by acquiring former Hart Trophy winner Taylor Hall from the Bruins. They also got Nick Foligno in the same trade, and the Blackhawks made a couple more trades to acquire Josh Bailey from the Islanders and Corey Perry from the Lightning.

The only signing of note they made up to the present day was bringing in Ryan Donato on a two-year deal after he scored 14 goals and put up 27 points total last season for the Kraken. I still think the Blackhawks have some more work to do in order to get back to playoff contention, but this has been a great start, and I do not see them having another sub-60 point season as long as their key players stay healthy and their goaltenders improve their numbers a bit.

Loser: Boston Bruins

Ever since the regular season came to an end, the Bruins have been in a downward spiral on and off the ice. Boston’s historic season came to an abrupt and shocking end after they blew a three-to-one series lead against the Panthers, and going into the offseason, it seemed that they would not be able to bring everyone back from that record-setting team. Taylor Hall and Nick Foligno were shipped off to Chicago as previously mentioned, trade deadline acquisitions Tyler Bertuzzi, Dmitry Orlov, and Garnet Hathaway were not re-signed, and defenseman Connor Clifton also left in free agency by going to the Sabres on a three-year deal.

Boston’s captain Patrice Bergeron still has not made a decision yet on if he will return to the Bruins or retire and the same goes for another long-time Bruin in David Krejci. The Bruins will still have a competitive team going into next year but with a lot of big pieces no longer with the team, I think it’s safe to say they will not be having another dominant regular season like the one they put together last year.

Winner: New Jersey Devils

Coming off their first playoff appearance in five years, the Devils had to lock up some of their core to long-term deals to set themselves up for a bright future. With all the cap space New Jersey had built up, they managed to get the deals done, signing both Jesper Bratt and trade deadline acquisition Timo Meier to eight-year contracts.

The Devils also bolstered their top six even further by trading with the Flames for former Stanley Cup champion Tyler Toffoli. However, New Jersey also had to see some players go elsewhere this offseason, including Damon Severson, Miles Wood, Ryan Graves, and Yegor Sharangovich. Also, the Devils have some young talent ready for the NHL level like Luke Hughes, Simon Nemec, and Alexander Holtz. New Jersey should still have a strong, balanced lineup from top to bottom going into next season.

Loser: Arizona Coyotes

After another season nowhere near a playoff spot, the Coyotes once again held a high draft pick in the first round, and with highly touted prospect Matvei Michkov still available, Arizona instead went with a reach pick, drafting Russian defenseman Dmitriy Simashev at number six overall. Then, the Coyotes did it again with the number 12 pick, taking Simashev’s Russian teammate Daniil But, which was seen as another reach picks with forwards like Zach Benson and Matthew Wood still on the board at that point in the opening round of the draft.

With relocation rumors swirling around the team every single week it seems, the Coyotes need to, at the very least, develop a team that will be playoff caliber in the near future to improve fan interest so they might have a chance at getting a new arena to keep the team in town. With these risky picks, the Coyotes will probably be out of Arizona sooner rather than later and possibly under a new team name too.

Winner: Carolina Hurricanes

Carolina won the Metropolitan Division last season by only one point over the New Jersey Devils. In order to win the division again, the Hurricanes have been matching New Jersey’s successful offseason themselves so far. Carolina has kept a majority of their team that made the conference final last year, re-signing captain Jordan Staal, Jesper Fast, and their playoff goalie tandem of Frederik Andersen and Antti Raanta.

In addition to the re-signings, the Hurricanes signed Dmitry Orlov and Michael Bunting in free agency. Carolina is once again seen as a frontrunner for the Stanley Cup, and if they manage to acquire Erik Karlsson from the Sharks, they might become the favorites for it, plus they would add to their already solid blue line.

Loser: New York Islanders

In a stacked Metropolitan Division with the Hurricanes and Devils that I just mentioned, the Islanders have been trying to keep up with the top teams in the division. However, they have done this by signing players to some lucrative deals. They signed Scott Mayfield and trade deadline acquisition Pierre Engvall to seven-year deals, and these are players that are not seen as major, and elite pieces to this team, so both contracts were seen as head-scratchers to many around the league. They also signed Semyon Varlamov, their 35-year-old backup goalie, to a four-year deal which was another surprising contract given out by general manager Lou Lamoriello.

The one contract they gave out that has made sense this offseason was extending their franchise goaltender Ilya Sorokin to an eight-year deal but all these new contracts have eaten up the rest of the team’s cap space so the Islanders will be limited on moves they can make. This offseason can come back to haunt New York at next year’s trade deadline as I think in the present day that they are a borderline playoff team and now, they might not be able to add any more solid players to help them get into next year’s postseason.

It will be interesting to see what these six teams do the rest of the offseason along with the rest of the league as there still might be some big trades made before the puck drops in October.