Complete 2023 Offseason Guides for Every NHL Team
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The official start of the 2023 NHL offseason is here, so let’s take a team-by-team look at the overview of every team in the league and what they have to work with this offseason.
Some teams like the Detroit Red Wings and Anaheim Ducks will have major salary cap space to work with as they attempt to rapidly improve their rosters, while other teams like the Boston Bruins and Tampa Bay Lightning will have some big decisions to make to become salary cap-compliant and build their rosters.
Among the things we will look at:
Salary-cap spaceDead salary-cap numbers and retained salaryThe number of draft picks each team has to work with and where they currently are in the draft.The complete list of restricted and unrestricted free agents.Biggest needsAnd potential trade chips.
Let’s get into it.
All financial and contract information provided by CapFriendly.com
Anaheim Ducks: Locking Up the Core and Making Big Decisions
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The big focus for the Anaheim Ducks this season is going to be securing its core group of talent and continuing to add to it, while also making some big decisions on veteran players.
The Ducks will have to re-sign two of its most important young players as Trevor Zegras and Troy Terry are both eligible for restricted free agency. The Ducks have plenty of salary-cap space to work with and shouldn’t have any trouble getting them signed. Offer sheets, so rarely used for restricted free agents, shouldn’t be a concern.
Along with that, the Ducks also have the No. 2 overall pick in the draft where they’re expected to add Adam Fantilli to that promising core. They may have lost the draft lottery, but Fantilli should be a great consolation prize as he would have been a clear No. 1 pick in most other draft years.
When it comes to their veterans, Adam Henrique and Jakob Silfverberg are entering the final year of their contracts and could be trade bait, as could veteran goalie John Gibson.
The Ducks have bottomed out in recent years after an extended run of success, but there is a strong young core in place that could be the start of something in the future.
Salary-cap space: $39 million
Retained salary/dead-cap space: $0
Draft picks: 2, 33, 59, 60, 65, 85, 97, 129, 161
Restricted free agents: Troy Terry, Trevor Zegras, Max Comtois, Simon Benoit, Jamie Drysdale, Lukas Dostal
Unrestricted free agents: Derek Grant, Jayson Megna, Nathan Beaulieu, Scott Harrington, Anthony Stolarz, John Moore
Needs: Scoring depth and complementary players for the core.
Trade assets to watch: John Gibson, Adam Henrique, Jakob Silfverberg
Arizona Coyotes: Will They Be the NHL’s Dumping Ground Again?
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The Arizona Coyotes are where all of the NHL’s unwanted contracts go to finish out their careers and it’s worth wondering if the Coyotes are going to weaponize their pile of salary-cap space once again to keep stockpiling draft picks.
The Coyotes already have 37 draft picks over the next three years, including a whopping 22 in the first three rounds of those classes.
It doesn’t really do much for the short-term outlook of the team, which remains bleak on the ice (and off of it due to the ongoing arena struggles).
The good news for Arizona is there were some individual improvements during the 2022-23 season that can offer some hope. Clayton Keller came back healthy and looked like a star. Lawson Crouse and Nick Schmaltz look like legit top-six wingers. But who out of that group is actually in the long-term plans for the team? Crouse and Schmaltz seem like logical trade bait at some point, while Vejmelka could be the next Coyotes goalie to get traded and seriously impact a better team (following in the footsteps of Darcy Kuemper and Adin Hill).
Salary-cap space: $31.8 million
Retained salary/dead salary-cap space: –$1.85 million
Draft picks: 6, 12, 38, 70, 72, 81, 88, 102, 134, 160, 162, 166
Restricted free agents: Christian Fischer, Mattias Maccelli, Jack McBain, Connor Ingram
Unrestricted free agents: Brett Ritchie, Connor Mackey
Needs: Everything
Trade assets to watch: Nick Schmaltz, Lawson Crouse, Karel Vejmelka
Boston Bruins: How to Improve on a Record-Setting Season
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The good news for the Boston Bruins is the last NHL team to set a regular-season wins record and then lose in the First Round of the playoffs came back the next season to win the first of two consecutive Stanley Cups.
So, hey, better days could be ahead.
The bad news is the Bruins are going to have get really creative to figure out how to follow in those footsteps.
There is still some uncertainty on the future of top centers Patrice Bergeron and David Krejčí, and if they do not return it could leave a massive hole down the middle of the lineup. Charlie Coyle and Pavel Zacha might be good NHL centers, but they aren’t first-and second-line centers on a Stanley Cup-winning team good.
The Bruins also only have about $4 million in salary-cap space to work with and still need to re-sign RFA’s like Jeremy Swayman and Trent Frederic. They also need to replace several potential UFA’s and add some depth to their lineup. That is a lot of things to do with not a lot of salary-cap space (or trade assets) to work with.
Salary-cap space: $4.9 million
Retained salary/dead salary-cap space: $0
Draft picks: 92, 124, 188, 214, 220
Restricted free agents: Trent Frederic, Jeremy Swayman
Unrestricted free agents: Patrice Bergeron, David Krejčí, Tyler Bertuzzi, Nick Foligno, Garnet Hathaway, Tomáš Nosek Nosek, Connor Clifton, Dmitry Orlov
Needs: Potentially centers, scoring depth
Trade assets to watch: Jake DeBrusk, Jeremy Swayman
Buffalo Sabres: Time to End the Streak
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The Buffalo Sabres have missed the playoffs 12 years in a row and after all of that time, they’ve finally — FINALLY — put themselves in a position to end that misery.
They barely missed the playoffs in 2022-23 and are bringing back one of the most exciting young teams in the NHL. Their offense is one of the best in the league, and led by Tage Thompson who has emerged as one of the most physically dominant scorers in the league.
Their defense is led by a trio of young stars: Rasmus Dahlin, Owen Power and Mattias Samuelsson.
Just about the only thing they are missing is a goalie. And that should be at the top of their offseason to-do list. With even marginally better goaltending the playoff drought could have ended this season, and if they can find a way to upgrade it over the next few months they could become an under-the-radar contender as soon as this season.
Devon Levi could be a future star in net, but he might need some help in the form of a platoon partner this season before he takes over the top spot full-time.
Salary-cap space: $14.5 million
Retained salary/dead salary-cap space: $0
Draft picks: 13, 39, 45, 86, 109, 141, 173, 205
Restricted free agents: Tyson Jost, Kale Clague
Unrestricted free agents: Vinnie Hinostroza
Needs: Goaltending
Trade assets to watch: First-round pick, Victor Olofsson
Calgary Flames: a Crossroads for the Franchise
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The Calgary Flames entered the 2022-23 season with sky-high expectations despite losing Johnny Gaudreau and Matthew Tkachuk in one offseason. They managed to get back a couple of potential stars in Jonathan Huberdeau and MacKenzie Weegar, while also adding Nazem Kadri in free agency.
Adding them to a strong defensive team, with good goaltending, and a team that already had some high-level players seemed to be enough to keep them in contention.
It all fell apart almost immediately.
Huberdeau and Weegar never played the way they did in Florida, starting goalie Jacob Markstrom had an awful year all while former head coach Darryl Sutter wore out his welcome with a system and culture that sucked the fun out of the team.
All of that led to massive changes throughout the organization with a new general manager (Craig Conroy) and head coach (Ryan Huska).
The changes might not be done. Elias Lindholm, Noah Hanifin, Mikael Backlund and Tyler Toffoli have already indicated they’re not looking to re-sign with the team after this season, a development that could put both of them on the trade block in the coming weeks.
It is an organization at the crossroads of change, and nothing will dictate the path the team takes more than Huberdeau, Weegar and Markstrom’s ability to bounce back from their down years.
Salary-cap space: $1.25 million
Retained salary/dead salary-cap space: $0
Draft picks: 16, 48, 112, 176, 208
Restricted free agents: None
Unrestricted free agents: Trevor Lewis, Milan Lucic, Nick Ritchie, Troy Stecher, Michael Stone
Needs: Scoring depth, salary cap space
Trade assets to watch: Mikael Backlund, Tyler Toffoli, Noah Hanifin, Elias Lindholm
Carolina Hurricanes: Will Their Time Come?
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The Carolina Hurricanes have been one of the best teams in the Eastern Conference for the past five years and keep knocking on the door of a championship.
This just have not been able to kick the door down.
One of their biggest flaws has been a lack of elite finishing talent at forward. They do everything right in terms of driving possession — they lead the NHL in the regular season in Corsi For percentage — creating chances and shutting teams down defensively. But they just sometimes struggle to actually put the puck in the net, especially come playoff time.
They tried to address that this past season with the addition of Max Pacioretty, but he missed all but three games of the season due to injury. That put a huge dent in their plan. Things got even worse when Andrei Svechnikov went down late in the year. Tough to win a Stanley Cup when the two players you counted on to score goals were not there.
Carolina still has an outstanding core that is all entering its prime years, and it has a shocking amount of salary-cap space for a team as good as it is. Even better, there are no major players facing free agency outside of Jordan Staal and their veteran goalies. That could make them major players for a potential impact goal scorer or a top-tier goalie.
They are still standing at the door. They just need a little extra push to get through.
Salary-cap space: $24.1 million
Retained salary/dead salary-cap space: $0
Draft picks: 30, 62, 71, 126, 139, 158, 163, 190, 222
Restricted free agents: Jesse Puljujärvi Dylan Coghlan
Unrestricted free agents: Jesper Fast, Mackenzie MacEachern, Jordan Staal, Paul Stastny, Derek Stepan, Calvin de Haan, Shayne Gostisbehere, Maxime Lajoie, Frederik Andersen, Antti Raanta
Needs: Goal scorers, goaltending
Trade assets to watch: First-round pick, Jesse Puljujärvi
Chicago Blackhawks: the Start of a New Chapter
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The Chicago Blackhawks set out on one of the most blatant tanking missions in NHL history during the 2022-23 season, and even though they did not finish with the worst record in the league, they still ended up with the No. 1 overall pick.
That means Connor Bedard is about to become a Chicago Blackhawk and open a new chapter in franchise history.
Along with that stroke of good fortune in the lottery, the Blackhawks also have more salary-cap space than almost every other team in the NHL and a truckload of draft picks to deal from. That creates an awful lot of options for their offseason.
They could weaponize that salary-cap space to take on bad contracts and add more draft-pick assets or prospects.
Or they could use their current cupboard of draft picks and that salary-cap space to add NHL players that can help right now.
That, combined with the addition of Bedard, makes this a fascinating offseason in Chicago.
Salary-cap space: $37.5 million
Retained salary/dead salary-cap space: $-3.3. million
Draft picks: 1, 19, 35, 44, 51, 55, 67, 93, 99, 131, 195
Restricted free agents: Anders Bjork, Philipp Kurashev, Austin Wagner, Caleb Jones, Ian Mitchell
Unrestricted free agents: Jujhar Khaira, Jonathan Toews, Andreas Englund, Alex Stalock
Needs: Impact players, goaltending
Trade assets to watch: Draft picks that are not the No. 1 overall pick, Philipp Kurashev, Connor Murphy, Tyler Johnson
Colorado Avalanche: The Window Is Still Open with the Right Help
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The Colorado Avalanche’s Stanley Cup defense hit some road bumps during the 2022-23 season.
They never adequately replaced Nazem Kadri as their second-line center, they lost Andre Burakovsky in free agency, and then team captain Gabriel Landeskog was lost for the season due to injury.
Kadri and Burakovsky are obviously not coming back, and even worse, Landeskog has already been ruled out for the season while his career sits in limbo.
The only positive news with that is Landeskog’s injury will free up an additional $7 million in salary-cap space to help fill some of those spots.
Colorado’s core of Nathan MacKinnon, Mikko Rantanen and Cale Makar remains elite and Stanley Cup caliber. They just need some help on the edges to get back to that level. They should have the flexibility to make that happen.
Salary-cap space: $19.5 million (after Gabriel Landeskog goes on LTIR)
Retained salary/dead salary-cap space: $0
Draft picks: 27, 155, 187, 219
Restricted free agents: Denis Malgin, Alex Newhook, Bowen Byram,
Unrestricted free agents: Andrew Cogliano, J.T. Compher, Lars Eller, Darren Helm, Matt Nieto, Evan Rodrigues, Jack Johnson, Erik Johnson
Needs: Scoring depth, second-line center
Trade assets to watch: Devon Toews, Alex Newhook, first-round pick
Columbus Blue Jackets: They’re Oddly All In This Season
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The Columbus Blue Jackets made a shocking splash in free agency a year ago by signing Johnny Gaudreau, the top free agent on the market, to a massive seven-year contract. It was the highpoint of their season.
When the games started to get played, everything went wrong.
The goaltending never bounced back, young center Cole Sillinger badly regressed in his second year and injuries mounted to several key players including top defenseman Zach Werenski and forward Patrik Laine.
The result was a team that finished as one of the worst teams in the league.
Despite that, Columbus got off to an early start this offseason by dramatically trying to upgrade its defense by paying big assets and significant money to add Ivan Provorov and Damon Severson to its blue line. They are the types of moves that a team makes if it intends to compete right away.
While the defense should be marginally better with those additions (in theory, anyway), as well as the return of a healthy Werenski, Columbus still has big issues at center and in goal that is not going to be easy to fix. Especially since salary-cap space has rapidly evaporated with the recent big-money additions of Gaudreau, Provorov and Severson. The salary cap already cost them Oliver Bjorkstrand a year ago, and they will have some big decisions to make over the next few weeks.
Salary-cap space: $4.7 million
Retained salary/dead salary-cap space: $-897,000
Draft picks: 3, 34, 66, 98, 114, 156, 194
Restricted free agents: Tim Berni
Unrestricted free agents: Lane Pederson, Gavin Bayreuther
Needs: Centers, goaltending
Trade assets to watch: Jack Roslovic
Dallas Stars: They Can Win It All
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The Dallas Stars have managed to do the hard part — they have the core group of superstars in place.
Their top line of Jason Robertson, Joe Pavelski and Roope Hintz remains one of the best and most dominant lines in hockey. They have high-level players on both defense (Miro Heiskanen) and in goal (Jake Oettinger). If you have five players like that at the top of your lineup covering all levels of the ice, you are going to have a chance to compete.
The key will always be a team’s ability to complement those stars around the edges.
And the Stars have that going for them as well, specifically when it comes to Wyatt Johnston who is coming off an impressive rookie season that made him look like a key addition to that core. The Stars have several veteran free agents to worry about replacing this offseason, but replacing bottom-six forwards and filling in around the edges is far easier than finding the cornerstone players.
They were in Game 6 of the Western Conference Final this season and should be a favorite at the start of next season.
Salary-cap space: $7.3 million
Retained salary/dead salary-cap space: $0
Draft picks: 61, 125, 157, 189, 221
Restricted free agents: Ty Dellandrea
Unrestricted free agents: Evgenii Dadonov, Max Domi, Luke Glendening, Joel Kiviranta, Joel Hanley, Dylan Wells
Needs: Scoring depth
Detroit Red Wings: Time to Make Progress
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We have reached the point of the Steve Yzerman era in Detroit where it’s time to start seeing some progress, or else we have to seriously start doubting the process.
The Red Wings actually had some reasonably high expectations at the start of the 2022-23 season after adding David Perron, Dominik Kubalik, Andrew Copp, Ville Husso and Olli Maatta to a core that already had Lucas Raymond, Dylan Larkin and Moritz Seider. It should have been enough to at least make them a playoff contender.
They weren’t
The goaltending was a big reason, but their lack of progress turned them into sellers at the trade deadline again and saw them move on from Tyler Bertuzzi and Filip Hronek for future draft picks.
The good news is Detroit still has a very impressive young core that will get a significant addition in Marco Kasper. They also have a ton of salary cap space and draft picks to work with, while not having any major contracts internally to worry about.
Everything has fallen into place for them to have a chance to take a major step forward. If they are not in at least serious contention for a playoff spot this season then it might be time to start wondering if Yzerman’s plan is actually on the right track.
Salary-cap space: $30.6 million
Retained salary/dead salary-cap space: $-2.6 million
Draft picks: 9, 17, 41, 42, 43, 73, 117, 137, 169, 201
Restricted free agents: Matt Luf, Joe Veleno, Gustav Lindstrom
Unrestricted free agents: Alex Chiasson, Adam Erne, Pius Suter, Robert Hagg, Jordan Oesterle, Magnus Hellberg
Needs: Scoring depth, goaltending
Trade assets to watch: Draft picks, Filip Zadina
Edmonton Oilers: Pressure Is on to Not Waste Another Year of McDavid and Draisaitl
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The Edmonton Oilers have had a lot of issues in trying to build a winner around Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl.
Scoring depth has always been high on that list, along with the lack of a top-pairing defender and competent goaltending.
In some ways, they addressed a lot of those areas this past season. The scoring depth after McDavid and Draisaitl was the best it has ever been during their careers. They also paid a significant price to land Mattias Ekholm from the Nashville Predators in a trade-deadline deal to significantly bolster their defense.
They also spent heavily on the offseason by signing Jack Campbell to be their new starting goalie.
Some of those moves worked out better than others.
While Ekholm gave Edmonton a huge boost on its defense, the Campbell signing is looking like one of the most regrettable moves of last summer. He ended up losing his starting goaltending job in the playoffs, and now his contract looks like a gigantic albatross for a team that can not afford any more of those.
The result of all of that was another year McDavid and Draisaitl did not get any closer to a Stanley Cup. With limited salary-cap space to work with and some bad contracts in big spots (Campbell and Darnell Nurse) the Oilers are going to need to be creative to get them there.
Salary-cap space: $5 million
Retained salary/dead salary-cap space: $-1.9 million
Draft picks: 56, 184, 216
Restricted free agents: Klim Kostin, Ryan McLeod, Evan Bouchard
Unrestricted free agents: Nick Bjugstad, Mattias Janmark, Devin Shore
Needs: Goaltending, defense
Trade assets to watch: Kailer Yamamoto
Florida Panthers: What Is Next on the Panthers Roller Coaster?
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What a journey the Florida Panthers have been on the past two years.
They went from missing the playoffs, to winning the Presidents’ Trophy, to nearly missing the playoffs entirely, to nearly winning the Stanley Cup.
Who knows what’s next for this team?
While the Panthers should still be considered a playoff team and strong contender in 2022-23, they should not be content with what they did this postseason. Even with an MVP contender in Matthew Tkachuk and a dynamic offense, there are still some pretty big question marks here.
Their defense has some flaws and a lot of their playoff success was dependent on Sergei Bobrovsky discovering the fountain of youth. “Bob” going on an absolute heater helped them go on a stunning run through some of the league’s best teams. The talent is there to compete, but they need Bobrovsky to do that for a full season. That is asking a lot.
The best way to help with that is to improve the defensive play in front of him and take some of the pressure off of him.
Salary-cap space: $10.2 million
Retained salary/dead salary cap space: $-1.2 million
Draft picks: 63, 127, 159, 191, 198,
Restricted free agents: Givani Smith, Colin White
Unrestricted free agents: Eric Staal, Radko Gudas, Marc Staal, Alex Lyon, Patric Hornqvist
Needs: Defense
Trade assets to watch: Anthony Duclair, Gustav Forsling
Los Angeles Kings: The Need for Goaltending Increases
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The Los Angeles Kings managed to put together one of the best teams in the NHL despite having one of the worst goaltending situations in the league.
It is an impressive accomplishment and speaks to how well the rest of the team is that it was able to overcome such a dire goaltending position.
Fixing that has to be the No. 1 priority for the Kings this offseason. Fortunately for them, there should be some very impressive goalie options available on the trade market, from Connor Hellebuyck to potentially Juuse Saros.
The obstacle is going to be finding the salary-cap space to add somebody of that caliber.
Viktor Arvidsson has been mentioned as a potential salary-cap casualty, and while that might be a big loss, they should have the forward depth to withstand that. Especially if it can land them a potential game-changer in goal.
Salary-cap space: $7.3 million
Retained salary/dead salary-cap space: $-2.7 million
Draft picks: 54, 78, 118, 150, 182
Restricted free agents: Jaret Dolan-Anderson, Rasmus Kupari, Zack MacEwan, Gabriel Vilardi
Unrestricted free agents: Alex Edler, Joonas Korpisalo
Needs: Goalie
Trade assets to watch: Quinton Byfield, Alex Turcotte, Viktor Arvidsson
Minnesota Wild: Bill Guerin vs. The Salary Cap
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You have to give Minnesota Wild general manager Bill Guerin a lot of credit. He had a salary-cap mess on his hands last offseason thanks to the Zach Parise and Ryan Suter buyouts and not only managed to put together a strong hockey team, he somehow had the salary-cap space to add several pieces at the trade deadline.
He is going to be facing a similar challenge this offseason as he still has nearly $15 million in dead salary-cap space to worry about.
With only $8 million in cap space to work with, Guerin needs to re-sign starting goalie Filip Gustavsson and young defenseman Calen Addison, replace Matt Dumba on defense, and find a way to add some secondary scoring after the top duo of Kirill Kaprizov and Mats Zuccarello.
He did it all a year ago.
Now he needs to do it again.
He does have some veteran pieces that could be moved to cut salary, but it is going to take some creativity.
Salary-cap space: $8.2 million
Retained salary/dead salary-cap space: $-14.7 million
Draft picks: 21, 53, 64, 149, 181, 213
Restricted free agents: Brandon Duhaime, Mason Shaw, Sam Steel, Calen Addison, Filip Gustavsson
Unrestricted free agents: Gustav Nyquist, Ryan Reaves, Oskar Sundqvist, Matt Dumba, John Klingberg
Needs: Salary cap space, scoring depth
Trade assets to watch: Marcus Foligno, Jonas Brodin, first-round pick
Montreal Canadiens: Surprisingly Tricky Salary-Cap Situation
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If you had to guess which team had the least amount of salary-cap space at the start of the offseason, would you guess the Montreal Canadiens?
No? Probably not?
Well, that is the answer as they are actually slightly over the salary cap. That can change with some LTIR (Carey Price) moves and trades, but they do not have a lot of flexibility right now. Kind of surprising for a rebuilding team that had one of the worst teams in the league a year ago.
But here we are.
The big thing to watch with Montreal is whether or not it will be able to complete the long-anticipated deal to acquire Pierre-Luc Dubois at center. Dubois has long been rumored to want to play in Montreal for a while now, and there is an obvious fit for the Canadiens at center. If they can acquire him and get him signed it would give them a very strong 1-2 punch down the middle with Nick Suzuki to start building around.
Salary-cap space: $-1.29 million
Retained salary/dead salary-cap space: $0
Draft picks: 5, 31, 37, 69, 101, 110, 128, 133, 144, 165, 197
Restricted free agents: Denis Gurianov
Unrestricted free agents: Alex Belzile, Jonathan Drouin, Chris Tierney
Needs: Center, forward depth, goaltending
Trade assets to watch: Josh Anderson, Mike Hoffman, Kirby Dach, No. 31 overall pick
Nashville Predators: The Barry Trotz Era Begins
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After coaching the team for more than a decade, Barry Trotz is back to run the team as only its second general manager.
David Poile left him with a pretty nice clean slate to work with after dumping a lot of big contracts this past season and collecting some significant draft capital
It all looked like the start of an unofficial rebuild.
Trotz should officially start it and rebuild the roster in his vision.
As currently constructed, the Predators are not anything more than a fringe playoff team (and that is if everything goes perfectly), and that shouldn’t be the goal. Trotz has a couple of intriguing trade assets still on the roster and should seriously be looking into dealing them this summer, starting with All-Star goalie Juuse Saros.
Salary-cap space: $15.5 million
Retained salary/dead salary cap space: $-2.25 million
Draft picks: 15, 24, 46, 47. 68, 79, 83, 111, 115, 121, 143, 147, 175
Restricted free agents: Rasmus Asplund, Cody Glass, Alexandre Carrier, Cal Foote,
Unrestricted free agents: Zachary Sanford
Needs: Scoring depth, centers, young talent
Trade assets to watch: Juuse Saros, Ryan Johansen
New Jersey Devils: Hello, Expectations
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There will be no sneaking up on anybody this season for the New Jersey Devils.
They have arrived, they are Stanley Cup contenders and they’re going to be treated as such.
That means anything less than a repeat of the 2022-23 season is going to be seen as a massive disappointment.
The Devils have one of the best collections of young talent in the NHL and should be poised to make a serious run at a championship if they can make the right moves to accompany that core.
What does that look like? Add them to the list of teams that needs a goalie, and they have the salary-cap space to do that. Imagine putting somebody like Conor Hellebuyck behind that defense and that group of forwards.
On paper, it might be the best team in the NHL.
If they can pull that off.
Salary-cap space: $23.2 million
Retained salary/dead salary cap space: $-2.52 million
Draft picks: 58, 80, 122, 154, 186, 218
Restricted free agents: Nathan Bastian, Jesper Boqvist, Michael Mcleod, Timo Meier, Yegor Sharangovich, Kevin Bahl, MacKenzie Blackwood
Unrestricted free agents: Tomas Tatar, Miles Wood, Ryan Graves
Needs: Goaltending
Trade assets to watch: Yegor Sharangovich, Michael McLeod, MacKenzie Blackwood, Alexander Holtz, future first-round picks
New York Islanders: Ilya Sorokin Needs Help
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The New York Islanders do not really do much of anything very well, except when it comes to their goaltenders.
Those guys are sensational.
And nobody is more sensational than starting goalie Ilya Sorokin, who has rapidly emerged as one of the league’s best goalies. He was arguably the single biggest reason the team made the playoffs this past season, and not only deserved his spot as a Vezina finalist, but he also deserved some serious MVP consideration.
The problem for the Islanders is going to be finding a way to get him some help, both offensively and defensively, but also making sure they can re-sign him beyond this season.
Getting him help will be a problem given the lack of salary cap space and trade assets. But they should be able to make a push to lock their most valuable and important player in place.
He is an unrestricted free agent following the 2023-24 season and if the Islanders do not get him signed it is going to be quite a cloud hanging over their season.
Salary-cap space: $4.5 million
Retained salary/dead salary-cap space: $0
Draft picks: 49, 113, 145, 177, 209
Restricted free agents: Oliver Wahlstrom
Unrestricted free agents: Pierre Engvall, Zach Parise, Semyon Varlamov, Scott Mayfield
Needs: Goal scoring
Trade assets to watch: Josh Bailey, Alexander Romanov
New York Rangers: So Close, Yet So Far
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There is a lot of reason to believe in the New York Rangers.
They have been a wildly successful team the past two years and are just one year removed from being in the Eastern Conference Final.
They have big-name stars at the top of the lineup, an elite defender (Adam Fox), a franchise-changing goalie (Igor Shesterkin) and a nice collection of young talent.
The problem is they don’t defend particularly well in front of Shesterkin and their young players have not yet taken a significant step forward. They’re still pretty good and promising instead of franchise cornerstones. That is especially true with top-two overall picks Alexis Lafrenière and Kaapo Kakko.
If the Rangers are going to take the next step forward and become a true Stanley Cup contender, they’re going to need those two to become bonafide stars and figure out a way to insulate their goalie better.
They already took care of one big offseason priority in hiring Peter Laviolette to be their new head coach.
But is he the coach to maximize their young talent? We shall see.
Salary-cap space: $11.7 million
Retained salary/dead salary-cap space: $0
Draft picks: 23, 91, 152, 178, 183
Restricted free agents: Alexis Lafrenière, K’Andre Miller
Unrestricted free agents: Patrick Kane, Vladimir Tarasenko, Jaroslav Halak, Tyler Motte
Needs: Depth scoring, defense
Trade assets to watch: No. 23 overall pick, K’Andre Miller,
Ottawa Senators: Capitalizing on Promise
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For the first time since the 2016-17 playoffs, Ottawa Senators fans should be feeling some excitement regarding their roster.
Their forward group is sensational, with a lot of young talent already in place and signed long-term. Brady Tkachuk, Tim Stutzle, Drake Batherson, Claude Giroux and Josh Norris is a great starting point. The trade-deadline addition of Jakob Chychrun gives them an outstanding duo on defense with him and Thomas Chabot.
The hard parts are in place.
Now they need to build around them with some additional depth and goalie help.
The Filip Gustavsson for Cam Talbot trade was the one regrettable move they made last offseason and it might have been the difference between a playoff spot and another year without the postseason.
It seems likely that Alex DeBrincat will be moved, and they need to hit a home run with that trade.
Salary-cap space: $17 million
Retained salary/dead salary-cap space:
Draft picks: 108, 140, 204, 207
Restricted free agents: Alex DeBrincat, Dylan Gambrell, Julien Gauthier, Erik Brannstrom
Unrestricted free agents: Derrick Brassard, Patrick Brown, Austin Watson, Travis Hamonic, Nick Holden, Cam Talbot
Needs: Depth, goaltending
Trade assets to watch: Alex DeBrincat, Erik Brannstrom
Philadelphia Flyers: Tearing It All Down
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Over the past year, head coach John Tortorella seemed to be the only person in the Philadelphia Flyers organization being honest about where the team was and where it was headed.
While the front office built up a facade of contention, Tortorella repeatedly spoke about the long process ahead.
Now that Danny Brière is in the GM seat, the entire organization seems to be on the same page. And that means leaning into the rebuild and tearing it all down. It already started earlier this month with the Ivan Provorov trade, and there is no reason for it to not continue in the coming weeks.
Kevin Hayes, Carter Hart and Travis Konecny all seem like potential trade chips, and there should be nothing stopping Briere from going all in on that sort of an overhaul.
Half measures are not going to work here. This team needs a fresh start from the ground up.
Salary-cap space: $6.8 million
Draft picks: 7, 22, 87, 95, 103, 120, 135, 167, 172, 199
Retained salary/dead salary cap space: $666,667
Restricted free agents: Noah Cates, Morgan Frost, Cam York
Unrestricted free agents: Brendan Lemieux, James van Reimsdyk
Needs: Young talent and lots of it
Trade assets to watch: Travis Konecny, Carter Hart, Kevin Hayes
Pittsburgh Penguins: Keeping the Window Open for Another Year
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The Pittsburgh Penguins kept the band together last year and new director of hockey operations Kyle Dubas seems willing to give them another chance.
There is good reason for it, too.
The Penguins’ playoff streak did not end because of Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, Kris Letang and Jake Guentzel, but rather a flawed roster that was built around them. Dubas is now being tasked with trying to fix that.
That will include more scoring depth, some tweaks to the defense and presumably finding a new goalie to replace the ineffective duo of Tristan Jarry and Casey DeSmith.
This band is definitely older and near the end of its run. But they can still play the hits as long as they have the right backup singers behind them.
Salary-cap space: $20.2 million
Retained salary/dead salary-cap space: $-916,000
Draft picks: 14, 90, 142, 174, 217, 273
Restricted free agents: Drew O’Connor, Ryan Poehling, Ty Smith,
Unrestricted free agents: Josh Archibald, Nick Bonino, Danton Heinen, Jason Zucker, Brian Dumoulin, Dmitry Kulikov, Tristan Jarry
Needs: Depth scoring, goaltending
Trade assets to watch: No. 14 overall pick, Jeff Petry, Mikael Granlund, Pierre-Olivier Joseph
San Jose Sharks: The Rebuild Continues
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The Sharks already kickstarted their rebuild a year ago with the trades of Brent Burns and Timo Meier and now it is time to really get the ball rolling.
That means the time has come to move Erik Karlsson.
Karlsson might have one of the league’s biggest contracts, but his trade value is never going to be higher after he showed last year that he’s still an elite player in the NHL. The former Senators captain did what was previously thought to be unthinkable in this era — hit the 100-point mark as a defenseman.
The Sharks need an influx of picks and prospects and young talent into the organization and Karlsson needs an opportunity to add the one missing piece to his Hall of Fame resume — the Stanley Cup.
The time has come for these two to part ways.
Karlsson is not the only tradable asset on this roster. But he is the most significant and the one they should be most motivated to move.
Salary-cap space: $14 million
Retained salary/dead salary-cap space: $-6 million
Draft picks: 4, 26, 36, 94, 100, 123, 130, 132, 164, 196
Restricted free agents: Noah Gregor, Jacob Peterson, Evgeny Svechnikov, Fabian Zetterlund,
Unrestricted free agents: Andreas Johnsson, James Reimer
Needs: Young talent, scoring depth, goaltending
Trade assets to watch: Erik Karlsson
Seattle Kraken: Proving Everybody Wrong
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When the Seattle Kraken stumbled through their debut season, there was a belief across the NHL that maybe they messed up the expansion draft process and bought into the wrong players.
And then they came back in year two and shoved all of that back in their critics’ faces. They put together one of the most impressive seasons in the league, made the playoffs and then knocked off the defending Stanley Cup champion Colorado Avalanche in the First Round.
Make no mistake, this team is legit.
Matty Beniers is a bonafide franchise cornerstone, Jared McCann realized all of his potential and put all of his skills and talent together, and they have a very strong, very underrated defense.
They should be considered a strong Stanley Cup contender in the Western Conference, especially if they can find a way to get an upgrade on Philipp Grubauer in goal.
That was the one expansion-draft thing that did not bounce back this past season.
Salary-cap space: $20.3 million
Retained salary/dead salary-cap space: $0
Draft picks: 20, 50, 52, 57, 84, 116, 148, 168, 180, 212
Restricted free agents: Morgan Geekie, Daniel Sprong, Vince Dunn, William Borgen, Cale Fleury
Unrestricted free agents: Ryan Donato, Carson Soucy, Martin Jones
Needs: Goaltending
Trade assets to watch: Draft picks, Daniel Sprong
St. Louis Blues: Addressing the Defense
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The St. Louis Blues used to be one of the toughest, stingiest defensive teams in the league, and it was the foundation of a Stanley Cup champion in 2019.
Those days, unfortunately for the Blues, are long gone.
It was obvious at the start of the 2022-23 season that the defense needed help and was not good enough, and the Blues did not really do anything to address it. Combine that with the erratic play and emotions of Jordan Binnington and the Blues went from a constant defensive juggernaut to a team that could not stop anybody.
That has to change if they are going to get back to the playoffs.
And it could be fixed by addressing the defense and finding a way out of Binnington’s contract.
The potential for a strong offensive team is here. They should be able to score goals. the problem will be stopping people.
Salary-cap space: $7 million
Retained salary/dead salary-cap space: $0
Draft picks: 10, 25, 29, 74, 76, 106, 138, 170, 202
Restricted free agents: Logan Brown, Alexey Toropchenko
Unrestricted free agents: Josh Leivo, Tyler Pitlick, Thomas Greiss
Needs: Defense, goaltending
Trade assets to watch: Picks No. 25 and 29, Colton Parayko
Tampa Bay Lightning: Tinkering with the Salary Cap
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No team has manipulated the NHL’s salary cap quite like the Tampa Bay Lightning and they are going to have to find a way to do so again this offseason.
They have almost no salary-cap space to speak of, only three late-round draft picks, and they still need to figure out a way to fill out a roster and replenish some more depth that is going to be walking out the door (most likely Alex Killorn).
That could create some pretty interesting trade scenarios this offseason as they try to clear that cap space and recoup draft picks.
Could that mean somebody like Erik Cernak or Anthony Cirelli gets moved? It could. It might be necessary to restock the cupboards.
The only other option is more LTIR shenanigans. If anybody knows how to pull that off, it is Tampa Bay.
Salary-cap space: $450,000
Retained salary/dead salary-cap space: $0
Draft picks: 179, 193, 211
Restricted free agents: Ross Colton, Tanner Jeannot
Unrestricted free agents: Alex Killorn, Pierre-Édouard Bellemare, Corey Perry, Ian Cole, Brian Elliott
Needs: Depth, draft picks, salary-cap space
Trade assets to watch: Erik Cernak, Ross Colton, Anthony Cirelli
Toronto Maple Leafs: They Actually Need More Offense
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The most common narrative surrounding the Toronto Maple Leafs is that they lose in the playoffs because they don’t defend well enough or get good enough goaltending.
Maybe the latter point is true, but their biggest problem this season wasn’t the defense.
It was the offense.
Specifically the depth offense and a significant chunk of those depth forwards are unrestricted free agents.
There is still the very real possibility that new general manager Brad Treliving shakes up the core and deals a William Nylander or Mitch Marner to change things after another disappointing postseason, but if he does that it better be for more offense. Not defense.
Their defensive play, statistically speaking, was good enough to win this past season.
They just could not get offense when they needed it most.
Salary-cap space: $9.1 million
Retained salary/dead salary cap space: $0
Draft picks: 28, 153, 185
Restricted free agents: Ilya Samsonov
Unrestricted free agents: Noel Acciari, Zach Aston-Reese, Michael Bunting, David Kampf, Alexander Kerfoot, Ryan O’Reilly, Wayne Simmonds, Erik Gustafsson, Justin Holl, Luke Schenn
Needs: Depth scoring, goaltending
Trade assets to watch: William Nylander, Mitch Marner, Pick No. 28
Vancouver Canucks: Maintaining Mediocrity
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The Vancouver Canucks have to be one of the most maddening teams in the NHL to cheer for.
Always a team with good individual talent on paper, but not enough team talent on the ice.
Even worse, a front office that thinks the team is closer to contention than it actually is, resulting in regrettable trades that ruin the team’s salary cap. (Hello, Oliver Ekman-Larsson).
The names behind the bench and in the front office change, but the process remains the same.
The Canucks made the huge decision to buy out Ekman-Larsson already this offseason, but it shouldn’t be the only major contract they dump. If they can, they need to find a way out of J.T. Miller’s deal before the no-trade restrictions kick in, while Brock Boeser and Conor Garland should also be trade chips.
In terms of who they keep, the focus needs to be on re-signing Elias Pettersson to a long-term contract extension as soon as he is eligible for that this offseason. He is the bright spot here. He is the foundation of the team.
Salary-cap space: $6.4 million
Retained salary/dead salary-cap space: $-146,000
Draft picks: 11, 75, 89, 105, 107, 119, 171
Restricted free agents: None
Unrestricted free agents: Kyle Burroughs, Colin Delia
Needs: Depth scoring, defense
Trade assets to watch: Brock Boeser, Conor Garland, J.T. Miller.
Vegas Golden Knights: Making a Decision on Adin Hill
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The Vegas Golden Knights’ aggressive approach to team building paid off with a Stanley Cup this season and now they have to figure out a way to defend it.
A big part of that will be making the difficult decision on how they juggle their goaltending position.
Adin Hill stole the show in the playoffs and was sensational when taking over the job. But he is now an unrestricted free agent and the Golden Knights have to decide how much that performance was worth, and how confident they are he can maintain that sort of play over a full season.
Logan Thompson was a fine starter until his injury, but they need more depth behind him. He also has not shown he carry a team through a full season and the playoffs.
Most of Vegas’ Stanley Cup-winning team is in place for the long-term and it is still great. But the goaltending is going to be the big question mark this offseason.
Salary-cap space: $3.4 million
Retained salary/dead salary-cap space: $0
Draft picks: 32, 77, 96, 192, 224,
Restricted free agents: Pavel Dorofeyev, Brett Howden, Brayden Pachel, Nolan Patrick
Unrestricted free agents: Ivan Barbashev, Teddy Blueger, Phil Kessel, Laurent Brossoit, Jonathan Quick
Needs: Goaltending, depth
Trade assets to watch: Pick No. 32, William Carrier, Nicolas Roy
Washington Capitals: Do Not Get Stuck in the Middle
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The Washington Capitals are entering a very dangerous time for their franchise.
As long as Alex Ovechkin is there and chasing Wayne Gretzky’s goal-scoring record they are never going to rebuild. But the roster around him is also extremely flawed and fell short of the playoffs this past season.
Evgeny Kuznetsov does not look like a No. 1 center anymore, Nicklas Backstrom’s future is in doubt and they have a rapidly aging core group of players. The Capitals tried to strategically sell at the deadline and got some good value for the players they moved, but also traded a first-round pick for a young Rasmus Sandin.
Is this a team looking ahead?
Is it a team still trying to win?
Or is it a team trying to do both?
Teams that get sucked into the latter never seem to turn out well in the future or the present.
Salary-cap space: $7.3 million
Retained salary/dead salary-cap space: $0
Draft picks: 8, 40, 104, 136, 200
Restricted free agents: Martin Fehervay
Unrestricted free agents: Conor Sheary, Craig Smith, Matt Irwin, Connor Brown, Carl Hagelin
Needs: Scoring depth, young centers
Trade assets to watch: Evgeny Kuznetsov, Anthony Mantha
Winnipeg Jets: Everything Must Go
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The Winnipeg Jets have put this off long enough.
They have stumbled around in mediocrity with the same core, producing the same results, for too many years and it is time to completely hit the reset button.
Pierre-Luc Dubois seems like the most likely player to go, but he can not be it.
This core has shown the Jets time and time again who they are, and it is time to start believing them. The Jets actually have a lot of very movable assets and could probably rebuild around players like Kyle Connor relatively quickly.
They just have to commit to it.
Salary-cap space: $12.9 million
Retained salary/dead salary-cap space: $0
Draft picks: 18, 82, 146, 151, 210
Restricted free agents: Pierre-Luc Dubois, Morgan Barron, Kevin Stenlund, Dylan Samberg, Logan Stanley
Unrestricted free agents: Sam Gagner, Karson Kuhlman, Saku Maenalanen, Vladislav Namestnikov, David Rittich
Needs: Young assets across the board, more high draft picks
Trade assets to watch: Pierre-Luc Dubois, Mark Scheifele, Connor Hellebuyck
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