As the calendar hits August let’s take a quick look
at what NHL teams have done this offseason. The top teams in the West have
improved and the top teams in the East have weakened.
The Stanley Cup Champion Los Angeles Kings did the
only thing they had to do they resigned winger Marian Gaborik. The Kings did
lose steady and clutch defensemen Alec Martinez but someone had to go. The
Kings have the best team in hockey and every other team has to catch up to
them. Most teams out West figured the best way to win the West was have two great
centers like the Kings do (Anze Kopitar and Jeff Carter)
The Blackhawks went out and got center Brad Richards,
some say he’s past his prime but I’m sure working with wingers like Brandon
Saad and Marian Hossa will revive him. They also resigned Jonathan Toews and
Patrick Kane long term.
The St. Louis Blues signed Paul Stastny to be their
number two center, he should be their number one center and David Backes number
two but you know cave man coach Ken Hitchcock won’t see it that way.
The Anaheim Ducks traded to get Ryan Kessler giving
them the one two punch of Getzslaf and Kessler arguably the best center combo
of scoring and nasty in the league.
The Dallas Stars traded for Ottawa’s center Jason
Spezza. Putting Spezza on a 2nd line behind the dynamic duo of Jamie
Benn and Tyler Seguin gives the great Lindy Ruff the most offense he’s had to
work his whole career , except when he’s Team Canada’s assistant coach.
I loved what the Colorado Avalanche did. Signing
Hall of Famer Jerome Iginla and Daniel Briere gives the Avs a much needed
veteran presence and payoff toughness they will need next spring. Unfortunately
they lost Center Paul Stastny to division rival St. Louis. Losing a top center
in this era of the two center model was a mistake.
The other Western playoff teams made made no major
moves. The San Jose Sharks have two top centers ( Joe Thorton and Joe Pavelski)
but did nothing to improve their chronic underachieving team. The Wild added
winger Tomas Vanek. Whoop Dee Doo. Of the West’s bottom feeders Calgary
improved themselves the most stabilizing their goaltending by adding Jonas
Hiller and yes I do now consider Vancouver a bottom feeder and Ryan Miller does
not stabilize their goaltending.
In the Eastern Conference most of the teams got
weaker, especially the top teams. The perennial beasts of the East Boston and
Pittsburgh lost arguably their best, wingers Jerome Iginla in Boston and James
Neal in Boston. Pittsburgh also lost half their blue line, heart and soul
defenseman Brooks Oprik and plus minus monster Matt Niskanen while only sort of
replacing them with Christain Erhoff. The Eastern Conference winners New York
Rangers bought out Brad Richards and lost prime playoff performers D man Victor
Stralman and center Brain Boyle.
The Flyers made two stupid moves this off season. They
sent Scott Hartnell to Columbus for washed up RJ Umberger and their Captain
Claude Giroux got arrested in Ottawa for groping a male cop.
Montreal lost
steady defenseman Josh Gorges to Buffalo as well as their captain Brian Gionta.
The Sabres also signed free agent sniper Matt Moulson.
The Sabres weren’t the only also rans who got better.
Florida acquired proven Cup winners Willie Mitchell, Shawn Thorton, Jussi
Jokenen and Dave Bolland. The Devils added offense with Mike Cammalleri. The
Islanders got two wingers, Nikolai Kulemin and Mikhail Grabovski to wingers to
play with John Tavares and the Capitals got half the Penguins defense so
someone will play defense in DC this year.
