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WHILE JULY 1 IS always a holiday north of the border, it has become a dual celebration over the past two decades or so thanks to NHL free agency, which happens to fall on Canada Day. It’s a whirlwind of activity if you happen to work in the industry, but when the dust settled on that first day of action, it became quite apparent that the ground really hadn’t shifted that much around the NHL landscape. There was definitely a feeling of “Did anything really happen today?”
Sure, there were signings, but a lot of them were re-signings, with teams choosing to extend the talent they already knew instead of venturing out into the unknown. There was a blockbuster trade in the lead-up to July 1, when the Toronto Maple Leafs sent Mitch Marner to the Vegas Golden Knights in a sign-and-trade – but that was all done before free agency officially opened.
The obvious answer for this development is the salary cap. The NHL had announced in January that the cap was going up by $7.5 million – to $95.5 million – and would continue to go up in the coming years, giving teams more room to keep their own assets. And if you were a pending free agent, the pull of big dollars elsewhere was now mitigated by the fact you could get a fat cheque from the team you already played for, thus staying in a city you’re familiar with in a dressing room you’re already comfortable in.
This made the free-agency board a lot less star-powered than first thought. Obviously, Marner was off the market, while Brock Boeser followed when he re-signed in Vancouver. Nikolaj Ehlers was the biggest name to change addresses, going from Winnipeg to Carolina, but he didn’t have a lot of company behind him. Heck, the Stanley Cup champions didn’t even get raided. No one thought the Panthers could keep Aaron Ekblad, Sam Bennett and Brad Marchand, yet Florida GM Bill Zito got it done. Success and sunshine will do that.
Even so, some teams did better than others. We’ve already mentioned Florida, but who were some of the other winners of the off-season? We picked four teams that understood their assignments and put themselves in positive positions. On the other hand, we also had to pick on four franchises that didn’t do enough (or did the wrong things) and could be in for painful campaigns. Here’s a look at our annual summer winners and losers.
NIKOLAJ EHLERS
CAROLINA
HURRICANES (+825 to Win Stanley Cup, +400 to Win East, +120 to Win Division)
THE HURRICANES WERE REPORTEDLY IN THE hunt for Mitch Marner, but they still ended up with the second-biggest name available, so, of course, they land in the win column. The Hurricanes were already one of the best teams in the East, and now they’ve added some more scoring punch in erstwhile Jets left winger Nikolaj Ehlers. While not every player can adjust to Carolina’s systems under coach Rod Brind’Amour, Ehlers has the advantage of coming from another systems team in Winnipeg, so he will have a leg up. Elsewhere, the Canes replaced defenseman Brent Burns (who signed in Colorado) with K’Andre Miller – acquired via trade with the Rangers. Miller is substantially younger than Burns, and while they’re not the same type of blueliner, Miller is a fine replacement at this point in his career.
While we’re focused on the short term here, it’s important to note how GM Eric Tulsky has set Carolina up for the future as well. Thanks to several recent contract extensions (including an eight-year pact with Jackson Blake), the entire Canes core is locked up through 2026-27, with no one making more than Sebastian Aho’s $9.7 million per year.
COLE CAUFIELD & NOAH DOBSON
MONTREAL
CANADIENS (+2200 to Win East, O/U 90.5 Regular Season Pts)
BY PARLAYING A SIZZLING SECOND HALF into a playoff spot, the Canadiens pushed their timeline forward, and GM Kent Hughes rewarded his charges by swinging a blockbuster deal at the draft, acquiring a top-pair defenseman from the Islanders in Noah Dobson. Though the price was two first-rounders, Montreal is in no need of youth. The Habs’ pipeline is already full and has borne significant fruit in the form of Lane Hutson and Ivan Demidov, to name just a couple of the burgeoning stars. Speaking of Hutson, he’ll get a boost from the presence of Dobson, who can also move the puck with aplomb, providing cover for the youngster as he continues to acclimate in his second NHL season.
Hughes also strengthened his forward corps with the acquisition of Zack Bolduc from St. Louis, who took a big step as a two-way threat with the Blues last season. The price for the 22-year-old was Logan Mailloux – well worth it given the glut of defensemen already in Montreal.
While Montreal’s underlying numbers were poor last season, Nick Suzuki’s post-4 Nations Face-Off revenge tour and Sam Montembeault’s solid goaltending helped propel the team into the post-season. Now, they’ll look to build on that success – with an even better lineup.
MITCH MARNER
VEGAS
GOLDEN KNIGHTS (+800 to Win Stanley Cup, +375 to Win West)
BIG-GAME HUNTING IS WHAT THEY DO IN VEGAS, and GM Kelly McCrimmon bagged another buck with the sign-and-trade for Mitch Marner. Marner, a 100-point two-way threat who kills penalties, comes over from Toronto, where a lack of playoff success had fans at full boil. But in Vegas, Marner joins a cast that already has many champions on the roster. Sure, there will be pressure to live up to his new $12-million cap hit, but with Jack Eichel, Mark Stone and Tomas Hertl also on the roster, Marner doesn’t have to be everything all at once for the Golden Knights.
The Knights bolstered the bottom six, too, with versatile center Colton Sissons, who came over with shot-blocking defenseman Jeremy Lauzon in a trade with Nashville that sent blueliner Nic Hague the other way.
The bad news for Vegas is that star 35-year-old D-man Alex Pietrangelo is pegged to miss the entire campaign due to injury, which is a significant blow to the back end. But with all the great two-way forwards Vegas employs – particularly with Marner now in the fold – there’s no reason to discount the Golden Knights as one of the NHL’s best teams and a Stanley Cup threat.
MAMMOTH ADDITION
Peterka brings another element to a Utah attack that looks less wooly and more bully.
UTAH
MAMMOTH (O/U 92.5 Regular Season Pts, Mammoth Make Playoffs -117)
HAD IT NOT BEEN FOR KEY INJURIES on the blueline last year (Sean Durzi and John Marino being the most prominent), perhaps Utah would have made the playoffs in its first year in Salt Lake City. Now officially known as the Mammoth, Utah’s team is in a better position to make that post-season charge. In acquiring right winger JJ Peterka from Buffalo, the Mammoth added a young weapon just entering his prime. Peterka had 68 points for the Sabres last year, a total that would have ranked him second on Utah behind only captain Clayton Keller. With Dylan Guenther and Logan Cooley making big offensive leaps, the Mammoth’s attack is looking a lot more potent. The addition of Brandon Tanev up front will also help defensively. Simply put, the forward corps has a lot more definition now.
And bringing in Nate Schmidt and Vitek Vanecek from Florida adds two more Stanley Cup winners to the lineup while strengthening the back end and goalie depth.
MICHAEL KESSELRING
BUFFALO
SABRES (O/U 84.5 Regular Season Pts, Sabres Miss Playoffs -370)
WE TAKE NO PLEASURE IN THIS, BUT IT LOOKS like it will be another rough season for Sabres fans. Buffalo was one of the worst teams in the East last year and did not improve over the summer. Trading right winger JJ Peterka to Utah leaves a hole in the top six that young Josh Doan (who came over in the deal from the Mammoth) cannot be expected to fill right away. Big defenseman Michael Kesselring, the other part of the Peterka deal, will help the blueline, but will that be enough to help a franchise that finished bottom three in goals against last season? The Sabres signed Alex Lyon as their second goaltender to complement Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen, but, again, is that enough to move the dial?
The problem for the Sabres is that they can’t just be as good or even a little better than they were last season. They need to be a lot better in order to snag a playoff spot for the first time in more than a decade. And with Detroit and Montreal improving, Buffalo’s chances in the Atlantic are daunting. Jeff Skinner’s buyout number would make him the sixth-highest-paid forward on the team right now, and that number goes up next season.
STILL WORK TO DO
Bedard’s Hawks are an underpowered bunch among the Central Division’s elite squads.
CHICAGO
BLACKHAWKS (Worst Record +200)
IN THE FIRST TWO YEARS OF THE CONNOR Bedard era in Chicago, GM Kyle Davidson had busy off-seasons, bringing in veterans to help his phenom get used to the NHL. It didn’t particularly work either time, though Nick Foligno is the captain and a great voice to have in the room. This summer, Davidson was quiet – and despite the change in strategy, it still feels like a loss. Chicago is nowhere near as strong as most of its Central Division rivals, and the only hope for a shock is internal growth from the likes of Bedard, Frank Nazar, Artyom Levshunov and Sam Rinzel.
Chicago traded Seth Jones to Florida at the deadline, so the Hawks enter the season weaker on the blueline than last year – a stunning and scary proposition. And while Jonathan Toews’ return is one of the best stories in years, it has to hurt a little that he chose his hometown Winnipeg Jets (which totally makes sense, given that connection and the fact the Jets are Stanley Cup contenders) over the only NHL team he had ever suited up for. Imagine what kind of role model he would have been for Bedard.
STEVEN STAMKOS
NASHVILLE
PREDATORS (O/U 86.5 Regular Season Pts, Predators Make Playoffs +200)
THE PREDATORS ARE IN A SIMILAR situation as Chicago, lagging behind in the buzzsaw that is the Central Division. This time last year, we thought Nashville was a winner thanks to the splashy additions of Steven Stamkos, Jonathan Marchessault and Brady Skjei. Unfortunately, GM Barry Trotz had his gambit fail, as the Preds cratered in the standings and, shockingly, couldn’t score to save their lives. Nashville finished second last in the league in offense, besting only the Sharks. Stamkos and Marchessault both went from 40-plus goals with their previous teams to settling in the 20s with the Predators.
This off-season brought a lot less change, with the major headline being the trade that sent center Colton Sissons and defenseman Jeremy Lauzon to Vegas in exchange for towering blueliner Nic Hague. Does the 2-for-1 swap make Nashville better? It’s hard to find an argument that it does, unless the conditional draft pick (a third-rounder that could become a second) in 2027 that Nashville also procured in the swap turns out to be a home run. But that doesn’t help this year’s edition of the Preds, does it?
IS KANE ABLE?
Kane could bring secondary scoring to the Canucks, but there are big red flags.
VANCOUVER
CANUCKS (O/U 90.5 Regular Season Pts, Canucks Make Playoffs +115)
ON THE SURFACE, THE CANUCKS TOOK CARE OF business during the free-agent season. They re-signed Conor Garland and Brock Boeser – which was a little surprising given the organization’s sometimes rocky relationship with the scoring winger – while also inking starting netminder Thatcher Demko to a contract extension that runs until the summer of 2029. But they also lost key penalty-killer Pius Suter on the open market, not to mention bang-and-crasher Dakota Joshua and goalie Arturs Silovs to trades. Silovs was expendable thanks to the presence of Demko and Kevin Lankinen, but the loss of those two forwards will hurt Vancouver’s overall effectiveness.
The biggest wild card is Evander Kane, the hometown kid acquired from Edmonton for a fourth-round pick. Kane has those desirable power-forward traits, but he found himself on the wrong side of the line too often in the Stanley Cup final. If things go right, Kane will give the Canucks a much-needed scoring threat besides Boeser. But if they go wrong, he could also prove to be a distraction in a city that has seen a lot of drama lately.
Even if we regard Vancouver’s summer moves as neutral, keep in mind this was not a playoff team last season. And with other teams in the West improving, the Canucks will have to hope Kane is a net positive over Suter and Joshua combined.
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