Offseason Winners, Losers To Date
So far, anyway, teams looking to dramatically improve this summer have largely flopped.
Many players changed places as free agents or in trades. Teams committed upwards of a half billion dollars in this project.
Let’s look at the evidence:
MONTREAL: Efforts to acquire Vincent Lecavalier failed. Instead, the Canadiens traded for under-productive playmaker Scott Gomez, pint-sized winger Brian Gionta and one-dimensional scorer Mike Cammalleri.
Are those three appreciably better than departing forwards Alex Kovalev, Alex Tanguay and Saku Koivu? And will newcomers Hal Gill and Jaroslav Spacek offset the loss of key defenseman Mike Komisarek?
This looks like a coin flip to Hockey Guy. If GM Bob Gainey can get Koivu back, then this off-season will move into the “plus” category.
TORONTO: General manager Brian Burke talked a big game, then didn’t deliver. He didn’t move up in the draft, as expected, and he whiffed on his major plays. So far, anyway, he has failed to make a blockbuster move with defenseman Tomas Kaberle for badly needed offensive help.
Komisarek and Grant Exelby will beef up his blue line, but the Maple Leafs will miss Pavel Kubina’s points. Colton Orr adds some beef up front, but Burke failed to woo the Sedin twins out of Vancouver. Blue Jackets power forward Rick Nash broke the hearts of Leaf fans by extending his deal in Columbus.
Burke is still trying to land Swedish goaltender Jonas Gustavsson, who would be a big get. And there is still talk of a blockbuster deal with San Jose. Burke will not rest easily.
NEW YORK RANGERS: Ditching Gomez’s contract was a plus, but adding injury-prone scorer Marian Gaborik was a huge gamble. The Eastern Conference is very physical. And where is the set-man man in the Rangers offense?
OTTAWA: Efforts to deal Dany Heatley failed. He nixed a trade to Edmonton and collected a $4 million roster bonus from the Senators. So what happens now?
CALGARY: Adding Jay Bouwmeester while subtracting Adrian Aucoin and Jordan Leopold was a plus, but which incumbent forward will replace Cammalleri’s goal-scoring?
DETROIT: Efforts to keep Marian Hossa failed. Then Mikael Samuelsson left for Vancouver. Ty Conklin left for the Blues, leaving young Jimmy Howard behind Chris Osgood. The Red Wings have other kids ready to step up, but Ken Holland might want to make a home-run play for Mats Sundin.
MINNESOTA: Efforts to woo Sako Koivu to play with his brother failed. The Wild did land Martin Havlat to replace Marian Gaborik, but that was a high-risk signing. Havlat isn’t a Gaborik-like finisher and his medical history is a huge concern, too.
On the other hand, these teams improved:
ATLANTA: Kubina and big center Nik Antropov aren’t high-end producers, but they are better than what the Thrashers had in their supporting cast. Atlanta is trying to lock in Ilya Kovalchuk and these two newcomers will at least help the power play.
NEW YORK ISLANDERS: Drafting John Tavares makes the team better. So does the addition of goaltender Dwayne Roloson, who replaces the injury-prone Rick DiPietro. This team is in the hunt for several of the remaining free agents, too.
CHICAGO: Marian Hossa offers an overall upgrade to Martin Havlat, who has been an injury-prone perimeter forward through most of his career. Hossa signed a cap-friendly contract, too, which should help the Blackhawks keep their core players. And Tomas Kopecky and checking center John Madden are solid additions. Coach Joel Quenneville will love Madden.
On the other hand, Kris Versteeg and Cam Barker didn’t receive their qualifying offers due to a bureaucratic snafu. If those two players are granted free agency, the Blackhawks will be hard-pressed to sign them to market-value deals.
LOS ANGELES: Power forward Ryan Smyth gives the Kings some needed heft on the power play. Rob Scuderi was a nice — albeit overpriced – addition to the blue line.
ST. LOUIS: Free-agent goaltender Ty Conklin was a critical addition. The team still needs to add another offensive defenseman – given Eric Brewer’s uncertain future – but buying Jay McKee created the flexibility to do that. Sergei Zubov would be a nice addition. Convincing collegiate defenseman Ian Cole to turn pro could also boost the blue line depth.
EDMONTON: The Oilers upgraded in goal, getting Nikolai Khabibulin to replace the departing Dwayne Roloson. Efforts to acquire Heatley failed, but Edmonton is still positioned to improve.
TAMPA BAY: The Lightning didn’t trade Lecavalier — at least not yet. By drafting offensive defenseman Victor Hedman and signing free agent Mattias Ohlund to tutor him, the team filled a glaring need. Now this team needs to get stronger in goal.
WASHINGTON: Losing Sergei Fedorov and Viktor Kozlov to Russia allowed the Capitals to add finisher Mike Knuble. And that team isn’t done shopping. What if Kovalev joined this show? How crazy would that be?
Gordo,
I love your commitment to hockey writing, but you need to flip some of those teams.
New York is a huge winner just for not only getting rid of that proposterous Gomez contract, but getting a huge return in Chris Higgins and Montreal’s best defensive prospect. Sure, Gaborik is a gamble, but his ceiling is sky-high if he’s healthy and let loose as opposed to playing for Lemaire’s defensive system in Minnesota.
Vancouver should also be on your list of winners. They kept their heads among a sea of ludicrous signings and kept their best players for a reasonable rate and a reasonable term. They also left themselves enough flexibility to extend Louongo for a very long time.
Chicago, on the other hand, is not a winner at all. The made a marginal upgrade to one position (Hossa over Havlat) while letting their best goalie leave via free agency. They replaced Pahlson with John Madden, who is several years past his Selke-trophy prime. Meanwhile, the ridiculous contracts that they keep giving players have hamstrung them to the point that they can’t afford to keep their best young assets. If this mailing snafu means that Barker and Versteeg are free agents, consider them gone to the highest bidder - which won’t be Chicago, because they don’t have the cap room (thank you, Brian Campbell and Cristobal Huet contracts).
Edmonton, also, is a loser in this just for being Edmonton. No one wants to play there. The failed deal for Heatley was well publicized in the media, so now they have 3 disgruntled players in their locker room who think that the Oilers don’t want them.
Will the Blues have room to add Zubov? If they do I guess that means Pieterangelo will be down another year… which is fine considering Zubov’s age and injury issues the last couple seasons. We can bring him up when Zubov goes down, IF they get him
The Blues? Improved? Not really. They’ve addressed a need in a backup goalie, but come on… that’s homerism at it’s best.
The Blues are desperate for some offensive threats on defense, and despite EJ AP and EB coming back, they’ve yet to do that.
So far, The Blues should get an ‘even’ grade. They’re not better, they’re not worse.
umichblue has good comments, but I disagree with Homerism. Blue should be better and more dangerous in postseason if they can avoid some of the injuries and minutes shift to younger players on the rise. Last year we saw this on forward lines, perhaps this year we see it on defense. True, they don’t have a Sandis Ozolinsh on the blueline, but neither did Detroit or Pittsburgh last 2 years. I suspect the Blues may regret releasing McKee though, but certainly it’s a good sign for the organization to have many options coming along for a fixed amount of minutes. I find Tanguay intriguing as well, hope the Blues consider adding him to the mix if price is right and not too long of a deal.