Grading Every NHL Team’s 2024 Offseason So Far

It remains to be seen how all of the roster changes around the NHL this offseason will play out on the ice, but it is still not too soon to offer some grades based on how they look right now.

The NHL Draft is complete, the top free agents have signed and several big trades have already been made as the 32 general managers look to re-shape their rosters.

Some teams have done a better job than others in addressing their needs.

So let’s talk about the moves and hand out some early grades for where the offseason stands in early July.

There is still plenty of time between now and the start of the 2024-25 season for things to change, and there are still some big potential trades that could still be lurking, but we can still grade what we have seen so far.

The Ducks have taken a very slow and patient approach to the offseason, choosing to stay out of the major free-agent spending and not making many franchise-altering trades.

That is not necessarily a bad thing because it means they also haven’t made any mistakes. They have not traded Trevor Zegras at his lowest value, and they have not overpaid for anybody on the open market.

They made a couple of under-the-radar trades in getting veteran defenseman Brian Dumoulin from Seattle and Robby Fabbri from St. Louis. Neither move does much to change the short-term or long-term outlook, but they help them get to the salary cap floor and might be potential rental trade deadline options that can bring back an asset or two.

The Ducks’ season and rebuild will be determined by how their young players develop. Nothing this offseason has changed that.

Grade: B

This is a tricky one because you have to give the Bruins some credit for correctly identifying some of their biggest needs, specifically, as it relates to center depth (adding Elias Lindholm) and defense (signing Nikita Zadorov). The problem is they may not have addressed those needs in the best ways, and they may have overpaid in the process.

Lindholm is a fine player, but he is not much different from their current top centers (Charlie Coyle and Pavel Zacha) and they are still lacking a true game-breaking player at the position.

Zadorov is a big, physical presence and had a strong playoff run for Vancouver, but his six-year, $30 million contract seems like one that is not going to age well.

Perhaps even more damaging was being forced to trade goalie Linus Ullmark. The duo of Ullmark and Jeremy Swayman has been a key part of the Bruins’ success the past two years, and they are getting a significant downgrade going from Ullmark to Joonas Korpisalo as part of the trade. They did get a first-round pick in that deal, but that is not likely to produce anything in the short-term.

They addressed the right positions, but probably not enough to get them over the top.

Grade: C

One of the NHL’s most disappointing teams during the 2023-24 season has followed that up with a disappointing offseason. After taking a significant step backward this season and missing the playoffs for a 13th consecutive year, the Sabres’ offseason has consisted of buying out Jeff Skinner (one of their top goal-scorers), losing Victor Olofsson and Zemgus Girgensons in free agency, and only adding some depth players like Jason Zucker and Nicolas Aube-Kubel. That won’t close the gap in the Atlantic Division and Eastern Conference.

What makes it even worse is they have some salary-cap flexibility to work with this offseason.

There is still a very good core of talent here, especially on defense, and if everybody pans out as expected they might be onto something. But things rarely work out that perfectly in the NHL with young players.

They needed to do a lot more here. They still have time to do that. But so far this is not impressive.

Grade: D

The rebuild marches on with the trade of starting goalie Jacob Markstrom and forward Andrew Mangiapane, following the deadline moves involving Elias Lindholm, Chris Tanev and Noah Hanifin.

While the return for Markstrom might have been a little underwhelming, the goalie trade market is always difficult to get good value in, especially with a mid-30s goalie who still has a pretty significant contract. It also opens up a spot for Dustin Wolf to take over as the starter, and he might be ready for it.

The big move here was getting Yegor Sharangovich signed to a five-year contract extension, and if he can repeat his 31-goal breakout season that could be a really strong long-term deal.

The one-year contract ($3.5 million) for veteran forward Anthony Mantha is also a solid gamble and potential trade chip at the deadline.

Not a flashy offseason, but some necessary moves (Markstrom trade) and solid gambles (Sharangovich and Mantha).

Grade: B

The Hurricanes have lost a lot of talent this offseason after being unable to re-sign Jake Guentzel, and then losing Teuvo Teravainen and Brett Pesce in free agency. The long-term future of Martin Necas and Seth Jarvis (restricted free agents) is also still up in the air until they get new contracts signed with them.

Jarvis seems like a given, but Necas has been mentioned in trade rumors for most of the offseason.

They did bring in some help on defense with veterans Sean Walker and Shayne Gostisbehere, but that seems like a downgrade from the usually reliable Pesce. Walker is solid and Gostisbehere can cause havoc on the power play, but whether or not they replace Pesce remains to be seen.

One piece of really positive news: Jaccob Slavin — their best defenseman — signing a long-term contract extension at what should be a bargain rate ($6.3 million against the salary cap). Scoring depth might still be an issue.

Grade: C+

They have their franchise player in Connor Bedard. Now comes the hard part of building around him and making sure they do not waste this hockey gift they have been given.

They are still a long way from being a playoff team, but they should be at least a little more competitive this season.

Tyler Bertuzzi and Teuvo Teravainen are solid middle-six forwards with 25-30 goal ability who signed long-term deals to help give them some viable NHL scoring. While neither contract is cheap (Bertuzzi will count $5.4 million against the cap and Teravainen will cost $5.4 million) they seem to be relatively low-risk given their current levels of production and their ages.

Ilya Mikheyev (trade with Vancouver) and Alec Martinez (free agent signing on defense) aren’t quite as exciting, and they might one day regret not taking another potential superstar forward in Ivan Demidov with the No. 2 overall pick.

Grade: B

It’s been a relatively quiet offseason in Colorado, but they did make two really strong under-the-radar moves.

The first was re-signing Jonathan Drouin (one of the best bargain free agent signings in last year’s class) to a new one-year, $2.5 million contract, and then adding defenseman Erik Brannstrom on a one-year, $900,000 contract.

Keeping Drouin was a must given the uncertainty around Gabriel Landeskog and Valeri Nichushkin, and Brannstrom seems like a great reclamation project that might be able to reach his potential in Colorado.

Scoring depth and goaltending depth might still be a concern.

Grade: B

The Blue Jackets are in the market for a new head coach — again — and have a new general manager in Don Waddell trying to clean up the mess left behind by Jarmo Kekalainen.

As long as they do not repeat last year’s coaching mistake and avoid hiring a toxic head coach, the offseason will already be an improvement.

Their big addition so far was adding Sean Monahan on a long-term deal to reunite him with Johny Gaudreau. Maybe that can get Gaudreau going again offensively. It certainly can not hurt to try, because after two years that is looking like one of the worst contracts in the league.

Monahan had a nice bounce-back year in 2023-24, but signing him to a five-year, $25 million contract based on that is a pretty sizable risk.

Beyond that, this is largely the same roster that finished with one of the league’s worst records (again). It is not a hopeless situation because the young talent in the prospect pool here is deep, but they are still a couple of years away from making a big jump in the standings.

Grade: C

The Stars are now officially the second team paying defenseman Ryan Suter on a buyout, and it was probably a necessary move.

They replaced him on the blue line by signing veterans Ilya Lyubushkin and Matt Dumba to multi-year deals. Paying Lyubushkin over $3.7 million per year for the next three years seems like a needless overpay and an unforced error by a team that is usually pretty shrewd in its moves.

They did get Matt Duchene to re-up on another bargain contract ($3 million) but are losing Joe Pavelski to retirement. Even without Pavelski, this should still be one of the deepest offensive teams in the league, especially with their wave of forwards entering the NHL.

Overall, a pretty low-profile offseason for a Stanley Cup contender.

Grade: C+

There might not be a general manager in the league facing more pressure this offseason than Steve Yzerman. He needs to produce a playoff team, and so far his offseason makes you wonder if he paid attention to the way his team played in 2023-24.

Instead of fixing one of the league’s worst defenses that helped sabotage their season, he has doubled down on offense by re-signing Patrick Kane and signing Vladimir Tarasenko.

Kane will crush it on the power play, but his 5-on-5 and defensive play are a shell of what they once were.

Tarasenko is still really good, and as good as the Red Wings’ offense was a year ago there is a very real chance it was set up for a regression this season given how high their team shooting percentage was (over 11 percent in all situations, which is not a sustainable number year-to-year).

But that defense … it’s bad, and only managed to get worse after they gave away one of the few reliable players they had by trading Jake Walman in a salary dump to San Jose (and they had to give up a second-round pick to make it happen). That is going to put even more on the shoulders of Moritz Seider to carry the load.

The Red Wings still have over $20 million in salary cap space, and while Seider and Lucas Raymond need to be re-signed as restricted free agents they should not take up all of that. Some of that, at some point, has to be used on defense or the Yzerplan could be setting itself up for another disappointing year.

Grade: D+

Even with their run to the Stanley Cup Final, roster depth was still a big concern for the Oilers.

While they have not yet done anything to address the latter, they made two of the best short-term signings of the summer so far by getting Jeff Skinner and Viktor Arvidsson for a grand total of $7 million against the cap.

Those could be steals and balance out their ability to score.

You have to say these are really smart moves.

Grade: B+

The Panthers did lose quite a bit from their championship roster with Vladimir Tarasenko, Brandon Montour and Ryan Lomberg leaving in free agency, but they kept their most important free agent by re-signing Sam Reinhart. They also managed to keep his salary-cap hit under $9 million per season.

As long as he keeps scoring at least 30 goals and playing Selke-caliber defense, that is going to be a steal.

Their other big move was signing Anton Lundell to a long-term deal. He is still mostly potential at this point, but he has a chance to be a really solid second or third-line center for a long time.

Even with some of the departures, this is still a fantastic team, and they kept their most important free agent.

Grade: B+

The Kings admitted a big mistake from last offseason by dumping Pierre-Luc Dubois’ contract as soon as they had the chance, sending him to the Washington Capitals for goalie Darcy Kuemper.

Kuemper is an important addition because they desperately needed a goalie, and there is a good chance that he could rebound in Los Angeles. It is also significantly better for their salary cap situation in both the short-term and the long-term.

Losing Matt Roy off of the defense in free agency will hurt (and Joel Edmundson is not an upgrade), and they still have not addressed their offense that let them down in the second half. Tanner Jeannot and Warren Foegele are not going to fix that.

Grade: C+

It is really hard to evaluate the Wild right now because it is nearly impossible for the Wild to do anything due to the salary cap restraints forced on them by the Zach Parise and Ryan Suter buyouts.

The good news: This is the last year they have to deal with the worst years of them.

The bad news: They still have to get through this season.

The Wild signed Yakov Trenin to a four-year contract and made a couple of small trades, but nothing here is really meaningful.

The Wild’s success this season will depend on whether their goaltending bounces back (specifically Jonas Gustavsson) and if some of their young players take big leaps forward.

Grade: C

In terms of making moves to improve the immediate short-term outlook, the Canadiens offseason has been almost non-existent.

But they did make two big moves that could significantly impact the long-term outlook.

First, they jumped at the opportunity to select Ivan Demidov with the No. 5 overall pick, perhaps learning from last year’s mistake where they passed on Matvei Michkov.

Then they signed one of their top young players, former No. 1 overall pick Juraj Slafkovsky, to a long-term contract worth $60.8 million over eight years ($7.6 million salary cap number per year).

Is that a big investment for a player who has yet to score 30 goals in his NHL career? Maybe. But it is also one of those contracts that could be a steal if he reaches his potential. Based on what he showed in his second year in the league, he might be on his way to doing that.

Grade: C+

No team in the league made more impactful moves than the Nashville Predators, signing Steven Stamkos, Jonathan Marchessault and Brady Skjei in free agency.

They might have overpaid Skjei a little, but Stamkos and Marchessault are coming off 40-goal seasons and add some serious goal-scoring talent and star power to a team that was already a playoff team.

Along with those outside additions, they also managed to keep starting goalie Juuse Saros on a long-term contract.

They spent the better part of the past two years shedding salary, and they put that newfound salary cap space to good use this offseason.

Is it enough to make them a Stanley Cup team? Maybe not. But the excitement level here should be through the roof and it has a chance to be a fantastic team.

Grade: A

The Devils needed to do one thing this offseason, and that was find some sort of viable NHL starting goalie.

They did exactly that by adding Jacob Markstrom from the Calgary Flames, and didn’t have to give up anything of major value to do it. Then they created some salary cap space by trading John Marino and signing one of the top players on the market in Brett Pesce away from a division rival.

As long as Markstrom still has something left in the tank, and they get some better injury luck this season for their top players (specifically Jack Hughes, Nico Hischier and Dougie Hamilton) the Devils should again be one of the top teams in the NHL and a legitimate Stanley Cup contender.

Grade: A

The Islanders are still kind of stuck in the mediocre middle of the NHL and really do not seem to have a direction on where they want to go or how they want to go about getting there.

They are good enough to be competitive, but not good enough to compete for the Stanley Cup.

Too good to rebuild, but not so good to go all in with moves.

The one big move they did make was signing Anthony Duclair to a four-year contract. As far as long-term contracts go this offseason, it might be one of the better gambles as he only counts $3.5 million against the cap.

He might not be a complete player away from the puck, but he will give the Islanders 25-goal talent on a team that needs as much talent as it can get.

Grade: B

This has not been an especially great offseason for the Rangers.

The best move was getting Barclay Goodrow’s contract taken off of their hands, and getting some scoring depth with Reilly Smith for a couple of mid-round draft picks.

But they still have not really done anything to revamp their defense (something they need to do) and now have a bit of a mess on their hands with the Jacob Trouba situation. They clearly want to trade him to create salary cap space and help make their defense more mobile, but he does not want to leave and might complicate things with his no-trade protections.

It has not been a terrible offseason, but it also has not been a great offseason because they really haven’t done anything. As good as they were a year ago, and as good as they still are, they still need to make some big upgrades and not be as goaltending and power play dependent if they are going to win a Stanley Cup.

Grade: C

The most important addition here is, without question, getting Linus Ullmark to be their new starting goalie while also dumping Joonas Korpisalo.

That move alone could have significant ramifications for their chances and give them a potentially top-tier starting goalie — even if it is for potentially just one year.

They also finally traded Jakob Chychrun after months of speculation, but for an underwhelming return (Nick Jensen and a third-round pick) given what they gave up to acquire him just a little more than a season ago.

Some of their smaller free-agent signings might provide some good value (Michael Amadio), but Ullmark is the player who will move the needle the most.

Grade: B-

Even though the 2023-24 season ended with disappointment, there should have been a lot of reasons for optimism here.

They took a big step forward and stayed in the playoff race longer than anybody expected at the start of the year, and some of their defensive and 5-on-5 metrics indicated it might not have been a total fluke.

They simply needed more from their offense and some sort of reliable goaltending.

But instead of trying to build on that the Flyers seem resigned to the fact they are going to take a step backwards this season and have not really done much to add to the roster. If anything, they subtracted from it by buying out the remainder of Cam Atkinson’s contract (probably not a huge loss if we are speaking objectively).

The best news of the offseason is that 2023 first-round pick Matvei Michkov is making the jump from the KHL over to North America and the NHL, and that adds a potential superstar to the rebuild. Beyond that, however, this offseason has been a dud so far.

Grade: D+

Nobody in the Pittsburgh Penguins organization wants to come out and admit that they are starting a rebuild, but that is exactly what this offseason looks like.

Short-term stop-gap free agent signings.

Paying essentially $7 million to take on the remainder of Kevin Hayes’ contract to get a second-round pick.

Trading Reilly Smith for a 2027 second-round pick.

Not making any sort of major upgrade or change to the roster to improve things in the short term.

The problem isn’t that they are necessarily looking to the future, or that any of their moves have been bad. It is that they do not seem fully committed in any one direction. Either try to compete or commit to a rebuild. Trying to approach both at the same time rarely goes well and usually only extends the mediocrity.

Grade: C-

It would be nearly impossible for the 2024-25 San Jose Sharks to be worse than the 2023-24 San Jose Sharks. Given the offseason moves, they should not be. So that is a plus.

The obvious win of the offseason was getting the top pick in the 2024 NHL Draft Lottery and using it to select a potential superstar in Macklin Celebrini.

They also made some solid veteran additions.

While claiming Barclay Goodrow’s contract on waivers was a bizarre move, the signings of Tyler Toffoli and Alexander Wennberg bring in a couple of strong forwards that can provide some offense over the next couple of years. Toffoli is a legitimate top-line scorer.

They also upgraded their defense by not only getting Jake Walman from Detroit, but also getting a second-round pick to take on the remainder of his (shockingly reasonable) contract.

Playoff team? Not even close. Better team? Definitely, and there are some solid moves here to help make sure of it.

Grade: B+

There might not be a weirder offseason in the NHL than the one belonging to the Seattle Kraken.

While Brandon Montour has a chance to be a solid upgrade to their defense, they may have dramatically overpaid him for what his production is likely to look like. But that potential overpay is nothing compared to what they gave Chandler Stephenson, signing him to a seven-year, $43.7 million contract that just simply goes against all sound logic and reason.

They needed to upgrade their offense after dropping down to 29th in the league in goals, but this is not likely to be the path.

Grade: F

The Blues pulled a bit of a shocker and re-signed forward Pavel Buchnevich to a long-term contract extension instead of trading him.

It’s a fine move and contract for a top-line scorer, but it does sort of cloud the current direction of the Blues.

They have not made the playoffs in a couple of years, and have still done nothing to fix a defense that is not only highly paid, but also one of the worst units in the league. There is not much to suggest this roster is good enough to get back to the playoffs, especially if their goaltending (a surprising strength in 2023-24) takes a step backward and regresses.

Nothing wrong with re-signing Buchnevich. But that can not be it.

Grade: C-

Jake Guentzel should be a great fit, and as difficult as it might be to lose Steven Stamkos to sign him, the reality is that Guentzel is several years younger and a better 5-on-5 player at this point.

The real question comes down to whether or not Ryan McDonagh has enough left in the tank to be an upgrade over Mikhail Sergachev, who was traded to Utah in a salary cap-clearing trade.

While they lost one franchise icon in Stamkos, they did manage to keep another by re-signing defenseman Victor Hedman to a long-term contract extension that will start next season.

It still looks like a very top-heavy roster, but Cam Atkinson and Zemgus Girgensons could provide some solid bottom-six depth.

Grade: B-

If these were the “everything is on the table” changes the Toronto Maple Leafs front office hinted at after their latest playoff meltdown, that is underwhelming.

Chris Tanev should be a really nice upgrade to their defense in the short-term, but that contract is going to age like milk under a radiator in a few years.

Oliver Ekman-Larsson is a solid veteran, but the Maple Leafs can not overuse him expect too much from him.

Keeping Max Domi is fine, but the Maple Leafs’ scoring depth is a big problem that keeps hurting them in the playoffs and they have not yet done anything to address it. If anything it only managed to get worse with the free agent departure of Tyler Bertuzzi.

Then there is the matter of still not really doing anything to alter a core that has not accomplished anything of significance in eight years.

That does not even get into the question of whether or not Anthony Stolarz, Joseph Woll and Matt Murray are the answers in goal.

Is this it? Is this everything on the table?

Grade: D+

New city. New owner. New approach.

Utah entered the offseason loaded with salary cap space and draft pick capital and put it all to good use by completely overhauling the defense.

After trading for Mikhail Sergachev and John Marino, they also added Ian Cole in free agency and re-signed Sean Durzi to a long-term contract extension.

That is all of a sudden a very formidable group, and when combined with some of their emerging forwards this could become a very competitive team very quickly. Marino brings a steady defensive presence, Sergachev brings some big-time offensive potential and if Logan Cooley can break out at forward this could be a really interesting team in the Pacific Division.

Grade: B+

The Canucks were one of the biggest surprises in the NHL in 2023-24 and are bringing back a really solid core led by Elias Pettersson, Quinn Hughes, J.T. Miller, Brock Boeser and Thatcher Demko.

They added to that forward group this offseason by bringing in a couple of former Boston Bruins, signing Jake DeBrusk to a seven-year deal and Danton Heinen to a two-year deal.

The seven-year term for DeBrusk is a little excessive, but the salary cap hit is not too damaging if he can score 25 or 30 goals.

As long as their top stars stay healthy — and especially Demko — they are going to have a chance to be a fun and competitive team.

Grade: B

In a weird twist the Vegas Golden Knights have not really done anything this offseason except mostly subtract.

They did not bring back Jonathan Marchessault, they traded Logan Thompson, and have so far only added Victor Olofsson, Akira Schmid and Alexander Holtz.

It is quiet.

Almost a little too quiet, and it is enough to make you wonder what they might have looming later in the offseason.

They did make some big long-term additions at the trade deadline with trades for Tomas Hertl and Noah Hanifin, but it still seems there might be something else ahead this offseason.

Grade: C-

The Washington Capitals snuck into the playoffs with one of the worst goal-differentials of the modern era in 2023-24, and rather than being content with that and hoping their luck would repeat itself the Capitals decided to make some major additions.

They traded Darcy Kuemper for Pierre-Luc Dubois, picked up Jakob Chychrun for very little in a trade with Ottawa, signed Matt Roy in free agency, added another middle-six forward in Andrew Mangiapane and landed a strong goalie in Logan Thompson.

That is some solid work that not only allows the Capitals to remain competitive for another year of Alex Ovechin’s career, but also did not cost them anything of significance long-term.

Dubois is the most controversial move here given his contract, but he has been a good player in the NHL a lot longer than he has been a bad player. There is a real chance he rebounds here and produces. If he does, this is a rock-solid offseason that has seen them add two top-six forwards, two top-four defensemen and a potential starting goalie.

They might not be a Stanley Cup team, but they can make the playoffs again and maybe put up a better fight if they get there.

Grade: A

The concern for the Winnipeg Jets this offseason was always going to be if they let their 2023-24 success in the regular season fool them into thinking they did not need to do much this offseason. The early returns on the offseason indicate that they have.

Mostly because they have not done anything. That remains a calling card of the Kevin Cheveldayoff front office, where he seemingly refuses to make major changes unless he is forced into making them.

The reality for Winnipeg is that for as much talent as it has at the top of the lineup, its success this past season was almost entirely the result of starting goalie Connor Hellebuyck putting the team on his back and carrying it.

He might get them to the playoffs. There is only so much he can do on his own. Winnipeg’s front office has not yet figured that out. This is largely the same roster and team as a year ago and that is simply not going to produce a better result.

Hellebuyck needs more help in front of him defensively and in the form of a more balanced forward group. They have provided him with none of that yet.

Grade: D