Shooting Stars: Offseason Review

The Dallas Stars made a few splashes in the offseason, but will be going with a lot of the same players from last season.

The first order of business for the team was to name a new head coach. They decided to go with Jim Montgomery, who is a former NHL player. He was the head coach of Denver University before taking the job with the Stars. He will have the players to compete in his first season, but the real question is how fast will the players grasp his system.

Dallas then signed Jason Robertson, a second round 2017 Draft pick, to a three-year entry level contract. They then made sure that they got Stephen Johns, an important part of their blue line locked up to a three-year extension. One of the bigger stories in the offseason for the Stars was the fact that they re-signed right wing Valeri Nichushkin to a two-year contract. Nichuskin played in the KHL in Russia for the past two seasons.

The key offseason free agent signings included depth defenseman Roman Polak, left wing Michael Mersch, defenseman Joel Hanley, left wing Blake Comeau and goalie Anton Khudobin. The Stars blue line has the potential to have some youngsters back there, but it is always good to have some depth defenseman in case of injuries. Blake Comeau will add something to the third or fourth line and he can also be used on the penalty kill. The Stars needed to upgrade in the crease and they did exactly that with signing Khudobin, who is a viable option should Ben Bishop get hurt for an extended period of time.

Dallas lost goalie Kari Lehtonen, defenseman Greg Pateryn, defenseman Dan Hamhuis and left wing Antoine Roussel. Lehtonen was not going to be re-signed after struggling in his time with the Stars. Pateryn could turn out to be a big loss on the blue line, but that is an area that is overcrowded for Dallas right now. Hamhuis' leadership and veteran presence has a chance to be missed on the blue line, but he would have been the seventh defenseman for the Stars. Roussel was an energy guy who could play on any line. He also added a few goals, but the Stars have younger options to fill that role.

The Stars went to work giving their own player some new contracts. The first player was goalie Colton Point, who signed his entry level deal. Dallas then re-signed the following players to one-year deals: left wing Remi Elie, center Jason Dickinson, goalie Philippe Desrosiers, defenseman Dillion Heatherington, center Mattias Janmark, and center Gemel Smith. Devin Shore signed a new two-year deal.

The biggest move of the offseason came when the Stars gave Tyler Seguin a contract extension. The new contract is for eight years, $78.8 million. The deal comes with a $9.85 million cap hit per season.

The Stars were pretty quiet this offseason, but did upgrade the goalie situation, while managing to re-sign key parts of their roster.

Sabres Slashes: Offseason Review

The Buffalo Sabres finished last season with only 62 points for last place in the NHL. There was some work to be done in the offseason, and it started with the draft.

The Sabres managed to win the 2018 NHL Entry Draft Lottery and get the number one pick overall. With that first pick, they snagged defenseman Rasmus Dahlin. Dahlin is expected to be a franchise number one defenseman and will start the year with the Sabres.

The team then went to work in the offseason by adding some speed and goal scoring. The first order of business was to sign some of their own players to contracts. Casey Nelson signed a two-year contract extension followed by the signings of Rasmus Asplund and Ukka-Pekka Luukkonen to three-year entry level contracts. Then the Sabres added some speed and goal scoring to the lineup with the addition of Conor Sheary in a trade with the Pittsburgh Penguins. They also added veteran defenseman Matt Hunwick in that same deal.

The biggest loss of the offseason was when they traded center Ryan O'Reilly to the St. Louis Blues for forwards Vladimir Sobotka, Tage Thompson, and Patrik Berglund. The team lost some veteran players to free agency like goalie Robin Lehner, center Jordan Nolan, goalie Chad Johnson and center Jacob Josefson.

They signed two new goalies in Scott Wedgewood and Carter Hutton. Hutton figures to be the starter come the regular season. The Sabres signed Dahlin to his entry level contract and then got back to business with taking care of their own players. Buffalo signed the following players to new one year deals: center Sean Malone, right wing Nicholas Baptiste, right wing Justin Bailey, center Danny O'Reagan and left wing CJ Smith. Another big move made by the Sabres was to acquire Jeff Skinner from the Carolina Hurricanes for Cliff Pu and a couple of draft picks.

Skinner will add some much needed scoring to the Sabres top six. He is a good skater and can put the puck in the net. Skinner has scored 20 or more goals in six of his eight seasons in the NHL. He has also added 40 or more points in six of eights seasons in the League.

The Sabres had one of the better summers in the League by having some luck with the Draft Lottery and filling some gaping holes in the roster. The biggest differences this season could be a healthy Jack Eichel and a break out season by Sam Reinhart.

Rapid Review: Atlantic Division Offseason

The NHL preseason will start in less than a week with the regular season to follow shortly. The Atlantic Division off season has been a fairly busy one to say the least. 

1.) BOSTON BRUINS OFFSEASON

The Boston Bruins off season was a mixed bag since they lost some quality veterans, but re-signed a few key restricted free agents. Center Sean Kuraly signed a new contract with the black and gold for the next three years, while defenseman Matt Grzelcyk was rewarded for his play last season with a two-year contract extension. In the off season, the Bruins lost centers Riley Nash and Austin Czarnik, right wing Rick Nash, and goaltender Anton Khudobin. Jaroslav Halak will be the backup goalie after he signed a new two year deal with the Bruins. Joakim Nordstrom will have a shot at making the team since he was signed to a two-year deal in free agency. The biggest move made by Boston in the off season was the signing of defenseman John Moore to a five-year deal.

2.) BUFFALO SABRES

The Buffalo Sabres had one of the better off seasons in the Atlantic Division. They drafted defenseman Rasmus Dahlin with the first overall pick in the 2018 NHL Entry Draft. The Sabres managed to sign center Rasmus Asplund and goalie Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen to three-year entry-level contracts. Buffalo then went out and got some help via trades. The team acquired forwards Tage Thompson, Patrik Berglund and Vladimir Sobotka in a trade with the St. Louis Blues for center Ryan O’Reilly. They added some speed and goal scoring with the additions of Connor Sheary and Jeff Skinner. After they were finished making trades, the team managed to lock up its key restricted free agents to short-term deals. 

3.) DETROIT RED WINGS

The Red Wings lucked out when right wing Filip Zadina fell to seventh in the 2018 NHL Entry Draft, and then later signed him to his entry-level deal. They re-signed key forwards Andreas Athanasiou and Anthony Mantha to new two year deals, while center Dylan Larkin got a new five-year contract. The Red Wings added goalie Jonathan Bernier, defenseman Mike Green and left wing, Tomas Vanek. Detroit had somewhat of a slow off season and didn’t make the big splash that some teams in the Atlantic made. 

4.) FLORIDA PANTHERS

The Florida Panthers went out and got another big name goal scorer to add to an already deep set of forwards. The Panthers had to go the long route to get Mike Hoffman, but they landed the 28-year-old forward. Hoffman managed to produce 56 points last year despite playing on an awful Ottawa Senators team. Florida also added goalie Michael Hutchinson and right wing Troy Brouwer. The team re-signed Alex Petrovic to a one year deal and Jared McCann to a two-year contract. 

5.) MONTREAL CANADIENS

The Canadiens had an off season to forget with trading two of its best players. The Habs managed to get rid of a guy who had 51 points last year in Alex Galchenyuk and its captain Max Pacioretty. They did deeper at the center position, which is considered a weakness of the team, with the additions of prospect Jesperi Kotkaniemi, Max Domi and Nick Suzuki. Domi and Suzuki were acquired in the Galchenyuk and Pacioretty trades. Montreal also re-signed some key restricted free agents in Jacob De La Rose and Phillip Danault. The Habs also acquired Joel Armia, Tomas Tatar and Tomas Plekanec.

6.) OTTAWA SENATORS

The Senators off season is finally over, but that doesn't mean that all of the focus is off of them. They traded Mike Hoffman in the off season, and were close to trading Erik Karlsson, but couldn't get a deal done. Hoffman was traded to the San Jose Sharks but found his way back to the Atlantic Division when the Sharks traded him to the Florida Panthers. The Pens acquired Mikkel Boedker and Julius Bergman in the Hoffman trade. They took Brady Tkachuk fourth overall in the Entry Draft and signed him to his entry-level contract in the summer. They also re-signed Mark Stone and Codi Ceci to new deals.

7.) TAMPA BAY LIGHTNING

The Tampa Bay Lightning didn't make any free agent splashes in the off season but did manage to get their own players under affordable contracts. The Bolts gave goalie Louis Domingue a two-year extension followed with a five-year contract to JT Miller. Tampa Bay then went and signed defenseman Ryan McDonagh to a seven-year deal and Slater Koekkoek to a one year contract. The biggest move of the off season for the Lightning was to get Nikita Kucherov signed for the next eight seasons.

8.) TORONTO MAPLE LEAFS

The Maple Leafs manage to land the biggest free agent this summer. John Tavares left the only team he'd played for in the New York Islanders to play for his hometown team. Tavares signed a new seven-year deal with the Leafs, and will firepower to an already loaded lineup. They also signed Connor Carrick, Calvin Pickard, Tyler Ennis, and Andreas Johnson to one-year deals. The Leafs also signed center Frederik Gauthier to a new two-year deal.