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.
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