NHL power rankings: Grading each team’s offseason

How has each NHL team done so far this offseason? Let’s check in with them in this week’s NHL Power Rankings.

With free agency starting to slow down, now’s a good time to catch up with each team this offseason. This edition of our NHL power rankings will take a look at how every team has done so far this offseason and hand out some grades.

Let’s get started.

Atlantic Division

Boston Bruins

Players added: Craig Smith, Greg McKegg

Players lost: Torey Krug, Joakim Nordstrom, Alex Petrovic

TBD: Jake DeBrusk, Matt Grzelcyk, Karson Kuhlman, Zdeno Chara (UFA)

The Boston Bruins have been quite inactive in free agency. I like Craig Smith and think he’ll add something to their top-nine forward group. But they’ve got to find a way to replace Torey Krug’s offense. I don’t see how they’re doing it internally.

Grade: C-

Buffalo Sabres

Players added: Taylor Hall, Cody Eakin, Tobias Rieder, Brandon Davidson, Matt Irwin, Eric Staal

Players lost: Marcus Johansson, Johan Larsson, Wayne Simmonds, Jimmy Vesey

TBD: Victor Olofsson, Dominik Kahun, Sam Reinhart, Linus Ullmark

It’s been quite an offseason for the Sabres. They managed to surprise the world by signing Taylor Hall to a one-year deal, which is a huge win. But on the other hand, replacing the eternally underrated Johan Larsson with Cody Eakin isn’t ideal.

The Eric Staal trade was a huge win for Buffalo. Davidson and Rieder are solid depth additions and the Sabres have overhauled the coaching staff in Rochester, which is a good thing.

Grade: B+

Detroit Red Wings

Players added: Vladislav Namestnikov, Thomas Greiss, Troy Stecher, Jon Merrill, Bobby Ryan, Marc Staal

Players lost: Jimmy Howard, Trevor Daley, Jonathan Ericsson, Madison Bowey, Brendan Perlini

TBD: Tyler Bertuzzi, Anthony Mantha

I’m very impressed with what the Red Wings are doing this offseason. They’re signing valuable veterans for bargain prices (minus Greiss). And even Greiss’s overpayment can easily be justified due to the Red Wings lack of organizational depth in goal.

Grade: A-

Florida Panthers

Players added: Carter Verhaeghe, Radko Gudas, Vinnie Hinostroza, Markus Nutivaara, Patric Hornqvist

Players lost: Josh Brown, Evgenii Dadonov, Mark Pysyk, Dryden Hunt, Lucas Wallmark, Mike Matheson, Dominic Toninato

TBD: Brian Boyle, Mike Hoffman, MacKenzie Weegar, Emil Djuse, Mason Marchment, Sam Montembeault, Aleksi Saarela, Erik Haula

Bill Zito has been busy in his first offseason as the Florida Panthers general manager. He’s gambled on the right kind of players, but he’s lost quite a bit of talent if they don’t re-sign Mike Hoffman. Still, Zito’s executing the Panthers’ long overdue retooling quite well thus far.

Grade: B-

Montreal Canadiens

Players added: Tyler Toffoli, Josh Anderson, Jake Allen, Joel Edmundson, Alexandar Romanov

Players lost: Karl Alzner, Max Domi, Keith Kinkaid

TBD: Charles Hudon, Dale Weise

The Montreal Canadiens have been one of the busiest teams in the NHL this offseason. They’ve added some very nice pieces to their organization, though they still haven’t addressed their biggest problem – goal scoring. The Canadiens have nine forwards who *might* score 20 goals, but I’ll be surprised if more than one of them scores 30.

Grade: B+

Ottawa Senators

Players added: Evgenii Dadonov, Erik Gudbranson, Matt Murray, Joshua Brown, Logan Shaw, Austin Watson

Players lost: Mark Borowiecki, Ryan Callahan, Ron Hainsey, Hubert Labrie, Clarke MacArthur, Scott Sabourin, Craig Anderson, Mikkel Boedker, Andreas Englund

TBD: Anthony Duclair, Connor Brown, Filip Chlapik, Chris Tierney

It’s been quite a fascinating offseason for the Ottawa Senators. I have mixed feelings about their additions, though. The Dadonov signing is great and I didn’t mind the Murray trade. However, Murray’s extension was a bit rich.

Grade: B+

Tampa Bay Lightning

The Tampa Bay Lightning haven’t done much of anything this offseason. It’s not even worth it to list who they’ve added and lost. The Lightning will have to get very creative to bring back all three of their prime RFAs – Erik Cernak, Anthony Cirelli, and Mikhail Sergachev.

Grade: Incomplete

Toronto Maple Leafs

Players added: Jimmy Vesey, T.J. Brodie, Joe Thornton, Wayne Simmonds, Aaron Dell, Zach Bogosian, Travis Boyd, Alexander Barabanov

Players lost: Tyson Barrie, Cody Ceci, Kyle Clifford, Miikka Salomaki, Jeremy Bracco, Frederik Gauthier, Evan Rodrigues

TBD: Travis Dermott, Ilya Mikheyev

I can’t say enough about how good the T.J. Brodie signing is for the Leafs. He’s exactly what they needed. The deal might be a bit long, but well, the Leafs had to address their defense and credit to them, they did. Vesey’s an interesting depth addition. Thornton and Simmonds are both great low-risk, high-reward options. Aaron Dell’s a fantastic third goalie.

Grade: A-