NHL power rankings: Grading each team’s offseason

Central Division

Chicago Blackhawks

Players added: Nikita Zadorov, Mattias Janmark, Lucas Wallmark, Pius Suter, Wyatt Kalynuk, Anton Lindholm, Brandon Pirri

Players lost: Olli Määttä, Brandon Saad, Corey Crawford, Dylan Sikura, Drake Caggiula, Slater Koekkoek, Dennis Gilbert

TBD: Dylan Strome

The Blackhawks have lost some good players and haven’t been able to add any good players to replace them. Zadorov isn’t as good as Maatta. Not a good sign. Losing Crawford is especially baffling. He deserved better. And what a surprise, the Blackhawks lost yet another Brandon Saad trade.

Grade: D+

Colorado Avalanche

Players added: Brandon Saad, Dennis Gilbert, Miikka Salomäki, Kiefer Sherwood, Michael Vecchione, Kyle Burroughs

Players lost:  Vladislav Namestnikov, Matt Nieto, Colin Wilson, Kevin Connauton

TBD: Devon Toews, Tyson Jost

The Avalanche lost out on Taylor Hall, but they got a solid consolation prize in Saad. Devon Toews is your prototypical Avalanche defenseman. Everything he does well is what the Avalanche value.

Grade: B+

Dallas Stars

Players added: Mark Pysyk

Players lost: Mattias Janmark

TBD: Corey Perry, Denis Gurianov, Roope Hintz

It has been a quiet offseason for the Stars, but they were able to re-sign Anton Khudobin to a surprisingly reasonable deal.

Grade: C+

Minnesota Wild

Players added: Cam Talbot, Nick Bonino, Nick Bjugstad, Marcus Johansson

Players lost: Eric Staal, Devan Dubnyk, Luke Kunin, Mikko Koivu, Alex Galchenyuk, JT Brown

TBD: N/A

I have no idea what the Minnesota Wild are doing. They traded a good center (Staal) for a lesser one (Johansson). Bonino’s a decent addition, but the Wild are still very shallow down the middle.

Grade: C-

Nashville Predators

Players added: Mark Borowiekci, Matt Benning, Nick Cousins, Brad Richardson, Tyler Lewington,

Players lost: Craig Smith, Mikael Granlund, Nick Bonino, Austin Watson

TBD: Luke Kunin

The Predators did a great job rebuilding their third pairing, which was abysmally bad last season. However, losing Granlund, Smith, and Bonino is huge. Cousins and Richardson should help offset that a little bit, but ultimately, the Predators need to do more.

Grade: C

St. Louis Blues

Players added: Torey Krug, Kyle Clifford, Steven Santini, Jon Gillies, Curtis McKenzie, Sam Anas

Players lost: Alex Pietrangelo, Jake Allen, Jay Bouwmeester, Troy Brouwer, Mike Vecchione, Andreas Borgman, Derrick Pouliot

TBD: Vince Dunn

Losing Pietrangelo hurts a lot, but replacing him with Krug isn’t a terrible trade off. Gillies is a nice third goalie and could provide some insurance in case Ville Husso isn’t ready to be an NHL backup.

Grade: B-

Winnipeg Jets

Players added: Paul Stastny, Derek Forbort, Nate Thompson, Dominic Toninato

Players lost: Carl Dahlström, Anthony Bitetto, Cody Eakin, Dmitry Kulikov, Cameron Schilling, Logan Shaw

TBD: Jack Roslovic, Jansen Harkins, Sami Niku

Adding Stastny is nice, but the Jets have been surprisingly quiet thus far in free agency. Re-signing DeMelo was a very nice move.

Grade: C+