NHL power rankings: Grading each team's offseason

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Henrik Lundqvist #30 of the New York Rangers and Alex Ovechkin #8 of the Washington Capitals (Photo by Rob Carr/Getty Images) /

Metropolitan Division

Carolina Hurricanes

Players added: Jesper Fast, Jeremy Bracco, David Gust, Sheldon Rempal, Joakim Ryan

Players lost: Joel Edmundson, Justin Williams, Sami Vatanen, Anton Forsberg, Trevor van Riemsdyk

TBD: Warren Foegele, Haydn Fleury

I love the Jesper Fast signing. He’s a very versatile forward who can fit in anywhere in the lineup. Should be a perfect fit in their system. Joakim Ryan is a solid depth defenseman. I can’t help but feel the Hurricanes aren’t done yet.

Grade: B

Columbus Blue Jackets

Players added: Max Domi, Mikko Koivu, Kole Sherwood, Mikhail Grigorenko, Cliff Pu

Players lost: Devin Shore, Josh Anderson, Ryan Murray, Markus Nutivaara

TBD: Pierre-Luc Dubois, Ryan MacInnis, Kevin Stenlund

Max Domi is exactly what the Columbus Blue Jackets need. He’s one of the best offensive play drivers in the NHL and he should help increase their scoring. Much like the Hurricanes, you can’t help but feel they’ve got another big move in them.

Grade: B-

New Jersey Devils

Players added: Andreas Johnsson, Ryan Murray, Corey Crawford, Scott Wedgewood

Players lost: Kevin Rooney, Mirco Mueller, John Hayden, Fredrik Claesson, Cory Schneider

TBD: Mackenzie Blackwood, Jesper Bratt, Nick Merkley

Just like last summer, the New Jersey Devils have been busy so far. The Ryan Murray trade is great and so is the Andreas Johnsson trade. Corey Crawford and MacKenzie Blackwood should form one of the NHL’s most effective goalie tandems.

Grade: B+

New York Islanders

Players added: Cory Schneider, Austin Czarnik, Ilya Sorokin

Players lost: Devon Toews, Christopher Gibson, Thomas Greiss, Andy Greene, Matt Martin

TBD: Mathew Barzal, Ryan Pulock

The Islanders haven’t been able to do anything because they have to get Barzal and Pulock locked up. With under $9 million of cap space, they’re not doing anything of consequence until they’re signed.

Grade: Incomplete

New York Rangers

Players added: Alexis Lafreniere, Jack Johnson, Colin Blackwell, Kevin Rooney, Keith Kinkaid, Anthony Bitetto, Jonny Brodzinski

Players lost: Marc Staal, Jesper Fast, Henrik Lundqvist

TBD: Ryan Strome, Brendan Lemieux

Lafreniere should give the Rangers offense a huge spark. Johnson is a simply horrible and horrendous signing, I don’t care if it’s only for one year and $1 million. The Rangers are going to miss Jesper Fast.

Grade: C+

Philadelphia Flyers

Players added: Erik Gustafsson, Derrick Pouliot

Players lost: Matt Niskanen, Tyler Pitlick, Nate Thompson, Andy Welinski, Derek Grant

TBD: Philippe Myers

Matt Niskanen’s retirement clearly caught the Flyers by surprise. They haven’t been able to replace him yet, but Erik Gustafsson brings an element of offense to the table that the Flyers didn’t have last year on their blueline. The Flyers have impressive forward depth, so losing Pitlick, Thompson, and Grant isn’t a huge deal, but I’d expect them to add an extra forward or two soon.

Grade: C+

Pittsburgh Penguins

Added: Michael Matheson, Maxime Lagacé, Frederick Gaudreau, Evan Rodrigues, Josh Currie, Mark Jankowski, Kasperi Kapanen, Cody Ceci

Lost: Matt Murray, Patric Hornqvist, Patrick Marleau, Justin Schultz, Conor Sheary, Dominik Simon

TBD: N/A

The Murray trade was inevitable and I think the Penguins got a fine return for him. They better hope Tristan Jarry is ready to be a number one goalie, though. I didn’t like the Hornqvist trade. Matheson is an expensive third-pairing defenseman and Cody Ceci is simply not good.

Grade: C-

Washington Capitals

Added: Justin Schultz, Henrik Lundqvist, Trevor van Riemsdyk, Daniel Carr, Paul LaDue, Cameron Schilling, Zachary Fucale

Lost: Braden Holtby, Ilya Kovalchuk, Travis Boyd, Radko Gudas

TBD: Jonas Siegenthaler

Overall, this has been a pretty strong offseason for the Washington Capitals. Lundqvist is still a very capable goalie and at just $1.5 million, he’s a very inexpensive one. Schultz is an interesting guy to take a two-year flyer on, but he was a lot better without Jack Johnson last year. TVR is a great addition to their blueline. Some nice depth additions as well.