My thoughts on the major moves so far this season. (teams are followed after the dash by the players they signed and re-signed)

-Lightning- malone, Roberts, vrbata, kolzig, prospal, hall, carle
No other team has gone through such a dramatic turnaround in personnel with such high upside in the past few years. Did they aim for last to get stamkos? I doubt it. Toronto aiming for last to get Tavares next season? No doubt. Adding a tough power forward to play on (most likely) their first line to balance the skill and speed of Lecavalier and St Lious is gonna work wonders. (also see, holmstrom-zetterberg-datsyuk). Not only that but they added two reliable veterans. Roberts to do what he did for the pens and Kolzig to mentor and split time with Mike Smith. They bring in talented forwards prospal (again) and vrbata then add in a gritty all-out guy in Hall and a decent defensemen (carle) to a very very shallow defensive core. Add in the #1 draft pick Stamkos to center the 2nd line and you got a whole new team. The loss of boyle is a major major loss, and they’ll feel the effects throughout the season unless they sign someone or trade for someone out there now (Schneider?). Their first 2 lines are going to be ferocious and their goaltending will be better. And can you imagine if they had managed to sign rolston too?! Oh and don’t forget the mullet behind the bench!!

-Rangers- redden, roszival, zherdev, fritsche, naslund, kalinin
Sure they lost jagr and avery and maybe even straka and shanahan, but it’s not like they’re going to be coming back empty-handed. Zherdev and naslund wont be enough to fill the void if all four players end up gone, but they can still do good. Zherdev is considered one of the best 1-on-1 players and naslund should somewhat thrive again with a new home. But the real story here is their new defense. Bringing back Roszival was a must but then to upgrade with Redden and even add in a bonus like kalinin..? not only are the passes out of their zone going to be better but lundqvist shouldn’t be relied upon to survive every game. Oh and talented wingers might be able to re-spark Gomez and drury throughout the year. Here’s hoping for no more scoring slumps and a revamped defense!

-Wings- stuart, lilja, Conklin, hossa
As if they couldn’t get better. Not only does stuart stay for a handful of years to come (big minutes once rafalski’s done), but they add the top forward on the market to a 1-year deal as well as one of the best backups last season to support one of the streakiest goalies in the league. Hossa should play on the 2nd line and get great numbers. We all know what happens when you have a stacked first line and nothing else (coughOTTAWAcough). The Wings are easily among the favorites to win their division, conference, presidents trophy as well as the cup.

-Hawks- Campbell, huet, bourque
This team didn’t have THAT many holes to fix but my god did they fix themselves so far this summer. Im in favor of kicking Khabibulin and putting in huet, but out of respect they should have done that earlier. Then they added to top defenseman on the market to help their Kindergarten kids on defense. Well not all of them are KG, but face it, they’re young and inexperienced. Although he’s overpaid now, Campbell will help this team greatly. Not a cup contender but should make the playoffs.

-Sharks- shelley, roenick, boucher, pavelski, blake, boyle, lukowich
Change in coach maybe not the smartest decision. Only time will. However, adding blake, boyle and lukowich to fill in for Campbell… genious! For a little more than the price of one (Campbell) the sharks added three players for the same position that should benefit the team a lot more. They added a power play monster (blake), a heck of an offensive d-man (boyle) and guy who likes his side of the net more (lukowich). Smart move to add back roenick who’s willing to do anything to win a cup and a young talent like pavelski. Boucher, although he wont play much behind nabokov, is a reliable backup.

-Jackets- commodore, torres, backman, tyutin, huselius, umberger
Did opposite what I expected. The biggest shock to me was letting zherdev go, which I believe stupid and retarded beyond compare to a team who’s roster cant be named past nash. Still they put in effort to fill his void with huselius and umberger. Huselius should definitely break out with tons of assists this season. Then they added two budding d-men in backman and tyutin (both from the NY Rangers). They sure don’t fill the void of hainsey’s departure but still a good move, especially for the future. Don’t worry, Hitchcock is a defensive genius, he’ll work something out.

-Devils- pandolfo, Salvador, holik, rolston
Back to the future yadda yadda yadda. I don’t like holik. Don’t think he’s worth anything. But rolston is a very good offensive weapon. They need him to jump start their anemic offense.

-Avs- liles, tucker, foote, raycroft, tjarnqvist
Lost their way. Lost Theodore (even though he wasn’t very good) hurts them the most. Although I like Budaj, he’s not ready for a starter’s job. So they bring in raycroft? This guy’s been on the bench ever since he was rookie of the year. Tucker wont do much, but he’ll help them out with grit and maybe 20 goals. The only good thing they did was bring back liles and foote to help staple down their defense. Now all eyes in Colorado are on the two biggest questions: will sakic come back? And Can forseberg come back and play more than 25 games?

-Leafs- cujo, hagman, finger
Tavares watch. This team is enfuriating. They just seem to be completely setting themselves up to be the worst team in the league so they can draft Tavares. I mean raycroft, wellwood, tucker, and sundin (maybe) gone from an already terrible team? Now only 4 players left on the team are worth remembering their names. Hagman will be a good top-6 for the leafs and finger gives them a little bit to cheer about on defense (although he’s wayyyy overpaid). Cujo doesn’t matter, he wont play more than 18 games.

-Pens- dupuis, malkin, orpik, fedotenko, satan, cooke
The team with all eyes on its back. Sure it feels as though they lost TONS of players, but you have to look at who they brought back, who they kept. Malkin’s back for a long time, so are orpik and fleury. Dupuis will stick around for a while and then they added three questionably decent players: satan, fedotenko, cooke. Cooke is just in for grit and hits but satan could definitely be the finisher on croaby’s passes. Fedotenko I liked with the lightning, but he disappeared with the Isles. Maybe refreshed scenery with another young, fast team can bring him over the 20 goal mark.

-Flames- langkow, conroy, nystrom, bertuzzi, glencross, bourque, cammalleri
Going nowhere. This is gonna be the same team yet again. Bertuzzi? I hate that man and he’s worth nothing. What a waste. Then they picked up two “who’s that guy?”s in glencross and bourque. After losing in a game 7, then losing tanguay, huselius and Nolan is gonna hurt. None of those 3 additions will fill the void, which is why cammalleri’s arrival is so exciting for the flames. Imagine if he finds a groove centering the first line with iginla… too bad the rest of the lines are nowhere near that exciting.

-Wild- zidlicky, brunette, miettinen, Nolan
So you lose rolston and demitra. Who, oh who will fill the void? Hopefully a healthy gaborik and brunette. Don’t underestimate Nolan and miettinen. They may not be top-6 but they will have an impact and miettinen can definitely work into a defense-first system. A great move in adding zidlicky. He’s more about scoring but can balance well with a stay-at-home d-man.

-Oilers- cole, visnovsky
First thing on their minds is to keep souray healthy. Second is to help surround cole with players to help him maintain his amazing numbers while with the hurricanes. Visnovsky will definitely add to the scoring as well as have a major impact on the power play.

-Panthers- stillman, olesz
Showed some deceny near the end of the season (especially with Anderson in net), but the loss of jokinen cant be healed by the arrival of stillman. Stillman, Horton…. Who else can you name on this team that’s worth watching?

-Islanders- streit, weight
first thought when I hear islanders: shape shifting team of old free agents. As if this team couldn’t use more help they lose satan and fedotenko. They add yet another oldie with half the skills he started with in Weight. Streit probably wont come anywhere near his numbers from Montreal, but his plus-minus will double downwards. At least they have okposo…

-Sens- Kelly, auld, ruutu
What a mess. lost stillman who, I thought, could make a difference on this team if given the time. Glad they tossed out emery but who came in his place? Auld? The guy that lost his job to 40+ Belfour? Really? So I guess they’re really really hoping Gerber can mature into a consistent, steadfast goalie night-in night-out. Good luck with that. Is it really that hard to have a halfway decent 2nd, 3rd, or 4th line? If it wasn’t for their first line, this team wouldn’t win a game the entire season.

-Caps- green, Theodore, aucoin
Why? Why let huet go? He’s only the guy that helped turn your team around and push them into the playoffs. Then you let the most loyal, consistent player on the team (kolzig) go for no reason. Better start praying Theodore brings back his first round performance. Otherwise, ovechkin and green or not, this team’s going nowhere. At least bring back fedorov. At least.

-Coyotes- jokinen, sauer, fedoruk, hale
Don’t know why they insisted on signing three bruisers and sending off a great defenseman (ballard) and a pretty one (Boynton) for a forward when you know your youth can score by committee and have lots of room to grow. Losing vrbata will hurt, even though he disappeared at the end of last season. Jokinen should definitely be a good leader for the team and definite write-in for first or second on the team in points. Who knows, everything this team’s done in the past few years is like a mini-miracle and surprise. Maybe a vet leader and some bruisers can help push them into the playoffs.

-Canucks- bernier, wellwood
Seriously, I feel bad for canuck fans. It’s like their management doesn’t know how to handle their consistent crappy situation over the past few years. You need more than bernier and wellwood to gain some offense, especially after losing Captain Naslund. Sure wellwood could work out to be an amazing fit with the sedin twins, but really, wont anybody look good playing with those two guys? And where’s the help for luongo. This team is nothing but him and the sedins. Luongo cant keep playing 81 games a year and facing so many shots. Does anyone remember how this team played at the end of last season when luongo left for family reasons?

-Flyers- metropolit, vaananen
Will be good again. Too bad salaray cap issues sent umberger away. No one will remember umberger’s departure if gagne can just stay healthy for once. Two additions don’t add up to much, but shouldn’t hurt them overall.

-Habs- laraque, denis, tanguay
Didn’t think they should really do anything with the team, but they did some pretty decent moves. Bringing back a kostistyn is always a plus. Then they added the bruiser laraque to compliment the team’s speed and finesse. Bringing in Tanguay should have a definite impact on their already high-octane offense. If denis wasn’t signed on to be slated as backup then his signing confuses me. Once you went to price, you’re stuck with price. Moving him to backup could devastate his entire future, but I have faith price will remain the starter and all will be well again in montreal.

-Sabers- gaustad, rivet, lalime
This team is nothing without drury, briere, Campbell. Vanek needs to live up to his contract and miller cant hold them on his own. He’s got a good new backup in lalime and rivet is a good addition to the blueline but they simply need more help than that.

-Stars- avery
Confusing. The stars have gritty, feisty players in Ott, Morrow and Barch. Why sign another one of those guys? I don’t know what I think yet of him as a star. I hated him before he signed with Dallas. Hated his guts. As long as he focuses on winning and doesn’t mess up the team chemistry he’s welcome in Dallas. Once he starts pulling his shenanigans and focusing on himself and his stupidity, trouble might kick in. then again morrow and ott will beat some sense into him in the lockerroom. Then again losing hagman will hurt but im glad miettinen lost. If barnes retires, avery will be forced to step his scoring skills up.

-Thrashers- hainsey
Of all the teams in the NHL? Seriously, hainsey? The thrashers. I mean I know how sweet it would be to pair him up with bogosian but I really was hoping he’d stay with the jackets. They weren’t all that far from the playoffs if you think about it. Now he goes a team of nobody’s going nowhere except for kovalchuk, Armstrong, Christensen and Esposito. Three of which are too young to have any major impact. At least he’ll be raking up the power play points with all the passes he’ll send to kovalchuk.

-Bruins- ryder
A great fit for the bruins, although hossa woulda been really nice here too. Ryder fits and sure stir up that anemic offense. Overall a good team who did good by not making many moves.

-Ducks- perry
Nothing but losses this offseason. Well niedermayer came back but that was expected. No more weight. No more bertuzzi. Bringing back perry was essential to the success of this team in the present and future but they could really use a few position players, maybe in a trade for Schneider?…

-Hurcs- pitkanen
Nothing worth talking about here. Still going to be a decent team… in their division but not much else.

-Kings- Gauthier, stoll, richardson
So you lose blake, cammalleri and visnovsky and who do you bring in? Gauthier, Richardson and stoll? Yep this team’s near the bottom again. At least you got kopitar, frolov and doughty. First things first for success… find yourself a good starting goalie. I do have to say I saw Ersberg in net for them near the end of last season and I thought he did really good, even if he was dueling with hiller, not luongo or brodeur. Ersberg looked good, but wont make a splash for years to come.