The NHL regular season will be starting up soon and many teams will head into the season with a new look.
While some teams made progress towards contending or took steps in their rebuild, others seemed to make some puzzling roster decisions.
Below, we look at the five biggest losers of the 2021 NHL offseason.
5.) Anaheim Ducks
This is going to seem like a strange pick, given that the Ducks had a quiet offseason overall. However, the reality is that the organization should be making clear strides towards a rebuild but failed to make any progress whatsoever.
We saw the Arizona Coyotes use their cap space to add key future assets, but despite the Ducks having $12 million in cap space (as well as nearly $7 million in potential long-term injured reserve relief), they sat back. Other than the high draft picks they received over the last few years as a result of their regular season placements, the Ducks really haven’t actively tried to make much progress in their rebuild.
Hampus Lindholm, Josh Manson and Rickard Rakell are all key players on expiring contracts but the team has yet to re-sign or trade any of them. After a quiet offseason, the Ducks still seem to be without much direction.
Getting Ryan Ellis was a massive addition for the Flyers. They did part with two young pieces in Nolan Patrick and Philippe Myers but the deal was still the best move of the team’s offseason.
However, the Flyers also gave up significant future assets in other deals. First, they had to move a 2022 second-round pick just to get Shayne Gostisbehere’s contract off the books. The Flyers then traded the 14th overall pick in this year’s draft, as well as a 2023 second-round pick and defenseman Robert Hagg for Rasmus Ristolainen, who’s on an expiring contract.
While those moves indicate that the Flyers want to compete right now, they also dealt Jakub Voracek to the Columbus Blue Jackets for Cam Atkinson. Despite Atkinson having the lower cap hit, he’s also the less productive forward and considering both Atkinson and Voracek are 32 years old, the extra year on Atkinson’s contract could hurt the team later on.
While the Flyers did make some cheap additions in Keith Yandle and Derick Brassard, adding Martin Jones to help solve the team’s goaltending issues was another puzzling decision. The Flyers may look better heading into next season, but they paid a very high price for the amount in which they’ve seemingly improved.
3.) Edmonton Oilers
The highlight of the offseason for general manager Ken Holland, was Ryan Nugent-Hopkins’ contract extension.
The Oilers also filled a need by signing Zach Hyman, but it’s a deal that will probably hurt in a few years. Eating multiple years of what will likely be a very overpriced contract for Hyman by the end of the deal isn’t great, given that Edmonton didn’t make enough key moves to solidify themselves as a contender.
The Oilers also acquired Warren Foegele from the Carolina Hurricanes but it cost them Ethan Bear, and then the team locked up Cody Ceci as a right-side replacement, which is a huge gamble. The team lost Adam Larsson to the Seattle Kraken and decided to use a good portion of their free cap space to bring in 38-year-old Duncan Keith, giving up a draft pick and Caleb Jones in the process. Darnell Nurse’s massive contract extension is likely to cause issues as well and to top it off, the team also has yet to address their goaltending.
While the Oilers did actually take steps to try and improve, it’s up in the air as to whether they were the right ones.
2.) New York Rangers
The New York Rangers made quite a few moves this NHL offseason, but the reality is the team looks worse heading into next season.
The biggest failure of the NHL offseason that contributed to them being on this list was the awful Pavel Buchnevich trade, where the Rangers gave up a high-end offensive talent, who is still just 26-years-old. The team also lost forward Colin Blackwell to the Seattle Kraken, a player who added solid forward depth in just his first full NHL season.
Even looking at who they brought in, the additions likely won’t be enough. The Rangers prioritized adding bottom-six players who should be tougher to play against in Samuel Blais, Ryan Reaves and then Barclay Goodrow, whose contract is far too expensive, even if he could be a good fit.
The issue for the Rangers is that while they may be a decent team, they haven’t been good enough to get out of a tough Metropolitan Division. Based on the moves they’ve made, that’s unlikely to change this season.
1.) Carolina Hurricanes
The Hurricanes' offseason was both extremely eventful and highly questionable. Their blue line took a major hit with Dougie Hamilton leaving in free agency and then the team dealt away a 25-year-old goaltender with the potential to be a long-term starter – Alex Nedeljkovic – for just a third-round pick. Carolina then followed up by dealing Jake Bean, a 23-year-old defenseman with top-four upside, for just the 44th overall pick in this year’s draft.
The Hurricanes did win a trade with the Edmonton Oilers, acquiring Ethan Bear for Warren Foegele, and made some nice, cheap additions in Antti Raanta and Derek Stepan. However, they’ll be paying nearly $7.5 million for Frederik Andersen and Ian Cole and also signed Tony DeAngelo, which was a risk. The team also lost key depth in Brock McGinn and Jani Hakanpaa.
Probably the largest move of the offseason was the offer sheet for Jesperi Kotkaniemi. While the offer sheet was successful, the team paid a high price in both draft picks and salary to make it happen, so we’ll have to wait and see how it works out long-term before judging that move.
Despite a new-look roster, the Hurricanes needlessly lost some key pieces along the way and don’t look as strong heading into next season.
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