After a busy start to the NHL offseason, most teams around the league have been relatively quiet over the last few weeks. As a result, it’s a good time to reflect on the offseason so far and determine which teams have set themselves up for success.
Below, we rank the five biggest winners of the 2021 NHL offseason.
NHL Offseason Winners
5 – Vancouver Canucks
This could be a controversial pick but it comes down to how much salary the Canucks were able to shed, while still improving their team in the process. They dealt Nate Schmidt and bought out Braden Holtby to clear cap space, while also managing to offload a whopping $12 million of bad contracts in their blockbuster deal with the Coyotes. They gave up the ninth-overall pick and a second-round pick in the process, but made a massive addition to their blue line in Oliver Ekman-Larson and also added Conor Garland, who should be a key piece of the forward group. The Canucks also made some smaller moves, adding Jarsolav Halak, who should be a cheap upgrade over Holtby, as well as trading for Jason Dickinson and re-signing Travis Hamonic.
Obviously, the success of their offseason does rely on also getting Quinn Hughes and Elias Pettersson re-signed. That said, the Canucks still have time and provided they find a way to get both deals done ahead of the season, the Canucks look poised to be a much stronger team.
4- Columbus Blue Jackets
The defining move of the Blue Jackets’ offseason was without question the Seth Jones trade. Despite everyone knowing that Jones wasn’t going to sign an extension though, the Blue Jackets managed to get back a massive return, which included defenseman Adam Boqvist, the 12th overall pick in this year’s draft – which was used to select forward Cole Sillinger – as well as Chicago’s first-round pick next year and a second-round pick, which was used to acquire defenseman Jake Bean from the Carolina Hurricanes. The trade was a clear win for the Blue Jackets, despite the organization not having a ton of leverage.
Columbus also locked up defenseman Zach Werenski to a long-term deal and then in another major trade, the Blue Jackets acquired Jakub Voracek, in exchange for Cam Atkinson. Voracek should be quite a bit more productive than Atkinson offensively and considering the team had the cap space to take on Voracek’s contract and his deal also expires a year before Atkinson's would, the move made sense.
The Kings made three notable additions this offseason, adding Viktor Arvidsson in a trade with the Nashville Predators, before signing both Phillip Danault and Alex Edler in free agency. Arvidsson and Danault are both likely to act as top-six forwards with the team next season and Edler could end up taking on a top-pairing role with the team.
Danault is one of the best defensive centers in the NHL and at only 28 years old, he should still have several good years ahead of him. While Arvidsson has had injury trouble and has seen his production decline over the last few years, he comes with a reasonable cap hit and has term remaining. Edler will provide more stability to the left side of the Kings’ defense group and should help to take some of the pressure off Mikey Anderson. The additions were a major step for the team, after dedicating the last few years to rebuilding.
2- Arizona Coyotes
While the Coyotes certainly won’t be heading into next season with a better roster, they’ve set themselves up for future success. The team kickstarted a rebuild last month, making multiple key trades, which included dealing away Oliver Ekman-Larsson, Conor Garland and Darcy Kuemper. They also weaponized their cap space, taking on several bad contracts, in exchange for a haul of assets.
In addition to the ninth-overall pick in this year’s NHL Draft, which was used to select Dylan Guenther, the Coyotes now have seven picks in the first two rounds of next year’s draft. The organization finally has a direction and have started off their rebuild by stockpiling a significant amount of future assets.
1- New Jersey Devils
The Devils were very active in free agency and signed a key player in every position, bringing in the top free agent of the offseason in defenseman Dougie Hamilton, as well as goaltender Jonathan Bernier and forward Tomas Tatar. They did also make a key trade earlier in the offseason, acquiring defenseman Ryan Graves from the Colorado Avalanche.
Unlike the Chicago Blackhawks, who gave up far too many high-end future assets while trying to climb back up the standings, the Devils managed to make most of their moves using just their cap space. They have a very young core group of players, but took steps to start building around them this offseason. While the Devils could still have a difficult time making it out of the Metropolitan Division, they’re certainly poised to be a more competitive team.
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