A Pacific Division offseason update

The LA Kings have done their heavy lifting this offseason, but questions remain elsewhere the Pacific Division.

While it hasn’t necessarily been a busy offseason in Los Angeles, it’s been impactful as the LA Kings traded for one of the top wingers in the NHL, Kevin Fiala. Restricted Free Agents (RFA) Jacob Moverare, Carl Grundstrom, Brendan Lemieux, and Lias Andersson have been retained. However, we still await decisions on Mikey Anderson, Sean Durzi, Gabriel Vilardi, and Jaret Anderson-Dolan, four RFAs that were extended qualifying offers.

The Kings also brought back veteran defenseman Alex Edler, who had hit the open market as an Unrestricted Free Agent (UFA).

Among 2021-22 players that won’t be returning are Olli Maatta, Troy Stecher, Andreas Athanasiou, depth players Austin Strand, Christian Wolanin, and Martin Frk, which found new homes during the free agent period.

We know what’s going on in Los Angeles; let’s look at how the rest of the division has been operating this offseason.

All contract figures courtesy of CapFriendly.

Anaheim Ducks

The rebuilding Anaheim Ducks still have a long way to go to fill out their roster. To date, they have just 16 players under contract with over $30 million in cap space. On the first day of free agency, the Ducks signed a pair of former New York Rangers, forwards Ryan Strome (five years, $25 million) and Frank Vatrano (three years, $10.95 million).

Strome has been a solid, second-line center in New York for the past three-plus seasons, scoring 71 goals and 195 points in 263 games (0.74 points per game). He’ll bring a little more offensive punch to the top of the Anaheim lineup, which will be needed after Ryan Getzlaf’s retirement.

Vatrano will fill a bottom-six role for the Kings’ SoCal rivals. He was an effective player in that role with the Florida Panthers last season before being traded to the Rangers just before the trade deadline.

While trade rumors swirled around goaltender John Gibson, it seems that most goaltending vacancies have been filled, and he made his desire to stay in Anaheim well-known.

Anaheim did not extend qualifying offers to forwards Sam Steele or Sonny Milano. Defenseman Trevor Carrick and forward Zach Aston-Reese are still on the market as UFAs.

They’re likely to continue to lean on youngsters Trevor Zegras, Troy Terry, and Maxime Comtois, as well as more prominent roles for Mason McTavish and Jamie Drysdale. The future is starting to take shape on the Pond, and they still have an opportunity to make themselves more competitive this summer.

Calgary Flames

In a division that boasts a team with Connor McDavid and another giving a how-to on how not to manage your assets (we’ll get to them later), all eyes have been on the Calgary Flames this offseason.

While they’ve retained Trevor Lewis and Nikita Zadorov, the big story in Calgary is what’s been on the way out. Johnny Gaudreau had been the face of the Flames franchise for much of his eight seasons in Calgary, but he opted to sign a seven-year deal with the Columbus Blue Jackets worth $68.25 million. Gaudreau has averaged over a point-per-game in his NHL career (609 points in 602 games), buoyed partly by his 115-point effort last season. It’s a big blow to the reigning Pacific Division champs, and unfortunately for them, it may not be the only one.

This bombshell was dropped on Tuesday:

Eric Francis today on 101 ESPN in St. Louis said that he expects a possible Matthew Tkachuk trade to be wrapped up within the week. He said it was clear to him the two are parting ways.

Wow.

— Mark Scheig (@markscheig) July 19, 2022

While there may not be any fire just yet, there’s undoubtedly smoke around the possibility that Matthew Tkachuk may be on his way out.

As The Athletic’s Hailey Salvian reported, the Flames filed for arbitration with Tkachuk, despite the player’s representatives opting not to file themselves.

Like Gaudreau, the St. Louis native is coming off a 100+ point season himself, tallying 42 goals and 104 points in the 2021-22 campaign.

Right now, anything around Tkachuk is just rumor and speculation, but losing both he and Gaudreau in the same offseason could be too much for the Darryl Sutter-led Flames to overcome.

The team currently has 18 players under contract and over $18 million in cap space. Though, it isn’t just Tkachuck that needs a new contract. Fellow RFAs Andrew Mangiapane and Oliver Kylington are due new deals as well.

Though lower-profile, depth players Calle Jarnkrok (Toronto Maple Leafs), Erick Gudbranson (Columbus Blue Jackets), and Michael Stone (UFA) have all moved on as well.

The offseason is still young, and perhaps Tkachuk will stay. There have also been some rumors the Flames are kicking tires on Nazem Kadri. Regardless, this Flames team will look much different than the one that won the division last season.

Edmonton Oilers

Consider the Edmonton Oilers among teams that are having strong offseasons. They not only filled their biggest need in net by signing Jack Campbell to a five-year, $25 million deal, but they were also able to bring back two key pieces of their playoff run in winger Evander Kane (four years, $20.5 million) and defenseman Brett Kulak (four years, $11 million) as well.

With Mike Smith not expected to play next season due to injury and Mikko Koskinen currently a UFA, the Oilers also signed goaltender Calvin Pickard to a two-way deal to provide some additional depth. It wouldn’t be surprising to see Stuart Skinner get a more extended look as an NHL backup.

There weren’t too many holes to fill on this dangerous Edmonton team, but they addressed their needs while not losing too much from their roster. The team also freed up some cap space by trading Zack Kassian to the Arizona Coyotes on draft day.

One big question that remains is what will happen with Jesse Puljujarvi. The 24-year-old RFA was an important part of their lineup and someone they’d like to bring back. Edmonton is right up against the cap, so getting Puljujarvi in won’t be easy. With 18 players under contract, there are still some moves to be made but expect them to be among the contenders for the division title in 2022-23.

San Jose Sharks

It hadn’t been clear what the Sharks were doing in recent years with some aging veterans on big contracts while mixing in some younger talent, but new GM Mike Grier took the first step in moving toward a rebuild with the trade of defenseman Brent Burns to the Carolina Hurricanes.

The All-Star defenseman wasn’t the only one on the way out. Anthony Bitetto (Florida) and Ryan Dzingel (UFA) also will not be returning.

The Sharks did bring in forwards Oskar Lindblom, signing the 25-year-old to a two-year, $5 million deal, Nico Sturm, who signed a  three-year, $6 million deal, as well as Luke Kunin, whose rights they traded for on draft day from Nashville. Kunin inked a two-year, $5.5 million contract with the Sharks.

While San Jose has a full roster and just over a million dollars in cap space, they’re a team to watch the rest of this offseason on the trade front. They finished well out of a playoff spot last season, and I’d expect to see more moves to get the roster younger and cheaper as Grier gets a handle on things.

Seattle Kraken

Things didn’t go so well for last summer’s pre-season darlings in Seattle. After many picked them to be a playoff team, the Kraken finished dead last in the Pacific Division and the second-worst record in the Western Conference.

Like last summer, things started pretty well for the Kraken this year. The expected first-overall pick, Shane Wright, fell to them at the fourth pick in the draft. In addition, on the opening day of free agency, the Kraken didn’t waste much time signing recent Stanley Cup winner Andre Burakovsky to a five-year, $27.5 million deal.

Seattle also signed defenseman Justin Schultz to a two-year, $6 million contract and goaltender Martin Jones to a one-year, $2 million deal.

It’s a long list of players that won’t be back with the Kraken. Connor Carrick (Boston Bruins) and Haydn Fleury (Tampa Bay Lightning) found new teams, while Ryan Donato, Victor Rask, Riley Sheahan, Derrick Pouliot, and Daniel Sprong are all UFAs.

The Kraken is a strange team to figure out. Under the hood, they weren’t nearly as bad as their record showed. But horrific goaltending (which, at least on paper, hasn’t improved) and some of the worst special teams units in the league (29th ranked power-play, 31st ranked penalty-kill) sunk this team.

At even strength, they were a competitive team (13th in 5-on-5 CF% per Natural Stat Trick). I’m unsure if what they’ve done so far this offseason will help the abovementioned problems. But sprinkle in an entire season for Matthew Beniers and a healthy Yanni Gourde, and don’t be surprised if they’re a far more competitive team and find themselves in the mix for much of the season.

There’s still room to add to the roster with just over $9 million in cap space.

Vancouver Canucks

So far, the biggest news out of Vancouver was the re-signing of winger Brock Boeser to a three-year, $19.95 million contract. Getting Boeser signed answered one question the team had this offseason, but as we’ll see, there are more.

Also on the way in is Russian forward Andrei Kuzmenko. The 26-year-old made his KHL debut as a teenager and has spent the last four seasons with SKA St. Petersburg. The 2021-22 season saw him reach career highs in goals (20), assists (33), and points (53) in 45 games. A highly-touted Russian free agent, the Canucks hope he can add a little more offense to their forward group. He signed a one-year deal worth $950,000.

In addition, Curtis Lazar (three-years, $3 million deal) and Toronto UFA Ilya Mikheyev (four years, $19 million) will also add some depth up front.

The blueline is still in need of work. Former LA King Christian Wolanin inked a one-year, two-way contract with the Canucks, but they’ll need to add another defenseman as it stands right now.

To date, only Jaroslav Halak (New York Rangers) is the only notable departure. However, something will have to give as the team currently sits over two million dollars over the cap with 20 players under contract.

The name we’ve heard most in trade rumors is J.T. Miller. While I wouldn’t suggest a trade is imminent, there are certainly a lot of potential suitors for the 29-year-old forward. Perhaps one of the teams in the northeast that missed out on the Gaudreau sweeps would be a possible landing spot?

Other possible trade pieces include defenseman Tyler Myers and former LA King Tanner Pearson. Whatever it is they decide, some money is going to have to be on the way out.

After a sluggish start, Vancouver got themselves back into the playoff picture in the second half of last season under Bruce Boudreau. While Boudreau is returning, we should probably wait to see what move(s) they are forced to make to get some cap relief before projecting where they could end up next season.

Vegas Golden Knights

Ah yes, the best for last. Or something like that.

The offseason started pretty strong. They finally were able to move Evgeny Dadonov in a trade with the Montreal Canadiens, which helped their already tight cap situation. Vegas was then able to re-sign forward Reilly Smith (three years, $15 million).

So far, so good.

Then came the Max Pacioretty deal. They traded him (and his $7 million cap hit) along with Dylan Coghlan to the Carolina Hurricanes for future considerations. Pacioretty had 35 points in 37 games during an injury-plagued 2021-22 season.

It’s one thing not to have loyalty to your players; it’s another thing to give them away for nothing.

Vegas traded three draft picks for Tomas Tatar.

Then traded Tatar and Nick Suzuki for Max Pacioretty.

Then traded Max Pacioretty for nothing.

What a wild ride.

— Adam Gretz (@AGretz) July 13, 2022

That’s about as bad as it gets in terms of asset management.

In goal, right now, it is still Robin Lehner and Laurent Brossoit. They did add Michael Hutchinson for some depth, which was sorely needed last season.

Even with freeing up Pacioretty’s contract, Vegas sits a little over $1 million over the cap, still with RFAs Nicolas Roy, Keegan Kolesar, and Nicolas Hague to re-sign.

Needless to say, there’s more to come – or should I say go – in Vegas.

All that said, when the puck drops on opening night, the Golden Knights will be among the favorites in the Pacific Division. Sure, they missed the playoffs last season and have to play some gymnastics to get to cap compliance this season. However, this roster still has Jack Eichel, Mark Stone, the aforementioned Smith, Jonathan Marchessault, and William Karlsson. Not to mention the likes of Alex Pietrangelo and Shea Theodore on the back end. Make no mistake; this team is really good. At least for now.

What hurt Vegas last season was too many significant injuries to key players. The problem is, because of their abysmal use of assets, they will have even less depth should they run into injury problems again in 2022-23.

If you’ve listened to the Hockey Royalty Podcast, you know I am bullish on Vegas this upcoming season. I still am. As of today, they might still be my pick to win the division. But the moves they’ve made over the past couple of seasons have really stunted their long-term outlook. I’m not sure what this team will be in five years, but for the next few, they should be dangerous.