Offseason Review best & worst

[Shaman 713]

There were some big moves this year during the off season, big contracts, some big moves, teams trying to rebuild, some teams trying to deal with the cap. Which so far are the best and the worst moves?

for its

Best:

Atlanta- Picking up Dustin Byfuglien, while he has not a great defensive defenseman, he complements Enstrom well on the back end for them and has their team so far in playoff contention. This in my mind is a pretty good achievement for a team that traded away a 35+ goal 80+ point player for peanuts.

Tampa Bay- So many moves made by the great Stevie Y has taken a team that was a bottom feeder the last few seasons and has made them a one of the best teams in the east.

HM:

Pittsburgh- I like the addition of Paul Martian a lot, hes a very solid shut down defenseman on a team that really didn't have a legitimate shut down guy.

Worst:

New Jersey- This one is obvious 100 million for a guy on pace for 42 points, 20 goal and -60 and a big reason they lost Paul Martin who was one of their best shut down D men. Martin Brodeur without the solid defense in front of him is looking as old if not older than his 39 years. New Jersey took a massive step in a direction that seemed to me at least very unlike them, as usually they focused on team defense not on superstar production to get them into the playoffs. There is some light at the end of the tunnel, they may have their team's first ever first overall pick ever.

Chicago- They traded away or didn't sign a lot of their depth and now its coming back to bite them, there were many options for them to take, but in order to keep their 'core' they allowed some really good impact players go. Then to add insult to injury they were baited into over paying for Hjalmarsson who is on pace for 8 points and +4. The Blackhawks are down 1/3rd of a goal per game (may not seem like a lot but its actually huge over 82 games) and on pace for around 85 points and missing the playoffs. To make things worse it seems that Keith and Seabrook have both regressed from last year and with no defensive depth to speak of they are playing 27 and 25 minutes a night respectively and in Keith's case offensively underperforming.

HM:

San Jose- Who knew Nabokov was such a key piece to their regular season success, well obviously the brass in San Jose didn't. The team that was always in president's trophy talk since the lock out is now on the outside looking in and will have to have a great second half to be able to not have their worst season since 2002-2003.

So who do you all believe had the best and worse offseasons?

Edited January 9, 2011 by Shaman464

[Joey v3.4 45]

Pretty good assessment.

I think the Goalie situation has been among the most intriguing. This doesn't entirely have to do with "Trades" per say. but selecting your starting goaltender is still an offseason decision

NJ - Brodeur on the worst season of his life. The Kovy situation just adds to the distress.

Montreal - Price is actually working out for them, even though I think everyone was like "WTF!!" when they traded off Halak. Bravo for them.

St Louis - Halak was money in the bank, until he hit his sophmore slump.

Bruins - After a 17-18 record in 2009/2010, Thomas leads the NHL in every important category.

Howard - Not playing his best, but still the most winning-est goalie in the league. Probably helps that Detroit has the most goals for in the NHL.

[Broken 16 381]

Not to pile on Chicago but I think they did the worst. New Jersey's contract to Kovy is obviously the elephant in the room, but it's one guy and his cap hit isn't horrifying. The Devils will be easier to recoup imo.

I remember back in the offseason when Chicago fans were basically regarding a lot of the important role players lost as easily replaceable pieces. If Chicago fans are missing any of those guys now... wait till the playoffs. Plus the exodus from their team helped make Atlanta a contender in the East.

Plus they have Kopecky still.

The best besides Atlanta imo is Tampa Bay. Pretty amazing what inserting a legendary leader into the mix will do for an organization. Can't wait for the inevitable Detroit/Tampa Bay SCF's.

Edited January 9, 2011 by Broken 16

[titanium2 867]

Plus they have Kopecky still.

Hehe.

[Konnan511 1,736]

Plus they have Kopecky

Epic win

[Buppy 1,720]

NJ has to be the worst.

Kovy didn't help them last year, so I don't know why they'd think he would this year, especially given the loss of flexibility from paying him that much. And on top of that, there's the loss of a 1st and 3rd rounder from the penalty for the first Kovy offer that will hurt them in the future.

Chicago gets a bit of a break, I think, since they really didn't have any options this summer. They were just paying for mistakes made the previous two years.

My honorable mention for worst would be LA.

They had like $10+ million in cap space, and all they did was side-grade (maybe even downgrade) Frolov to Poni, minor upgrade at best from O'Donnell to Mitchell, and trade for an injured, injury-prone 30+ year old mid-tier Sturm.

Those 3 have a combined 49 games, 6 goals, 18 points. For $10.2 million in cap hit.

[Casey 145]

New Jersey would seem to have the worst off-season in recent memory, in that Kovalev is doing them absolutely no good. He's on pace for fewer points than many defensemen, and simply hasn't shown his worth. Chicago's off-season is nearly as bad, though they were in a bad situation with their salary-cap issues. Chicago's loss of role players was underappreciated at the time, but I think will make itself felt through the rest of the season, as well as the playoffs provided Chicago gets there. At this point they are not projected to get there, and while it is still in their grasp they would have to improve. Personally, I question if they can do it with their lack of experienced players.

Detroit stayed put in this off-season which for them I think was the best move. While it would've been nice for Detroit to make some moves, their depth is sufficient even with the number of injuries that they presently have, but they are still able to contend for the title in the West.

[Drake_Marcus 890]

NJ has to be the worst.

Kovy didn't help them last year, so I don't know why they'd think he would this year, especially given the loss of flexibility from paying him that much. And on top of that, there's the loss of a 1st and 3rd rounder from the penalty for the first Kovy offer that will hurt them in the future.

Chicago gets a bit of a break, I think, since they really didn't have any options this summer. They were just paying for mistakes made the previous two years.

My honorable mention for worst would be LA.

They had like $10+ million in cap space, and all they did was side-grade (maybe even downgrade) Frolov to Poni, minor upgrade at best from O'Donnell to Mitchell, and trade for an injured, injury-prone 30+ year old mid-tier Sturm.

Those 3 have a combined 49 games, 6 goals, 18 points. For $10.2 million in cap hit.

The Kings were gunning hard for Kovy... you have to give them props for inadvertently dodging a bullet.

[Buppy 1,720]

The Kings were gunning hard for Kovy... you have to give them props for inadvertently dodging a bullet.

I like Kovy, and think he would have done very well in LA. So I actually give them an extra negative for inadvertently ruining his career by failing to sign him.

[Broken 16 381]

I like Kovy, and think he would have done very well in LA. So I actually give them an extra negative for inadvertently ruining his career by failing to sign him.

Agreed. Things would be going a lot different for Kovy if he had actually landed in LA imo.