NHL Contenders: #20 to #16
Mandatory Credit: Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports
#20: Boston Bruins
ADDITIONS:
- Matt Beleskey
- Jimmy Hayes
- Matt Irwin
LOSSES:
- Milan Lucic
- Dougie Hamilton
- Martin Jones
- Matt Bartkowski
- Gregory Campbell
- Carl Soderberg
- Reilly Smith
TRENDING: Downwards
The Bruins have probably had the most interesting off-season in the NHL. They’ve made a really dumb move (trading Hamilton for draft picks), an alright move (trading Smith for Hayes), a better move than I originally thought (signing Beleskey) and a really good move (trading Lucic for in effect two first round picks). Are they better for it? We’ll see.
#19: Los Angeles Kings
ADDITIONS:
- Milan Lucic
- Jhonas Enroth
LOSSES:
- Andrej Sekera
- Justin Williams
- Mike Richards
- Jarret Stoll
- Martin Jones
TRENDING: Downwards
The Kings are sort of in a transition period. After winning two Stanley Cups in four seasons, the most interesting team in the NHL had a season when everything blew up in their face. This caused a bunch of changes, and not all of them were good. They are going to miss Williams dearly. That said, the Kings are one of the few NHL teams who have come back from a 3-0 deficit. They’ve come back from worse than this. Still, I can’t deny they are worse off than they were before.
#18: Ottawa Senators
ADDITIONS:
LOSSES:
- Erik Condra
- Robin Lehner
- David Legwand
TRENDING: Standing still
The Senators, not to anyone’s surprise, have had a pretty quiet off-season. After a Cinderella run into the NHL playoffs, the Senators have taken a step back and realized that kind of run likely isn’t sustainable. However, they still have a good team. They have two really good goalies. They have the best defenseman in the NHL. They have a solid young forward group. They sort of do nothing extremely well, but they do everything well enough to be considered contenders.
#17: Winnipeg Jets
ADDITIONS:
- Alex Burmistrov
LOSSES:
TRENDING: Standing still
The Jets will definitely contend in the Western Conference this season. They have the farm system to pull off pretty much any trade that they want. My only issue with them is that they did nothing to address their goaltending, though Michael Hutchinson could be a diamond in the rough for the “True North” of the NHL.
#16: San Jose Sharks
ADDITIONS:
- Martin Jones
- Joel Ward
- Paul Martin
LOSSES:
- Antti Niemi
- John Scott
- Matt Irwin
TRENDING: Upward
What a change for the San Jose Sharks. They went from an NHL team that was rebuilding to a legit contender. The addition of Jones is sort of questionable, but considering the goalie market, the Sharks probably got the best goalie available. And they basically trolled the Kings in doing so, so props to them for that. As a Caps fan, I really like the addition of Ward. Martin probably got one year too many, but that’s fine. They still have some work to do to really impress me, but so far this off-season has definitely been great for them.
Next: #15 through #11