Which NHL team is the most intriguing to watch this offseason?
The calendar shifts to June and the NHL’s offseason activity will soon rev up in a big way. There are many prominent names available via the trade market and free agency.
So, Roundtable: Which team is the most intriguing to watch this offseason?
MATT LARKIN: So many to choose from, as I expect quite an eventful offseason. But I have my eye on the Nashville Predators. GM Barry Trotz has already put his stamp on the club with some aggressive moves in his first year – jettisoning Matt Duchene and Ryan Johansen, signing Ryan O’Reilly, Luke Schenn and Gustav Nyquist, reportedly shopping Yaroslav Askarov at the draft last year and so on. Now, with the Preds looking more competitive than many of us expected a year ago (shoutout Mike Gould picking them to finish 32nd, woo!), will Trotz throttle up even more? The Preds have more than $26 million in projected cap space. They also can entice UFAs with no state income tax, being in Tennessee. Whether they trade No. 1 goalie Juuse Saros or not, this team is positioned to make some big moves.
SCOTT MAXWELL: While my initial pick was going to be the Toronto Maple Leafs because of this looming threat of a Mitch Marner trade having the potential to be the biggest move of the offseason, I’m going to go with Utah HC. The NHL’s newest city already has an excellent pool of young talent, with a good portion of it already established at the NHL level, so that alone gives them the potential to be a fun team. But the added twist is that, unlike their previous ownership in Arizona, Ryan Smith appears ready to spend to make his new team competitive right away. With more than $40 million in salary cap space and 17 draft picks in the second and third round over the next three years in terms of assets, they have the tools to make that happen. Some of that will have to go toward their blueline (they currently only have three defensemen in the entire organization signed beyond July 1), but they have a good chance to make some headlines through free agency and the trade market.
MIKE GOULD: I want to know what in the world Lou Lamoriello is cooking up for the New York Islanders. That team has a flat-out bizarre roster that kind of feels like it was plucked straight out of 2014, what with its abundance of veterans and dearth of young talent on the cusp of breaking through. The Islanders haven’t made a single first-round pick in five years. That’s bananas. Lou has never shied away from going after big names, and something tells me he might try to take a swing at landing Marner this offseason if he becomes available. He knows the player well, he just acquired an extra second-round pick, and the Islanders have a glaring need for a playmaker to drive another line in support of Mat Barzal‘s. I’m incredibly curious about what Lou’s plan might be. Oh, by the way: Brock Nelson is coming off the three best seasons of his career and is entering the final year of his contract, as are Noah Dobson and Alexander Romanov. Plus, Patrick Roy seems to think 36-year-old Semyon Varlamov is their starting goaltender. I dunno. I just feel like these Islanders are primed to do something crazy this summer.
STEVEN ELLIS: I’m going with the Chicago Blackhawks. They have more than $33 million in cap space and it’s about time they start figuring out how to use it. They made the trade with the Islanders for those early draft picks and I have to think they’re trying to cook up something here because moving up two spots isn’t worth throwing away another pick. They need to build around Connor Bedard and will also need to figure out what type of role Lukas Reichel has on this team. Who’s the goalie of the future? They’ll get another good top pick this year, but then they have to start pushing forward to make the most of the Bedard era.
FRANK SERAVALLI: Man, there’s so many good choices here. Maple Leafs. Blue Jackets. Blackhawks. Canucks. I’m going to go with the Carolina Hurricanes. This is one of the most consistently competitive teams in the league, second in wins over the last six years. They’ve been a legitimate threat to win the Stanley Cup and haven’t gotten closer than halfway there. And this is a summer of change. For one, there’s a new GM incoming. Whether it will be one of the engines behind their current success, interim GM Eric Tulsky, remains to be seen as Carolina is conducting an external search. But it’s also a crossroads for this roster. Half of the core of their defense is a UFA. They’ve got important pieces at the forward group up for contracts – and a huge call on the way in the future of Martin Necas. There is no shortage of franchise-altering decisions on the way in Carolina.
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