Ranking the Off-Season Part 6

Finally here is part 6 of ranking the NHL off-season moves. We will finish it off in the Pacific division where there were some movers and shakers in a division which could possibly see 4 teams make it into the playoffs next season.....

Pacific Division

San Jose Sharks

Unfortunately for the Sharks they lost out on the Brian Campbell sweeps. I don't know how involved they were with him, but it couldn't have been too involved as Campbells decision came down to Atlanta or Chicago. The Sharks really missed out here on getting a perennial #1 D-man.

It wasn't all bad news for the back end of San Jose's team. They signed Rob Blake to a one year deal, and I know Blake is no Campbell but he will bring a good veteran presence to the Sharks Defense core and will help out a bit offensively as well. The other big move for the Sharks was landing Dan Boyle. Boyle was essentially thrown out of Tampa and the Sharks will take him with open arms. Boyle will put up some great offensive numbers for the team and adds some much needed depth to the blue line. Boyle is vastly overpaid, but who isn't these days so I won't harp on that too much. To round out the trade involving Boyle, the Sharks also received Brad Lukowich who should be a solid depth addition. The Sharks had to give up Matt Carle, Ty Wishart, a 1st round pick and a 4th rounder. It seems like a steep price, but San Jose is a win-now type of team.

The Sharks effectively assessed their needs and made the moves accordingly. The Sharks get a B+. They missed out on keeping Campbell who would have been the ultimate prize for them on the back end, but Blake and Boyle are no slouches either. A job well done this off-season for the Sharks, now they just need a coach...Pat Burns anyone?

Anaheim Ducks

With much speculation over the future of Brian Burke this off-season and the will he or won't he saga on going to Toronto, the Ducks remained fairly the same with limited off-season moves. Cap space was a bit of an issue for the Ducks as their main issue was getting Corey Perry under contract.

While the Ducks were successfully able to lock up Perry before Kevin Lowe could sign him to a offer sheet, that was about all they did. It appears they may lose Teemu Sealane to free agency or retirement and they already waived Todd Bertuzzi (good move). The only addition the Ducks made was in the form of Brendan Morrisson. The former Canuck stays out West and will try to re-kindle the old flame he had under him in Vancouver in the glory days with Naslund and Bertuzzi. I wouldn't be surprised if Morrisson re-gained all of his past success, he needs good players around him to be good and he has that in Anaheim.

I'm going to throw a B the way of the Ducks. Not making many moves isn't necessarily ideal, but when you are limited with cap space it makes things tough. I don't particularly like the Ducks chances next season of winning it all, but they should make the playoffs.

Dallas Stars

The big buzz around the Stars comes in the form of Fabian Brunnstrum. The much sought after Swede who was believed to be the best player outside of the NHL. The other big deal for the Stars, getting Sean Avery. What a big difference this guy is going to make in Dallas, he really is a game changer, and even if it isn't in a good way, it helps. He's the ultimate pest and as much as everyone hates him, he can still put up good points.

There wasn't anyone of note that Dallas lost, Nik Hagman may be the only notable one, but that's not a huge loss. It is well over-shadowed by the Avery and Fabian signings.

There isn't much else to say about the Stars. If they get good play from Turco they very well could compete for the cup next year. With the likes of Richards, Ribiero, Modano, Brunnstrum, Avery, Morrow to name a few up front, they have a scary looking attack. For their off-season moves the Stars get an A.

Phoenix Coyotes

The 'Yotes are an interesting team. They had very little expectation last year, and managed to put together a respectable season narrowly missing the post-season. This year they should be even better as they are one year younger and have made some good improvements.

The big improvements come in the form of Olli Jokinen, Kurt Sauer, and Brian Mcgratton (I know, I'll explain). Jokinen is obvious, he's going to put up some awesome points and will complement Shane Doan very well on the top 2 lines. The Coyotes gave up a lot for Olli, in the form of Boynton, Ballard and some high picks, but this guy will be a superstar for the Coyotes and should lead them to the playoffs. Kurt Sauer is an awesome shut down defensemen. Toronto confused Jeff Finger with Kurt Sauer when they gave him that huge contract (They both played in Colorado last season). Great signing with Sauer. The next big acquisition, and before you laugh, just hear me out, came by getting Brian Mcgratton. Dan Carcillo is great for fighting for Phoenix, but he intimidates no one, Mcgratton brings that intimidation.

Other notes, Phoenix signed Francis Lessard and Todd Fedoruk. If all these guys dress this will be a very very mean and scary team to play against. They will literally just kick your ass. The 'Yoats get a B+ for their off-season efforts.

Los Angeles Kings

Last and well, kind of least comes the Kings. This team is the definition of re-building. This off-season they traded Mike Camallerri for draft picks, and basically acquired as many draft picks as possible. The Kings at this point are a hard team to judge, because you can't say they are doing bad in the off-season by trading away assets because they are trying to rebuild this team.

A good addition for the Kings was scooping up Dennis Gautier from the Flyers who moves him in need of cap space to re-sign Jeff Carter.

There isn't a lot else to say about the Kings, they are going to be horrible this year. They have a great, great future though as long as all their prospects pan out. I'll give the Kings a B for being consistent in what they are trying to accomplish. They made a plan to re-build and are executing accordingly.

Final Grades
Sharks B+
Ducks B
Stars A
Phoenix B+
Kings B

Maybe I was a little lenient today with the grading, but I think that all of these teams have done well enough to improve their teams and deserve their grades. Not all of them are going to be good but all did a great job of assessing where there team is at and the proper next steps to make.

This concludes the 6 part series that took way too long to write. I'll be continuing writing blogs regularly now, and look for my season preview and projections blogs for the NHL and NFL coming up soon.