Hockeywiztalks Hockey Blog

 The Detroit Red Wings have had a terrific start to the season with a 4-2 record, thanks to the arrival of young studs such as Lucas Raymond and Moritz Seider, who have added lots of skill and talent to the lineup.   Detroit Red Wings Offseason Moves: 1. Traded for and Re-signed Alex Nedeljkovic 2. Traded for Nick Leddy 3. Signed Pius Suter, Jordan Oesterle 4. Re-signed Jakub Vrana, Filip Hronek 5. Re-signed Marc Staal, Michael Rasmussen, Adam Erne Offseason Review: The biggest weakness for the Detroit Red Wings was goaltending, so they went out and traded for Alex Nedeljkovic, who was in a contract dispute with the Carolina Hurricanes. Then subsequently, re-signed Nedeljkovic to a 2 yr deal worth 3.5 million per season. Nedeljkovic will tandem with Thomas Greiss and should form a solid tandem in net. The Red Wings also acquired Nick Leddy from the New York Islanders. This trade helps the Red Wings take that next step forward, as Leddy is an veteran defenseman, with playoff ex...

The Vancouver Canucks had some lofty expectations heading into this season, but so far they have not lived up to those expectations. It is still early in the season, but by looking at the roster, they don't seem like a contending team. Key Offseason Moves:  1. Bought out Braden Holtby and Jake Virtanen 2. Acquiring OEL and Conor Garland 3. Trade for Jason Dickinson 4. Traded Nate Schmidt; signed Tucker Poolman, Luke Schenn 5. Signed Jaroslav Halak to replace Braden Holtby 6. Locked up Pettersson and Hughes Offseason Review: Vancouver Canucks retooled their lineup quite a bit in the offseason to the point where the team looks quite different than last year. The Cancuks started off the offseason by buying out Braden Holtby and Jake Virtanen, both these players never really worked out on the team. The Biggest splash the Canucks made was acquiring Oliver Ekman Larsson and Conor Garland from the Arizona Coyotes; although the price tag was hefty, the move improves the team drastically fo...

 The Minnesota Wild had a great season last year, but a major reason for that is the cause of the division they played in. Minnesota will be back in the Central Division this season, and will be fighting for a playoff spot with the likes of Chicago, St.Louis, Nashville, Dallas, and Winnipeg. Because of this, the Wild may struggle to make the playoffs this season. Key moves made in the Offseason: Bought out Zach Parise + Ryan Suter. lost Carson Soucy to Seattle Kraken in Expansion Draft. lost Marcus Johansson, Ian Cole to Free Agency. signed Alex Goligoski, Dmitry Kulikov, Jordie Benn, Jon Merrill in Free Agency. Re-signed Joel Eriksson to a long term deal. Locked up Kirill Kaprizov to a 5 yr deal. Re-signed Kevin Fiala for 1yr Offseason Review: Coming into this offseason, it was no secret that the Minnesota Wild need to create cap room in order to sign some of their key RFAs like Kirill Kaprizov, Joel Eriksson Ek and Kevin Fiala. To nobody's surprise, the Wild bought out Zach Paris...

 The Carolina Hurricanes may no longer be legitimate contenders this year after a rough offseason. This should not be a surprise when you lose your top defenseman, trade away an up-and-coming young defenseman, and then overpay for Jesperi Kotkaniemi. Here are the major moves the Carolina Hurricanes made in the offseason: Traded Alex Nedeljkovic to the Detroit Red Wings for Jonathan Bernier, who left in Free Agency to sign w/ NJ and a 3rd round pick Traded Jake Bean to Columbus Blue Jackets for 2021 2nd round pick (Aleksi Heimosalmi) Acquired Ethan Bear from the Edmonton Oilers for Warren Foegele. Let Dougie Hamilton, Petr Mrazek, Brock McGinn walk in Free Agency. Signed Fredrik Andersen, Antti Raanta in Free Agency. Brought in Derek Stepan, Tony DeAngelo, Ian Cole, Brandan Smith for 1 year. Re-signed Andrei Svechnikov to an 8yr/$62 million contract. Signed Jesperi Kotkaniemi to a 1yr/$6M offer sheet. Offseason Review: While the Hurricane didn't have a terrible offseason, they lost ...

 The Montreal Canadiens are a borderline playoff team with an aging core and many overpaid veterans, so the best thing for them to do is rebuild through the draft to build a contending team again. This is how I would rebuild the Montreal Canadiens At the 2022 Trade Deadline, two trades are made: Montreal Canadiens trade Jonathan Drouin to the Florida Panthers for Grigori Denisenko, Noel Acciari, 2023 2nd round pick. If the Panthers make the playoffs, the Canadiens get the Panthers 2023 1st round pick. Jonathan Drouin improves the scoring for the Panthers, while the Canadiens add more depth to the lineup with Denisenko and Acciari. The Canadiens also trade Ben Chiarot to the Minnesota Wild for 2022 2nd round pick. The Minnesota Wild beef up their defense for the playoff run, while the Canadiens add an additional 2nd round pick. The Montreal Canadiens miss the playoffs in the 2021-22 season and end up with the 14th pick in the draft. Before the 2022 draft, one major trade is made: M...