This offseason, there were some teams that made quite a few large-scale moves. The New Jersey Devils inked contract extensions with forwards Timo Meier and Jesper Bratt, as their Metropolitan division rival, the New York Islanders, handed out an eight-year contract to arguably the best goaltender in the NHL, Ilya Sorokin.
Although those contract extensions are important deals in their own right, this poll is specifically about which team is most ’improved’ after this offseason, not necessarily which team had the ’best’ offseason.
The Pittsburgh Penguins, who already had two former MVP winners in Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin, as well as a defenseman who has received plenty of Norris votes throughout his career in Kris Letang, went for the big fish and acquired Erik Karlsson in a three-team trade. There are certainly some defensive issues that come into question in this deal, but it’s hard to see how acquiring not only the reigning Norris Trophy winner but a defenseman who scored over 100 points only a season ago, as anything other an improvement.
Even after winning their first playoff series in quite some time, the Toronto Maple Leafs 2023 playoff run was still considered a failure in many ways. In an attempt to get even deeper into the playoffs next spring, the Maple Leafs brought in John Klingberg, Ryan Reaves, Max Domi, and Tyler Bertuzzi just to name a few. At the very least, both Bertuzzi and Domi had solid playoff performances last season, and add extra grit to Toronto’s lineup.
Not considered even a fringe playoff team for this season, there is an argument to be made that the Chicago Blackhawks are actually the most improved team this summer. No other team in the NHL was able to select Connor Bedard, and if everything goes as expected, will make even Connor McDavid look human. After an early summer trade with the Boston Bruins, the team will also be able to position Taylor Hall on Bedard’s wing, as well as adding Nick Foligno and Corey Perry as extra forward depth.
There are even more teams than these three alone that could have been considered as the most improved. That is why we ask, who do you think is the most improved team after this offseason?
37 votes for Other…. but no comments :/ is the answer “Arizona”? Surprised to see the Leafs have the fewest votes.
Adding Cooley, Dumba, Durzi, Zucker, and Kerfoot plus a full season of Guenther should definitely give Arizona a lot of consideration as the most improved team.
COLUMBUS BLUE JACKETS. I have them 3rd in the Metropolitan and a dangerous playoff team.
Interesting take. Their goaltending situation is a bit weak so idk about 3rd place but having provorov,severson,fantilli and Texier immediately puts them in a way better situation than last year.
Not entirely sure if I agree with 3rd in the Metropolitan, as I like Rangers/Penguins more so in that spot. But…teams could do a lot worse than adding Severson, Provorov, and even Fantilli over the summer. If Merz can tighten his play up in the net than Columbus could be a very exciting team to watch.
@Wilf – Did you see who CBJ hired as their HC? He could get canned before the season even starts, due to his epic stupidity. I can hear that famous, albeit paraphrased, line now, “Jarmo, you got some essplainin’ to do!”
Why are there only three options?
Brennan showing some bias?
Jackets, Avalanche, Coyotes, kings, Rangers, Jets…all made big moves
No bias, just didn’t want to bog down the article or the voting portion. The Penguins got the historically best player this offseason, I think Toronto did the best in adding what they needed (in my opinion), and Chicago obviously got a fantastic young player in Bedard which not every team was able to do. No slight towards any other team.
@Brennan, I personally think it’s great you and the other PHR writers get involved in the comments and share your views.
Anyone can spend money. I’d say that the Leafs management did the most heavy lifting. That Matthews contract would have cast a large shadow on this upcoming season. Chicago added the most valuable asset, but cannot praise a team (or their management) for being gifted the #1 talent in the draft.
Hurricanes. Lost a player with one functional achilles. Added to the powerplay, added scoring and added grit.
Don’t regard Colorado they added much needed sandpaper to their third line this is going to be a very tough team to play against!
These are complete homer answers because I’m fans of both, but Florida and Columbus.
Florida makes a lateral move essentially trading in Duclair and getting Rodrigues. But their defence is now incredibly deep… When Montour and Ekblad return from injury. We lose Gudas, but gain a whole whack of bottom 4 guys that the team simply didn’t have last year.
Columbus finally looks playoff ready, but Merzlikins is the big question mark. If he can even maintain a 905 save%, I think things will be smooth sailing. But that is far from a certainty – in either direction. I would expect the team to Hail Mary on a trade or overseas import if he falters out of the gate.
Red Wings..DeBricant plus a host of others via FA and trades will make them a playoff team and potentially more
Because DeBrincat is well-known for taking his teams to the playoffs?
Detroit Red Wings
Buffalo will make the playoffs and win a round
Buffalo
can’t access the poll
I like what both the Stars and Avs did. Thanks, in part, to Barry Trotz, they both got secondary scoring at a very affordable prices.
Detroit
The Blackhawks have significantly improved their forward group and Korchinski, Vlasic, and Nolan Allen hopefully improve the D Men just as much. The real problem with the Hawks is Goaltending as Mrazek is horrible and Soderblom untested while Commesso and Stauber are just getting started. I was kind of wondering if Davidson could somehow swing a deal for Hellebuck as he certainly has the Cap space and future assets to trade for just about anybody he wants. A trade like that and I would say the Hawks make the playoffs.
Easy the canes and they’re not done yet
The Columbus summer adds were very nice, Let’s not forget that the Jackets were decimated by injury season. And watch out for Kent Johnson.