NHL Offseason Grades: Who Got Better, Who Got Worse in Free Agency

If there were gold, silver and bronze medals to be had for free agency-related performances this summer, the winners can be easily decided.

The defending Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers definitely own the podium, with the Vegas Golden Knights and Carolina Hurricanes clearly owning the other two spots.

Florida essentially kept the band together that has won two consecutive titles, while Vegas added a much-needed impact winger in Mitch Marner and Carolina swung for the fences by adding forward Nikolaj Ehlers and defenseman K’Andre Miller.

The free agency frenzy was a dud given the lack of impact players available, but here are five teams whose fortunes certainly rose or fell in the past couple of weeks.

The Utah Mammoth took big steps forward to being a playoff team by acquiring forward J.J. Peterka from Buffalo to add much-needed scoring and solidifying their roster with veterans at forward (Brandon Tanev), defense (Nate Schmidt) and backup goaltender Vitek Vanecek. Utah has a young and talented roster and is ready to make a push, and these were important moves.

In the other direction, the Los Angeles Kings kept offensively gifted but defensively dubious forward Andrei Kuzmenko on a one-year deal, but watched defenseman Vladislav Gavrikov leave for the New York Rangers and replaced him with Cody Ceci and Brian Dumoulin—both inked to too much term and too much money. Adding 40-year-old forward Corey Perry may help in their net-front presence for a year, but this team has taken a decided step back.

The Montreal Canadiens did not add via free agency but by trade, acquiring a lynchpin defenseman in Noah Dobson and middle-six forward Zack Bolduc. Like the Mammoth, Montreal has a roster loaded with players still heading toward their prime, and these moves add two more for a club on the upswing and ready to build on a surprising playoff berth last season.

Speaking of teams supposed to be on the up, the Chicago Blackhawks have the potential. Yet they have done near nothing to improve a squad that is to be built around 2023 first overall pick Connor Bedard but remains at the bottom of the barrel.

The Blackhawks acquired some scoring in Andre Burakovsky, but that is too little for an organization that is floundering so badly. Sure, Chicago will be integrating more youth, but this team must add quality veterans to help guide those young players and failed in that regard.

Back to a positive offseason, the New Jersey Devils should be lauded for an effective, albeit quiet, improvement to their roster. New Jersey does not require massive changes—just a witch doctor or Miracle Max to keep key players healthy.

That said, the Devils added a couple of forwards in Connor Brown and Evgenii Dadonov who will provide scoring depth. Re-signing No. 2 goalie Jake Allen also was a big positive for a club that was on the cusp a couple of seasons ago but needs a push to vault forward to being a legitimate Stanley Cup contender.