Pacific Report: Recapping Each Pacific Team’s Offseason

This year there’s something else lurking in the Pacific.

The Ducks and Sharks are once again joined by the Kings, Knights, and Canucks. Will Edmonton strike oil? Will they be overtaken by the Flames in Calgary? Or will the Seattle Kraken rise from the depths of the unknown to take the division by surprise.

Anaheim Ducks

Players added: No significant additions

Players lost: Danton Heinen

It was a pretty slow offseason in Anaheim as far as roster moves went as GM Bob Murray seems to be letting his young core take shape. Longtime Ducks’ Captain, Ryan Getzlaf was brought back on a 1 year deal, Max Comtois was extended for 2 more seasons and that’s about all that happened in Anaheim this summer.

Grade: D

Calgary Flames

Players added: Blake Coleman, Trevor Lewis, Tyler Pitlick, Nikita Zadorov, Dan Vladar

Players lost: Mark Giordano, Josh Leivo, Derek Ryan

It was thought to be an offseason of change in Calgary as all the big names were once again topics of trade discussion. Instead Flames GM, Brad Treliving, beefed up his roster for his still somewhat new head coach, Darryl Sutter, by adding grittier forwards in Coleman, Pitlick, and Lewis, while also adding a hulking defensemen in Nikita Zadorov.

I’m not sure anyone saw this sort of offseason coming out of Calgary and they are flying under the radar somewhat. It could be due to the same core group of skill forwards coming back but with noted “players coach” in Sutter and some great team first player additions, Calgary could have something here.

Grade: B+

Edmonton Oilers

Players added: Cody Ceci, Zach Hyman, Derek Ryan, Duncan Keith, Warren Foegele, Brenden Perlini

Players lost: Ethan Bear, Jujhair Khaira, Adam Larsson

I like the forward additions here in Hyman, Foegele, and Derek Ryan. Edmonton, like Calgary, needed more gritty type forwards. It’s the backend I’m not exactly thrilled about. Sure it’s fun to get a player like Duncan Keith but at the cost of a pick and Caleb Jones? To me that seems like too much. Oh and did I mention Chicago retained no salary? On what planet does that deal make sense? Oh well, at least they signed Cody Ceci to a 4 year deal.

There was a plan here I think and obviously effort, I’m just not impressed.

Grade: C-

Los Angeles Kings

Players added: Phillip Danault, Alexander Edler, Viktor Arvidsson

Players lost: Kurtis MacDermid

Kings GM Rob Blake brought in 3 significant players this offseason to add to his already talented roster. The Kings are going to make some noise in the Pacific.

Grade: A

San Jose Sharks

Players added: James Reimer, Adin Hill, Nick Bonino, Andrew Cogliano, Nick Merkley

Players lost: Christian Jaros

San Jose is quickly turning into a dumpster fire with news of Tomas Hertl apparently wanting out and Evander Kane consistently in the news for all the wrong reasons. I do like the subtle additions of Cogliano and Bonino but I don’t think they’re what San Jose needs. It’s clear Doug Wilson is trying to keep this ship afloat, unfortunately it is sinking fast.

Grade: D

Seattle Kraken

(Significant) Players added: Mark Giordano, Adam Larsson, Jamie Oleksiak, Vince Dunn, Cale Fleury, Haydn Fleury, Carson Soucy, Alex Wennberg, Jayden Schwartz, Yanni Gourde, Calle Jarnkrok, Jared McCann, Branden Tanev, Joonas Donskoi, Jordan Eberle, Phillip Grubauer, Chris Driedger

Players lost: Vitek Vanecek, Tyler Pitlick, Kurtis MacDermid

Even though this Expansion Draft did not meet fan expectations, I believe Seattle GM Ron Francis built a very underrated hockey team. The goaltending duo of Grubauer and Driedger is already one of the best in the entire NHL, the defense core is big and deep, and the forward group will be tough to play against night in and night out. You won’t want to play Seattle in game 2 of a back to back.

While it would have been more fun to see Seattle make trade after trade, you have to give credit to Francis for sticking to his plan. Now let’s see if it works out.

Grade: B+

Vancouver Canucks

Players added: Oliver Edman-Larsson, Connor Garland, Jaroslav Halak, Jason Dickinson, Tucker Poolman, Luke Schenn, Brad Hunt

Players lost: Nate Schmidt, Alexander Edler, Jake Virtanen, Jay Beagle, Antoine Roussel, Loui Eriksson

Vancouver got rid of a ton of cap in moving on from Alex Edler and Jake Virtanen, while also trading Beagle, Roussel, Eriksson, and Schmidt. Bringing in skilled players in OEL and Connor Garland from Arizona will be fun and while the Canucks defense could be a bit suspect, pairing Jaroslav Halak with Thatcher Demko could be a formidable goalie tandem.

Grade: B

Vegas Golden Knights

Players added: Nolan Patrick, Laurent Brossoit, Evgeni Dadonov, Brett Howden

Players lost: Tomas Nosek, Cody Glass, Marc-Andre Fleury, Ryan Reaves, Nick Holden

Hm, what to make of Vegas’s offseason. They shipped out former #6 overall pick in Cody Glass and in return received former 2nd overall pick, Nolan Patrick. Vegas GM Kelly McCrimmon knows Nolan Patrick from his time with the Brandon Wheat Kings of the WHL and the hope is that he can help unlock Patrick’s potential. The loss of Vezina winning goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury will hurt that locker room and the team will need to establish a new identity as Fleury was the face of the franchise.

Overall I was a bit underwhelmed with Vegas’s offseason and the Marc-Andre Fleury trade left a bad taste in my month.

Grade: D+

Atlantic Report

Metro Report

Follow me on Twitter @JimIkeHW

For more Flyers coverage, follow and subscribe to High and Wide Radio on Facebook, Twitter, and Youtube!