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NHL offseason grades: Who improved the most as training camps approach?
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- NHL offseason grades: Who improved the most as training camps approach?
The 2025-26 NHL season will begin ramping up this week with the start of training camps.
The Florida Panthers are trying to win a third consecutive Stanley Cup title and eight teams will have new coaches. Preseason games will start on Saturday, Sept. 20, and the regular season opens on Oct. 7 with an ESPN tripleheader .
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Which NHL team did the most to improve itself in the offseason?
The Vegas Golden Knights landed the biggest free agent , Mitch Marner , in a sign-and-trade, leaving a big hole for the Toronto Maple Leafs .
Here's a look at what each NHL team did during the offseason and their grades:
Anaheim Ducks - A-
GM Pat Verbeek has been adding veterans to the young core during the team's rebuild. This time, he traded for veteran Chris Kreider and signed Mikael Granlund . He also traded part of that young core, Trevor Zegras , 24. The Ducks moved out goalie John Gibson was traded and re-signed Lukas Dostal for five years. The hiring of coach Joel Quenneville shows Anaheim is serious about pushing for a playoff spot.
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Boston Bruins - C
Newcomer Viktor Arvidsson is a goal scorer but the five-year deal for Tanner Jeannot seemed puzzling. New coach Marco Sturm will attempt to bring the Bruins back to the playoffs after last season's sell-off.
Buffalo Sabres - B-
Can the Sabres end their 14-season playoff drought ? The trade of 68-point scorer J.J. Peterka doesn't help their cause. They do get back promising young forward Josh Doan. They worked on improving their defensive depth, including acquiring Michael Kesselring in the Peterka deal. They also signed goalies Alex Lyon and Alexandar Georgiev.
Calgary Flames - B-
The Flames cemented Dustin Wolf as their No. 1 goalie by giving the Calder Trophy runner-up a seven-year, $52.5 million extension . Most of their moves involved re-signing players to a team that missed the playoff on a tiebreaker.
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Carolina Hurricanes - A
Free-agent signee Nikolaj Ehlers will provide speed and scoring punch. They locked in Logan Stankoven, acquired in the Mikko Rantanen deal, for eight years. Their defense gets younger after the trade for K'Andre Miller and the free-agent departures of Brent Burns and Dmitry Orlov .
Chicago Blackhawks - C
The Blackhawks re-signed Ryan Donato (four years) and Frank Nazar (seven years) . Connor Bedard has yet to sign an extension. The trade for Andre Burakovsky will help if he can get back to his 20-goal ways. This team needs work to get in playoff contention. New coach Jeff Blashill will run the bench.
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Colorado Avalanche - B-
They re-signed trade deadline acquisition Brock Nelson , a No. 2 center, and signed defenseman Brent Burns. They moved out Charlie Coyle and Miles Wood s, getting back prospect Gavin Brindley and cap space.
Columbus Blue Jackets - B
The Blue Jackets added scoring depth with trades for Charlie Coyle and Miles Wood. Trading goalie Daniil Tarasov opens a path for goalie Jet Greaves to play a bigger role. He was 5-0 after a late season call-up. The Blue Jackets also traded for Ivan Fedotov for depth in net.
Dallas Stars - C
The Stars fired coach Peter DeBoer and hired onetime Stars coach Glen Gulutzan . They re-signed Matt Duchene , Jamie Benn and others, plus bought back Radek Faksa , but had to trade Mason Marchment to make the money work. Having Mikko Rantanen for a full season will help the Stars as they try to move forward after three consecutive years of losing in the conference finals.
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Detroit Red Wings - B
Gibson should upgrade the Red Wings' goaltending, an offseason priority. They dealt disappointing forward Vladimir Tarasenko and added depth up front with Mason Appleton and James van Riemsdyk . Is it enough to get to the playoffs? Probably not on its own, but a full season of midseason replacement coach Todd McLellan could help.
Edmonton Oilers - B-
The Oilers are giving star Connor McDavid time to decide on a contract extension. A key would be whether the Oilers can finally win after back-to-back losses in the Stanley Cup Final. Re-signing Evan Bouchard long-term helps. Trading for Hobey Baker winner Isaac Howard shows promise. Newcomer Andrew Mangiapane once scored 35 goals, but he's usually in the 14 to 18 range. Arvidsson, Evander Kane , Corey Perry , Connor Brown , Jeff Skinner and John Klingberg are gone. The up-and-down goalie tandem of Stuart Skinner and Calvin Pickard remains the same.
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Florida Panthers - A
GM Bill Zito pulled off the improbable by getting Sam Bennett , Aaron Ekblad and Brad Marchand re-signed. He also re-signed Tomas Nosek for a year, brought in goalie Daniil Tarasov to back up Sergei Bobrovsky and signed defenseman Jeff Petry to replace Nate Schmidt .
Los Angeles Kings - C
Vladislav Gavrikov leaving in free agency was a big loss and fellow defenseman Jordan Spence was traded. New GM Ken Holland signed Cody Ceci and Brian Dumoulin , not quite the same. Perry, a frequent visitor to the Stanley Cup Final, could miss the first month of the season after knee surgery. Joel Armia will help the penalty kill and Anton Forsberg is the new backup goalie.
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Minnesota Wild - C
The key question is whether Kirill Kaprizov signs an extension . That will affect the trajectory of this franchise. GM Bill Guerin traded for Tarasenko (coming off a down season) and signed Nico Sturm , who's solid on faceoffs.
Montreal Canadiens - B+
GM Kent Hughes pulled off a big pre-draft trade to land defenseman Noah Dobson , then signed him to an eight-year, $76 million extension. He and rookie of the year Lane Hutson can bring offense from the defense. The other moves were adding forward depth: Zach Bolduc, Sammy Blais and Joe Veleno.
Nashville Predators - C
The Predators made a splash in the 2024 offseason ( Steven Stamkos , Jonathan Marchessault ) and the team fizzled and missed the playoffs. Their 2025 moves were subtle: defensemen Nick Perbix and Nic Hague and forward Erik Haula.
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New Jersey Devils - B
The Devils added depth forwards Connor Brown and Evgenii Dadonov and held on to goalie Jake Allen . A return to health for Jack Hughes will help the team. New Jersey still needs to sign his brother, Luke.
New York Islanders - B
Trading Dobson gives No. 1 overall draft pick Matthew Schaefer a path as a rookie. New GM Mathieu Darche also signed forward Jonathan Drouin and Kontinental Hockey League forward Maxim Shabanov. Goalie David Rittich provides insurance as Semyon Varlamov recovers from surgery.
New York Rangers - B
More core players moved out with the trades of Kreider and K'Andre Miller. Gavrikov was a solid pickup who will help the team's defensive play. The Rangers subbed out one name coach (Peter Laviolette) for another (Mike Sullivan). They needed a new voice after the team took a major step back last season.
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Ottawa Senators - B-
The Senators traded for Spence and moved on from defenseman Travis Hamonic . Lars Eller could play on the fourth line. Claude Giroux signed a one-year extension and Leevi Merilainen will be the backup goalie after Forsberg left.
Philadelphia Flyers - B
The Flyers signed penalty killer Christian Dvorak and traded for Zegras. If healthy, Zegras is a 60-point player, but he has been injury-prone recently. They'll need new coach Rick Tocchet to unlock his potential.
Pittsburgh Penguins - C
The Penguins traded for defensemen Matt Dumba and Connor Clifton , plus goalie Arturs Silovs . Pittsburgh, though, seems like a team that will be in the Gavin McKenna sweepstakes rather ending a three-year playoff drought. When coach Dan Muse was hired to replace Sullivan , the Penguins touted how he worked with younger players.
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St. Louis Blues - B
Defenseman Torey Krug likely won't play this season, so the Blues traded for prospect Logan Mailloux . St. Louis also added 25-goal scorer Pius Suter and depth forward Nick Bjugstad.
San Jose Sharks - B-
The Sharks had to spend money to get to the salary cap floor, so they brought in Orlov, Klingberg, Skinner, Ryan Reaves , Adam Gaudette , Alex Nedeljkovic and others. The veterans will surround youngsters Macklin Celebrini , Will Smith , William Eklund and No. 2 overall pick Michael Misa . The moves could be enough to end their two-year reign at the bottom of the league, but they're far from being a playoff team.
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Seattle Kraken - B-
Coach Dan Bylsma was fired after one season and the Kraken hired Lane Lambert . They added forwards Mason Marchment and Frederik Gaudreau, plus defenseman Ryan Lindgren.
Tampa Bay Lightning - C+
After a 2024 offseason in which they signed Jake Guentzel and parted ways with Steven Stamkos, this offseason was quiet. Perbix left and forwards Pontus Holmberg and Jacob Pelletier joined in depth moves.
Toronto Maple Leafs - C
Marner is gone and his absence will be felt in many aspects of the game. New forwards Nicolas Roy , Matias Maccelli and Dakota Joshua combined for 63 points last season, though Maccelli averaged 53 points the two seasons before that.
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Utah Mammoth - B+
Peterka joins a solid group of forwards and Schmidt takes the place of traded defenseman Kesselring. Goalie Karel Vejmelka was re-signed long term and Vitek Vanecek was signed to back him up. Connor Ingram was cleared to return by the player assistance program, but GM Bill Armstrong said he would place the goalie on waivers at some point to give him a chance to play for another NHL team or in the American Hockey League. "At the end of the day, he will be playing and that's what we're so excited for."
Vancouver Canucks - C
Brock Boeser seemed all but gone but re-signed at the last minute. The team also traded for Kane, gave extensions to Thatcher Demko and Conor Garland and promoted Adam Foote to coach after Tocchet left . They'll need Demko to stay healthy and Elias Pettersson to return to form if they're going to get back to the playoffs.
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Vegas Golden Knights - A
Marner, a 100-point scorer, will boost the team's production from the wing. That enthusiasm was tempered by the fact that defenseman Alex Pietrangelo likely won't play this season because of an injury.
Washington Capitals - C+
The Capitals made most of their moves by extending their key players during the 2024-25 season. Their offseason acquisitions (Declan Chisholm, Justin Sourdif) were for depth. Still, this is a solid team that finished with the best regular season record in the Eastern Conference under coach of the year Spencer Carbery.
Winnipeg Jets - B-
Jonathan Toews has chosen the Jets as the team where he'll make his NHL comeback and Gustav Nyquist signed. Ehlers has left and captain Adam Lowry (hip) will miss the start of the season. Still, Vezina/Hart winner Connor Hellebuyck and company should keep the Jets among the league's top teams.
This story has been updated with new information.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: NHL offseason grades: Sizing up teams' moves
