Edmonton, Nashville, Washington set to benefit from NHL offseason moves

by Xavier Heithaus

The NHL offseason has been full of many lucrative and unexpected moves. Above all, there were three big free agency winners this year: the Edmonton Oilers, Nashville Predators, and Washington Capitals.

The Oilers, coming off a very strong season that ended with a Game 7 Stanley Cup final loss to the Panthers, aren’t ready to let off the brakes yet and want the little boost they need this offseason to go for the Cup next year. Free agency held the players they needed to fill their remaining weak spots. The Oilers found the diamonds in the rough on offense, signing Jeff Skinner and Viktor Arvidsson to replace spots in the top lines and strengthen all four lines of the roster. Also, after a bit of goaltending struggle last season, they have signed Colin Delia in hopes to not have the same struggles in goaltending this season.

The Predators also won in the offseason by upgrading their offense heavily by picking up 2023 Conn Smythe winner Jonothan Marchessault and, unexpectedly, Lightning ex-captain and 1000-point club member Steven Stamkos. They didn’t forget about their defense, adding Brady Skjei to join their captain and previous Norris trophy winner Roman Josi on firstt line defense. Backed up by Juuse Saros in net, the Predators have built a team bound to make it past the first round of the playoffs this season.

The Capitals, disappointed after missing the playoffs last season, took this offseason as a time to really grow in every area of the game. They found guys with underrated talent and potential to be better, but also with experience, grabbing Pierre-Luc Dubois, Brandon Duhaime, Andrew Mangiapane, and Taylor Raddysh to hopefully give their offense the boost they need. On defense where they were more lacking, they got size and skill with Jakob Chychrun and Matt Roy. Overlooking all of that, they improved in their most desperate spot, goaltending. They signed young talent and Stanley Cup winner Logan Thompson to bring their lacking goaltending to a whole new level pushing them the extra mile to make the playoffs this upcoming season.

Due to the controversy surrounding the Capitals going drastically over their salary cap, an honorable mention to the top three best offseasons goes to the Chicago Blackhawks. Chicago added big talent in Tyler Bertuzzi and Teuvo Teravainen to join their rookie star Conor Bedard.

When there are winners there are always losers, and this year’s losers were the St. Louis Blues, Minnesota Wild, and Montreal Canadiens. The St. Louis Blues made very few offseason moves which isn’t a good sign for a team that didn’t make the playoffs last season. Looking deeper, their best pick-up was Ryan Suter who brings experience, but not the skill needed to make the playoffs. The Minnesota Wild made more moves than STL, but they didn’t get the skill of players needed to bring them back to playoff contention this season. Lastly, the Montreal Canadiens, also coming from out of playoff contention last season didn’t make hardly any moves this season and didn’t get much talent with what they did get bringing no expectations of playoff contention this season. These three teams, unlike those aforementioned, did not make the moves necessary to produce a team capable of a 2025 Stanley Cup Playoffs run.