Faceoff Factor

As the Dust Begins to Settle: The Western Conference

Michael Farkas | National Hockey League

Jul 10, 06:41 PM | Hype this story!

Part two of our two-part segment detailing the first and most active week of the NHL’s unrestricted free agency signing period. In this piece, the Western Conference teams will be covered and evaluated.

Western Conference:

Detroit Red Wings: Lost; A lot of solid forwards leaving, no one has come back yet, that’s a lot of depth to lose.

Lost:
D – Mathieu Schneider (Anaheim)
C – Robert Lang (Chicago)
RW – Todd Bertuzzi (Anaheim)
LW – Kyle Calder (Los Angeles)
LW – Darryl Bootland (N.Y. Islanders)

Gained:
D – Brian Rafalski (New Jersey)
LW – Dallas Drake (Detroit)
D – Brad Ference (Calgary)

The Detroit Red Wings lost a lot of top-six, or at least top-nine forwards in Lang, Bertuzzi and Calder. They will have an increased role for Jiri Hudler and will likely have top prospect Igor Grigorenko come over from Russia for this season, but they did have a lot of goals sign elsewhere. On the flip side of the coin, Bertuzzi played eight games last year (with Detroit), Calder was acquired late in the season after being a big-time dud in Philadelphia and Robert Lang was perhaps the laziest player this side of Alexei Yashin. Maybe it’s a blessing in disguise. The Wings lost Mathieu Schneider, and all things considered, they upgraded that spot with Brian Rafalski. Ken Holland drafts well, whatever can’t be filled with money can be filled with youth.

Anaheim Ducks: Win; lost nothing and then added quality pieces to a team that won the Cup.

Lost:
RW – Shawn Thornton (Boston)
LW – Trevor Gillies (Carolina)
RW – Joe Motzko (Washington)

Gained:
D – Mathieu Schneider (Detroit)
RW – Todd Bertuzzi (Detroit)
D – Shane Hnidy (Atlanta)

As if the Ducks defense wasn’t good enough already, they figured they would add puck mover Mathieu Schneider from Detroit and stay-at-home defenseman Shane Hnidy from Atlanta. Encasing Jean Sebastien Giguere in an even more impenetrable fortress than he’s lived in for the past five years. Adding Todd Bertuzzi is a gamble at $4 million per season, given his injuries and team distractions, but if he ends up being the same player he was pre-Moore incident the Ducks made a good deal. Worst case scenario: Todd Bertuzzi and Brad May could team up with George Parros to be the NHL’s newest version of the Hanson Brothers.

Vancouver Canucks: Draw; they didn’t have a lot of room to work with, they added some toughness, upgraded the backup goaltender, keeping things status quo more or less.

Lost:
C – Bryan Smolinski (Montreal)
G – Dany Sabourin (Pittsburgh)
C – Nathan Smith (Pittsburgh)

Gained:
G – Curtis Sanford (St. Louis)
LW – Brad Isbister (N.Y. Rangers)
C – Byron Ritchie (Calgary)
D – Aaron Miller (Los Angeles)
C – Greg Classen (Hamburg)

Despite the eight names listed above, there isn’t a whole lot to say about these moves. Sanford is a better goalie than Sabourin. Smolinski’s salary did not match his on-ice production, so replacing him with tougher forwards Brad Isbister and Byron Ritchie isn’t a bad idea. Aaron Miller would likely signify that nearly-all-star-game-bound defenseman Rory Fitzpatrick will try his luck some place else. The game has passed Miller by for the most part, but no matter what, pucks don’t get by Roberto Luongo, so it all evens out.

Nashville Predators: Lost; the first of many for Nashville in 07-08.

Lost:
LW – Paul Kariya (St. Louis)
D – Kimmo Timonen (Philadelphia – traded rights)
LW – Scott Hartnell (Philadelphia – traded rights)
D – Sheldon Brookbank (Columbus)

Gained:
C – Radek Bonk (Montreal)
D – Greg DeVries (Atlanta)
RW – Jed Ortmeyer (N.Y. Rangers)
RW – Shane Willis (Carolina)
G – Dan Ellis (Dallas)

A mass exodus from the Volunteer State will leave fans asking, “Why should we volunteer to show up?” (You see what I did there, it’s a play on words, read it again if you failed to catch it). The Predators added some depth, Bonk and Ortmeyer are defensive-minded forwards that will help in the transition process, and by “transition process” I mean, losing every offensive player on the team and the starting goalie. I doubt the Predators are done shedding salary or fans.

San Jose Sharks: Lost; As in, the opposite of “gained.”

Lost:
D – Scott Hannan (Colorado)
RW – Bill Guerin (N.Y. Islanders)
RW – Grant Stevenson (Calgary)
LW – Mathieu Darche (Tampa Bay)

Gained:
N/A

Well, for a playoff team, losing Bill Guerin is no big deal he goes home every April anyway. Scott Hannan is a big loss, but the Sharks have a young responsible defensive corps that kept deadline acquisition Craig Rivet around. They avoided the mother of all apocalypses by signing Joe Thornton to an extension before he got to UFA status, let’s see if Patrick Marleau is next. The Sharks better make the push for the Cup this year, even S.J. Sharkie the mascot is a free agent at the end of the year.

Dallas Stars: Lost; defensive depth lost, scoring depth lost and not regained.

Lost:
LW – Ladislav Nagy (Los Angeles)
D – Darryl Sydor (Pittsburgh)
G – Dan Ellis (Nashville)

Gained:
LW – Brad Winchester (Edmonton)
C – Toby Petersen (Edmonton)
LW – Todd Fedoruk (Philadelphia)
D – Trevor Byrne (Washington)

Ladislav Nagy flies under a lot of people’s radars but he’s a great playmaking winger and the Stars failed to replace him (despite him being just a deadline acquisition). Darryl Sydor is expendable but still a slight hit to the Stars blueline. Winchester and Petersen are good for the fourth line or first call-ups. As for Todd Fedoruk, well, punching bags aren’t normally $850,000.

Minnesota Wild: Draw; the NHL roster did not gain any substantial help.

Lost:
C – Todd White (Atlanta)

Gained:
C – Eric Belanger (Atlanta)
D – Sean Hill (N.Y. Islanders)
G – Nolan Schaefer (Pittsburgh)
C – Steve Kelly (Frankfurt)

Todd White and Eric Belanger cancel for all intents and purposes. Sean Hill is suspended for the first quarter of the NHL regular season for doping. Nolan Schaefer adds organizational depth at goaltender. The Wild made some key re-signings, with RFAs Koivu and Bouchard, plus UFA defenseman Martin Skoula. Moving Manny Fernandez allows Josh Harding to finally move up in the NHL, he’s a candidate to supplant Backstrom before his contract is over.

Calgary Flames: Lost; in terms of the list below, but they win in the sense they locked up Iginla and Regehr long term.

Lost:
D – Brad Stuart (Los Angeles)
D – Roman Hamrlik (Montreal)
C – Byron Ritchie (Vancouver)
D – Brad Ference (Detroit)

Gained:
D – Cory Sarich (Tampa Bay)
RW – Owen Nolan (Phoenix)
D – Anders Eriksson (Columbus)
RW – Grant Stevenson (San Jose)

Losing Brad Stuart and Roman Hamrlik decreases Calgary’s ability to shutdown opponents and move the puck effectively. Cory Sarich is a solid defensive defenseman however and Adrian Aucoin was acquired earlier in the offseason to be the new puck-mover, so hope is far from lost, but it will be on injured reserve soon. Owen Nolan is looking to have a renaissance season and if the offensive production isn’t there he could provide some veteran leadership and a solid two-way game. Anders Eriksson adds some depth to the 6/7 spot on defense as well. Again though, the key is Iginla and Regehr, would-be UFAs after the season, are locked up long term.

Colorado Avalanche: Win; Smyth and Hannan are two of the biggest names on the market, Francois Giguere got them and didn’t sacrifice much.

Lost:
C – Brett McLean (Florida)
D – Ken Klee (Atlanta)

Gained:
D – Scott Hannan (San Jose)
RW – Ryan Smyth (N.Y. Islanders)

This is about as simple as it gets here. The Avs get a top-pairing shutdown defenseman in Scott Hannan and a grinding, workhorse of a winger in Ryan Smyth. They lost a depth guy in Klee and are likely to lose Ossi Vaananen as well; but, again, Scott Hannan is one of the best in the NHL, it’s something they can live with. Brett McLean is a replaceable part, especially at $1.7 million per year, though, his scoring touch has been coming along despite his limited ice time. They did all this with the albatross of a contract that comes with Jose Theodore.

St. Louis Blues: Win; Davidson/Pleau continue to build a contender, they’ll put people in the seats with Kariya.

Lost:
RW – Radek Dvorak (Florida)
G – Curtis Sanford (Vancouver)
LW – Dallas Drake (Detroit – buyout)
D – Jamie Rivers (Montreal)

Gained:
LW – Paul Kariya (Nashville)
LW – Keith Tkachuk (Atlanta – acquired rights)
D – Micki Dupont (Pittsburgh)

Paul Kariya and Keith Tkachuk are both goal scoring veteran forwards, something a rebuilding team can’t have too many of. Losing a goalie was a given, they have Legace still, Bacashihua already and Schwarz on the way. Radek Dvorak is an underrated loss in my opinion, he has 20-goal, 50-point potential when given some ice time, but with Kariya and Tkachuk back in the fold, that’s of little consequence.

Columbus Blue Jackets: Draw; A new GM that’s in “evaluation” mode, I didn’t expect much, but I didn’t expect nothing either.

Lost:
D – Anders Eriksson (Calgary)

Gained:
C – Jiri Novotny (Washington)
D – Jan Hejda (Edmonton)
D – Sheldon Brookbank (Nashville)

They lose depth with Anders Eriksson but replace it with Hejda and perhaps Brookbank. Novotny is yet another third line center, he joins Manny Malhotra and Alexander Svitov as the other third line centers on the team. They have to hope these young kids can step up and get them to the playoffs, or at least get them within 19 points of a berth; neither of the aforementioned have ever been accomplished.

Edmonton Oilers: Draw; I can’t decipher this really, I know it’s not pretty, but that doesn’t make it a complete failure.

Lost: *RW – Joffrey Lupul (Philadelphia – trade) *D – Jason Smith (Philadelphia – trade)
RW – Petr Sykora (Pittsburgh)
LW – Brad Winchester (Dallas)
D – Jan Hejda (Columbus)
C – Toby Petersen (Dallas)
Kevin Lowe’s mind?

Gained: *D – Joni Pitkanen (Philadelphia – trade)
G – Mathieu Garon (Los Angeles)
D – Denis Grebeshkov (Yaroslavl – acquired rights from N.Y. Islanders) *LW – Geoff Sanderson (Philadelphia – trade)
D – Dick Tarnstrom (HC Lugano – last NHL team was Edmonton)

Well, the Oilers certainly brought in some new faces, as promised. They added an offense-only defenseman in Tarnstrom. They added a likely-to-be-offense-only defenseman in Pitkanen. They added an all-around defenseman in Grebeshkov. They lost a leader and a defensive-minded guy in Jason Smith. They lost scoring wingers Lupul and Sykora. They did add a potential number one in Mathieu Garon, but he’s never been able to put it altogether in Montreal or Los Angeles. The offer sheet to Thomas Vanek has made Darcy Regier a sworn enemy of Kevin Lowe, if Edmonton is smart they won’t try that again. And needless to say, Michael Nylander’s wife is not getting a Christmas card this year. So much turnover, it’s hard to say if this team is any better than last year though.

Chicago Blackhawks: Draw; too many “what if’s” involved in this center exchange to make a definitive call.

Lost:
C – Michal Handzus (Los Angeles)
C – Jeff Hamilton (Carolina)
C – Craig MacDonald (Tampa Bay)

Gained:
C – Robert Lang (Detroit)
C – Yanic Perreault (Toronto)

Lang is lazy but talented, Perreault isn’t talented but also isn’t lazy. Handzus was a gamble anyway, he was asking $4 million after playing just eight games last year. Jeff Hamilton is kind of like Brett McLean, developing a scoring touch, but doesn’t necessarily fit on a team. Perreault adds the ability to win faceoffs, something the Blackhawks struggled with last season. The Blackhawks have a wealth of young talent, if even a few of them pan out to become impact players they could be in good shape.

Los Angeles Kings: Win; these pieces combined with some of the best young talent in the league could make for an exciting season in Hollywood, if LaBarbera pans out it, the Kings will play deep into the spring.

Lost:
G – Mathieu Garon (Edmonton)
RW – Tom Kostopoulos (Montreal)
D – Aaron Miller (Vancouver)
RW – Tim Jackman (N.Y. Islanders)
D – Joey Mormina (Carolina)

Gained:
D – Brad Stuart (Calgary)
D – Tom Preissing (Ottawa)
C – Michal Handzus (Chicago)
LW – Ladislav Nagy (Dallas)
LW – Kyle Calder (Detroit)

Adding Brad Stuart and Tom Preissing adds a couple of real solid all-around defensemen. Handzus, Nagy and Calder add scoring depth that wasn’t there last year. Losing Miller isn’t a big deal at his age. Garon couldn’t get the job done, so LaBarbera will get the chance until Bernier is ready to go. Kostopoulos is a fan favorite and a hard-worker, but the Kings can replace him. At best, LaBarbera steps up and they compete for a playoff spot; at worst, they are an exciting team that likes to exchange offensive chances and has no goaltending to speak of.

Phoenix Coyotes: Draw; hopefully for them every draft choice in the past five years makes the NHL.

Lost:
RW – Owen Nolan (Calgary)
D – Matthew Spiller (N.Y. Islanders)

Gained:
C – Mike York (Philadelphia)

Owen Nolan is aging, Mike York is underachieving but slightly cheaper, fun choices indeed. Matthew Spiller was geared more towards the old NHL and probably wasn’t going to crack an NHL lineup any time soon. Um, they want to start their youth movement over…they’re sick of Ed Jovanovski and Nick Boynton already…Wayne Gretzky’s tip of the day: “defense and goaltending are overrated.”

The Western Conference went 4-5-6 by my count, here’s to my own indecision.