The NHL currently boasts at least eight teams with strong aspirations to win the Stanley Cup in 2024.
Since no team can acquire all of the available luck in any one season, inspired offseason moves are vital.
General managers must work in a dangerous market. One misfire can send a contender into the abyss. On the other hand, a wise signing or trade could provide the margin of victory next spring. As for teams who aren’t in a position to push for the Cup, making shrewd acquisitions is still important to securing a better future.
Here are the five best moves so far in the 2023 offseason.
In truth, the Devils have enjoyed such a prosperous summer it feels wrong to highlight just one move. Re-signing Timo Meier and Jesper Bratt are impact additions and should be considered a major part of the team’s summer positioning.
The key to the Devils’ roster strength comes in how the team was built: an absolute refusal to improve the goaltending situation (No. 25 in the NHL or worse in four of the last five seasons); that led to high draft picks in each draft 2017-2020; followed by signing the young talents who were trending toward elite (Nico Hischier, Jack Hughes) to long contracts that will bring extreme value for years to come.
The organization is in a position to add the final pieces of the Stanley Cup puzzle, with Toffoli as one of the finishing touches.
He is a quality scorer who can play a feature role on the top line or punish lesser opposition if deployed on a second or third line. If he plays on the top line with Hughes and Bratt, 40-plus goals is possible for the veteran.
New Jersey is only a top-flight goaltender away from being truly terrifying, and may have one already in unproven 23-year-old Akira Schmid.
Chicago’s luck ran hot at the 2023 draft lottery, the Blackhawks securing the right to select franchise player Connor Bedard and ignite the rebuild.
Bedard has generational talent and is the kind of offensive dynamo that can change the direction of an organization in a heartbeat.
Having burned the quality of personnel to the ground last summer, it was vital for the team to populate the roster with legit talent.
The trade with Boston was exceptional.
Hall is the marquee player for Chicago. Now 31, and an injury risk, he remains a quality possession winger.
For his career at five-on-five, his on-ice goal share is 52 percent (561-509). That includes some remarkably poor teams early in his career.
If healthy, the ‘Hawks couldn’t have hand-picked a better offensive-minded winger for Bedard. The combination should be formidable.
Chicago signed Foligno in front of free agency, and the veteran projects as a bottom-six contributor on a team that will have plenty of youth in need of support.
Gabriel Vilardi was traded to Winnipeg in the package for Pierre-Luc Dubois. (Sergei Belski / USA Today)
The Winnipeg Jets build the old-fashioned way, by drafting and developing talent. Mark Scheifele, Connor Hellebuyck, Josh Morrissey, Adam Lowry, Nikolaj Ehlers and Kyle Connor have all been around for years and make up the heart of the team.
So in 2021, when the club dealt Patrik Laine, a foundation piece, for Pierre-Luc Dubois, it was a rare thing for Jets fans. A long-term relationship was expected.
Things change, and Jets management had to make a move to protect the asset.
In acquiring two wingers (Gabriel Vilardi, Alex Iafallo) who can play as high as the second line, Winnipeg added quality and depth to the roster. Young centre Rasmus Kupari is a righty, wins faceoffs and has utility. He’s exactly the kind of player the Jets target, nurture and rely on for years.
Puck IQ has Vilardi’s possession numbers showing well against all opponents, including elite competition. He posted 2.27 points per 60 at five-on-five for the Kings last season, while scoring 23 goals. He is an instant plug-and-play on one of the Jets’ top lines.
The Jets may have traded a famous player (Dubois) for a better one in Vilardi, but that will be decided in the years to come. He is already a substantial talent (he turns 24 in two weeks) but must deliver consistently.
Winnipeg signed him to a value deal about one month after the trade. The Jets were paid in full, and perhaps even overpaid if Vilardi’s current trajectory is true.
It’s easy to overlook the Arizona Coyotes organization, as it’s as close to a modern version of the California Golden Seals as you’re likely to find. Headlines careen from the team leaving town to a vote on yet another new arena as often as the wind changes direction.
That shouldn’t obscure good hockey decisions, and the signing of Matias Maccelli to a three-year deal with a cap hit of $3.425 million is one of the very best this summer.
He has just one full season in the NHL and shoots the puck on net less than one time per game. However, he played against all calibre of competition as a freshman and did a credible job outscoring.
He scored 2.21 points per 60 at five-on-five, including a 0.96 first-assist per 60 total with the Coyotes in 2022-23. He’s not famous, but he will be soon.
There isn’t much on his NHL resume, but this is exactly the kind of contract every team should be signing with a player who spikes early.
Arizona fans, convinced they can’t have nice things, may be worried over this player being dealt to a smart club like the Tampa Bay Lightning at the deadline.
The concern is fair. Maccelli would be an ideal target for a club looking for an above average young player on a value contract.
It could happen, but credit to Coyotes management for an exceptional signing.
As much as fans get excited about unrestricted free agency, the early days of the process often result in contracts the team and fans regret for years to come.
The organization felt a need to replace Kailer Yamamoto in the top-six forward alignment with a two-way winger with offensive ability. Connor Brown is such a player. It doesn’t hurt that Connor McDavid stated recently he believes Brown is a perfect fit for the Oilers.
The one-year, $775,000 deal Edmonton signed with Brown will impact this and (likely) next season, as it comes with easily attainable bonuses that will result in the contract value being $4 million. Oilers GM Ken Holland didn’t have $4 million in cap room, so he used a wrinkle in the CBA to sign Brown to a bonus-laden deal made possible by Brown’s injury-riddled 2022-23 campaign.
Brown has some things to recommend him. Puck IQ tells us he spent 36 percent of his time playing against elites with the Ottawa Senators in 2021-22; the last time he played most of the schedule. That’s No. 1 line deployment. His results were poor (42.6 percent) but above average relative to his fellow Senators. Brown was on outscoring lines against mid- and low-level competitions.
Offensively, Brown has scored 1.86 points per 60 at five-on-five on average in his three most recent healthy seasons.
If he plays wing with McDavid or Leon Draisaitl (or both), Brown is likely to blow both his recent scoring and outscoring totals out of the water.
This signing makes the list due to the optimization of a narrow road of opportunity for the Oilers. It’s also risky because of the severe cap implications attached to next season.
(Photo of Tyler Toffoli and Nico Hischier: Rich Graessle / NHLI via Getty Images)
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