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          The five NHL teams that had sneaky good offseasons

          Derek Cain/Icon Sportswire
          • Greg WyshynskiNov 12, 2020, 07:00 AM ET
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              Greg Wyshynski is ESPN's senior NHL writer.
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          It's hard not being the Colorado Avalanche these days.

          They're a Stanley Cup favorite, with only six of the 20 players under contract over the age of 30. They have Nathan MacKinnon, considered by many to be the best all-around hockey player in the world. They have defenseman Cale Makar, the 22-year-old point machine who just captured the Calder Trophy. They're deeper than the Marianas Trench, thanks to a perfect storm of contracts below market value and deals signed by players in their youth that have allowed the Avalanche to assemble a preposterous collection of talent under a flat salary cap while other teams are selling off assets.

          And this offseason, they've ... gotten even better. Under general manager Joe Sakic -- with a primary assist from assistant GM Chris MacFarland and analytics sages such as Arik Parnass -- the Avalanche earned an A grade on our offseason report card. They added Brandon Saad, with Chicago picking up part of the salary, and subtracted Nikita Zadorov. They added Devon Toews to replace Zadorov, because the Islanders were capped out. He's quite good.

          What are we going to pick apart here? Not improving on the fourth-best goaltending in the league (.913 save percentage)? Not spending Pegula money on a year of Taylor Hall?

          In asking a few confidants around the NHL about the team that had the best offseason, a handful of the responses started with "besides the Avs?"

          So rather than state the obvious, we decided to heap praise on some teams that had -- in our estimation -- sneaky good offseasons. Some were straight-up great. Some saw their good work overshadowed by controversial, attention-diverting decisions. But in the long run, their offseasons were better than you might have expected.

          Here are five teams that had sneaky good offseasons (so far):

          Boston Bruins

          Let's start by acknowledging that either Torey Krug or Oliver Ekman-Larsson would have improved the current Bruins defense corps significantly in the short term. But Boston's sneaky good offseason was less concerned with its putting game than it was its long game.

          Krug eventually got seven years and $6.5 million in average annual value, with a no-trade clause, from the St. Louis Blues, who essentially chose to bring in a younger player (29) rather than recommit to Alex Pietrangelo (31 in January). Meanwhile, the Bruins were reportedly one of the two teams for which Ekman-Larsson agreed to waive his no-move clause, but that trade never materialized. He has an $8.25 million cap hit and seven years left on his deal.

          Neither of these contracts is going to age well, and neither of them is the Bruins' concern, which is good.

          GM Don Sweeney signed defenseman Matt Grzelcyk to a four-year extension ($3,687,500 AAV) that's going to look pretty great as he starts getting the kind of power-play time that Krug averaged (3:53), and David Pastrnak ... well, continues to do what David Pastrnak does on said power play.

          Sweeney also made one of the offseason's best signings in forward Craig Smith at three years and a $3.1 million AAV, a player seemingly created in a petri dish to one day play for the Bruins.

          I realize the grade here could still be "incomplete" when it comes to this season. They have work to do. Jake DeBrusk is a restricted free agent, and the Bruins are probably going to have him sweat it out until he's willing to come back for their desired cap number. The left side of their defense is weak with or without Zdeno Chara returning for a season during which he'll celebrate his 44th birthday.

          But as "sneaky good" goes, I think the criticism over what the Bruins lost and what they didn't do overshadows the notion that Sweeney took the better long-term path. Boston remains a "win-now" team, but these are moves that'll benefit the Bruins down the line.

          Dallas Stars

          Some teams go on an unexpected run to the Stanley Cup Final and then get brain worms. The ones that devour those parts of the cerebral cortex that control efficient contracts for current players and free-agent signings.

          Thankfully, those worms did not turn for general manager Jim Nill.

          The Stars' offseason was very much in the "keeping the band together" mode, but Nill did so in thrifty fashion. Playoff hero Anton Khudobin was signed for three years at a $3.333 million AAV -- the 32nd-highest cap hit for a goalie on the books for next season! -- without having to give out a no-move clause. Considering Ben Bishop is out five months after surgery, it was an essential move and an expert one.

          He managed to sign forwards Radek Faksa (five years), Roope Hintz (three years) and Denis Gurianov (two-year bridge contract) for a combined $9.133 million against the cap, or just over $3 million less than one Jamie Benn. Throw in defensemen Andrej Sekera at $1.5 million and wild card/Scrabble score Mark Pysyk at just $750,000, and that's a fiscally sound and productive offseason -- provided that rolling with the team the Stars had last season produces similar results.

          As an extension of that, signing Rick Bowness as the team's official coach was probably the only move that made sense, despite having Nill's bubby Gerard Gallant still on the open coaching market. Bowness knows the team, and his tweaks to Jim Montgomery's system deserve applause for turning the Stars into a conference champion. While I'm not sold on Bowness as a regular-season coach in 2020-21 -- he's not Craig Berube, who had proof of concept beyond his lightning-in-a-bottle run with St. Louis in 2018-19 -- that's a very strong coaching staff overall in Dallas, so returning the group is a positive.

          Detroit Red Wings

          Steve Yzerman doing incredible work as a general manager is nothing new, as anyone who watched the Tampa Bay Lightning hoist the Stanley Cup no doubt understands. But the Red Wings are so far off the radar for many hockey fans these days, it's like finding out an Oscar-winning actor is doing exemplary work on a TruTV sitcom.

          The Wings did some housecleaning, bidding adieu to veterans such as Justin Abdelkader, Trevor Daley, Jonathan Ericsson and Jimmy Howard. Yzerman added to their draft-pick treasure chest by getting a second-rounder from the Rangers for picking up the last year of Marc Staal's contract ($5.7 million). He made a slew of thrifty signings, too: center Vladislav Namestnikov ($2 million AAV, two years), defenseman Troy Stecher ($1.7 million AAV, two years) and defenseman Jon Merrill ($925,000, one year) among them. Forward Bobby Ryan, looking to continue his climb back from addiction, signed a one-year, $1 million deal because he had Ottawa buyout money so he could play for Yzerman -- or so he said.

          The only specious signing was Thomas Greiss for two years at $3.6 million against the cap, but that might already be a win considering what he replaced. And by that, we mean no one is expecting Greiss to go 2-23-2 next season.

          Remember, Steve Yzerman was Joe Sakic before there was a Joe Sakic.

          Edmonton Oilers

          One of the classic sneaky moves is to create a loud, blaring distraction while you're trying to pull off your stratagem. The Oilers unintentionally deployed such a tactic by bringing back their depleted goaltending battery of Mikko Koskinen and Mike Smith, which produced a team save percentage of .905. Koskinen was actually OK last season, with a .917 save percentage. Smith was also a member of the Oilers.

          Aside from failing to improve their goaltending in the most bountiful goaltender harvest in many seasons, the Oilers had a low-key pretty good offseason. Defenseman Tyson Barrie running what's already the best power play in the NHL for one season at $3.75 million is terrific -- especially for his salary prospects next offseason. Getting Kyle Turris at just $1.65 million AAV (for two years) because he's flush with Nashville buyout money is interesting, because the opinions on him range from "he needs a fresh start" to "he's totally washed." (Both sentiments have been expressed to me.) Dominik Kahun has upside at one year and $975,000. Tyler Ennis was one of my favorite bargain options in the NHL -- and seriously could have been a "last puzzle piece" bottom-six forward for some contender -- and the Oilers got him back for one year and $1 million. Walking away from an Andreas Athanasiou extension, through arbitration, was also smart.

          Then there's the Jesse Puljujarvi gambit. The forward is 22 years old. He'll make $1.175 million against the cap for each of the next two seasons, or slightly more than Tyson Jost, who was drafted 10th overall the year that Puljujarvi went fourth.

          It's not unreasonable to think that Puljujarvi's previous NHL stint was undercut by horrific player-development decisions and damaged relationships with the previous managerial regime. Well, there's a new sheriff in town, name of Ken Holland. He doesn't spend a lot of treasure but, doggonit, the town's lookin' darn better than it did a year ago. (Tumbleweed rolls past.)

          Washington Capitals

          There were a few contenders for the final spot on this sneaky good list. The New Jersey Devils do as the Devils now do every offseason, which is shop at the NHL flea market in the hopes that someone is selling a perfectly good armoire they can't afford to keep. The Columbus Blue Jackets did some nice business, provided that Max Domi fits and Mikko Koivu thrives. But in the end, the Capitals get the nod.

          The Henrik Lundqvist signing -- at $1.5 million for one season thanks to the Rangers' buyout money -- has rightfully gotten the most attention. I had one former player, and frequent opponent of Lundqvist, recently tell me that it could be the offseason's best signing. At that term and price, and with Ilya Samsonov sharing time with him in goal, it could be a contender.

          But it's the blue line that's gotten the best marks. Justin Schultz (two years, $4 million AAV) was a little rich, but we'll side with the Capitals' analytics folks who believe that unsaddling him from the burden of Jack Johnson will get him trending in the right direction. Brenden Dillon (four years, $3.9 million AAV) is simply one of the better defensive defensemen who would have gone to market had the Capitals not signed their trade-deadline pickup. Trevor van Riemsdyk as a one-year depth signing isn't bad, either.

          But the biggest coup was their coach. Peter Laviolette is the double espresso this team needed to shake off the malaise of the past two seasons. He's going to demand, and receive, the efforts from this veteran team that amiable predecessor Todd Reirden could not. A better back end and a more ferocious forward group could put the Capitals back in a championship picture from which they'd seemingly faded, "Back To The Future" style, for the past two seasons.

          Or sneak back in, as it were.

          Three things about Alex Trebek

          1. "Jeopardy!" host Alex Trebek died on Sunday. It was a passing for which many of us had prepared, after his diagnosis of pancreatic cancer, but it still was numbing news. I've eaten more dinners in front of a television set with "Jeopardy!" on it than I have sitting at a dining room table. My parents encouraged it, as I've encouraged it with my daughter. "Jeopardy!" is a celebration of knowledge, culture and globalism, one that has thrived during a time when all three are being undervalued and diminished. It's a showcase for a variety of smart people, from a variety of backgrounds. Watch two weeks of "Jeopardy!" and you're bound to see someone relevant to your life, although exponentially smarter.

          The connective tissue and beating heart of all of it was Trebek, this honorable Canadian standing at the podium, who could be mischievous and heartfelt in the same breath. There's so much winking meta-performance in today's pop culture that watching someone who truly loved his medium and his institution and who treated his job with such reverence was absolutely cherished. I'll miss him, greatly.

          2. Trebek was a hockey fan, which always tickled me, because hockey questions on "Jeopardy!" have a sad, sad history. There's a specific kind of pain when you're watching it and see a hockey answer like "in 2000, an expansion team known as the Minnesota Wild joined this professional sports league" go completely unanswered. For a puckhead, this is cringe television that puts "Nathan For You" to shame.

          But the greatest hockey dud of all time was, without question, this blown layup:

          Besides Trebek's aghast "oh no" in response, besides choosing an NBA player instead of an NHL player, it's that he chose a basketball player who wouldn't have less than 800 ASSISTS IN A SEASON for the majority of his career. Although, in fairness, that is more than 100.

          Postscript: The "Jeopardy!" contestant here would later say in a Reddit ask me anything: "I totally missed the NHL part and focused on the assists. Just a terribly embarrassing answer all around."

          3. Ken Campbell of The Hockey News had a fun story about how Trebek nearly ended up hosting "Hockey Night In Canada." Executive producer Ralph Mellanby watched all the audition tapes back in 1971 and loved the one from Trebek, who at that point was best known for a high school game show called "Reach for the Top." His boss Ted Hough, the former president of the Canadian Sports Network, overruled the choice of Trebek for one specific reason: "We're not hiring him. We don't hire guys with mustaches!"

          Mellanby couldn't recall why the network didn't ask him to shave it off. Oh well. To put in "Jeopardy!" terms: "What was Canada's greatest surplus export?"

          Winners and losers of the week

          Winner: Playing in your own building

          Other pro sports are playing in front of fans. The NBA has plotted several ways in which it will have fans at games in its upcoming season, playing in many arenas its teams share with NHL squads. Even as COVID-19 numbers spike in North America (again), the notion has always been that fans are going to be inside NHL arenas by the Stanley Cup playoffs at the latest. But commissioner Gary Bettman, for perhaps the first time, noted on Tuesday that there's a possibility the NHL returns to the ice in January with some teams playing in their home markets. "We are exploring the possibility of playing in our own buildings without fans [or] fans where you can, which is going to be an arena-by-arena issue," he said during a panel discussion. That's a tacit acknowledgement of what we're hearing behind the scenes about some NHL teams: "If the NFL and the NBA can have fans, then why do we have to shove off to a hub?"

          Loser: Casual fans

          According to Bettman, there were a few factors at play in the NHL's low Stanley Cup playoff ratings during the restart. Some of it was a lack of energy during games that would have otherwise been generated by fans. But he said it was the casual hockey fan who drained the ratings. "We did a bunch of research into why it is TV ratings were soft. It shouldn't be a surprise: Our avid fans acted like avid fans. They were going to watch us wherever we were. It was the casual fans -- and we all have lots of casual fans who, in the case of the winter sports, [said,] 'It's the summer, it's baseball, I'm outside' -- and so that's where a lot of the falloff came," he said. "While we're in the middle of working on our return to play as well, which I hope to be able to put to bed soon, our goal is to get back to a normal schedule, starting in the fall and being done before July on a more normal basis. That is the goal."

          Winner: Alabama-Huntsville

          The nation's quirkiest Division I men's college hockey program has gone from being eliminated to saved by supporters and donors to being in talks with the university about "alignment with a major conference and future plans to build a multipurpose facility on the UAH campus that will be the home of the Chargers hockey program." Kudos to Sean Henry, CEO of the Nashville Predators, and Minnesota Wild goalie Cam Talbot for their effort in making this happen.

          Loser: Geography

          NCAA hockey is starting up again this month amid the COVID-19 pandemic, and teams are getting geographically nimble. Arizona State is now in the Big Ten! The Sun Devils will play all of their games on the road, and against Big Ten foes four times each. Wait ... so maybe the loser here is actually the Big Ten, which gets Arizona State but not a trip to the state of Arizona in the dead of winter?

          Winner: Adidas Hockey

          From the Department of People Who Deserve a Raise: Whoever designed this quick-cut teaser video for the NHL's new "reverse retro" jerseys, as fans scrambled to pause and screengrab their team to begin deciphering what's been done without even seeing the logo on the front. Marketing genius.

          Loser: Expectations

          The Anaheim Ducks have to know that if there isn't a Wild Wing on the front of these things, then they've basically just made San Jose Sharks jerseys, right?

          Winner: Greg Mauldin

          The former NHLer made history recently when he was hired as an assistant coach by the USA Hockey national team development program under-18 team, becoming the first Black coach in the program's 24-year history.

          Loser: Don Cherry

          The Canadian hockey broadcaster was fired a year ago for his "you people" criticism of immigrants on wearing poppies to honor veterans, the latest in a career of controversial comments. In his wake, Rogers Sportsnet has hired and promoted a diverse group of progressive voices, spanning from Anthony Stewart to Brian Burke, who was seen as a replacement for Cherry's cantankerous act. As Ahmar Khan of the Toronto Star wrote: "Ironically, one year after his firing, it is Cherry's voice that is inconsequential within hockey, and the people who've been tapped to fill his shoes are making the game a more accepting place and helping hockey become more enjoyable for once-disenfranchised fans like myself."

          Cherry still has his own podcast and his allies in the Canadian media. For the mainstream, he's a distant memory, a barking dog in a loud jacket surrounded by stacks of VHS fighting tapes.

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