The following is a grid of notable player movements in the offseason. Without knowing yet what the final depth charts will be, we think we can largely determine directionally whether a team will be improved (positive), is running in place (neutral), or retreating (negative) with respect to AB vis a vis offseason roster moves. Having said that, we are really looking forward to the heat we are going to receive when we opine that Anaheim, Chicago and Pittsburgh will not be nearly as good this season as the consensus is predicting and that Minnesota, Dallas and Washington could be relatively much improved. The order of the teams presented is roughly an approximation of a sample order of finish. Lastly, we have compiled the following without duly noting the impact of addition by subtraction relative to low AB scorers from last year that likely will be replaced as a result of offseason moves.

Eastern Conference – notable moves and impact (+, neutral, or -) on AB

(positive) Tampa Bay Lightning – IN – Condra, McGinn – OUT – none
(negative) New York Rangers – IN – Gibbons, Diaz, Stalberg, Etem, Stoll – OUT – Hagelin, St. Louis
(positive) Washington Capitals – IN – Oshie and Williams – OUT – Green, Fehr, Ward, Brower
(neutral) New York Islanders – None – OUT – none
(neutral) Ottawa Senators – None – OUT – none
(positive) Montreal Canadiens – IN – Semin and Kassian – OUT – Prust, Gonchar
(positive) Detroit Red Wings – IN – Richards and Green
(slightly negative) Boston Bruins – IN – Beleskey, Hayes, Irwin and Rinaldo – OUT – Hamilton, Lucic, Smith
(neutral) Florida Panthers – IN – Smith
(negative) Pittsburgh Penguins – IN – Kessel, Bonino, Erixon, Clendening and Fehr – OUT – Martin, Sutter
(positive) Columbus Blue Jackets – IN – Saad – OUT – Dano, Anisimov
(positive) Carolina Hurricanes – IN – Versteeg, Nordstrom and Wisniewski
(negative) Philadelphia Flyers – IN – Gagner
(negative) New Jersey Devils – IN – Moore and Palmieri – OUT – Clowe, Zubrus
(significantly positive) Toronto Maple Leafs – IN – Parenteau, Winnik, Spaling, Arcobello, Hunwick, Marincin, Glencross, Boyes, Matthias, Grabner – OUT – Kessel, Sill, Beck, Kozun, Smith
(positive) Buffalo Sabres – IN – O’Reilly, Legwand, Colaiacovo, Franson, Eichel

WESTERN CONFERENCE

(neutral) Minnesota Wild – IN – Dalpe
(neutral) Calgary Flames – IN – Frolik and Hamilton
(significantly negative) Chicago Blackhawks – IN – Morin, Anisimov, Tropp, Dano, Daley, Garbutt – OUT – Kane, Oduya, Richards, Carcillo
(positive) Nashville Predators – IN – Hodgson – OUT – Franson
(neutral) Los Angeles Kings – IN – Lucic – OUT – Williams, Stoll
(positive) Vancouver Canucks – IN – Prust, Bartkowski, Sutter – OUT – Bonino
(negative) Anaheim Ducks – IN – Hagelin, Horcoff, Bieksa, Stewart, Santorelli and Holzer
(negative) St. Louis Blues – IN – Brower, Brodziak, Benoit, Harrold
(positive) Dallas Stars – IN – Sharp, Oduya
(negative) Winnipeg Jets – Fraser – OUT – Frolik
(positive) San Jose Sharks – IN – Ward, Martin
(negative) Colorado Avalanche – IN – Comeau, Beauchemin, Grigorenko, Zadurov – OUT – O’Reilly, Briere
(neutral) Edmonton Oilers – IN – McDavid, Korpokoski, Sekera, Letestu and Gryba
(positive) Phoenix Coyotes – IN – Vermette, Michalek, Downie, Gordon, Richardson and possibly Duclair and Domi – OUT – Erat

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