NHL Preview: Judging Offseason Moves

FanHouse begins its four-part preview of the upcoming NHL season. Check back every Thursday from now until opening night for the rest.

The calendar has flipped past Labor Day in the States, and that means the start of the NHL's regular season is fast approaching. We're going to take one last look back at the summer and discuss the best and worst moves -- in some cases, non-moves -- of the offseason. Who took a step in the right direction and who took a step back?

Tom Mantzouranis: It will shock Bruce or anyone who heard my angry rants earlier this summer to see me level this compliment, but the best move made in the league this year was behind the bench. Brent Sutter is going to push Calgary over the top. Having watched the work he did in New Jersey for the last two years, turning a slightly-better-than-mediocre roster into a defensively responsible and offensively explosive (last year) team, I can't help but wonder what heights he can accomplish with the talent he's got on the Flames. The biggest change he made in New Jersey was getting the defensemen more active at the other end, and he's got a pretty good blueline to work with now. They're going to be a very tough team to deal with.

But I can't say the same for the Flyers' deal for Chris Pronger. Forget entirely about the contract drama, I think Pronger is simply a player on the decline and the Flyers aren't close enough to winning a championship to justify the cost they paid. If they were, it'd be one thing, but your best return on investment is going to come this year and I don't think it's going to be enough to get the Flyers over the top. Let me put it this way -- the Flyers have, essentially, put it on the table that they either win a championship in the next two years or get nothing but cap hell and a depleted farm system, which has immediate talent but little in the long-term pipeline. That's not a position I'd want myself in, though maybe I'm just cautious.

Kevin Schultz: I'm going to second Tom's thoughts on Pronger and the Flyers. They spent all of last year trying to monkey around Daniel Briere's contract and didn't learn a thing. Sure, Pronger is going to make all of $525,000 in 2015 and 2016, but for now that contract is choking a team that's got a few similar deals on its roster. Can we rename this team Rangers Southeast? A close second for Worst Move of the Offseason in my book was Patrick Kane allegedly punching a cabbie, but that's not so much a hockey move as it is boxing.

As for the best move, I like the Wild adding Martin Havlat. Chicago's mistakes are Minnesota's gains. This was a good team a year ago without any help from Marian Gaborik and now they have a guy who can score and isn't likely to be a headache. They've got a lot of nice young players there and, at 28, Havlat is going to help lead that bunch.

Christopher Botta: Montreal's stunning over-trade for Scott Gomez was the worst move. If Gomez and his contract with five years remaining and a $33.5 million cap hit were put on waivers, not a single team would put in a claim. Well, I mean besides the Canadiens.

Bob Gainey not only took on Gomez's bad contract, he gave up assets for the privilege. He dealt Chris Higgins and Russian prospect Pavel Valentenko. Most improbably of all, he gave away Ryan McDonagh, the 12th overall pick in the 2007 draft. Maybe you think Higgins is a nothing-special third line player and not a top-6. Maybe McDonagh, entering his junior year at Wisconsin, doesn't pan out as a top NHL defenseman. No matter what, he gave up too much. There have been worse trades from a pure hockey standpoint. As a hockey and business decision, this one was jaw-dropping.

Anaheim's signing of Saku Koivu was the best move. Sure, other moves may prove to be more effective, but I just love, love, love this one. This summer the Ducks addressed a problem (carrying Chris Pronger's contract) and took care of the future (Luca Sbisa and a boatload of draft picks). When you thought they might be done for the offseason, they brought in Koivu to play one year with Teemu Selanne. All of a sudden, Anaheim was in the West picture again. That's smart management.

Bruce Ciskie: Edmonton hiring Pat Quinn was a great move. The 2008-2009 World Junior Championships were a revelation. On an international stage, and under a ton of pressure playing in the host country's national capital, Quinn led the Canadian junior team to a gold medal. Included in that were stirring comeback wins over Team USA (pool play) and Russia (semifinals). Quinn showed once and for all that he can indeed handle younger players. He'll be asked to do more of that in Edmonton, where the Oilers have underachieved mightily under Craig MacTavish since a 2006 Cup Finals run. For Edmonton to get back to the playoffs, Quinn has to change a culture of complacency. Given his track record, he's the perfect guy to get the job done.

The worst? Chicago signing Marian Hossa to 12-year deal. The Blackhawks were very close last year, losing in the Western Conference Finals. The response was to jettison the starting goaltender who helped engineer two series wins, in favor of an enigma who has never been successful in the playoffs. Letting Martin Havlat go for the chance to sign Hossa was excusable, and not having Hossa for the first quarter or so of the season isn't a death-wish. Hossa's played enough hockey in the last two seasons that he'll probably benefit from the down time. However, the Blackhawks have tied up their cap, virtually assuring that they'll have to deal a top young star in the next year or so. They're also betting their playoff chances on an unproven goalie with no proven backup. You can score as many goals as you want in the regular season, but playoff games are usually decided in your own zone. Chicago could have trouble when the snow melts.

Adam Gretz: Great move -- Washington signing Mike Knuble. I know he's a little long in the tooth, but he's still a 30-goal guy and should make an already awesome power play unit even better, and I don't think they overpaid him, either. Love that move for them.

I'm going to go a little bit off the board here and pick a Flyers move for worst. It's not the Chris Pronger trade, or his contract extension. There's no question they gave up quite a bit for him, and the contract is a huge risk, bordering on being insane, but if the Flyers win a Stanley Cup as a result of it, I don't think anybody in Philadelphia is going to care. Which kind of leads me to my worst move, which is the Flyers going into the season with a goaltending duo of Ray Emery and Brian Boucher. I can't say either move is really *bad*, but I just don't see how they can get over the hump in the postseason with that goaltending situation. The obvious Achilles heel on an otherwise bad-ass team.

Susan Slusser: San Jose doing virtually nothing was the best move. The Sharks had the best regular season in the league last year only to be upended by a rough-and-tumble Ducks team that had underperformed so much in the early season that they wound up with a No.8 seed. Anaheim was far better than a typical No. 8, and having to fight to stay alive in the final weeks kept the Ducks on a roll that nearly took out Detroit, too. Major moves were expected after San Jose's ignominious ouster, with Patrick Marleau and Jonathan Cheechoo among those considered possible to go in a shakeup. Instead, the Sharks did little beyond creating some salary cap wriggle by trading Christian Ehrhoff and Brad Lukowich. A rumored Dany Heatley acquisition never materialized, but the Sharks have more financial leeway to do something to improve themselves should the opportunity arise. Meanwhile, GM Doug Wilson has kept together a core group that thrived in a tough division and a tougher conference.

Chicago signing Hossa was the worst. A 12-year deal, he's already out of action for at least two months, and he's now best known for failing to win the Cup two years running -- with two different teams. Martin Havlat was an undervalued asset for a young team last year, now he's gone, and which of those young studs will the Blackhawks have to part with in the next few years now with the salary cap hit Hossa brings? The kids are on their way up, while Hossa is moving out of his prime and he's clearly not the magic answer for title quests.