As we did last season, we will be looking at the notable additions and subtractions from each Western Conference team after the entry draft and free agency. Hopefully, this will give us some indications of the direction some of the teams are heading.

Anaheim Ducks

Addition:

Brogan Rafferty – D – Not exactly a top-of-the-lineup addition to the roster, but the 26-year-old Rafferty might get a longer audition with Anaheim than he was granted in Vancouver. He is a year removed from a 45-point in 57-game season in the AHL in 2019-20 after spending all but one NHL game on the taxi squad last year.

Subtractions:

Haydn Fleury – D – The team lost Fleury in the expansion draft to Seattle. The 25-year-old defender only played 12 games with Anaheim after being brought over last season in a trade involving Jani Hakanpaa.

Danton Heinen – F – Heinen was left unqualified as an RFA making him unrestricted. He was signed to a one-year deal with Pittsburgh for $1.1 million. He was not the 35-45 point player that he was in Boston before he came to Anaheim.

Ryan Miller – G – retired

The club brought back Ryan Getzlaf for one more season at least for $3 million but has remained relatively quiet in terms of player movement. The team is hoping to improve with their younger players and is sticking to their re-build guns. The only additions will more than likely be from within.

Arizona Coyotes

Additions:

Dmitrij Jaskin – F – The team is hoping that Jaskin can provide some much-needed offense and at $3.2 million he should be given every opportunity to succeed. 69 goals in 117 games over the past two KHL seasons and not his 27 goals in 303 NHL games is driving the salary and the hope.

Ryan Dzingel – F – Dzingel has two 20-goal seasons in his six NHL years but only eight in both of the past two. He is signed for one season at $1.1 million.

Jay Beagle – F – If healthy he might provide some good penalty killing. Beagle was part of the salary dump return for Ekman-Larsson.

Loui Eriksson – F – After only seven games with Vancouver last season, it will be interesting to see how many games Eriksson plays this year with Arizona. If he scores 10 goals, it will be a comeback story.

Shayne Gostisbehere – D – In his first four NHL seasons, Gostisbehere never had less than 37 points. In his last two seasons, he has played 83 games and has 14 goals and 32 points. There is some upside for him in Arizona and the price tag for Arizona was cheap (nothing).

Anton Stralman – D – another salary dump addition to the roster, Stralman might provide steady defensive play for 17-19 minutes per game. At 35-years old he might be on his last NHL contract that expires this season.

Conor Timmins – D – He was part of the return on the trade with Darcy Kuemper and was finally able to secure a regular role in the NHL last year with Colorado. Timmins should see an expanded role with Arizona over what he had with the Avalanche and could see 16-20 minutes per night.

Carter Hutton – G – He is now 35-years old and coming off of two sub-par seasons, so

It is still uncertain what role he will have next season in Arizona.

Josef Korenar – G – He was acquired from San Jose along with a 2nd round draft pick for Adin Hill. He is only 23-years old with 10 NHL games under his belt. It is tough to say whether he, Hutton, Ivan Prosvetov or another goalie still to be brought in will be in net next year.

Andrew Ladd – F – brought in for his salary only for two second-round picks from the NY Islanders.

Antoine Roussel – F – Another salary brought in with the Ekman-Larsson trade. Roussel can play on the 3rd or 4th line and provide some energy on some nights.

Vladislav Provolnev – D – The 26-year old has been brought over from the KHL on a one-year two-way deal. He did score 10 goals and 20 points in 48 games last year with Severstal Cherepovets. He is likely to begin the year in the AHL.

Subtractions:

Darcy Kuemper – G – dealt to Colorado for Timmins and a 1st round pick in 2022 (Colorado)

Antti Raanta – G – played 12 games last season and battled injuries. Signed by Carolina for two years at $2 million AAV.

Adin Hill – G – dealt to San Jose for Korenar and a 2nd round pick in 2022. Only 25 years old and appearing to improve each season over the past three years, losing Hill didn't make as much sense as Kuemper and Raanta.

Conor Garland – F – dealt with Ekman-Larsson to Vancouver and promptly signed as an RFA to a five-year deal at $4.95 million AAV. The Coyotes will miss his offense.

Oliver Ekman-Larsson – D – unhappy in Arizona after 11 seasons, the Coyotes captain was traded to Vancouver with Garland for a 1st round pick in 2021 (Dylan Guenther), a 2nd round pick in 2022, a 7th round pick in 2023 and Beagle, Eriksson and Roussel. The team traded about $75 million in future salary and took in $12 million that will expire after this season.

Alex Goligoski – D – signed with Minnesota to a one-year $5 million contract at the age of 36. His 23 minutes of ice time will need to be replaced.

Derick Brassard – F – Brassard is still unsigned after being brought into Arizona last year on a one-year deal for $1 million.

Michael Bunting – F – After overachieving a little with 10 goals and 13 points in 21 games, Bunting was rewarded with his first one-way deal with Toronto for two years at $0.95 million AAV.

Tyler Pitlick – F – signed in Calgary for one year at $1.75 million. Pitlick was a 4th liner.

Jordan Oesterle – D – signed with Detroit for two years at $1.35 million AAV. Oesterle was a bottom-pairing defender that averaged just over 17 minutes per night.

Niklas Hjalmarsson -D- retired

Jason Demers – D – Demers is still unsigned as an unrestricted free agent and could still return to the Coyotes.

This article could focus entirely on the changes in Arizona this off-season. The team has moved their team captain, their leading scorer, all of their goaltenders and a lot of salaries (the most important part). The team has brought in question marks at the goalie position, an unknown factor with Jaskin and potential resurgents in Gostisbehere and Dzingel. Thankfully the team still has their 1st round picks for 2022 and 2023 because they are going to need those lottery picks. Perhaps they can move some of the veteran salaries at the trade deadline for even more picks.

Calgary Flames

Additions:

Blake Coleman – F – He did not come cheap as an unrestricted free agent signing with the Flames for six years at $4.9 million AAV. Having said that, he should be a significant upgrade for the Flames at forward by providing a little offense, solid defense and adding a physical component.

Tyler Pitlick – F – He was acquired from Seattle for a 4th round draft pick in 2022. He should be another addition that provides hits, can penalty kill and could add 10-12 goals and 20-25 points.

Nikita Zadorov – D – Zadorov was traded from Chicago for a 3rd round draft pick in 2022 and is still a restricted free agent. His value will depend on the contract he ends up signing for in Calgary as he is limited to a bottom-pairing role, with limited offensive output, but his size at 6'6" and 235 lbs is coveted by the Flames. If healthy and a regular he should be amongst the top ten in hits this season.

Daniel Vladar – G – The 23-year old was brought into Calgary from Boston for a 3rd round pick in 2022. He has had success at the AHL level but has struggled a little in his five NHL games with Boston. He will have to battle Tyler Parsons and/or Adam Werner for the backup role this year.

Trevor Lewis – F – Lewis is 34-years old and has 729 NHL games under his belt. He will add experience and depth to the 4th line. At $800k for one year, he should provide good value.

Subtractions:

Mark Giordano – D – He was left exposed in the expansion draft and Seattle pounced on the 37-year old former captain of the Flames. This will hurt this season, but maybe he comes back to Calgary as a free agent at 38-years old?

Derek Ryan – F – He was signed by Edmonton for two years at $1.25 million AAV. The departure of Ryan to be replaced by Byron Froese or Glenn Gawdin might be an area where the Flames went backwards a little.

Josh Leivo – F – He signed with Carolina for one year at $750k. If the rumors of Leivo not being completely recovered from his knee injury is true to explain his lack of production last year, then why wouldn't Calgary have brought him back for one more season. The truth is that Coleman and Pitlick are upgrades on Leivo and if Leivo isn't in the top six he will struggle to be an NHL player, healthy or not.

Joakim Nordstrom – F – remains unsigned as an unrestricted free agent.

Nikita Nesterov – D – remains unsigned as an unrestricted free agent.

On paper, it looks like the Flames improved significantly with Coleman and Pitlick but not so much losing Giordano and adding Zadorov. The backup position at goalie is a big question mark and the 4th line center role could be a revolving door as well.

Chicago Blackhawks

Additions:

Seth Jones – D – Columbus sent Jones to Chicago with Nolan Allan and a 6th round pick in 2022 for Adam Boqvist, Cole Sillinger, Aleksi Heimosalmi and a conditional 1st round pick in either 2022 or 2023. They promptly extended Jones's contract for eight years at $9.5 million AAV. He has his detractors, but this is an upgrade in the next few seasons and catapults the Blackhawks into playoff contention.

Marc-Andre Fleury – G – Fleury was traded for the first time in his career from Vegas for Mikael Hakkarainen and it seemed initially that he might just retire. He thought about it and accepted the deal for the one year remaining on his contract. Fleury is now 36-years old but should upgrade the goaltending in Chicago.

Tyler Johnson – F – Tampa Bay paid Chicago to take Johnson along with a 2nd round pick in 2023 so that they could acquire the LTIR benefit for Brent Seabrook. Johnson has three years remaining at $5 million AAV. His production has been diminishing on a stacked Lightning roster so the hope in Chicago rests with Johnson finding chemistry with one of Kane or Toews and getting back to a 20-goal level.

Henrik Borgstrom – F – The signing rights were traded from Florida in the Brett Connolly/Lukas Wallmark trade in April 2021. The Blackhawks signed the former 23rd overall pick from 2016 to a two-year $1 million AAV deal. Borgstrom spent all of last year in the Finnish Liiga with HIFK and had 11 goals and 21 points in 30 games. Over three NHL seasons before that, he had nine goals and 19 points in 58 games.

Jake McCabe – D – He was signed as an unrestricted free agent to a four-year deal at $4 million AAV. A very expensive price tag for a player that only played 13 games last season and only averaged just under 19 minutes per game on a weak Buffalo team. Chicago might be trying to fit a 5th or 6th defender into a top-four role. An overpay in my opinion but probably an even replacement for Keith.

Jujhar Khaira – F – Khaira signed for two years at $975k AAV. He will need to battle for a regular roster spot on the Blackhawks but should provide hits and chip in with the odd goal. Puck possession has not been his strong suit for the past two or three years.

Caleb Jones – D – Along with a 3rd round pick in 2022, Jones was the return from Edmonton for Duncan Keith and Tim Soderlund. He will need to battle in Chicago, much like he did in Edmonton for ice time. He will be a 6th or 7th defender.

Subtractions:

Pius Suter – F – he signed with Detroit for two years at $3.25 million AAV. The salary was a little rich for Chicago for the 25-year-old who had a decent rookie season of 14 goals and 27 points in 55 games playing in the top-six. Unless Suter finds another gear in Detroit, I'd have to say that Chicago has upgraded a little with Johnson over him.

Adam Boqvist – D – Still only 20-years old, Boqvist has now played 76 career games spread out over two seasons with six goals and 29 points while averaging 16:35 of ice time. The Blackhawks must have had their doubts that he could elevate his game to where it needed to be in the next one to three years or they believe that Seth Jones is one of the top five defensemen in the NHL. The bottom line is that they are better next season with Jones.

Duncan Keith – D – A lot of people were puzzled that Chicago could get back anything for Keith and his salary let alone Caleb Jones and a 3rd round pick. He is 38-years old and even though he still eats up tons of ice time at over 23 minutes per game, maybe he shouldn't.

David Kampf – F – He signed in Toronto as an unrestricted free agent for two years at $1.5 million AAV. The Maple Leafs put a lot of value in Kampf for his penalty killing and faceoffs, because it can't be for his offense. With the return of Jonathan Toews, he was expendable.

Vinnie Hinostroza – F – He only played 17 games with Chicago last season but did well with four goals and 12 points. He signed for one year with Buffalo at $1.05 million. The Blackhawks are expecting back Alex Nylander this year so he was expendable.

Nikita Zadorov – D – Zadorov was traded as an unsigned restricted free agent to Calgary for a 3rd round pick in 2022. He was earning $3.2 million last year and would have needed to be qualified by Chicago so they spent his money on Jake McCabe and are hoping it is an upgrade.

Chicago has gone out and perhaps improved the most this off-season with the additions of Seth Jones, Tyler Johnson and Marc-Andre Fleury while also getting back Jonathan Toews and Alex Nylander who both missed all of last season.

Colorado Avalanche

Additions:

Darren Helm – F – When Detroit extended Darren Helm for five years at $3.85 million after the 2015-16 season, he was one of the better defensive forwards in the game. Six years later he is 34-years old and has signed a one-year deal with Colorado for $1 million. He isn't the player he was but he can still kill penalties and the Avalanche are hoping he can provide some veteran leadership during another playoff run.

Mikhail Maltsev – F – Maltsev was dealt from New Jersey with a 2nd round pick (Sean Behrens) for Ryan Graves. Maltsev is still on a two-way deal so doesn't have to clear waivers to be sent down.

Ryan Murray – D – Murray was signed as an unrestricted free agent for one year at $2 million. The former 2nd overall pick in 2012 has struggled to stay healthy and has not played more than 60 games in a year since 2015-16. He might not be Ryan Graves, but at the price of his contract, it will be worth it if he is close.

Darcy Kuemper – G – Colorado moved on from Grubauer and traded for Kuemper giving up Conor Timmins, a 1st round pick in 2022 and a conditional 3rd round pick in 2024. After two excellent seasons in 2018-19 and 2019-20, Kuemper was just below average last year. Colorado will need him to be back to his form of two seasons ago.

Kurtis MacDermid – D – The Avalanche traded a 4th round pick in 2023 to Seattle for MacDermid. He is a big, physical 7th defender that averaged just over 13 minutes of ice time per game with the Kings last year. He was brought in to fill a role they feel they were lacking in the playoffs.

Subtractions:

Joonas Donskoi – F – Donskoi was left exposed in the expansion draft and was selected by Seattle. Colorado will need to make up for his 17 goals in 51 games last season and that might give Maltsev or Compher an opportunity.

Brandon Saad – F – He was signed as an unrestricted free agent by St. Louis for five years at $4.5 million AAV. Colorado was never going to pay that but they will miss his 20 goal output.

Ryan Graves – D – Graves was traded to New Jersey for Maltsev and a 2nd round pick in 2021. Colorado would have probably lost Graves to Seattle in the expansion draft so at least the team got a fairly good return. His departure will need Erik Johnson, Bowen Byram and Ryan Murray to step up.

Pierre-Edouard Bellemare – F – signed as an unrestricted free agent by Tampa Bay for two years at $1 million AAV. At 36-years of age, Bellemare’s face-off prowess (60.7 percent last year) will be missed and they will hope that Helm can fill some of the voids as a defensive shut down forward.

Conor Timmins – D – The Avalanche had to pay steeply to get Kuemper and the 22-year Timmins was part of that price. After dealing with concussion issues for all of 2018-19 and parts of 2019-20 it was great to see Timmins able to play 31 games in the regular season and 10 in the playoffs.

Philipp Grubauer – G – Grubauer was signed as an unrestricted free agent by Seattle for six years at $5.9 million AAV. The Avalanche hopes that the combination of Kuemper, Pavel Francouz and Jonas Johansson will fill the void of losing Grubauer.

Colorado was handcuffed by salary cap constraints and the expansion draft, so it was inevitable that the roster wouldn't be as strong this year as last. They have replaced two 20-goal scorers with question marks and a solid top-four defenseman in Graves with a bit of a reclamation project in Ryan Murray. The roster is still so deep that the team will still be a Stanley Cup contender this year and should see a progression from some of their younger players as well.

We will divide this article into three parts, so next week we will look at Dallas, Edmonton, Los Angeles, Minnesota and Nashville.

Thank you very much for reading and if you have any comments or suggestions please message me or follow me on Twitter @gampbler15.