Restricted free-agent signings are still trickling in, but the summer has slowed hockey-related transactions down quite a bit. What better time to start preparing for next year?

Here is part three of our look at additions and subtractions for the remaining teams in the West (not including Seattle):

San Jose Sharks

Addition:

Nick Bonino – C – Bonino was signed as an unrestricted free agent for two years at $2.05 million AAV. He should provide relief for Logan Couture so that the top line can see better matchups and get more starts in the OZ. Over the past three seasons, Bonino has ranged between 0.43 and 0.52 pts/game so he should provide similar numbers in San Jose along with 13-18 goals. He is also good in the face-off circle and will kill penalties. He should be a good addition to this lineup.

Andrew Cogliano – F – He was signed as an unrestricted free agent for one year at $1 million. Over the past three seasons, his production has been between 0.2 and 0.22 pts/game and he has peaked with six goals, so expect similar numbers next year. At 34-years old he is still a very responsible player, who has very good possession numbers.

Adin Hill – G – Hill was traded with a 7th round pick in 2022 for Josef Korenar and a 2nd round pick in 2022. He was promptly signed to a two-year deal at $2.175 million AAV. Due to injuries to Darcy Kuemper and Antti Raanta in Arizona, Hill was able to dress for 45 NHL games over the past three seasons and steadily improve. He is 25-years old and it is a big step to go from 19 games last year to 1A position so we will probably see him split 50/50 with James Reimer until one of the two wins out.

James Reimer – G – Reimer was signed as an unrestricted free agent for two years at $2.25 million AAV. He has been a little hit and miss over the past two seasons with Carolina but one thing he has done well is win. In his 47 games there, he had 29 wins and 11 losses with a combined GSAA of 1.67. In 11 seasons in the NHL, Reimer has never played more than 44 games.

Nick Merkley – F – San Jose traded Christian Jaros for Merkley and signed him to a one-year $750k/$400k two-way contract. Depending on the status of Evander Kane, an opportunity could open up for Merkley with the Sharks. He played a career-high 27 games last year with 10 points. The 24-year-old former 1st round pick in 2015 has had a slow road to the NHL.

Jonathan Dahlen – F – Dahlen was a 2nd round pick in 2016 for Ottawa and came over as a 20-year-old in 2018-19 where he ended up playing a fairly unsuccessful year in the AHL where in 57 games he had 14 goals and 19 assists, split between Vancouver and San Jose's farm teams. After heading back to the Allsvenskan in Sweden for the past two years where he had 61 goals and 148 points in 96 games, he is back for another crack at the NHL at the age of 24. He should get a true opportunity this time to succeed and is quite capable of having a season like Nils Hoglander did last year with Vancouver, 15-20 goals and 35-45 points.

Subtractions:

Ryan Donato – F – The Sharks elected to not qualify Donato as a restricted free agent, which made him unrestricted. He remains unsigned.

Patrick Marleau – F – He dressed for all 56 games last season and had four goals and nine points. The future Hall of Famer will no doubt retire after last year.

Marcus Sorensen – F – Sorensen struggled last season with only one goal and five points in 29 games. His defensive play was not there either and he doesn't play a physical game so he will need to dig deep to make it back to a regular role in the NHL. He remains unsigned.

Martin Jones – G – Jones was bought out by San Jose and the Sharks will see a cap hit over the next six years ranging from $1.916 to 2.916 million for a total hit of $12.25 million. He was signed for one year at $2 million by Philadelphia.

Josef Korenar – G – He was traded to Arizona along with a 2nd round pick in 2022 for Adin Hill and a 7th round pick in 2022. The 23-year old made his NHL debut last season and finished with 10 games with San Jose where he was just slightly below average with a negative 2.26 GSAA.

The Sharks should be improved in net, with Hill and Reimer replacing Jones and Korenar. Bonino and Cogliano will be a definite upgrade over Marleau and Sorensen while the potential of Dahlen should offset the expected departure of Donato.

St. Louis Blues

Additions:

Brandon Saad – F – Saad was signed as an unrestricted free agent for five years at $4.5 million AAV. He has averaged 23.78 goals per 82 games in his career and has never really been a fixture on the first unit of a powerplay in either Colorado, Chicago or Columbus. He should be good for 18-23 goals and 40-45 points for the next few seasons in St. Louis.

Pavel Buchnevich – F – The Blues dealt Sammy Blais and a 2nd round pick in 2022 to the NY Rangers for Buchnevich. St. Louis promptly signed Buchnevich to a four-year deal at $5.8 million AAV. His production has been trending up for the past three seasons and he hit his career-high of 0.89 pts/game last year with 20 goals and 48 points in 54 games. He is not a high-volume shooter with only 2.2 SOG/game over the past two seasons. He has averaged a 13.7 shooting percentage so expect his goals to peak around 20-25 per season. He was a bit of a weak link defensively on a line with Mika Zibanejad last season so he should benefit by playing with any of Ryan O'Reilly, Brayden Schenn, Vladimir Tarasenko or David Perron.

Subtractions:

Mike Hoffman – F – After one season with the Blues, Hoffman was signed as an unrestricted free agent by Montreal for three years at $4.5 million AAV. Even though he managed 17 goals and 36 points he struggled to stay on the first unit of the power play and had his lowest output since 2015-16 with seven goals and 17 power-play points. Hoffman had his worst possession numbers in his career last year and his net expected goals for at ES was minus 6.65. Saad might not provide the power-play production that Hoffman can, but he will provide a better all-around game.

Jaden Schwartz – F – Schwartz was signed as an unrestricted free agent by Seattle for five years at $5.5 million AAV. Schwartz battled some injuries last season on his way to his least productive season since his rookie year in 2012-13 when he had seven goals and 13 points in 45 games. The Kraken spent a lot of money on a 29-year-old Schwartz who played 40 games last year with eight goals and 21 points (0.53 pts/game).

Vince Dunn – D – Seattle took Dunn in the expansion draft which took very few by surprise. The fear in St. Louis is that the team gave Seattle their version of Shea Theodore. Dunn has averaged 0.38 pts/game in his 267 NHL regular-season games but has only averaged 17:23 of ice time in his four seasons. He is not Theodore, but a pretty good player on his own, who can put up 30-40 points. At 24-years of age, Dunn is still improving and might be a regret for the Blues in a year or two.

Tyler Bozak – F – Bozak remains unsigned as an unrestricted free agent. At 35-years of age, he might still have a decent year or two. He did struggle without the puck last season more than he has since his Toronto days.

Sammy Blais – F – He was dealt to the NY Rangers with a second-round pick in 2022 for Pavel Buchnevich. In his past two seasons, with the Blues, he played 76 games and had 14 goals and 14 assists with a whopping 258 hits. At 25, he is still learning the defensive side of his game, but the Blues will definitely miss his physicality.

If we look just at Saad and Buchnevich for Hoffman and Schwartz, the Blues have definitely come out ahead of the game. Factor in the loss of Dunn and Blais and I can't say that they have. The Blues’ depth will be tested this season, especially on defence.

Vancouver Canucks

Additions:

Conor Garland – F – The Canucks acquired Oliver Ekman-Larsson and Garland for the 9th overall pick in 2021 (Dylan Guenther) and Jay Beagle, Antoine Roussel and Loui Eriksson along with a 2nd round pick in 2022 and a 7th round pick in 2023. The Canucks signed Garland to a five-year contract worth $4.95 million AAV. What they got is a 25-year old Garland who is entering his fourth season while posting 0.38, 0.57 and 0.80 points per game each season so far. Garland has shown a very good ability to produce points at even strength, but if he can improve on his 10 power-play points of the past two years, he has a chance to be a point per game player this season or next.

Vasily Podkolzin – F – The 20-year old Podkolzin should be ready to play this season and is slotted in on the 3rd or 4th line. The Canuck fans should temper their expectations to 10-12 goals and 20-25 points in his rookie year but from all accounts, this player will bring some solid hustle and sound defensive play, which is always a welcome addition to any roster.

Jason Dickinson – F – He was traded from Dallas for a 3rd round pick in 2021. The hopes of Dickinson becoming an offensive contributor over the 0.35 pts/game are more than likely just hopes now. Even with a new team, he just doesn't shoot the puck enough (1.3/game) to warrant any prediction over 15 goals or 30 points and likely 9-12 goals and 20-25 points. His contribution will be more along the lines of a shutdown center, who carries the play when matched up rather than chasing the puck.

Oliver Ekman-Larsson – D – What more can be said about Ekman-Larsson and the trade that brought him and Garland to Vancouver along with the six years remaining of $7.26 million AAV? At 30-years of age, he is clearly not the player he was from four or five years ago. If Ekman-Larsson can provide 10-15 goals and 40-45 points and play anything close to average defence, the club and fans will be ecstatic. Unfortunately, the reality is probably closer to 7-10 goals and 30-35 points and below-average defense for the next few seasons.

Tucker Poolman – D – Poolman was signed as an unrestricted free agent for four years at $2.5 million AAV. This was a signing that I didn't really understand. Poolman is 28-years old and has played 120 NHL regular-season games with five goals and 19 points, along with 147 hits and 126 blocked shots while averaging 16:45 of ice time. Where is the ceiling for Poolman? Unless I'm missing something he is an average defender with very limited offense, who kills penalties on occasion. The Canucks must have really liked his eight playoff games last year where averaged 21:07 of ice and had 28 hits, 15 blocks and was killing penalties 49.5 percent of the time.

Jaroslav Halak – G – The Canucks signed Halak as an unrestricted free agent for one season at $1.5 million (with a bonus of $1.25 million if he plays 10 games and $250k more if his save percentage is 90.5 or better). After two excellent years in 2018-19 and 2019-20 behind Tukka Rask, Halak battled injuries and was just below average last year. At 36-years of age, the Canucks are hoping he is slightly better than the departed Braden Holtby.

Phillip Di Giuseppe – F – Di Giuseppe was signed to a one-year deal as an unrestricted free agent at $750k. In the past seven years, he has played 201 NHL career games, where has posted 16 goals and 53 points with 462 hits, while averaging 11:43 of ice time. He has never played more than 49 games or fewer than 20 in a year and has struggled to get over the bubble into an everyday role. He provides great depth and will more than likely see more than 20 games with the Canucks next year.

Justin Dowling – F – The Canucks have moved their AHL team to Abbotsford in the suburbs of Vancouver and have invested heavily in the depth of the franchise for both the sake of the Canucks and Abbotsford. The 30-year old Dowling has 76 NHL games with four goals and 14 points. He should only see NHL time if there are injuries or players on the big roster struggle.

Luke Schenn – D – Schenn played 18 games with Vancouver in 2018-19, then left as a UFA and signed with Tampa Bay. Two years later, Schenn has two Stanley Cups now and has come back to Vancouver as a UFA for two years at $850k AAV. Schenn will hopefully do for the Canucks what he did for the Lightning, provide depth, physicality and solid defense in his limited ice time.

Subtractions:

Nate Schmidt – D – The Canucks recouped the 3rd round pick they gave up to get Schmidt by trading him to Winnipeg. I think Schmidt will rebound in Winnipeg, but he clearly wasn't a good fit in Vancouver and the player and the team agreed that he wouldn't be back.

Alexander Edler – D – Edler signed with the Kings for one year at $3.5 million as a UFA. The Canucks will miss his penalty killing, Ekman-Larsson should at least be an upgrade when comparing the two. Edler has lost a few strides and his transition play has deteriorated to almost nothing. He plays within the blue lines, mostly in his own end (31.7 OZ starts).

Jay Beagle – F – The team will certainly miss his penalty killing (54.4 percent) and face-off prowess (56.2). They will be able to replace the six goals he scored in 142 games as a Canuck.

Antoine Roussel – F – Unless Roussel gets his game back to what it was from two or three years ago, he might find himself out of the NHL after his contract expires this year. I'm hoping last year was an aberration and he was still recovering from his knee injury of the year before. He is no stranger to dealing with adversity and doubt from others.

Loui Eriksson – F – He dressed for seven games last season. Marc Michaelis dressed for 15 in his place.

Jake Virtanen – F – Virtanen was bought out and will cost the Canucks $50k this year and $500k next season as a salary cap hit. He remains unsigned.

Jayce Hawryluk – F – Remains unsigned as a UFA.

Jimmy Vesey – F – Remains unsigned as a UFA.

Travis Boyd – F – Signed by Arizona as a UFA for one year at $750k.

Jalen Chatfield – D – Signed by Carolina as a UFA for one year at $750k.

Tyler Graovac – F – Remains unsigned as a UFA.

Braden Holtby – G – Holtby was bought out by Vancouver and will cost the Canucks $500k this season and $1.9 million next year as a salary cap hit. He signed with Dallas for one year at $2 million.

There is no question that the Canucks have improved over last season with the additions of Garland, Dickinson, Ekman-Larsson, Poolman and Podkolzin over Edler, Beagle, Roussel, Schmidt, Eriksson and Virtanen. The jury is out whether Halak will be the answer over Holtby but he is potentially cheaper. The improvement has not come cheaply and has not helped their prospect pool. Benning needs to win this season and that is the bottom line.

Vegas Golden Knights

Additions:

Nolan Patrick – F – Patrick was acquired from Nashville for Cody Glass, which is potentially a pretty hefty price to pay for Patrick who missed all of 2019-20 and was clearly not the same player this past season with only four goals and nine points in 52 games. I think Vegas sees a more rounded player in Patrick over Glass and is willing to give him the benefit of the doubt for last season and let him find his game again. Patrick is still only 22 years of age and has played 197 NHL games with 30 goals and 70 points (0.36 pts/game). He is also very good in the face-off circle at such a young age (52.6 percent). Cody Glass didn't seem to fit their roster last season and Patrick should.

Evgenii Dadonov – F – Vegas added Dadonov for Nick Holden and a 3rd round pick in 2022. Vegas has taken chances on Florida players before and been rewarded, so why not take a chance on the 32-year old Dadonov who scored 28, 28 and 25 goals in the three years he was in Florida before his struggles in Ottawa last year. If any team can get Dadonov back to 20-25 goals it is probably Vegas.

Brett Howden – F – Vegas sent a 4th round pick in 2022 and Nick DeSimone for Howden. Howden is still young at 23-years of age and has played 178 NHL games with 16 goals and 49 points (0.28 pts/game). He was drafted 27th overall in 2016 as an offensive player coming out of Moose Jaw of the WHL, but he has struggled with and without the puck so far. He might have more opportunities in Vegas to succeed.

Laurent Brossoit – G – He was signed as a UFA for two years at $2.325 million AAV. Brossoit is 28-years old and has played parts of seven seasons in the NHL while never playing more than 21 games. He is not Marc-Andre Fleury but he might end up playing more than 21 games for the first time.

Subtractions:

Marc-Andre Fleury – G – After an excellent season (92.8 save percentage) and playoff (91.8), he was unceremoniously traded to Chicago in the last season of his contract for Mikael Hakkarainen (who was just waived). Vegas was desperate to shed the $7 million salary-cap hit that Fleury held, but the team will not be stronger as a result.

Tomas Nosek – F – signed as a UFA by Boston for two years at $1.75 million AAV. While his possession numbers are decent and his production was up a little last year, the club is hoping that Patrick and Howden replace him.

Cody Glass – F – traded to Nashville in the trade that added Nolan Patrick. In 66 NHL games with Vegas, he had nine goals and 22 points (0.33 pts/game). His defensive play was lagging behind his limited production at even strength and the team thought they could improve with Patrick over him. Time will tell.

Ryan Reaves – F – Reaves was traded to the NY Rangers for a 3rd round pick in 2022. The Golden Knights will miss Reaves’s physical presence on the ice which includes around four hits per game. At 34-years old there are signs he is slowing down and is less effective than he has been without the puck.

Nick Holden – D – Holden was effective in the playoffs last season with two goals and seven points in his 15 games, but he only played 17 games in the regular season and averaged just under 16 minutes in both. He was a depth defender in Vegas but might see more ice time in Ottawa.

The Golden Knights have not improved in goal, and have taken a chance on Patrick and Howden improving significantly while Dadonov finds his game again. It is tough to say that Vegas has improved overall from last season with these changes.

Winnipeg Jets

Additions:

Riley Nash – F – The Jets signed Nash as a UFA to a one-year $750k contract. How did Riley Nash score 15 goals and have 41 points (0.54) in 76 while with Boston in 2017-18? He has played 10 years in the NHL and has averaged 0.3 points per game in 577 games and his highest output other than that season is 10 goals and 24 points. I thought I would go back and see who he played with that year, sorry to digress. He played with David Backes and Danton Heinen 31.6% of the time and had 12 ES points, while 14 of his ES points were with Brad Marchand and/or David Pastrnak (36.6%). He has 10 goals and 33 points in the 179 games since then. Long story short, he will more than likely get between four and seven goals and 15-20 points in Winnipeg. 

Nate Schmidt – D – The Jets sent a 3rd round pick in 2022 for Schmidt. He struggled with the Canucks last season and is still signed for four more years at $5.95 million AAV. He is unlikely to have his OZ starts at 34.1 percent like last season in Vancouver, so if he is closer to 50 he might see his production get back up to his three-year average of 0.44 pts/game which is about 32-38 points.

Brenden Dillon – D – The Jets sent a 2nd round pick in 2022 and another 2nd round pick in 2023 to Washington for Dillon who has three years remaining at $3.9 million AAV. Dillon could be paired with Neal Pionk, but this won't necessarily improve Dillon's numbers as he was paired with John Carlson 53.6 percent of the time last year. Dillon could be in the 100 clubs for hits and blocked shots although both are decreasing now that he is 30-years old.

Subtractions:

Mason Appleton – F – Appleton was selected in the expansion draft by Seattle. He had a bit of a breakthrough season last year with 12 goals and 25 points in 56 games with Winnipeg and the Jets will miss him.

Mathieu Perreault – F – He was signed by Montreal as a UFA for one year at $950k. Perreault was overpaid at $4 million AAV for the four-year contract he had with the Jets, but that isn't to say he wasn't a good player. He went from a 2nd line player that had around 0.65 pts/game to a 3rd line player that had around 0.36 pts/game. If they could have had him back at the value of the contract the Canadiens signed him for it would have been a good deal.

Derek Forbort – D – Forbort was signed as a UFA by Boston to a three-year contract at $3 million AAV. Forbort and Dillon are very similar players so it is tough to see how the Jets will be regretting having Forbort sign in Boston.

Trevor Lewis – F – He was signed as a UFA by Calgary for one year at $750k. His five goals and five assists in 56 games have been replaced by Riley Nash.

Nate Thompson – F – He was signed as a UFA by Philadelphia for one year at $800k. He has played 811 NHL regular-season games with 64 goals and 97 assists with only 370 PIM. At 36-years old he has another year in him with the Flyers. He is very good in the faceoff circle (52.8 career) and can kill penalties, but his career-high is 10 goals and 25 points.

Jordie Benn – D – He is a UFA and remains unsigned.

Laurent Brossoit – G – He was signed by Vegas as a UFA for two years at $2.325 million AAV. Currently, Winnipeg has Eric Comrie on their depth chart as the backup, so things might change before then.

Tucker Poolman – D – He was signed by Vancouver as a UFA for four years at $2.5 million AAV.

The Jets have improved on defense with the additions of Schmidt and Dillon over the departures of Forbort, Benn and Poolman. Riley Nash should offset Trevor Lewis and Nate Thompson should be replaceable from within. The loss of Mason Appleton and Brossoit are the two slots that the Jets have lost ground. They will hope that Kristian Vesalainen and Dominic Toninato can fill the void for Appleton and Thompson.

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