Though some teams still have work to do this offseason, most have completed their big moves. With that, we can start looking at each division and how everyone stacks up versus each other. First up is the Metropolitan Division, which should be among the most competitive in the NHL in 2023-24.
Carolina Hurricanes
2022-23 season: 52-21-9, 113 points, 1st in the Metro
Notable offseason moves:
- Signed Dmitry Orlov to a 2-year deal
- Signed Michael Bunting to a 3-year deal
- Signed Tony DeAngelo to 1-year deal
- Re-signed Antti Raanta (1 year) and Frederik Andersen (2 years)
- Signed Brendan Lemieux to a 1-year deal
Most people seem to be waiting for the Hurricanes to make the big move for a top scorer. That didn’t materialize this summer, but they did sign Michael Bunting to a three-year contract worth $4.5 million per year. He’s coming off back-to-back 23-goal seasons and will add more depth to an already deep lineup. Though he’s not a high-end scorer, his forechecking ability fits well with a Hurricanes team that grinds away opponents on the forecheck.
On defense, the Hurricanes signed Dmitry Orlov to a two-year deal worth $7.75 million annually. That cap hit is a bit high, but it is only for two years. In the short term, he’ll provide an upgrade in the top-four, both defensively and offensively, with his puck-moving ability being one of the best assets of his game.
The Hurricanes also brought back Tony DeAngelo on a one-year deal. Though he is a liability defensively, he can put up points and should help one of the Hurricanes’ power-play units. For $1.675 million a year, that’s solid value for the right-handed defenseman.
Lastly, the Hurricanes re-signed goalies Antti Raanta and Frederik Andersen. They’ll run it back in net, with Pyotr Kochetkov as their No. 3 option. Even though he has term and a cap hit of $2 million, he’s waivers exempt. That leaves the Hurricanes with one of the better trios of goalies in their system this coming season. With Andrei Svechnikov healthy for 2023-24, the Hurricanes should again be the favorites to win the Metropolitan Division.
New Jersey Devils
2022-23 season: 52-22-8, 112 points, 2nd in the Metro
Notable offseason moves:
- Acquired Tyler Toffoli
- Acquired Colin Miller
- Signed Tomáš Nosek to a 1-year deal
- Signed Chris Tierney to a 1-year deal
- Signed Erik Källgren to a 1-year deal
The Devils finally had the breakout season many had envisioned for them in the previous couple of years. Their big offseason move was acquiring Tyler Toffoli from the Calgary Flames in exchange for Yegor Sharangovich and a 2023 third-round pick. Toffoli is coming a career-best 34-goal, 73-point season and will add more scoring to an already dangerous Devils top-six.
With Ryan Graves signing with the Pittsburgh Penguins in free agency and the Devils trading Damon Severson to the Columbus Blue Jackets, general manager Tom Fitzgerald acquired Colin Miller from the Dallas Stars for a 2025 fifth-round pick. Miller is an experienced blueliner who’ll add depth to a young group that has Luke Hughes and Kevin Bahl taking on full-time roles. It also allows top prospect Šimon Nemec more time to develop in the AHL with the Utica Comets.
Though the Devils weren’t big players in free agency, they made a couple of depth signings in Tomáš Nosek and Chris Tierney. Nosek is likely to be a regular in the NHL, while Tierney could be the Comets’ first-line center and the Devils’ first call-up if they need center depth in the bottom-six. Both players provide insurance as fourth-line pivots if Michael McLeod is no longer in the picture.
The remaining “question” for the Devils is in net. Will they run it back with Vitek Vanecek and Akira Schmid? Or will they acquire someone that’ll allow Schmid to go to the AHL for a little longer to keep developing? That’s all that’s left for the Devils to do this offseason, but even if they run it back with their current tandem, they should be in a tight battle for first place with the Hurricanes.
New York Rangers
2022-23 season: 47-22-13, 107 points, 3rd in the Metro
Notable offseason moves:
- Signed Blake Wheeler to a 1-year deal
- Signed Jonathan Quick to a 1-year deal
- Signed Erik Gustafsson to a 1-year deal
- Signed Nick Bonino to a 1-year deal
- Signed Alex Belzile to a 2-year deal
- Signed Tyler Pitlick to a 1-year deal
- Signed Riley Nash to a 2-year deal
- Peter Laviolette replaces Gerard Gallant as head coach
Because the Rangers had little cap space to work with this offseason, GM Chris Drury had to find value buys in free agency. Two of the more notable value UFA signings this summer were Blake Wheeler and Erik Gustafsson, who agreed to one-year contracts for less than $1 million each.
After getting bought out by the Winnipeg Jets, the Rangers signed Wheeler for only $800,000. While he’s not the player he was in his prime, he’s still one of the better playmakers in the league and should be good for around 50-60 points in 2023-24. The concern with him is he’s a defensive liability, something that’s been all too common with previous Rangers signings and trades for forwards in recent years.
In Gustafsson, the Rangers get one of the better puck-moving defensemen available this summer. He posted 42 points in 70 games and had some of the best two-way impacts of his career in 2022-23. Most of that came playing with the Washington Capitals under Peter Laviolette, who takes over as Rangers head coach from Gerard Gallant.
In net, Drury brought in a new backup to Igor Shesterkin, signing former Cup champion Jonathan Quick to a one-year deal to replace Jaroslav Halak. As good a story as it is to see Quick playing for the team he grew up rooting for, he is a significant downgrade from Halak.
Quick gave up 17.2 more goals than expected this past season, the fifth-worst number in the NHL. It’s undoubtedly Shesterkin’s crease on Broadway, but he’s never started more than 60 games in a season. If Quick has to make 20-30 starts, the Rangers will likely have to rely on outscoring teams during his appearances.
Drury also rounded out the team’s bottom-six in free agency, signing Nick Bonino, Riley Nash, Tyler Pitlick and Alex Belzile to short-term deals. The Rangers should be in a good spot to finish in the top three in the Metro, but the Hurricanes and Devils seem to have surpassed them. And the gap may start getting wider between the three teams this coming season.
New York Islanders
2022-23 season: 42-31-9, 93 points, 4th in the Metro (WC1)
Notable offseason moves:
- *shrug emoji*
Ah, the Islanders. It’s July 31, and GM Lou Lamoriello has yet to make an external addition, but he did hand out some big contracts to some of the team’s pending UFAs. Most notable was Ilya Sorokin, who signed an eight-year extension at a cap hit of $8.25 million; he would’ve become a UFA in 2024.
Sorokin is one of the best goalies in the NHL, and you could easily argue he’s the best. His new contract was well worth it, but the rest of the deals Lamoriello handed out were questionable at best. Pierre Engvall and Scott Mayfield received seven-year extensions, while Semyon Varlamov re-upped for another four years.
Mayfield and Engvall are solid players that handle their roles well, but seven years is plenty much to give to depth players. Varlamov is one of the better 1Bs in the NHL, but his new contract takes him to his age-39 season.
The Islanders are running it back unless something changes between now and the start of the season, but that might be a problem. They aren’t a bad team, but they aren’t a legit contender in the Eastern Conference. They’re essentially stuck in no man’s land as a middle-of-the-pack club.
With young and up-and-coming teams like the Ottawa Senators and Buffalo Sabres ready to change the guard, the Islanders may be most vulnerable from the 2023 playoff teams to fall out of the race this coming season. Though, you can never count them out with a perennial Vezina contender like Sorokin.
Pittsburgh Penguins
2022-23 season: 40-31-11, 91 points, 5th in the Metro
Notable offseason moves:
- Acquired Reilly Smith
- Signed Ryan Graves to a 6-year deal
- Signed Matt Nieto to a 2-year deal
- Signed Noel Acciari to a 3-year deal
- Signed Lars Eller to a 2-year deal
- Re-signed Tristan Jarry to a 5-year deal
- Signed Andreas Johnsson to a 1-year deal
- Signed Alex Nedeljkovic to a 1-year deal
You knew that once the Penguins hired Kyle Dubas as their president of hockey operations that there’d be changes coming to their roster. After all, their 16-year playoff streak came to an end this past season.
Dubas wasted no time getting to work, acquiring Reilly Smith from the Vegas Golden Knights for a third-round pick in his first transaction with the Penguins. Smith has been one of the more consistent top-six forwards in recent years, averaging 25 goals and 52 points per 82 games over the last three seasons. He should fit in well alongside one of Sidney Crosby or Evgeni Malkin.
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With Dubas wanting to get younger on the back end, he signed 27-year-old Ryan Graves to a six-year contract in free agency. Graves had spent the last two years with the Devils and was a key part of their shutdown pair alongside John Marino in 2022-23. He should help stabilize the Penguins’ top-four alongside Kris Letang, Marcus Pettersson and Jeff Petry.
One of the biggest flaws on the Penguins’ 2022-23 roster was their bottom-six depth, but Dubas addressed it through multiple signings in free agency. Matt Nieto has been a solid fourth-line center for some time and upgrades that position. Noel Acciari can play wing or center, kill penalties and has good faceoff numbers. The same is true of Lars Eller.
But perhaps Dubas’ most notable move was re-signing Tristan Jarry to a five-year extension at a cap hit of $5.375 million. Though he appeared in 48 games last season, he dealt with injuries and wasn’t as effective as the Penguins needed him to be. There’s certainly risk in bringing him back for five years. But if he can stay healthy in the immediate future, he should be a top half of the league netminder.
The Penguins are an improved team, but they might not be done yet. Reports have them among the clubs interested in Erik Karlsson. If they acquire Karlsson to upgrade their defense, it’d be fair to argue that they might be the third-best team in the Metropolitan Division.
But even then, the Penguins would remain the oldest team in the NHL. Without Karlsson, they have an average age of 30.38. Though he’s still an elite offensive defenseman, he’s 33, so he won’t make the team any younger. Because of their age, they could be a high-floor, low-ceiling club in 2023-24.
Washington Capitals
2022-23 season: 35-37-10, 80 points, 6th in the Metro
Notable offseason moves:
- Signed Max Pacioretty to a 1-year deal
- Drafted Ryan Leonard eighth overall
- Spencer Carbery replaces Laviolette as head coach
It was surprising to see the Capitals have as quiet an offseason as they did. Their most notable move was signing Max Pacioretty to a one-year deal worth $2 million. He missed all but five games of the 2022-23 season after tearing his Achilles twice, once during the offseason and once after returning in January.
Pacioretty is a bit of a wild card. If he’s healthy, he could provide a significant scoring upgrade that the Capitals need. Still, it seems like the team’s best days are behind them. They did have poor injury luck this past season, but it’s fair to wonder how much players like Tom Wilson and Nicklas Backstrom have left in the tank.
After the Penguins, the Capitals have the second-oldest roster in the league, with an average age of 29.22. Alex Ovechkin remains one of the league’s best goal-scorers, so it’ll be fun to continue watching him chase Wayne Gretzky’s all-time record. But they might have a tough time pursuing the teams listed ahead of them in this article.
Philadelphia Flyers
2022-23 offseason: 31-38-13, 75 points, 7th in the Metro
Notable offseason moves:
- Traded Ivan Provorov to the Columbus Blue Jackets
- Traded Kevin Hayes to the St. Louis Blues
- Acquired Sean Walker, Cal Petersen
- Signed Garnet Hathaway to a 2-year deal
- Signed Ryan Poehling to a 1-year deal
- Signed Marc Staal to a 1-year deal
- Drafted Matvei Michkov seventh overall
Make no mistake: the Flyers are not actively trying to win games in 2023-24. Still, Danny Briere was quite busy in his first offseason as GM. His first move was sending Ivan Provorov to the Blue Jackets in a three-team trade that had them acquire defenseman Sean Walker and goaltender Cal Petersen from the Los Angeles Kings.
His next move came by sending Kevin Hayes to the St. Louis Blues for a sixth-round pick in the 2024 draft. The Flyers probably should have gotten more since they retained 50 percent on Hayes’ $7.14 million cap hit. But trading two of their higher-priced players in Hayes and Provorov signaled the Flyers are officially in rebuild mode.
Since Briere made his intentions clear to begin the rebuild, the Flyers were relatively quiet in free agency. They signed Garnet Hathaway, one of the better fourth-liners in the NHL, to a two-year contract. They also brought in Ryan Poehling, a solid depth forward, on a one-year contract and rounded out their defense depth with Marc Staal on a one-year deal.
But the most notable move the Flyers made this summer was drafting Matvei Michkov seventh overall at the draft. His KHL contract runs for three more years, meaning he won’t be stateside any time soon. But the Flyers should be getting closer to competing by the time he’s in the NHL.
John Tortorella teams are never as bad as they look on paper, but the Flyers are unlikely to be competing for a playoff spot in 2023-24. And that’s perfectly fine. The organization has needed a rebuild for a while now, and Briere has gotten it off to a decent start.
Columbus Blue Jackets
2022-23 season: 25-48-9, 59 points, 8th in the Metro
Notable offseason moves:
- Acquired Ivan Provorov
- Acquired Damon Severson
- Drafted Adam Fantilli third overall
Last but not least, the Blue Jackets. Many pundits expected the team to be competitive after they signed Johnny Gaudreau to a seven-year deal last season worth $9.75 million a year. But things did not pan out that way, as the Blue Jackets bottomed out and were the worst team in the Metro in 2022-23.
The biggest reason for the team’s fall to the bottom of the standings was one of the worst blue lines in the league. GM Jarmo Kekalainen addressed that this summer by acquiring Provorov from the Flyers and Severson from the Devils. With Zach Werenski set to return from injury, Provorov should play a more suitable second-pair role, though it’s fair to question if he’s capable of bouncing back with a change of scenery. He may just be what he is.
As for Severson, he played top-pair minutes at different points with the Devils. He may stay start there with the Blue Jackets, but over time, he should fall into a more suitable second-pair role as David Jiricek develops and turns into the first-pair blueliner many envision him to be.
Center depth was also an issue for the Blue Jackets this past season. But luckily for them, Adam Fantilli fell into their laps with the third overall pick after the Anaheim Ducks selected Leo Carlsson with the second selection in the draft. Fantilli should have an immediate impact on the Blue Jackets and will eventually turn into a high-end first-line center.
Provorov and Severson should improve the Blue Jackets’ defensive depth, and Fantilli immediately upgrades the team at center, but the biggest question is in net. Elvis Merzlikins gave up 25.9 goals more than expected this past season, the worst number in the NHL.
An improved defense should help Merzlikins, but can it be enough to get him to league average? If not, the Blue Jackets could bottom out again. They should be an improved team in front of Merzlikins, but they need him to be league average to make up some ground in the standings.
Hurricanes & Devils Should Lead the Way
The surest bets in the Metropolitan Division heading into 2023-24 are the Devils, Hurricanes and Rangers. After them, the rest of the division is relatively open. The Penguins should be in the mix, despite being the oldest team in the league, but they might not be a threat for a top-three spot unless they acquire Karlsson.
The Islanders lack dynamic scorers, but having Sorokin is an eraser that can cover up their flaws. They’re unlikely to come close to challenging the Hurricanes, Devils, and Rangers. But Sorokin should keep them in the hunt for a wild-card spot.
As for the Capitals, they’ll need a lot to go right for them to challenge for the playoffs. But they should hang around in the 80-85 point range. The Flyers and Blue Jackets will likely be out of the playoff picture, but they’re good enough teams to hang around in the 75-80 point range. There doesn’t seem to be a truly terrible team in the Metro heading into 2023-24, which should make it one of the most competitive divisions once again.
Metropolitan Division Predictions for 2023-24
- Carolina Hurricanes — 112 points
- New Jersey Devils — 109 points
- New York Rangers — 104 points
- Pittsburgh Penguins — 96 points (WC1 or WC2)
- New York Islanders — 89 points
- Washington Capitals — 83 points
- Philadelphia Flyers — 74 points
- Columbus Blue Jackets — 73 points
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Advanced stats from Money Puck
