Down South Hockey

The 2026 NHL offseason has been anything but quiet. Trades, draft picks, and free agency have dominated the news almost daily. With all this movement, change was expected for certain teams. Some teams have clearly improved, while others cannot say the same.

Winners

Florida Panthers

This selection is no surprise. The Panthers were already a favorite for next season before any of their moves. Their most important addition may not even be one of their acquisitions, since a healthy Aleksander Barkov is paramount to their success. They added to their top six with Brady Tkachuk, giving their top two lines even more firepower. They also added depth pieces in Garnet Hathaway and Lars Eller. Radko Gudas returns to Florida, where he will try to help the team replicate the success it found after his first departure.

Evan Rodrigues is a loss to the culture of the Florida Panthers. He has been part of every run the team has made in recent years, and that kind of experience is not easy to replace. The biggest question mark for Florida heading into the season is goaltending. It is fair to say they downgraded from Sergei Bobrovsky to Jacob Markstrom. Can Markstrom rise to the occasion and give the Panthers consistent goaltending next season? 

San Jose Sharks

The young up-and-comers were in the playoff hunt last season. Macklin Celebrini showed what he is capable of in meaningful hockey games, and he also won tournament MVP at the Olympics. San Jose’s blue line will look completely different next season. Adding Darnell Nurse, Jacob Trouba, and Michael Kesselring brings in a mix of experience, with Kesselring offering a younger piece on the back end.

The Sharks paid a premium for Trouba and Nurse, but with two years until Sam Dickinson is due for an extension, it is a worthwhile area to spend money if they want to become real players in the Pacific Division. It also gives them time until first-round pick Keaton Verhoeff is ready to join the team in the coming years. Mason Marchment adds bite and grit to a young forward group. Arguably the most exciting addition for San Jose is draft pick Ivar Stenberg, who has already signed his entry-level contract and is expected to join the team next season. 

One area the Sharks still need to address is getting their young players locked up long term. Will Smith and Macklin Celebrini are both eligible for extensions, and after seeing what happened in Anaheim, San Jose needs to get that business done this summer. There is no doubt that other teams would be willing to send offer sheets to both young stars. 

Utah Mammoth

The Mammoth continue to push toward their goal of becoming a perennial playoff team in the West. They added veteran presences in Vincent Trocheck and Anders Lee to a young core that is starting to come into its own. Both players should add defensive responsibility and experience to a roster that needs it.

Adding Andrew Peeke to the blue line brings in more experience and helps replace the loss of Sean Durzi in the Trocheck trade. The biggest question for this team is whether its young core can keep taking steps forward and build on last year’s first-round exit.

LOSERS

Detroit Red Wings

The Red Wings are in the midst of an identity crisis. The Dylan Larkin situation has a ripple effect beyond just the possible loss of a franchise player. It is not a done deal that Larkin will not be on the team next season, but Detroit cannot benefit from this public breakup.

Steve Yzerman is holding a hard line on the compensation he would accept in return for Larkin, but there is a difficult gap to navigate. Detroit is also losing Patrick Kane to free agency, and it sounds unlikely that he will return next season. There are also rumors that Alex DeBrincat may want out if both of those players leave. Yzerman is going to have a difficult time rebuilding half of his top six with what is currently available to him.

That can only lead to the conclusion that the Red Wings are likely to take a step back next season. For a team that has already struggled to break through and make the playoffs, a step back could be costly if it is not managed properly.

Ottawa Senators

The Ottawa Senators are one of several teams dealing with a captain vacancy. After making the playoffs and losing in the first round in back-to-back seasons, former captain Brady Tkachuk wanted out of Ottawa. That will leave a massive hole in the lineup. Finding superstar players is hard, and it could take years for the Senators to find someone capable of filling that gap.

They did gain William Eklund from the assets involved in the Tkachuk trade, but Eklund is not yet ready to provide the kind of impact needed to replace Brady Tkachuk. Another concern for Ottawa is goaltending. Linus Ullmark was below average last season, and Ottawa had some of the worst goaltending in the NHL. That played a major role in the second half of their season becoming such a drag. Ullmark will need to be the $8 million goalie Ottawa expected if they want any chance of making a third straight playoff run. 

Seattle Kraken

The Seattle Kraken continue to search for a superstar player. It was Artemi Panarin first, and then Jason Robertson. Panarin opted for less money with the Kings, and Robertson has indicated a desire to stay in Dallas for less money as well. That is not a good sign for Seattle.

Players do not seem eager to go there, and recent draft picks are not reaching their full potential under the current system. Seattle needs to figure out how to become a more desirable destination, or it may remain stuck in the same place for years to come.

Overall, this offseason has separated the teams that made real progress from the ones still searching for direction. Florida, San Jose, and Utah all took meaningful steps forward, while Detroit, Ottawa, and Seattle left more questions than answers. As the season approaches, these moves will start to show whether they were bold enough to push contenders ahead or risky enough to hold others back.