With the NFL season set kicking off in the coming days, it won’t only be fans of the pigskin who will be lining up to wager on their favorite teams; it’s also that time of the year when hockey fans start to formulate their fantasy teams and betting on who they think will be the team lucky enough to lift Lord Stanley’s Cup early next summer. Before the 2015-16 playoffs even begin, though, there are also daily games to consider, click here for more information. To help get you ready for all the fun that is about to unfold, here is a quick cheat sheet listing some of what you may have missed over the past few months around the Western Conference…
CENTRAL DIVISION
Chicago Blackhawks: Since raising the cup once again back in June, Chicago has had a decent amount of roster turnover…Kimmo Timonen, Michal Rozsival and Johnny Oduya are gone form the back end. Chicago began to address this by trading for Trevor Daley and resigning Trevor van Riemsdyk who was playing big minutes in the regular before being injured in November…Brad Richards, Antoine Vermette and Patrick Sharp are gone as well. Sharp was a part of the Trevor Daley trade to Dallas, Vermette returned to Arizona and Richards signed with the Red Wings. Ryan Garbutt came back from Dallas with Daley and will play a depth role in the Windy City…Brandon Saad was traded to Columbus in a trade that nabbed Marko Dano and Artem Anisimov for the Hawks.
Colorado Avalanche: The Avalanche completed one of the large trades this summer when they sent Ryan O’Reilly and Jamie Mcginn to Buffalo for Nikita Zadorov, Mikhail Grigorenko J.T. Compher and the 31st overall pick in the 2015 draft…They also acquired Carl Soderberg from Boston for a draft pick…Colorado also signed Francois Beauchemin and Blake Comeau…Gone from Denver are veteran defenseman Jan Hejda, Ryan Wilson and recent retiree Daniel Briere.
Dallas Stars: The Stars made some of the largest acquisitions of the offseason by grabbing some top end talent…Patrick Sharp and Johnny Oduya join Dallas from the cup winning Chicago Blackhawks and will play large roles for the club…they traded a 7th round pick for former Hawks goaltender Antti Niemi…they also signed emerging defensive star John Klingberg to a seven year contract extension.
Minnesota Wild: The Wild stayed relatively stagnant compared to some of the other Central Division clubs…The big addition for the Wild was signing highly sought after free agent defensemn Mike Reilly after he left college early and did not want to sign with the Columbus Blue Jackets…Chris Stewart and Jordan Leopold were allowed to walk as free agents…Matt Cooke was released in June… goaltender Devan Dubnyk earned himself a big contract, signing with the club for six years…youngsters Mikael Granlund and Erik Haula were all kept on board as well.
Nashville Predators: The Predators resigned some centermen to long deals. Colin Wilson signed a four-year deal and Craig Smith to a five-year contract…youngster Calle Jarnkrok got a one-year deal and veteran forwards Mike Ribeiro and Mike Fisher got shiny new two-year contracts as well…Cody Hodgson was allowed to walk, as were veterans Anton Volchenkov and Matt Cullen.
St. Louis Blues: The Blues most important order of business was taken care of when they signed young superstar Vladimir Tarasenko to an eight-year contract extension…They also moved T.J. Oshie to Washington for Troy Brouwer and goaltender Phoenix Copley…Barret Jackman, Olli Jokinen and Zbynek Michalek became free agents and were not signed by the club…Kyle Brodziak was signed as a FA…Magnus Paajarvi was resigned to a one-year deal.
Winnipeg Jets: Of all the Central Division teams, Winnipeg made the least amount of moves…Drew Stafford was signed to a two year contract after being acquired via trade from Buffalo last season…Alexander Burmistrov was signed to a one-year deal…Michael Frolik and Lee Stempniak were allowed to seek employment elsewhere.
PACIFIC DIVISION
Anaheim Ducks: Acquired forwards Mike Santorelli, Chris Stewart, Carl Hagelin, and Shawn Horcoff. … Signed defenseman Kevin Bieksa and goalie Anton Khodobin. … The Ducks lost forwards Emerson Etem, Kyle Palmieri, and Matt Beleksey. … Defensively, they lost James Wisniewski and Francois Beauchemin from their blueline crop, as well as goalie Jason LaBarbera.
Arizona Coyotes: Picked up forwards Boyd Gordon, Brad Richardson, Antoine Vetmette, John Scott and Steve Downie. … In net, they acquired goalie Anders Lindback, plus added Zbynek Michalek and Nicklas Grossman to beef up their defense. … The Coyotes lost forwards Marc Arcobello, Sam Gagner, and Lauri Korpikoski; as well as defesenman John Moore and goalie Mike McKenna.
Calgary Flames: Picked up defenseman Dougie Hamilton and forward Michael Frolik, yet lost defenseman Raphael Diaz and forward Brian McGrattan. … The Flames are optimistic of the return of defenseman Ladislav Smid, who has not played in a game since January. Another key return will come in the form of captain Mark Giordano, who was on track for the Norris Trophy before being injured last February.
Edmonton Oilers: Connor McDavid dominated all Oilers talk over the past few months. He was drafted No. 1 overall in June and will live with Taylor Hall this season. … The team’s other big move was signing former Sharks bench boss, Todd McLellan, to coach the young Oilers. … Up front, they also acquired forwards Mark Letestu and Lauri Korpikoski. … Goalie Cam Talbot came over from the Rangers. … They also picked up three defensemen: Andrej Sekera, Eric Gryba, and Griffin Reinhart. … Defenseman Martin Marincin and forwards Boyd Gordon and Matt Fraser left the organization.
Los Angeles Kings: Traded for forward Milan Lucic and signed goalie Jhonas Enroth early in the summer. Then, L.A. added Christian Ehrhoff just before training camp was set to open. … Gone from the Kings are goalie Martin Jones, defenseman Andrej Sekera and forwards Justin Williams and Jarret Stoll. … The contract for center Mike Richards was terminated and the status of defenseman Slava Voynov remains in question.
San Jose Sharks: Traded for goaltender Martin Jones, plus added forward Joel Ward and defenseman Paul Martin this summer. … They will have a new head coach this season, as Peter DeBoer has joined the organization. … Not returning for the upcoming season are netminder Antti Niemi, as well as forwards John Scott and Matt Irwin.
Vancouver Canucks: Forward Brandon Sutter and defenseman Matt Bartkowski have been added, while the Canucks lost forwards Nick Bonino, Brad Richardson, and Shawn Matthias. … They also lost goaltender Eddie Lack and defensemen Adam Clendening and Ryan Stanton.
NOTE: Information compiled by Cody Warner and Brittany Patko
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