2016 NHL Off Season: Draft, Trades, and Contract Renewals

This year was not as crazy as last year was. Most of the big stuff happened before the July 1st trade deadline, it all happened during the draft. Way to show these new kids who are just getting drafted into the NHL that you can be easily traded without question. These trades that where made in the draft where trading current players for spots in the 2016 draft and also future drafts: 2017 and 2018 drafts.

NHL Draft

From left to right: Austin Matthews,  Patrik Laine, Jesse Puliujärvi, and

Luke Kunin

Austin Matthews: First overall pick in the draft, is from San Ramon, California. Was drafted by the Toronto Maple Leafs. He was playing in the Swiss National League in 2015 because he was too young to be drafted in the 2015 NHL Draft, by two days (aww, poor kid). Matthews will be playing with the Maple Leafs next year, like in the years pasts, I cannot wait to see what this number one pick can do next season!
Patrik Laine: Second overall pick, Patrik Laine is from Tampere, Finland. Was drafted by the Winnipeg Jets. Before the draft he was playing in the Liiga league in Finland for the Tappara. He was also on the IIHF Junior 2016 Champion team for Finland who won at Worlds this year.
Jesse Puljujärvi: Fourth overall pick, he is from Älvkarleby, Sweden; but he plays for the National Finnish team during the IIHF Juniors. He also was apart of the IIHF Junior 2016 Champion team for Finland in January 2016. Puljujärvi got drafted to the Edmonton Oilers. Before coming to the NHL draft he had played on the Liiga's Oulun Kärpät team and was also apart of the 2014-15 season Liiga championship team.
Luke Kunin: Fifteenth overall pick, Luke Kunin is from Chesterfield, Missouri. He was drafted to the Minnesota Wild. He has not signed his contract yet, and hopefully will be joining the team after his playing career is up for the Wisconsin Badgers, this will probably be the 2019-20 season will be his rookie season with the Wild and also in the NHL. Kunin was also apart of the IIHF Junior 2015 Champion team for the United States of America.

Trades

Shea Weber in a Canadians jersey (left) and PK Subban in a 

Predators jersey (right).

PK Subban // Shea Weber
 PK Subban got traded to the Nashville Predators for Shea Weber who is now a Montreal Canadian. This was a shocking and controversial trade. According to Sports Net (Canada's version of ESPN) it was the worst trade in the history of the NHL. I happen to agree with them. Why would you trade a defenseman who is just getting started in their career, and who possibly reaching their peak in their career for an older defenseman? If I would have traded him for someone, I would have gone for Erik Karlsson, who is one of the top defensemen in the league right now. If I did not want a defesemen, I could go for a forward, and Steven Stamkos was one of the top free agents during the off season until he signed his renewal contract in July. Not the brightest move by the Canadians. Not only because it was all about "egos", "stealing the limelight", or "he did not fit into your team" reasons. It has to do with more ability, who can play well with talent, and it is about winning the Stanley Cup.

Says it all, basically.

Taylor Hall // Adam Larsson
 Unlike the Subban/Weber trade, this one cannot be understood. It's a mystery to all of us. Why would you trade someone good for that little? Asked Hockey News in one of their writers blog post. I could not agree more about this one. Why would you want to get a forward (obviously the Devils needed help offensively) and trade one of your defensemen? You just left a giant gap in your defense. How are you going to figure out how to fill that gap now? I don't think a team works very well with five defensemen instead of six. Pucks are going to get through, and you are going to be losing games. You might have one extra forward play both offense and defense. I got no answers for you New Jersey Devils you got to figure out that one on your own. Even if I did, I still would not offer them to you. You dug yourself your own hole, now you need to dig yourself out of it.

Contract Renewals
Sometimes contract renewals are like trades. Players get offered better money, and sometimes their career is on it's last season and they want to play at home or where they started. Also other different reasons too, a lot of it can be personal and/or professional reasons.

Darcy Kuemper and Matt Dumba on top for the Wild both renewed 

contracts with the Wild. On the bottom is Steven Stamoks who resigned 

with the Tampa Bay Lightening.

Steven Stamkos: Resigns with the Tampa Bay Lightening with an eight year contract.
Thomas Vanek: Signs with the Detroit Red Wings for a year contract, due to free agency. 
Michael Latta & Tom Gilbert: Both sign to the LA Kings. Latta signs a one year contract due to the fact the Capitols had no interest in him anymore. Gilbert also has a one year contract with the Kings too. Last year with the Montreal Canadians, he had a knee injury that kept him out of the end of the season.
Matt Dumba & Darcy Kumper: Both have renewed contracts with the Minnesota Wild. Kumper signed a one year contract with the Wild. While Dumba signs a two year contract extension with the Wild.
Eric Staal & Chris Stewart: Both have signed with the Minnesota Wild as their new team. Staal has signed a three year contract with the Minnesota Wild. I would like to say welcome back to Stewart and the Stewart Sprints! Stewart signed a two year contract with the Wild.

WATCH OUT ZACH PARISE! It looks like you will be dodging

these for another two years! Welcome back, Stewart Sprints!

Even though this year wasn't constant renewals or trades, it was very mysterious and controversial ones. Lot of head scratchers and what where they thinking moves this year during the off season. Like always during the off season, the NHL always finds a way to turn itself upside down and move around players and put them on different rosters. The 2017 off season post will be also more exciting because in June, the NHL announced that they are adding a 31st team. The team is located in Las Vegas. Next year, one player from each current of the 30 teams will be given to the unnamed Las Vegas team. So much more interesting drama of trades, contracts signing drama to come with that. I will be around to cover that, until next year.

NHL: Draft, Contract Renewals and Trades... OH MY

I do not even know where to begin with this topic. July first was just a whirlwind of trades and renewals contracts being signed. I do not think the NHL is going to look the same anymore after the trades that have been made this past July and that are continuing on happening through out the summer until the 2015-16 season starts in October.

But let's start with the 2015 NHL Draft. Let's meet the NHL Class of 2015:

Five members of the NHL Class of 2015

Connor McDavid (Canada) 
First drafted in the 2015 NHL draft to the Edmonton Oilers in the first round.  McDavid is from Ontario. He considered playing for Boston University and becoming a Terrier but opted out to play in the OHL.  McDavid played in the OHL for the Erie Otters before being drafted. He was a decorative OHL player with numerous awards.

Jack Eichel (United States of America) 
Second drafted and the first American to be drafted during the 2015 draft in the first round. Eichel grew up in Massachusetts, and played for Boston University Terriers before the draft. He also won the Hobey Baker award as a freshmen, was the second to do so. Eichel got drafted to the Buffalo Sabres.

Mikko Rantanen (Finland) 
Rantanen is the tenth pick in the first round of the draft and also is the first to be picked from the country to Finland. He got drafted to the Colorado Avalanche. Rantanen is from a little town in southern Finland named Nousiainen. Before he got drafted he was playing for TPS which is in the Liiga league that is located in Finland.

Joel Eriksson Ek (Sweden) 
Twentieth to be drafted to the Minnesota Wild in the first round of the NHL draft. Elk is from Karlstad, Sweden. Before he got drafted he played for Färjestad BK which is in the SHL league.

Andong Song (China) 
First Chinese born player to be drafted in the NHL. Song was drafted in the sixth round of the 2105 NHL Draft and was the 172 pick. He got drafted to the New York Islanders. Song is from Beijing, China. He ended up playing in the Beijing International Ice Hockey League (BIIHL) as a kid before moving to Ontario, Canada to peruse his hockey career further. Before Song considers signing a contract with the Islanders, he plans to attend Phillips Academy in Massachusetts and probably play more competitive hockey before jumping into the NHL.

Contact renewals seemed to happen all at once on Canada Day (July, 1st), also along with trade mania, we will get to that a bit later. I would just like to list a few notable contract renewals: Mikael Granlund (Minnesota Wild), Patrick Eaves (Dallas Stars), Vladimir Tarasenko (St. Louis Blues), Brody Sutter (Carolina Hurricanes), Alex Galchenyuk (Montreal Canadians), and the full list here of trades, resignings and signings during the 2015 off season.

The trades, here is the mind bottling part of it all. We got players from teams who have won the Stanley Cup this year that got traded, we got an American player who played in Canada now playing in the United States. While we got the USA Olympic Hockey Hero from 2014 playing in the nation's capitol. Hold on to your hats everyone, things are going to start to be a little insane. I believe insane, is an understatement, as in the news I am going to tell you. Let's see how the NHL team rosters, majority of them got turned upside down:

Phil Kessel: Toronto Maple Leafs to Pittsburgh Penguins
Kessel is finally out of Toronto! In the past he been having issues with the media and rumors of him not getting along with the coaching staff, these rumors where also probably started with the Toronto media anyways. Now he finds himself back in the States playing for the Penguins. Just sitting here typing this up and more that I think about it, it is possible for an Crosby, Kessel and Malkin line. This line is probably the scariest future line in the NHL so far, for someone who is thinking about this for the next playoffs and Stanley Cup finals to come.

 
Patrick Sharp: Chicago Blackhawks to Dallas Stars 
Even though Sharp has won the Stanley Cup at the end of last season this year with the Blackhawks. This trade shows that no one is safe from being traded. No matter who you are, you will be traded when you hit free agency status. Also it's up to the club on who they see fit for next season and in the future of their club. Even though it is wired to see Patrick Sharp in a different jersey that is not a Blackhawks one, it shows that life happens and trades happens in the NHL.

 
TJ Oshie: St. Louis Blues to Washington Capitals  
Trades can rock one's world. Oshie was just building his dream home with his wife in St. Louis, they got the green light status to move in a short while before his trade happened to the Capitals. Looks like someone may have two homes? Who knows, but that is not the main point. The St. Louis Blues where not doing so hot last season, and things needed to be changed. Out with the old faces and in with the new. So the majority of the headliners of this team got traded. But what pretty cool about this is the fact that Oshie was in the long lasting shoot out in the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi where the America beat Russia, on their own soil. Just to remind you of it, why? Watch it, the whole thing because it's pretty epic! So to have him wear a Washington Capitals jersey is pretty amazing too, also he got a new number too, so no longer 74 anymore, he is 77.

With these new drafties, contract renewals and trades that have been made, it looks like the 2015-16 NHL season will be an interesting one. People are ready to watch Connor McDavid play, they are comparing him to Wayne Gretzky and Sidney Crosby. I am also looking forward to all the NHL rookies that are heading into this season too, to see what each of them bring to the NHL table. Also I am glad to see some of my old favorites come back to their old teams. I am also looking forward to some of my old favorites who got traded will have to bring to their new teams, and the reactions these players are going to get when playing in their old barn. So heres to an interesting up coming season that will all blow us away!