On Tuesday, we took a look at Eastern Conference teams’ moves. Today we examine the Western Conference. As we move through July, there are several issues to look at out West.

1) The Vancouver Canucks on paper are still the best team in the Western Conference…on paper.
2) They will receive some stiff So-Cal competition for that top spot by the Los Angeles Kings who strengthened their center position and top six forward talent and the Anaheim Ducks, who boast some tremendous young talent, including reigning league MVP Corey Perry.

3) The Minnesota Wild’s offensive acquisitions appear to make them the most likely challengers to the Canuck’s Northwest Division.
4) Is the St. Louis Blue’s formidable collection of young talent ready to challenge? They will be a first round nightmare for whoever plays them…that is if they can make it.
5) Is the Chicago Blackhawk’s roster restructuring finally done and are they ready to overtake Detroit in the Central?
6) Are the San Jose Sharks ever going to break through to the Stanley Cup Final after two consecutive years of conference final losses?

So who improved, who regressed, and who’s ready to challenge the Canucks for Western supremacy? We review each team’s roster decisions so far and assign a letter grade. Remember, this is an evaluation of how the teams look so far. Therefore the grade is subject to change.

Anaheim Ducks (B+) The Ducks wisely didn’t dive into free agency. Despite their first round loss to Nashville, they have an excellent core in place and will make noise again in the West. Up until yesterday, the most notable change was bringing in solid two way defenseman Kurtis Foster from Edmonton in exchange for the physical, but turnover prone Andy Sutton. However, a second trade with the Oilers on Tuesday netted them C Andrew Coligiano in exchange for a 2013 second round draft choice. A very astute move that more than makes up for the loss of center depth that occurred when veteran Todd Marchant retired.

Calgary Flames (C) The Flames offseason has been more about shedding salaries and resigning current players, although they were said to have been major players in the Brad Richards sweepstakes before he signed in New York. In the shedding salary department, they got long time Flame defenseman Robyn Regehr to waive his no trade clause and accept a deal to Buffalo along with Ales Kotalik in exchange for young defenseman Chris Butler and gritty forward Paul Byron. They were also able to bring back forwards Alex Tanguay (on a long term contract), checker Curtis Glencross, offensive d-man Anton Babchuk, and backup goalie Henrik Karlsson. Ultimately, though, they still seem like a team stuck in neutral.

Chicago Blackhawks (B-) What to make of the 2010 Stanley Cup Champions? After quite a bit of blood- letting in losing players in a variety of deals to make the team more cap compliant, they made several more related maneuverings in dealing D Brian Campbell’s albatross contract (they were definitely thankful for the increase in the cap floor) and RW Troy Brouwer. Replacing Campbell are a pair of physical d-men in Steve Montador (trade via Buffalo) and Sean O’Donnell. Replacing Brouwer’s physical presence and improving overall depth will be Andrew Brunette and Rotislav Olesz in the top six and Jamal Mayers and Dan Carcillo in the bottom six. Maybe even more importantly, they resigned their #1 goaltender Corey Crawford. Are these moves enough to help Chicago improve on their eight seed finish from 2011?

Colorado Avalanche (D) GM Greg Sherman doesn’t appear to have a great feel for his goaltending situation. It started with the disaster of a trade during the season with Craig Anderson going to Ottawa in exchange for Brian Elliott. Elliott was bad enough to exit stage left and Sherman made another boondoggle of a trade in sending first and second round picks to Washington for Semyon Varlamov. He follows that with the signing of veteran goalie Jean Sebastien Giguere. Solid pickups in RW Chuck Kobsew and D Jan Hejda do not override the above moves. Maybe Varlamov is worth it, maybe not, but that was retail cost for a guy who was one step away from going to the KHL.

Columbus Blue Jackets (B) The CBJ’s needed a scorer and found one in Philadelphia’s leading point getter Jeff Carter. The curious part will be how Carter grafts onto star right winger Rick Nash’s line as both like to blast the puck and aren’t noteworthy passers. But he is the best acquisition that GM Scott Howson has made in a long time. There has been quite a bit of house cleaning as the team moved whiner Nikita Filatov to Ottawa, Jakub Voracek to Philadelphia in the Carter deal, let forwards Scottie Upshall along with defensemen Mike Commodore and Hejda leave. They also trade for and signed former Montreal defenseman James Wisniewski to a multi year deal. Howson may not be finished making signings with the announcement of winger Kristian Huselius’ torn pectoral muscle injury. Do the Jackets have the goods to return to the playoffs this year? Considering the dwindling crowds at Columbus games, they better hope so.

Dallas Stars (C-) The Stars, despite having ownership issues, were surprisingly active in free agency, but much like the Florida Panthers, they went the quantity over quality route as well. One could argue that RW Michael Ryder is an upgrade, but anyone who has watched him in Boston knows that he played like it was a contract year and cashed in on a good playoff performance. They made solid additions in C Vernon Fiddler, W Radek Dvorak, and tough forward Jake Dowell. On the blue line, Adam Pardy has potential but how much does Sheldon Souray still have left in the tank?

Detroit Red Wings (B) The retirement of D Brian Rafalski is hopefully off set by the acquisitions of Ian White from San Jose and Mike Commodore. White’s physical stature will remind Wings fans of Rafalski, but those are big shoes to fill. He’s got good offensive instincts and can be a tough competitor. Commodore has moments where he is flat afoot, but when he is on, he’s a physical presence. The return of Nicklas Lidstrom for one more season and the return of emerging blueliner Jonathon Ericsson are good, but the Wings are still searching for a good backup goaltender to spell Jimmy Howard.

Edmonton Oilers (B-) With so many young, talented, but smallish forwards in place, GM Steve Tambellini was active in free agency in bringing larger, tougher character players to help the former group grow. The return of franchise prodigal son Ryan Smyth was cause for excitement, as was the acquisition of faceoff ace Eric Belanger. Curious to see how Ben Eager and Andy Sutton do, as they are physical players who will help make the Oilers a team to not push around, but they are not known to play mistake-free hockey.

Los Angeles Kings (A-) They finally got the complement to Anze Kopitar they were looking for in former Philadelphia captain Mike Richards in a trade that included top prospect Brayden Schenn and RW Wayne Simmonds. Along with the 2 year signing of LW Simon Gagne, “Flyers West” (with Richards, Gagne, RW Justin Williams, GM Dean Lombardi, assistant GM Ron Hextall, and former head coaches Terry Murray and John Stevens) is looking like a force to be reckoned with. Those two moves create a potentially dominant first two lines to go with really good blue line talent and G Jonathon Quick minding the pipes. The concern is do they have enough talent in their bottom six group of forwards to carry them forward.

Minnesota Wild (A-) The Wild went the trade route this offseason and really look like they upgraded their scoring punch with the shocking acquisitions of RW Dany Heatley and Devin Setoguchi from San Jose. C Charlie Coyle may challenge for playing time on the big club and Darroll Powe’s hard- nosed style will improve the Wild’s penalty killing unit. Is this the year that Minnesota sheds its defense-first shell and puts them in position to challenge in the West? Their off season moves so far definitely created a buzz in the State of Hockey.

Nashville Predators (C) Nashville’s first second round appearance in franchise history this year was off set by several key personnel losses, most notably playoff hero Joel Ward who signed with Washington and, C Marcel Goc to Florida, and Steve Sullivan who went to Pittsburgh. However, they were able to resign captain Shea Weber, brought in tough Brett Lebda to their defense and made the sneaky smart signing of Niclas Bergfors. Nashville always reloads and seems to make the postseason, under head coach Barry Trotz, so expect them to be in the mix come May.

Phoenix Coyotes (C-) The Coyotes lost a lot of good players to free agency this offseason, including franchise goaltender Ilya Bryzgalov who was traded to Philadelphia before they would lose him for nothing. The last few years the Yotes have been in the postseason, but now they have taken on the mantle that Nashville previously had as a first round and out team. Many of the veteran pivots (Fiddler, Belanger, and Andrew Ebbett to Vancouver) are gone, so finally former 3rd overall pick Kyle Turris will grab one of those sports. The Coyotes were also able to lock up top D man Keith Yandle to a five year contract, so that counts for very good news. Bryzgalov is replaced by former top prospect Mike Smith who had difficulty holding down the fort in Tampa for a variety of reasons, most notably injuries.

San Jose Sharks (B-) Another disappointing playoff loss, another offseason makeover for the Sharks. The top heavy contracts of the Sharks caused the team to bid goodbye to a good percentage of players from their bottom six forwards. They were engaged in several trades including the surprising acquisitions of RW Martin Havlat and D Brent Burns replacing RW’s Dany Heatley and Devin Setoguchi. In addition, they added a physical presence down the middle and on the blue line with former Kings’ center Michal Handzus and rugged Jim Vandermeer from Edmonton. Is this the combination that helps the Sharks over the hump and into the Final?

St. Louis Blues (C+) The Blues did a great job in their resigning of key core players including T.J. Oshie, Partrik Berglund, Roman Polak, and Chris Porter. However their outside the organization acquisitions so far are a mixed bag as Evgeny Grachev and Scott Nichols were good pickups, but G Brian Elliott and slow skating Kent Huskins will be more of a wait and see situation. The Blues have been knocking on the postseason’s door. This would be a great year for all of their young talent to coalesce.

Vancouver Canucks (B-) The Western Conference Champions made some decisions this offseason, choosing to sign, defenseman Kevin Bieksa, center Ebbett, winger Marco Sturm and resign checkers Chris Higgins and Max Lapierre, while bidding goodbye to Raffi Torres, Tanner Glass, D Christian Ehrhoff (traded twice before signing with Buffalo). This is still a team that will challenge for a Cup next season on paper, but one must wonder how the crushing Cup deciding home loss to the Bruins will affect their team psyche going forward.

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