NHL Off-Season Power Rankings: Who is improving most?

New Steven Stamkos extension for what you wanted to pay him in the first place. Immediate long-term commitment from all-world defenceman Victor Hedman, 25, for less than $8 million per. Reasonable extension for emerging goaltending star Andrei Vasilevskiy, 21. Convince ownership to buy out Matt Carle. Nikita Kucherov “close” to a new deal. Make up with Jonathan Drouin…. A ton of check marks on the GM’s to-do list. It’s Steve Yzerman’s world, kids. We’re just living in it.

So much to like here. P.K. Subban joins a cast of talented D-men all in their mid-20s, which should give forwards fits for years. Filip Forsberg, 21, gets locked up quickly for six years at $6 million per. And Ryan Johansen and Mike Ribiero get publicly pressured to train their asses off this summer.

Doug Wilson was a major player in the summer of 2015, and his moves resulted in the club’s first-ever Cup Final appearance. This summer he quietly added Mikkel Boedker ($4 million cap hit) and David Schlemko ($2.1 million) while re-signing Tomas Hertl ($3 million). Well done on all accounts. May need a proven No. 2 goalie to replace James Reimer.

We love the hire of head coach Bruce Boudreau, and even though we were all buyer-beware about UFA Eric Staal, Minnesota is so desperate for a top-six centre that three years at $3.5 million appears reasonable. Chris Stewart could add a bit of scoring punch. Thomas Vanek was bought out, and the Wild have thus far resisted trade offers for its young defencemen.

GM Doug Armstrong was wise to trade Brian Elliott before his value dwindled into rental-market territory, but we’re curious to see what he can get back for Kevin Shattenkirk. Jake Allen gets the net for the foreseeable future, and we like Carter Hutton as an affordable backup. Captain David Backes and Troy Brouwer, cogs in the Blues’ deep playoff run, depart, while David Perron (and likely Jaden Schwartz and Vladimir Sobotka) return. And the Blues’ soft transition from coach Ken Hitchcock to Mike Yeo is a creative solution. We like it.

The return of No. 1 goalie Cam Ward (two years at $3.3 million per) is a head-scratcher, but GM Ron Francis held onto his developing D core, landed the undervalued Lee Stempniak for cheap, wisely resisted an Eric Staal return, and cashed in huge by taking Bryan Bickell’s unwanted contract from Chicago. Teuvo Time!

It’s as if Ray Shero watched Jim Rutherford win a Cup with his old Penguins core and said, “OK, I’ll show you show GMing.” Shero swiped Taylor Hall — the type of scoring wizard the Devils have needed since Parise and Kovalchuk peaced out — for Adam Larsson, straight up. Ben Lovejoy and Vernon Fiddler should be decent depth additions for now, as the Devils are still a few years away.

The Red Wings found a buyer for Pavel’s Datsyuk’s cap hit (bravo), re-upped with veteran Darren Helm, landed one of the best UFA centres in Frans Nielsen even though they might regret his no-move clause down the line, and took modest one-year gambles on Thomas Vanek ($2.6 million) and Steve Ott ($800,000). Ken Holland still must re-sign Danny DeKeyser and Petr Mrazek.

Auston Matthews… check. Steven Stamkos… whiff. Any off-season in which you land the first-overall pick is a win, even if you bring back a just-OK UFA defenceman whose deficiencies were exposed in the Cup Final (Roman Polak) and give too much term to a great fourth-liner whose body check count might have been inflated in Brooklyn (Matt Martin).

Thanks to a lottery bump, the Jets drafted NHL-ready sniper Patrik Laine at No. 2. That alone scoots them up this list. Winnipeg then scooped depth players like Shawn Matthias and Brian Strait. RFAs Jacob Trouba and Mark Sheifele still need contracts.

Man, Florida got busy. We like how the Panthers locked up core players Aaron Ekblad, Vincent Trochek and Reilly Smith, but believe both Keith Yandle ($6.35-million cap hit) and Jason Demers ($4.5 million) got overpaid. The long-term signing of James Reimer (five years at $3.4 million per) should smartly ease the transition of Roberto Luongo into the sunset, but we’d still take a healthy Lou over 90% of the NHL goalies out there.

Kyle Okposo — the biggest UFA fish in our opinion since Stamkos stayed put — is an underrated playmaker who should boost the Sabres offence. They’ll need it as Evander Kane continues to make headlines for the wrong reasons. The Dmitry Kulikov trade was a good one for Buffalo. The trick now is re-signing RFA Rasmus Ristolainen, 21, at a favourable rate.

GM Brad Treliving did an excellent job with his goaltending. We love the Brian Elliott/Chad Johnson tandem for a combined $4.2 million — though the Flames don’t have a goalie for 2017-18 yet. So long, Mason Raymond, Josh Jooris and Joe Colborne. Hello, Troy Brouwer: an excellent top-nine winger who now has too much money and too much term. We like the Glen Gulutzan hire a lot, and hope for the Flames’ sake that Johnny Gaudreau and Sean Monahan don’t cipple their cap.

The Coyotes signed UFA winger Jamie McGinn to a reasonable three-year deal and extended RFA backup goalie Louis Domingue for a team-friendly $1.05 million per year. Captain Shane Doan must still be signed. Arizona took on Pavel Datsyuk’s contract to reach the floor and probably stole defence prospect Jakob Chychrun at No. 16 in the draft.

Jim Nill watched three UFA defencemen walk — Jason Demers, Kris Russell, Alex Goligoski — but struck a fantastic value deal in bringing in two years of Dan Hamhuis for $3.75 million per. Now, about those goalies…

GM Jarmo Kekalainen shocked at the draft by picking Pierre-Luc Dubois ahead of countryman Jesse Puljujarvi. The cap-strapped Jackets had to buy out two players (Jared Boll and Fedor Tyutin) and have yet to find a taker for trade bait Scott Hartnell. Huge positive move: Locking up Seth Jones, 21, until 2022 at a cap hit of $5.4 million

The Kings named Anze Kopitar captain, ticking off — but not buying out — Dustin Brown in the process. Coach Darryl Sutter decided to return after thinking about it for a few days. And good-value UFAs Teddy Purcell, Tom Gilbert, Michael Latta and Jeff Zatkoff join the fold. They’ll miss Milan Lucic, though.

Imagine: You add Shea Weber to your blue line and everybody thinks you’re worse off. The P.K. Subban trade was a stunner, but Weber is all-world. We like Alexander Radulov for one year more than Andrew Shaw for six years. Al Montoya will be a pleasant surprise at backup for $950,000. Ultimately, though, Montreal’s decision to not fire its head coach in a summer when so many decent ones were out there is perplexing.

Win some, lose some. GM Stan Bowman rented a bunch of players that failed to help Chicago out of Round 1 of the playoffs, then watched them walk: Andrew Ladd, Tomas Fleischmann, Dale Weise, etc. The Teuvo Teravainen trade might haunt this franchise, but securing Brian Campbell for one year at a $1.5-million cap hit was the biggest bargain of July 1.

In general, I don’t like the off-season of Vancouver because this is a team that is allergic to the type of full-blown rebuild it needs. Still, if the playoffs are your goal, signing Loui Eriksson and buying out Chris Higgins are good decisions. We’ll play wait-and-see on the Erik Gudbranson trade, which could pay off in the short-term here. But the off-season blunder of 2016 goes to GM Jim Benning, fined $50,000 for talking about players he never ended up landing.

Are you like me? Do you feel the Avs’ off-season is far from over? RFAs Nathan MacKinnon and Tyson Barrie still need contracts. Joe Colborne is a decent depth pickup for two years and $5 million total, and Fedor Tyutin was worth a blue-line gamble at one year and $2 million. GM Joe Sakic’s most curious/insulting move? Buying out Brad Stuart despite zero cap relief. Yes, kids, the Avs are a budget team.

The Islanders let key forwards — Kyle Okposo, Matt Martin, Frans Nielsen — walk for nothing and gave too much term (five years) to bottom-six centre Casey Cizikas. Garth Snow did, however, restock the cupboard with an overpriced Andrew Ladd ($5.5 million is John Tavares money) as well as cheaper options like veteran UFAs P.A. Parenteau and Jason Chimera. The best move here is defenceman Travis Hamonic taking back his trade request.

A major player at this time last year, Washington has been relatively quiet, letting Jason Chimera go and bringing in the younger Lars Eller. A pair of restricted free agnets, Marcus Johansson and Dmitry Orlov, ares till looking for raises.

The Oilers landed the most wanted UFA left wing in Milan Lucic, but traded away Taylor Hall before Nail Yakupov, Jordan Eberle and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins. Adam Larsson, 23, is a nice addition to the top four, but he’ll have to be a longtime top-two to justify the Hall trade. Adding Jonas Gustavsson for less than a million bucks to back up Cam Talbot is fine. We expect more moves here.

Thirty-year-old Loui Eriksson out, 32-year-old David Backes in. Both UFAs got $6 million per season. I consider this a step back for the B’s. Like the one-year, low-cost commitment to John-Michael Liles and the re-signing of RFA Torey Krug, 25, for the rest of his 20s. But with Dennis Seidenberg getting bought out, Boston still needs to upgrade its blue line.

GM of the Year Jim Rutherford stomped a boot on Evgeni Malkin trade rumours and allowed Justin Schultz, Matt Cullen and Ben Lovejoy to seek employment elsewhere. How he solves his 1A-1A goaltending situation will be good theatre. The best Penguins-related off-season move is Phil Kessel bringing his Cup party to Toronto.

Philly bought out failed experiment R.J. Umberger, gave four years to depth winger Dale Weise, and committed long-term to improving defenceman Radko Gudas. The fate of RFA Brayden Schenn, 24, still awaits.

This is what happens when you’re a legitimate Cup contender for three or four years. The Rangers saw Eric Staal and Keith Yandle (among others) leave, while bringing in speedy wing Michael Grabner, who couldn’t find a fit with the last-place Maple Leafs.

The Senators fired another head coach that deserved a longer rope, stayed out of the UFA sweepstakes, tinkered with the fringes, and have still not signed important RFAs Cody Ceci and Mike Hoffman.

After finishing with the best defence, power play and penalty kill in the NHL, the Ducks traded away their best goalie, fired their head coach and let good wingers David Perron, Jamie McGinn and Brandon Pirri walk in free agency. Coach Randy Carlyle’s new/old squad extended young D-man Sami Vatanen, has yet to lock up Hampus Lindholm and is reportedly exploring a trade for Cam Fowler. Already known for defence prospects, Anaheim scooped two forwards, Max Jones and Sam Steel, in Round 1 of the draft, then signed buyouts Jared Boll and Mason Raymond.