Catching Up on the NHL's Biggest 2023 Off-Season Forward Changes

The NHL's silly season brought a ton of changes on offense, including Pierre-Luc Dubois and Alex DeBrincat heading to new teams. Carol Schram shares the top storylines.

Whether you've been travelling, cottaging or just working as usual this summer, it's understandable if you haven't been keeping tabs on every off-season NHL transaction.

This week, I'm here to get you caught up. I covered the goalies who landed in new homes on Tuesday, then ran down the defensemen on Thursday. 

Today, the forwards are in the spotlight. And even though we didn't see any bank-breaking UFA signings on par with, say, John Tavares's deal with the Toronto Maple Leafs back in 2018, forwards do make up more than half of every NHL roster. Even though GMs don't have much money to spend, there has been quite a bit of movement.

Here's a look at the trades and signings that have been most significant — and a few that look particularly savvy.

Let's begin in Winnipeg, where the Jets kicked off a major adjustment up front by buying out Blake Wheeler and trading Pierre-Luc Dubois.

Wheeler was the last member of the Atlanta Thrashers still on the Winnipeg roster. He had served as captain for six seasons before having his letter stripped when Rick Bowness took over last year. 

While Wheeler remained productive with 55 points in 72 games and added another six points in Winnipeg's first-round loss to the Vegas Golden Knights, it may have been inevitable that he'd be bought out of the final year of his contract, which carried a cap hit of $8.25 million.

Turning 37 at the end of August, Wheeler signed on with the New York Rangers on a bargain deal at $800,000, with $300,000 in potential performance bonuses. He joins 35-year-old Nick Bonino and 31-year-old Tyler Pitlick as the new veteran forward additions to a veteran team on Broadway under new coach Peter Laviolette, essentially replacing trade-deadline acquisitions Patrick Kane and Vladimir Tarasenko.

The buyout gave the Jets $5.5 million in additional cap space for next season, according to PuckPedia. The savings proved useful when signing their new players. Three days before cutting Wheeler free, GM Kevin Cheveldayoff dealt center Pierre-Luc Dubois to the Los Angeles Kings after signing him to an eight-year extension at a cap hit of $8.5 million per season — a sign-and-trade which delivered a significant raise from the one-year qualifying offer of $6 million that Dubois accepted last summer.

Now 25, the third-overall pick from 2016 has 302 points in 434 NHL games — sixth in his draft class behind Auston Matthews and Patrik Laine, who were selected before him, and also Matthew Tkachuk (491 pts), Alex DeBrincat (373 pts) and Clayton Keller (342 pts).

Cheveldayoff's hand was forced after Dubois made it clear he didn't intend to re-sign in Winnipeg when he reached unrestricted free agency. So the GM did very well by bringing back what could be an entirely new second line, as well as extracting a second-round pick in 2024 from the Kings.

Rasmus Kupari is the center from the deal: a 23-year-old with good size at 6-foot-2 and 200 pounds who was drafted 20th overall in 2018. Because of the Kings' forward depth and because he remained waiver-exempt through this season, Kupari has played strictly in a bottom-six role in his 130 NHL games to date. But he's strong on draws, and without arbitration rights, he came in at a very nice number for Winnipeg on Aug. 2 — signed for two years at a cap hit of $1 million and still an RFA at the end of the deal. 

Kupari may find himself flanked by his two Kings teammates this fall. Gabe Vilardi was also listed as a center when he was drafted 11th overall in 2017. But after injuries slowed his development, he broke out last year as a right winger, with 23 goals and 41 points in 63 games. 

After earning $825,000 with the Kings last season, Vilardi agreed to a two-year deal with Winnipeg that carries a cap hit of just over $3.4 million a year. He'll also remain an RFA when that deal expires.

The third player acquired by the Jets is Alex Iafallo, a 29-year-old left winger. He's a reliable 36-point man who can contribute on both special teams and is signed for two more seasons at a cap hit of $4 million.

Finally, after picking up versatile utility forward Vladislav Namestnikov at the 2023 trade deadline, Cheveldayoff re-upped with the 30-year-old for another two seasons at a cap hit of $2 million.

Having Dubois join Anze Kopitar and Phillip Danault in the middle gives Los Angeles some of the most formidable center depth in the league. The trade looks a lot like most of Blake's deals from the past few years, where he has swapped solid prospects for high-end players that he hopes can help his group make some serious playoff noise sooner rather than later.

Like Dubois, Alex DeBrincat was also getting close to unrestricted free agency and looking for a change of scenery.

On July 9, Ottawa GM Pierre Dorion granted the 25-year-old's request. DeBrincat was dealt back to his home state of Michigan in exchange for forward Dominik Kubalik, defense prospect Donovan Sebrango and a pair of 2024 draft picks.

At a reasonable cap hit of $2.5 million, Kubalik is coming off a decent 45-point season with the Red Wings and scored 30 goals as a rookie in Chicago in 2019-20. Sebrango is an Ottawa native who played for the Junior Senators while growing up. 

DeBrincat earned $9 million in actual salary off a cap hit of $6.4 million last season. So Dorion really completed his return on the deal when he repurposed that cap hit by signing UFA Vladimir Tarasenko to a one-year deal at $5 million.

The 31-year-old is one of the purest goal-scorers currently active, with six 30-goal seasons under his belt. He'll make an already-dangerous Ottawa forward group even more intimidating, especially on the power play. And if the Sens do find themselves outside the playoff picture at the deadline, Dorion can likely collect additional assets by dealing him away to a playoff contender.

Once he landed in Detroit, DeBrincat signed a new four-year deal at a cap hit of just under $7.9 million. 

One year after adding veterans David Perron and Andrew Copp up front on multi-year pacts, Steve Yzerman furthered shored up his forward group again this summer. He snagged arguably the top UFA center in J.T. Compher at five years at $5.1 million annually and signed rugged Klim Kostin for two years at a $2-million cap hit, 21-goal bottom-six forward Daniel Sprong on a one-year deal at $2 million and energetic Christian Fischer for one year at $1.125 million.

With Nathan MacKinnon's league-high $12.6-million-a-year extension set to kick in this fall, the 2022 Stanley Cup champions had no choice but to say goodbye to Compher after he stepped up to fill the void left by Nazem Kadri's departure a year ago. 

But in his first full summer with the GM title, Chris MacFarland got creative when re-setting Colorado's center depth. 

First, he acquired 31-year-old Ryan Johansen from the Nashville Predators in exchange for impending UFA Alex Galchenyuk, with the Preds retaining 50 percent of Johansen's cap hit for the two remaining seasons on his deal. 

At the full $8 million, Johansen's 28 points in 55 games last season were disappointing. But $4 million lands a lot differently on a team's cap payroll. Johansen is just one year removed from a 63-point campaign, and he's a consistent faceoff ace — something the Avalanche can really use behind MacKinnon.

Three days after the Johansen acquisition, MacFarland then cut ties with his best up-and-coming center, Alex Newhook — a first-round pick in 2019 who was coming off back-to-back 30-point seasons.

But Newhook went to Montreal for two draft picks — a first and a second in 2023, plus a defense prospect who spent last season on the sidelines with a knee injury.

And one day after trading Newhook away, MacFarland sent the second-round pick he'd acquired to the Tampa Bay Lightning in exchange for Ross Colton — a soon-to-be 27-year-old who is also coming off back-to-back 30-point seasons. Colton's a little more mature and is strong at both ends of the ice and on the face-off dot. 

Colton was an RFA with arbitration rights — and a case that was realistically too strong for the cap-strapped Lightning to be able to keep him around. They got a promising prospect in Ethan Gauthier with the 37th pick, and MacFarland was able to sign Colton to a four-year deal with a $4-million cap hit.

Just like that, the Avs are solid again at center — without breaking the bank, and with another defense prospect in the system thanks to that 31st pick they received from Montreal, they got Mikhail Gulyayev.

With Gabriel Landeskog heading back to long-term injured reserve next season, MacFarland also had enough cap flexibility to add a couple more forwards on July 1. He turned heads by signing gritty Miles Wood to a six-year deal with a cap hit of $2.5 million per season. And, he went under the radar with the value signing of MacKinnon's old teammate from the Halifax Mooseheads, Jonathan Drouin. 

Drafted two spots after MacKinnon at No. 3 in 2013, it's been a rough go for Drouin, who has dealt with injuries and other issues. But he has put up 50-plus points twice in his career and is still just 28. 

It's a similar deal to Connor Brown's signing in Edmonton, which reunites him with his junior teammate, Connor McDavid. But Brown's deal carries $4 million in easily attainable bonuses, which will almost certainly be tacked onto next season's cap total for the Oilers. 

Drouin's contract is a straight one-year deal with a cap hit of $825,000. There's virtually no downside to this gamble for the Avs.

Colton's move to Colorado is part of what seems like an annual ritual for the Tampa Bay Lightning, where Julien Brisebois has to part ways with promising young forwards who simply won't fit in the team's salary-cap structure. 

As a rookie, Colton was part of Tampa Bay's 2021 Cup run, so he leaves with a ring. Alex Killorn has also moved on after 11 years and two championships — reuniting with former Lightning assistant GM Pat Verbeek to help mentor the promising young core in Anaheim on a four-year deal with a cap hit of $6.25 million. Pat Maroon also moves on to Minnesota after four years and two Cups in Tampa, and Corey Perry has signed on in Chicago after seeing his streak of three-straight Stanley Cup final appearances snapped this spring.

This summer, the Lightning went with inexpensive, responsible veterans to support their roster. Conor Sheary, 31, got a three-year deal at a cap hit of $2 million, while 34-year-old Luke Glendening and 30-year-old Josh Archibald each got two years at $800,000.

In Chicago, the Blackhawks move into their new era without Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews with the generational rookie, Connor Bedard, and some veteran support that includes Perry, Nick Foligno, Ryan Donato and another former first overall pick, Taylor Hall. 

Foligno and Hall leave a Boston team that will also be without retired Patrice Bergeron and, presumably, David Krejci — as well as trade deadline acquisitions Tyler Bertuzzi and Garnet Hathaway. The Bruins brought back Milan Lucic this off-season, as well as signing free agents Morgan Geekie, Jesper Boqvist and James van Riemsdyk.

In JVR's former home, Philadelphia, Kevin Hayes also departed for St. Louis. Hathaway was the only noteworthy off-season signing, but the Flyers should also get a boost from having Sean Couturier and Cam Atkinson back and healthy this fall.

Bertuzzi, of course, signed a one-year deal worth $5.5 million in Toronto, where the Maple Leafs also added Ryan Reaves and legacy forward Max Domi, whose father Tie was a fan favorite back in the day. 

Late-season additions Sam Lafferty and Matthew Knies will also be back for the Leafs, who lost UFA Michael Bunting to Carolina in free agency while trade-deadline acquisition Ryan O'Reilly decided to sign in Nashville.

With Barry Trotz now in the GM's chair and Andrew Brunette behind the bench, the Predators will look very different up front this fall. O'Reilly will be joined by free-agent signings Gustav Nyquist and Denis Gurianov after Johansen went to Colorado and Matt Duchene signed in Dallas when he was bought out of his deal. 

Those departures come on the heels of the Preds' trades of Mikael Granlund, Nino Niederreiter and Tanner Jeannot at the trade deadline. Look for younger faces like Yakov Trenin, Thomas Novak, Cody Glass and Juuso Parssinen to all play bigger roles up front for the Preds next season.