No, with a better offseason maybe.

they had a good offseason adding key pieces they were lacking. 2nd line C...fixed. Depth wingers who have high upside and sound defensively...check. Still have an elite top line and elite puck moving Dmen..check. Added Cs who can win faceoffs....check

In all honesty with the cap hell that the Rangers are in after signing Panarin you guys should be very thankful you didn't get him or some other overpaid 30 year old. I feel like they could've gotten more for Barrie but overall I'd give the offseason a B grade

Barrie just wasnt going to be kept, hes going to get 8m as a UFA next year. Kadri is as solid as a true 2C there and signed 3 years at 4.5m....the Avs top6 C depth is signed for under 11m combined is just silly, especially since those guys could produce 60-70 goals. I am ok with the return for Barrie. Its pretty fair to be honest.

Panarin would have been fun to have on this team, but the same issues would still be in place. I think B-B+ is a fair assessment to their offseason. Its not flashy but the team got better and much harder to play again and didnt sacrifice its identity to do so.

I'll give it a C or C-. I just don't think they used their trade assets and cap space well enough. They didn't have the worst possible offseason. Depending how they perform this year it could rise to a B-, maybe a B.

I'm being hard on them though.