As it was last year around this time, I thought that it would be interesting to see how of the teams stack up against one another heading into Free Agency.

Who are the strongest teams offensively? Which teams have the best group of defensively minded forwards? What teams are strong in one area, but weak in another?

As an Oilers fan of the Eighties, firepower will once again be the primary focus - SC and PA ratings - as it has been in the previous two articles. But I’ve also included a breakdown of DF ratings; but for forwards only.

This is because most teams have 80+ DF rated dmen for 4 or more of their top 6 so I felt including them would be a bit irrelevant.

Please note that all pending UFAs were ignored, and all unsigned RFAs were included since the assumption is that they would be re-signed eventually.

Please also note that this is an examination of team rosters on an organizational level; there are plenty of teams with guys that have 70+PA or 70+DF stashed on their farms. And while I know some if not all of them will start on the farm when the season starts, it’s still team depth.

As a reminder, ratings of 80 and above are generally considered ‘elite’ or top line player ratings whereas ratings of 70 to 79 are generally considered secondary ratings.

One major thing to remember when looking at these charts is that this doesn’t mean that the Kings have 2 guys with elite scoring and 5 guys with secondary passing abilities. In a lot of these cases, the scorers and passers shown on a team are the same player; i.e. Conner McDavid is a 86 SC and a 99 PA.

Here’s how the league shakes out heading into FA:

As an extra bit of analysis, here’s how all of the teams stack up to one another conference wise:

So what does this all mean?

As you can see, most teams have some amount of secondary scoring and at least one or two ‘elite’ scorers or passers. The same follows with DF ratings where all teams have a number of secondary defensive forwards and at least one ‘elite’ defensive forward.

And once again, clearly like last season, the distribution of firepower is definitely in the East!

The most balanced team offensively in the league (and top team in the league in my estimation) at the moment would have to be Rich’s Islanders; he not only has a balance of high-end scorers and passers, but plenty of secondary scoring and passing to back them up. However, with only one elite defensive forward, the Isles might have a problem stopping pucks as well.

The East is once again incredibly stacked with 5 teams with 4 or more elite scorers on their roster in addition to the Islanders, with the Panthers, Devils and Hurricanes following close behind with 3 players with elite scoring each. Even Kirk’s defending Stanley Cup Senators are middle of the pack in the East at the moment.

There’s a little more separation when it comes to PA where teams like Detroit, Carolina and Montreal might want to consider adding some high end passing depth to their lineup because at the moment, they have plenty of guys that can bury the puck in the net, but no one to dish them the puck.

It’s also fairly safe to that Anthony will once again be last in the East with the Leafs, Blue Jackets and Sabers rounding out the bottom four.

Out West, my Hawks should be once again the team to beat as the team make up offensively heading into FA is only a step below Long Island in elite scoring and passing at the moment. Rounding out the top teams in the West are Bryce’s Aves, and Junya’s Stars with Colorado boasting one more elite scorer than Dallas, but the Stars having a bit more rounded depth.

And it drops off pretty significantly from there…

Of the 14 teams in the West, 10 teams currently have one (or less!) elite scorer on their roster.

The team to watch out West is Kevin’s Flames and how they perform this season. Calgary has only one elite scorer and only a couple more elite passers. However, they have a shit-ton of secondary scoring; the most of any other team in the league. So while they might not have one elite scoring line, it looks to be that they can field a lineup that can score on all four lines.

A big concern heading into FA for Kevin is his lack of defensive forwards. On the whole, the West is a little more defensive that the East and that could pose a problem for the Flames, especially with their lack of elite scoring.

An to no one’s surprise, it looks like the Ducks will finish among the bottom of the West along with Tyler’s Sharks and Rob’s Canucks.

Now of course, a lot can change between now and the start of the season, but there’s only 8 ‘elite’ goal scorers and 13 elite passers available in this year’s UFA crop; and as usual, they are going to be in demand.

So start planning your trade and UFA strategies now folks!