Re-Grading the Biggest NHL Offseason Trades and Signings After 1 Month Into the 2026-27 Season

It's kind of wild to think about all the time we had during the NHL offseason for trades and signings to settle out, and how quickly everyone got thrown into the fire of a new season. And now that season is a month old, and we've got an appetizer of those players in new locations, which gives us plenty of early ammo to judge how they've done.

We're sensitive to how much being a new player in a new situation can be difficult to start, and we'll do our best not to be too harsh, but the play can force the issue, good or bad. It's not quite a report card, so don't sweat showing it to your parents, but just know we're watching closely anyway.

JJ Peterka's arrival in Boston via trade with Utah got him back on the East Coast and playing for fellow German head coach Marco Sturm. That combination of elements, as well as Peterka providing speed and skill to the Bruins lineup, is paying off early on.

Through 12 games, Peterka has four goals and five assists, and while David Pastrňák leads the team in scoring by far with 17 points, Peterka is part of a mass of Boston players supporting him in a big way. After getting beaten by Buffalo in the first round of the playoffs last year due in part to not being as fast as them, Peterka adds that to Boston's lineup without altering the way the team plays.

Peterka's scored 25-plus goals in three straight seasons, and with the style of game he's got and the way the Bruins are playing in general, it's not wrong to think that Peterka could crack 30 goals for the first time in his career (he's on pace for 27).

It's been a very average start to the season for the Blues. Literally.

They're 5-5-1 and in the middle of the pack in the NHL. That said, one of the reasons they've been successful this season is the summertime trade acquisition of Mason McTavish.

McTavish is tied for the team lead in scoring with Dylan Holloway, with 10 points, and his six goals are tied for the team lead with Jimmy Snuggerud. McTavish's no-quit style and up-tempo play have been an ideal fit for the Blues in their new lineup.

His advanced stats are middle of the road but not negative, and if you're hoping for sustainability, those are good signs. That he's on pace for around 45 goals should have Blues fans beyond excited.

There's a lot to like about what Pavel Dorofeyev has shown with the Rangers, but there are causes for concern just the same.

In 14 games, Dorofeyev has three goals and five assists, a pace of 18 goals and 47 points. After signing him to a seven-year, $77 million deal this summer after acquiring his rights from Vegas, that outcome would be a brutal start to his Blueshirts career.

Of course, Dorofeyev is a shooter, and shooters can be streaky. Right now, he's in a cold spell. He's shooting 7.1 percent this season, and coming into this season, his career average was 14.8 percent. Generally, players don't stay cold all season, so things are bound to turn around.

On the flip side, Dorofeyev's bad luck might also mean poor defensive results when he's on the ice, too. His plus-minus rating is minus-13, which ties him with Patrick Kane for the lowest mark in the NHL. We know plus-minus is not a catch-all stat, but when it's a mark that's tied for worst in the league, there's no amount of spinning you can do to make it look better. It's just bad.

The offense will rebound eventually, and the defensive numbers should improve with them. At least the Rangers hope they will.

When Alex Tuch and the Buffalo Sabres couldn't come to terms on keeping the Syracuse-area native in Western New York, the Capitals were more than happy to add him, knowing full well that Alex Ovechkin didn't have many more years left to play. Right now, it looks like they were geniuses, even if they did pay a high price.

Tuch's eight-year, $84 million deal in a sign-and-trade with Buffalo has provided the Capitals with nine points in 10 games (tying him with Dylan Strome for the team lead) as well as a team leading seven goals. His skills have been a natural fit in Washington and have helped the Caps out to a 6-4-0 start, including a 5-2-0 home record.

Tuch has teamed up on a line with Strome and fellow newcomer Jordan Kyrou and if that's how they're going to start the season, maintaining that success will be vital to getting Washington back to the playoffs and being Eastern Conference contenders.

Florida adding Brady Tkachuk to their roster to join his brother Matthew was always going to be a high-profile move and ripe for scrutiny if it didn't work out. Apart from the tough showing in Ottawa on Brady's return to face the team he scorned, things have gone very well for him with the Panthers.

Brady leads the Panthers with seven goals, and he's tied for second on the Panthers in scoring with Seth Jones with 12 points, trailing only his brother Matthew with 16 points. Brady not needing to be a captain in Florida and just focusing on playing hockey is working out quite well for him so far, and it's benefiting the Panthers.

Florida is right in the mix in the middle of everything in the Atlantic Division and Eastern Conference, while going without Aleksander Barkov and Brad Marchand, as well as missing goalie Jacob Markström for a spell. Adding Brady to the mix was always going to be a bit of a luxury, but for now it's playing out a little better than expected.

Part of how the Utah Mammoth wanted to build on making the playoffs a year ago was to add more experience and veteran leadership to their extremely talented young core. The easiest way they did that was to add Vincent Trocheck from the New York Rangers.

Trocheck's value to the Mammoth won't necessarily be measured through points and goals, although they do help. His role with Utah is to take on that responsibility to win draws (63.1 percent) and give scorers like Logan Cooley and Dylan Guenther someone to defend strongly on their line.

Trocheck is helping his line maintain the puck and generate shots (56.5 CorsiFor%) as well as facilitating high-quality chances at 5-on-5 (62.8 xGF%). With three goals and four assists in 12 games, on top of the strong advanced numbers, he's off to a very good start while playing a much larger role.

When Bowen Byram let the Buffalo Sabres know he wasn't interested in signing an extension there and was ready to move on to be a No. 1 defenseman elsewhere, the Chicago Blackhawks were more than eager to make that happen.

Chicago took Byram and Jordan Greenway from Buffalo in exchange for the No. 4 pick in the draft, a second-round pick, and Louis Crevier, and then signed Byram to a six-year, $75 million extension to keep him from becoming a free agent. With hopes being sky-high for a turnaround, things could not be going worse for the Blackhawks and Byram.

In six games, Byram has no goals and one assist and has a plus-minus of minus-7. Although his advanced stats are among the best on his team, they're not very good in either shots (45.4 CorsiFor%) or shot quality (40.5 xGF%) at 5-on-5. Meanwhile, the 'Hawks are 3-8-0 to start the season, and there have been little to no signs of improvement even after Connor Bedard's return from injury.

It's early in Byram's Chicago career, and you have to hope this is as tough as it'll be.

When the Panthers brought Jacob Markström back to Florida in a trade with New Jersey to replace Sergei Bobrovsky, the hope was that the veteran would get his mojo back where his career began. The bar Bobrovsky set last season was low to clear, although his legacy with two Stanley Cups also makes it impossibly difficult.

Although Markström is dealing with an injury now, the start of his reunion with Florida has been decent enough. He's 3-1-1 in six games with an .897 save percentage and a shutout. It helps to note that the current league average is .892 for context.

His 2.21 goals-against average is solid, and while the Panthers have had other serious injuries interrupt their aim to return to glory, the play that Markström has provided has given them reason to feel positive about where things can go.

It's easy to forget Markström has had seasons where he was among the best goalies in the league, and once/if the Panthers get back to good health, having him near the top of his game will give them the chance to be in the mix for the Cup again.

During the offseason, one of the biggest shopping list items for the San Jose Sharks was to add experienced defensemen to help push them further up the standings and back into the postseason. Arguably, their biggest addition was Darnell Nurse in a trade with Edmonton.

The move to add Nurse had more detractors than it did supporters, but with the way the Sharks play, a defensive defenseman like Nurse (and Jacob Trouba) was seen as a natural fit. Through 11 games, Nurse has a goal and an assist while playing just over 21 minutes a night. Unfortunately, the Sharks are allowing 3.5 goals per game while scoring 3.0 themselves, and that's never a positive for both the goaltending and defense. In Nurse's case, his 5-on-5 advanced stats are deeply worrying.

Nurse's shot metrics (38.8 CorsiFor%) as well as shot quality (36.0 xGF%) are the worst on the team among regulars. A defenseman playing the kind of minutes he does and spending most of the time seeing tons of shots against and struggling to deny quality opportunities is a major contributing factor to the Sharks' goals-against problem. Better goaltending may help stop some of the goals, but when defense is helping allow so many opportunities, it's an issue that goes deeper.

When the St. Louis Blues moved Jordan Kyrou to Washington in an offseason trade, it gave Kyrou the opportunity to start fresh after a couple of difficult seasons with the Blues. Teaming up with another new Capitals forward is working out well for him and the team all the same.

In 10 games, Kyrou has two goals and six assists (eight points), and he's been able to give the Capitals a dynamic second line with Alex Tuch and Dylan Strome. While Tuch leads the team in goals, Kyrou running and gunning with him and Strome is proving to be difficult for opposing teams to contain, especially when the Caps are at home, where they're 5-2-0.

Although Kyrou was much more of a goal scorer with the Blues, those opportunities are sure to come with Washington. Still, his eight points are tied for second most on the team and just a point behind both of his linemates, who lead the team.

When Sergei Bobrovsky and the Florida Panthers weren't able to work something out, where he landed in free agency was a bit of a mystery. Seeing him land with the Toronto Maple Leafs as part of their massive offseason makeover was somewhat surprising. So far, whatever expectations could be had for his performance have been met...depending on your point of view.

If the hope was to see the Bobrovsky who took over in the postseason for the Panthers and was a world beater, then there's disappointment to be had. If the player we've seen during the regular season the past few years was who you thought you'd see, then you're looking like the smartest person in the room.

Bobrovsky's 3-4-2 record with an .897 save percentage and 3.02 goals-against average is just above league average. Although backup Anthony Stolarz has better save percentage numbers (.907 SV%; 2.79 GAA), the lead job is Bobrovsky's, but the dual setup and the reemergence of Auston Matthews have the Leafs off to a strong start. If Bob can play steady and get Toronto back to the playoffs, the hope of seeing "Playoff Bob" is enough to give the Leafs reason to believe.

Patrick Kane's return to Chicago was celebrated by many Blackhawks fans, and his two-year, $16 million deal to come back and, ideally, help be the veteran guide for a young team to get back to the playoffs was something the player and team were enthusiastic about.

On the one hand, Kane is leading Chicago in scoring with seven points (one goal, six assists) in 11 games. On the downside, he's tied with Rangers forward Pavel Dorofeyev with a minus-13 plus-minus rating for the lowest mark in the NHL. Chicago went without Connor Bedard for the start of the season, so Kane leading them in points so early may not be too big of a surprise. That it's with just seven points while the 'Hawks average 2.18 goals per game is a team-wide concern.

Chicago wasn't signing Kane to compete for the Selke Trophy, but a poor defense metric like plus-minus is one thing, while the advanced numbers at 5-on-5 are also suffering greatly (39.2 CF%; 36.9 xGF%) is another. With team-wide numbers suffering similarly, the issues are well beyond what Kane is doing (or isn't).