- Capitals landed Jordan Kyrou and Alex Tuch in back-to-back June blockbusters
- Rangers rebuilt their forward group and blue line around Pavel Dorofeyev
- Read below for the three NHL teams that got the most done this summer
A month into the 2026 offseason, most of the big moves are already in the books.
Three teams did more than tinker. The Capitals, Rangers, and Predators each came out of the summer looking meaningfully better than they did in the spring.
Washington set the tone. The Capitals grabbed Jordan Kyrou from the Blues, then landed Alex Tuch a day later in a sign-and-trade with Buffalo.
Kyrou cost them Connor McMichael, a first-round pick, and prospect Milton Gastrin. Tuch came over for a 2027 third-rounder and David Kampf, and he signed an eight-year, $84 million extension on the way in.
A healthy Pierre-Luc Dubois helps too, after a hip issue held him to just 27 games. Washington missed the playoffs despite 96 points last season, and coach Spencer Carbery thinks the deeper roster is built to erase that miss.
Here’s the league making the Tuch trade official:
New York took a different route. The Rangers pried Pavel Dorofeyev away from Vegas at the draft, then signed him to a seven-year, $77 million deal.
Dorofeyev is coming off a career-high 37-goal, 64-point season, and he just turned 25. The Rangers are betting he pushes for 40 in a bigger role.
Their blue line got a makeover too. New York shipped Vincent Trocheck to Utah for Sean Durzi and added Marcus Pettersson from Vancouver, giving them a top four that can actually move the puck. Dorofeyev is even projected for the top line alongside Alexis Lafreniere.
Take a look at the Rangers welcoming their new sniper:
Nashville might have been the busiest of all. New general manager Chris MacFarland spent the summer flipping picks for players who can help right now.
He brought in Ross Colton, Jack Drury, Nils Hoglander, Alex Kerfoot, and Mavrik Bourque, reworking the forward group from the bottom up. None of them are stars, but every one of them can play a role.
MacFarland wanted winners around Nashville’s young core, which is the same thinking behind his move to reunite with Matt Calvert on the staff.
Check out the Bourque swap with Dallas:
Different routes, same result. All three should look a lot better than they did in the spring when the puck drops in October.
