It's been a busy summer for many teams. The Philadelphia Flyers underwent a major overhaul, shipping off Jeff Carter and Mike Richards to make room for Ilya Bryzgalov and Jaromir Jagr. The Minnesota Wild and San Jose Sharks traded stars -- Martin Havlat for Dany Heatley -- and the New York Rangers won the Brad Richards sweepstakes.
Capitals rising
Rating how much of an impact each team's offseason moves has had, based on the change in each team's GVT.
Team Change in GVT
Washington 29.8
Toronto 21.1
Florida 16.3
N.Y. Rangers 14.8
Edmonton 12.7
Buffalo 11.3
Columbus 10.1
N.Y. Islanders 8.1
Carolina 7.4
Detroit 6.8
St. Louis 3.9
Los Angeles 3.7
Ottawa 3.5
Chicago 2.2
Colorado 1.3
Anaheim 0.9
New Jersey 0.0
Pittsburgh -0.9
Dallas -2.4
Boston -3.3
Winnipeg -4.2
Calgary -6.4
San Jose -6.8
Minnesota -10.6
Tampa Bay -13.0
Nashville -13.4
Vancouver -13.9
Montreal -25.5
Philadelphia -25.9
Phoenix -27.6
These teams all have one more thing in common: None of them made the biggest overall impact this summer.
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Would I be a coward if I asked to wait until all the wheeling and dealing is done before I answer that?
I'd also like to run a calculation that takes into account players returning from injury, the development of young players (and decline of the older), as well as the regression to the mean of players that over or underachieved.
However, if you pressed me on it today, I'd say the Rangers are definitely looking very strong right now, yes. They were really unlucky in 2009-10, stung by injuries in 2010-11, and now it might finally be their year.
I think the Rangers have a lot of work left to do this season with key RFA's yet to sign in Callahan, Dubinsky and Boyle, not to mention a paper-thin defense. A forward for defenseman swap seems pretty much iminent. How they address this situation will determine their outlook in the fall. They definitely have a nice core right now, especially if they keep those aforementioned RFA's at a reasonable price.
4 comments have been left for this article. 
Player Power Rankings: Niemi Vaults To Top
Interesting. Do you think the Islanders are a playoff team now, and should the Rangers win the Atlantic?