The dust has settled on the National Hockey League's offseason following a hectic period featuring trades, free agent signings, major contract extensions and both the expansion and entry drafts.

Now it's time to grade the offseason work of the seven Canadian teams in the NHL, with an eye towards both short-term and long-term goals of each club.

Calgary Flames: A-

General manager Brad Treliving knows the foundation of his club is on the back end, and he solidified an already-impressive core group by acquiring Travis Hamonic from the Islanders and re-signing his own free agent defenseman Michael Stone. Those moves give the Flames a Top 5 on D of Mark Giordano, Dougie Hamilton, T.J. Brodie, Hamonic and Stone, a deep defense corps that rivals any other in the league, and one in which all five players are signed at least through the 2019-20 season.

Treliving also brought in 35-year-old Mike Smith from the Coyotes to hopefully stabilize the revolving door of goalies in Calgary, letting Brian Elliott and Chad Johnson both depart as free agents. The theory here is that Smith, a former NHL All Star, can regain his form playing behind such a solid group of defensemen and provide more consistency than Elliott and Johnson did a year ago. This is no sure thing, however. Smith was hurt two years back and has not played in the post-season since the Coyotes run to the Western Conference Final in the spring of 2012. Eddie Lack comes over from the Hurricanes to serve as a quality veteran back up to Smith this season, a savvy move by Treliving.

Up front, the Flames re-signed Kris Versteeg, who scored 15 goals last season, and inked the sought-after college free agent Spencer Foo, who was a 2016-17 Hobey Baker Award finalist while scoring 26 goals and 62 points in 38 games at Union College.

Other than the two goalies and defensemen Deryk Engelland and Dennis Wideman, no key regulars left the Flames roster this off season.

Edmonton Oilers: A-

It took an armored truck-worth of cash, but the Oilers signed franchise cornerstone and reigning league MVP Connor McDavid to an eight-year contract extension, far and away the most important piece of business conducted by GM Peter Chiarelli this summer. Will McDavid's salary cap hit of $12.5 million be difficult for the Oilers to navigate in the coming years? Sure; but keep in mind McDavid also could have grinded the Oilers for even more money, and likely gotten it as the game's next superstar. This is the price of doing business when you have a special player like McDavid, and Chiarelli did well on term and as best as he could on dollars.

Of course, now Chiarelli has to sign restricted free agent Leon Draisaitl, who is coming off a 29-goal, 77-point season. It's going to cost the Oilers, and we'll see if Chiarelli keeps the cap hit under $7 million, but, like McDavid, getting Draisaitl's name on a contract is vital. The Oilers can't let this drag into training camp, though the guess here is that the 21-year-old offensive stud will be signed by September.

The Oilers created some financial flexibility by trading Jordan Eberle to the Islanders, and received enigmatic 24-year-old Ryan Strome, a former first rounder, in return. That's a win on both ends of the trade for the Oilers, especially if Strome recaptures his 50-point form of three years ago. Re-signing Zack Kassian and bringing in free agent Jussi Jokinen also were solid moves up front, with Jokinen set to provide a veteran two-way presence on the bottom-six even after a down year with the Panthers in 2016-17.

Kris Russell was re-signed on defense and fellow d-man Eric Gryba was extended. Buying out Benoit Pouliot was addition by subtraction, and neither departed veteran forward Matt Hendricks nor David Desharnais will be missed. Banged-up former captain Andrew Ferrence retired in mid-July.

#Oilers defenceman Andrew Ference has announced his retirement from professional hockey after 16 @NHL seasons: https://t.co/OX5RrOBLYV pic.twitter.com/1hIe8u8UgI — Edmonton Oilers (@EdmontonOilers) July 13, 2017

Montreal Canadiens: B-

Perhaps the toughest team to grade overall is the Montreal Canadiens.

On the positive side, the Habs locked up franchise goaltender Carey Price with an eight-year contract extension, acquired talented 22-year-old forward Jonathan Drouin in a trade with the Lightning and then signed him to a long-term contract, signed shut-down defender Karl Alzner, and re-signed Alex Galchenyuk after months of speculation that the skilled 23-year-old who scored 30 goals two years ago would be traded.

However, on the flip side the Canadiens lost out on UFA Alexander Radulov, who was third on the team in goals and second in scoring last season. The Canadiens would have been more of a contender with Radulov and Drouin in the same lineup, as opposed to Drouin replacing Radulov's production. Montreal also may have added Alzner on the back end, but the Habs lost defensemen Alexei Emelin, Nathan Beaulieu, Mikhail Sergachev and, likely, Andrei Markov this off season. Down the road, making the goalie your highest-paid player by far, a plan which rarely works in the NHL, very possibly backfires. And the most glaring hole entering the summer was at center, a need that was not addressed by Marc Bergevin, unless either Drouin or Galchenyuk gets a whack at that opportunity.

Ottawa Senators: D+

It's hard to imagine a return trip to the Eastern Conference Final for the Senators who lost an important piece of the 2016-17 club--defenseman Marc Methot--while failing to fortify a good--though largely overachieving--roster.

Methot was lost in the expansion draft, to be replaced from within. The club's main off-season acquisition was gritty bottom-six center Nate Thompson, a Guy Boucher favorite from their time together with the Lightning several years ago.

On the positive side, Sens GM Pierre Dorion did get back up goaltender Mike Condon and two-way forward Tom Pyatt to sign contract extensions.

Toronto Maple Leafs: B

If the Maple Leafs signed Patrick Marleau to a one or two-year contract instead of a three-year deal this summer, it'd be easier to give them a higher grade. Yet it is difficult to overlook that Marleau will be 38-years-old on opening night and will chew up a team-high $6.25 million against the salary cap for the next three years, past his 40th birthday. No question he is extremely durable, having not missed a game since the 2008-09 season, and productive--he passed the 500-goal plateau with a 27-goal output last year--but it is still difficult to believe this contract will look good in 2019-20. In the short term, Marleau should provide a boost offensively to the lineup and much veteran leadership, as long as he adjusts easily to leaving the Sharks, for whom he played his entire 19-year career previously.

“It's definitely an honour to be able to call myself a Maple Leaf.”



Read more from Patrick Marleau: https://t.co/DDBNVrl6RW#TMLtalk — Toronto Maple Leafs (@MapleLeafs) July 3, 2017

Lou Lamoriello and company also brought in two other high-character veterans, Stanley Cup-winning defenseman Ron Hainsey and fourth-line center Dominic Moore, while re-signing Zach Hyman to a four-year deal and backup goalie Curtis McElhinney to a two-year contract. The Maple Leafs let Brian Boyle and Matt Hunwick, among others, walk.

Vancouver Canucks: B

The most important move by the Canucks this off-season was hiring Travis Green to replace Willie Desjardins as head coach. For several years now Green has been viewed as an up and coming name in the coaching ranks, following successes in Portland of the WHL and Utica in the AHL; and with the Canucks' youth movement in full swing, the time to hire Green is now as he coached many of Vancouver's top prospects down in the minors.

By signing Sam Gagner, who scored 50 points with the Blue Jackets last season, and smooth-skating defenseman Michael Del Zotto, the Canucks provided Green with a couple veterans who can generate offense. The low-cost, possible high-reward signing of the talented, yet frustrating, Alexander Burmistrov gives Green perhaps another weapon on offense, not to mention a fresh opportunity for the skilled 25-year-old.

Ryan Miller left the Canucks as a free agent, and GM Jim Benning brought in 27-year-old Anders Nilsson to compete with Jacob Markstrom in goal. The signing is a shrewd one with Nilsson coming off a career-high 26 appearances for the Sabres last season, while compiling an impressive .923 save percentage.

Winnipeg Jets: C+

The Jets ranked 26th in the league last year allowing 3.08 goals per game so general manager Kevin Cheveldayoff signed free agent goalie Steve Mason and defensemen Dmitry Kulikov to help address the issue.

Mason has been inconsistent in his career with the Flyers and Blue Jackets, but when he is good, he is pretty darn good. Getting him to Winnipeg with just a two-year commitment is a solid signing for the Jets; and Mason will push Connor Hellebuyck between the pipes in a battle for the No. 1 spot.

There was much hand-wringing in Winnipeg over the Kulikov signing, a three-year commitment for $13 million, on a defenseman who play on the team's third pairing. The 14th overall selection in the 2009 draft by the Panthers, Kulikov never lived up to the hype, plus he is coming off a season derailed by a back injury. He is only 26-years-old and, if healthy, can give the club some solid minutes. But $4.33 million per season? That's the rub here.

Not much needed to be done up front where the Jets have an impressive group of talented forwards, and Cheveldayoff did exactly that, not much.