NHL Offseason Is Here, and the Bargain Bin Looks Bare

The league is sliding into that familiar summer stretch where every GM pretends he is calm and every rumor mill works overtime. The draft is coming, trade chatter is already heating up, and the unrestricted free-agent market does not exactly scream jackpot. That usually means teams will have to get creative, because the obvious fixes are scarce and the expensive ones are usually somebody else’s problem.