Whose offseason is off the best start? Which teams didn’t do so well so far? And who are the best remaining players left for teams to add before the fall? More: Tracker | GradesTrade grades: Burns, Pacioretty, moreDraft recap: Every pick | Takeaways

WINNERS

General manager Steve Yzerman put in work on Wednesday, signing a haul of good players on solid contracts. Let’s run back the list of key additions: Andrew Copp (five years, $5.625 million AAV), Ben Chiarot (four years, $4.75 million AAV), David Perron (two years, $4.75 million AAV) and Dominik Kubalik (two years, $2.5 million AAV). That’s a fine foursome of players in their own right, and Yzerman has to be pleased about how they’ll complement the Red Wings’ current group of young talent. 2 Related Chiarot has a chance to pair up with Calder Trophy winner Moritz Seider, who will undoubtedly elevate Chiarot’s game. Perron had a career season with the St. Louis Blues in 2021-22 and will be a versatile middle-six piece for the Red Wings. Copp is a Michigan native excited to be joining his hometown team after a successful post-trade tenure with the New York Rangers (18 points in 16 games). And Kubalik? He’s a former 30-goal scorer who didn’t receive a qualifying offer from Chicago. The 26-year-old will be motivated to prove he’s still got it. The newcomers up front will join Lucas Raymond, Tyler Bertuzzi and Dylan Larkin to make the Red Wings look suddenly much more formidable. That could also go a long way in keeping Larkin and Bertuzzi interested in remaining with the Red Wings long term. Both players are unrestricted free agents after 2022-23 season and Yzerman is obviously showing that Detroit won’t be a pushover in the stacked Atlantic Division. Will that help get Larkin and Bertuzzi extended sooner? There’s been some rough seasons recently for the Red Wings but winning helps everything. Yzerman’s moves on Wednesday will make Detroit far more competitive, exciting and potentially explosive for the coming season (and beyond). — Shilton The Avalanche aren’t done winning. On a day where most teams are scouring the open market for players to add, the reigning Stanley Cup champions went big on taking care of their own. Josh Manson is back on a four-year deal, Artturi Lehkonen got a new five-year pact and Darren Helm returns on a one-year contract. Add to that what general manager Joe Sakic did previously — inking Valeri Nichushkin for eight more seasons — and it’s been a fantastic start to free agency for Colorado. What Sakic did so seamlessly was prioritize. He let goaltender Darcy Kuemper walk (right on into a five-year deal with the Washington Capitals) by acquiring (and signing) Alexandar Georgiev for the next three seasons. Andre Burakovsky moved on to Seattle and Nazem Kadri is likely to sign elsewhere as well, but Sakic was strategic in who to keep and how much to pay, so that Colorado can chase another Cup. It doesn’t feel like the Avalanche took a step back at all despite the talent they will lose from their most recent playoff roster. Sakic has a great feel for his group and proved it again in how he’s worked through free agency. — Shilton play 1:12 Brian Boucher says the Capitals have more work to do in free agency and breaks down the Darcy Kuemper signing. The Hurricanes came to play on free agency’s opening day. They’re a much better team for it. First, Carolina acquired Brent Burns (and forward Lane Pederson) from San Jose in exchange for forward Steven Lorentz, goaltender Eetu Makiniemi and a conditional third-round pick in 2023 draft. They had the Sharks retain 34% of Burns salary in the swap, too. That’s a difference-making move for the Hurricanes’ blue line. Carolina needed to replace Tony DeAngelo on the right side, and Burns is an elite offensive defenseman. He’ll add good depth and puck-moving ability to Carolina’s attack. Plus, he’s no slouch in the production department, with 10 goals and 44 assists last season. Carolina’s other Grade-A move came later in the afternoon when they reeled in Max Pacioretty from Vegas for basically nothing (no, really … the deal was for future considerations). The Hurricanes wanted more scoring depth, especially after they struggled to generate in that respect throughout the postseason. Vegas’ cap issues forced it into moving Pacioretty’s $7 million hit, and the Hurricanes jumped at a chance to bring in a regular 20-plus goal scorer who will have an immediate impact on their team up front. Plus, the Hurricanes got defenseman Dylan Coghlan as part of the deal and he’s a promising one to watch down the road. Burns and Pacioretty will bring a better dimension to Carolina’s lineup, and the team didn’t have to give up much to make it happen. That’s tidy work by general manager Don Waddell. — Shilton Columbus really, really wanted it some Erik Gudbranson. The veteran blueliner cashed in with a four-year, $16 million contract from the Blue Jackets. That’s a large investment by Columbus in a 30-year-old defenseman that tallied a career-high 17 points in 78 games last season. Granted, Gudbranson is not an offensive defenseman. He’s a physical, grinding player, he can kill penalties and he’s a right-handed shot who will bolster that position for the Blue Jackets. General manager Jarmo Kekäläinen said adding “size and toughness” to the blue line was a priority, which Gudbranson does. And Columbus has got some young players who may benefit from Gudbranson’s experience. These are all positive things. But the real winner here is Gudbranson’s bank account. He made $1.95 million last season in Calgary. This is a somewhat jaw-dropping raise over that total. Will Gudbranson be worth Columbus’ stake (in dollars or terms)? Plenty of time to judge that later. Today, Gudbranson has to be feeling really good. — Shilton There were some easy wins today. One day after Lindblom was waived for the purposes of a contract buyout by Philadelphia, the cancer survivor signed a two-year, $5 million deal with the San Jose Sharks. The Flyers donated $100,000 to a local cancer charity while parting ways with Lindblom. The reality is Lindblom’s cancer battle has slowed his play on the ice. Philadelphia needed to create cap space to have any hope of landing Johnny Gaudreau. Sometimes the NHL really is a business. To see Lindblom land so quickly on his feet was awesome. Lindblom was a 17-goal scorer in 2018-19 and on track to be a regular top-six presence in Philadelphia. Since has been declared cancer-free last year, Lindblom can now focus on reestablishing his game and he’ll get to do that now with the Sharks on a good deal. Love that for him. And then there’s Marchment. Last week, Marchment lost his father Bryan when the 53-year-old died unexpectedly at the NHL draft in Montreal. While reeling from that devastating personal loss, Marchment was navigating a pivotal professional moment. The 27-year-old had a career season in Florida (47 points in 54 games) and this was his chance to capitalize as a free agent. He did that by landing a four-year, $18 million deal with Dallas. It’ll be a fresh start for Marchment and shows how far he’s come from being undrafted and appearing in just 34 NHL games total prior to last season. There’s no question dad would be proud. — Shilton

LOSERS

If Flyers fans were frustrated with the direction of the team before free agency started, it’s hard to imagine how they’re feeling now. GM Chuck Fletcher had talked about an aggressive retool of his team, rather than a rebuild. When the Flyers traded for defenseman Tony DeAngelo and signed him to a two-year deal, it looked like a harbinger of that plan. But then Wednesday arrived with the Flyers having an excellent shot at the biggest prize on the market: Winger Johnny Gaudreau, who grew up in South Jersey as a Flyers fan. There was mutual interest. What there wasn’t was cap space, and Fletcher said the price to create any more of it for the only franchise player on the market was too high. “We don’t have the space to pursue those high-end free agents,” he said. “You’ve have to move multiple contracts. In some cases it’s hard to move players and in other cases there are players you don’t want to move.” In the same breath, Fletcher said the Flyers have good forward depth but “we’d like to get more high-end skill.” Huh, if only there were a forward that fit that description on the open market who probably had black and orange pajamas… From a roster perspective, there wasn’t a Plan B. The Flyers tried to improve a lackluster defense by running back Justin Braun, who was a part of it last season. They signed Nicolas Deslauriers, a punchy grit guy that new coach John Tortorella will love. But the closest thing they had to a Plan B was downshifting expectations from an aggressive retool to a “wait and see” season that will determine their timeline. “We’ll find out this season. We’ll see how we progress,” Fletcher said. “We’ll see which players can be a part of our future. There’s a lot we need to learn about our group. Going into next offseason, we’ll have more cap space than we had this offseason.” That’s not exactly a quote for the season ticket brochure. — Wyshynski It’s difficult to put the Flames in this category. As GM Brad Treliving said, they did everything they could to retain Gaudreau, putting an offer on the table that was eight years long and well north of $10 million annually. They wanted him back. They thought he wanted to come back. Until about 48 hours before free agency started, it looked like they might have been right. Until they weren’t. “We did everything possible to keep John here. It’s my strong…