Here's part 3 of 6 of my rankings for how teams have done this off-season through free-agency and through trades as well.

**FYI, the grade I give the team is for their off ice performance this summer, it doesn't reflect how I think they will do this year.

Southeast Division
Washington Capitals
After a stellar end to last season the Caps were in a good position to make some good moves this off-season and get THAT much better. Unfortunately for the Caps, they really let some good players get by. Their biggest loss came in the form of rented goalie Christobal Huet who signed with Chicago. Huet is a #1 goalie in this league on many teams, Washington being one of them, and they opted to signed Jose Theodore instead of Huet. This boggles my mind as to why they would go the route of taking a goalie who's best days are well behind him, and at 4.5 Million a season at that. That was some poor decision making on Washington's part.

The thing that surprises me most, is that many will say Huet was asking too much money, but when you compare the contracts of Huet and Theodore, I can't see why Washington would pass that up. Huet makes 5.625 a year against the cap and Theodore makes 4.5 million a year. Not to mention the Caps still have 6.3 million left to spend this season, a million more would have got them a big goalie upgrade.

It wasn't all bad news for Capitals though, they re-signed RFA Mike Green who was the leading defensive scorer last season. This is huge for the Caps as he will help quarterback that power play with Ovechkin. Other then re-signing Mike Green, there was no other significant moves made in the US Capital this off season.

Washington gets a C+ for their efforts this off-season. Sure they re-signed Mike Green who was priority #1, but the Theodore signing and letting Huet walk was a big mistake, at least they have a goalie to put in the net each night though.

Carolina Hurricanes
The Canes made their biggest moves through trades this off-season. Acquiring Joni Pitkanen for Erik Cole. This trade can really go either way, Cole is an oft-injured forward who has great upside when healthy and Pitkanen is a solid defenseman with some holes in his game. It's not a bad move for either team though, as Edmonton got rid of the salary of Pitkanen and the 'Canes got the defenseman they desperately needed.

There isn't much else to say about the 'Canes, they had a so-so off season as they didn't get really any better, they didn't get any worse either. For this I am giving them a B for staying neutral, I don't know how much better this will make them next season, but it's good they got a solid defenseman at least.

Florida Panthers
The Panthers in my opinion made the bonehead move of the off-season by dealing away Olli Jokinen for Nick Boynton, Keith Ballard and a 2nd rounder. I really think the Panthers could have gotten more for Olli, but I guess if that is what the market offered at the time and they were that set on getting rid of Jokinen it was a good move, but I really feel they should have waited out. Boynton will help the defense out a lot, and Ballard should be a solid 3rd line guy but the Panthers are in need of some other moves in order to compete.

A good start for Florida was signing Cory Stillman who has been a solid contributer for the majority of his career. Also signing Olesz to a 5 year deal will give them another solid forward to help build around.

The big focus for Florida is getting Jay Bouwmeester signed to a long-term deal, and try to avoid arbitration, they have just over 10 million left this season to do so but I would also not be surprised to see Bouwmeester shipped away.

The Panthers come up with a B- for their off-season efforts, they let Jokinen go for too little but were able to get some young guys to help build around and getting some more experienced players to help teach them along the way.

Tampa Bay Lightning
The biggest movers and shakers of this off-season are the Lightning. They managed to re-sign Vinny Lecavalier, sign Ryan Malone to a 7 year deal, get back Vaclav Prospal and sign him, sign Gary Roberts, Mark Recchi and Olaf Kolzig. They also traded for Matt Carle on D, while getting rid of the contract of Dan Boyle. Oh yeah, they also drafted Steve Stamkos to go along with that. This team has made a huge upgrade offensively, but they still look to struggle on the back-end as Kolzig is on a down-swing, though he is still a #1 goalie.

There isn't anything negative to say about this teams off-season moves as they have improved an amazing amount and still have around 10 million left to spend if they so chose. It would be nice for them to get better on the blue line as their defense is weak as well.

The Lightning get a A+ for their off-season moves. No team improved quite as much as Tampa this off-season and they are a very legitimate threat next year in the East.

Atlanta Thrashers
Not a terrible off-season for the Thrashers, they signed Ron Hainsey to a big contact which gives them a good, young-ish defenseman. They are still very much a re-building team as they got a kings ransom from the Penguins for Marian Hossa.

Atlanta is in desperate need of a goalie and they have 25 million dollars left to spend. A big trade could be made with Atlanta getting a franchise goalie.

Like some other teams, there isn't much to say about the Thrashers and their moves this 0ff-season, they are re-building and look to be doing well so far. They get a B for their efforts.

Final Grades:
Capitals C+
Canes B
Panthers B-
Lightning A+
Thrashers B

I really think that the Lightning can run away with the division next year and make a worst to first move. It would be one helluva quick re-build. Over recent years, this is by-far the worst division in hockey and may continue like that for a while.

Next time I will shift my focus out West to the Central division which features the Hawks, Wings, Blue Jackets, Blues and the Predators.