With the offseason underway for a number of teams and the remainder to join them in a few weeks, we're looking at what's in store for each club in the coming months.

2016-17 Grade: C

By the most important measure, the season was a failure for the Lightning, but there were still some positives in an otherwise disappointing campaign.

Tampa Bay missed the playoffs by a single victory, just one year after reaching the Eastern Conference Final, but there was a rather significant extenuating circumstance.

Steven Stamkos tore his knee just 17 games into the season, and that put unexpected pressure on a talented, but already fragile roster.

Despite the way Tampa Bay's season finished, general manager Steve Yzerman deserves to be lauded for his work securing the club's core while expertly navigating the salary cap.

He convinced Stamkos to sign an eight-year deal a few days before July 1, negotiated an eight-year pact with Victor Hedman on the first day of free agency, and got Nikita Kucherov inked to a three-year contract two days before the Lightning's season opener.

Yzerman then resolved the uncertainty surrounding pending free agent Ben Bishop, getting defensive prospect Erik Cernak and veteran goalie Peter Budaj in the deal that sent his longtime starting netminder to the Los Angeles Kings.

Still, between Stamkos' injury and just barely missing out on a playoff spot, it certainly wasn't how the Lightning wanted to start or end the season.

Free Agents

The Lightning have three significant deals to get done this summer, as Jonathan Drouin, Ondrej Palat, and Tyler Johnson are all pending RFAs.

Here's a look at the players whose contracts are up for renewal:

Budaj performed admirably behind the Kings' tight defensive system, and Yzerman could do worse than re-signing him to serve as the backup next season.

2017 Draft Picks

The Lightning have seven picks in next month's draft, including a second-round acquired in the Brian Boyle deal and a sixth-round selection sent to Tampa Bay by the Montreal Canadiens in the Nikita Nesterov trade.

Summer priorities

Tampa Bay has three primary objectives before the puck drops next fall:

1. Get Drouin's pen to paper

There was a time when an extension for Drouin seemed out of the question, but the young forward put his holdout behind him and posted his best NHL season to date.

Drouin ranked second on the Lightning with 21 goals and finished third with 53 points, making his past transgressions distant memories.

The 22-year-old is now unquestionably a key part of the franchise's future, and getting him locked in on a long-term deal would be another coup for Yzerman and company.

Signing Johnson and Palat is certainly important, as well, but getting Drouin's deal done has to be considered the No. 1 item on the offseason agenda.

2. Find more 'O' from the 'D'

The GM said last weekend that more offensive production from the back end was indeed a priority for next season, according to Joe Smith of the Tampa Bay Times.

Hedman poured in a career-high 72 points, but he barely had any offensive help among fellow blue-liners. The next-most productive Lightning defenseman was Anton Stralman, who chipped in 22 points.

Tampa Bay gets so much of its scoring and overall offensive contributions from its forwards, but balancing that with defensemen who help spur the offense would be certainly be beneficial.

3. Improve defensively

The other area of concern is the defensive play of the aforementioned group.

Tampa Bay was an average team in that regard this season, ranking 16th in the NHL with 2.73 goals allowed per game. That was a significant decline from 2015-16, when the Lightning ranked fifth in the league with only 2.41 goals allowed per contest.

Goaltending surely factors into that figure, but Tampa Bay should still look to upgrade defensively, even if the market for blue-liners this summer isn't robust.

2017-18 Outlook

Assuming Stamkos is healthy next season, the Lightning will be expected to return to the playoffs and once again challenge for the Stanley Cup.

Expectations will be high again, and they should be, given Tampa Bay's track record with this core.

It's Andrei Vasilevskiy's crease now, and the 22-year-old goaltender will have a clean slate to build on the 50-game workload he took on this season.

A return to the Cup Final might be setting the bar high, but another playoff miss will simply be unacceptable.

Offseason Outlook Series

COL | VAN | NJD | ARI | BUF
DET | DAL | FLA | LAK | CAR
WPG | PHI | TBL

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The dates for the Stanley Cup Final have been announced.

With four teams - Ottawa Senators, Pittsburgh Penguins, Nashville Predators, and Anaheim Ducks - still vying for spots in the fourth round, the NHL has announced the championship series will begin May 29.

Here's a list of the dates, with start times yet to be determined.

The team with the greatest number of points during the regular season gets home-ice advantage for the series.

Both conference finals are currently tied 2-2.

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Ottawa's power play has been dreadful this postseason. If they can't get it going with the man advantage, their magical run to the conference finals could be over faster than you can say "all even."

The Senators are just six-for-52 (11.5 percent) with the man advantage in the postseason, including an active run of 25 straight power plays without a goal. Only the eliminated Rangers and Blues posted worse power-play percentages in the playoffs.

It's not even the fact that they're not scoring with man advantage, it's that they simply can't get anything going. They've only recorded 46 shots on goal during their 52 power plays, per Corsica.Hockey.

Frankly, that is unacceptable. There's no reason a team should be averaging fewer than one shot per power-play opportunity - especially one good enough to be in the Eastern Conference Final.

Not only has the quantity of shots been poor, but so has the quality. Heading into Friday's game, they'd only generated 20 scoring chances for in 48 opportunities. None of the remaining teams have recorded fewer scoring chances, and Ottawa has received more power plays than anybody.

Since the Sens play such a defensive style of hockey, they can't afford to be this bad with the man advantage. They struggle generating offense as it is.

The best course of action would be to simplify everything. Get more traffic in front and throw everything on net. It doesn't have to be the big slapper. Wristers about a foot off the ice will do just fine.

The power play will certainly be a focal point at Ottawa's next practice, so it will be interesting to see if head coach Guy Boucher does anything to shake it up.

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The Pittsburgh Penguins are down another defenseman.

Chad Ruhwedel suffered a concussion Friday during Game 4 against the Ottawa Senators and will be evaluated once the team returns home, head coach Mike Sullivan announced after the 3-2 win.

Ruhwedel was forced to leave the game after a hit by Bobby Ryan late in the first period and was unable to return.

Ruhwedel joins Kris Letang and Justin Schultz on the Penguins injured defenseman list.

Ryan, by the way, was not penalized on the play.

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Credit Mike Sullivan for ultimately making the right call.

The Pittsburgh Penguins head coach set emotion aside and went with the informed decision, starting Matt Murray in Game 4 of the Eastern Conference Final in favor of Marc-Andre Fleury, who did yeoman's work to get the team into the third round to begin with.

And in his first start of the 2017 Stanley Cup Playoffs, Murray stopped 22 of 24 shots, backstopping his team to a huge win over the Ottawa Senators on Friday.

The victory tied the series at 2-2, and effectively sealed Murray's fate as the Penguins' starter for the foreseeable future.

Sure, Murray allowed two goals, but neither came as a result of poor efforts on his part. The second, in particular, took several bounces off sticks and skates en route to the back of the net, and the first was the result of a pretty wicked cross-ice pass from Bobby Ryan to Clarke MacArthur.

More importantly, Murray came up huge in the early minutes, where his team had completely fallen apart in Game 3, resulting in Fleury's early exit. He also made key stops in the dying seconds with the Penguins on the penalty kill and with Craig Anderson having vacated the opposing net.

"(Murray) made some timely saves for us when we needed it," Sullivan said after the game. "I thought he was tracking the puck extremely well."

In two appearances against the Senators in the series, Murray has stopped 41 of 44 shots, good for a save percentage of .932.

After the game, Murray told Hockey Night in Canada's Scott Oake that he didn't feel at his best, which is understandable seeing as, prior to Wednesday, he hadn't played since April 6. He added he felt better as the game went on, which could spell bad news for the Senators moving forward.

It would not have been a shock had Sullivan decided to stick with Fleury, but it appears Murray will take it from here, and rightfully so.

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Evgeni Malkin had a prime view of the Pittsburgh Penguins third goal in Game 4 of the Eastern Conference Final.

The center was the intended target of a Brian Dumoulin pass that bounced off Dion Phaneuf's skate Friday and into the back of the Ottawa Senators net.

Malkin, who's been battling Phaneuf all series long, made sure the defenseman knew it.

Savage, as the kids say.

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Losing Ryan Johansen for the remainder of the playoffs is obviously a devastating blow to the Nashville Predators. Not only was he the team's leading scorer in the playoffs, but the club is very weak down the middle after him. With that being said, the following four players will need to raise their games in order for Nashville to beat the Anaheim Ducks.

Mike Fisher

The team's captain, every indication is that Fisher is an excellent leader off the ice, but now it's time for him to start leading on it.

Fisher has been held without a single point through 14 playoff games. Frankly, this is unacceptable. He's certainly a defensive-minded center, but he needs to start producing offensively if Nashville is going to stand a chance the rest of the way.

At 36, Fisher is obviously no spring chicken, but he still scored 18 goals and registered 42 points in 72 regular-season games. His offensive touch is still there... somewhere.

Fisher actually left Thursday's game in the third period for an undisclosed reason. The Predators desperately need him to be good to go for Game 5, and step up his game in the process.

Colin Wilson

Wilson was chosen seventh overall by the Predators in the 2008 NHL Draft. He has largely underperformed relative to his draft status his entire career, but seems to have hit an all-time low this postseason.

He hasn't scored in nine straight postseason games, picking up only two assists in that span. Simply put, the Preds need more offense from Wilson, and they need it now.

He has spent most of his time on the wing throughout his career, but may be asked to play center in Johansen's absence. If this is the case, even more responsibility falls on his shoulders, making it that much more crucial for him to elevate his game.

Calle Jarnkrok

If Fisher is unable to play, Jarnkrok will be the club's de facto No. 1 center.

The 25-year-old showed flashes of potential during the regular season, scoring 15 goals and adding 16 assists. Those flashes have been few and far between so far in the postseason, as he's totaled just two points.

The Swede is going to need to play up to his potential for the Predators to have a chance. He'll have to go up against Ryan Getzlaf or Ryan Kesler - both of whom will require him to be at his very best at both ends of the ice. He can't get physically intimidated by either center. He needs to use his speed and be strong on the puck.

Pekka Rinne

It's hard to ask Rinne to raise his game when he has without a doubt been Nashville's best player throughout the entire postseason. However, he has slowly been coming down to earth as the playoffs have progressed:

Simply put: without their best offensive player, the Predators can't allow more than one or two goals per game to win. Asking for a repeat of his first-round performance is unfair, but a return to his second-round form is more realistic. His numbers against Anaheim are quite pedestrian. He needs to be better.

(Photos courtesy: Action Images)

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The Nashville Predators are about to be put to the test.

As the Western Conference Final shifts back to Anahiem tied 2-2, Nashville will attempt to defeat the Ducks without the services of Ryan Johansen, after the team's No. 1 center suffered a left thigh injury that will sideline him for up to three months.

Johansen led the Predators with 13 points (three goals, 10 assists) through 14 games, and was also playing an important role in the neutral and defensive zones.

His injury begs the question: Have the Predators become easy prey?

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The Dallas Stars are looking to invest in the present.

After moving up in the NHL draft lottery to secure the third overall pick, general manager Jim Nill isn't set on using it.

"I have talked to other teams already about possibly moving that pick, getting an established player back," Nill told SiriusXM NHL Network Radio, per Sean Shapiro of Wrong Side of the Red Line.

"It gives us lot of options. I think this will heat up more as we go."

There's likely two factors at work that could point the Stars to make such a move.

For one, this year's draft class is highlighted by forwards Nolan Patrick and Nico Hischier, and the field opens way up beginning with the third selection.

"There's probably a group of another 10 players, and that's when it comes down to team's personal preference," Nill said. "Are you looking for a big strong centerman? Are you looking for a scoring winger? Are you looking for a power forward? There is lot of different options there."

On top of that, Dallas owns an additional, yet-to-be determined first-round pick courtesy of the Ducks. This selection comes by way of the Patrick Eaves trade, which included the condition sealed by the Ducks advancing to the Western Conference Final and Eaves playing in 50 percent of the games in the first two rounds, according to Cap Friendly.

The Stars' earlier acquisition of Ben Bishop signals the team is looking to move way up the standings as early as next season, meaning it may indeed be prudent to move a high pick for more immediate help.

The first round of the NHL draft is set for June 23 in Chicago.

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