The 2013-2014 season was something of a case study in Canadian hockey franchise futility. Edmonton was stuck in Year Whatever of their endless rebuild. Calgary and Winnipeg were also-rans for most of the season. Vancouver and Ottawa, two teams with legitimate playoff expectations, never really got out of the gate. Toronto spent their entire season being the worst possession team in the analytics era. That leaves us with Montreal — a team that reached the Eastern Conference Final despite some weirdly average play for most of the year. It’s debatable whether or not they were the only Canadian team that surpassed expectations. Even if you concede they did, we are still talking one of seven.

At any rate, Montreal — like every other Canadian team — had plenty of work cut out for them this offseason. Naturally, you would figure these teams would target talent on a variety of fronts. Instead, every front office spent countless hours scouring the intangible department. Why? Because it’s worked so well in the past.

Let’s look at each team and how they approached the summer.

CALGARY FLAMES

Here’s new GM Brad Treliving talking about the upcoming NHL draft:

On the signing of Deryk Engelland to a three-year, $2.9MM AAV deal:

Continued:

On first-round draft pick Sam Bennett:

On adding Brandon Bollig:

EDMONTON OILERS

GM Craig MacTavish on preparing for the draft:

On the add of UFA Benoit Pouliot:

On the add of first-round pick Leon Draisaitl, and former first-round pick Darnell Nurse:

MONTREAL CANADIENS

GM Marc Bergevin on the signing of Dale Weise:

On preparing for the upcoming NHL draft:

On the selection of Nikolas Koberstein:

On what propelled the team during last year’s run:

OTTAWA SENATORS

Brian Murray on the past/future of Clarke MacArthur in Ottawa:

On why team expectations faltered, and whether it had to do with Daniel Alfredsson’s departure:

On whether the team is entering another rebuild:

Another comment on why the team faltered last year and the direction the team wants to head going forward:

And the Ottawa Sun’s Don Brennan, appearing to speak on behalf of the organization:

TORONTO MAPLE LEAFS

GM Dave Nonis on signing UFA Stephane Robidas:

Continued:

Continued:

On acquiring Leo Komarov and Matt Frattin:

A: It was a factor. I mean, put it this way: If he was just a great guy and couldn’t play, well that wouldn’t have helped us. The people that I know that know him, that (team president) Brendan (Shanahan) knows, speak very highly of the way he handles himself on and off the ice. I don’t think we’re looking at a guy that’s gonna come in here and be terribly vocal or anything like that but in terms of playing the game the right way, taking care of yourself and leading by example, that, again, coupled with being a right shot and his playing ability, he was a guy we targeted right away.

On how to improve this season:

VANCOUVER CANUCKS

GM Jim Benning, on what he likes with his newly-acquired roster:

On re-shaping the bottom-six identity:

On adding Derek Dorsett via trade:

On using analytics to identify talent before the NHL-level:

Trevor Linden, on the disappointing 2013-2014 season:

WINNIPEG JETS

Describing Desjardins and Benning, Linden on Monday said: “These guys are down-to-earth, hard-working, genuine people. When you want to build a team, and you surround yourself with good people, that’s the type of people you hire.”

GM Kevin Cheveldayoff on Paul Maurice’s priorities heading into the off-season:

On extending Chris Thorburn:

On first-round pick Nikolaj Ehlers:

On hockey sense:

Will it work? Check back next summer to find out! (No.)