Speculation: Caps Hockey General Discussion (Coaching/FAs/Cap/Lines etc) -- 2017-18 Regular Season Edition

[John Price]

 

[CapitalsCupReality]

Heh maybe Greg Smith was onto something jumping ship!

 

[Alexander the Gr8]

There is no quick fix of this roster, but we absolutely need to rebuild the defense. Carlson and Orpik shouldn't return next year.

Even if it's the last year of deal and some money already is paid?

We're going to have cap issues once Niskanen returns if we claim Garrison.

 

[Ovechkins Wodka]

This team is still pretty good if we get a defense. GMBM must get creative, just staying the course we will be just a bad next season with no depth.

 

[ovikovy817]

Deadline
Carlson to TOR for Grundstrom + Marincin (out during the summer) + 1st round pick
Eller to LA for 2nd round pick (it's the deadline and they need 2C/3C)

Cap up by 1.5M (76.5)

Draft, Summer
Burakovsky + 2nd round pick to DAL for Radulov
Holtby to MIN for Brodin

Grubauer 2.5M x 2
Beagle 1.5M x 1
Wilson 2M x ?
Chiasson the same contract
Ness, Graovac out

Lineup
Ovi-Kuzya-Radulov
Vrana-Backy-Oshie
Grundstrom-Stephenson-Willy
Connolly-Beagle-DSP
Walker
Chiasson

Orlov-Niskanen
Djoos-Brodin
Orpik-Bowey
Chorney

Grubauer
Vanecek

Cap space : 5.182.395

The only big hole would be 3C.

Sign Stastny 5M x 4(?) years (if signed, don't resign Chiasson)
31 years old, certainly will look for big $$$. And Orpik won't be a problem for 2019-2020

Plekanec or Filppula would be a cheaper option. and for less term.

 

[The Instigator]

Deadline
Carlson to TOR for Grundstrom + Marincin (out during the summer) + 1st round pick
Eller to LA for 2nd round pick (it's the deadline and they need 2C/3C)

Cap up by 1.5M (76.5)

Draft, Summer
Burakovsky + 2nd round pick to DAL for Radulov
Holtby to MIN for Brodin

Grubauer 2.5M x 2
Beagle 1.5M x 1
Wilson 2M x ?
Chiasson the same contract
Ness, Graovac out

Lineup
Ovi-Kuzya-Radulov
Vrana-Backy-Oshie
Grundstrom-Stephenson-Willy
Connolly-Beagle-DSP
Walker
Chiasson

Orlov-Niskanen
Djoos-Brodin
Orpik-Bowey
Chorney

Grubauer
Vanecek

Cap space : 5.182.395

The only big hole would be 3C.

Sign Stastny 5M x 4(?) years (if signed, don't resign Chiasson)
31 years old, certainly will look for big $$$. And Orpik won't be a problem for 2019-2020

Plekanec or Filppula would be a cheaper option. and for less term.

Maybe the deadline deals make sense at that point, but it really doesn't do a whole lot for our roster for the foreseeable future.

The off-season trades are ridiculous. Radulov looks to be getting his game together playing with Benn and Seguin, so why on earth would they move him? And then even more ridiculous (whether you believe Gruby is a better option going forward than Holtby or not; different debate), you trade Holtby to Minnesota, who has already shown to be committed to Devan Dubnyk?

Competing team score like Dallas and Minnesota aren't going to auction off their assets just because we need them more. Especially not for pieces that are redundant to them.

 

[MrGone]

If you have the balls to go all in. You should have the brains to blow it up after it does not work out. Dont just let it rot. Blow it up.

The window has closed. Most of the cores contracts have gone up without making the team better. The team is paying more for a worse product. Start with Carlson and Hotlby this season.

 

[Corby78]

If you have the balls to go all in. You should have the brains to blow it up after it does not work out. Dont just let it rot. Blow it up.

The window has closed. Most of the cores contracts have gone up without making the team better. The team is paying more for a worse product. Start with Carlson and Hotlby this season.

While I'm not on board with blowing it up yet (getting closer every game) I agree if you are going to do it you need to really do it. Ovie/Nicki/Carlson/Orpik/Ellar/Beagle/Chorney/Ness should all be gone one way or another. Get draft picks and guys 1-2 years away, suck for a couple seasons and show up in 2019 with a young fast roster.

 

[hockeykicker]

 

[Alexander the Gr8]

While I'm not on board with blowing it up yet (getting closer every game) I agree if you are going to do it you need to really do it. Ovie/Nicki/Carlson/Orpik/Ellar/Beagle/Chorney/Ness should all be gone one way or another. Get draft picks and guys 1-2 years away, suck for a couple seasons and show up in 2019 with a young fast roster.

There's two ways to go about this. There's the long rebuild, like the Hurricanes did, or the short rebuild if you are lucky enough to draft another franchise player like the Leafs or Oilers.

The first way is better for business, because the team isn't unwatchable in the middle stage of the rebuild and people still show up to games. That wasn't the case for Carolina but it would be the case for us if we kept a guy like Kuznetsov to entertain the fans. The second way is a huge sacrifice, it involves parting with all your strong assets to win the lottery, just like we did to get Ovechkin in the first place.

This is a tough call. I'd hate to see an empty Capital One Arena after all the work that's been done to build this franchise and hockey community in Washington.

 

[Ovechkins Wodka]

I don't think we need to bottom out for years in the lottery. We can do a 1 season retool around Ovie Nick Kuzy Oshie Nisky and Orlov.

We would have to hit a home run with our top 10 pick and more home runs with the trades and FA. But it's definitely possible, GMBM did this his first couple of years here. He just needs to get the assets to put back into the team.

 

[AlexBrovechkin8]

My personal opinion is I think you fire Trotz and try one more coach before going full nuclear. Ovechkin is the best player this franchise has ever had and likely will ever have and you have to give him another shot. I don't think most people here remember how painful a full rebuild is, or maybe they weren't fans pre-Ovie so they've never experienced the real suck of knowing your team is going to be terrible with no end in sight.

Also, there is no way Ted goes full nuclear the year after they won their second straight President's Trophy. Not a chance. Not after the unbelievable growth in hockey in the DMV thanks to Ovechkin. He will keep the team competitive for as long as he can and he will keep Ovechkin until his contract is up or Ovechkin demands a trade.

 

[Alexander the Gr8]

My personal opinion is I think you fire Trotz and try one more coach before going full nuclear. Ovechkin is the best player this franchise has ever had and likely will ever have and you have to give him another shot. I don't think most people here remember how painful a full rebuild is, or maybe they weren't fans pre-Ovie so they've never experienced the real suck of knowing your team is going to be terrible with no end in sight.

Also, there is no way Ted goes full nuclear the year after they won their second straight President's Trophy. Not a chance. Not after the unbelievable growth in hockey in the DMV thanks to Ovechkin. He will keep the team competitive for as long as he can and he will keep Ovechkin until his contract is up or Ovechkin demands a trade.

I don't think we need to bottom out for years in the lottery. We can do a 1 season retool around Ovie Nick Kuzy Oshie Nisky and Orlov.

We would have to hit a home run with our top 10 pick and more home runs with the trades and FA. But it's definitely possible, GMBM did this his first couple of years here. He just needs to get the assets to put back into the team.

At the same time, going nuclear to win the lottery gives you the highest probability of success. Look at all the successful teams in the NHL, they tanked at some point to get franchise players. The Penguins sucked before they got Crosby and Malkin, the Blackhawks sucked before they got Toews and Kane, the Leafs sucked before they got Matthews and the Oilers were the worst team in the league for 10 years before they drafted the best young player in the game.

Ovechkin is the best player we will ever get, but other teams have won the Cup with players that weren't as good as Ovechkin. If we go full nuclear and manage to get our hands on a good 1st overall player, our window will reopen. I dream of the day we get another 1st overall pick, and this time I hope it's a franchise D. I'm not asking for a generational D like Karlsson, just a D like Doughty is enough, provided we have an all-star netminder, which I hope Samsonov can turn out to be.

 

[Ovechkins Wodka]

No reseason to go nuclear. We still have more elite talents then most teams, it's not hard to add depth.
We are 3 good defense players from a top seed again.

 

[ovikovy817]

Maybe the deadline deals make sense at that point, but it really doesn't do a whole lot for our roster for the foreseeable future.

The off-season trades are ridiculous. Radulov looks to be getting his game together playing with Benn and Seguin, so why on earth would they move him? And then even more ridiculous (whether you believe Gruby is a better option going forward than Holtby or not; different debate), you trade Holtby to Minnesota, who has already shown to be committed to Devan Dubnyk?

Competing team score like Dallas and Minnesota aren't going to auction off their assets just because we need them more. Especially not for pieces that are redundant to them.

Get something for a player who will certainly follow the same way as Semin, Green, Alzner, ...
+ 2 young pieces, with 1 of them who can contribute right away (with a little of luck)

Dallas are not 100% to make the playoffs this year. So if they miss the postseaon, why not to trade an older player for a young cost control player. Their F group still young (only 3 players are 30+) with Radulov out, it would leave only 2 (Hanzal 30 and Spezza 34)
Holtby is better than Dubnyk, younger. Devan had 1 good year (like the whole team), not a good start this year.
And by acquiring Holtby, they can trade Dubnyk to another team in need for a goalie for a D.

 

[Ridley Simon]

Many of you need to step off the ledge.

Look-- this team is a total mishmash right now, and a couple bad losses are not a portend of nuclear winter. The team is dealing with a lot of issues, and while it's not optimal, it's not the end of the world. Let's all get a grip please.

Sure, the window seems closed. I get it. I think the bigger issue is the team also gets it. They started fine and then Niskanen got hurt. Arguably the worst guy they can lose. No shelter to cover that player loss. So...yeah. The "hangover" just got worse.

So....Now the spotlight can shine on some other guys. Especially Carlson. Let that doofus step his game up! Can he?

Orlov will get time playing against him while spent as #1D. Good for his development. He seemingly gets better every time he faces a challenge. Trotz/Rierden are good D coaches. It's their forte, let them get to work. This could do wonders for him. He needs it.

Same for Bowey and Djoos. Let them get coached up. It's game < 10 of their NHL development. It's been ugly at times. What exactly do you all expect their development to look like???? Clean crease clearing checks and highlight reel goals? Lol....it's so early. This is what rookies play like.

Look, I'm all for radical change...when it's needed. I'm also all for spouting against strife when it seems to be a precursor to said change. But moves for the sakes of it will kill you.

Having watched this team for decades now, I can tick off trades that have killed this club, when making trades for the sakes of it. The year is still so very young. The team will have some grest moments...and some awful ones. Everyone needs to let it ride for a while.

Personally I would like a little D reinforcements in trade. Shore it up and boost the teams payche. Show them they management still believes in them. Things like that can do wonders for an organization. In all business.

Nothing crazy or expensive. Just a real vet D to plug in and stablize. Move Chorney out. I'd be fine w a similsr move for the forwards. Dump DSP and or Chiasson. Get some real help. We can go LTIR for a while now. At least 2mo (Niskanen/Burakovsky is what...8m into LTIR?) of time to work a few more new faces in, and then see what you have. By the time 2/65 are ready to return, you can either move out some players...or you may have more injuries to deal with. In the end, they can work it out.

If all that fails and the team is pretty far back for the playoffs, then start to truly strip parts. As I mentioned earlier. TDL price are *usually* exorbitant for the buyer, so?

 

[hockeykicker]

 

[Raikkonen]

I've heard Chorney is +3 for the season so far. And it's the highest rank on Caps. Interesting.

Anyway, while young defs are getting their feet wet, there is still a question: can they be SC level players when they're ready? When they will become ready?

It's absolutely possible that they are not that good in potential. Deciding against rebuild on hope of Vrana/Burky/Djoos/Bowey getting 150-200 more games of experience as a solution to Caps problems? That's wrong strategy in my mind. I doubt Vrana and Burky are good enough unfortunately.

Maybe another coach can get more of them? GMBM should seek for that answer ASAP. Not much time left.

 

[Corby78]

No reseason to go nuclear. We still have more elite talents then most teams, it's not hard to add depth.
We are 3 good defense players from a top seed again.

Problem is we don't have the cap space and we don't have the prospects in Hershey. Hopefully Djoos and Bowey take steps this year, but we are going to need to dump cap space (like mojo) and creates more holes. In order to keep retooling you need to have success with late round picks becoming better than expected players (hasn't been happening) or really smart with dumping guys and replacing them (ala Chicago) and we haven't been that good at doing that. We will see, the front office is going to have to earn their paychecks this year, and the next couple months will really determine what kind of job they need to do.

 

[Alexander the Gr8]

That play from Vrana to Backstrom was incredible, just have to hit the net with it

 

[Alexander the Gr8]

Ovi tripped over the blue line Oshie style

 

[Ridley Simon]

Can everyone exhale now? It's a long season. I like a lot of the parts of this team. Some high end pieces, even with the injuries. Let some new people step up. Let some older people take over.

As I said, add a few small parts, for depth, and let's see where we go. Could probably banish or trade some guys, to allow a few mill added. Assuming we are ever fully healthy this season. May not ever be.

 

[hockeykicker]

what about claiming dominique and trading grubauer for someone? dominique age 25 has 1.05 mil this year then an rfa (gruby 1.5 mil then rfa)

outside of this year hes been good with double digit wins the past 2 years

 

[Alexander the Gr8]

what about claiming dominique and trading grubauer for someone? dominique age 25 has 1.05 mil this year then an rfa (gruby 1.5 mil then rfa)

outside of this year hes been good with double digit wins the past 2 years

If no one claims Domingue before us, why not. But then, we would have to find a suitor for Grubauer.

Also, it's about time that GMGM put Reinhart on waivers. Now he'll be able to recall Shipachyov.

 

[ovikovy817]

If no one claims Domingue before us, why not. But then, we would have to find a suitor for Grubauer.

Also, it's about time that GMGM put Reinhart on waivers. Now he'll be able to recall Shipachyov.