Speculation: Acq/ Rost. Bldg./ Cap Part XXVI

[RandyHolt]

I don't want to look but have a feeling that Erat has more ES assists than Nick and Ovi combined. He may not score goals but obviously does have play making skills.

I wonder if he would do better in his natural spot. Dare I think its not much of a stretch to guess, yes.

 

[Roughing]

Given that I don't see GMGM and team making any major moves during the season, I would at least like to see some things tried:

Ovi - Grabo - Erat
Fehr - Backstrom - Ward
Chimera - Johansson - Brouwer
Volpatti - Beagle/Latta - Wilson

Alzner - Green
Orlov - Carlson
Schmidt/Urbom - Oleksy

Seriously. That works for me. Super terrific that Laich/Erskine/Neuvy are making $9M. They all need to gtfo. They can punt Erat, too, if/when Kuz gets here. That would leave plenty of money to add a Top6F and Top4D in the off season. I'd also dump Oates for Laviolette but I doubt many agree.

 

[n3ss]

Heres to hoping that Teddy dumps GMGM and the Fedorov picks up Laviolette.

 

[g00n]

Just going off the comments from his Nashville time. #2 leader in the room behind Weber. Good employee sometimes leave, doesn't make them unprofessional. So you think he's purposely playing poorly? Seems counterintuitive to me if he wants out. Play better and there are more options for him.

As I remarked back on 12/22 it may be a bit more complicated than that:

"I wonder if Erat or his agent are smart enough to realize that if he plays well and if the Caps are in contention by the deadline he probably won't be traded. And since they've made up their mind that he's not winning a Cup with this team, it might be in his best interest to make sure the Caps are NOT in contention. Even though you would think playing poorly would hurt his value, maybe they're banking on his bad situation being enough to excuse bad play. If he plays well, he hurts his chances of a trade.

Could explain the copious, mysteriously bad, unforced errors we're seeing. Sayin.

If I were GMGM I'd tell him I'm trying my best to move him but I need to get value for him, so the better he plays the faster he'll be moved. Which is the sane way to go about it, but this is the Caps organization we're talking about."


Keep in mind he came from a Nashville team that at one point started posting things around the team/employee areas about being a Cup winning team, as if pretending it was true would make it true.

http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/nhl-p...p-champion-nashville-predators-163018620.html


Of course it didn't happen, but it was probably the kind of commitment to winning that Erat was hoping for. He could have even been behind it. Then he gets to DC and finds out that just getting in the playoffs and selling tickets has been the goal, and some on the team don't take winning a Cup as seriously as he does. So he asks out, again, and determines that he's hurting his own cause if he helps the team get into a position where one playoff team would have to trade with another playoff team (at full market value). If he's looking to move to a cup contender, and quickly, the best way to do that is become cheap and double his potential destinations by coming from a team with no chance of making the postseason.

Or, more simply, he's just annoyed and not really jazzed about hockey because of all the ******** so his play suffers.

 

[Langway]

Erat has nine points in the last 14 games. He's not dogging it....he's just soft. (Or, more specifically, has settled into Washington's general lazy style of play.)