Confirmed with Link: Hags re-signed 4 years @ $2.75m

[Ovechkins Wodka]

I’m really surprised no one is comparing him to Jason Chimera. Very similar players. Both sent to Caps as 3oyr olds.

The Chimera time was good for the Caps. It wouldn’t shock me to see same from Hagelin.

I can see the Chimmer comps. I don't remember him as an elite PKer or defender. Chimera may have been the fastest straight line skater in the NHL even in his 30s

 

[Ridley Simon]

I’m in the minority but I don’t particularly like it. Two years too long, in my opinion. At some point you need your drafted depth to do what Hagelin does so you can spend valuable cap dollars else where. He was a zero in the playoffs last year and provides essentially no offense at even strength.

Not meant at you specifically — but kinda like Niskanen’s deal was 2yrs too long, too?

 

[CapitalsCupReality]

Not meant at you specifically — but kinda like Niskanen’s deal was 2yrs too long, too?

Hold up, are you suggesting they can move on from a player before the four years are up? Fascinating strategy!

 

[Ridley Simon]

Hold up, are you suggesting they can move on from a player before the four years are up? Fascinating strategy!

Don’t put correct words in my mouth, brother! LOL

 

[Bananas]

Wooooof

 

[Revelation]

Really hope they go after Carr as a mid 6 LW, would be nice to hit on a Marchessault type impact for league min

 

[txpd]

Really hope they go after Carr as a mid 6 LW, would be nice to hit on a Marchessault type impact for league min

Daniel Carr?

 

[AlexBrovechkin8]

Not meant at you specifically — but kinda like Niskanen’s deal was 2yrs too long, too?

I guess if you squint hard enough you might be able to find a similarity or two other than they both signed in Washington? Mostly this is an apples to oranges comparison.

Niskanen was signed at 27 to play 1 or 2RD minutes at a position where the organization had no depth. The blueline had been a mess for a decade and had cost them multiple chances at advancing past the second round. He was coming off a career year in Pittsburgh and was one of the highly coveted UFAs.

Hagelin will play bottom 6 minutes and plays a position you normally can slot to organizational depth (they won the Cup with Stephenson playing Hagelin's role). He's 30. The team is hard pressed against the cap and will likely lose one or two guys who can put the puck in the net because of this signing at a time where they're trying to squeeze one or two more Cup runs in.

 

[AlexBrovechkin8]

Conservative moves so far that should keep them competitive but they may need more than that to win another cup.

Would have been nice if they took advantage of the freed up cap space and made a run at Johansson and Ferland. Give the former a long term deal at the same cap hit by enticing him to come back to DC on a winning team with all his friends. Get someone like Kassian and a pick for Burakovsky to round out the 4th line

Ovechkin Kuz Wilson
Johansson Backstorm Oshie
Ferland Eller Vrana
Stephenson Dowd Kassian

Good to go

Where is Hagelin in this scenario?

 

[Raikkonen]

In any scenario Hagelin provides stability in shouldering heavy defensive load to let older offensive players and younger not experienced players do their thing. Calming presence for everyone (here too).

I dont think 3rd line of Hags and Eller can bring fireworks but being able to field them at any given moment will be very useful throughout the season. Neutral line, PK workers. Eller will have some PP time and that 3RW maybe too.

And then you can expect little to no scoring from 4th. Still Boyd and Dowd were scoring in regular season

 

[Revelation]

Daniel Carr?

Yeah, maybe Marchessault is a bit too wishful but he looks like a good Connolly replacement on the original Connolly contract

 

[Revelation]

Where is Hagelin in this scenario?

This was extreme wishful thinking if they wanted to max cap space on higher impact players. That or convince Panarin to come play for 9 million Right now I'd be happy if they got Carr to replace Connolly, rolled with Bura or traded him/signed Mojo and banked until the deadline

 

[895]

I really didn't see this term and AAV coming. Too much of both for my liking.

Sure he can be moved in the last year if he tails off but it will cost us an asset. I assume that's part of "going for it"

This obviously also closes the door on any big move in UFA. I doubt we can even afford Johansson now.

 

[txpd]

Yeah, maybe Marchessault is a bit too wishful but he looks like a good Connolly replacement on the original Connolly contract

Not sure how you see that? Explain please? Connolly scored 25pts his one full NHL season in Boston. The season before the Caps signed him. Carr is a minor leaguer.

 

[Revelation]

Not sure how you see that? Explain please? Connolly scored 25pts his one full NHL season in Boston. The season before the Caps signed him. Carr is a minor leaguer.

He looked good every time he has been up and dominated the AHL last year. Plays relentless attacking the net style which has some overlap with Connolly's opportunistic sniping. Some guys take a while to both mature and really get their chance in the League

Pirri is another such guy but Carr has more to offer away from the puck imo

 

[txpd]

I really didn't see this term and AAV coming. Too much of both for my liking.

Sure he can be moved in the last year if he tails off but it will cost us an asset. I assume that's part of "going for it"

This obviously also closes the door on any big move in UFA. I doubt we can even afford Johansson now.

Big move in UFA? MacLellan has never made noises about chasing a big splash in the UFA market.

 

[txpd]

He looked good every time he has been up and dominated the AHL last year. Plays relentless attacking the net style which has some overlap with Connolly's opportunistic sniping. Some guys take a while to both mature and really get their chance in the League

Pirri is another such guy but Carr has more to offer away from the puck imo

Again, he is a minor leaguer. He scored 1 NHL goal last season. I could see signing him to a two way and giving him a shot at winning a forward spot in camp. Expecting him to play 2nd or 3rd line assignments seems a long shot at best.

 

[Revelation]

Again, he is a minor leaguer. He scored 1 NHL goal last season. I could see signing him to a two way and giving him a shot at winning a forward spot in camp. Expecting him to play 2nd or 3rd line assignments seems a long shot at best.

Pretty sure he'll get multiple one way offers.

1 year/900k wouldn't hamper us any more than a two way and could pay off many times over.

 

[Ridley Simon]

I guess if you squint hard enough you might be able to find a similarity or two other than they both signed in Washington? Mostly this is an apples to oranges comparison.

Niskanen was signed at 27 to play 1 or 2RD minutes at a position where the organization had no depth. The blueline had been a mess for a decade and had cost them multiple chances at advancing past the second round. He was coming off a career year in Pittsburgh and was one of the highly coveted UFAs.

Hagelin will play bottom 6 minutes and plays a position you normally can slot to organizational depth (they won the Cup with Stephenson playing Hagelin's role). He's 30. The team is hard pressed against the cap and will likely lose one or two guys who can put the puck in the net because of this signing at a time where they're trying to squeeze one or two more Cup runs in.

Had this been a 2yr deal, many would be calling it a “good deal”. All I’m saying is the last 2 yrs don’t matter. GMBM can deal him easily if need be.

Hagelin is Chimera to me. Speed speed speed. Worked fine for the Caps as Chimera was a valuable player (albeit inconsistent) until he was 37.

Caps D and PK needs propping up. This does that. Caps lost to the Canes for a few reasons, and while Hagelin was all that helpful, neither was Vrana, Holtby, Niskanen, Orlov, Etc etc. not to mention injuries to Oshie and Kempny.

I like Carl. Obviously. He fills a specific need that this team has. He’s a one man PK’er. That alone is worth the 2.75, IMO

 

[NobodyBeatsTheWiz]

Really like this deal. I'm not worried in the least at the two extra years. His PK ability is only partially related to his skating.

$2.75M is nothing for a player of Carl's pedigree, and is a very movable number if it comes to that. Hagelin and Eller is a great pair to drive the bottom 6.

 

[RandyHolt]

Meh I don't like it. Nothing wrong with player, besides being small injury prone and derailing every line he was on in the playoffs. But I think it's more of an indictment that our development of young forwards sucks. All the small speed guys with upside we draft that (almost predictably) don't pan out should be able to be converted to solid defensive pieces cough Boyd Gordon. Making signing a vet for PK and speed unnecessary. Anyone that played the game knows first and foremost defense is busting your ass. You don't have to be all world cerebral to anticipate blocking a pass.

Maybe 1 or 2 years? 4 years is too long, and I think the money is too high for a PK winger. If he were a center, sure load up the term and funds. Do we really need him riding into the sunset with Ovi?

I hope he doesn't develop fat cat disease... but do think that is unlikely as he knows what butters his bread at the end of the day - sheer effort.

The most significant play I saw from him was when he concussed Hedman. Swedes are quietly scrappy and a player of his size has to stand up for and protect himself which at least he does.

 

[Hivemind]

I can see the Chimmer comps. I don't remember him as an elite PKer or defender. Chimera may have been the fastest straight line skater in the NHL even in his 30s

Chimera had a lot more offense to his game than Hagelin, and still killed penalties. Perhaps not as highly regarded a PKer as Hagelin, but it's often hard to distinguish individual talent vs. systems integration on the PK.

Also, the team never signed Chimera to a deal longer than 2-years. They extended him multiple times, but each time was a short-term deal. I would have preferred that approach to Hags as well.

 

[hockeykicker]

 

[HecticGlow]

If you can play him with Backstrom (the one guy I don’t recall him playing with last year) in the Oshie-type top-6 shutdown role, Hagelin could be more useful at 5-on-5 than he was. He didn’t have any notable chemistry with Kuzy or Eller, and unlike Oshie or Wilson he slows down scoring while being defensively responsible. This is why putting him with Kuzy during the playoffs didn’t work, and neither does putting him with someone like Eller who stops producing unless he has a winger who can both drive offence and finish. Something like:

Ovi-Kuzy-Wilson
Hagelin-Backstrom-Vrana
Mojo-Eller-Oshie
Stephenson-Dowd-Boyd

Could give you some decent scoring while having a very balanced lineup (if you could afford a relatively consistent, skilled 3LW winger like Mojo, of course). But if it’s like:

Ovi-Backstrom-Wilson
Vrana-Kuzy-Oshie
Hagelin-Eller-Bura
Stephenson-Dowd-Boyd

then we’ve just taken a scoring downgrade vs. last year, without fixing some of the key issues that flawed us in the playoffs. Not to mention we’ve currently got Orlov with an unknown new partner (having seen his pairings with Orpik, Carlson and Schmidt all run into trouble before they found someone he could work well with in Niskanen), as well as either Gudas or Jensen in a top-4 role we don’t yet know they can succeed in.

I have to assume GMBM has an aggressive plan still taking shape, or else the window feels a bit more closed than it did before.

 

[hockeykicker]