Speculation: What changes should be made for this team to be successful?

[NobodyBeatsTheWiz]

I feel so cool spending my Friday night on this. Anyway...

Wait 8-10 years. Some internet browsing and a good night's sleep will seem an awesome Friday night.

Some commentary on your post:

I'd do the Montreal deal, but I'd rather try to package the two for a better defenseman and forego the forward addition.

I'd probably do the Green deal, contingent on the defenseman returned for Brouwer and Johansson.

Not a fan of the Orlov for Killorn deal at all. Orlov's a keeper, and Killorn offers nothing more than a Brouwer or Laich.

Nay on dumping Laich. He's a very useful player when healthy (and has looked it recently), and cap space isn't an issue at all.

Yay on Erskine, Grabo, Fayne deals.

Nay on Iginla term. I'd rather throw a very high salary at him for 1 season ($6.5-$7M), as cap space, again, isn't an issue.

Probably a nay on Weaver. I think someone really strong on the boards needs to be paired with Schmidt/Orlov, and Weaver looks like he's lost a step or two this season.

PK Subban intrigues me. I assumed that the shopping of him on the trade board was typical Montreal fan reactionary stuff, but if there's any legitimacy to him being shipped, I'd dangle a big package (Green + Brouwer + Johansson + Orlov/Schmidt) for him. I really want on impact acquisition on the defense.

 

[Zoidberg Jesus]

Wait 8-10 years. Some internet browsing and a good night's sleep will seem an awesome Friday night.

Some commentary on your post:

I'd do the Montreal deal, but I'd rather try to package the two for a better defenseman and forego the forward addition.

I'd probably do the Green deal, contingent on the defenseman returned for Brouwer and Johansson.

Not a fan of the Orlov for Killorn deal at all. Orlov's a keeper, and Killorn offers nothing more than a Brouwer or Laich.

Nay on dumping Laich. He's a very useful player when healthy (and has looked it recently), and cap space isn't an issue at all.

Yay on Erskine, Grabo, Fayne deals.

Nay on Iginla term. I'd rather throw a very high salary at him for 1 season ($6.5-$7M), as cap space, again, isn't an issue.

Probably a nay on Weaver. I think someone really strong on the boards needs to be paired with Schmidt/Orlov, and Weaver looks like he's lost a step or two this season.

PK Subban intrigues me. I assumed that the shopping of him on the trade board was typical Montreal fan reactionary stuff, but if there's any legitimacy to him being shipped, I'd dangle a big package (Green + Brouwer + Johansson + Orlov/Schmidt) for him. I really want on impact acquisition on the defense.

The Eller and Laich parts are pretty contingent on Laich's play for the rest of the season. He's looking better, and if he stays healthy I'd be fine with him at 3C, but that remains to be seen. If he looks good, I'd try something around Brouwer and Johansson for Edler instead. Part of the reason I liked Eller was because he's had a terrible PDO this year so he'd be a great buy-low candidate, but the same can be said for Edler.

I think Killorn could easily reach Laich's peak, maybe even surpass it. He on pace for 19-26-45 in his second season, which is better than what Brouwer and Laich are doing right now. Adding the 2nd was probably unnecessary though.

It occurs to me now that Iginla for 3 years blocks Wilson's development unless Ovie moves back to LW when Oates is gone. One or two years is probably better.

Subban would be amazing, but it's hard to believe they'd be dumb enough to trade him, and further to trade him for a package. I think Carlson would have to be involved for them to listen.

Edit: The "Return of Laich" version

Brooks Laich ($4.500m) / Mikhail Grabovski ($5.000m) / Alex Ovechkin ($9.538m)
Evgeny Kuznetsov ($0.900m) / Nicklas Backstrom ($6.700m) / Jarome Iginla ($6.000m)
Jason Chimera ($2.000m) / Marcel Goc ($2.000m) / Joel Ward ($3.000m)
Eric Fehr ($1.500m) / Michael Latta ($0.900m) / Chris Brown ($0.853m)
Jay Beagle ($0.900m) /

Karl Alzner ($2.800m) / John Carlson ($3.967m)
Alexander Edler ($5.000m) / Mark Fayne ($3.500m)
Mark Fraser ($1.500m) / Dmitry Orlov ($2.000m)
Jack Hillen ($0.700m) /

Braden Holtby ($1.850m)
Philipp Grubauer ($0.579m)

CAP SPACE (22-man roster): $5,412,650

 

[Halpysback*]

Has Jagr ever worn a letter?

Don't need that from him, we got leaders of men for that

 

[FloridaCap]

The Eller and Laich parts are pretty contingent on Laich's play for the rest of the season. He's looking better, and if he stays healthy I'd be fine with him at 3C, but that remains to be seen. If he looks good, I'd try something around Brouwer and Johansson for Edler instead. Part of the reason I liked Eller was because he's had a terrible PDO this year so he'd be a great buy-low candidate, but the same can be said for Edler.

I think Killorn could easily reach Laich's peak, maybe even surpass it. He on pace for 19-26-45 in his second season, which is better than what Brouwer and Laich are doing right now. Adding the 2nd was probably unnecessary though.

It occurs to me now that Iginla for 3 years blocks Wilson's development unless Ovie moves back to LW when Oates is gone. One or two years is probably better.

Subban would be amazing, but it's hard to believe they'd be dumb enough to trade him, and further to trade him for a package. I think Carlson would have to be involved for them to listen.

Edit: The "Return of Laich" version

Brooks Laich ($4.500m) / Mikhail Grabovski ($5.000m) / Alex Ovechkin ($9.538m)
Evgeny Kuznetsov ($0.900m) / Nicklas Backstrom ($6.700m) / Jarome Iginla ($6.000m)
Jason Chimera ($2.000m) / Marcel Goc ($2.000m) / Joel Ward ($3.000m)
Eric Fehr ($1.500m) / Michael Latta ($0.900m) / Chris Brown ($0.853m)
Jay Beagle ($0.900m) /

Karl Alzner ($2.800m) / John Carlson ($3.967m)
Alexander Edler ($5.000m) / Mark Fayne ($3.500m)
Mark Fraser ($1.500m) / Dmitry Orlov ($2.000m)
Jack Hillen ($0.700m) /

Braden Holtby ($1.850m)
Philipp Grubauer ($0.579m)

CAP SPACE (22-man roster): $5,412,650

Mark Fraser?

 

[Zoidberg Jesus]

Mark Fraser?

You've zeroed in on the one part of that post I put almost no thought into.

 

[trick9]

Absolutely no way Mark Fayne is worth multiple years with 3.5m AAV. He is bottom-pairing D on a good team and that is just way too much to pay for one.

 

[Zoidberg Jesus]

Absolutely no way Mark Fayne is worth multiple years with 3.5m AAV. He is bottom-pairing D on a good team and that is just way too much to pay for one.

He was in the past, but this year he's spent nearly 80% of his time with Andy Greene on their top pairing. He's also doing really well there. Fayne's posted a 55.4 CF% despite being on the shutdown pairing, and the only reason he's not a plus player is his ridiculous 957 PDO - basically ridiculously bad luck. He's essentially another Alzner type, who's to this point been buried by his coaches who were infatuated with veterans, and is now hitting free agency as a 27 year old.

 

[BTCG]

Don't need that from him, we got leaders of men for that

Bro,

If you look, you'll see that Jagr did provide the Caps with nearly a point per game. Although locker room cancer, we can't fault him for that. My son played on a CBHL team ran by a former Cap. This man told me an interesting story about Jagr. It seems that the team was on their plane, and awaiting Jagr to board. But unlike the others on the team, Jagr was allowed to show up at the last minute before departure. On this day, he kept the team, and the plane waiting for more than 20 minutes, as he was engaged in a cell phone call. This incident was the final straw for many Cap players, including Kono, and led to the ultimate internal civil war.

But... it was nothing new. GMGM had allowed many Caps to skip their duties if they were among the favored few. Penner is yet another cancer introduced into the host.

I read a comment recently that is spot-on: the damage GMGM has done will outlive him by many years.