2014 Training Camp Thread

[NoMoreChoking]

I'm just glad Mojo is slowly being reduced on this team

 

[RandyHolt]

MJ can be our modern day MP

Scratched / emergency scoring C

 

[Raikkonen]

MJ can be our modern day MP

Scratched / emergency scoring C

MP played for less than a million those years. Like for 600k.

 

[Hivemind]

Kill two birds with one stone and keep MJ90 in the top six and break up the ever so hated Laich/Brouwer combo.

Ovechkin - Backstrom - Fehr
Laich - Kuznetsov - Johansson
Chimera - Burakovsky - Ward
Brown - Latta - Brouwer

Brouwer still retains his top powerplay unit duties. Shuffle the deck accordingly when Wilson returns.

 

[txpd]

opening night

ov-backs-fehr
kuz-laich-brouwer
chim-bura-wardo
Johansson-latta-brown

 

[RandyHolt]

Does Vegas have an O/U on number of games before Kuz misses a game?

IIRC he was injured 5 times last year, and at least me, clearly was playing with a sore shoulder in his time here, spinning oddly to avoid contact with a shoulder.

Time at center should help keep him off the boards.

Kuz + MJ = I can't believe its not butter.

 

[BobRouse]

opening night

ov-backs-fehr
kuz-laich-brouwer
chim-bura-wardo
Johansson-latta-brown

Something like this but I haven't seen Laich play center yet in preseason.

Trotz says he can and we have seen him do so before but I would think he'd have to play some C in preseason games coming up.

MJ is not a 4th line player. If he can't be in the top 9 then he should be in the press box. I'd rather have Beagle in the 4th line role.

 

[Hivemind]

MJ is not a 4th line player. If he can't be in the top 9 then he should be in the press box. I'd rather have Beagle in the 4th line role.

Yeah, no way a team could win a cup with players like Michael Frolik or Marcus Kruger on their 4th line. Needs moar grit!!

 

[txpd]

Something like this but I haven't seen Laich play center yet in preseason.

Trotz says he can and we have seen him do so before but I would think he'd have to play some C in preseason games coming up.

MJ is not a 4th line player. If he can't be in the top 9 then he should be in the press box. I'd rather have Beagle in the 4th line role.

Laich played center in Montreal(the game before buffalo was montreal. right?)
MJ isn't a 4th line player but if Bura is staying and Kuznetsov playing 2LW then MJ is on the 4th line.

edit: Beagle won't be available due to injury anyway.

 

[BobRouse]

Laich played center in Montreal(the game before buffalo was montreal. right?)
MJ isn't a 4th line player but if Bura is staying and Kuznetsov playing 2LW then MJ is on the 4th line.

edit: Beagle won't be available due to injury anyway.

Oh ok. The Montreal game wasn't televised and I didn't look at the thread so didn't know. I've watched parts/all of the televised games and didn't see Laich at C.

I'm not liking how MJ is playing period. He looks very empty on confidence right now.

 

[Langway]

Yeah, no way a team could win a cup with players like Michael Frolik or Marcus Kruger on their 4th line. Needs moar grit!!

Except those two were valuable penalty killers whereas Johansson at this point looks to be a PP specialist (and not a particularly irreplaceable one given the nature of the setup).

Trotz has talked up Dane Byers more than once and frequently mentioned being tougher to play against. Byers would need a contract but with Wilson & Beagle out that's perhaps a depth option with Latta & Brown. Not sure of the cap considerations involved but between whether Erskine stays or who goes on LTIR there are quite a few variables. Also not sure Trotz would go that far re: grit but I could see it. O'Brien is fairly limited as well but he could be a sign and depth option too given the grit preferences and lack of Hershey camp surprises.

 

[Hivemind]

Except those two were valuable penalty killers whereas Johansson at this point looks to be a PP specialist (and not a particularly irreplaceable one given the nature of the setup).

My comment was more about rejecting the concept of a "4th line player" than specifically speaking about Johansson playing on the 4th line. Personally, I would stick Johansson as a top 9 winger and have one of Laich or Brouwer on the 4th line.

 

[strungout]

If he wants 22....Im guessing this is the 22.

FORWARDS
Alex Ovechkin ($9.538m) / Nicklas Backstrom ($6.700m) / Eric Fehr ($1.500m)
Brooks Laich ($4.500m) / Evgeny Kuznetsov ($0.900m) / Troy Brouwer ($3.667m)
Jason Chimera ($2.000m) / Andre Burakovsky ($0.894m) / Joel Ward ($3.000m)
Marcus Johansson ($2.000m) / Michael Latta ($0.575m) / Chris Brown ($0.853m)
Aaron Volpatti ($0.575m) /

DEFENSEMEN
Karl Alzner ($2.800m) / Matt Niskanen ($5.750m)
Brooks Orpik ($5.500m) / John Carlson ($3.967m)
Jack Hillen ($0.700m) / Mike Green ($6.083m)
John Erskine ($1.963m)

GOALTENDERS
Braden Holtby ($1.850m)
Justin Peters ($0.950m)

STANDARD IR
Dmitry Orlov ($2.000m)

LTIR
Jay Beagle ($0.900m)

BONUS OVERAGE
$150,000
------
CAPGEEK.COM TOTALS (follow @capgeek on Twitter)
(estimations for 2014-15)
SALARY CAP: $69,000,000; CAP PAYROLL: $68,415,128; BONUSES: $1,971,667
CAP SPACE (23-man roster): $584,872


When Orlov comes back....Erskine is waived then sent to Hershey. Still frees up space for when Wilson is ready to come up.

FORWARDS
Alex Ovechkin ($9.538m) / Nicklas Backstrom ($6.700m) / Eric Fehr ($1.500m)
Brooks Laich ($4.500m) / Evgeny Kuznetsov ($0.900m) / Troy Brouwer ($3.667m)
Jason Chimera ($2.000m) / Andre Burakovsky ($0.894m) / Joel Ward ($3.000m)
Marcus Johansson ($2.000m) / Michael Latta ($0.575m) / Chris Brown ($0.853m)
Aaron Volpatti ($0.575m) /

DEFENSEMEN
Karl Alzner ($2.800m) / Matt Niskanen ($5.750m)
Brooks Orpik ($5.500m) / John Carlson ($3.967m)
Dmitry Orlov ($2.000m) / Mike Green ($6.083m)
Jack Hillen ($0.700m)

GOALTENDERS
Braden Holtby ($1.850m)
Justin Peters ($0.950m)

BURIED
John Erskine ($1.038m)

LTIR
Jay Beagle ($0.900m)

BONUS OVERAGE
$150,000
------
CAPGEEK.COM TOTALS (follow @capgeek on Twitter)
(estimations for 2014-15)
SALARY CAP: $69,000,000; CAP PAYROLL: $67,490,128; BONUSES: $1,971,667
CAP SPACE (22-man roster): $1,509,872

 

[strungout]

I'll be more that pleased if they keep Schmidt over Erskine.

 

[BrooklynCapsFan]

Has Schmidt woken up yet?

 

[strungout]

Has Schmidt woken up yet?

Yeah he's good supposedly.

I was just listening to the Trotz presser and I like the talk about having 2 D men on the PP units. Appears Green and Ovie will still be on the back end for the first unit for now...but Niskanen and Carlson on the second.

 

[txpd]

Schmidt has to clear waivers. So he is staying.

Niskanen was going to get his minutes on the pp. If Green was going to get his spot on 1pp back Ov was going to lose some 2pp toi to Niskanen.

I would expect that as time goes by that one of Niskanen or Carlson will start losing some 2pp toi back to Ov. Down a goal in the 3rd period Ov will not get taken off the ice as easily as in the first 20 games or in the first period.

 

[neelynugs]

haven't had time to look thru thread, but when is Wilson expected back?

 

[BrooklynCapsFan]

I was just listening to the Trotz presser and I like the talk about having 2 D men on the PP units. Appears Green and Ovie will still be on the back end for the first unit for now...but Niskanen and Carlson on the second.

That's good stuff -if he wants those 2 dmen on the ice at the end of a pp for transition purposes, that means line changes.

Now I wonder if he has the stones and the perseverance to get our floating forwards to take effective, uptempo 45 second shifts at even strength.

 

[BobRouse]

LTIR
Jay Beagle ($0.900m)

I've been out of the loop. What happened to Beagle?

 

[Langway]

Schmidt has to clear waivers. So he is staying.

No he doesn't. Schilling did and he cleared.

Volpatti is still hurt, right? Hard to say who ends up on LTIR vs. IR and who is and isn't ready to start the year. We know Wilson & Orlov won't be ready but that's all I've read. They can assign Wilson to Hershey I guess but I don't expect it. If Volpatti & Beagle aren't ready to start the season then I'd guess they'd sign Byers.

 

[Ajax1995]

I'll be more that pleased if they keep Schmidt over Erskine.

To play? Yes. To sit in the press box? No.

 

[strungout]

To play? Yes. To sit in the press box? No.

That would be the plan...until Orlov gets back.

Alzner - Niskanen
Orpik - Carlson
Schmidt - Green
Hillen

 

[artilector]

I listened to last Trotz interview -- he seemed pretty supportive of Kuz trying to adapt to North American center role.. so, whew.. I think he's gonna give him a fair chance to get up to speed.

But I agree with some other posters, a bunch of times Kuz looked kind of slow out there. Some of it is clearly due to overthinking/being unsure where to go, so he gets caught kind of not moving his feet trying to figure out where to go, and by the time he starts, he's too late. But some of it could very well be conditioning, perhaps coupled with adjustment to this kind of training camp.

Anyway, Kuz never struck me a speed demon, he's more deliberate -- kind of like Backstrom, but he's gonna need to step it up. He needs to get to the point where he can make decisions fast enough while his feet are moving..

 

[g00n]

kuz/bura/wilson

I'd like to see that happens there