This is probably gonna get shouted down hard but trade Holtby at the end of the season
-good return
-frees up cap space
-honestly believe Grubauer can be almost as good to the point where the team is better with him and the extra stuff from Holtby trade/using cap space on rest of roster. Only think this is a pragmatic move because Grubauer looks like the real deal and we have Samsonov.
-Holtby has been good in the playoffs but not amazing, got outplayed by Murray last year and didn't make some critical saves on the Rangers before that.
Maybe work out a deal with Vegas where he's traded there for a good return AND they don't touch any piece we want them to... he'd be the best goalie McPhee could get by a country mile. Like trade them Holtby, have them take Orpik.
This team is looking at direct downgrades after this season so they'd have to get creative and take risks for cap management/player acquisition to somehow improve.
This is probably gonna get shouted down hard but trade Holtby at the end of the season
-good return
-frees up cap space
-honestly believe Grubauer can be almost as good to the point where the team is better with him and the extra stuff from Holtby trade/using cap space on rest of roster. Only think this is a pragmatic move because Grubauer looks like the real deal and we have Samsonov.
-Holtby has been good in the playoffs but not amazing, got outplayed by Murray last year and didn't make some critical saves on the Rangers before that.
Maybe work out a deal with Vegas where he's traded there for a good return AND they don't touch any piece we want them to... he'd be the best goalie McPhee could get by a country mile. Like trade them Holtby, have them take Orpik.
This team is looking at direct downgrades after this season so they'd have to get creative and take risks for cap management/player acquisition to somehow improve.
Hint: If you really want to make the argument we'd be better off trading Holtby, your angle should be the salary cap investment.
At this stage i would trade anyone from the roster rather than Braden Holtby.
I had been noodling with a hypothetical retool that traded Holtby for like a Klingberg or a Lindholm with an eye towards flipping Carlson a year before his contract expired, but I couldn't really find a good match in terms of NHL talent for Carlson. Also that Holtby deal was mostly salary neutral and didn't free up much space at all, and left us still with 5.5 of Orpik (not that I feel we need to move Orpik, but that's where the money is).
While looking at teams in Capfriendly I just did have another idea, however remote it may be. If, after this season, Erik Karlsson indicates he wants out, how about a Karlsson+Anderson for Holtby+Carlson? Money's about equal, and Ottawa gets 3 years of Holtby and 1 of Carlson for 2 of Karlsson and 1 of Anderson.
Yeah we've won so much with Holtby
Totally the reason the Caps did not win the cup.
46 games is not a small sample either.