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

[Carlzner]

I can't believe people are actually arguing over the Beagle deal.

 

[Langway]

Beagle > Hendricks for me. Sure, Hendricks fights and has his gimmick move but he's slower and smaller. Of course, that's assuming Beagle can keep up his new-found offense against non-competitive teams, which is likely the biggest gamble associated with the signing.

 

[Roughing]

Beagle is definitely the worst of those four players.

Not for the next three years...

 

[txpd]

By a fair amount. I would have rather traded assets to Edmonton for either of Hendricks/Gordon than re-signed Beagle.

With fourth liners either pay a little more for quality or pay as little as possible and lean on better (more expensive) depth.

Gordon had 13 pts(6 goals) in 68 games and a 55%face off...$3m
Hendricks had 18 pts(8 goals) in 71 games and 49% face off...$1.85m
Beagle had 20 pts(10 goals) in 62 games and a 56% face off....$1.75m

Beagle is by far the biggest. Where is Beagle by far the worst?

 

[Blades of Steel]

I think some posters are taking work ethic for granted. Beagle has easily the highest on the team, never takes a shift off. He's the universal lego, he can be plugged in any spot anytime. Sure he may not have the offensive skill, but I think Trotz can keep improving him in areas where he's a valuable 3rd/4th liner and his Cap isn't horrible.

That being said, I do miss Boyd Gordon the most.

Thanks for that info Tx. Beagle got a good contract, theres the proof.

 

[SpinningEdge]

He's the universal lego, he can be plugged in any spot anytime.

... except the top line. That was a disaster.

I'm really, really, really hoping It's not another year where Caps plug someone into that top line spot and just "hope" something works again.

We'll see what trade GMBM keeps hinting happens.

 

[BrooklynCapsFan]

Gordon had 13 pts(6 goals) in 68 games and a 55%face off...$3m
Hendricks had 18 pts(8 goals) in 71 games and 49% face off...$1.85m
Beagle had 20 pts(10 goals) in 62 games and a 56% face off....$1.75m

Beagle is by far the biggest. Where is Beagle by far the worst?

Langway posted the data sometime back, but look at the teams he collected his points against this season. The breakdown is comical.

http://espn.go.com/nhl/player/gamelog/_/id/3879/jay-beagle

Gordon has a lot better offense and is one of the better PKers in the league. Hendricks brings a physical and speed element that Beagle can't match.

 

[capsfan3]

I would love to see a Kessel deal if the Leafs are willing to retain 2 million. Kessel for 7 years at 6 mil? Why not.

 

[DCRedhawk21]

I don't love the Beagle deal, but this is what you get in UFA. Given the respective salaries, I'd rather have Beagle than Gordon and it's a draw for me with Hendricks. I don't think there's anyone currently in the prospect pool that replaces Beagle's full role - though I may be less sold on Latta's ability as a regular than others are. I also don't trust the management team to make savy signings on the cheap to collectively replace what Beagle brings. That, however, is more of an indictment of management than praise of Beagle. In the end, I think resigning him helps the team more than watching the current regime try to replace him (and probably screwing it up). So meh - welcome back Beagle.

 

[SpinningEdge]

I would love to see a Kessel deal if the Leafs are willing to retain 2 million. Kessel for 7 years at 6 mil? Why not.

Agreed.

Kessell isn't a head case. I personally believe a big reason he got so much hate is because he was the best player on a very bad team in Toronto... and Toronto is the biggest hockey market in the United States. Some of the biggest NHL contributors cover and are fans of Toronto.

If the Caps sucked, I guarantee you Ovi would have the same exact media hatred as Kessell. The only difference is Ovi is on a winning team and Kessell is on a losing team. Kessell has 21 points in 22 career playoff games. That is better than anyone on the Caps team in points per playoff game besides Ovechkin (and the numbers are close there).

The fact that Toronto is willing to retain up to 2 million of his salary or take a bad contract on too is amazing. Could you imagine Kessell at just age 30 or 31 if he's working out well here for just 6 million/season? That could be one of the best bargains in the NHL.

Again, the cost is the difficult thing here. Kessell isn't going to go for cheap. His value is probably twice of Sharps and rumors are Kessell is getting A TON of interest.

IMO he'd be the perfect gamble this team needs and hasn't tried. Even if it didn't work out, at least it's a true win-now big move that could excite/ignite the fan base/locker room.

 

[BobRouse]

This is pretty much what I was saying a month ago when we did our projected lines for next year and some scoffed at the prospect of so much youth in the lineup. There's plenty of reason to go that way for at least one year and get some guys some ice time and see what you have. They did it for Wilson, Kuz and Bura this year and they'll probably do more of it with other guys next season, especially with the FA crop coming up. Pretty sound approach that just happens to unfortunately and potentially burn another year of Ovechkin's viability...but the return the following year could be greater. I think we're in the midst of a 3 year plan. lol

I don't think we're going to see a cat and mouse game with Fehr and Ward. They're probably gone. But I do think they want a temporary 1RW in the 5M to 5.5M range. The rest of the roster will be budget with some flexibility at the TDL in case there's a serious need.

Yeah I think this is a sound strategy as well. Giving the youth a year of experience and gear up for the year after.

Trying to make a quick fix to save 1 year of Ovechkin can end up costing us a couple years of his after this next one.

Fehr and Ward are most certainly gone unless neither gets good offers in UFA (unlikely)

Langway posted the data sometime back, but look at the teams he collected his points against this season. The breakdown is comical.

http://espn.go.com/nhl/player/gamelog/_/id/3879/jay-beagle

Gordon has a lot better offense and is one of the better PKers in the league. Hendricks brings a physical and speed element that Beagle can't match.

huh??? Beagle is much faster than Hendricks and much bigger too.

Which of these 3 players have scored in double digits in the league in any given year? I believe Beagle is the only one.

Gordon is soft as butter and small. Hendricks played bigger than his size but he wasn't as good defensively or on the draws as Beagle is.

Discussing who's offense is better is pointless because not one of these 3 is a good offensive player. They are comprable and we can call it a push. 5-10 goals per year and perhaps 10-15 assits each.

Beagle is bigger and better on draws

I would love to see a Kessel deal if the Leafs are willing to retain 2 million. Kessel for 7 years at 6 mil? Why not.

1. Acquisition cost - Kessel at 2 mil retained will want to bring back 2-3 extremely good young assets.

2. Cap hit - His cap hit will still be $6 million

3. Term - He's signed for several more years. He doesn't keep in shape and is far far from a workout warrior which means chances are he will decline faster than you think (hello Mike Richards)

4 His 'tude - He's not a great defensive player at all and that is one thing Trotz demands.

5 If it doesn't work out we are stuck with him forever.

6 It will prevent us from going after a much better fit at this time next year. Guys like Okposo and ROR will be UFAs and they work FAR better for us.

 

[hockeykicker]

Not much change with Joel Ward. Steadfast in seeking 4 years, hasn't closed the door on WSH yet, but expecting to hit UFA market tomorrow.

Per Prewitt

 

[DCRedhawk21]

I think there's definitely some rose-colored glasses through which Hedricks is being viewed at certain points (and I really liked him when he was here).

 

[strungout]

Hopefully Wardo goes west for that 4 year deal. Don't want to deal with him come playoff time.

 

[Hivemind]

Gordon had 13 pts(6 goals) in 68 games and a 55%face off...$3m
Hendricks had 18 pts(8 goals) in 71 games and 49% face off...$1.85m
Beagle had 20 pts(10 goals) in 62 games and a 56% face off....$1.75m

Beagle is by far the biggest. Where is Beagle by far the worst?

Hendricks and Gordon, respectively, saw a whopping 17.3% and 15.1% of their draws in the offensive zone last year. 53.4% and 58.6% of their draws took place in the defensive zone. Jay Beagles' split, while slightly tilted defensively, was a much more moderate 29%O/33%D. Only Paul Gaustad and Eric Nystrom had the ice tilted more against them in terms of deployment than Hendricks and Gordon did. Their production suffered as a result.

That's also Hendricks' worst faceoff year since he was a rookie. The past four seasons have been 54%, 56.8%, 53.6%, and 53.1%.

 

[Alexander the Gr8]

I hope Holtby is signed tonight.

 

[Ridley Simon]

Did you not read anything I wrote? I said I would have centered a package around him and our first for Lucic....TO REPLACE HIM...

Boston didn't take back salary in the Lucic deal. What exactly makes you think they wanted to take back an RFA slotted to make more than 3m a year? You can't just stomp your feet here and whine about the Caps no trading MaJo for Lucic.

You just want to rant and rave. Fine. At least do it based on some logic, instead of your emotional bent at the time.

 

[BrooklynCapsFan]

Hopefully Wardo goes west for that 4 year deal. Don't want to deal with him come playoff time.

It's not just the postseason. Losing his boardwork changes the makeup of this team considerably IMO.

 

[strungout]

It's not just the postseason. Losing his boardwork changes the makeup of this team considerably IMO.

Agreed.

Will be hard to replace that internally thats for sure.

 

[CapsYeti12]

GMBM said that trades provide better avenues for addressing needs and after draft asking price from potential partners shift from selections to bodies. So which players from our roster are trade available except prospects.. Laich, Brouwer, Chimera, Johansson ?, Orlov ?, Schmidt ?, Peters...

 

[NobodyBeatsTheWiz]

Boston didn't take back salary in the Lucic deal. What exactly makes you think they wanted to take back an RFA slotted to make more than 3m a year? You can't just stomp your feet here and whine about the Caps no trading MaJo for Lucic.

You just want to rant and rave. Fine. At least do it based on some logic, instead of your emotional bent at the time.

Boston retained salary in the Lucic trade.

 

[hockeykicker]

Agreed.

Will be hard to replace that internally thats for sure.

Agreed as well. Regardless of everyone's views of gmbm, cant blame him for not going 4 years on ward

 

[NobodyBeatsTheWiz]

I want Bergenheim. We need a Finn.

 

[Alexander the Gr8]

GMBM said that trades provide better avenues for addressing needs and after draft asking price from potential partners shift from selections to bodies. So which players from our roster are trade available except prospects.. Laich, Brouwer, Chimera, Johansson ?, Orlov ?, Schmidt ?, Peters...

Latta can be traded as well. The rest is rookies or players that are here to stay.

 

[Langway]

It's not just the postseason. Losing his boardwork changes the makeup of this team considerably IMO.

Meh. That's not necessarily a bad thing. His boardwork faded in a big way in the regular season. Yeah, he brings it in the playoffs but I'd rather bite the bullet and have them be forced to play a more skilled game that's less reliant on wall work and more about playing at pace and creating room/separation.

It maybe takes away the possibility of a legit two-way checking line but that checking line lost its effectiveness in a big way in the second half anyway.