Big moves are big hypotheticals, and I guess if you have a chance to get a Pavelski at a sort of reasonable cost it's hard to say no.. but with Bura now supposedly officially off the table (which is probably a good thing), I can't imagine how the Caps can offer the best package. Somebody would offer an elite young player for him, I would imagine, something you're not gonna beat with a Mojo/1st/Vrana type of mix.
So realistically, we're talking lesser names, right?
First of all, I have a feeling that getting back Ward on a reasonable contract would beat most other candidates, if it came to either/or. So hopefully Caps can get Ward back, and make enough moves to free up sufficient cap space for another solid addition.
With names like Sharp, Vrbata, Oshie, I suspect it's a pretty big crapshoot as far as chemistry. So.. unless the Caps' scouts have learned how to hit a bullseye, I would go with whoever has the most natural goal-scoring ability and/or is cheapest to acquire. Caps need moar snipers, plus "natural-born" scorers are less dependent on chemistry.
I guess that sounds like Vrbata to me. Although I don't know the player very well, and whether his goals were set up on a silver platter by the Sedins or something.. But hypothetically.. get a scorer, on the cheap, if possible.
At the same time I do think that probably the bigger issue is something that others have mentioned -- how to inject more pace and ability to pressure into the roster. But it feels kind of pointless to discuss specifics because there's no indication that the Caps are thinking that way. I mean, would the Caps be perfectly happy with Laich, Brouwer, and Mojo if those guys somehow managed to score a couple more goals..? I think very likely yes -- that they are content with this version of the "heavy game", and that they'll try to keep everybody they can and go with minimal changes to address something specific -- which, for this off-season, is "another top-6 guy".