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

[CaptainAmerica]

Waive Peters and bring up Grubauer? Seems like a no brainier to me. I have zero confidence we will win when Peters starts.

 

[Ridley Simon]

Lol, Peters. Go back to the AHL

 

[CapsJunkie]

Have you seen Grubs this season? would rather call up Copley. Caps desperately need a stud goalie in the pipeline

 

[g00n]

Haven't seen Brodeur play recently. Can he hang? Might be worth it for 1 year.

 

[CapsJunkie]

Isn't he still a ufa? thats an idea

 

[NobodyBeatsTheWiz]

What's Timmy up to these days?

 

[NobodyBeatsTheWiz]

GMBM's to-do list, as I see it:

1. Extend Holtby - Pretty evident why this needs to be done ASAP.

2. Add a top-6 forward - Any position would do, but I'd prioritize: 2C, 1RW, LW.
Vermette, Doan, ROR, Hanzal, Stafford, Soderberg, Tlusty

3. Fix the third pairing - The Hillen-Green dynamic just doesn't work. Best partner for 52 would ideally be someone who can skate and move the puck. Handling forechecking pressure is a must. Wouldn't be unhappy with Schmidt/Orlov.
Pair Green with: Yandle, Sekera, Methot, Timonen, Leopold, Salvador
or replace Green with: Michalek, Petry, Zidlicky, Yandle

4. Replace Peters - He's been a decent backup in the past, but doesn't have it this year, for whatever reason. Grubauer would probably be ideal, given cap hit and familiarity.
Thomas, Brodeur, Enroth, Ramo, Neuvirth, Fasth, Ellis, Lindback

 

[Raikkonen]

GMBM's to-do list, as I see it:

1. Extend Holtby - Pretty evident why this needs to be done ASAP.

2. Add a top-6 forward - Any position would do, but I'd prioritize: 2C, 1RW, LW.
Vermette, Doan, ROR, Hanzal, Stafford, Soderberg, Tlusty

3. Fix the third pairing - The Hillen-Green dynamic just doesn't work. Best partner for 52 would ideally be someone who can skate and move the puck. Handling forechecking pressure is a must. Wouldn't be unhappy with Schmidt/Orlov.
Pair Green with: Yandle, Sekera, Methot, Timonen, Leopold, Salvador
or replace Green with: Michalek, Petry, Zidlicky, Yandle

4. Replace Peters - He's been a decent backup in the past, but doesn't have it this year, for whatever reason. Grubauer would probably be ideal, given cap hit and familiarity.
Thomas, Brodeur, Enroth, Ramo, Neuvirth, Fasth, Ellis, Lindback

OK, everything was OK until you proposed a trade for Neuvirth ))

Anyway I like this summary a lot. GMBM just lacks cap space to execute most of this.

 

[trick9]

I wonder if Colorado would move Berra for bit cheaper than they've acquired him for last summer. Calvin Pickard has been on fire when he's got his chance and so has Varlamov. Berra has been disappointing this season but he's clearly NHL-level goalie and he's signed for 2 more years after this one @ very reasonable 1.450m cap hit.

 

[Raikkonen]

I don't see a point in trading for an expensive backup. Brodeur's caphit was like 2,4 M or smth, no?

We have 600k Grubi which is very good for acquiring anybody at deadline (~340k difference with traded Peters, at least 290k if sent down I think).

What can Brodeur offer over Grubi for much bigger price? Don't think it's much in terms of play quality. We have to play Holtby anyway.

Trading/releasing Brouwer and Ward will leave us with no experienced RWs. Barber, Wilson, Bura, Kuzy and... Brown, Latta? There is Fehr but we know he is good to play in middle-6.

If there is no new RW with a term left @ deadline I would not trade Brouwer until summer. Then again it will be hard to expect much in playoffs with current roster.

But GMBM will have a nice opportunity to evaluate everybody in Spring (Bura and Kuz @ top-6 maybe, Brouwer, Ward and Green). With that evaluation his decisions in May and July should be better.

 

[Roughing]

GMBM's to-do list, as I see it:

1. Extend Holtby - Pretty evident why this needs to be done ASAP.

2. Add a top-6 forward - Any position would do, but I'd prioritize: 2C, 1RW, LW.
Vermette, Doan, ROR, Hanzal, Stafford, Soderberg, Tlusty

3. Fix the third pairing - The Hillen-Green dynamic just doesn't work. Best partner for 52 would ideally be someone who can skate and move the puck. Handling forechecking pressure is a must. Wouldn't be unhappy with Schmidt/Orlov.
Pair Green with: Yandle, Sekera, Methot, Timonen, Leopold, Salvador
or replace Green with: Michalek, Petry, Zidlicky, Yandle

4. Replace Peters - He's been a decent backup in the past, but doesn't have it this year, for whatever reason. Grubauer would probably be ideal, given cap hit and familiarity.
Thomas, Brodeur, Enroth, Ramo, Neuvirth, Fasth, Ellis, Lindback

This.

Plus, I'd extend Fehr, dump Chimmer, and put 1RW over 2C as a need. I'm completely done with Troy in the top 6, too. The next time he misses a layup and looks to the rafters I'm gonna puke.

 

[Zoidberg Jesus]

I wonder if Colorado would move Berra for bit cheaper than they've acquired him for last summer. Calvin Pickard has been on fire when he's got his chance and so has Varlamov. Berra has been disappointing this season but he's clearly NHL-level goalie and he's signed for 2 more years after this one @ very reasonable 1.450m cap hit.

1.45M is way too much for a backup who'll be playing maybe 20 games a season, if that. We shouldn't have to pay that much to find someone who doesn't suck.

 

[trick9]

1.45M is way too much for a backup who'll be playing maybe 20 games a season, if that. We shouldn't have to pay that much to find someone who doesn't suck.

In the middle of the season?

Very few teams want to move their goalies during the season, and if you want someone with small cap hit then the list is even shorter.

 

[NobodyBeatsTheWiz]

Is Berra a pending UFA? I wouldn't bring in any backup from outside the organization that's not a pending UFA.

 

[Zoidberg Jesus]

In the middle of the season?

Very few teams want to move their goalies during the season, and if you want someone with small cap hit then the list is even shorter.

It's less about this season, more about the next two. We're probably going to be tight up against the cap, and I'd rather not be paying that much for a guy who's starting less than a quarter of our games. Rather just trade for a cheap stopgap like Brodeur, or find whatever hole Thomas crawled into and drag him back to the league, and then reassess things in the offseason.

Is Berra a pending UFA? I wouldn't bring in any backup from outside the organization that's not a pending UFA.

He's got two more years after this one.

 

[trick9]

It's less about this season, more about the next two. We're probably going to be tight up against the cap, and I'd rather not be paying that much for a guy who's starting less than a quarter of our games. Rather just trade for a cheap stopgap like Brodeur, or find whatever hole Thomas crawled into and drag him back to the league, and then reassess things in the offseason.



He's got two more years after this one.

I'll gladly pay the extra ~0.5m for a guy that has major impact on ~10-15 games in a season.

List of UFA goalies with less than 1m cap hit is pretty small...

Jason LaBarbera
Curtis McElhinney
Scott Clemmensen
Thomas Greiss
Anders Lindback
Joey MacDonald
Robb Zepp
Ray Emery
Devan Dubnyk
Dan Ellis

 

[Zoidberg Jesus]

I'll gladly pay the extra ~0.5m for a guy that has major impact on ~10-15 games in a season.

List of UFA goalies with less than 1m cap hit is pretty small...

Jason LaBarbera
Curtis McElhinney
Scott Clemmensen
Thomas Greiss
Anders Lindback
Joey MacDonald
Robb Zepp
Ray Emery
Devan Dubnyk
Dan Ellis

That 0.5M could be the difference between keeping a guy like Fehr or letting him walk. I'd be happy with any of the bolded as our backup as long as they cost <1M (also, fun fact, all the guys you listed have a higher career sv% than Berra).

 

[Hivemind]

Greiss is the guy I want, but no chance Pittsburgh lets him go in-season, especially to a division rival. Maybe they can nab him in the summer.

 

[Halpysback*]

Bryzgalov!!!

 

[NobodyBeatsTheWiz]

Lindback makes a lot of sense, given contract and history with Korn/Trotz.

 

[Langway]

@alex_prewitt: Trotz was asked if he thought the Caps were "a playoff team that could win." Said yes, but "we need a piece or two."

 

[Capitlols]

@alex_prewitt: Trotz was asked if he thought the Caps were "a playoff team that could win." Said yes, but "we need a piece or two."

Paging GMBM.

 

[Ovechkins Wodka]

@alex_prewitt: Trotz was asked if he thought the Caps were "a playoff team that could win." Said yes, but "we need a piece or two."

what would the pieces be?

1st line winger and back up goalie?

 

[g00n]

what would the pieces be?

1st line winger and back up goalie?

I think NBTW pretty much nailed it earlier.

If you don't go 1RW you go 2C and make Kuz 1RW. There seems to be momentum for that move at least among fans. That's probably first priority.

 

[txpd]

Waive Peters and bring up Grubauer? Seems like a no brainier to me. I have zero confidence we will win when Peters starts.

whats your take on how much any potential backup plays? holtby is going to play. its not going to be 3 games out of every 5 like in the 1a 1b days. grubauer or Copley will get a game a month and will suck for lack of playing time.

right now being holtby's backup is not a job for a young goalie. peters may not be the answer, but I would not expect either of the ahl goalies to be successful at that role.

best way of handling this is to ditch peters and rotate the two ahl goalies to sit on the caps bench while the other gets to play and stay sharp in Hershey.