Speculation: Caps General Discussion (Coaching/FAs/Cap/Lines etc) -- 2018-19 We Are The Champions Edition - Pt. 4

[peterthegreat12]

Such a long wait to hear how long it's gonna be. Ugh.

The replies to that post on Twitter is a shit show.

 

[Jags]

Carrick is good enough for the NHL. Not sure that he's good enough in any capacity for a cup contender. Nonetheless, he's already in Dallas so thats irrelevant now.

Caps should not trade for a defenseman. Have too many of their own. D for F is what they should be looking for.

RHD is their biggest deficiency. There's a vacuum beyond Niskanen and Carlson, so the organization has a lot riding on Bowey. Playing Djoos on the right isn't a long-term solution and Bowey hasn't come close to locking the 3RD spot up. If that doesn't change soon, I'd absolutely put a trade together for a RHD to fill that spot on a more permanent basis.

I might feel differently if we had even one RHD other than Bowey in the system with real NHL potential, but we don't.

 

[txpd]

not sure where to put this so, I will dump it in here for laughs.

Saturday I was standing in a long line. I was wearing my Stanley Cup Champions shirt. A guy in a Pens shirt was going the other way and saw me. He flipped me off. It was great.

 

[Melkor]

RHD is their biggest deficiency. There's a vacuum beyond Niskanen and Carlson, so the organization has a lot riding on Bowey. Playing Djoos on the right isn't a long-term solution and Bowey hasn't come close to locking the 3RD spot up. If that doesn't change soon, I'd absolutely put a trade together for a RHD to fill that spot on a more permanent basis.

I might feel differently if we had even one RHD other than Bowey in the system with real NHL potential, but we don't.

Djoos doing alright. Alright enough to hold his ground on the 3rd pairing. That being said, I would not spend assets (at least this year) to get someone at a position that looks alright right now. They have to care about the spots that are very questionable short and long term. I'm talking about wings. They have Ovechkin who is good and also 33 years old. They have Oshie who is not as good but still okay, 32 years old and have a concussion to his resume, Vrana and Burakovsky who are kinda not juniors long ago but still a mystery in terms of what their future is. And behind them its basically a mess. One-two injuries on top-6 and they are f***ed up big time. Oh, I forgot that dumbass 43. Wouldn't really count on him anymore in terms of consistency. The guy losing his brain cells once he sees anyones head on the open ice.

 

[895]

I hope he gets 15+ games, maybe losing a couple million will make him think twice before trying to kill guys out there.

Most of his pay is in signing bonus so he won't lose much.

Speaking of his contract, I wonder how much he'd get today if he was still unsigned.

 

[txpd]

Oshie is not good?

 

[Melkor]

Oshie is not AS good, mate. Not that hard to read.

 

[maacoshark]

RHD is their biggest deficiency. There's a vacuum beyond Niskanen and Carlson, so the organization has a lot riding on Bowey. Playing Djoos on the right isn't a long-term solution and Bowey hasn't come close to locking the 3RD spot up. If that doesn't change soon, I'd absolutely put a trade together for a RHD to fill that spot on a more permanent basis.

I might feel differently if we had even one RHD other than Bowey in the system with real NHL potential, but we don't.

I think Bowey has progressed as the preseason went on. He is playing more minutes and getting time on the pk.
Not sure if anyone has noticed but Bowey has had a lot of minutes on the pk this preseason where Djoos has had very little. They must have some confidence in him.

 

[maacoshark]

I think I'd go with:

8-92-77
13-19-18
10-20-65
79-26-25

8-92-77 has been a fantastic line since Oshie came to DC and I don't imagine their chemistry changing now. Not sure if I want Stephenson or Connolly bumped up to the second line, but for now I put Stephenson. Stephenson has more speed and defensive awareness but Connolly is certainly more gifted offensively and isn't afraid to shoot, something Stephenson still needs to work on. Still, having Connolly on the third line keeps them 3 lines deep even without Wilson in the lineup.

I'd also like to see Walker in the lineup but I hope they give him PKing duties if he is. Still not sure why they didn't think he could PK last season despite doing so in Hershey.

I like that line up with the exception of Walker.

 

[Jags]

Djoos doing alright. Alright enough to hold his ground on the 3rd pairing..

Meh. Djoos is a guy with woeful NHL size that might be NHL caliber if he had a counterbalance at RD to allow him to do what he does best. He had enough problems at the NHL level without being forced to play his weak side. Yes, it's serviceable for now, but there's no reason for it not to be a solved problem. The club has been waiting on Bowey and the kid hasn't shown up yet.

They have to care about the spots that are very questionable short and long term. I'm talking about wings.

Your take on our wing situation is mind-boggling to me. Ovechkin, Wilson, Vrana, Oshie, Burakovsky, Connolly, Stephenson, AJF, Gersich, Devo... That's a pretty good group of wings. Certainly nothing to worry about, even depth-wise. I think we're years away from having any real problems at wing.

 

[Melkor]

Meh. Djoos is a guy with woeful NHL size that might be NHL caliber if he had a counterbalance at RD to allow him to do what he does best. He had enough problems at the NHL level without being forced to play his weak side. Yes, it's serviceable for now, but there's no reason for it not to be a solved problem. The club has been waiting on Bowey and the kid hasn't shown up yet.



Your take on our wing situation is mind-boggling to me. Ovechkin, Wilson, Vrana, Oshie, Burakovsky, Connolly, Stephenson, AJF, Gersich, Devo... That's a pretty good group of wings. Certainly nothing to worry about, even depth-wise. I think we're years away from having any real problems at wing.

Half of these names are barely nhl level players who worked out for one year on a magical run. The other half is unproven euros, reckless idiot and two aging guys one of which is one concussion away from big troubles. You gotta look at the picture while not taking cup into account. Yes, it was a great year but if Vrana and Burakovsky dont visibly improve, that offence is in trouble. The majority is in denial on that until one of Ovechkin/Oshie gets hurt.

As for Djoos, we're clearly of different opinions on him. Actually very creative in the offensive zone once he gets some space, good passing skills. I see more upside in him than in Bowey, he's up for his current tasks.

 

[Hivemind]

You're both right, the Capitals have a dearth of both scoring-line forward prospects and Top 4 RHD prospects.

 

[CapitalsCupReality]

Most of his pay is in signing bonus so he won't lose much.

Speaking of his contract, I wonder how much he'd get today if he was still unsigned.

Damn you’re right. $13.5k per game in salary.....10 games salary is something he won’t even feel.

 

[mouser]

Most of his pay is in signing bonus so he won't lose much.

Speaking of his contract, I wonder how much he'd get today if he was still unsigned.

Signing bonus money is forfeited during suspensions. So he would lose $74k per game suspended.

edit: it's actually $63k per game as they use contract AAV rather than the actual salary/bonuses for that year.

 

[mouser]

One addendum in case it has any impact on cap crunching: teams don’t get salary cap relief for disciplinary suspension.

Players who are suspended without pay don’t count against the cap. However players who are suspended for on-ice displinary resaons are considered to have been paid and forfeited the salary. Any forfeited salary goes into the Emergency Players Assistance Fund. Those funds are used to help former players and their widows/children in financial need.

 

[txpd]

Oshie is not AS good, mate. Not that hard to read.

Not as good as what/who?

 

[txpd]

One addendum in case it has any impact on cap crunching: teams don’t get salary cap relief for disciplinary suspension.

Players who are suspended without pay don’t count against the cap. However players who are suspended for on-ice displinary resaons are considered to have been paid and forfeited the salary. Any forfeited salary goes into the Emergency Players Assistance Fund. Those funds are used to help former players and their widows/children in financial need.

If the team is getting penalized the roster spot, why would anyone think they were going to get a cap break in the process? We've been thru this before.

 

[CapitalsCupReality]

Signing bonus money is forfeited during suspensions. So he would lose $74k per game suspended.

That’s poop.

 

[BallardEra]

Kuzy up next week should be pure laughs:

https://www.bardown.com/paul-bisson...matthews-with-mystery-box-challenge-1.1184231

 

[artilector]

You're both right, the Capitals have a dearth of both scoring-line forward prospects and Top 4 RHD prospects.

I think 2C might be as much of a development need as Top 4 RHD -- Backstrom and Niskanen are close in age, and those positions are hard to fill externally.

As for wingers, I'm not sure the situation is as (mildly-) critical. Yes, Ovi can't really be replaced -- but a competitive team can get really good wingers in FA with that kind of cap space.

 

[Alexander the Gr8]

I think 2C might be as much of a development need as Top 4 RHD -- Backstrom and Niskanen are close in age, and those positions are hard to fill externally.

As for wingers, I'm not sure the situation is as (mildly-) critical. Yes, Ovi can't really be replaced -- but a competitive team can get really good wingers in FA with that kind of cap space.

There will inevitably be a period of suckage when Ovi hangs them up. Him leaving the team will force the management to change the identity and structure of the entire group. The gap he will leave cannot be immediately filled. It will take a few years of great drafting and trading to become competitive again.

 

[artilector]

There will inevitably be a period of suckage when Ovi hangs them up. Him leaving the team will force the management to change the identity and structure of the entire group. The gap he will leave cannot be immediately filled. It will take a few years of great drafting and trading to become competitive again.

I'm not sure it has to be that painful, depending on the timing/what's available in FA, etc. You can do a lot with 9.5M in cap space. And I don't see a need to force changing team-wide identity & structure, except on the PP.

 

[maacoshark]

Half of these names are barely nhl level players who worked out for one year on a magical run. The other half is unproven euros, reckless idiot and two aging guys one of which is one concussion away from big troubles. You gotta look at the picture while not taking cup into account. Yes, it was a great year but if Vrana and Burakovsky dont visibly improve, that offence is in trouble. The majority is in denial on that until one of Ovechkin/Oshie gets hurt.

As for Djoos, we're clearly of different opinions on him. Actually very creative in the offensive zone once he gets some space, good passing skills. I see more upside in him than in Bowey, he's up for his current tasks.

Dont know how things go with Bowey and Djoos. Only time will tell. I think Bowey has more upside because he is bigger and stronger. If he can improve his decision making in the defensive zone I think he will be fine. Djoos needs to add strength.

 

[Silky mitts]

There will inevitably be a period of suckage when Ovi hangs them up. Him leaving the team will force the management to change the identity and structure of the entire group. The gap he will leave cannot be immediately filled. It will take a few years of great drafting and trading to become competitive again.

You don’t think it will be be easy to transition to Kuzys team? If Vrana and Samsonov hit the train should keep rolling.

 

[maacoshark]

RHD is their biggest deficiency. There's a vacuum beyond Niskanen and Carlson, so the organization has a lot riding on Bowey. Playing Djoos on the right isn't a long-term solution and Bowey hasn't come close to locking the 3RD spot up. If that doesn't change soon, I'd absolutely put a trade together for a RHD to fill that spot on a more permanent basis.

I might feel differently if we had even one RHD other than Bowey in the system with real NHL potential, but we don't.

You dont think Hobbs had NHL potential?
I think he does. He needs to work on his defensive game but he has all the tools. Good skater, decent moving the puck, he plays physical, he can fight and he has a very good shot. Of our defensive prospects he is probably the most skilled.