Speculation: Caps General Discussion (Coaching/FAs/Cap/Lines etc) - 2019 Offseason Pt. 1: The BMac Attack
- Thread starter Calicaps
- Start date
- Status
Just totally for fun - if McDavid ever wanted out of Edmonton, what would you hypothetically give up for him?
I imagine it'd take Kuznetsov, plus help on D and high-end prospects/draft picks.
I imagine it'd take Kuznetsov, plus help on D and high-end prospects/draft picks.
Those that don’t like Orlov bc “5mil”. I give you D men:
N Zaitsev
E. Gudbranson
K Russell
A Sekera
J Bouwmeester
D Phaneuf
Z Bogosian
M Staal
A Goligoski
A McDonald
C Ceci
I Cole
Those are all d-men in and around 5m. What are we complaining about again?
N Zaitsev
E. Gudbranson
K Russell
A Sekera
J Bouwmeester
D Phaneuf
Z Bogosian
M Staal
A Goligoski
A McDonald
C Ceci
I Cole
Those are all d-men in and around 5m. What are we complaining about again?
SpinningEdge
Registered User
It would take Kuzy, Carlson, and Holtby I bet. No joke.
We are talking about a possible top 5 player of all-time... it would take everything.
So Tex we have 3 solid RDs and you think we should trade from LD where Djoos isnt good enough, Siege is a rookie, Orpik is retiring and Kempny has potential career altering injury?
Not this summer
Not this summer
Corby78
65 - 10 - 20
You changed that to kuzy/orlov or Kempny/holtby/d prospect, I’d probably do it
Ovechkins Wodka
Registered User
It's pretty clear the canes exposed our D as slow.
Good thing we have young fast legs in the minors to fix this.
Nisky, Orpik served well as FA adds but we have kids ready to come up and need cap space.
If we go cheap on D with the rookies I hope we use the cap space to fill out the forwards.
Speaking of EDM would they take a package of Holtby and Nisky for one of the skilled forwards
Good thing we have young fast legs in the minors to fix this.
Nisky, Orpik served well as FA adds but we have kids ready to come up and need cap space.
If we go cheap on D with the rookies I hope we use the cap space to fill out the forwards.
Speaking of EDM would they take a package of Holtby and Nisky for one of the skilled forwards
895
Registered User
- Jun 15, 2007
- 8,397
- 7,068
Probably not. They pretty much only have three skilled forwards and no cap space. If you take RNH and add a cap dump like Lucic they might be interested, but probably not. They have decided to give Koskinen a try as their 1G.
I would guess Florida would be a better fit for Nisk-Holtby for one of their forwards. They need an RD and they need a goalie. For Florida it would probably be better to fix their D and G for a cap space of 11,85 than give Bob around 10 mill. Then sign Panarin to replace Hoffman/Dadonov/Trocheck who would probably be what the Caps would target as Barkov and Hub probably will take more.
NobodyBeatsTheWiz
Happy now?
Kuznetsov + Orlov + Samsonov/Alexeyev/Johansen
All three have no NTCs before July 1, which most high end established players have. And most offers for McDavid would include younger players... but with young players its much tougher to make the salary work.
John Price
Bet
- Sep 19, 2008
- 373,363
- 24,544
Langway
In den Wolken
- Jul 7, 2006
- 32,365
- 9,082
They could also miss the playoffs if they lose Connolly, Niskanen is busted and some of the other olds decline. It's tricky. MacLellan needs to balance the veteran experience some players bring with an eventual need to become younger and to adapt to where the league is heading. He can't force youth into the lineup and at least up front that's probably a way off anyway aside from fourth-liners that may eventually progress to being worthy of playing up the lineup.
Things also can just get stale after a while. If they're just hanging on with no new additions or fresh blood and suffer a loss in scoring depth it could be problematic. All of this could be manageable enough if I had faith in the coaching staff on whole but that benefit of the doubt is gone. Pittsburgh is facing something a bit similar and IMO we're going to see dogfights just to qualify for the playoffs most years across the league. There will be outlier teams that easily qualify and are stacked with talent but we're starting to enter a period where there's likely to be an incredible amount of parity. I don't think this post-season is a fluke. There will still be teams like Ottawa that are dysfunctional and can't match the budget to build a highly formidable team but other than that there's going to be a lot of worthy competition. Losing valuable depth scoring could be costly. Losing steadying albeit aging defenders could also be costly. It's about best outcomes, manipulating the market and exploiting inefficiencies. It's not going to be easy this summer, esp. with the 19/70 extensions in theory, but MacLellan needs to be forward-thinking, realistic about age curves and to make tough decisions that may carry some risk but also present them with a more viable near-term window.
I think all signs point to Holtby leaving when his contract is up. I think the same for Niskanen, as I don’t think they are ready to trade him yet. Perhaps next season as it goes along it could happen. But I wouldn’t count on that either.
If Samsonov continues to be the guy down in Hershey, then he’s going to be the guy in DC.
I love Holtby — but he blew it against Carolina (looking back, and at what is happening now — Caps really could’ve won back to backs here — Isles aren’t anything special so it would have been surviving the Bruins/CBus winner, which probably would’ve been a coin flip...and then whatever Western team survives will be worse than the Bruins/CBus winner). He is now what I’d call “streaky” in the playoffs as 3 of his last 4 runs haven’t been all that great. Maybe even not that good.
He’s going to want north of 6m. Team can not afford it and have the depth needed to compete.
If Samsonov continues to be the guy down in Hershey, then he’s going to be the guy in DC.
I love Holtby — but he blew it against Carolina (looking back, and at what is happening now — Caps really could’ve won back to backs here — Isles aren’t anything special so it would have been surviving the Bruins/CBus winner, which probably would’ve been a coin flip...and then whatever Western team survives will be worse than the Bruins/CBus winner). He is now what I’d call “streaky” in the playoffs as 3 of his last 4 runs haven’t been all that great. Maybe even not that good.
He’s going to want north of 6m. Team can not afford it and have the depth needed to compete.
txpd
Registered User
Not a chance that moving both Niskanen and Orlov is a good idea. I said that it could be done with an incoming top end defensive d coming in. Those don't grow on trees. I would love to know how they defense leads and kill penalties if both Niskanen and Orpik don't return?
txpd
Registered User
3 solid right D. You aren't seriously putting Jensen in the Niskanen class, I hope. You are not seriously considering relying on Carlson for all the primary defensive situations as well as all the primary offensives situations.
I am not sure Orpik is retiring. But lets assume he does. The Caps use 4 defensemen on the pk. Niskanen, Orpik, Carlson, Jensen. They use Niskanen and Orpik at the end in primary defensive late game situations. They used Carlson and Orpik for basic defensive situations going back to last season.
For sure LD side of the defense is limited. Neither Orlov nor Kempny carry any real special teams time. Neither are competitive with Orpik on those things and there is evidence that the coaching staff trusts Seigenthaler ahead of both of them in those areas.
My reason for suggesting that maybe Orlov is the one to go is that his minutes are going to be easier to fill. He players in fewer situations and provides less.
If Niskanen and Orpik are gone next season, which defensemen after Carslon are killing penalites and which take the last couple shifts protecting a lead? Niskanen does both. he can still be counted on to do both at a high level. Orlov does neither and has never been the lead player on his defensive pair.
twabby
Registered User
- Mar 9, 2010
- 13,706
- 14,617
I think Jensen could pretty easily pick up the PK work that Niskanen currently handles. He was Detroit's best PK defenseman in terms of minutes played and goals against rate, so I really don't see an issue with him picking up Niskanen's minutes especially since Niskanen wasn't very good this year on the PK.
I'm less sure Jensen would be able to handle top 4 minutes at ES in Washington even though he did fine enough in Detroit. The problem is that Niskanen himself has shown he can't really handle those minutes any more so I'm not exactly sure how much downside there is to giving Jensen a shot in the top 4 if they don't get a clear upgrade elsewhere.
I'm less sure Jensen would be able to handle top 4 minutes at ES in Washington even though he did fine enough in Detroit. The problem is that Niskanen himself has shown he can't really handle those minutes any more so I'm not exactly sure how much downside there is to giving Jensen a shot in the top 4 if they don't get a clear upgrade elsewhere.
Holtby was also awful against the Pens in 2017. He was playoff beast early in his career but it seems he's back to normal. And when you factor in the regular season he's just a mediocre starting goalie who benefited from playing for Trotz and Korn.
I think we need to bring up Samsonov next year to play 25-30 games so we know what to do with Holtby in 2020-21... sort of like Vasilevsky with Bishop.
Agreed. I can buy the next man up when it comes to defence for the Caps as we have Jensen and a lot of our best prospects are Caps.
But next man up if Connolly is gone is... Barber? Trading Niskanen to help our offense makes a lot of sense if we lose a couple of forwards.
Langway
In den Wolken
- Jul 7, 2006
- 32,365
- 9,082
I think St. Louis makes for a tougher out than BOS/CBJ because their defense is better. I tell ya....they have that look about them.
Agreed on Holtby. I don't put it all on him but he could have been the difference and wasn't.
I tried running the numbers for next season via CapGeek and they look pretty rough. We don't know the cap number yet but at, say, $82.5M (a $3M bump), they don't have much cap space unless maybe they happen to bridge Vrana. They're going to need to move one of the bigger salaries for sure and I don't hate the idea of it being Holtby if the right offer comes in. I think getting the right offer could be the difference in whether it's him, Niskanen or perhaps Orlov. It's not just next season but the season after that where it becomes essential to have space cleared out (and also the season thereafter when The Big Dog is up). They're really going to need some good quality prospects joining the ranks on the cheap, both up front and on defense. Samsonov in for Holtby would help but they're really going to need quality fresh skaters to help get back to becoming a more energetic attacking team again. Ideally I think that's the way to replace Connolly, improve their overall depth, remain viable and juggle the near-term cap mix.
895
Registered User
- Jun 15, 2007
- 8,397
- 7,068
He hasn't played in a while right? Probably just sending him home.
Can they still sign Priskie to burn an ELC year? The ultra optimist in me would say they told Priskie they were gonna make changes to the blueline and that he'd get a very good chance of cracking the roster.
- Status
