It will be interesting to see what they can do to improve the fourth line. Stephenson, Dowd, and Boyd as of now may be one of the worst fourth lines in the league. Limited budget for any improvement so hopefully BMac has some magic up his sleeve.
The "worst" 4th line in the league thing is kinda silly. If they just upgraded Stephenson to someone who has a pulse they'd probably be a pretty good offensive 4th line. I'd like to see Gersich take that spot, or someone from Hershey maybe. Stepehnson is just allergic to the most important aspect of Hockey.
Ive got to think a veteran on a try out deal and one kid from Hershey are starting on the 4th line
The Caps won the cup with the ability to play any kind of game you want. The bottom 6 as constructed doesn’t have much jam at all. They are lacking a physical presence.The "worst" 4th line in the league thing is kinda silly. If they just upgraded Stephenson to someone who has a pulse they'd probably be a pretty good offensive 4th line. I'd like to see Gersich take that spot, or someone from Hershey maybe. Stepehnson is just allergic to the most important aspect of Hockey.
It will be interesting to see what they can do to improve the fourth line. Stephenson, Dowd, and Boyd as of now may be one of the worst fourth lines in the league. Limited budget for any improvement so hopefully BMac has some magic up his sleeve.
I can’t think of a forward in Hershey that is NHL ready.Stephenson in Hershey for someone else would be a good place to start.
It will be interesting to see what they can do to improve the fourth line. Stephenson, Dowd, and Boyd as of now may be one of the worst fourth lines in the league. Limited budget for any improvement so hopefully BMac has some magic up his sleeve.
I just don't get why Barber and Pirnske want to be FA. Seems like both have a good shot of making the caps this year if they stayed.
The "worst" 4th line in the league thing is kinda silly. If they just upgraded Stephenson to someone who has a pulse they'd probably be a pretty good offensive 4th line. I'd like to see Gersich take that spot, or someone from Hershey maybe. Stepehnson is just allergic to the most important aspect of Hockey.
They should already have this pretty well flushed out during the UFA interview period, though, right? Plus, if they were to sign someone making a similar amount GMs will know Burakovsky has to go and their leverage erodes. Best-case maybe they line something up for 7/1 and deal Burakovsky beforehand. Absent that I think they're largely done. Maybe they do some small fourth-line business but that's about it I'm guessing and only if it comes at a very convenient price.I still think there's a good chance the QO is just to retain Burakovsky's rights and enter Free Agency with a backup plan.
What happens if Capitals just let Burakovsky walk, but all of a sudden you lose out on guys like Connolly (likely priced out), Donskoi (competitive market), Tanev (more of a 4th liner anyway but solid), Perry (going to be competitive AND a wildcard), Simmonds (past his prime but his reputation is going to get him paid well). Those are all guys who are probably better than Burakovsky [or in Tanev's case, worse, but guaranteed cheaper), but could all EASILY command more, AND with term.
Spin it however you want. The Caps fourth line was miserable this playoff season. They have no jam, try to play a skilled game and they were ineffective. It isn’t all about production. It’s about what you do when you aren’t scoring too.because dsp beagle and chiasson were so much better right? oh what did that line get us? if we are gonna worry about 4th line then we basically saying ovechkin, kuznetsov, vrana, backstrom etc will do nothing
lets compare:
cup winning year:
chiasson- 9 goals 9 asssists=61 games
beagle- 7 goals 15 assists=79 games
dsp- 7 goals 9 assists=75 games
last year:
boyd-5 goals 15 assists=53 games
dowd- 8 goals 14 assists=64 games
stephenson-5 goals 6 assists=64 game
so lets see- boyd had more points in less games then chiasson or dsp. dowd had the same number of points as beagle in 15 less games and stephenson playing another 11 games could likely have gotten to same production as dsp
Which Hobbs have you been watching?priskie isnt going to beat out sigenthaler, johansen, hobbs, lewington, alexeyev etc
Just noting that today really marks the end of an era. When BMac came in and promptly signed Nisky and Orpik to those massive deals a lots of hands were wrung around here and more than a few pundits mocked the moves. Well, they became the backbone of our first and (so far) only Cup team, and as of today, they're both gone. Can't thank them and GMBM enough.
priskie isnt going to beat out sigenthaler, johansen, hobbs, lewington, alexeyev etc