Speculation: Caps General Discussion (Coaching/FAs/Cap/Lines etc) - 2021 Regular Season Part 2

[tenken00]

How is Vancouver's penalty kill? I know they bleed chances 5v5. Would they be interested in a slightly used Hagelin now that Benning has got the green light to save his own bacon?

Wouldn't be giving up much or anything at all, so he could make more moves with those assets he's saved.

 

[Hivemind]

Aside from Justin Schultz, I don’t see another good option to move out for salary cap purposes.

Michael Kempny has a $1.375M impact on their NHL salary cap currently. He's another option to move for salary cap purposes, albeit one they would have to pay to subtract unless they can showcase him in the NHL again.

Which brings me to my next point. As an overall unit, the D is playing great right now. Nobody wants wholesale changes to the D. But eventually they need to see what they have with Cholowski, and at some later point Michael Kempny will likely warrant another look. Depending on how one or the other plays, it can free up Schultz and his $4M to be traded and/or Kepmny and his $1.375M burial hit/$2.5M full cap hit.

 

[CapitalsCupReality]

Good point.

We also don’t know if we have a good #7D, we could be one injury away from a mediocre defense. It’d be nice if we could find out.

I feel like the coaching staff already feels like they know what they have @ 7D, that’s why we haven’t seen him play lol….

 

[Ovechkins Wodka]

We have been lucky to have no injuries to the D so far. Its a long season we will need a 7th Dman soon enough.

 

[txpd]

CMM has been the 1st center off the bench when Backie didn't start the season and he's getting the most ice time of all the rookies. I suppose that could change but I wouldn't bet on it.

Protas and AJF have played more than McMichael in 2 of the last 3 games. In the game he did play more(15+mins) AJF played nearly 15. I would suggest that its possible that both Protas and AJF are over performing their depth chart position and might beat McMichael out if there were one sweater on the table.

 

[JohnCarlsaurus]

How is Vancouver's penalty kill? I know they bleed chances 5v5. Would they be interested in a slightly used Hagelin now that Benning has got the green light to save his own bacon?

Wouldn't be giving up much or anything at all, so he could make more moves with those assets he's saved.

Worst in the league last time I checked. That's a team that could really use Hags

 

[Misery74]

This kid needs way more dap. He doesn't have some crazy unsustainable shooting percentage or puck luck right now so his raw stats are being pretty much unnoticed but he's starting to play an important role on one of the best teams in the league and his metrics are super impressive. Once his shooting percentage and offensive role start increasing - he's going to quickly become a much more noticeable two-way player by the average fan.

This is robust - for anybody really but especially for a rookie with little offensive usage. And I think it portends a brighter future than simply tallying up early season/career goal and assist numbers:

Pulled this from the CMM prospect thread. Someone smarter than me can interpret, but seems like some pretty high praise.

 

[g00n]

Early season throwaway optimistic handful-of-wasabi-peas-in-your-mouth hot take:

Carl Hagelin 2021-22 will become DSP 2017-18.

 

[twabby]

Pulled this from the CMM prospect thread. Someone smarter than me can interpret, but seems like some pretty high praise.

He's been fantastic.

The bars are basically representing how many standard deviations from the "average" player he is in those particular categories in terms of impact on various on-ice measures. Anything above zero means he's better than average. Typically, a z-score above 1 means a player is quite good in that category, above 2 means great, above 3 is pretty much the best in the league. Unless McMichael is in Carl Hagelin territory in terms of finishing ability, one would expect the first bar (actual goals) to catch up to the other offensive categories as the sample size increases.

My understanding is that this is based on Evolving Hockey's RAPM model (technical details here: Reviving Regularized Adjusted Plus-Minus for Hockey). This model attempts to isolate player impact on results.

So even when you take into account McMichael's environment so far, he's been excellent both offensively and defensively. Assuming he's not a bad finisher, his on-ice goal results should only get better over time. It's why I would dread seeing his role reduced going forward once injured players return. If anything, his role needs to be elevated.

 

[twabby]

Good news on the injury front. Very interested to see the AJF-McMichael-Oshie line, assuming that's what they go with tomorrow night.

Edit: Eller is still in COVID protocol.

 

[tenken00]

Oshie is the The Nanny. Mrs. Doubtfire.

 

[pman25]

Aaaaaaand we’re back

 

[g00n]

I think guys are rotating "vacations".

 

[kicksavedave]

If Oshie and Dowd play tomorrow, they better win handily or we may have a heated board discussion about young vs old!

 

[Corby78]

Seriously not 30 minutes later.......

I was just about to post that I would keep Oshie/Dowd out the next two games to make sure they get to 100%.

 

[kicksavedave]

Aaaaaaand we’re back

Um, some one needs to check with their strength and training regimen.... or instead find a good witch doctor. This reminds me of the Caps in the 99-2000 era where they set NHL records for man games lost. I even talked to George McPhee about it personally... he kinda just shrugged his shoulders at me though.

 

[txpd]

 

[txpd]

Seriously not 30 minutes later.......

I was just about to post that I would keep Oshie/Dowd out the next two games to make sure they get to 100%.

Kind of defeats the purpose of them traveling with the team if you are going to rest them even when ready.

 

[Raikkonen]

Barely seen Protas play so far. sounds like you guys liked what he did.

 

[Corby78]

Kind of defeats the purpose of them traveling with the team if you are going to rest them even when ready.

Yeah, I was just thinking, the next two games aren't against the strongest teams, and we have been doing well. Would rather them sit an extra game or so and not re-aggravate. But alas, sounds like we need to replace somebody else, so if they are ready....

 

[txpd]

Yeah, I was just thinking, the next two games aren't against the strongest teams, and we have been doing well. Would rather them sit an extra game or so and not re-aggravate. But alas, sounds like we need to replace somebody else, so if they are ready....

I dont expect them, particularly Oshie, to come straight out with all his timing and game shape. Resting won't help with that.

 

[txpd]

Barely seen Protas play so far. sounds like you guys liked what he did.

He's a beast and apparantly learns quickly

 

[895]

Dowd should take an extra day. And then another extra day. They need to be cautious with his injury.

 

[um]

I feel bad for the guy practicing Ovies spot on PP2.

 

[um]

Barely seen Protas play so far. sounds like you guys liked what he did.

I’m surprised how much love he’s getting. He doesn’t make mistakes or anything but his offence and speed seems limited.

I guess I’ll have to pay more attention.