Speculation: Caps General Discussion (Coaching/FAs/Cap/Lines etc) - 2021 "Season" Pt. 4

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CapitalsCupReality

It’s Go Time!!
Feb 27, 2002
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So what goalies are there on the market who are consistently better than VV and IS and could come here to fix our D bleeding chances against?

Do you mean they should after an elite goalie? I don't see any on the market.

Or veteran presence? Don't we have Lundqvist and Anderson for that?

I didn’t advocate a trade, I just suggested not dismissing a major issue. Seemed sort of like passing the buck to another part of the team.
 

LesDiablesRouges

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Nikita Gusev at league minimum....Why the f*** not? Has struggled this year, but, was amazing last year and had 44 points in 66 games. I'm sure he'd be interested in joining our Russians here and BMac takes chances on talents like this. Thoughts? Seems like a low-risk, high-reward potential move.
 
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shtorm2005

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Nikita Gusev at league minimum....Why the f*** not? Has struggled this year, but, was amazing last year and had 44 points in 66 games. I'm sure he'd be interested in joining our Russians here and BMac takes chances on talents like this. Thoughts? Seems like a low-risk, high-reward potential move.
I heard he's too slow and weak for bottom 6, and our top6 is stacked.
 

SherVaughn30

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Nikita Gusev at league minimum....Why the f*** not? Has struggled this year, but, was amazing last year and had 44 points in 66 games. I'm sure he'd be interested in joining our Russians here and BMac takes chances on talents like this. Thoughts? Seems like a low-risk, high-reward potential move.
This team doesn't need more Russians or slower players. The Caps already have enough Russian issues with Kuzy, Orlov and Sammy.
 

Langway

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Nikita Gusev at league minimum....Why the f*** not? Has struggled this year, but, was amazing last year and had 44 points in 66 games. I'm sure he'd be interested in joining our Russians here and BMac takes chances on talents like this. Thoughts? Seems like a low-risk, high-reward potential move.
Can't have because not enough grind. Forwards must grind because defensemen can't manage to do even their limited jobs yet also can't be held accountable.

I like the idea at league minimum just to see what he can offer, esp. since there's no real downside, but I doubt that's the type of player they're looking to add.
 

Melkor

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Literally. Orlov has NEVER been a problem and Kuzy has been unreal since buying in. Sammy is a young goalie with immense talent that’s going through growing pains after a harsh bout with Covid. None of them are problems....
Kuzy has been on a 4th line on numerous occasions playing 4th line minutes since "buying in" and Samsonov has no idea how to string together at least a couple of games with 2 or less goals allowed. They both still are problems and have been for a while. Also Orlov had been a problem for like his entire career until the cup run.
 

txpd

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Nikita Gusev at league minimum....Why the f*** not? Has struggled this year, but, was amazing last year and had 44 points in 66 games. I'm sure he'd be interested in joining our Russians here and BMac takes chances on talents like this. Thoughts? Seems like a low-risk, high-reward potential move.

Why not? What happened to Smith Pelly?
 

AussieCapsFan

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So what happens with Kempny? He's practicing in a non-contact jersey so he will be game ready at some point before the end of the regular season, I presume.

Is he likely to get a roster spot?
 

HecticGlow

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So what happens with Kempny? He's practicing in a non-contact jersey so he will be game ready at some point before the end of the regular season, I presume.

Is he likely to get a roster spot?

Him practicing in a non-contact jersey doesn’t necessarily mean he’s close to being able to return – he’s clearly recovered and conditioned enough to start learning the schematics and practicing with the taxi squad, but it could be weeks before he was healed enough to face contact without aggravating something.

And I suspect the Caps are banking on that, because they’re currently relying on his LTIR. With Kempny on the roster and Siegenthaler (waived), Panik and Carr on the taxi squad, you’d be $621,544 over the salary cap. Keep Siegenthaler and waive Kempny and the remaining 12F/8D/2G still push us $346,544 over the cap.

(For what it’s worth, you could hypothetically fit Lundqvist on the roster if you went 12F/8D and sent Sammy to the taxi squad. But with only $500,000 in cap space, you wouldn’t be able to carry a 13th F or call up a forward if a guy got hurt. As an LTIR team we can’t bank salary cap, because we’ve technically been using every cent of it all season long. That $500,000 is what we could exceed the cap by at any given time, and the league minimum is $100,000s more than that. Not that it’s likely Lundqvist would get RS action this year even if he could return.)

Coming off two bad injuries, no game time in 8 or 9 months and none under Laviolette, I doubt a healthy Kempny would be ahead of Siegenthaler or TVR come playoff time, either. I suspect if Kempny is hoping for game action this season, his best shot is getting traded to another team. Given he’ll only have 1 year left on his contract and the Caps already have Siegenthaler, Fehevary and maybe Alexeyev vying for Chara’s spot next season, Kempny being traded would make most sense to the Caps anyway.

Edit: the only scenario where I see Kempny on this team next year is if Dillon goes to Seattle, or if Dillon or Orlov were traded. Even then, it’s a huge gamble to rely on a D for whom speed is a big part of his game, and he’s just had two terrible ankle/let injuries in a row. We traded for and resigned Dillon in part because of Kempny’s underperformance, and it’s difficult to see Kempny suddenly playing in 2018 form once he returns.
 
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AlexBrovechkin8

At least there was 2018.
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They’re in a bit of a funk right now, which I think is par for the course with this team. Don’t we normally think their worst hockey is around the All Star break leading up to the trade deadline? To me it doesn’t look like a system issue, it just looks like they’re kinda smoked and they’re cheating a bit in their game which is normal when you don’t have the legs to play it the way you’re supposed to.
 
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AussieCapsFan

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Him practicing in a non-contact jersey doesn’t necessarily mean he’s close to being able to return – he’s clearly recovered and conditioned enough to start learning the schematics and practicing with the taxi squad, but it could be weeks before he was healed enough to face contact without aggravating something.

And I suspect the Caps are banking on that, because they’re currently relying on his LTIR. With Kempny on the roster and Siegenthaler (waived), Panik and Carr on the taxi squad, you’d be $621,544 over the salary cap. Keep Siegenthaler and waive Kempny and the remaining 12F/8D/2G still push us $346,544 over the cap.

(For what it’s worth, you could hypothetically fit Lundqvist on the roster if you went 12F/8D and sent Sammy to the taxi squad. But with only $500,000 in cap space, you wouldn’t be able to carry a 13th F or call up a forward if a guy got hurt. As an LTIR team we can’t bank salary cap, because we’ve technically been using every cent of it all season long. That $500,000 is what we could exceed the cap by at any given time, and the league minimum is $100,000s more than that. Not that it’s likely Lundqvist would get RS action this year even if he could return.)

Coming off two bad injuries, no game time in 8 or 9 months and none under Laviolette, I doubt a healthy Kempny would be ahead of Siegenthaler or TVR come playoff time, either. I suspect if Kempny is hoping for game action this season, his best shot is getting traded to another team. Given he’ll only have 1 year left on his contract and the Caps already have Siegenthaler, Fehevary and maybe Alexeyev vying for Chara’s spot next season, Kempny being traded would make most sense to the Caps anyway.

Edit: the only scenario where I see Kempny on this team next year is if Dillon goes to Seattle, or if Dillon or Orlov were traded. Even then, it’s a huge gamble to rely on a D for whom speed is a big part of his game, and he’s just had two terrible ankle/let injuries in a row. We traded for and resigned Dillon in part because of Kempny’s underperformance, and it’s difficult to see Kempny suddenly playing in 2018 form once he returns.

I'd be ok with Dillon going to Seattle - I don't like his game at all. He is really suspect under pressure. Which is weird because a year ago he didn't seem to be...
 

Skrudland2Lomakin

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I don’t think you ever see Kempny play another game in a Washington sweater. There is a lot of different ways that could happen, but I believe his time here is done.
 

trick9

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Depends on how healthy Kempny is. If he is healthy he should have no problem cracking our line-up.
 

HecticGlow

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I don’t think you ever see Kempny play another game in a Washington sweater. There is a lot of different ways that could happen, but I believe his time here is done.

I'm doubtful he returns for us, but less certain than you. I think it depends on whether they find a trade partner for him, as much as anything. His $2.5m contract is too large to buy out in current circumstances (hindering what little cap room they have left in possibly the last two years of 'the window'); it's perfectly conceivable he could beat Siegenthaler, Fehevary and Alexeyev to a roster spot at camp, and his cap hit is small enough that if Dillon leaves this offseason, Kempny would be cheaper than many external options as a 2LW or 3LW replacement. Tarik El-Bashir's take after last playoffs was that the Caps were still 'in' on Kempny despite his post-injury struggles, and I think his subsequent injury genuinely came as a surprise and disappointment.

But... I can see Kempny getting traded for a low pick (or claimed on off-season waivers). Some team will lose a good player to Seattle and find their defensive corp will need a guy with experience... not hard to imagine someone seeing Kempny's one year at $2.5million as a low-risk, medium-reward scenario. That gets Washington cap relief, but arguably still leaves it without a suitable partner for John Carlson.

(Side note: it's puzzling to me how John played pretty well regardless of who is partner was not that long ago –– Orpik, Schmidt, Alzner, Djoos, Kempny, Siegenthaler –– yet things turn south when you play him with either of Orlov or Dillon. He didn't look good with Dillon last year, so it isn't a new issue. That Jensen experiment was horrible too.)
 

Skrudland2Lomakin

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Depends on how healthy Kempny is. If he is healthy he should have no problem cracking our line-up.
We are fast approaching a defensive prospect logjam. I think a guy like Kempny will offer diminishing returns when you have LHDs like February and Alexeyev begin to start to pile up in Hershey. I think LHD is probably the one area where we’re maybe over stuffed.
 

HecticGlow

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We are fast approaching a defensive prospect logjam. I think a guy like Kempny will offer diminishing returns when you have LHDs like February and Alexeyev begin to start to pile up in Hershey. I think LHD is probably the one area where we’re maybe over stuffed.

When haven't we, though? People here were complaining that our defensive logjam was preventing Djoos, Bowey, Lewington and Carrick from making the team... how many of them ended up as NHL regulars?

Same with Orlov. Right now he's a third D pairing guy. We don't need to pay him 3.5+. We have Bowey ready to step in and give the team 15-18 mins/night and he'll be 1/4 of Orlovs salary.

Orlov is cued up to be Nisky or Carly's replacement in a few years, IMO, since they are unlikely to be able to afford to keep both of those guys and Alzner. I have to think they expect his decision making, etc. to improve as it should with any top-4 potential D. Bowey will be next in line, but he'll likely get the Orlov treatment (3rd pair) for a couple of years, according to the apparent Trotz development model.

Its true that adding Bowey makes them younger, but Bowey is coming and is going to play. Vrana and Barber are coming and are going to play when their time comes.

I don't see Alzner or Carlson wanting to leave. So they're here for next 10 years!

Then we had the year when Siegenthaler turned up to camp and surprised everyone – now on the taxi squad. Then Fehevary – now in Hershey. Alexeyev hasn't played a minute in the NHL, and my guess is management won't see him as an NHL regular in the next year unless they're 2017-like depleted of warm bodies, which won't be the case.

Drafting, developing and then playing rookies, especially on D, is not this team's MO. Vrana, Vanecek and Samsonov are amongst the only Caps rookies to have made the team as regulars in the last 4 years and remain there today, and on any given night posters here are driving one or more of them out of town. The assumption that Alexeyev, Fehevary or Siegenthaler will play above other D next season is far from certain.

Orlov–Carlson
Siegenthaler–Schultz
Kempny–Jensen
TVR

Alexeyev (first call up from AHL)


That's a very possible 2021 lineup.
 
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Misery74

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Anyone have any predictions? Who’d you like to see acquired? What they might cost?

Having visions of Foligno playing on our 3rd line.
 

Rayquaza64

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When haven't we, though? People here were complaining that our defensive logjam was preventing Djoos, Bowey, Lewington and Carrick from making the team... how many of them ended up as NHL regulars?







Then we had the year when Siegenthaler turned up to camp and surprised everyone – now on the taxi squad. Then Fehevary – now in Hershey. Alexeyev hasn't played a minute in the NHL, and my guess is management won't see him as an NHL regular in the next year unless they're 2017-like depleted of warm bodies, which won't be the case.

Drafting, developing and then playing rookies, especially on D, is not this team's MO. Vrana, Vanecek and Samsonov are amongst the only Caps rookies to have made the team as regulars in the last 4 years and remain there today, and on any given night posters here are driving one or more of them out of town. The assumption that Alexeyev, Fehevary or Siegenthaler will play above other D next season is far from certain.

Orlov–Carlson
Siegenthaler–Schultz
Kempny–Jensen
TVR

Alexeyev (first call up from AHL)


That's a very possible 2021 lineup.
i just cant see kempny being a regular after all the injuries he's gone through, and alexeyev/fehervary are much better than djoos/carrick/bowey/etc.
 
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