Player Discussion Devante Smith-Pelly

HeyMattyB

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Aug 20, 2010
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Isabelle Khurshudyan @ikhurshudyan
Caps have signed right wing Devante Smith-Pelly to a one-year, two-way contract ($650,000/$300,000). Was bought out by Devs.

The best we can hope for is that this is (more) AHL depth?
 

Hivemind

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I wanted this last year, but he had a bad year with the Devils. Two way deal implies a strong likelihood he's slated for the AHL
 

Skrudland2Lomakin

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Super cap friendly deal, 2-way, significant NHL experience, this is a bargain find that could pay off and if it doesn't it's no risk. This is a great signing, but it's also like cleaning the windows on a ship that has a gapping hole in the side. I like this deal a lot more if it was last year.
 

HeyMattyB

Sports bring out the worst in everyone.
Aug 20, 2010
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Sorry y'all. I posted this without checking the main thread. If a mod wants to delete it, please feel free! If not, just let the thread sink to the bottom and die a quiet, lonely death.
 

ovikovy817

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May 23, 2015
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The Washington Capitals have signed forward John Albert to a one-year, two-way contract.

Another AHLer
 

Langway

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He'll compete for a depth spot and there's no real downside to this. More of these plz.

He's never been a good possession player but he is still relatively young at 25 and did kill penalties a bit last year to strong results.
 

Hivemind

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Former 2nd round pick by Anaheim. Was supposed to be a power forward, but aside of an 18 game stretch after the trade deadline a couple years ago, that never materialized. Big body, but very inconsistent with his effort and awareness. This will be his fourth team by age 26.
 

Alexander the Gr8

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DSP has a decent shot, maybe he could play on the 4th line for us.

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Ahaha crap I can't, I can't believe how far we've fallen in just 3 months. We went from being the second best team in the league to this :laugh:
 
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Corby78

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DSP has a decent shot, maybe he could play on the 4th line for us.

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Ahaha crap I can't, I can't believe how far we've fallen in just 3 months. We went from being the second best team in the league to this :laugh:

Oh stop it, people are running around like we have history of the Montreal Canadians. Oh boy the mighty caps franchise will probably be a mid tier playoff team..... oh the humanity.
 

AlexBrovechkin8

At least there was 2018.
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When you are paying what the Caps are paying for their top liners, this is the type of player you need to gamble on (and hopefully pan out) for your bottom six in order to remain competitive.
 

g00n

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Sounds like the Caps view this as more than just an AHL deal

https://sports.yahoo.com/capitals-believe-smith-pelly-untapped-180108528.html

One player they did bring in was forward Devante Smith-Pelly in the hopes that he can become the player that he was expected to be earlier in his career.

“I think there’s some untapped potential,” general manager Brian MacLellan said last week, via CSN Mid-Atlantic. “I think maybe conditioning played a factor in some of it. I think we’re going to work with him to see if we can get a little bit of that back and create a player that we can use.”
 

Hivemind

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Well... I guess it's a better idea than McPhee's dumpster diving of washed up veterans.


Ehhh, I'll take McPhee's dumpster dive on Eric Fehr's second stint over this one. This is pretty equivalent to Wojtek Wolski, last chance for a formerly promising player at an NHL gig.
 

twabby

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Mar 9, 2010
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This seems like a dumpster dive and I'm not really seeing any untapped potential. Terrible possession player, limited offensive contributions, not very strong defensively. He seems like specifically a 4th liner with no ability to jump into the top 9.

Hopefully I'm wrong and he contributes something of significance but I just don't see it given his career to date.
 

sting13

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Jul 30, 2011
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Could be they are hoping he is someone like a Joel Ward who never got his career going until he was around 28 years old.
 

twabby

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Ward didn't get a shot in the NHL until he was 26 and took a very untraditional career route going to a Canadian university. It's not so much that Ward was a late bloomer but more he didn't get his shot until he was older. He was an effective player almost immediately.

DSP did the usual CHL -> AHL -> NHL track and has played close to 300 games. He likely is what he is IMO and has been given plenty of opportunity to prove himself. As of now he doesn't produce much and he is a poor possession player. Sounds like a 4th liner tops.

Brett Connolly is probably who they are hoping DSP will become but even then Connolly at least showed some semblance of a possession game before arriving in Washington and can IMO do a better job contributing to a strong third line.
 
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Langway

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Like I said, his PK numbers from last season are interesting. Only three forwards PKed more minutes and had a lower GA/60 figure. He didn't PK a ton but his average of 1:13 was more than Oshie last season. Much of that was influenced by a .94+% save percentage, significantly higher than NJ's norm on a fairly poor PK overall. But they may have a depth PKer and bigger body for the fourth-line at least.

I do think there's a bit of power forward upside here but the further removed we are from his five goal in 12 playoff game performance without more consistency the more likely it was an outlier. There is the usual adage that power forwards take a while to figure it out so you never know but it's a long shot probably. He'll need a very workmanlike approach to stick but in a great year he could conceivably hit 15-20 goals. He's a longer shot than Connolly was but that type of raw goal-scoring ability doesn't go unqualified very often. In both cases it was more a matter of inconsistency leading to the total package being a rough fit for either a scoring-line or a depth checking line role. But he did score 14 ES goals the year before last so it's not like he doesn't have the ability. He does have some craftiness around the net and the type of frame they could use in a depth forward.

BTW there are three DSP megathreads on the Habs boards. :laugh:
 
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