GDT: G78: Capitals @ Red Wings | 4/9/24 | 7:00p ET | ESPN

[DWGie26]

Hate when i am gone for 24 hours and miss so much banter. But hey… life.

I’d say there were a lot of expectations exceeded (including:
- We made the right choice at coach which has taken a while
- Lappy has become a full time NHLer (didn’t expect that)
- Malenstyn has become the guy at 4LW
- Milano outperformed his 1.9M ACV
- despite slowing here lately, Protas and McMichael have had good sophomore seasons
- OV got to 30 goals for record setting 19th time (maybe this was expected at beg of season)
- we are legit in the playoff race with 4 games left

This was supposed to be a development year and not a cup challenge year. Development here (and in Hershey) exceeded my expectations.

 

[SherVaughn30]

Yeah they are clearly overperforming in the standings which is great but I think they'd be wise to realize that this year is a fluke. If they run this same team back next year with no major changes I think they're closer to a lottery team than a playoff team.

No argument there. Next season is 6 months away and we can worry about that then. The time is now and they are still in a playoff spot, but needing more games to win to make it in. Lindgren is stealing a lot of games for them. The team aint gonna score more goals all of sudden, so they have to play smart and continue trying to score clutch goals.

Hate when i am gone for 24 hours and miss so much banter. But hey… life.

I’d say there were a lot of expectations exceeded (including:
- We made the right choice at coach which has taken a while
- Lappy has become a full time NHLer (didn’t expect that)
- Malenstyn has become the guy at 4LW
- Milano outperformed his 1.9M ACV
- despite slowing here lately, Protas and McMichael have had good sophomore seasons
- OV got to 30 goals for record setting 19th time (maybe this was expected at beg of season)
- we are legit in the playoff race with 4 games left

This was supposed to be a development year and not a cup challenge year. Development here (and in Hershey) exceeded my expectations.

OV score 30+ for the 18th time, and not the 19th time. He should be able to do it for the 19th time next season!

 

[RedRocking]

Yeah they are clearly overperforming in the standings which is great but I think they'd be wise to realize that this year is a fluke. If they run this same team back next year with no major changes I think they're closer to a lottery team than a playoff team.

Now that the Nick and Kuzy situations are resolved, I imagine they’ll spend some money/assets on FA/trades. They might even have Osh’s money freed up as well. They got an extended look at a lot of the youngsters, and gave Carbs time to get his feet wet.

With their “commitment” to Ovi, I have to think they’ll bring in an impact forward(s), and maybe a legit D-man so that Carlson isn’t run into the ground again. They’ll have a lot of flexibility for the first time in a while, so I think it will be an interesting offseason.

 

[PlushMinus]

Yes this season has actually been something of a success in the overall scheme of things. Which is way more than I expected it to be.

For me playoffs would be a bonus and then for perhaps the first time in God knows how many seasons I wouldn't be disappointed with a first round exit. As people like to say, we'd be playing with house money so who cares what happens!

 

[Kuz]

With their “commitment” to Ovi, I have to think they’ll bring in an impact forward(s), and maybe a legit D-man so that Carlson isn’t run into the ground again. They’ll have a lot of flexibility for the first time in a while, so I think it will be an interesting offseason.

Its not that the Jensen(19:44), TVR(18:36), Sandin (21:07) or Fehervary(19:16) is playing to little, but hopefully Alexeyev can take on more than his 12:49 or game next year. If Alexeyev can take on 2-3 minutes more next year we can take off 2 minutes on Carlson. Hopefully they can lower Carlson's TOI on the PK where he has 2:51 pr game.

The UFA players will be interesting. Duchene, Stamkos, Reinhart, Guentzel, Monahan, Tarasenko, Toffoli, Teravainen, Skjei, Domi, Bertuzzi, Lindholm and a bunch of Vegas players (Marchessault, Stephenson, Mantha, Hannifin).

 

[Portable Mink]

That list of UFAs could be titled, “the doubled edged swords”.

All bar Guentzel are high risk / highish reward

 

[Kazer]

That list of UFAs could be titled, “the doubled edged swords”.

All bar Guentzel are high risk / highish reward

I don't see the Caps committing big money to any of the UFAs 28-29+. That rules out effectively that entire list except Hanifin (27 and a D though I don't think the fit is there). If the Caps do make moves, which I anticipate, I would look for guys who don't get qualified (like Strome) or trade targets from cap-strapped teams.

[Note: I am not ruling out a short-term signing]

 

[Kuz]

That list of UFAs could be titled, “the doubled edged swords”.

All bar Guentzel are high risk / highish reward

Yeah, but we have a lot of cap space so I wouldnt mind a player like Duchene on 1-2 year contract.

 

[Ridley Simon]

Yeah they are clearly overperforming in the standings which is great but I think they'd be wise to realize that this year is a fluke. If they run this same team back next year with no major changes I think they're closer to a lottery team than a playoff team.

Yes and No. I almost commented on your previous post, but I let it go.

However, I think the Caps are about the sum of their parts. A fringe playoff team. When they play as Carbs wants, they can win any game. But once they get behind? It tends to end very very poorly. I’ve never seen a team count on “scoring first” as much as this Capitals team. Win by 1-2 or lose by 3-5. That’s their thing.

Do that with consistency, and you get a pretty serious negative goal differential.

How they got here is the evolution of last year to next year. The youth. Which will only improve. On the whole, I mean (certainly any individual one of say McMichael, Fehervary, Alexeyev, Iorio, Lapiere, Protas, Miro, etc etc could falter…but as a whole, they WILL be improved).

I assuredly want to see them use ALL of their Cap Space each and every year, so there is certainly room for added players. Good ones. They need to do that 100%.