Phillips is practicing on the fourth line today. So, yeah, not great. The slippage is real and the underlyings won't save him if there's no production.
Again, it's early but after SJS/CGY/CHI it seems like a pretty wide open race to the bottom of the standings. I'd tend to put WSH right about on par with the likes of NSH, STL, PIT, CBJ, PHI & MTL. The later three are on the younger side and it comes with a different set of expectations. They can basically just go out and play. Whereas especially for PIT & WSH there's much more urgency at work...more desperation to cling to the idea they've still got it. ANA/ARI are also probably not far off from that group either but have also added some quality young swagger. There's a kind of fun factor with a lot of these younger teams that's pretty close to a 180 compared to the sort of burdensome grind of living up to expectations more grizzled teams like the Caps and Pens are saddled with. Finding some ways of injecting youthful enthusiasm is a pretty big key IMO, hence why I'd consider calling up Miro before long. They desperately need more capable transitional promise at work.
While the Caps may deserve a bit of a better fate so far (as said) they haven't exactly faced a murderer's row. And over the grind of the season you wonder if they won't deal with more than their fair share of injuries due to being older. For me this season is mostly about investing in McMichael, HHA, Malenstyn, Protas and eventually hopefully Miro. And generally working toward aligning personnel moves in a way more tailored to how Carbery wants to play. They're going to need to stack a lot of little victories to turn the tide and if they can't execute with that level of alignment and finesse there's likely more trouble ahead.
Maybe at some point they'll have a load of cap space at their disposal but I'd be very wary of assuming it's going to translate into subtantial improvement. There are a lot of downside risks over time with most UFA investments...and the trade market may not be that much more enticing. I get the obligation to Ovechkin to remain competitive but the best way to live up to that is to more honestly grasp the degree of help needed to firmly tip the scales in the other direction. That doesn't tend to come from quick fixes and you've got to wonder how aggressive they should be with futures just to essentially remain in the same basic stage.
They should just sit back, see how it goes, really work on achieving a cohesive shared vision as to next steps and be prepared to tear it back further if this group doesn't show enough promise. Trading Orlov when they were at least somewhat close to still being a bubble team last year does suggest a resistance to continuing to go scorched earth merely to stay in the mid-range. So I think there are more options that they're open to and realistically they should be equally (if not moreso) open to paring back than building up depending on how they perform.
