Confirmed with Link: Washington Caps Trade Perreault to Anaheim...

[amjay13]

Please please let Latta win that 4C spot over Beagle.

 

[Capitlols]

^Kind of in the same boat

 

[RandyHolt]

I am going to assume I am THE only person on the internets would rather see Beagle at RW and rest Ward for the playoffs.

Volpatti Latta Beagle

How many times has Ward impressed you in the regular season? He may be the most unimpressive regular season 3M guy on our team. Ok at forward.

I like a 4th line with an identity, not a mish mash of players and hope they pot a goal.

 

[brs03]

Who else are you sitting there besides Ward? Or is that assuming Laich is injured?

Count me against sitting Ward. He may be their best defensive forward. Need him for any sort of shutdown/tough minutes line, and he's a[nother] righty faceoff option on the PK. Though I was happy with his play last year, for whatever that means.

I don't know what to expect from Latta, but I'd rather see him in Beagle's spot to start than automatically pencil him in as the 13th F. Beagle is a known quantity; good at faceoffs, passable defensively, little else. A good guy to keep around as a spare forward who gets rotated in from time to time. If Latta can be more than that great. If he can't, I'd probably rather see him in Hershey and have the Caps save up some cap space as injuries allow.

 

[Stewie G]

I am going to assume I am THE only person on the internets would rather see Beagle at RW and rest Ward for the playoffs.

Volpatti Latta Beagle

How many times has Ward impressed you in the regular season? He may be the most unimpressive regular season 3M guy on our team. Ok at forward.

I like a 4th line with an identity, not a mish mash of players and hope they pot a goal.

I thought Ward looked pretty good at the start of last season. I'm pretty sure that coincided when he was playing with Ribeiro and then tailed off when he got bumped back down, but my memory is pretty terrible.

 

[Ajax1995]

I am going to assume I am THE only person on the internets would rather see Beagle at RW and rest Ward for the playoffs.

Rest Ward for the entire regular season? Really...?

Ward put up 8 goals and 20 points in 39 games last season. That's decent production for a guy getting 3rd line ice time while also being good defensively.

If he keeps that up over a full season how could you not be happy?

 

[RandyHolt]

Would any of you ink Ward @ 3 to be your 4th liner? Just like Torts doesn't like scorers on 4, I want a 4th line to bring energy. He doesn't hit enough for my 4th line.

The guy is defensively responsible and pots the timely playoff goals. I know.

But has he been a difference maker in our regular or post seasons since he has been here? Boston, sorry, but Knuble made that play.

Don't reply. Just wait a few games, and see if you are happy with a 5M 4th line, and their identity, and production.

He is a 3rd liner on my team, not a 4th. Flash had 20 goals and I was not happy. There is more to this game than goals.

 

[Ajax1995]

We don't even know what role he is going to play. Maybe he will end up on the 3rd line. Heck outside of the 1st line every lineup that is posted around here is a guess or what the poster would want to see. Oates hasn't tipped his hand at all as to what the other lines will be Tuesday night IMO.

But the fact that you are advocating sitting Ward for the entire regular season is ridiculous IMO.

 

[brs03]

I know you said wait, but I just figure I'll post now so I don't look like I'm doing it in hindsight: I want 4 real lines. I think energy players are a waste of a roster spot more times than not. I doubt I would have signed Ward to that contract, but he's here and using him or not using him won't make a difference.

Give me two bottom 6 lines; one more shutdown oriented (Ward and Chimera, with maybe Laich or Latta if he can handle it, or maybe even Fehr... and Beagle's always a fallback), one more offense oriented to take advantage of weaker matchups (ideally this would have been, say, Laich-Perreault-Wilson... now maybe Laich-Fehr-Wilson in the current environment if Latta can play that more shutdown role). To be clear, I think the difference between a 3rd and 4th line should be basically nothing in terms of icetime, just a matter of how you can control the matchups.

But yeah, if Ward's on the roster I want him playing. He'll contribute more to a win than Volpatti or Beagle more often than not, and the roster construction with him is a lot more versatile than it is without him in terms of potential roles.

 

[Hivemind]

Right now Ward is practicing on the 3rd line. So him not being an ideal fit for some hypothetical 4th line play structure is a completely moot point.

 

[Stewie G]

Would any of you ink Ward @ 3 to be your 4th liner? Just like Torts doesn't like scorers on 4, I want a 4th line to bring energy. He doesn't hit enough for my 4th line.

The guy is defensively responsible and pots the timely playoff goals. I know.

But has he been a difference maker in our regular or post seasons since he has been here? Boston, sorry, but Knuble made that play.

Don't reply. Just wait a few games, and see if you are happy with a 5M 4th line, and their identity, and production.

He is a 3rd liner on my team, not a 4th. Flash had 20 goals and I was not happy. There is more to this game than goals.

I'll reply anyway, thanks. I think it's just as important to discuss the process as it is the results.

Ward definitely hasn't been a difference maker in the regular season, and I don't think many, if any, people expected him to be. I don't know how that can be a knock against him.

I also don't know what you are expecting of him in the postseason, but he has the 4th most points on the team the last two playoffs, despite being 10th in TOI two years ago and 9th in TOI last year. I don't know if anyone could be considered a "difference maker" on a team that has won one series in 2 years, but Ward might be about as close as you can get considering his production vs. ice time.

Putting him on the 4th line in the regular season probably isn't the ideal use of $3M in cap hit, but that kind of depth is something the team has rarely had and he more than earns his keep in the spring.

TL;DR. Yes. Ward starting the year on the 4th line is fine by me if that's what it takes, even at $3M. He can easily move up in case of injuries or a run of poor play by Brouwer or Wilson or a lack of chemistry in the top 9.

 

[Raikkonen]

If Fehr can become a decent center I will never question anything Oates does every again. Because I though this was a joke when I first was told about it.

Never in a million years could I see Fehr as a center.

First it was OV -> RW. Then Fehr -> C. We should expect Laich-Green already.

 

[Calicaps]

Not really. Kundratek and Volpatti are hardly not worthy. How did we acquire Beagle? I thought we drafted him? I think we also resigned Federov, right?

Chimera was a miss. Knuble and Hendricks re also gone, so?

Do yourself a favour and create a list if players acquired and then let go at end of their current contracts. It's a very long list.

Odds are Grabovski leaves at end of the year, not that he stays.

Rids, you and I generally see eye to eye on all things GMGM, but on this, I have to disagree. And the X factor here is Oates. Look, Makfi came out and said aloud and in public, that Laich was equivalent to Mike Richards. Sure the world laughed, but that's never bothered him before.

Somehow, I have this vision: Adam goes to George and says, "You know, not so much with the Richards-Laich comparison. Brooks... and for that matter Majo, will never play full-time C while I'm coach. We need someone else. Let's try Grabovski"

Maybe it's wishful thinking, but just watching Oates put guys at C who you wouldn't expect... and you know, having been a HHOF center himself... it's clear he knows what he wants at that position. Plus, the stories Grabo told about his conversations with Oates. I just think, at the end of the year, if he says, that's my guy at 2C, Grabovski is resigned.

 

[Dr John Carlson]

Would any of you ink Ward @ 3 to be your 4th liner? Just like Torts doesn't like scorers on 4, I want a 4th line to bring energy. He doesn't hit enough for my 4th line.

The guy is defensively responsible and pots the timely playoff goals. I know.

But has he been a difference maker in our regular or post seasons since he has been here? Boston, sorry, but Knuble made that play.

Don't reply. Just wait a few games, and see if you are happy with a 5M 4th line, and their identity, and production.

He is a 3rd liner on my team, not a 4th. Flash had 20 goals and I was not happy. There is more to this game than goals.

I don't want a 4th liner making 3 mil, but I want a benchwarmer making 3 mil even less.

 

[Devil Dancer]

This is totally unnecessary if the Forsberg/Erat debacle doesn't go down. Just sayin.

 

[caps4cup]

Perreault had 3 goals and 1 assist, with a minus 3 rating in 22 games against non SE opponents. He was only good against SE teams... I think this is clouding peoples judgements.

 

[RandyHolt]

I glossed over the answers. All good points.

Whoops. I thought Ward was on 4. Sorry Caps fans.

But I am bored on Ward. Nothing against him and nor his playoff heroics and board work. I just get bored watching 4 lines built the same way, but can see why Oates may want to try and roll 4 scoring lines.

And point taken on Ward at 3M scratched.

 

[IafrateOvie34]

Perreault had 3 goals and 1 assist, with a minus 3 rating in 22 games against non SE opponents. He was only good against SE teams... I think this is clouding peoples judgements.

If I remember correctly, the 3 goals were a hat trick against Boston.

 

[Liberati0n*]

If I remember correctly, the 3 goals were a hat trick against Boston.

You don't. That was the previous year.

 

[IafrateOvie34]

You don't. That was the previous year.

Heh, it happens when you get older.

 

[Ajax1995]

This is totally unnecessary if the Forsberg/Erat debacle doesn't go down. Just sayin.

Sure that would free up cap space but that would have left the Caps with 6 right wingers. Assume Fehr gets tried as a centerman again for depth purposes in the middle and they still have 5 and no lefties for depth at left wing unless the idea is that Perreault could move over there if needed. One of the right wingers still gets moved most likely and it is likely still probably Forsberg IMO.

 

[Calicaps]

Sure that would free up cap space but that would have left the Caps with 6 right wingers. Assume Fehr gets tried as a centerman again for depth purposes in the middle and they still have 5 and no lefties for depth at left wing unless the idea is that Perreault could move over there if needed. One of the right wingers still gets moved most likely and it is likely still probably Forsberg IMO.

Sure, but maybe you get more than a first-time, 32-year-old, $4.5M 3C.

 

[Liberati0n*]

Heh, it happens when you get older.

Sorry, I think my tone sounded a lot snarkier than I meant it.


Anyway, the right would have been too crowded with Forsberg, but that has no bearing on what other possible returns they could have gotten if they were determined to trade him (especially if they waited until the season ended instead of acting in desperation).

 

[txpd]

This is totally unnecessary if the Forsberg/Erat debacle doesn't go down. Just sayin.

its pretty obvious that the caps were projecting Wilson to play this year. no way Forsberg and Wilson are both playing. Its also clear that given the choice, McPhee preferred what Wilson brought. Its a debacle only because you wont give it a chance.

 

[amjay13]

The FF deal will be far less painful if Latta becomes an NHL regular. In fact, if he is a regular pest who can chip in some scoring while they get 2 or 3 50 point years out of Erat, one could argue the Caps won the deal. If FF develops his ceiling will be, Martin Erat.