This IS the year. They went all in, just as we all asked. They've been steadily bleeding draft picks and prospects for a few years now. The Shattenkirk and Eller trades on top of paying to move Laich have left the cupboard barren. They simply lack the high end prospects and draft picks to restock the system quickly. And heck, even their mid-end draft picks (Gersich, Pinho) aren't guaranteed to sign with the organization.
Like it or not, this is the best chance the Capitals will have for a while.
On paper, yeah. But I can see how the team can actually be better next year -- or at least, not much worse. I mean, for example, if they were to lose Alzner, Orpik, Shattenkirk, their current level of contribution may not be hard to replace at much cheaper cost, IMO. And then Bura, Wilson, Kuz, Orlov, Schmidt can still improve significantly. Most of the older guys still have some decent years left, if kept.
It's true that cap-wise, this was the best year. But unfortunately, a lot of the actual players they fielded have not played well. So if you subtract them to fit under the cap, the actual drop off may not be significant, if it's there at all.
On the other hand, if the Caps lose guys like Schmidt, Mojo/Oshie then yeah, they'll get worse. We'll see....
