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Speculation: Caps General Discussion (Coaching/FAs/Cap/Lines etc) - 2020 Offseason Pt. 4

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Guys like Sheary are a perfect value add to try and find depth scoring. If he works out, he's essentially a Connolly-replacement. If he doesn't, he's cheap enough to healthy scratch or taxi squad with no cap downside.
 
Calicaps said:
I never understand this type of comment. They need an effective 3rd liner who can pot a few. The last one they had was Connolly. What would you have them do, throw in the towel altogether?
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No. Its the dumpster dive spot on the roster. Connolly turned out to be a home run. It would be better if they had a rising young player breaking thru in that spot rather than having to count on the bargain bin. My point is that Connolly was a home run and a difference maker. I have no expectation that either Sprong or Sheary are going to be that. Panik is where my hopes lie. At least until they can slot McMichael in.
 
Hivemind said:
Trying to find a budget 15-20G scorer is a fool's errand?
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Umm....yea. How many 20 goal scorers are signed to free agent dumpster dive contracts?? Its like drafting an all star out of the 4th round. It happens now and then but its a failure most of the time. You would bet real money that either of those guys pot 15 this season? 0r I should say 12 given the number of games.

Odds are that both of those guys are in and out of the lineup and then replaced with a trade deadline guy, if there is actual player movement at the trade deadline this season. I hope I am wrong. I hope one of them goes gonzo. It could only mean good things
 
LesDiablesRouges said:
That's huge. It means that he's healthy. He was a beautiful skater to watch, pre-injury.
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She said that she and TEB were talking about how obviously better his skating was compared to most of the players. Maybe this is why MacLellan hired the guy and maybe he is not as dumb as we thought. Meanwhile, if he is good heads will be exploding on the Pens board.....oh, the humanity
 
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txpd said:
She said that she and TEB were talking about how obviously better his skating was compared to most of the players. Maybe this is why MacLellan hired the guy and maybe he is not as dumb as we thought. Meanwhile, if he is good heads will be exploding on the Pens board.....oh, the humanity
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If he's back to full health and strength, there's nothing stopping him from being a 30-plus point defender here. I also expect Orlov to take that spike in point totals as well, being paired with Carlson.
 
txpd said:
No. Its the dumpster dive spot on the roster. Connolly turned out to be a home run. It would be better if they had a rising young player breaking thru in that spot rather than having to count on the bargain bin. My point is that Connolly was a home run and a difference maker. I have no expectation that either Sprong or Sheary are going to be that. Panik is where my hopes lie. At least until they can slot McMichael in.
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I fundamentally disagree with the bolded. There are guys who are suited to the third line role on a good team and guys who aren't. When you find one who is, you pay him third line money. That's not a dumpster dive; it's good value. Some of those guys (see Eller, Lars) accept that role and that money because it's good money and a good gig where they can thrive. Others, (see Connolly, Brett) hope they can leverage that into a bigger role and bigger money. Most of those guys succeed in finding someone to give them the shot. So a lot of them get the money, and good for them, but few of them in my estimation (unless it's an up-and-coming youngster situation) tend to actually succeed as players in those roles.

Sheary may be the Brett Connolly type who's now learned to accept his role. Frankly, after what Connolly went through before coming to the Caps, I'm surprised he wasn't willing to stay in DC for a third line job. (I begrudge Brett nothing and wish him success in FLA, BTW. Just my opinion.)
 
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LesDiablesRouges said:
If he's back to full health and strength, there's nothing stopping him from being a 30-plus point defender here. I also expect Orlov to take that spike in point totals as well, being paired with Carlson.
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I think its advisable to see what defensive assignment Orlov and Carlson get. If its shutdown matchup, i would expect Carlson's points to fall rather than Orlov's points to spike.
 
Calicaps said:
I fundamentally disagree with the bolded. There are guys who are suited to the third line role on a good team and guys who aren't. When you find one who is, you pay him third line money. That's not a dumpster dive; it's good value. Some of those guys (see Eller, Lars) accept that role and that money because it's good money and a good gig where they can thrive. Others, (see Connolly, Brett) hope they can leverage that into a bigger role and bigger money. Most of those guys succeed in finding someone to give them the shot. So a lot of them get the money, and good for them, but few of them in my estimation (unless it's an up-and-coming youngster situation) tend to actually succeed as players in those roles.

Sheary may be the Brett Connolly type who's now learned to accept his role. Frankly, after what Connolly went through before coming to the Caps, I'm surprised he wasn't willing to stay in DC for a third line job. (I begrudge Brett nothing and wish him success in FLA, BTW. Just my opinion.)
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I think maybe you misread my intent with the dumpster dive comment. The Caps have to stretch their salary cap and as a result they end up with a slot or two where they have to present a legit role to a player struggling for a contract. Brett Connolly struggled for a contract for legit reasons and he found a place in his last chance to helped him achieve his potential. The Caps have had success to a degree with these players in the past. I am thinking of BMo as a for instance. Sprong is very similar to Connolly in his career track. This is his last chance in the league. Here's hoping the Caps influence is what he has needed
 
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txpd said:
Umm....yea. How many 20 goal scorers are signed to free agent dumpster dive contracts??
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Tyler Ennis, Derek Grant, and Anthony Duclair each did it last year. Alex Chiasson, Marcus Sorenson, and Brad Richardson the year before that. Off the top of my head there was also Blake Coleman and Brett Connolly the season before that.

There's a few out there every year. It's a far thing from a fool's errand to try and find them. Especially in a year like this with a hard cap crunch, in which guys like Sheary would have typically signed for much more.
 
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txpd said:
I think its advisable to see what defensive assignment Orlov and Carlson get. If its shutdown matchup, i would expect Carlson's points to fall rather than Orlov's points to spike.
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You and your shut down matchups.

good players score points 5on5. Carlson will easily be the best offense player Orlov has ever been paired with.

maybe other teams will need to shut them down. Ever thought of that?
 
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txpd said:
I think maybe you misread my intent with the dumpster dive comment. The Caps have to stretch their salary cap and as a result they end up with a slot or two where they have to present a legit role to a player struggling for a contract. Brett Connolly struggled for a contract for legit reasons and he found a place in his last chance to helped him achieve his potential. The Caps have had success to a degree with these players in the past. I am thinking of BMo as a for instance. Sprong is very similar to Connolly in his career track. This is his last chance in the league. Here's hoping the Caps influence is what he has needed
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This is right. Agreed. Thankfully the team has been good enough for years now, that talented/flawed players will come here to “correct” their games. Conno wasn’t the first, and I don’t think he’s the last.

Sprong fits that mold. Sheary not so much.

But Sheary scoring at a 15G pace shouldn’t surprise anyone, IMO
 
With regards to Connolly, what none of you has mentioned is that he was the 6th overall pick in the 2010 draft (though admittedly not the deepest of drafts).

If anything he has failed to live up to expectations. Scoring 22 in his last season with us and 19 last year with Florida, if anything, should be considered him still playing below what he was originally thought to be capable of.
So I wouldn't consider him to be some kind of "bargain basement success story". More like a 6th overall pick who has taken quite a few years to become a decent middle 6 forward (I believe he got 2nd line minutes in Florida?).
 
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Ridley Simon said:
You and your shut down matchups.

good players score points 5on5. Carlson will easily be the best offense player Orlov has ever been paired with.

maybe other teams will need to shut them down. Ever thought of that?
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Most teams have a top defender pair that is on the ice against the opposing top offensive threat. Maybe the Caps will not do that. We will see. Laviolette said getting goals against down was his priority. Lets see who skates againt Eichel
 
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So, I took a look at CapFriendly and they have the Caps taxi squad as:

Carr
Fever
Pinho
Copley
Fucale

Maybe I'm kooky, but I don't see Anderson's name there. So either the info is incomplete/incorrect (possible but kinda doubtful) something is in the works (who knows), or Anderson's bad day stuck and Fucale really impressed.

Maybe they sign Anderson for Hershey? If no Anderson signing, who mans the net in Chocolatetown? Two goalies on the taxi squad?

A bit confusing to me.
 
Capfriendly just kinda throws in whoever on the TS in their initial "projection" it's not really based on anything. I imagine they will update it for most teams today and tomorrow as they are finalized. With Anderson, I don't believe an official contract has been signed so that's probably why capfriendly doesn't have them yet. Copley and Fucale are likely AHL bound
 
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Ridley Simon said:
Sure. But that doesn’t also mean their points will go down.
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Oh....Rids. Logic says that its pretty likely. Top offensive players are going to force your team on the defensive more often than second tier offensive skill will. This means if Carlson is matched up against Eichel and Crosby and Aho and Matthews, he will be on the defensive a higher percentage of the time.

I can make a case that Lavy is going to use Ov Backstrom Oshie as his matchup forward line because 19 is their best defensive center and Oshie is very good. That will create more offense than a typical shutdown line for sure. Last season Orlov got the defensive duty and Carlson skated against lines that allowed him more opportunity to go offensive. Its just not true to suggest that against opposing top lines he will get as many or more opportunities.

We will see
 
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