Speculation: Caps Roster General Discussion (Coaching/FAs/Cap/Lines etc) - 2022-23 Season Part 1: Free Agent Edition

[kicksavedave]

So the Caps have NO goalies on the roster. Clearly they have a plan that's more advanced than we think.

 

[CapitalsCupReality]

But is Ovechkin happy with their recent playoff performance? Surely he wants to win another Cup, or at the very least make another deep run right?

Ovechkin is a professional. Oshie and Backstrom are professionals. They've all been treated well, this isn't a Vegas situation where players are traded out left and right. These guys have been given ample opportunity to build on 2018 and they have failed. Carlson in particular. I highly doubt the rest of the team is going to want out if they pursue a Carlson trade as long as the vision is solid.



Brent Burns is available for trade, according to Mike Grier. He probably wouldn't cost much given San Jose's cap situation and them wanting him gone. They might be able to swing a little retention too if needed.

Burns isn't quite the player Carlson is now, but he's close enough and he's almost assuredly going to be a better postseason performer.

why the hell would we want Burns? 3 more years at $8 mil per? And we have to look at his disgusting mug? He’s also 37….you wanna pay that until 40? Another downgrade easy to pass on.

So far, I’ve not seen one solid vision in trading Carlson. Just trade him and hope.

 

[Lindemann]

So the Caps have NO goalies on the roster. Clearly they have a plan that's more advanced than we think.

Did we really have a goalie on the roster last season or just 2 players taking up spots?

 

[twabby]

why the hell would we want Burns? 3 more years at $8 mil per? And we have to look at his disgusting mug? He’s also 37….you wanna pay that until 40? Another downgrade easy to pass on.

So far, I’ve not seen one solid vision in trading Carlson. Just trade him and hope.

He's still good. There'd be risk involved, but there's more risk keeping Carlson and watching him flail about on the ice next spring.

Jeff Petry is another guy who is good and could replace Carlson, and is rumored to be on the block:

 

[kicksavedave]

Also the idea that Ted doesn't want to win a Cup is patently laughable. He spends to the Cap every damn year. You can question his choice of GM, or his penchant for keeping GM's longer than some fans would like. You can question the wisdom of keeping/signing every single player than you want to quibble about. But I've met Ted personally, sat down with him in a board room and talked hockey and winning. He wants to win a Cup. He DID win a Cup. Winning a Cup is extraordinarily hard. Colorado just won a Cup, sporting a core made up of a 2OA, 1OA, two 10OA's and two 4OA draft picks. That doesn't include the 3OA pick they let go (Duchene). The only way you can get that many very high draft picks over 10 years is to suck really bad for 10 years. Instead of sucking for 10 years, the Caps won Presidents trophies, Metro titles and a Cup. If you think Ted doesn't want to win a Cup, then imagine your mindset when the Caps are in the lottery for a decade straight.

It takes an absurd amount of things to go perfectly right to win a Cup. lose for a decade, nail most all your draft picks (a crapshoot for any team), find perfect chemistry, be perfectly healthy, get a ton of puck luck too.

John Carlson's playoff struggles do not mean that Ted doesn't care about winning. There will be a time for a rebuild, maybe its next year. Its not this year. Lets maybe try going into the playoffs with a real goalie and see how that works first?

Did we really have a goalie on the roster last season or just 2 players taking up spots?

We had two backup level goalies. If we had a solid #1 starter, we likely beat Florida.

 

[CapitalsCupReality]

He's still good. There'd be risk involved, but there's more risk keeping Carlson and watching him flail about on the ice next spring.

Jeff Petry is another guy who is good and could replace Carlson, and is rumored to be on the block:

View attachment 567856

I don’t love paying good assets for downgrades….what else do you have?

any actual IMPROVEMENTS to the team? Addition by subtraction moves don’t apply.

 

[kicksavedave]

He's still good. There'd be risk involved, but there's more risk keeping Carlson and watching him flail about on the ice next spring.

Jeff Petry is another guy who is good and could replace Carlson, and is rumored to be on the block:

View attachment 567856

Twabs, I love your enthusiasm for finding a solution to the John Carlson problem.... but if my faulty memory serves me correctly, the last time the Caps traded big parts of their core for other high level players, while they were actually competitive (not rebuilding), was Mike Gartner and Larry Murphy in 1989. The Caps lost that trade by a trillion miles, as both Gartner and Murphy went on to long careers ending in the HHOF, and Dino only played with the Caps for 3+ years.

Anyone else who doesn't have Alzheimers know of an example when the Caps won trading out a major part of their core, outside of a rebuild? Rod Langway in 82 is the only example I can think of but the Caps had never made the playoffs and were about the be moved then, that's not a comparable situation.

 

[Holtbyisms]

But is Ovechkin happy with their recent playoff performance? Surely he wants to win another Cup, or at the very least make another deep run right?

Ovechkin is a professional. Oshie and Backstrom are professionals. They've all been treated well, this isn't a Vegas situation where players are traded out left and right. These guys have been given ample opportunity to build on 2018 and they have failed. Carlson in particular. I highly doubt the rest of the team is going to want out if they pursue a Carlson trade as long as the vision is solid.



Brent Burns is available for trade, according to Mike Grier. He probably wouldn't cost much given San Jose's cap situation and them wanting him gone. They might be able to swing a little retention too if needed.

Burns isn't quite the player Carlson is now, but he's close enough and he's almost assuredly going to be a better postseason performer.

Not saying that I don't agree with you, in fact all summer I've been pumping a way to turn Carlson into Chychrun...but realistically it ain't happening. Washington is loyal to its core of players and has been since Ted took the team over. Its got everything to do with their culture and believing they've already made the right choices with their core players to get over the hump with the right tinkering.

 

[HeyMattyB]

Jeff Petry is another guy who is good and could replace Carlson, and is rumored to be on the block:

View attachment 567856

I guess Twitter (and the main trade board) is saying that Montreal completed a trade on draft day but didn't announce it, and most people are speculating that it involves a player with a signing bonus whose bonus MTL is going to pay before shipping the guy out. (Is that even how it works?) Which means, if true, it's either Price, Petry, or Edmunson, and that Petry seems like the most obvious trade choice of the three. Also, the trade has been linked heavily to Carolina, who just traded away DeAngelo.

 

[HeyMattyB]

Also, I don't have any subscriptions to advanced stats sites, but I suppose I'd like to see the same charts for Carlson vs Klingberg vs. Petry (or whoever else is being discussed to replace Carlson, assuming he could be shipped out for good assets). Which reminds me, I really need to read those advanced stats primers (on the athletic, I think?) because I don't know jack nuts about that stuff.

I mean, everyone likes a shiny new toy, and I'm not against the idea of trading Carlson if the end result is an improved team. But the grass is always greener, etc. and all of the options have their deficiencies. For example, I'm not sure how I feel about trading away four more years of a 32yo/$8M Carlson (a known commodity and assistant captain) if his replacement is, say, a 29yo Klingberg (who, according to DAL fans at least, is even more of a defensive disaster than Carlson) at $7M for 7 years. (The sites I've read have Klingberg listed as, likely, one of the bloated FA contracts whatever team signs him will quickly regret.)

 

[Raikkonen]

I dont understand situation with Sammy. They could have traded him I bet. His outing in playoffs should have bought some credit elsewhere, in my opinion. So they just released him for free? Not the obvious move.

But if they want to trade for, say, Allen and keep Sammy on reasonable terms that could be a way to avoid expensive Kuemper. Not that I believe in him much honestly.

I agree Kuemper and Fucale should work... but why not facilitate Sammy with a new team for a pick? A little bit puzzling


PS: Has to be some plan at least.

 

[um]

Then your brain is functioning. Let’s get older, slower, more physically compromised and worse defensively in our top 6. I mean the Pens looked at Malkin and said, nah we’d rather pay $30 million to Richard Rakell.

Malkin is not slow.

 

[Monsterrain]

Id take a bag of pucks for carlson.

 

[HeyMattyB]

I dont understand situation with Sammy. They could have traded him I bet. His outing in playoffs should have bought some credit elsewhere, in my opinion. So they just released him for free? Not the obvious move.

I mean, it sounds like GMBM was looking at trade options for both Sammy and Vanny. He found a taker for Vanny, but nobody was interested in trading for Sammy's RFA rights. (Especially given his expected arbitration award. That's just too much for any cap-conscious team to spend on a backup.) I don't doubt that GMBM was working the phones, and I highly doubt that he had an offer, any offer, for Samsonov and was like, "Aw hell no, let's just not qualify him and let him become a FA instead!"

So if your opinion is "his outing in the playoffs should have bought some credit elsewhere," I'd argue that the end result here shows he didn't have value anywhere. Then again, maybe the Caps do sign him as a backup for less than the expected arbitration award. We'll find out tomorrow.

 

[g00n]

We talked too much shit and my avatars were too damning, so Sammy's value tanked.

Whoops.

 

[CapitalsCupReality]

We talked too much shit and my avatars were too damning, so Sammy's value tanked.

Whoops.

#blameGoon

I mean, it sounds like GMBM was looking at trade options for both Sammy and Vanny. He found a taker for Vanny, but nobody was interested in trading for Sammy's RFA rights. (Especially given his expected arbitration award. That's just too much for any cap-conscious team to spend on a backup.) I don't doubt that GMBM was working the phones, and I highly doubt that he had an offer, any offer, for Samsonov and was like, "Aw hell no, let's just not qualify him and let him become a FA instead!"

So if your opinion is "his outing in the playoffs should have bought some credit elsewhere," I'd argue that the end result here shows he didn't have value anywhere. Then again, maybe the Caps do sign him as a backup for less than the expected arbitration award. We'll find out tomorrow.

This….seems crystal clear. No takers.

 

[HighPlainsDrifter]

We talked too much shit and my avatars were too damning, so Sammy's value tanked.

Whoops.

No way man! Look at that spin technique. Looks like he has Coyotes all over him.

 

[YippieKaey]

So with Sammy and Vanny out we have no goalies up?

 

[SecretaryofDefense5]

It seems many have forgotten how quickly the caps looked exhausted in the loffs. Why did they look tired and why were they so injury riddled? They are an old team. Sticking with the exact same core is dumb. Period.

 

[HeyMattyB]

So with Sammy and Vanny out we have no goalies up?

With Sammy and Vanny in, did we actually have any goalies?




I'm here all week! Try the veal.

 

[CapitalsCupReality]

It seems many have forgotten how quickly the caps looked exhausted in the loffs. Why did they look tired and why were they so injury riddled? They are an old team. Sticking with the exact same core is dumb. Period.

What are you blaming on Wilson? Old, tired or Injury Riddled?

They need to add to the core. If there a winning hockey trade to upgrade on Oshie or Carlson, sign me up. 8 and 19 are going nowhere. What’s left but to try and add talent?

 

[Silky mitts]

I'm usually pretty heartless about moving on from guys but Carlson spent his day with the Cup doing multiple charity events in Montgomery County, besides the fact he finished top 12 in Norris the last 5 years

 

[DWGie26]

What do you mean that the Caps(meaning BMac) have talked to Sakic?

They could have granted permission to speak to him. Not saying they did. Just that they could have. I just don’t think They do what they have done with their goalies with no plan in place. They must feel good about something. Maybe Keumper. Maybe a trade. Maybe another goaltender.

 

[Midnight Judges]

Is there a possibility that Backstrom pulls a Kucherov and sits out the regular season to create cap space and then comes back for the playoffs?

 

[SecretaryofDefense5]

What are you blaming on Wilson? Old, tired or Injury Riddled?

They need to add to the core. If there a winning hockey trade to upgrade on Oshie or Carlson, sign me up. 8 and 19 are going nowhere. What’s left but to try and add talent?

Who blamed Wilson? One of their top two centers was brought back even though he had no business playing.

I just find it nuts to rattle off 5 or 6 players on a team who has lost four years in a row in the first round who can’t or shouldn’t be traded. Really?