Speculation: Caps Roster General Discussion (Coaching/FAs/Cap/Lines etc) - 2022-23 Season Part 3: Drop the puck!

[Cappy76]

I'm not sure where the market is for either Sheary or Eller that being said I'm sure both will more than likely be moved before 3 PM on Friday. Eller would really surprise me if he's still here as I doubt they bring him back next year for any reason. Sheary they could be trying to resign still.

 

[McVechkin]

Since we are stuck with backstrom…I’d be curious to see what he can do with a full offseason being pain free and able to focus on training. It’s not all that uncommon that players with significant surgeries that come back mid season need the next offseason to truly get up to speed. Here to hoping thats the case here.. because it’s bleak right now if they can’t get more out of him for that cap hit.

 

[DWGie26]

I'm fine with trading for young guys to help out the next few years and hopefully beyond that.

I just don't want to invest all in on these next 2-3 years like we're top contenders for a cup.

But that is the point. Surround with young proven NHL players. Strome. Milano. Sandin. Fever to some extent. Goaltending is solid with solid talent around them so don’t need to address that. I do think we need a top 6 talent at wing, but I am fine with OV-Kuzy-Wilson as top line.

A big question is, can we now deploy Mantha in the right way. Top 6 wing. 2nd PP unit. He is good value at price if he can REALLY be that.

People won’t like this But I like NAK as 4RW If he signs for cheap. He knows the system. Has some grit. Can kinda score. Plenty of NHL games under his belt.

 

[DWGie26]

Can we sign Frank now?

We are now at 46 contracts (down from 48). So we have some flexibility to sign him now. At his age he doesn’t get an ELC nor does he get any waiver exempt time. So we could sign him now and bring him up whenever. Of course have to balance out with Hershey needs as well although they are sucking wind right now. I’d like to at least have the option play to get him a few games and see what he has.

 

[SecretaryofDefense5]

But that is the point. Surround with young proven NHL players. Strome. Milano. Sandin. Fever to some extent. Goaltending is solid with solid talent around them so don’t need to address that. I do think we need a top 6 talent at wing, but I am fine with OV-Kuzy-Wilson as top line.

A big question is, can we now deploy Mantha in the right way. Top 6 wing. 2nd PP unit. He is good value at price if he can REALLY be that.

People won’t like this But I like NAK as 4RW If he signs for cheap. He knows the system. Has some grit. Can kinda score. Plenty of NHL games under his belt.

Knows the system? Lavi ain’t coming back my man.

 

[Drakon]

But that is the point. Surround with young proven NHL players. Strome. Milano. Sandin. Fever to some extent. Goaltending is solid with solid talent around them so don’t need to address that. I do think we need a top 6 talent at wing, but I am fine with OV-Kuzy-Wilson as top line.

A big question is, can we now deploy Mantha in the right way. Top 6 wing. 2nd PP unit. He is good value at price if he can REALLY be that.

People won’t like this But I like NAK as 4RW If he signs for cheap. He knows the system. Has some grit. Can kinda score. Plenty of NHL games under his belt.

I'd hope the system changes, it sucks.

 

[DWGie26]

Jensen resigned. So that piece has dropped. I like The three years. 4M per is reasonable.

 

[Silky mitts]

Currently $72M plus whatever Fever signs for committed to next year, for 10 forwards including 4 Cs, 4 D, 2G.

 

[IafrateOvie34]

Jensen resigned. So that piece has dropped. I like The three years. 4M per is reasonable.

I'm totally on board with that deal. When he first came to the Caps I couldn't stand him, however he grew on me after adapting. Thank you Dowd.

 

[DWGie26]

Knows the system? Lavi ain’t coming back my man.

Maybe not. But the system won’t get revamped. Maybe the PP changes. Maybe there is more trust in youngesters. But the Caps won’t completely change the system in last OV years. So you could see Nelson coming up. Or Carberry coming over. And i wouldn’t be at all surprised if Lavi is back.

 

[IafrateOvie34]

But that is the point. Surround with young proven NHL players. Strome. Milano. Sandin. Fever to some extent. Goaltending is solid with solid talent around them so don’t need to address that. I do think we need a top 6 talent at wing, but I am fine with OV-Kuzy-Wilson as top line.

A big question is, can we now deploy Mantha in the right way. Top 6 wing. 2nd PP unit. He is good value at price if he can REALLY be that.

People won’t like this But I like NAK as 4RW If he signs for cheap. He knows the system. Has some grit. Can kinda score. Plenty of NHL games under his belt.

I don't mind keeping NAK for cheap. I just wish he could score goals that he should be scoring. He's a poor man's Hathaway with a SC ring. It all depends on who is ready to step in the lineup ready for the NHL.

 

[hb13xchamps]

I think we see a more major forward trade in the offseason. Will be interesting to see what they can turn Mantha into via trade if they do that route. He’s had an absolute shit season but I think GMs will still hold out hope he can score 25-30 goals and be a 50-60 point power forward

 

[Langway]

Seems like they'll have about $9M to spend on four defensemen and/or net upgrades overall. That's before any potential subtractions (Mantha, etc.). And mostly plugging in $1M or less types into the depth F spots (NAK, Malenstyn, Protas, Snively) for the moment.

Fehervary will sign for relatively cheap on a short-term deal you'd think and that likely keeps him put (even if ultimately he may be fairly marginal). Get TVR done at good value and there's some flexibility left over for upgrades. Even if they clear out Mantha it's hard to see the path in the near-term for either McMichael or Lapierre (assuming Backstrom is not going anywhere). Do McMichael or Lapierre fit a third line, bottom six winger role? If not, it's probably time to shop both for players with more tenacity that would better complement their fading stars. It needs to be a fairly targeted subset of forwards, ideally true all-situations two-way players, but that should be the next main order of business. They've got a degree of flexibility but also a lot of holes up front when it comes to presumably replacing all of Hathaway, Johansson, Sheary and Eller.

 

[Vilica]

The thing I like most about Mac's moves is that you can always understand his reasoning behind it. You can quibble with the price he paid, or which assets he views as more disposible than others, but he turned 3 expiring contracts into some picks and 4 years of Sandin. Could he have gotten a bit more in the Orlov deal - maybe; could he have talked Dubas into the WASH 2nd instead of the BOS 1st - possibly. What's done is done, though.

Also, looking at change of scenery guys, if they don't want to take on term, their best option might be trying to convince SJ on a Mantha-Labanc 1 for 1 swap. There's not much else out there (maybe Henrique).

 

[trick9]

Not sure i see that major forward trade in the cards this summer. I think they'll try but... there really isn't much to push to the table in terms of top quality assets. They do have their own pick which depending on where it ends up could be an enticing piece. There are always the future picks too but... they are most likely more throw-in assets rather than the main assets in a deal. Connor McMichael is 22 now and scoring at worse pace than he did in 2020-'21 season. Maybe there is some team that still loves him but i don't see him returning much in a trade. As for Anthony Mantha... tough to see him returning anything. I can see a scenario where it's more towards bad contract for bad contract kind of an shake-up move. Wingers don't hold much value and last summer you saw good wingers like Oliver Bjorkstrand moved for pennies at that same salary despite scoring nearly 60 points. At the best maybe there is a rebuilder that takes him for nothing in hopes of milking an asset for him by giving him PP1 time and favorable ice-time.

I guess in there lies our opportunity to add a good scoring forward. If the next summer is similar to last and teams are looking to dump their great wingers for peanuts.

 

[Ovi895]

The thing I like most about Mac's moves is that you can always understand his reasoning behind it. You can quibble with the price he paid, or which assets he views as more disposible than others, but he turned 3 expiring contracts into some picks and 4 years of Sandin. Could he have gotten a bit more in the Orlov deal - maybe; could he have talked Dubas into the WASH 2nd instead of the BOS 1st - possibly. What's done is done, though.

Also, looking at change of scenery guys, if they don't want to take on term, their best option might be trying to convince SJ on a Mantha-Labanc 1 for 1 swap. There's not much else out there (maybe Henrique).

The flip side to this is he almost always adds fairly middling role players at full price instead of striking a diamond in the rough on a player with potential high end skill but potential holes as well, It works when you inherit a prime Ovechkin, Backstrom, Kuznetsov, Carlson, Holtby and need to plug in the holes lower in the lineup with dependable clock punchers. There's no Marchessault, Verhaeghe, Panarin, Kuzmenko, 2016 Kessel, etc. The one home run with Oshie, a very high end role player but role player nonetheless, and an endless parade of Ellers, Paniks, Shearys, Hathaways, Hagelins, Williams's, Manthas, Dowds, Johanssons, Kubels, etc. Ditto on defense, even though Niskanen was a pretty high end add he still inherited the 2 best defensemen he's had his entire tenure. He's more of a good AGM you task with rounding out a roster with a McDavid and Drasaitl already on it than someone who can bring gamebreakers on board

 

[Ovi895]

Not sure i see that major forward trade in the cards this summer. I think they'll try but... there really isn't much to push to the table in terms of top quality assets. They do have their own pick which depending on where it ends up could be an enticing piece. There are always the future picks too but... they are most likely more throw-in assets rather than the main assets in a deal. Connor McMichael is 22 now and scoring at worse pace than he did in 2020-'21 season. Maybe there is some team that still loves him but i don't see him returning much in a trade. As for Anthony Mantha... tough to see him returning anything. I can see a scenario where it's more towards bad contract for bad contract kind of an shake-up move. Wingers don't hold much value and last summer you saw good wingers like Oliver Bjorkstrand moved for pennies at that same salary despite scoring nearly 60 points. At the best maybe there is a rebuilder that takes him for nothing in hopes of milking an asset for him by giving him PP1 time and favorable ice-time.

I guess in there lies our opportunity to add a good scoring forward. If the next summer is similar to last and teams are looking to dump their great wingers for peanuts.

Ovechkin Strome Wilson
Milano Kuznetsov Oshie
X-Backstrom Mantha
X-Dowd-X

Each of those players other than Mantha is virtually guaranteed to remain on the roster. They could move Kuzy but that is virtually guaranteed to be for a downgrade unless they win Bedard somehow. IMO they should try to make Mantha work by putting him on his PROPER right wing (look at Orlov finally playing the RD position he grew up playing) and give him butter minutes with Backstrom against easy competition to rip one timers from the right circle. Since his trade value is pretty much zero. One of those Xs should be Protas, and if McMichael isn't the other one he should be traded for one. There's not much really they can do at this point.

 

[trick9]

Did some research and assuming the roster looks something like this for 2023-'24:

Ovechkin (9,500 m) - Kuznetsov (7,800 m) - Wilson (5,166 m)
Milano (1,900 m) - Strome (5,000 m) - Oshie (5,750 m)
McMichael (0,863 m) - Backstrom (9,200 m) - Mantha (5,700 m)
Protas (0,789 m) - Dowd (1,300 m) - Aube-Kubel (1,000 m)
Malenstyn (0,762 m)

Fehervary (1,700 m) - Carlson (7,800 m)
Sandin (1,400 m) - Jensen (4,050 m)
Alexeyev (0,950 m) - TvR (1,700 m)

Kuemper (5,250 m)
Lindgren (1,100 m)


How did we get there (i didn't do much comparable research so these could be off):

- Fehervary (1,700m x 1)
- TvR (1,700 m x 1)
- Alexeyev (0,950 m x 1)
- Aube-Kubel (1,000 m x 1)

Cap space (83,5 m): $4,618,333

Needs:

Additional D
Upgrade Mantha

Potential targets (UFA 2023):

D:

Dmitry Orlov
Shayne Gostisbehere
Damon Severson
Matt Dumba
Brian Dumoulin
Kevin Shattenkirk
Ryan Graves
Travis Hamonic
Vladislav Gavrikov
Carson Soucy
Radko Gudas
Scott Mayfield
Dmitry Kulikov
Troy Stecher
Connor Clifton

Forward:

David Pastrnak
Dylan Larkin
Patrick Kane
Michael Bunting
Alex Killorn
JT Compher
Jason Zucker
Tomas Tatar
Vladimir Tarasenko
Ryan O'Reilly
Max Domi
JvR
Ivan Barbashev
Tyler Bertuzzi
Jonathan Drouin
Erik Haula
Alexander Kerfoot
Nick Ritchie
Evan Rodrigues
Jesper Fast
Phil Kessel
Frederic Gaudreau
Sean Monahan
Andreas Athanasiou
Pius Suter
Miles Wood


Potential (and some, unrealistic) targets for trade (UFA 2024):

Sebastian Aho
William Nylander
Sam Reinhart
Jake Guentzel
Mark Scheifele
Pierre-Luc Dubois (likely)
Teuvo Teravainen
Jonathan Marchessault
Jordan Eberle
Tyler Toffoli
David Perron
Victor Arvidsson
Nino Niederreiter
Chandler Stephenson
Alexander Barabanov

So... who are the saviours?
​

 

[Cappy76]

I wouldn’t at all mind a Tyler Bertuzzi for the 2nd line. Push Milano to the 3rd with Backstrom and oshie and run a 2nd line of Burt strome and Mantha

 

[g00n]

HFCaps: ZOMG! GMBM HAS NO IDEA WHAT HE'S DOING! FIRE EVERYONE!!!

g00n: Relax. He has a plan. The contracts all expire this year for a reason. It's not a coincidence. If they're sucking by the TDL he'll start moving UFAs and retooling.

HFCaps: YOU DON'T KNOW THAT! MANAGEMENT SUCK UP! DOOM!!!

*Caps nosedive...TDL approaches*

 

[Misery74]

So, you think he knew the team would be terrible this year?

He’s done a good job selling off pieces so far, but, he’s messed up plenty. And he still needs to deal with this lame duck coach.

 

[Langway]

A value LD that can PK will be needed. Mayfield or Clifton would be solid 3RD options if TVR doesn't return. A scoring winger is needed with or without Mantha. More bottom six glue if they may not be sold on turning over regular spots to Protas & Malenstyn (though they really should). I'm not sure Alexeyev should be penciled in given that they've hesitated so much to play him. Not as a regular at least. Seems equally likely he could be swapped. Maybe Brown comes back on the cheap, though definitely shouldn't be more than a bottom sixer.

Tarasenko, Killorn, Tatar, Domi or Barbashev make sense I guess as middle six wings but all essentially stopgaps. It's tracking to be pretty mid barring something substantial...and I don't know if they even should be overly aggressive this off-season. Probably best just to let the core sink or swim. They do need to resolve Wilson's status in the off-season. Absolutely can't afford to let him play the year out. That could be the big shake-up if contract talks don't progress. But overall it's hard to predict how they'll manage to responsibly add more juice to the forward group. A top ten pick will help in time but they'll need to wait a bit...and resist both moving it for immediate help and signing mid plugs to term that would reduce future flexibility.

 

[SecretaryofDefense5]

So, you think he knew the team would be terrible this year?

He’s done a good job selling off pieces so far, but, he’s messed up plenty. And he still needs to deal with this lame duck coach.

He knew it would be old so there is that.

 

[trick9]

A value LD that can PK will be needed. Mayfield or Clifton would be solid 3RD options if TVR doesn't return. A scoring winger is needed with or without Mantha. More bottom six glue if they may not be sold on turning over regular spots to Protas & Malenstyn (though they really should). I'm not sure Alexeyev should be penciled in given that they've hesitated so much to play him. Not as a regular at least. Seems equally likely he could be swapped. Maybe Brown comes back on the cheap, though definitely shouldn't be more than a bottom sixer.

Tarasenko, Killorn, Tatar, Domi or Barbashev make sense I guess as middle six wings but all essentially stopgaps. It's tracking to be pretty mid barring something substantial...and I don't know if they even should be overly aggressive this off-season. Probably best just to let the core sink or swim. They do need to resolve Wilson's status in the off-season. Absolutely can't afford to let him play the year out. That could be the big shake-up if contract talks don't progress. But overall it's hard to predict how they'll manage to responsibly add more juice to the forward group. A top ten pick will help in time but they'll need to wait a bit...and resist both moving it for immediate help and signing mid plugs to term that would reduce future flexibility.

I didn't mean to pencil in Alexeyev (or for that matter, CMM, Protas or Malenstyn) in but the general idea was to create an idea of where the cap situations stands right now. Alexeyev is in the line-up there but there is also the note that they should be adding a D, thus dropping him out of the line-up.

I would generally agree that they propably shouldn't be an overly aggressive player in the UFA market unless there is a perfect fit. This team lives or dies with it's core. What they need to do is make the decision of what to do with Kuznetsov and Mantha. If you trade either one you are likely to lose that trade. Mantha has been a bad fit and there maybe a way to move him in the summer if someone wants to take a flier but does GMBM want to dump him for next to nothing? That does leave a stain in his resume. With Kuznetsov the decision is much tougher. You aren't going to get better player in return, but then again the attitude is not going to change. This summer might be the last chance to move on from that contract if he falls off even more.

 

[g00n]

So, you think he knew the team would be terrible this year?

He’s done a good job selling off pieces so far, but, he’s messed up plenty. And he still needs to deal with this lame duck coach.

Sure, maybe the 1,000th time this is explained by me and others will sink in and you'll stop saying the same things over and over again.

I'll get right on my essay.

brb