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

[Ovi895]

Have we tried pairing, TVR and Jensen yet?

Wasn't he playing LD with Jensen last year? I forget who he lined up as LD with but it was for a pretty long stretch of time

EDIT: It was Schultz. Justin Schultz. Completely forgot he ever played for us lol

 

[bacchist]

Well... if we weren't going to make the playoffs, I was hoping for at least a decent pick. If we aren't going to get a top 10 pick and a lottery ticket, we might as well make the playoffs.

MoneyPuck has us at 6.2% to make the playoffs. Not great, not terrible.

 

[ClevelandCapsfan]

Well... if we weren't going to make the playoffs, I was hoping for at least a decent pick. If we aren't going to get a top 10 pick and a lottery ticket, we might as well make the playoffs.

MoneyPuck has us at 6.2% to make the playoffs. Not great, not terrible.

6.2% isn’t terrible?

 

[crab]

Should punt dumbo Carlson and bring back Orlov. Then look at getting an impact top 6 play driver.

 

[Corby78]

I think people are undervaluing what Carlson brings to the team. He has the capability to be a Norris contender and can really drive the offense from the blue line. Not saying a carlson move wouldn’t be off the table for me, but we would need a solid return offensively and a top pair D to replace him.

 

[EroCaps]

Carlson has been abysmal in his own end for a couple years now. Unless that changes they aren’t winning shit with him as their #1.

Sandin was a nice add but all in all I don’t see a clear vision for this team.

Why is Mantha still here?

Why is McMichael still here?

If this team was truly retooling they’d have shuffled these guys out for assets that fit what they’re trying to do.

When is Backstom going to take a long walk into the snow? Does Kuzy have it in him to give 100%?

They are the walking dead until proven otherwise.

 

[bacchist]

6.2% isn’t terrible?

It was a Chernobyl reference.

 

[bacchist]

The team went from being pretty solid in December to hot garbage in the two months since they lost Carlson, and you guys still think he's the problem?

 

[895]

The team went from being pretty solid in December to hot garbage in the two months since they lost Carlson, and you guys still think he's the problem?

One player addition/subtraction is not responsible for the drastic change


But if one player is to blame I'd say it's more adding NB. Just killed us.

 

[g00n]

The team went from being pretty solid in December to hot garbage in the two months since they lost Carlson, and you guys still think he's the problem?

JC was also on the team in Oct/Nov when they were stinking and many here wanted to blow it all up.

He's a good regular season player but he's been ass in the playoffs for 4 years running. His $8M cap hit is 4x what Hagelin's was and people were apoplectic about how much cap space he was eating up. Same for Oshie and others.

Why should JC be immune? Especially when we see other D-men who have gone unused that were perfectly capable of running the PP like Orlov?

 

[bacchist]

One player addition/subtraction is not responsible for the drastic change


But if one player is to blame I'd say it's more adding NB. Just killed us.

Honestly, he hasn't been that bad. He hasn't been good, but he doesn't deserve to be scapegoated like that.

 

[um]

Carlson has been abysmal in his own end for a couple years now. Unless that changes they aren’t winning shit with him as their #1.

Sandin was a nice add but all in all I don’t see a clear vision for this team.

Why is Mantha still here?

Why is McMichael still here?

If this team was truly retooling they’d have shuffled these guys out for assets that fit what they’re trying to do.

When is Backstom going to take a long walk into the snow? Does Kuzy have it in him to give 100%?

They are the walking dead until proven otherwise.

You don’t see the reason a retooling team acquired a 22 year old top 4 dman?!?

Caps are making out like bandits on that trade, so far.

And getting rid of Mantha will cost us, you’ve got it backwards.

And I doubt McMichael has much value, like any time a team wants to get rid of their bust. I’d rather the Caps continue developing him.

 

[bacchist]

JC was also on the team in Oct/Nov when they were stinking and many here wanted to blow it all up.

He's a good regular season player but he's been ass in the playoffs for 4 years running. His $8M cap hit is 4x what Hagelin's was and people were apoplectic about how much cap space he was eating up. Same for Oshie and others.

Why should JC be immune? Especially when we see other D-men who have gone unused that were perfectly capable of running the PP like Orlov?

Carlson provides way more than 4x the value that Hagelin does.

 

[g00n]

Carlson provides way more than 4x the value that Hagelin does.

Is that the only defense of his shitty playoffs?

 

[um]

Is that the only defense of his shitty playoffs?

I’m pretty sure Carlsons shitty playoffs are well known around here.

 

[bacchist]

Is that the only defense of his shitty playoffs?

Yes

 

[895]

Honestly, he hasn't been that bad. He hasn't been good, but he doesn't deserve to be scapegoated like that.

He's been playing at or below a replacement level. He's been bad.

But the reason it's killing us is because Laviolette forces him to play as a top six center which means a guy like Strome who was doing an adequate job as a 1c became 4c and then even scratched once.

 

[bacchist]

He's been playing at or below a replacement level.

So has Ovechkin. Kuznetsov has been worse.

 

[AlexModvechkin8]

It was a Chernobyl reference.

Terrific show. Another quote from that show applicable to the Caps is, “All victories inevitably come at a cost.”

2018 was terrific and I wouldn’t trade it for anything but it came at a cost. Part of the cost was extending the guys who helped us win it knowing we’d have to pay for it down the line. The other part is when you win, guys want bigger roles and price themselves out and guys who helped you win want to be compensated. Also of course there’s a cost associated to fan expectations.

 

[IafrateOvie34]

JC was also on the team in Oct/Nov when they were stinking and many here wanted to blow it all up.

He's a good regular season player but he's been ass in the playoffs for 4 years running. His $8M cap hit is 4x what Hagelin's was and people were apoplectic about how much cap space he was eating up. Same for Oshie and others.

Why should JC be immune? Especially when we see other D-men who have gone unused that were perfectly capable of running the PP like Orlov?

I can see him being dealt if Sandin keeps emerging. Only so much room on PP1 and the return could be nice.

Why not? He was a very good second line winger in Ottawa who was a tenacious forechecker and really good on the PK. He doesn’t add a lot of skill per se but if he was a cheap middle six RW they could focus on upgrading 2LW and maybe swapping out Kuznetsov.

Ovi-Strome-Wilson
xx-xx-Brown
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I was excited to see him play as a Cap and it's unfortunate his injury happened. I hope he can recover and play more in the NHL. I liked him prior to becoming a Cap.

 

[g00n]

In the 4 games since the TDL the caps have taken 5 of 8 available points. It feels like a different team and there's that little pest in the back of your head that says "maybe they can still make the playoffs".

But that's still a 62% points pace, which is what they needed to start delivering a month ago. On Feb 10th they were at 40% points% in their last 10 games and compared to everyone else fighting for a WC spot they need to probably hit around 65%. As they kept losing that number crept up to an unsustainable 75% or so.

Over the past month the caps have dropped 3 places in the standings and based on current 10 game points pace could still be passed by OTT and maybe BUF due to games in hand.

Though OTT and BUF have cooled off some, the real obstacle is the WC teams in front of them (NYI, PIT, FLA) are all maintaining that 65% 10 game pace.

To have a reasonable chance over the final 15 games the Caps probably need somewhere close to an 80% points%, or 24 points out of 30 available. That's basically 12 wins in 15 games, or 4 out of every 5...outright or some combo that nets 8 of 10 available points like 3 wins and 2 OTL. If they lose 4 or so games without gaining any points, or fall too far behind that pace, they're done.

I guess it could happen. Addition by subtraction is a thing, and lighting a fire with new faces bring possibilities, however remote.

Current odds for Caps to win the Cup: +20000

That's worth a dollar bet just in case. LOL

 

[Raikkonen]

Obviously their plan is to keep both Carlson and Sandin

 

[g00n]

Obviously their plan is to keep both Carlson and Sandin

Probably but if we're going to talk about freeing up cap space, or how much we'd get for trading someone like Wilson, imagine what we could to to the top 6 forwards with an additional $8M in cap space and whatever trade boon Carlson would net.

How would you feel about an Ovie-Kuzy-Tarasenko top line for the next few years, for example? Plus whatever draft picks and prospects we'd receive from trading Carlson?

 

[crab]

Carlson has been abysmal in his own end for a couple years now. Unless that changes they aren’t winning shit with him as their #1.

Sandin was a nice add but all in all I don’t see a clear vision for this team.

Why is Mantha still here?

Why is McMichael still here?

If this team was truly retooling they’d have shuffled these guys out for assets that fit what they’re trying to do.

When is Backstom going to take a long walk into the snow? Does Kuzy have it in him to give 100%?

They are the walking dead until proven otherwise.

JC will play stretches as a #1D in the regular season but has been beyond awful in the playoffs for a number of years now. If a player is continuously awful in the playoffs and you are paying then this much there is no point in keeping them unless the goal is to just get to the first round and exit.

 

[Calicaps]

Carlson has been abysmal in his own end for a couple years now. Unless that changes they aren’t winning shit with him as their #1.

Sandin was a nice add but all in all I don’t see a clear vision for this team.

Why is Mantha still here?

Why is McMichael still here?

If this team was truly retooling they’d have shuffled these guys out for assets that fit what they’re trying to do.

When is Backstom going to take a long walk into the snow? Does Kuzy have it in him to give 100%?

They are the walking dead until proven otherwise.

Because you can't do everything at once?

There's very likely to be more moves in the offseason.

And Backstrom is still here because Ted (and probably Ovi) wants him here. Also, the goal is to at least try to stay competitive. It's why the tank was never more than an HF fantasy. Ovi plays to win. He's never going to agree to lose on purpose or wait while the front office tears it down. These are the constraints that Mac is working in. So the vision is finding ways to improve, free up cap space, and build up assets within those constraints. Folks around here could save themselves a lot of angst if they'd accept that.