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Speculation: Caps Roster General Discussion (Coaching/FAs/Cap/Lines/etc) | 2023-24 Regular Season Edition

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Calicaps said:
Agreed. Watching the Cup core fall away is so sad. But also, how incredible is our captain? He was here before all of them and will still be here and effective when they're gone. Way back when, Zubrus called him a freak of nature, but he couldn't have known how right he was. Simply sensational.
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The saddest part of being immortal is always watching your mortal friends disappear. Granted Ovechkin's not literally immortal but in the context of NHL production, yeah, guy's insane and it's got to be tough seeing your compatriots lose what you've arguably still got.
 
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I hadn't realized Shep was sent down to Hershey and called back up again(probably as a paper transaction). So my guess is Chucky Sideburns is in net and Shep will back him up against Vegas. This would lead me to believe that Kuemper is just more than banged up.
 
AlexBrovechkin8 said:
I honestly wouldn’t. Getting Mantha’s cap space back next summer is more important than either player.
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Semi agreed, but the problem is - how do you see us using that cap space?

Free agency will be thin. The few "better" names will benefit for increasing cap and will get overpaid heavily.

Will we weaponize that for gaining picks by cap dumps, or trade/sign overpaid new Manthas. Interesting times.

I wouldnt mind Orlov back at all, but not with the expense of offense. Our D is currently fine when the injury list narrows, and has way more depth than O.
 
Trust the process.

Oshie was actually pretty good early in the season, just really snakebit. He hit bars and posts and nothing seemed to go in. In the first 8 games he was right up there with Ovechkin with the most snakebitten players in the league (actual goals vs. expected goals) but was still playing okay so he kept getting good ice-time.

He really started to go downhill right around the Sharks game. He got a lot of ice-time in that game but ever since his ice-time has gone down from ~18-20 minutes closer to ~14-16 minutes. He did play 19 minutes against the Panthers but other than that his last 4 games are 14:25, 15:47, 15:26 and 16:41.

If he plays well, he'll likely stay in that bigger minute role unless someone (Mantha?) forces Carbery's hand. But it could be again that his lingering issues are starting to take a toll on him like they've done in the past as the season progresses. I guess we'll see if his minutes keep dropping.
 
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Roshi said:
Semi agreed, but the problem is - how do you see us using that cap space?

Free agency will be thin. The few "better" names will benefit for increasing cap and will get overpaid heavily.

Will we weaponize that for gaining picks by cap dumps, or trade/sign overpaid new Manthas. Interesting times.

I wouldnt mind Orlov back at all, but not with the expense of offense. Our D is currently fine when the injury list narrows, and has way more depth than O.
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Nylander is the ultimate prize. The Caps have the cap space and structure to give him $10M per year. They’re one of the teams best positioned to sign him to a long term deal. Trading Backstrom and Mantha’s cap hits for Nylander + more cap space is a potential franchise altering moment.

On defense I don’t think they need to go big game hunting but there are a few intriguing names in the 2024 UFA class like Noah Hanifin, Alec Martinez, Brady Skjei, and TJ Brodie.
 
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AlexBrovechkin8 said:
Nylander is the ultimate prize. The Caps have the cap space and structure to give him $10M per year. They’re one of the teams best positioned to sign him to a long term deal. Trading Backstrom and Mantha’s cap hits for Nylander + more cap space is a potential franchise altering moment.

On defense I don’t think they need to go big game hunting but there are a few intriguing names in the 2024 UFA class like Noah Hanifin, Alec Martinez, Brady Skjei, and TJ Brodie.
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With Backys LTIR we are propably looking at around 14 mills in cap space after resigning CMM, Protas & Sandin, with basically 2 spots to fill.

Cant see Leafs letting Nylander walk into free agency, but that would indeed be the one move to get us back on our feet and running. Throw in someone like Monahan too and our offence suddenly looks very good :)

Nylander-Kuznetsov-Miro
Ovie-Strome-Wilson
Milano-Monahan-CMM
Malenstyn-Dowd-Oshie
+ Protas

Fever-JC
Sandin-Jensen
HHA-TvR
+Alexeeyev

Kuemps/Moustache
 
Roshi said:
With Backys LTIR we are propably looking at around 14 mills in cap space after resigning CMM, Protas & Sandin, with basically 2 spots to fill.

Cant see Leafs letting Nylander walk into free agency, but that would indeed be the one move to get us back on our feet and running. Throw in someone like Monahan too and our offence suddenly looks very good :)

Nylander-Kuznetsov-Miro
Ovie-Strome-Wilson
Milano-Monahan-CMM
Malenstyn-Dowd-Oshie
+ Protas

Fever-JC
Sandin-Jensen
HHA-TvR
+Alexeeyev

Kuemps/Moustache
Click to expand...
Doesn’t look good with that 1c….
 
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SherVaughn30 said:
///... This would lead me to believe that Kuemper is just more than banged up.
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having Lindgren/Shep tonight is the only game until Saturday so
Kuemper or anyone else a little banged up can have the whole week uninterrrrrrrrrupted to recover

This leads me to believe it may be anything from 'a little' to 'a lot' dinged up
and not jump to the worse conclusion since we have more than capable backups
 
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Roshi said:
Semi agreed, but the problem is - how do you see us using that cap space?

Free agency will be thin. The few "better" names will benefit for increasing cap and will get overpaid heavily.

Will we weaponize that for gaining picks by cap dumps, or trade/sign overpaid new Manthas. Interesting times.

I wouldnt mind Orlov back at all, but not with the expense of offense. Our D is currently fine when the injury list narrows, and has way more depth than O.
Click to expand...
I feel like free agency sucks unless you're dumpster diving. Top end talent can very often find someone to overpay, because they can field multiple offers. Teams are highly incentivized to lock players up before they have a chance to test the market.
 
Roshi said:
With Backys LTIR we are propably looking at around 14 mills in cap space after resigning CMM, Protas & Sandin, with basically 2 spots to fill.

Cant see Leafs letting Nylander walk into free agency, but that would indeed be the one move to get us back on our feet and running. Throw in someone like Monahan too and our offence suddenly looks very good :)

Nylander-Kuznetsov-Miro
Ovie-Strome-Wilson
Milano-Monahan-CMM
Malenstyn-Dowd-Oshie
+ Protas

Fever-JC
Sandin-Jensen
HHA-TvR
+Alexeeyev

Kuemps/Moustache
Click to expand...
And the year after next Kuzy and Oshie are off the books and Backstrom will be gone as well. They have a lot of flexibility coming up, especially with the rising cap. They’ll almost have a blank slate in 2025-26 and guys like Miro, Leonard, and maybe Lapierre should be full time guys.

The Leafs probably don’t want to lose Circles Jr but are they really in a position to spend $10M+ each on four forwards, especially if they flame out early again this year? That team is a mess defensively, partly because they’re so top heavy in their cap structure on the forward position.

If I am BMac I am constantly checking in with Treveling to let him know I’m ready to make a deal if and when the time comes. If he’s not locked up by season’s end I’m also doing whatever I can to get control of his rights.
 
Oshie wont be here next Fall. At the latest, he will be bought out in the Summer.

Maybe traded earlier (but doubtful honestly).

Either LTIR or BO.
 
I was a bit concerned when I read about Oshie quitting golf in order to be able to play hockey longer. If you're that close to being washed, the writing is on the wall.
 
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Raikkonen said:
Oshie wont be here next Fall. At the latest, he will be bought out in the Summer.

Maybe traded earlier (but doubtful honestly).

Either LTIR or BO.
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Cant really see a BO here. They would only save 2 mills in cap space for one year, and add a million of dead cap to next one. And as for real money, its ”only” 4 mills to go.

Considering they havent done it to anyone else lately and they are not desperate for cap, would be weird if they do it to one of their oldest core guys.

LTIR, maybe.
 
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Roshi said:
With Backys LTIR we are propably looking at around 14 mills in cap space after resigning CMM, Protas & Sandin, with basically 2 spots to fill.

Cant see Leafs letting Nylander walk into free agency, but that would indeed be the one move to get us back on our feet and running. Throw in someone like Monahan too and our offence suddenly looks very good :)

Nylander-Kuznetsov-Miro
Ovie-Strome-Wilson
Milano-Monahan-CMM
Malenstyn-Dowd-Oshie
+ Protas

Fever-JC
Sandin-Jensen
HHA-TvR
+Alexeeyev

Kuemps/Moustache
Click to expand...
Nylander would be ideal as this team desperately needs another top line player. But I'd rather develop CMM as a center than bring in Monahan, who isn't really an upgrade.
 
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And what if he doesnt get injured? Play him? One year older? I dont believe in it

When I see Oshie this season I expect mistake immediately. Like a pass to the other team's player,
 
AlexBrovechkin8 said:
And the year after next Kuzy and Oshie are off the books and Backstrom will be gone as well. They have a lot of flexibility coming up, especially with the rising cap. They’ll almost have a blank slate in 2025-26 and guys like Miro, Leonard, and maybe Lapierre should be full time guys.

The Leafs probably don’t want to lose Circles Jr but are they really in a position to spend $10M+ each on four forwards, especially if they flame out early again this year? That team is a mess defensively, partly because they’re so top heavy in their cap structure on the forward position.

If I am BMac I am constantly checking in with Treveling to let him know I’m ready to make a deal if and when the time comes. If he’s not locked up by season’s end I’m also doing whatever I can to get control of his rights.
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I always thought the Leafs should move one of Marner/Nylander for some defence. Of course people have been saying that for 5+ years.

It reminds me of all the years GMGM wasted never addressing the Caps defence. Just too damn afraid to pull the trigger. Then BAM! the franchise is turned around after spending 11 million on Niskanen and Orpik.
 
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For those overly concerned about the PP, they ranked the PPs in an article in The Athletic this morning. Washington was in the “Can’t Catch a Break” tier.

Washington Capitals​

Speaking of bad shooting luck, no one is underperforming to the degree that Washington has.

The Capitals have just three power-play goals this season on 38 opportunities for a lowly operating percentage of 7.9. That’s by far the lowest of the Alex Ovechkin era.

To the team’s credit, they should have more goals to show for their efforts. Washington’s a top-five team in expected goal generation on the advantage, even though its actual scoring rate is dead last. The Capitals’ expected actual goal differential of 9.9 is the worst in the league, too. Ovechkin makes up about three of those goals, before accounting for his shooting talent that tends to shine on the power play.
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It’s possible that the finishing talent, outside of Ovechkin, just isn’t there on that top unit. Maybe the Capitals need a refresh to add some sparks around their franchise forward to help him reach the scoring milestones he’s striving for.
Click to expand...
 
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Roshi said:
Cant really see a BO here. They would only save 2 mills in cap space for one year, and add a million of dead cap to next one. And as for real money, its ”only” 4 mills to go.

Considering they havent done it to anyone else lately and they are not desperate for cap, would be weird if they do it to one of their oldest core guys.

LTIR, maybe.
Click to expand...
It's a tough call on Oshie. Maybe he can play effectively as a third line player? He can't play in the top six any more, and he's too banged up to play on the fourth line. Unless he improves, he's not going to be better than a 2 million dollar replacement player next season. It'd be addition by subtraction with his contract being bought out.
 
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