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

[VaCaps Fan]

This team is in a transitional period, blowing it up for short term 2nd round playoff losses is no future.

 

[Stan Galiev]

In terms of Marner, I think he would excel away from the brutal Toronto media and won’t have to be a locker room leader here. We already have those. Mitch could just go out and do his thing.

I’d offer: 17th overall + CM24 + Jensen + Keumper for Mitch. Would definitely help them fill out their roster and I wouldn’t be surprised if Keumper bounces back next year for them.

 

[Marshall]

There's the unfortunate Pacioretty overage that also eats into things. IINM the Caps will have the third-most dead cap next season. Part will also be eaten up by eventual extensions to McMichael and Malenstyn. Then promoting Lapierre and Miro was factored in. So likely something in the area of between, say, $10.5-11M as-is. That's with 14 forwards and 7 defensemen already, though, so perhaps some offsetting subtractions but not necessarily significant ones. If Oshie hangs them up then it's a nice boost but, if not, definitely not a massive sum to work with if sheer space itself needs to do the heavy lifting.

Thanks for this, cleared up a question or two I had.

 

[Brian23]

I don’t believe I ever said I wanted him gone. Essentially I want him to wake the eff up. Sack up. And make this team better. That doesn’t happen with the meddling moves he’s made in the past. So either find it via the draft, trade or signing. For the 20th time the “we tried” excuse is old and bullshit. Max P and Edmundson aren’t “trying”. Be bold. Being conservative hasn’t worked.

 

[HTFN]

I don’t believe I ever said I wanted him gone. Essentially I want him to wake the eff up. Sack up. And make this team better. That doesn’t happen with the meddling moves he’s made in the past. So either find it via the draft, trade or signing. For the 20th time the “we tried” excuse is old and bullshit. Max P and Edmundson aren’t “trying”. Be bold. Being conservative hasn’t worked.

Do you need it spelled out for you that those moves come on the heels of the "trying" part, and aren't the "trying" itself?

After trying for something better, GMBM made those moves as short investments.

What is wrong with you? It's possible to attempt both, he's literally doing it. Do you want him to pay through the nose just to have a flashy headline acquisition to be happy with? Did you not read the whole Vancouver thing back to yourself?

In terms of Marner, I think he would excel away from the brutal Toronto media and won’t have to be a locker room leader here. We already have those. Mitch could just go out and do his thing.

I’d offer: 17th overall + CM24 + Jensen + Keumper for Mitch. Would definitely help them fill out their roster and I wouldn’t be surprised if Keumper bounces back next year for them.

That's a big no from me.

Marner doesn't strike me as a "I hate the media" type with the way he flashes about. I think he wants that, he just wants to be the star. His father only underscores my worry, and I think taking him on in a role where he thinks he is that is the closest we'll be to the return of Jagr when it doesn't come easy.

Dropping those parts with no replacement plan is just icing on the cake.

 

[Random schmoe]

Just ignore it and ask your personal assistant (Alexa, Siri, Google, etc) to set you a reminder to check back in after certain people's temper tantrum subsides.

I'll probably just do this. I keep checking in, reading other threads, seeing this one unread - forgetting WHY it's unread - clicking on it, rolling my eyes, and moving on.

 

[Kalopsia]

Yeah there are good moves too. I don't know if he should be fired or not. But let's not pretend a dude whose team hasn't been competitive in years is one of the best in the biz.

Genuinely curious who you'd rate as solidly above MacLellan, especially since you always talk about how dumb most NHL GMs are. As I said in a previous comment that wasn't answered, I'll spot you Kelly McCrimmon, Jim Nill, Bill Zito, and Don Waddle. I think most of the other guys have major warts. (edit - putting this in a quote so it's minimized)

• Don Sweeney's had a bit more draft success than MacLellan, but he inherited a much more complete team than MacLellan did, never got them over the hump, and has mortgaged their future to the point that they can no longer improve.
• Kevyn Adams' Sabres are still floundering and have yet to make the playoffs
• Joe Sakic's gotten similar to slightly worse results with much more starting talent and a number of top picks, and his draft record beyond the top half of the first round makes MacLellan look like a genius. He's struggled with goaltending about as much as MacLellan has.
• Steve Yzerman hasn't been able to replicate his Tampa success in Detroit and like Sakic hasn't had any success in years with picks outside the top 10.
• Ken Holland had most of his success with pre-salary cap super teams in Detroit, and his drafting in Edmonton has been awful even when he's had top picks. Can't seem to find a goalie to save his life.
• Rob Blake's rebuilt Kings have yet to win a playoff series. The PLD trade was a massive mistake and he can't even use the one shot at a cheap buyout this June because that would mean admitting how badly he screwed up and he'd probably be fired.
• Bill Guerin's Wild haven't won a playoff series and mostly just seem to be treading water as they wait out the Suter and Parise buyout penalties.
• Doug Armstrong's had about the same level of success as MacLellan and also saw his team totally fall off after their Cup.
• Tom Fitzgerald took over a Devils team everyone thought was about to take the next step, and they did briefly... then took a step right back.
• Lou Lamoriello is a literal dinosaur.
• Kyle Dubas has now failed to build teams around two of the best centers of this millenium. For anyone who likes splashy moves and doesn't really care if they're good ideas or not, this is your guy.
• Ron Francis bungled his expansion draft compared to what McPhee managed, and that organization seems pretty much irrelevant and directionless right now.
• Julien BriseBois has run the Bolts into salary cap hell and mortgaged their entire future to the point that there's really no avenue to improve. Assuming that like MacLellan he's given 0 credit for draft picks made while he was just the AGM, his draft record is abysmal, considerably worse than MacLellan's.
• Brad Treliving seems like exactly the kind of old-fashioned GM you'd hate. He sucked in Calgary and I don't know how he got the job in Toronto.
• Jim Rutherford is another dinosaur. Lots of success in the past, but he destroyed that Penguins team trying to chase another Cup. His draft record in Pittsburgh was atrocious, his best pick across 7 drafts was Daniel Sprong. His entire 2017 draft never made a signle NHL game, which is almost impressive.
• Kevin Cheveldayoff's resume over 13 years on the job is pretty uninspiring, but it's honestly kinda hard to evaluate him because you know his options are limited in free agency and players aren't waiving their NTCs to go to Winnipeg. Had some year success with the draft, but his record with non-1st round picks since MacLellan started is easily worse.

Unless I'm forgetting some other President of Hockey Operations guys, I think that's everyone active with at least 4 years in charge somehwere. There's a few guys I think are around the same tier as MacLellan right now, but I don't think anyone besides the four I mentioned above are clearly better.

 

[hockeykicker]

 

[Jags]

So let me get this straight. A GM shouldn’t but judged by his failures because “he can’t see that coming” but I should lol? That’s a hell of a take.

He should absolutely be judged by his failures. But again, a LOT of what you've been pointing to takes the benefit of hindsight to be seen as failures. If you think it's a good move and we generally agree and the hockey press agrees, that's a good decision based on the info available at the time. When it doesn't work out years later, that's just the way it worked out. C'est la vie.

I bet we agree on the actual failures, but you cast a wide net with yours, including lotsa things that just plain aren't.

And I'm not saying you should be blamed for anything. He pointed out your past statements because they contradict what you're saying now almost entirely. You want to look backwards and beat the shit out of MacLellan. Looking back at your own actions makes you shrug though. You get a pass. That's hypocritical, and "Well he gets paid and I don't!" is an eyeroller at best.

What Talent! Do you think there's just some magic wand they can wave to create these guys out of thin air?

Great post. But yeah, Mac does have that dumpster dive wand. I'm not sure any other GM over his tenure has come close to the number of gems he's found, including some really crucial ones. Being cap-strapped sucks, but no one bargain hunts like BMac, and that's a good trait to have when you're not a destination city/club.

Does one headliner sort all that out? Probably not but I'll take the ambition the idea vs. another uninspired off-season of moneyball reclamations.

Me too. That's my preference as well. What I meant by tempering your expectations is that we're pretty much back to pre-Ovi conditions here in DC. We don't have oodles of trade assets to add via trade. Other teams do, so we can get outbid for the big stuff regardless of who our GM is. And while we do have some space in free agency, the club and the city are not all that attractive to free agents. It's not as bad as it used to be, but most big FAs are looking to compete, and we're a couple years at least from doing that. And the rest want a fun city or tax breaks, and we don't have any of that going on unless they like history museums, high taxes, middling weather, and traffic.

They probably could withstand moving the 17th pick and Cristall or something like that for a top-line forward if that's all it takes.

Right, and I'd be all for that. But if that trade target is someone every team considers a "top-line forward" then lotsa teams can beat that package. Awesome if we can make it happen, and Mac has been pretty solid in the trade department over the years, but I wouldn't hold your breath. I hope I'm wrong, but the overall offseason landscape feels like if we do manage to make a big splash, it's either going to be a contract or trade package that'll make most of us wince.

And I'm not necessarily opposed to that, but it better be the right guy cuz we can't afford to get it wrong.

I literally just told you what and who I’d go for. While all of you would rather rest on GMBM drafting the next superstar which he has yet to show he can do.

Yes, you're willing to give $12mil for a 29-year-old who'll want (and likely get) a contract that's max everything. And you call that "sacking up" and "taking a chance." The guy had an amazing year, no question. And he might be a star. Or he might be riding coattails in a big way. He'd have to continue being at least a 40-goal guy to be worth it, on a team that might not be able to leverage that from him.

And we've got a rebuild ahead of us with or without him. At least a couple years away from being able to really compete, and that's if everything goes right. Do you want to be paying a 32-year-old $12 million a year at the beginning of that new era?

Again, this is your "I don't care how" gene kicking in. That's a short-sighted acquisition, and also an unlikely one. We're not likely to curtail Ovi's quest for 895 regardless of what our other ambitions are. That means Reinhart would have to agree to join a one-dimensional power play that's basically become "4 on 4 unless they mess up and leave Ovi open."

We wouldn't likely be anywhere near the top of his list of teams to join, and that's on top of him publicly wanting to stay put in the tropical, tax-free, party city that happens to also be a serious contender...

THAT is what Mac means when he says he tries, by the way. That's the hill he has to climb to get marquee guys to come here. Not an easy needle to thread, even if you have shrewd talent and give maximum effort.

If Hershey is any indication, we are fine…

Hershey is more a well-built AHL club than a team buoyed by our NHL-bound prospects. Great to see Miro lighting it up lately, but they're anchored by a sturdy AHL roster of guys with very little in the way of realistic NHL ambitions.

For the 20th time the “we tried” excuse is old and bullshit. Max P and Edmundson aren’t “trying”. Be bold. Being conservative hasn’t worked.

There's nothing conservative about spending to the edge of the cap every year. You want more sexy moves; to beat out 31 other teams for the most coveted guys (roughly half of whom falter in their new situations regardless).

We clearly have a GM who prefers to build more methodically. His moves and contracts are responsible, with escape hatches built in. He's just now finally getting to a point where he can really start to mold the team away from what it's been since he got the job. You're champing at the bit for the splashy moves that really haven't been an option for us until right now.

And even so, we only likely have the ammo for one, and it's almost definitely not going to make that much of a difference immediately regardless of who it is. This next chapter is gonna take a while. We're still in the prologue phase right now, overlapping with the epilogue from the last one.

So if naysaying is going to be your thing, you'd better strap in...

 

[Misery74]

In terms of Marner, I think he would excel away from the brutal Toronto media and won’t have to be a locker room leader here. We already have those. Mitch could just go out and do his thing.

I’d offer: 17th overall + CM24 + Jensen + Keumper for Mitch. Would definitely help them fill out their roster and I wouldn’t be surprised if Keumper bounces back next year for them.

This would be a terrible idea. First of all, the Leafs don’t want our garbage.

Second off all, Marner needs an extension. How much is he going to want? $80m?

We are still in the building phase. The team that signs Marner regrets it the very next day.

 

[Todd Lazarchick]

My first post was about him not being a top 3 or 5 or even 10 GM.

 

[twabby]

Genuinely curious who you'd rate as solidly above MacLellan, especially since you always talk about how dumb most NHL GMs are.

McCrimmon, Sakic/MacFarland, Nill, Zito, Briesbois, Waddell stick out as clearly better. MacLellan is certainly better than many, but he's a mushy middle guy to me.

But yeah I'm better than most, and also I'd do the job for a mere three quarters of a million dollars per annum.

 

[Todd Lazarchick]

He should absolutely be judged by his failures. But again, a LOT of what you've been pointing to takes the benefit of hindsight to be seen as failures. If you think it's a good move and we generally agree and the hockey press agrees, that's a good decision based on the info available at the time. When it doesn't work out years later, that's just the way it worked out. C'est la vie.

I bet we agree on the actual failures, but you cast a wide net with yours, including lotsa things that just plain aren't.

And I'm not saying you should be blamed for anything. He pointed out your past statements because they contradict what you're saying now almost entirely. You want to look backwards and beat the shit out of MacLellan. Looking back at your own actions makes you shrug though. You get a pass. That's hypocritical, and "Well he gets paid and I don't!" is an eyeroller at best.



Great post. But yeah, Mac does have that dumpster dive wand. I'm not sure any other GM over his tenure has come close to the number of gems he's found, including some really crucial ones. Being cap-strapped sucks, but no one bargain hunts like BMac, and that's a good trait to have when you're not a destination city/club.



Me too. That's my preference as well. What I meant by tempering your expectations is that we're pretty much back to pre-Ovi conditions here in DC. We don't have oodles of trade assets to add via trade. Other teams do, so we can get outbid for the big stuff regardless of who our GM is. And while we do have some space in free agency, the club and the city are not all that attractive to free agents. It's not as bad as it used to be, but most big FAs are looking to compete, and we're a couple years at least from doing that. And the rest want a fun city or tax breaks, and we don't have any of that going on unless they like history museums, high taxes, middling weather, and traffic.



Right, and I'd be all for that. But if that trade target is someone every team considers a "top-line forward" then lotsa teams can beat that package. Awesome if we can make it happen, and Mac has been pretty solid in the trade department over the years, but I wouldn't hold your breath. I hope I'm wrong, but the overall offseason landscape feels like if we do manage to make a big splash, it's either going to be a contract or trade package that'll make most of us wince.

And I'm not necessarily opposed to that, but it better be the right guy cuz we can't afford to get it wrong.



Yes, you're willing to give $12mil for a 29-year-old who'll want (and likely get) a contract that's max everything. And you call that "sacking up" and "taking a chance." The guy had an amazing year, no question. And he might be a star. Or he might be riding coattails in a big way. He'd have to continue being at least a 40-goal guy to be worth it, on a team that might not be able to leverage that from him.

And we've got a rebuild ahead of us with or without him. At least a couple years away from being able to really compete, and that's if everything goes right. Do you want to be paying a 32-year-old $12 million a year at the beginning of that new era?

Again, this is your "I don't care how" gene kicking in. That's a short-sighted acquisition, and also an unlikely one. We're not likely to curtail Ovi's quest for 895 regardless of what our other ambitions are. That means Reinhart would have to agree to join a one-dimensional power play that's basically become "4 on 4 unless they mess up and leave Ovi open."

We wouldn't likely be anywhere near the top of his list of teams to join, and that's on top of him publicly wanting to stay put in the tropical, tax-free, party city that happens to also be a serious contender...

THAT is what Mac means when he says he tries, by the way. That's the hill he has to climb to get marquee guys to come here. Not an easy needle to thread, even if you have shrewd talent and give maximum effort.



Hershey is more a well-built AHL club than a team buoyed by our NHL-bound prospects. Great to see Miro lighting it up lately, but they're anchored by a sturdy AHL roster of guys with very little in the way of realistic NHL ambitions.



There's nothing conservative about spending to the edge of the cap every year. You want more sexy moves; to beat out 31 other teams for the most coveted guys (roughly half of whom falter in their new situations regardless).

We clearly have a GM who prefers to build more methodically. His moves and contracts are responsible, with escape hatches built in. He's just now finally getting to a point where he can really start to mold the team away from what it's been since he got the job. You're champing at the bit for the splashy moves that really haven't been an option for us until right now.

And even so, we only likely have the ammo for one, and it's almost definitely not going to make that much of a difference immediately regardless of who it is. This next chapter is gonna take a while. We're still in the prologue phase right now, overlapping with the epilogue from the last one.

So if naysaying is going to be your thing, you'd better strap in...

But when does “trying” become not enough? They trotted out the same freaking team with exceptions of Patches and Edmundson. They were atrocious on offense. Historically bad. My point is there is going to come a point where you can no longer try. You have to do. He’s “tried” for the last two years and don’t see that changing this year either. To my recollection there hasn’t been a trade he’s made (other than to get out his own mess he made) where he had to pony up to get a legit addition of this team. You bring up the point of a trade that’ll make us cringe when compensation is announced then follow with he better be right. That’s exactly my point. His job is to be right. So yeah maybe it’ll sting seeing the trade package but the benefits should be a better team overall.

 

[Ovechkins Wodka]

Since we are talking about GMBM good and bad moves. Shattenkirk was another big fumble with no real part of the team with JC74 on PP1 and pushed out Nate Schimdt when he was still on steroids and was a beast.

Curtis Glencross was beyond bad for a 2nd and a 3rd.

He played like 10 games for us and was out of the league same with Kovey

and Kovey right after being on waivers for a 3rd

 

[DWGie26]

OMG… this thread! I disappear during the day. come in to 5 pages of anarchy.

I’ll have to read when in different state. Having too much fun to dive in.

for now… go bears. On MSN or AHLTV. We have some talent in the pipeline! And an AHL team that can go back-to-back!

 

[pman25]

We don’t even have this type of robust discussion when there are actual games happening

You all need to get back to work and stop posting so much!

 

[Jags]

They trotted out the same freaking team with exceptions of Patches and Edmundson.

With no cap to do anything but. He used the space he had to add what he could, banking on hopeful upsides. And the budget acquisitions (and ripening draft picks) over the last couple years are contributing mightily to the modest success we've had in the meantime, due in no small part to the very strong coaching choice he made.

We're in a piecemeal transition period marked by tons of money tied up in players at the ends of their careers, the beginnings of some careers that are just starting to bear fruit, and managing a brutal, league-wide cap situation. That the team he's cobbled together in the interim was even in the playoff conversation is pretty insane.

There's certainly been missteps along the way, but he's pretty clearly making the most of the largely inevitable situation we're in. It's just not happening fast enough for you.

You bring up the point of a trade that’ll make us cringe when compensation is announced then follow with he better be right. That’s exactly my point. His job is to be right.

Obviously. But you're bitching about something that hasn't happened yet. Again, he's just now arriving at the place where he has the cap room to do something even remotely like what you've been suggesting. Look at the pieces he'd have had to move here over the last couple years to create the cap space to add the type of players you want. NO ONE wants those players, especially not at their current contract values.

It's folly to complain that he didn't do the impossible. The only way it'd be a defensible argument is if he created that situation. He didn't. The flat cap, Backstrom, Kuznetsov, and a declining Oshie are the biggest factors in our financial struggles. He was powerless to do much of anything about any of those things as they emerged. There's a couple other (far smaller) things that DO have his name on them, sure. And there's been a couple moves and non-moves I didn't like either. But those are whispers compared to the screams of the larger issues that aren't on him.

So yeah maybe it’ll sting seeing the trade package but the benefits should be a better team overall.

And here we finally agree. The right trade or right FA signing would absolutely be worth a bunch of "I hope this works out" type of worries. Saying that we can't afford to miss on a shot like that is just true. But I'm not going to give him shit before he's even stepped up to the plate.

And I disagree that Reinhart's even remotely the move to make, so we're pretty far apart on what that shot should look like given the situation we're in.

 

[Langway]

McCrimmon, Sakic/MacFarland, Nill, Zito, Briesbois, Waddell stick out as clearly better. MacLellan is certainly better than many, but he's a mushy middle guy to me.

But yeah I'm better than most, and also I'd do the job for a mere three quarters of a million dollars per annum.

Not sure I'd rate Brisebois that highly lately. The rest? Yeah, probably. Maybe also Sweeney in Boston in terms of consistent results. That's a pretty short list nonetheless, though, which goes to show how many mediocre GMs there are. The legit good ones seem to be about 1 in 4 so...MacLellan is pretty safe for now. When his time comes it'll be just as much about his staff and their overall process as him.

 

[usiel]

I fundamentally disagree with people comparing the lost years of McPhee and MacLellan. McPhee’s lost years were almost entirely self-inflicted. They panicked after Halak and moved away from what worked to try and become a trapping team. He was either incapable of or unwilling to find a competent 2C and a partner for MG52. He said they didn’t need a new 2C because Brooks Laich was their Mike Richards. The defense was paper thin and lacked depth. He cheaped out on Zdeno Chara in 2006 and paid Brian Pothier instead.

If I were truly to hindsight 20/20 it would have been to have signed Chara and then traded for Federov soon there after or at least a few years earlier than they eventually did. But for some reason my gut tells me if they had landed Chara they would have had a greater chance of winning another SC.

 

[Ridley Simon]

We could spend the money on a guy who is in his prime who has done it vs a handful of middle six kids turning into a hundred point player? I mean if your plan is not taking risks then let’s just sign the GMBM special of aging middle six wingers off of injury an a busted 3D and run it back. Surely that’s the solution we haven’t tried before?

GMBM did take risks, come on dude. Stop with this one sided shit.

Signing Orpik was not exactly promoted as “genius” when it happened.

The trade for Oshie was welcomed by Blues fan. They were happy to be rid of him.

He rode the team in 18 (vets and Trotz) when it could have been super easy to fire BT or make a shake up trade. He didn’t. They won it all.

But I’m sure that’s lucky, right?

JFC. At least be intellectually honest here

 

[Roshi]

I literally just told you what and who I’d go for. While all of you would rather rest on GMBM drafting the next superstar which he has yet to show he can do. But sure we can give him 10 more years while you max excuses like him every offseason.

Hypothetically… if BM signs Reinhart for 11,5/7y and Reinhart immediately goes back to 35 goals guy. And regresses more berween years 3-7.

Are you still approving the signing and give BM kudos for taking the risk, or wash your hands and call out BM for the disastrous signing that handcuffed us for seven years?

Thats sort of what is happening here with a lot of moves he has made.

 

[Kuz]

If I were truly to hindsight 20/20 it would have been to have signed Chara and then traded for Federov soon there after or at least a few years earlier than they eventually did. But for some reason my gut tells me if they had landed Chara they would have had a greater chance of winning another SC.

Werent Caps said to have been very close to Pronger when Flyers got him aswell. Pronger played almost 30 min pr game for Flyers in the playoffs that year and dragged them to the final where they lost to Chicago.

That was the offensive Caps team in 09/10 and with a guy like Pronger they could have gone all the way. Or halak might have carried Montreal anyway. Could have given prime Ovi a cup.

 

[Todd Lazarchick]

Hypothetically… if BM signs Reinhart for 11,5/7y and Reinhart immediately goes back to 35 goals guy. And regresses more berween years 3-7.

Are you still approving the signing and give BM kudos for taking the risk, or wash your hands and call out BM for the disastrous signing that handcuffed us for seven years?

Thats sort of what is happening here with a lot of moves he has made.

Of course no one would be happy. But I could stomach the balls to go for a big move vs the fear of him regressing and continuing to make meddling moves.

 

[Brian23]

Of course no one would be happy. But I could stomach the balls to go for a big move vs the fear of him regressing and continuing to make meddling moves.

Since we are talking about GMBM good and bad moves. Shattenkirk was another big fumble with no real part of the team with JC74 on PP1 and pushed out Nate Schimdt when he was still on steroids and was a beast.

Again, process wise that was something worth the move though. Shattenkirk still put up 14 points in 19 games here while John Carlson was not the John Carlson we think of in the modern day. He had 37 points total that year and was having lots of issues running the power play with Mike Green no longer carrying the point on PP1.

As for Schmidt, that wasn't on the Shattenkirk acquisition. That was entirely because Trotz refused to play Schmidt over the dried husk that was Alzner . Schmidt and Shattenkirk had actually been good together. GMBM can't force people into the lineup, like we learned last year with Lavi.

For reference, the lines were
Orlov - Niskanen
Orpik - Carlson
Schmidt/Alzner - Shattenkirk

 

[hb12xchamps]

Werent Caps said to have been very close to Pronger when Flyers got him aswell. Pronger played almost 30 min pr game for Flyers in the playoffs that year and dragged them to the final where they lost to Chicago.

That was the offensive Caps team in 09/10 and with a guy like Pronger they could have gone all the way. Or halak might have carried Montreal anyway. Could have given prime Ovi a cup.

I believe the ask at the time was a 1st + Varlamov + one of Alzner/Carlson IIRC.

Again, process wise that was something worth the move though. Shattenkirk still put up 14 points in 19 games here while John Carlson was not the John Carlson we think of in the modern day. He had 37 points total that year and was having lots of issues running the power play with Mike Green no longer carrying the point on PP1.

As for Schmidt, that wasn't on the Shattenkirk acquisition. That was entirely because Trotz refused to play Schmidt over the dried husk that was Alzner . Schmidt and Shattenkirk had actually been good together. GMBM can't force people into the lineup, like we learned last year with Lavi.

For reference, the lines were
Orlov - Niskanen
Orpik - Carlson
Schmidt/Alzner - Shattenkirk

Shatty didn’t get us over the hump and there was a sense of some overpayment but the rhetoric at the time was the Caps and GMBM only trade for shitty depth players (Glencross yuck) and never swing for the fences. He swung for the fences and it just didn’t work. I remember Shatty saying how demoralizing the room was in the playoffs that year too. Said he never experienced anything like it.