Speculation: Caps Roster General Discussion (Coaching/FAs/Cap/Lines etc) - 2023 Off-season

[Brian23]

Suddenly? I've had concerns about GMBM for a long time. He has been a mixed bag. I have actually commended him for not making any big moves this offseason for the sake of making moves. I just find it rather odd that he gets promoted when the franchise has not won a playoff series since 2018. Winning in the playoffs is the ultimate goa,l yes? Im not calling for him to be fired. But a promotion?

I would argue it's not entirely a promotion. The COC is basically the exact same, the only person who really got a promotion was Chris Patrick (From Assistant to Associate, assuming he's over the assistant GM's now).

As for their playoff success, not winning a series is a blackmark but I honestly can't think of a single one of those where the roster makeup was the major issue. You could maybe argue the goalie situation the two years prior, but they both had a prospect that needed graduating and tried to fill that hole with The King. It just blew up in their face.

Not winning a series is as much on the Coaches and Players more so then the GM in this case, imo. Those teams should have won games. Hell, he should have *more* playoff wins. He's created some truly monstrous teams on paper that just could not get it done.

 

[Ovie's Neighbor]

Looking at his past 5 years what has he done that makes him deserve a promotion?

 

[g00n]

 

[CapitalsCupReality]

Looking at his past 5 years what has he done that makes him deserve a promotion?

His teams have won the tied-9th most games?

 

[pman25]

So backstrom on the ice in DC for informal skates. Any word on what he looks like out there?

Time to see the results for the Summer of Rehab

I hope it worked

 

[twabby]

I think MacLellan’s biggest blunders have been the coaches and drafting.

I’d be interested to know exactly how much input he had on Rierden or if that was a decision from ownership. He didn’t hire Trotz so he’s been 0 for 2 in hiring coaches to date. Carbery certainly seems like a good hire but it’s way too early to tell. If he flops too then it’ll be hard for me to have any faith in MacLellan selecting the next coach and managing the team going forward.

This year’s draft was certainly highlighted by the Cristall pick in the second round, but other than that selection it’s difficult for me to consider any picks great. DeBrincat was on the board and they selected Johansen. Aho was on the board and they selected Samsonov. Alexeyev, McMichael, and Lapierre are all trending toward borderline NHLers right now instead of legitimate NHL regulars.

 

[Brian23]

Looking at his past 5 years what has he done that makes him deserve a promotion?

What an oddly arbitrary cutoff, almost like we want to ignore the biggest accomplishment of any GM in Capital's history.

But that's fine. He put teams together that finished 1st, 1st, 2nd, 4th, and 6th in that time span (that 4th placed team also were *dominating* in their first round loss, but their net minders let them down). He's won 204 of 371 possible games, a 55% winning record.

Seems everyone's got up in arms because he punted on last year, something that not man GM's have the gumption too do. The 4 previous years the teams he put together were not the issue, it was on players (goalies not stepping up) or coaches.

 

[Calicaps]

I think MacLellan’s biggest blunders have been the coaches and drafting.

I’d be interested to know exactly how much input he had on Rierden or if that was a decision from ownership. He didn’t hire Trotz so he’s been 0 for 2 in hiring coaches to date. Carbery certainly seems like a good hire but it’s way too early to tell. If he flops too then it’ll be hard for me to have any faith in MacLellan selecting the next coach and managing the team going forward.

This year’s draft was certainly highlighted by the Cristall pick in the second round, but other than that selection it’s difficult for me to consider any picks great. DeBrincat was on the board and they selected Johansen. Aho was on the board and they selected Samsonov. Alexeyev, McMichael, and Lapierre are all trending toward borderline NHLers right now instead of legitimate NHL regulars.

 

[Brian23]

DeBrincat was on the board and they selected Johansen. Aho was on the board and they selected Samsonov. Alexeyev, McMichael, and Lapierre are all trending toward borderline NHLers right now instead of legitimate NHL regulars.

This is a really ridiculous way to look at drafting. Simply using hindsight to justify draftpicks is just plain dumb. You have to judge the process, and while I personally wasn't a fan of the process to target Lujo, Samsonov was the premier goalie prospect. It's also odd you use it do doo doo on AA and McMichael when we just spent all regular season talking about the mismanagement of them by the last coaching staff.

Or, in reality land. What GM isn't getting an extension with numbers like this...?



Team had one awful year and suddenly all the pitch forks are out.

I also forgot to add, this is the Top 11 winning percents by GM in NHL history. Maybe the guy is atually pretty good.

 

[AlexModvechkin8]

Very happy with the extension.

 

[Hivemind]

I also forgot to add, this is the Top 11 winning percents by GM in NHL history. Maybe the guy is atually pretty good.

One of the guys in front of him on that list just got fired.

All that list is really showing is GMs who have been hired into teams that were already competing and haven't experienced a rebuild phase. GMBM is laudable for being one of the guys to succeed in getting his team over the hump, but let's not get carried away here. His career winning% is high because he inherited a team with Ovechkin, Backstrom, Carlson, Kuznetsov, etc. already in place, without any particularly bad anchor contracts or NMC/NTC to deal with, and he got to immediately jump into a playoff-worthy team and trying to make it over the hump. Don't get me wrong, other GMs have screwed up similar situations before, so I'm not saying it's easy. But he hasn't had to deal with a rebuilding period that would drag down his overall win rate. That's looming ahead (or perhaps has just started).

 

[twabby]

This is a really ridiculous way to look at drafting. Simply using hindsight to justify draftpicks is just plain dumb. You have to judge the process, and while I personally wasn't a fan of the process to target Lujo, Samsonov was the premier goalie prospect. It's also odd you use it do doo doo on AA and McMichael when we just spent all regular season talking about the mismanagement of them by the last coaching staff.

DeBrincat was lauded by everyone and the only thing that knocked him to the second round instead of the first half of the first round was his size. No hindsight needed to explain that blunder. Just scouts focusing on the wrong things (shockingly).

Similarly Sebastian Aho was the 8th ranked prospect according to NHLe and instead they whiffed on their selection. Maybe Samsonov was the premier goalie prospect but again this was based solely on the eye test and scouts. Maybe the scouting consensus was just wrong (again).

AA and McMichael might turn into something good but right now it's hard to say either of those picks were good ones. If after this year one or both of them develop into something good then I'll be more than happy to revisit my opinion!

 

[CapitalsCupReality]

I think MacLellan’s biggest blunders have been the coaches and drafting.

I’d be interested to know exactly how much input he had on Rierden or if that was a decision from ownership. He didn’t hire Trotz so he’s been 0 for 2 in hiring coaches to date. Carbery certainly seems like a good hire but it’s way too early to tell. If he flops too then it’ll be hard for me to have any faith in MacLellan selecting the next coach and managing the team going forward.

This year’s draft was certainly highlighted by the Cristall pick in the second round, but other than that selection it’s difficult for me to consider any picks great. DeBrincat was on the board and they selected Johansen. Aho was on the board and they selected Samsonov. Alexeyev, McMichael, and Lapierre are all trending toward borderline NHLers right now instead of legitimate NHL regulars.

Interestingly enough, both areas he relies HEAVILY on input if not outright from approval from others (Leonsis/Patrick on hiring, and Mahoney on drafting).

 

[JayBeagleFanAccount]

lmfao people happy with gmbm being promoted will be happy with this team staying stuck in the past and shit forever, enjoy having a dinosaur continue to run this org into the ground

 

[twabby]

Interestingly enough, both areas he relies HEAVILY on input if not outright from approval from others (Leonsis/Patrick on hiring, and Mahoney on drafting).

The coaching is one thing. I won't blame him if he truly doesn't have the ability to pick his own coach due to ownership.

But I highly doubt he doesn't have the final say on drafting/development. Those areas have sorely been lacking since McPhee left and MacLellan needs to get better results.

I'm not against the promotion but he certainly needs to have better results in those two areas to make me believe he's the right guy going forward.

 

[CapitalsCupReality]

The coaching is one thing. I won't blame him if he truly doesn't have the ability to pick his own coach due to ownership.

But I highly doubt he doesn't have the final say on drafting/development. Those areas have sorely been lacking since McPhee left and MacLellan needs to get better results.

I'm not against the promotion but he certainly needs to have better results in those two areas to make me believe he's the right guy going forward.

You have an entire department devoted to scouting/drafting/development…..it’s an organizational decision NOT one persons. Ultimately that fell on Patrick, now the buck stops with P&GMBM.

 

[CapitalsCupReality]

DeBrincat was lauded by everyone and the only thing that knocked him to the second round instead of the first half of the first round was his size. No hindsight needed to explain that blunder. Just scouts focusing on the wrong things (shockingly).

Similarly Sebastian Aho was the 8th ranked prospect according to NHLe and instead they whiffed on their selection. Maybe Samsonov was the premier goalie prospect but again this was based solely on the eye test and scouts. Maybe the scouting consensus was just wrong (again).

AA and McMichael might turn into something good but right now it's hard to say either of those picks were good ones. If after this year one or both of them develop into something good then I'll be more than happy to revisit my opinion!

there’s no way you have the inside info on why each franchise passed on him….clearly they took Sammy based on need and pedigree at the time.

NHLe predicted he would derail his career with an ATV accident and other poor off-ice decisions?

 

[twabby]

NHLe predicted he would derail his career with an ATV and other poor off-ice decisions?

Perhaps the scouts should have done a better job assessing his maturity level then? All I see is a bust when then could have had a star player if they simply told their amateur scouts to go play The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt all spring.

 

[g00n]

HF Caps rn

 

[CapitalsCupReality]

Perhaps the scouts should have done a better job assessing his maturity level then? All I see is a bust when then could have had a star player if they simply told their amateur scouts to go play The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt all spring.

Maybe they didn’t really love him, but the numbers told them otherwise?

 

[Ridley Simon]

Or, in reality land. What GM isn't getting an extension with numbers like this...?



Team had one awful year and suddenly all the pitch forks are out.

But but but butttttt

WHAT HAVE YOU DONE FOR ME LATELY!!!

FFS!!!!

Oh.

 

[Ridley Simon]

Suddenly? I've had concerns about GMBM for a long time. He has been a mixed bag. I have actually commended him for not making any big moves this offseason for the sake of making moves. I just find it rather odd that he gets promoted when the franchise has not won a playoff series since 2018. Winning in the playoffs is the ultimate goa,l yes? Im not calling for him to be fired. But a promotion?

In the last 30 years — only 16 GM’s have won Cups. 16.

7 have multiple, and 9 have singles.

I don’t know how many GM’s the league has seen the last 30yrs, but I’d wager it’s at least 100? Each team has has 2-5 or so?

16 outta 100+ means it’s not easy to do. Let’s keep ours, who has done it?

 

[HTFN]

Perhaps the scouts should have done a better job assessing his maturity level then? All I see is a bust when then could have had a star player if they simply told their amateur scouts to go play The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt all spring.

You're railing against scouts so hard you think it's a "gotcha" that they couldn't instantly figure out an 18 year old's future, but I'd love to hear how the computer is going to do better trying to measure intangibles.

How does an absence of scouts make things better when the thing you just said is that the scouts should have done more?

 

[hb13xchamps]

I’ve been enjoying my summer and haven’t been around for a few weeks. Im guessing NHLe is the analytic of the week? I thought it was a typo until I saw it in a few posts lol

 

[Ridley Simon]

This is a really ridiculous way to look at drafting. Simply using hindsight to justify draftpicks is just plain dumb. You have to judge the process, and while I personally wasn't a fan of the process to target Lujo, Samsonov was the premier goalie prospect. It's also odd you use it do doo doo on AA and McMichael when we just spent all regular season talking about the mismanagement of them by the last coaching staff.


I also forgot to add, this is the Top 11 winning percents by GM in NHL history. Maybe the guy is atually pretty good.

View attachment 739390

He’s no Stan Smyl!

In all seriousness, he’s one of 3 GM’s to ever have guides a team for at least 600 games and to an over .640 winning percentage.

Sure, we can do a LOT better, shouldn’t be hard to find a far more competent GM? 2 other guys are ahead of him? Let’s hire them?