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

[DWGie26]

Regardless of trade options they can't have those guys on the ice if they are as ineffective as they were last year. I realize MacLellan said what he said about Backstrom but will he be willing to reach the logical endpoint and scratch him if it comes to it? That is a decision that pretty much ends Backstrom's career even if he's pain-free. It's not an easy decision but it might be one that needs to be made for the team to move forward.

The decision on Kuznetsov should be easier because it'll come down to his level of commitment rather than his pure ability level. If he shows he cares then he plays.

Either way that's a lot of responsibility for a rookie HC and he'll need the public backing of management to make these calls.

Still going to put best players on the ice. They may be playing below their contract value but Kuzy did lead us in assists last year. He could easily rebound and give us contract value or higher. No chance Backstrom does that. If we get $6M from him consider it a win.

Speaking of Kuzy… this is exactly why I prefer Leondard over Michkev. He could be great or he could be Kuzy or Semen or many other Russians who have focus / drive issues.

 

[YippieKaey]

If Bäckström can skate, he can probably effective for a long time given the cerebral nature of his game. That would solve a lot of problems.

 

[g00n]

"Getting used to the new system" is likely to delay any benchings, at least from our perspective.

Unless there are malcontents who just won't put out like the rest of the team, and you'd have to be a pretty stupid Kuzy to pull that kind of shit this year.

 

[Holtbyisms]

He lost his line-up spot to 17-year old Ivan Demidov, not some vet that's played 10+ years already.

Let's talk in a few years. Holy overreaction to 4 games Batman.

 

[CapitalsCupReality]

Let's talk in a few years. Holy overreaction to 4 games Batman.

I’m missing the overreaction…..you suggested he was being taught a lesson on a good team loaded with vets, and someone else simply pointed out he was replaced by another youngster.

Other than that, he‘s a Flyer prospect…..so F him…..hope he has a long and very successful (KHL) career, but we don’t need to wash his balls here.

 

[SecretaryofDefense5]

I know they wanted to do more but you could sum up this off-season and season with, “Save us Spencer Carbery, you’re our only hope.”

 

[trick9]

Let's talk in a few years. Holy overreaction to 4 games Batman.

Great argument when debating prospects, let's talk in few years. Let's not.

What overreaction? I said he's a great prospect but i'm happy that isn't our headache. Then you made it sound like he got buried behind vets in which i pointed out that isn't the case. He lost his spot to an even younger player.

If you don't think that is an headache for the Flyers, well, great. I would be worried given a loan move seems to be out of question after his father passed away, he can't crack their line-up right now and he does have 3 years left on his contract. Given how crappy relationship KHL has with the Flyers right now i don't think contract termination is very likely either.

 

[CapitalsCupReality]

Great argument when debating prospects, let's talk in few years. Let's not.

What overreaction? I said he's a great prospect but i'm happy that isn't our headache. Then you made it sound like he got buried behind vets in which i pointed out that isn't the case. He lost his spot to an even younger player.

If you don't think that is an headache for the Flyers, well, great. I would be worried given a loan move seems to be out of question after his father passed away, he can't crack their line-up right now and he does have 3 years left on his contract. Given how crappy relationship KHL has with the Flyers right now i don't think contract termination is very likely either.

I hadn‘t heard anything about his dad…..found this….crazy.

Rumour: Matvei Michkov’s father’s death is linked to his son’s NHL career

A reporter dropped a bomb this morning when it comes to the mysterious death of Matvei Michkov’s dad…

www.hockeyfeed.com

“Obviously, getting stories confirmed when it comes from Russia, you will understand that it is difficult. But it seems that his father was trying to have the contract invalidated and get Matvei sent to North America quickly. That’s why this story is going to be a bit ‘touchy’ because we don’t know if the young man is going to be forced to respect the contract he apparently signed because nobody can say clearly if he really signed this contract and if the length is 2 years, 3 years, 4 years that is on this contract.”​

Back in April, disturbing news out of Russia emerged that the father of top 2023 NHL Draft prospect Matvei Michkov was found dead at age 51. The report got even more troubling when it was mentioned that Andrei Michkov had been missing since April 2 only to be found in a pond near Sochi. Matvei’s dad had reportedly left his home Sunday night, saying he’d be right back, but never returned. The young prospect said that about 20 minutes after his father left, he received a strange phone call from an individual, who sounded out of range of the device.

 

[g00n]

Possibly extortion attempt gone wrong

 

[McVechkin]

Im surprised we haven’t heard much from the informal skates. Aren’t most players here? Is ovie fat? Nicky ditch the walker?

 

[Holtbyisms]

Great argument when debating prospects, let's talk in few years. Let's not.

What overreaction? I said he's a great prospect but i'm happy that isn't our headache. Then you made it sound like he got buried behind vets in which i pointed out that isn't the case. He lost his spot to an even younger player.

If you don't think that is an headache for the Flyers, well, great. I would be worried given a loan move seems to be out of question after his father passed away, he can't crack their line-up right now and he does have 3 years left on his contract. Given how crappy relationship KHL has with the Flyers right now i don't think contract termination is very likely either.

 

[crazy8888]

Im surprised we haven’t heard much from the informal skates. Aren’t most players here? Is ovie fat? Nicky ditch the walker?

No news is good news. Fat Ovi would general at least 5 + threads on the main boards.

 

[Jags]

I'm not sure what a Chase Young emoji has to do with this discussion.

 

[Capitals40]

Michkov will turn into a star in the NHL when he gets there. His talent is undeniable...this glad we missed on him talk is wishful thinking. I'm perfectly happy with Leonard, I think he's another Oshie in the making but he'll never produce at the same level as Michkov. SKA is a good team, with lots of vets and they want to teach him that he has to earn his time. He was on loan to another KHL team last season and proved he can produce at that level already. This isn't his first 4 games in the KHL. In fact for his age he had the most productive KHL season ever last year. Stop wishing bad on the kid because he may or may not have had some rough interviews.

He just got put on loan to another KHL team..at least he will get to play.

 

[YippieKaey]

So is it generally decided that we're not getting any significant roster changes this year? Pretty disappointing if LTIoretty and Edmundson(who i like but still) is all we get. No playoffs this year.

 

[trick9]

Does this make Ivan Demidov a generational talent?

 

[HTFN]

Does this make Ivan Demidov a generational talent?

It makes him a talent that hasn't yet committed to the NHL and tried to cut his contract short. That's about all. I would wager they're giving Demidov a sort of "golden road" that Michkov didn't get because he was NHL bound.

They're playing politics here and trying to play favorite games to retain Russian talent in preparation for what's to come. We've seen this a lot already just by how they select their Olympic teams, they have a natural favoritism towards players who stay in country. Demidov hasn't committed, Michkov has draft rights and apparently tried to break contract like Miro did but might have lost his father as a result.

They're f***ing around, they've already burned the bridge and now they're just making things as miserable as possible as a "lesson" to everybody else.

 

[trick9]

It makes him a talent that hasn't yet committed to the NHL and tried to cut his contract short. That's about all. I would wager they're giving Demidov a sort of "golden road" that Michkov didn't get because he was NHL bound.

They're playing politics here and trying to play favorite games to retain Russian talent in preparation for what's to come. We've seen this a lot already just by how they select their Olympic teams, they have a natural favoritism towards players who stay in country. Demidov hasn't committed, Michkov has draft rights and apparently tried to break contract like Miro did but might have lost his father as a result.

They're f***ing around, they've already burned the bridge and now they're just making things as miserable as possible as a "lesson" to everybody else.

That's a hell of a theory. I'm not shooting it down but just asking that why didn't Michkov get any minutes last season either? Michkov wasn't committed (any more than Demidov is now) back then and he played just 3 games with SKA last season?

Latest scouting reports indicated that it's indeed hockey reasons as to why he is scratched.

''An area of concern when playing Michkov in the middle is his zone exits offensively and defensively. He isn’t a burner in open ice so when he is late exiting the offensive zone, he has a long way to track back to defend.''

''The same can be said when he finds himself below the goal line in his own zone. He works to join the rush as an extra layer, but lags behind the play, at times, due to the amount of ice he has to make up to catch up with the sequence. ''

Re: Demidov and their competition:

''Michkov was clearly in competition with potential top three 2024 draft prospect Ivan Demidov throughout training camp with SKA. Demidov has won a spot on the roster to start the season and he deserves the opportunity.

Demidov is a different player than Michkov. He's a play driver off the rush who brings a combination of size, speed, and skill. He extends plays along the wall and has more push-through in the trenches. Michkov has better puck touch and the ability to find "quiet" ice in the offensive zone. Demidov seems to always be around the play.

It's early in the season. Things could certainly change, but Demidov has had more shift-to-shift impact to start the year. ''

Link: Scout's Analysis: On Matvei Michkov and developing a prospect in Russia

 

[usiel]

It makes him a talent that hasn't yet committed to the NHL and tried to cut his contract short. That's about all. I would wager they're giving Demidov a sort of "golden road" that Michkov didn't get because he was NHL bound.

They're playing politics here and trying to play favorite games to retain Russian talent in preparation for what's to come. We've seen this a lot already just by how they select their Olympic teams, they have a natural favoritism towards players who stay in country. Demidov hasn't committed, Michkov has draft rights and apparently tried to break contract like Miro did but might have lost his father as a result.

They're f***ing around, they've already burned the bridge and now they're just making things as miserable as possible as a "lesson" to everybody else.

A lot of sheer speculation here.

 

[HTFN]

A lot of sheer speculation here.

No doubt, just my take on the way the KHL has kind of split the middle on NHL-bound prospects and how apparently extra-keen they were on keeping Michkov "stateside"

That's a hell of a theory. I'm not shooting it down but just asking that why didn't Michkov get any minutes last season either? Michkov wasn't committed (any more than Demidov is now) back then and he played just 3 games with SKA last season?

Latest scouting reports indicated that it's indeed hockey reasons as to why he is scratched.

''An area of concern when playing Michkov in the middle is his zone exits offensively and defensively. He isn’t a burner in open ice so when he is late exiting the offensive zone, he has a long way to track back to defend.''

''The same can be said when he finds himself below the goal line in his own zone. He works to join the rush as an extra layer, but lags behind the play, at times, due to the amount of ice he has to make up to catch up with the sequence. ''

Re: Demidov and their competition:

''Michkov was clearly in competition with potential top three 2024 draft prospect Ivan Demidov throughout training camp with SKA. Demidov has won a spot on the roster to start the season and he deserves the opportunity.

Demidov is a different player than Michkov. He's a play driver off the rush who brings a combination of size, speed, and skill. He extends plays along the wall and has more push-through in the trenches. Michkov has better puck touch and the ability to find "quiet" ice in the offensive zone. Demidov seems to always be around the play.

It's early in the season. Things could certainly change, but Demidov has had more shift-to-shift impact to start the year. ''

Link: Scout's Analysis: On Matvei Michkov and developing a prospect in Russia

If I were staffing a 4th line (or any bottom 6 role) I would probably also take the fast guy, so that's true too. We see it all the time with AHL tweeners, so maybe it is just hockey, but unless Demidov is just... way the f*** better it seems like the most state-associated hockey team making a point to a guy who declared intent to go overseas.

If Michkov declared for the KHL I doubt this would be happening very much.

 

[trick9]

NHL Salary Cap rankings:
​

19. Washington Capitals (2022: 4th)​

Good Contract Percentage: 18th (2022: 4th)
Quality Cheap Deals: 3rd (2022: 1st)
Contracts with No-Trade/No-Move Clauses: 20th (2022: 22nd)
Dead Cap Space: 7th (2022: 2nd)
Quality of Core: 28th (2022: 3rd)
Cap Space to Skill Differential: 27th (2022: 26th)

''The Capitals have reached the point where they appear to be less focused on being competitive enough for a Stanley Cup, and more focused on being just competitive enough to get Alex Ovechkin a bunch of goals to break Wayne Gretzky’s all-time goals record. So while I can cut Washington some slack for dropping all the way from fourth place to the 19th spot considering that, the forgiveness goes away when one of those reasons is due to several bad contracts among their forward group – the one place you’d hope they’d be efficient in to get Ovi his goals.

The Capitals saw two categories fall from the top five last season to the bottom half of the league this year, and both are due to their growing cap problem up front. Their good contract percentage now sits in the middle of the league thanks to an aging core that is no longer worth the money they’ve been given. Tom Wilson, T.J. Oshie, Nicklas Backstrom, Evgeny Kuznetsov and even Ovechkin all fall into the bad category for Washington, with Ovi’s mostly being due to him not providing much value outside of his elite goal-scoring production. That’s in spite of their defense yielding four of Washington’s six contracts that grade out as good as well, so they could be doing better to surround Ovechkin at this stage. To make matters worse, the Caps doubled down on Wilson with a seven-year extension worth $6.5 million, so between that addition to the quality of core and Ovechkin no longer qualifying for it, that category also sees a massive drop, going from one of the best in the league to one of the worst.

Those two categories proved to be the biggest difference maker for the Capitals placement, as everything else stayed about the same. They’ve still done well in terms of their quality cheap deals thanks to prospects like Lucas Johansen and savvy signings like Max Pacioretty, and Washington has kept out of trouble with dead cap space outside of a bonus overage of only $20,000. And like last year, they still have plenty of no-trade/no-move contracts, with five of the nine belonging to that veteran forward group, and the cap space to skill differential lags again because the roster isn’t quite good enough to be over the cap. The Caps financial situation is exactly what you’d expect from a longtime contender on its last breath, so that’s not something they should worry about, but if they are gunning for that goal record, they could be a bit more efficient with their spending to make it easier for Ovechkin.''

Full lists (so far): 2023 NHL team salary cap rankings: #24-17
2023 NHL team salary cap rankings: #32-25

 

[Ovechkins Wodka]

NHL Salary Cap rankings:
​

19. Washington Capitals (2022: 4th)​

Good Contract Percentage: 18th (2022: 4th)
Quality Cheap Deals: 3rd (2022: 1st)
Contracts with No-Trade/No-Move Clauses: 20th (2022: 22nd)
Dead Cap Space: 7th (2022: 2nd)
Quality of Core: 28th (2022: 3rd)
Cap Space to Skill Differential: 27th (2022: 26th)

​

Full lists (so far): 2023 NHL team salary cap rankings: #24-17
2023 NHL team salary cap rankings: #32-25

“Thanks to prospects like Lujo” ummm?

 

[Neil Racki]

still tickets for the opener less than $100?

Friday night vs Pens.

 

[Hivemind]

“Thanks to prospects like Lujo” ummm?

I mean, LuJo is good from a contractual standpoint. He’s just not good from a hockey standpoint.

 

[Raikkonen]

Ppl around the KHL supposedly know Michkov as a dickhead (I lack a proper word here, probably).

And that is not good from hockey standpoint too.

Nobody would murder his father, you better not believe in what you hear about Russia.

I'd guess that 17 y.o. guy is not that bad actually, and thats it. First time hearing his name actually. I can ask about it, but Im sure its all BS.

Russian ppl dont care much about Olympics right now on average. Its like a f*** off attitude over a whole population if you will. At least its widely spread.

895 will be a bigger event here I guess

Unless we are winning proper Olympics with NHL players which is not happening most probably. There are no world class centers left anymore that's why

so Ovi has every bit of the attention