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

[Roshi]

“He’s hurting this team”, “losing respect for him”….

Not whining, then it’s just what, pathetic? A $9 mil blank check is not necessarily the clearest way to improvement IMO.

If he’s medically cleared and doesn’t want to quit….feels like we have to ride it out.

Memory is short. Backstrom was one of the most underpaid and undervalued players in the league for a freaking decade. Then corona ate a year of his new contract aswell, by his play on ice the man should have tens of millions more than he has now, but yeah he should really just retire so the team can have cap space.

Backy owes us nothing. We owe him. Atleast a chance to try to comeback if he feels he wants, and can do it.

 

[g00n]

It isn’t whining. It’s stating the obvious. Dude is an anchor right now. I will always appreciate Backstrom but Ovi’s years left in the league are precious. Bye Felicia, if the dude can’t produce he has to go. It’s a business. BMac sure as hell didn’t sound happy so we shall see where it goes. That ain’t whining, that is called keeping it real.

"It's a business".

Also part of the business is keeping your employees and customers happy.

Forcing retirement on people who've dedicated their lives to your business for many years (at a market discount, no less) when they're still trying hard to return from on-the-job-injury is not good business. It sends a terrible message to current and future employees, as well as to many customers.

Not all Caps customers want to see legends such as NB treated like numbers on a mysterious Floridian spreadsheet, or put out to pasture until it's absolutely necessary.

Right now the "core" team identity is part of the product that fills the seats. That may change in a few years when #8 is gone but until then it's "The Ovechkin And Friends Show" and you're probably not going to make him happy (or willing to go the extra mile at the end of his own career) if you push Backstrom out the door before he's ready to go.

The people who run this organization are professionals and don't need to be told by message board randos "it's a business". Or how to "keep it real".

 

[CapitalsCupReality]

Still would like to see how a non-surgery off-season goes for Backis. That said, as with all aging Caps players under contract throughout the years they need to be slide down the position lineup.

Caps owe him a chance to try IMO….

It isn’t whining. It’s stating the obvious. Dude is an anchor right now. I will always appreciate Backstrom but Ovi’s years left in the league are precious. Bye Felicia, if the dude can’t produce he has to go. It’s a business. BMac sure as hell didn’t sound happy so we shall see where it goes. That ain’t whining, that is called keeping it real.

Nah…whining…nothing but verbalizing dissatisfaction. The dude has earned a chance to comeback in the fall. If he can’t, reassess and decide what to do next, but he deserves the chance. Sad that some fans can’t see that.

 

[SecretaryofDefense5]

Caps owe him a chance to try IMO….



Nah…whining…nothing but verbalizing dissatisfaction. The dude has earned a chance to comeback in the fall. If he can’t, reassess and decide what to do next, but he deserves the chance. Sad that some fans can’t see that.

Fair.

 

[g00n]

Waiting on NB to try it out next season carries little risk other than limiting what can be done vs the salary cap in the offseason.

The major risks are:

1) If NB is able to play but is just terrible and doesn't want to hang them up.
2) He gets hurt but isn't injured enough to go on LTIR and provide cap relief

Right? Other than those what are the outcomes?

3) He returns, is ineffective, realizes it and retires. Cap space reclaimed before TDL.
4) He returns, the hip is no good, goes on LTIR for another season and cap space is reclaimed.
5) He tries it this offseason and can't do it, so retires. Cap space reclaimed early.
6) His offseason is successful and he comes back at 75-80% of his former self which is still pretty good.

If scenario 1 happens you have to hope people close to him give him good advice and he takes it. This is doubtful to me with 2yrs left on his contract which is probably how long Ovie needs to break Gretzky's record. So I think he's going to do everything he can to be effective.

Scenario 2 aka a "nagging injury" situation seems less likely and I think they'd err on the side of caution and go LTIR if it's close.

So the main question is, how likely is NB to have an entire offseason of recovery and rehab and not show the necessary improvement?

One way to find out.

 

[Calicaps]

Waiting on NB to try it out next season carries little risk other than limiting what can be done vs the salary cap in the offseason.

The major risks are:

1) If NB is able to play but is just terrible and doesn't want to hang them up.
2) He gets hurt but isn't injured enough to go on LTIR and provide cap relief

Right? Other than those what are the outcomes?

3) He returns, is ineffective, realizes it and retires. Cap space reclaimed before TDL.
4) He returns, the hip is no good, goes on LTIR for another season and cap space is reclaimed.
5) He tries it this offseason and can't do it, so retires. Cap space reclaimed early.
6) His offseason is successful and he comes back at 75-80% of his former self which is still pretty good.

If scenario 1 happens you have to hope people close to him give him good advice and he takes it. This is doubtful to me with 2yrs left on his contract which is probably how long Ovie needs to break Gretzky's record. So I think he's going to do everything he can to be effective.

Scenario 2 aka a "nagging injury" situation seems less likely and I think they'd err on the side of caution and go LTIR if it's close.

So the main question is, how likely is NB to have an entire offseason of recovery and rehab and not show the necessary improvement?

One way to find out.

and for all his grim tone, Mac was clear that it's Backstrom's decision to make.

 

[Misery74]

Memory is short. Backstrom was one of the most underpaid and undervalued players in the league for a freaking decade. Then corona ate a year of his new contract aswell, by his play on ice the man should have tens of millions more than he has now, but yeah he should really just retire so the team can have cap space.

Backy owes us nothing. We owe him. Atleast a chance to try to comeback if he feels he wants, and can do it.

We owe Ovechkin and Backstrom their money, which is close to 25% of the cap. And I am fine giving Backstrom time to get his game back, we really don’t have a choice honestly.

In return, they don’t get to dictate how we spend the other 75%.

That is how I see it anyway.

 

[bacchist]

Waiting on NB to try it out next season carries little risk other than limiting what can be done vs the salary cap in the offseason.

The major risks are:

1) If NB is able to play but is just terrible and doesn't want to hang them up.
2) He gets hurt but isn't injured enough to go on LTIR and provide cap relief

Right? Other than those what are the outcomes?

3) He returns, is ineffective, realizes it and retires. Cap space reclaimed before TDL.
4) He returns, the hip is no good, goes on LTIR for another season and cap space is reclaimed.
5) He tries it this offseason and can't do it, so retires. Cap space reclaimed early.
6) His offseason is successful and he comes back at 75-80% of his former self which is still pretty good.

If scenario 1 happens you have to hope people close to him give him good advice and he takes it. This is doubtful to me with 2yrs left on his contract which is probably how long Ovie needs to break Gretzky's record. So I think he's going to do everything he can to be effective.

Scenario 2 aka a "nagging injury" situation seems less likely and I think they'd err on the side of caution and go LTIR if it's close.

So the main question is, how likely is NB to have an entire offseason of recovery and rehab and not show the necessary improvement?

One way to find out.

Yeah. Backstrom at 80% is better than any of our other options, except for Kuzy on a good year. And we can't assume we'll ever see Kuzy playing to his potential again, either.

 

[Hivemind]

Yeah. Backstrom at 80% is better than any of our other options, except for Kuzy on a good year. And we can't assume we'll ever see Kuzy playing to his potential again, either.

There's much better odds of seeing Kuzy playing to potential than there is of seeing Backstrom playing to potential.

 

[bacchist]

There's much better odds of seeing Kuzy playing to potential than there is of seeing Backstrom playing to potential.

It's hard to make a comparison because Backstrom didn't play well because of his physical limitations, and Kuzy was one of the worst players in the league last year because... well, because he just was.

I probably have more faith in Backstrom in a better physical condition than I ever will in Kuzy again. It might be a long shot for Backstrom to show any substantial improvement, but I'm just over Kusnetsov at this point.

 

[Rayquaza64]

Gallant fired…I hope the caps stay far away.

 

[g00n]

There's much better odds of seeing Kuzy playing to potential than there is of seeing Backstrom playing to potential.

Great athletes can overcome physical and mental adversity.

Weak minded ones have no shot regardless of talent.

 

[McVechkin]

Gallant fired…I hope the caps stay far away.

I’ll be honest, I don’t know a lot about him. His teams seem to play a faster style of hockey. But it’s odd that 3 teams axed him so quickly. What’s his criticisms?

 

[Ovechkins Wodka]

How long can we wait to pick a coach? Rangers job is better then ours. We might not get to pick from our top contenders.

Watch the Rangers go get Lavi lol

 

[John Price]

I wouldn't mind Gallant. If we even won a playoff series we'd be fine. If we even won 2 I'd be ecstatic.

And his teams made the playoffs. VGK missed out on the playoffs, but he wasn't the coach then

Also I'm curious how much the struggles have to do with the roster too. The cup winning team was already one of the oldest teams to win a cup. Trying to recapture that glory may be pretty hard. Team is in serious need of youth superstars

 

[CapitalsCupReality]

Gallant feels like Lavi 2.0…..

 

[SecretaryofDefense5]

Just say no to Gallant.

 

[notDkristich]

no more dinosaurs please. the next era is here, bring in the fresh meat

 

[Rayquaza64]

Gallant would work if we were a veteran team making a playoff push for the cup. That is not what we are at this point, which is why Lavi is on the unemployment line. It’s also why he’s on the unemployment line.

 

[pman25]

 

[Langway]

Suddenly Colorado has cap room for a certain center...

 

[itsjustsurvival]

Suddenly Colorado has cap room for a certain center...

Damn that really sucks for Landeskog.

I agree though. I feel like there's high potential for a win-win trade between the Avs and Caps.

 

[BiPolar Caps]

Before this news about Landeskog, they had a number of players going into free agency (Compher, Eller, Rodrigues, Cogliano, Helm, Nieto and the two Johnsons on Defense). On top of that they have the Nichushkin situation (which could make them reluctant in bringing on another potential headache like Kuzy). Cogliano's playoff injury may be the end of his career as he turns 36 in June. Still all in all, I like them as dance partners.

 

[usiel]

Suddenly Colorado has cap room for a certain center...

Any other NHL player have that type of knee surgery before?

 

[LesDiablesRouges]

Dima and Kuz are playing beer league hockey in DC. f***ing legends.

Really get the sense Orlov just wants to be back in DC. Deciding factor is definitely term (think he takes a discount on $AAV).

Gallant feels like Lavi 2.0…..

X One Billion