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Speculation: Caps Roster General Discussion (Coaching/FAs/Cap/Lines/etc) | 2024-25 Summer Edition

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Seems to pretty much confirm what was assumed about the lineup. Cristall will get his shot, Milano will replace him when he goes back to juniors.
 
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Calicaps said:
I would not be at all surprised of they offer him a 2-way deal. Make him prove that he can hack the rigors of a season and have him and Miro available for call-ups. And if he holds it together and plays strong, then great. Can't have too much scoring depth.
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This. If they can plop Kuzy in the minors they'll have no problem with Vrana on a 2-way.
 
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SecretaryofDefense5 said:
The fact that he hasn’t been released yet makes me think it isn’t all bad for him.
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Yeah. Miro not getting another shot would lead one to believe he'll start in Hershey. They could keep Miro up and available but likely better for him to play games. If so then that leaves 14 forwards and one would think strategically it's better to have a potential scoring-line option as an extra compared to a pure depth D (when it comes to going 14/7 vs. 13/8).

Cristall needs to max out his opportunity today, of course. Not doing so should end his bid but either way it looks good after waiving Sgarbossa that Vrana at least stands to stick as an extra IMO.
 
As @qc14 noted Caps currently sit at 48 contracts (which does not include 4 CHL contracts that are eligible to slide including Cristal. If Cristal signs that is 49. If Varna signs that is 50 (max). If Bear (or Sgarbossa) gets claimed that number goes down one. We likely want to keep at least one contract open to have flexibility through season as well as for Leonard.

All that to say unless someone gets claimed on waivers, I don’t think we can “add” both Varna and Cristal contracts. Only one. I think that trickle down means we will keep 8 Dee and 13F. If Bear gets claimed they probably also won’t want to send another Dee through waivers. So for me it is 13F/8D.
 
I'd hope we don't keep Vrana. It's nothing against him really but he is what he is right now, at best you are looking at a 15-goal speedster who needs soft minutes and is a defensive liability. We already have a guy like that in Milano and if they want another player like that in the line-up, i'd prefer Cristall to get his shot and when the time comes give those extended minutes to Miro. I can see him getting to between ~10-15 goals with extended minutes so it shouldn't be a big drop-off to Vrana's best-case scenario. Plus with him there is the potential to atleast take the next step being up with the big club. Whereas Vrana is nearing 30 and trending down.

I feel like Vrana down the road would end up like Pacioretty. Good and motivated at the start because they are fighting for their NHL career. By the time it's february everyone in here hates them because they aren't what they used to be, and don't really have any trade value because of the red flags surrounding them.
 
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CapitalsCupReality said:
Nobody wants Bear…not at that salary.
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You’d have to be really desperate. But there are teams that are really desperate and Bear is an NHL defenseman on his last year of a relatively cheap (although inflated) deal. I don’t’ expect he’ll get claimed but i wouldn’t be shocked either. Since McIlrath is likely to stay at 8D, I actually hope Bear clears waivers. he doesn’t hurt our cap situation. In fact getting claimed is actually bad for us because his 1M unburied helps us get close to cap.
 
They can sit at 50 contracts until near the trade deadline you'd think. I don't think that's much of a hindrance and shouldn't really dictate any roster decisions IMO. It's not ideal but who are they signing until Leonard in the spring? Plenty of time to handle it and it's also not yet clear if Cristall sticks all year.

They also may have more than enough players in Hershey to where maybe they need to clear out a player or two. Depends on just how comfortable they are either parking some players as extras or sending some to the ECHL. Assuming Sgarbossa clears and Miro is assigned it's a crowded forward group. Even with I guess Philp injured it's hard to see where Hofer and Funk factor in, let alone a more suspect depth option in Suzdalev. Figuring out what's best for his development seems like a struggle. Also wonder if it might not be time to move Shep to fully hand the reigns over to Stevenson in net and promote Gibson.
 
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Langway said:
They can sit at 50 contracts until near the trade deadline you'd think. I don't think that's much of a hindrance and shouldn't really dictate any roster decisions IMO. It's not ideal but who are they signing until Leonard in the spring? Plenty of time to handle it and it's also not yet clear if Cristall sticks all year.

They also may have more than enough players in Hershey to where maybe they need to clear out a player or two. Depends on just how comfortable they are either parking some players as extras or sending some to the ECHL. Assuming Sgarbossa clears and Miro is assigned it's a crowded forward group. Even with I guess Philp injured it's hard to see where Hofer and Funk factor in, let alone a more suspect depth option in Suzdalev. Figuring out what's best for his development seems like a struggle. Also wonder if it might not be time to move Shep to fully hand the reigns over to Stevenson in net and promote Gibson.
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If Cristal goes down before 10 games he is still eligible to slide and hence not a contract. But the Vrana contract is here to stay if signed. And as you noted there are plenty of Hershey players that can come up include Dube who had a Gordy Howe hat trick. Miro can come back up. Sgarbossa, Frank, Sutter, Rybinski, Trineyev. So you can bring prospects up or veteran bodies for short pieces. Vrana at 27 is nothing but a stop gap, so I’d rather play people in our system over him.

And you never know when a player becomes available for a pick and we will have the space. So yeah, i want to contract available for spontaneous moves.
 
Vrana is scoring-line insurance, likely cheap and presumably open to sit if need be and be ready when called upon. Credibly they really only would have Miro around as scoring-line insurance if Cristall were assigned. Frank showed nothing in the pre-season games. Dube would likely be ahead. Rybinski or Sgarbossa could perhaps be playable but I'd wager they'll want that insurance in hand, particularly given their noted struggles offensively last season. Vrana's scoring comes with definite strings attached but they've dealt with worse and also could simply use the speed in some senses.
 
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