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

[wickedwitch]

After doing some looking, I think this means that either 1) Cristall is going back to juniors 2) a trade is coming or 3) Oshie is going on LTIR to start the season. There's no other way for them to start with Oshie on LTI without 1 or 2, and 3 would be a massive "waste" of cap space unless a trade to add a whole lot of salary is coming.

That was my conclusion, too. But I'd add Milano to the list of players in a potential trade.

 

[ArmadilloThumb]

I'm also wonder if our new GMCP wants to make a splash and utilize that maximum potential LTIR Relief...

If they think they comfortable moving Milano AND TVR the first place I'd try to upgrade is get a seriously powerful quality Orpik type to clear out in front of our net and be part of the bottom 4. Haven't looked at numbers or who targets might be.

I agree with the for argument with Big Mac but this might be a way to do the same thing but better.

 

[ArmadilloThumb]

Haven't had a chance to watch yesterday's game yet but will do with an eye on how Protas did as 4C. I wonder if he could take the 4C spot at the deadline if it turns out someone offers a 1st for Dowd. If they don't see resigning Dowd it is good asset management and opens up a top 9 spot for Leonard later in the season without sitting/demoting any utes who are still up and possibly making a solid contribution.

 

[DWGie26]

Ran a couple of models for Monday to max cap. this one leaves Cristal out (back to juniors) and McIlrath still up. If they sign Cristal or Vrana, they need to send Mac down and i don’t think they want to do that. they can sign Vrana on Tuesday and send Oshie to LTIR. This is 21 players and 168k short of 88M.

 

[qc14]

I'm also wonder if our new GMCP wants to make a splash and utilize that maximum potential LTIR Relief...

If they think they comfortable moving Milano AND TVR the first place I'd try to upgrade is get a seriously powerful quality Orpik type to clear out in front of our net and be part of the bottom 4. Haven't looked at numbers or who targets might be.

I agree with the for argument with Big Mac but this might be a way to do the same thing but better.

I think any big addition would almost certainly be at forward (and ideally make around $4m for one or maybe two years). With basically only 4 teams tanking this year though I don't know who that would be. Saad? Granlund? Dvorak? Hall? Kuzmenko? Fabbri? How many of those guys could you get for less than a second round pick, and how many also actually make the team better?

Maybe at defense you try to upgrade TvR to Cam Fowler???? You'd think that ANA would want a first though and I'm not doing that if I'm WSH.

If Lehner didn't just have his contract terminated, he would've been a perfect candidate to take on with a pick from Vegas in exchange for Milano or Alexeyev, as he could've then also been put on LTIR eventually. There really aren't any other LTI-retirement candidates out there

Edit: if Krug is truly done done and not just done for the year, he might be a good target. I'm not sure what STL's appetite to get out of his deal would be though -- Krug and a 2nd for Bear? Is that 2nd really worth it to WSH to not handicap themselves in the future?

 

[wickedwitch]

If they make a trade, I think Milano's the best choice. They don't have room for him this season in the starting lineup, and next season, with Miro, Cristall, and Leonard needing spots, it will be even worse. I suppose Cristall could go to Hershey next season, but it seems unlikely that he'll need to. Even then, we'd have Ovi, Wilson, Protas, one of Lappy/McM, Miro, and Leonard as top 9 forwards. $1.9 million is a lot for a 13/14th forward.

Milano should have value -- and especially so if the Caps retained money, which they could.

 

[um]

Do we have trade anyone? Is this because we’re keeping up McIlrath?

 

[Calicaps]

I was pretty sure Oshie to LTIR was already a given. Where is all of this coming from? Did I miss an announcement?

 

[wickedwitch]

Do we have trade anyone? Is this because we’re keeping up McIlrath?

If we want to keep Cristall and maximize our cap space, then we need to trade somebody. (And yes, waiving McIlrath today would have solved this issue, too.)

 

[SecretaryofDefense5]

If Vrana wasn’t joining the team in some capacity, they would have released him by now.

 

[ArmadilloThumb]

Agree on how many options and scenarios in play.

As I haven't seen the last three games it's hard to make any rational case for/against the bubble players. But I still default to wanting to give Cristall and Miroshnichenko as much unimpeded runway to show a move up in level in real NHL games. I think an early season strategy of playing each a game (with not insignificant minutes) and then sitting a game to get a chance to mentally adjust and focusing on improvements for their next game gives them the best opportunity to make a jump up. So over say the first 20 games we have this extended audition. Of course if any of them shine, just keep playing them!

Moving Milano out now or early in the season (either trade or to the AHL) helps with the roster space to do this.

In this scenario signing Vrana to a 2 way and starting him in Hershey tests his commitment to the organization (pay him a good AHL salary, not minimum) and he can move in if either of Cristall/Miroshnichenko don't sieze the opportunity or if there are injuries.

I think overall it's good for the organizational reputation and specifically Lappy/Cristall/Miroshnichenko to have an open serious opportunity to show they can belong with the big team rather than going right to the AHL (other than a day or two long paper move), which could be detrimental by stopping real potential to jump up now...

These guys are potentially part of the future core so I'd bend over backwards to show commitment to their opportunity to take next steps when they can

 

[um]

If we want to keep Cristall and maximize our cap space, then we need to trade somebody. (And yes, waiving McIlrath today would have solved this issue, too.)

Maximize our Cap room? Like build up space for the deadline?

If that’s the case don’t trade anyone. Milano is far more important than a mid round pick.

 

[HTFN]

Yes, but Duhaime isn’t that big and doesn’t fight well. Love his physical presence on ice but he is not an enforcer fighting guy as a lightweight. nobody will fear him or Raddysh. They will fear Mac.

Mac is 32 and has won two Calders. He can be a 7/8 in washington for a while. It’s a long season and if Bears really need him they can send him back.

That’s not really my point, I’m not saying they signed guys to do that. I’m saying if that‘s a quality they want and value there were ways to do it that don’t include dressing, as you’re recognizing, a 32 year old AHL vet who has reached his limit as an NHL player. That is, to me, a favor for a soldier.

And as nice as occasional net protection is I’m not a fan of using one of six D to fill that role either, it’s not ideal strategically and limits deployments/crunches others on ice time (Carlson, mainly)

 

[895]

I was pretty sure Oshie to LTIR was already a given. Where is all of this coming from? Did I miss an announcement?

I think it’s something like this. Someone can correct me if I’m wrong.


It was until Kuznetsov did us a solid and went back to Russia.

If Oshie starts on LTIR then we won’t accrue any cap space.

If Oshie gets placed on LTIR after the season starts we can accrue cap space.

So he’s going either way, it’s just about the most advantageous timing.

 

[qc14]

I think it’s something like this. Someone can correct me if I’m wrong.


It was until Kuznetsov did us a solid and went back to Russia.

If Oshie starts on LTIR then we won’t accrue any cap space.

If Oshie gets placed on LTIR after the season starts we can accrue cap space.

So he’s going either way, it’s just about the most advantageous timing.

When you use LTIR at all you won't "accrue" cap space as the season progresses (this accrual is a weird quirk of cap hits and compliance being calculated daily). Caps were always going to be in LTIR with Backstrom, so that's not the issue.

The main thing is that when you place someone on LTIR their contract doesn't actually stop counting towards the cap. Rather, you have access to an "LTIR Salary Pool" which increases the cap for your team. This "pool" is basically the amount of cap space you have without the player minus the player's salary. If you have someone injured with a salary of $5M that is going on LTIR for example, but your roster with that player and their replacement is only $89M, you only get the $1M of "LTIR Pool" to exceed the cap by. It's advantageous to be as close to the player's salary over the cap as possible then to maximize the space. With how the roster is currently set if we wanted to put Oshie on LTIR in the offseason (and thus have probably Cristall and Lapierre on the NHL roster) we would only be exceeding the cap by $10.7M which is ~ $4M less than the combined hit of Oshie and Backstrom and we would thus be "wasting" that space.

If we were going to go this route, they almost certainly would've kept Bear up to minimize this lost room. That ~$4M is also unsurprisingly right around the amount of retained money we owed Kuzy this year before he terminated his deal, which is why he kind of "screwed" their planning.

https://puckpedia.com/LTIR24 this is a good overview of it from Puckpedia, although it is a bit outdated with some of the roster moves we've done since.

 

[Calicaps]

I think it’s something like this. Someone can correct me if I’m wrong.


It was until Kuznetsov did us a solid and went back to Russia.

If Oshie starts on LTIR then we won’t accrue any cap space.

If Oshie gets placed on LTIR after the season starts we can accrue cap space.

So he’s going either way, it’s just about the most advantageous timing.

Right, that makes sense. Thanks. I know you can't accrue cap space with LTIR, but I forgot the Kuzy factor.

 

[John Price]

 

[Brian23]

https://x.com/i/web/status/1843294833110364448

I still think it's so dumb to keep McIlrath over giving Cristall a few games.

EDIT:

https://x.com/i/web/status/1843295763587293343

Yeah, so official now.

 

[Langway]

Shrug.

 

[895]

seriously who cares about mcilrath

Terrible decision


If I were Cristal for my own development I would request a trade

 

[Ovechkins Wodka]

Vrana makes the team. I’m surprised I think we have two open roster spots now?

 

[MileHighCapsFan]

Looks like Vrana made the squad.

 

[twabby]

I guess I don't know what good it does Cristall to beat up on children in the WHL for another year. Does it really help him to play a slower version of hockey for another full year, or does it benefit him to play against men in a faster environment for 9 games so he at least has that experience going into next year?

Puzzling decision.

 

[LesDiablesRouges]

Both Miro and Cristall are already better than Vrana. Bummer.

 

[Lindemann]

Unless Vrana finally learns how to play a 2 way game, it’s gonna end up just like it has with everyone he’s played for