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

[CapitalsCupReality]

Or they can end up with Alex Ovechkin.

Once in a lifetime thing….

 

[Kalopsia]

"We Will do everything in our power to bring the cup back to DC."

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Caps roster.

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Oh hey, another picture with me in it! Here was the view from on stage.

 

[g00n]

Once in a lifetime thing….

Yeah "generational talent".

The quality of top picks in the draft varies from year to year. If you're going to tank you'd better be sure the talent is really special and not just the usual hype for whoever is "consensus #1".

 

[Ridley Simon]

Yeah, I guess the issue I can see is that depending on what you think Leonard's ceiling is, they have lines 2-4 of a cup winning team potentially but are completely barren of top line talent. When's the last time other than maybe Vegas that a team won the cup without a top 5-10 player on the team?

Washington
St Louis
Florida (unless you see Tkachuk as top 5-10)
Vegas, as you stated

Just off the top of my head

 

[SherVaughn30]

was listening to NHL radio on sirius and they had the caps below the pens with both missing. Im not saying the caps are contenders but imo they have improved the roster significantly while Pitt didnt do anything. I also believe the bruins and hurricanes wont have the easy rides they had the last few years. It will be another tight race in the east and of course injuries will be a huge part of it but the caps on my paper have improved more than a little bit imo. Kuemper was hot garbage last year and the team played different with him. Give the caps half of his losses and changes the picture a bit.

Logan Thompson is an upgrade over what Darcy Kuemper did for us. Scott Murray once again proved he messes up vet goalies.

 

[Holtbyisms]

And yet that alone wasn't enough. It took another decade and other key pieces. I'm not saying it never works. I'm just saying it's not a given. And what @wickedwitch said is so on point. You can always destroy stuff.

It's being eager to that I don't get.

It wasn't, it took three top five picks in four years and multiple years of being bad. Two of the three they nailed and those two were what eventually guided us to the cup with the help of some lucky late 1st rounders who hit.

 

[Holtbyisms]

Once in a lifetime thing….

Sydney Crosby, Nathan MacKinnon, Conner McDavid, Austin Matthews, Connor Bedard...all of these are just fine and franchise altering.

 

[Block]

Washington
St Louis
Florida (unless you see Tkachuk as top 5-10)
Vegas, as you stated

Just off the top of my head

Ovechkin was still a top 5 player when they won, and I put Tkachuck around 10. So St. Louis and Vegas I guess. 2 out of the last 10?

 

[Jags]

Yeah, I guess the issue I can see is that depending on what you think Leonard's ceiling is, they have lines 2-4 of a cup winning team potentially but are completely barren of top line talent. When's the last time other than maybe Vegas that a team won the cup without a top 5-10 player on the team?

Well, if the end of the Ovi era is this contract, then his departure clears about 10m in cap space. The cap's going up, we'll have shots to draft well, and one or two of the guys we currently have in the pipeline could pan out that way if we're a little lucky.

If we keep turning the roster over as we have been the last couple years, we could be in a good spot when that next shiny top talent hits free agency. No need to blow it up.