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

[Roshi]

Less money to spend up front, where they probably need more production and ceiling. They'll add Leonard and Mangiapane will move on but if we assume they'll also retain Chychrun then a lot rests on being very resourceful up front. I haven't run the numbers but it just seems like it would stretch things thin. It's something maybe they can navigate but would seem on the surface to preclude adding anyone significant.

Frank could perhaps earn a spot. Certainly they have a number of developing pieces like Miro, Lapierre, Cristall and others. While it does make sense from a reliability standpoint to retain the D/G group it may come at a cost elsewhere.

Ovechkin-Strome-Protas
McMichael-Dubois-Wilson
Milano-Lapierre-Leonard
Frank-Dowd (2,4M)-Duhaime
13F (1M)

Chychrun (8M)-Carlson
Sandin-Roy
Fehervary-TvR
7D (1M)

Thompson/Lindgren (3,9M)

Cap hit 87,514 m

If cap goes up to 92,4 m where it is projected we will have 4,8 millions for upgrades. We are good here.

Thats upgrading Milano for 6,7 m player, McMichael for 7 m player or Lapierre for 5m player.
I want Boeser. Its doable. Or ROR. Thats doable too.

But in vaccuum, I rather have the goalie position safe and secured, than a marginal upgrade somewhere else. Lindgren over some unknown 1 mill backup is much better than another Mangiapane. And I like Mangiapane.

Atleast half of the teams spend on this range for their goalies. Its not like "over investement" or anything. And I also like the approach of having two good goalies over one "franchise goalie", because whenever that one goalie goes down for injury or bad scretch, good luck with your backup.

 

[Langway]

I don't know. I'm not sure I buy them going into next season with Lapierre at center without some insurance around once again. That could be the extra but...it's not going to be gifted. It was gifted once initially...no more. Also hard to see Frank on the fourth-line given his skill set/role. He's not a shutdown type player.

I get building from the net out but I think it's really the center ice position that sticks out for me as what limits their ceiling going forward. The rest is fair or better but there's a definite lack of dynamism and elite type fluidity. PLD has been more or less aces but Strome's skating really looks to limit him. And, again, at this stage it's hard to expect all that much from Lapierre going forward. Maybe it happens, maybe it doesn't. But it's going to be difficult to rely on him given what's materialized this season. Unlike with McMichael and Protas he's probably not going to get the opportunity to cut his teeth on the wing. If he doesn't meet standards at center then is his value higher elsewhere for a franchise more desperate for a 2C solution that's willing to gift him TOI while he figures it out?

Aside from Pettersson not much comes to mind that would change that center mix that much. They could go with a modest upgrade over Eller perhaps in a Gourde but it still seems like a bit of a stretch when assessing their chances going up against the very best.

Edit: Does going cheaper at 1b change that? Not necessarily so maybe it's the best use of funds. But it is the thing that most sticks out going forward. Outside of trying Leonard at center at some point there may not be an easy answer.

 

[Roshi]

I don't know. I'm not sure I buy them going into next season with Lapierre at center without some insurance around once again. That could be the extra but...it's not going to be gifted. It was gifted once initially...no more. Also hard to see Frank on the fourth-line given his skill set/role. He's not a shutdown type player.

I get building from the net out but I think it's really the center ice position that sticks out for me as what limits their ceiling going forward. The rest is fair or better but there's a definite lack of dynamism and elite type fluidity. PLD has been more or less aces but Strome's skating really looks to limit him. And, again, at this stage it's hard to expect all that much from Lapierre going forward. Maybe it happens, maybe it doesn't. But it's going to be difficult to rely on him given what's materialized this season. Unlike with McMichael and Protas he's probably not going to get the opportunity to cut his teeth on the wing. If he doesn't meet standards at center then is his value higher elsewhere for a franchise more desperate for a 2C solution that's willing to gift him TOI while he figures it out?

Aside from Pettersson not much comes to mind that would change that center mix that much. They could go with a modest upgrade over Eller perhaps in a Gourde but it still seems like a bit of a stretch when assessing their chances going up against the very best.

Edit: Does going cheaper at 1b change that? Not necessarily so maybe it's the best use of funds. But it is the thing that most sticks out going forward. Outside of trying Leonard at center at some point there may not be an easy answer.

The small roster decisions are interchangeable. If you dont see Frank as 4th line role, just swap him with 13F and get another Raddysh.

Replacing (and trading) Milano with Miro or Cristall or whoever also opens up another 1m, if you want to go heavy on the Lapierre update. Thats 6m C in the making. And TvR for Iorio kind of swap opens up another 2M. Its the small decisions, but we are in good position to make those.

The point, spending 1,5 m less on goalies doesnt really move the needle enough to make even a ”bigger splash”.

 

[trick9]

Last chance for Lindgren to make his money most likely. He has been underpaid for years now. I'd be really surprised if he were to take just 1 or even 2-year contract. That'd mean he really wants to stay. Goalie market isn't going to be great again so i'm sure there's more money available elsewhere.

 

[Cappy76]

Those arguing you can't spend that on a backup are forgetting that he's not been a backup with this tandem it's a pretty even split that I'm sure they'll keep running keeping both goalies fresh. 10 mil for 1a 1b isn't insane

 

[SecretaryofDefense5]

Paying 10m for two goalies isnt that bad. I like the security of having two almost equally solid starters. It has been a big strength for us this season and propably a reason why both of them are doing so good. Why not to keep it going?

You would have to pay 1-2 mills for a decent backup anyways, that extra 1-2 mills could easily be spend way worse than keeping the best tandem in league here for couple years.

Stevenson isnt ready. Shepard is career AHLer. Our pipeline is empty.

Cap is going up and we have very little to worry about how to spend a 1-2m.

Very suprised to see strong opposition here. I thought we all love Charlie.

Hockey is a business and that 1-2 million could be used elsewhere up front.

Less money to spend up front, where they probably need more production and ceiling. They'll add Leonard and Mangiapane will move on but if we assume they'll also retain Chychrun then a lot rests on being very resourceful up front. I haven't run the numbers but it just seems like it would stretch things thin. It's something maybe they can navigate but would seem on the surface to preclude adding anyone significant.

Frank could perhaps earn a spot. Certainly they have a number of developing pieces like Miro, Lapierre, Cristall and others. While it does make sense from a reliability standpoint to retain the D/G group it may come at a cost elsewhere.

This. Words of reason. People are letting their emotions and feelings get in front of logic.

 

[Empty Goal Net]

Weekes is quickly losing credibility with his clickbait rumors. I'm not sold this is legit.

Kevin Weekes, agent whisperer.

 

[John Price]

I'm lukewarm about the rumors of re-signing Lindgren. I appreciate what he did last year but he ain't been the same this season

As long as they still have money for Chy I am fine

 

[Roshi]

Hockey is a business and that 1-2 million could be used elsewhere up front.


This. Words of reason. People are letting their emotions and feelings get in front of logic.

Sure you can opt to go cheap on any position so you can have 1-2 mill to use somewhere else.

I think its not a bad decision to not go cheap option for Thompsons tandem.

 

[qc14]

Not sure I love spending $10M on goalies but at the same time I like having Shepard or Stevenson play 30 games even less and the other 1B/backup UFAs this summer are either significantly worse or probably the same price as Lindgren

 

[Misery74]

We need a third line.

 

[Cappy76]

We need a third line.

We have one it's the Dowd line

 

[trick9]

Kevin Weekes, agent whisperer.

There aren't really been leaks around the Caps lately so i'm not sure i buy much into this. Esp the numbers mentioned there, that seems entirely speculation from Weekes.

There was a piece before about Caps wanting to get Thompson done before circling back to Lindgren so one thinks if this is just Weekes going off by that and throwing around his own AAV numbers. Agents really rarely give those numbers away before the contract is all but done.

 

[Ovechkins Wodka]

Where would the Caps rank on spending on goalies at 10m. It would have to be close to the top of the league.

And this might be giving us a hint we might still rotate them in the playoffs.

Bostons Prez season they had a 1A 1B combo and went with just one starter and got bounced in the 1st round.

 

[Misery74]

We have one it's the Dowd line

We need a fourth line.

 

[Roshi]

Where would the Caps rank on spending on goalies at 10m. It would have to be close to the top of the league.

And this might be giving us a hint we might still rotate them in the playoffs.

Bostons Prez season they had a 1A 1B combo and went with just one starter and got bounced in the 1st round.

It makes sense for spending goalies at top10 ranks, as they currently are top3 for the position.

Goalies have been the backbone for Carberys teams so far.

Instead of using it all for one goalie and a hail mary we use it for two. Thats what this team is about, depth over ”up front”.

 

[Kalopsia]

Last chance for Lindgren to make his money most likely. He has been underpaid for years now. I'd be really surprised if he were to take just 1 or even 2-year contract. That'd mean he really wants to stay. Goalie market isn't going to be great again so i'm sure there's more money available elsewhere.

Yeah, was looking into that and it's pretty brutal, which gives Lindgren some bargaining power. In terms of starter-caliber goalies, there's Vejmelka and Hill who probably get re-signed. There's Andersen, who's coming off a major knee injury and will be 36 at the start of next season. Lankinen's been solid filling in for Demko and was decent as a backup before that. That's about it. Wouldn't be crazy for Lindgren to end up in a 1A/1B situation somewhere if the Caps don't offer him enough. I wouldn't want to go above 3M for Lindgren, but there's a solid chance he gets 3.5-4M on the open market.

 

[pman25]

My preference is to find the next Lindgren, not sign him to $4 mil. Probably a fair contract for him, but we already got one locked up.

Plug in the super cheap Stevenson or find another undervalued journeyman type for $1 mil

 

[Langway]

Egads.

 

[895]

Bring on 8x8 for chych. That will no.2-3 defenseman money soon.

 

[Ovechkins Wodka]

Egads.

and depending what Ovie does we could have another 9 mill

 

[g00n]

Suddenly all the contract complaints and mathematical grindings don't seem that relevant

 

[qc14]

Caps should give Rantanen or Marner $15M ...

I think the most interesting thing in all of this is that right now almost every team is capped out. How many are going to have owners willing to go to the new ceiling? I'd lean towards Ted being one of those owners. He was willing to dip into the luxury tax for an awful to mediocre Wizards team for years.

 

[Langway]

Suddenly all the contract complaints and mathematical grindings don't seem that relevant

Just wait until inflation hits and McMichael is making ~$9M.

 

[895]

Colorado could've kept Rantanen easily after all. lmao.