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

[CapitalsCupReality]

The only thing I'll say in defense of the trade is that it wasn't a bad price [see below] to give up. With that in mind, it was definitely a team seeking a move rather than filling a need.

At this deadline, Caps had a clear need at 3rd (/4th) line center, and they chose to stick with Eller. Time will tell if that was the right move or not.

1st and Zach Sanford for Copley and rental Shattenkirk (conditional 2nd wasn't met)

Morgan Frost

 

[um]

Can we stop calling eller 3c? Clearly the dowd line is our 3rd line which means everyone complaining about an eller upgrade is worried about 4c.

That is accurate. But Dowd is at his best as a 4C. He may be the best in the league.

It's not preferable to play guys outside the role that they excel at.

 

[Ovechkins Wodka]

Ovie about to be on the Pat show. ESPN

 

[caps4cup]

Eller’s problem is that he would be best used on Dowd’s line, as he’s still strong defensively but doesn’t drive offense anymore, can’t finish, and isn’t a strong puck distributor. It’s not his fault, but they’ve pretty much had a non functional “3rd line” all year because of that. The puck dies on his stick and you’re going to pretty much zap his linemates of their offense too, so you’re severely limiting either Leonard or CMM as well (whoever isn’t in the top 6).

He’s fine as a 4th liner, but with the way things are aligned, the fit just really hurts the bottom 6 as a whole. Because Dowd’s line is going to be a shutdown line and Eller’s line is incapable of being an offensive oriented line. So you’re stuck with very little secondary scoring if the top 6 is off.

 

[Ovechkins Wodka]

Ovie on the team plane and names every player and shows them on his iphone.

 

[max21]

Ovie on the team plane and names every player and shows them on his iphone.

Haha that was amazing, I just happened to turn the TV on before it aired

 

[qcal1427]

Nothing that I haven't said many times before but re: Eller

He's a perfectly below-average 3/4c that has nothing happen at either end while he's on the ice in a team that can score quite a lot in its other minutes. Ideally would they have a better player there? Absolutely.

Tell me the exact deal at the TDL though that gives them that at a price that isn't completely prohibitive. Is it 1st + 3rd + Cristall for Nelson? 1st for Granlund, Laughton, or Gourde? There was no deal to make -- sometimes it happens. And if you want to look at an internal solution, once again I ask what exactly that is. Is it bringing up Lappy -- who was legitimately one of the worst forwards in the entire league for a non-trivial sample of games? Play Beavuillier or Protas or Leonard, three guys that have never consistently played center at the pro level let alone the NHL level, at 3c? Or move someone who has finally found the perfect spot a 2lw in McMichael down.

I'm just sick and tired of Eller being the punching bag for everything wrong with the team. He didn't give LT a concussion, or cut Protas' foot, or make Leonard have 1 point in 7 games, or tell the team that they should only care about the Ovi chase, etc..

 

[Misery74]

Is the team losing because of Eller's play in his 12:30 of ice time a game or is the team losing because Protas and Thompson are hurt and nobody else gives a shit about the rest of the regular season ...

We sucked once Thompson signed his extension, so his play is also concerning.

But yes, Eller play is contributing to losses. It should have been addressed.

 

[Misery74]

Nothing that I haven't said many times before but re: Eller

He's a perfectly below-average 3/4c that has nothing happen at either end while he's on the ice in a team that can score quite a lot in its other minutes. Ideally would they have a better player there? Absolutely.

Tell me the exact deal at the TDL though that gives them that at a price that isn't completely prohibitive. Is it 1st + 3rd + Cristall for Nelson? 1st for Granlund, Laughton, or Gourde? There was no deal to make -- sometimes it happens. And if you want to look at an internal solution, once again I ask what exactly that is. Is it bringing up Lappy -- who was legitimately one of the worst forwards in the entire league for a non-trivial sample of games? Play Beavuillier or Protas or Leonard, three guys that have never consistently played center at the pro level let alone the NHL level, at 3c? Or move someone who has finally found the perfect spot a 2lw in McMichael down.

I'm just sick and tired of Eller being the punching bag for everything wrong with the team. He didn't give LT a concussion, or cut Protas' foot, or make Leonard have 1 point in 7 games, or tell the team that they should only care about the Ovi chase, etc..

The Granlund deal was absolutely affordable, and a clear upgrade.

 

[ovikovy817]

Ovie about to be on the Pat show. ESPN

Where can we watch this show, Ovi part of the show, for non Americans? Youtube? X?

 

[Ovechkins Wodka]

Where can we watch this show, Ovi part of the show, for non Americans? Youtube? X?

Check youtube. It was about 1:45-2 hour mark of the show. You should be able to rewind.

 

[max21]

 

[Silky mitts]

I don't think he recognized Clay Stevenson, "We have another guy!"

 

[max21]

I don't think he recognized Clay Stevenson, "We have another guy!"

And he just responds “yeah what’s up guys” lol

 

[CapitalsCupReality]

That was killer….quick someone list out the nicknames lol….”big Al”…”Little Kid Leno”….

 

[caps4cup]

Nothing that I haven't said many times before but re: Eller

He's a perfectly below-average 3/4c that has nothing happen at either end while he's on the ice in a team that can score quite a lot in its other minutes. Ideally would they have a better player there? Absolutely.

Tell me the exact deal at the TDL though that gives them that at a price that isn't completely prohibitive. Is it 1st + 3rd + Cristall for Nelson? 1st for Granlund, Laughton, or Gourde? There was no deal to make -- sometimes it happens. And if you want to look at an internal solution, once again I ask what exactly that is. Is it bringing up Lappy -- who was legitimately one of the worst forwards in the entire league for a non-trivial sample of games? Play Beavuillier or Protas or Leonard, three guys that have never consistently played center at the pro level let alone the NHL level, at 3c? Or move someone who has finally found the perfect spot a 2lw in McMichael down.

I'm just sick and tired of Eller being the punching bag for everything wrong with the team. He didn't give LT a concussion, or cut Protas' foot, or make Leonard have 1 point in 7 games, or tell the team that they should only care about the Ovi chase, etc..

Eller himself isn’t the problem. It’s how he fits into the bottom 6. Realistically, he should be on a defensive line with Dowd. But instead, he’s on a 3rd line and severely limiting an offensive forward in Leonard (or CMM if they choose) along with a solid 3rd liner in Mangiapane. No line that he is on is going to be strong offensively which is an issue when you’re playing with decent offensive players. Is that his fault? No. Is it the biggest issue for the team? No. Is it an issue? Yes.

 

[qcal1427]

The Granlund deal was absolutely affordable, and a clear upgrade.

Putting Granlund at 3c and having two lines to have to give insanely sheltered starts to instead of one would've been a net negative or at least not worth a 1st.

Eller himself isn’t the problem. It’s how he fits into the bottom 6. Realistically, he should be on a defensive line with Dowd. But instead, he’s on a 3rd line and severely limiting an offensive forward in Leonard (or CMM if they choose) along with a solid 3rd liner in Mangiapane. No line that he is on is going to be strong offensively which is an issue when you’re playing with decent offensive players. Is that his fault? No. Is it the biggest issue for the team? No. Is it an issue? Yes.

I agree in a vacuum with everything here. What was the option to do anything different though

 

[CapitalsCupReality]

Putting Granlund at 3c and having two lines to have to give insanely sheltered starts to instead of one would've been a net negative or at least not worth a 1st.

I agree in a vacuum with everything here. What was the option to do anything different though

We’ll never know. Deals that didn’t happen but were discussed rarely get disclosed. I think looking at trades that teams did make is only half the picture.

 

[Kazer]

Putting Granlund at 3c and having two lines to have to give insanely sheltered starts to instead of one would've been a net negative or at least not worth a 1st.

I agree in a vacuum with everything here. What was the option to do anything different though

I don't know that Granlund would have needed to be that sheltered. He got about 52% oZ deployment with SJ and has been getting a bit under 50% with Dallas. I don't think I would have paid the price for Gourde or Nelson, but I do think the price for Granlund was reasonable.

At the end of the day, the real scoring problem is with the top 6 outside of 8/17:

McMichael 0+2 last 10
Dubois 2+1 last 10
Wilson 2+2 last 10
Beauvillier 1+1 last 10
Raddysh 0+1 last 10 (included them since they've taken the rotational Protas spot over the last few games)

There's basically no one on the team scoring right now other than 8/17. Dowd is 2+1 L10 and Duhaime is 1+2. It's more than just Eller, though Eller is 0+1 in his last 10.

Morgan Frost

No guarantee that's who the Caps would have taken, but that ultimately was the pick. I'm still not clear just how good Frost is. He had a couple solid years in Philly (though with heavy offensive deployment), but he has been quite bad in Calgary (2 goals in 30 games is a lower goal scoring pace than Eller's).

The guy to steal in that draft would have been Jason Robertson, but he went at 39. Caps pick was 27th. There's no 'coulda had Getzlaf' pick right after 27.

 

[ovikovy817]

Thx.

 

[Silky mitts]

 

[caps4cup]

I don't know that Granlund would have needed to be that sheltered. He got about 52% oZ deployment with SJ and has been getting a bit under 50% with Dallas. I don't think I would have paid the price for Gourde or Nelson, but I do think the price for Granlund was reasonable.

At the end of the day, the real scoring problem is with the top 6 outside of 8/17:

McMichael 0+2 last 10
Dubois 2+1 last 10
Wilson 2+2 last 10
Beauvillier 1+1 last 10
Raddysh 0+1 last 10 (included them since they've taken the rotational Protas spot over the last few games)

There's basically no one on the team scoring right now other than 8/17. Dowd is 2+1 L10 and Duhaime is 1+2. It's more than just Eller, though Eller is 0+1 in his last 10.

No guarantee that's who the Caps would have taken, but that ultimately was the pick. I'm still not clear just how good Frost is. He had a couple solid years in Philly (though with heavy offensive deployment), but he has been quite bad in Calgary (2 goals in 30 games is a lower goal scoring pace than Eller's).

The guy to steal in that draft would have been Jason Robertson, but he went at 39. Caps pick was 27th. There's no 'coulda had Getzlaf' pick right after 27.

Just looked up the fancy stats for that 2nd line the last 10 games. PLD’s xGF/60 is down a lot in that time frame (from 3.09 to 2.37), CMM’s down from 3.15 to a still strong 2.75, and Wilson’s is virtually the same (2.73 versus 2.81). CMM’s on ice SH% is 4.41%, while PLD is at 4.62% and Wilson is at 7.14%. The only real concern would be Dubois IMO, but still his SH% is extremely low. Wilson’s xG% is actually higher and CMM’s is down just 0.44%.

PLD is going to be extremely important so they definitely need him going in the playoffs. Getting Protas back will also help a ton (especially PLD if that’s who he plays with) and probably more important is the PDO regressing to the mean. They should control play for the most part against MTL.

 

[kicksavedave]

I think a ton of people just seem to forget that they were, by a good margin, the first to clinch a playoff berth this year. That's about when their play got uninspired. All the fancy stats in the world aren't the solution. When they start caring again, they'll start playing better.

 

[Strawberry Fields]

I don't know that Granlund would have needed to be that sheltered. He got about 52% oZ deployment with SJ and has been getting a bit under 50% with Dallas. I don't think I would have paid the price for Gourde or Nelson, but I do think the price for Granlund was reasonable.

At the end of the day, the real scoring problem is with the top 6 outside of 8/17:

McMichael 0+2 last 10
Dubois 2+1 last 10
Wilson 2+2 last 10
Beauvillier 1+1 last 10
Raddysh 0+1 last 10 (included them since they've taken the rotational Protas spot over the last few games)

There's basically no one on the team scoring right now other than 8/17. Dowd is 2+1 L10 and Duhaime is 1+2. It's more than just Eller, though Eller is 0+1 in his last 10.

No guarantee that's who the Caps would have taken, but that ultimately was the pick. I'm still not clear just how good Frost is. He had a couple solid years in Philly (though with heavy offensive deployment), but he has been quite bad in Calgary (2 goals in 30 games is a lower goal scoring pace than Eller's).

The guy to steal in that draft would have been Jason Robertson, but he went at 39. Caps pick was 27th. There's no 'coulda had Getzlaf' pick right after 27.

He'd be good in Washington, I think. He has talent and he consistently graded as one of Philly's best defensive forwards the last few years. He was despised by Torts and the dino bully brigade who believe he's soft and poor defensively because he doesn't hit everything that moves like a REAL FLYER should. He was yo yo'd up and down the lineup for years and ate a healthy amount of healthy scratches early this year for no real reason other than he didn't fit Torts' outdated preconception of a hockey player.

 

[895]

So they call CMM Mcjesus too? Lmao