2023-24 Washington Capitals Thread

[PokerPacker]

Just now, Hersh said:

they picked up a first that maybe they use to package for upgrades. If not, it’s smart to keep the pipeline stocked when you have too many skaters at one position. 

It's a pipeline when you've got players in the minors who can come up into the NHL.  They've got 9 guys currently on the NHL roster, none of whom are waiver exempt.  What is their plan there?  McCabe, Gustafsson, and now Luke Schenn all were acquired in the last two days.  Sandin the only defenseman moved off the team.  Was Schenn picked up to sit in the press box?  Was Gustafsson?

[Hersh]

25 minutes ago, PokerPacker said:

It's a pipeline when you've got players in the minors who can come up into the NHL.  They've got 9 guys currently on the NHL roster, none of whom are waiver exempt.  What is their plan there?  McCabe, Gustafsson, and now Luke Schenn all were acquired in the last two days.  Sandin the only defenseman moved off the team.  Was Schenn picked up to sit in the press box?  Was Gustafsson?

 

The point is, when you have excess, you start moving out guys for assets that will payout in the future. They are in a win now mode and yet still collected a first in the upcoming draft. I don't know enough about their system to know if their prospects are any good. 

Edited March 1, 2023 by Hersh

[capcrunch98]

Okay, they won't get anything for Jensen because they just re-signed him to a 3-year deal.  I'm fine with that - we need defenseman next year (only Carlson and Sandin are under contract beyond this year).  It was either get something for him before he walks, or extend him. 

[PokerPacker]

Nick Jensen has been re-signed.  3 years.  $4.05 mil AAV.

 

Edit: Oops, looks like it's been broken on here already.

Edited March 1, 2023 by PokerPacker

[PokerPacker]

23 minutes ago, Hersh said:

 

The point is, when you have excess, you start moving out guys for assets that will payout in the future. They are in a win now mode and yet still collected a first in the upcoming draft. I don't know enough about their system to know if their prospects are any good. 

I feel like we're talking past each other here.  The Leafs have 9 NHL defensemen on their roster right now.  That confuses me.  What is their plan with 9 NHL defensemen?  I'm not talking about prospects on the farm, but guys sitting in the NHL right now.  All but 1 are between the ages of 28 and 40.

[Hersh]

3 minutes ago, PokerPacker said:

I feel like we're talking past each other here.  The Leafs have 9 NHL defensemen on their roster right now.  That confuses me.  What is their plan with 9 NHL defensemen?  I'm not talking about prospects on the farm, but guys sitting in the NHL right now.  All but 1 are between the ages of 28 and 40.

 

I assume they will trade a couple of those defensemen in a package or separately for picks or mid-level prospects, but who knows. No reason to carry that many defensemen. 

[Hersh]

38 minutes ago, capcrunch98 said:

Okay, they won't get anything for Jensen because they just re-signed him to a 3-year deal.  I'm fine with that - we need defenseman next year (only Carlson and Sandin are under contract beyond this year).  It was either get something for him before he walks, or extend him. 

 

I'm not a fan of this. I'd rather they continue to try to get younger across the board. Dude will be 33 before the beginning of next season. 

[capcrunch98]

21 minutes ago, Hersh said:

 

I'm not a fan of this. I'd rather they continue to try to get younger across the board. Dude will be 33 before the beginning of next season. 

 

Me too, but they're not going to do a total strip down, they're going to try to retool on the fly and hope to have a competitive team next year and the following year for Ovi.  Not sure if I agree - these "rebuilding the plane in mid-flight" approaches rarely work.  But if that's the path they're taking, it makes sense to keep Jensen on a manageable contract.  And I think the blueline will be younger next year - Sandin, Fehervary, and Alexeyev should all be part of the top 6.  Then we'll have Jensen, and Carlson will be back (I know he catches a lot of flak on this board - some of it is deserved - but there's no question our offense and specifically our power play has taken a huge hit since he went down).  They should be able to add a solid free agent with their big cap space to round out the group. 

[Hersh]

2 minutes ago, capcrunch98 said:

 

Me too, but they're not going to do a total strip down, they're going to try to retool on the fly and hope to have a competitive team next year and the following year for Ovi.  Not sure if I agree - these "rebuilding the plane in mid-flight" approaches rarely work.  But if that's the path they're taking, it makes sense to keep Jensen on a manageable contract.  And I think the blueline will be younger next year - Sandin, Fehervary, and Alexeyev should all be part of the top 6.  Then we'll have Jensen, and Carlson will be back (I know he catches a lot of flak on this board - some of it is deserved - but there's no question our offense and specifically our power play has taken a huge hit since he went down).  They should be able to add a solid free agent with their big cap space to round out the group. 

 

I'm not sure how much cap space they will have once they fill out the rest of the roster and sign their RFAs. I should've added that I would rather have seen them target a younger player even if it meant a higher salary and more term. If you aren't gonna tear it down yet, that's fine, but at least target players, like Sandin or at a higher level, that can "compete" now but also serve at a bridge from the Ovechkin era. 

Maybe they will fire the coach and bring in someone that is willing to actually play the younger guys a bit more. 

[PokerPacker]

1 hour ago, Hersh said:

 

I'm not a fan of this. I'd rather they continue to try to get younger across the board. Dude will be 33 before the beginning of next season. 

There's nothing wrong with keeping a few veterans, though.

 

24 minutes ago, Hersh said:

 

I'm not sure how much cap space they will have once they fill out the rest of the roster and sign their RFAs. I should've added that I would rather have seen them target a younger player even if it meant a higher salary and more term. If you aren't gonna tear it down yet, that's fine, but at least target players, like Sandin or at a higher level, that can "compete" now but also serve at a bridge from the Ovechkin era. 

I think it's fair to say they are targeting younger players like Sandin evidenced by them grabbing Sandin.  Only have so many options available to get younger at D on the fly, though.  We've got some youth in the pipeline, however, just need a coach willing to play them.

 

24 minutes ago, Hersh said:

Maybe they will fire the coach and bring in someone that is willing to actually play the younger guys a bit more. 

And on that note... I do believe this is the last year of Laviolette's contract, so I don't think there's any firing necessary.  Seems to be fine on the actual coaching side of things, but he suffers from the same mental block as Trotz did simply refusing to play younger players.  Its like they only value hockey IQ and skill/energy are afterthoughts, and developing young players to build that IQ through experience is unthinkable.

 

You know who loved playing young guys, though?  Ol' Gabby.  I wonder if it's time he returned to the team that gave him his first NHL coaching job.

[Hersh]

7 minutes ago, PokerPacker said:

There's nothing wrong with keeping a few veterans, though.

 

Given they were the oldest team in the league this season, they can afford a few less veterans. Plus, veteran could mean 25+. Doesn't have to be 33 and over.  

[capcrunch98]

12 minutes ago, PokerPacker said:

And on that note... I do believe this is the last year of Laviolette's contract

Yes it is, and the fact they haven't extended him yet is telling.  We're going to miss the playoffs this year with a team that management thought could contend (even though they were totally wrong).  GMBM is already making excuses ("injuries got us this year"), and the next step for a GM to cover his ass during a disappointing season is to fire the coach.  I think Peter's gone.  Good coach, seems like a good guy, but the wrong fit for this team.

Edited March 1, 2023 by capcrunch98

[capcrunch98]

And in other news, Ottawa just jumped past us tonight in the standings.  We've now got the 10th worst record in the league.  I'd say I'm wishing for a tank job the rest of the way for a great draft pick, but a half dozen other teams already beat us to it beginning on opening night.

[PokerPacker]

Looks like Eller to Colorado.  No word yet on what's coming back.  I'm assuming we're getting a 3rd for him until I hear otherwise.  Looks like Caps are retaining on Eller.  That'll make 2 of our 3 contract retentions.  Craig Smith is the only remaining UFA on our roster with a salary greater than $1.5 mil, so there's no concern about not being able to retain on any of our outgoing contracts that will really restrict our ability to move anybody.

 

Edit: Looks like retaining on Eller got them a 2nd round pick.  Very nice.

 

Edit 2: Trade has officially been announced.  Eller retained at 31% for Colorado's 2025 2nd round pick.

Edited March 1, 2023 by PokerPacker

[capcrunch98]

Sad to see Lars go, we'll always remember his GWG in 2018. But he was complete dead weight this year. I'm shocked we were able to get a 2nd rounder for him. Nicely done.

[Hersh]

Given what the Chychrun kid ended up getting traded for, that's a big miss by the Caps. Could've traded Jensen and had plenty of draft capital to beat Ottawa's offer without giving up prospects. Could've revamped the defense and had four Dmen 25 and under going into next season to go with Carlson and whomever else. 

Edited March 2, 2023 by Hersh

[PokerPacker]

Yeah, that return on Chychrun wound up pretty underwhelming after all that.  Assuming we had been on the phone with them, I wonder what they were asking for from us.

[capcrunch98]

Orlov has 8 friggin points in 4 games since joining the Bruins.  Good for him.

[PokerPacker]

With the injuries to Jensen and Fahervary, Vincent Iorio and Gabriel Carlsson have been called up from Hershey; McIlrath sent back down.  A little surprised Lucas Johanson wasn't one of the call-ups.  Looking forward to seeing what Iorio can do in the NHL.

[TradeTheBeal!]

Got outshot 40.22 and went 0-4 in the shootout.

 

Abject misery.

[PokerPacker]

I cheer for every goal scored, but as a playoff outsider, I also am a bit happy about every loss giving us a better chance at drafting Suzdalev's teammate, Connor Bedard.

[capcrunch98]

7 hours ago, PokerPacker said:

I cheer for every goal scored, but as a playoff outsider, I also am a bit happy about every loss giving us a better chance at drafting Suzdalev's teammate, Connor Bedard.

 

Normally I'd be with you on this, but I'm not for two reasons. One, if you look at the standings, there's a big drop off with the bottom nine teams in the league. We'd really have to crap out the rest of the way, and even then the lowest we'd likely finish would be maybe 7th or 8th. There's a half dozen teams who have been tanking since opening night; we're not going to catch them. 

Also, we're not doing a rebuild. So a lot of the players we've got now are the same guys we're going to be rolling with next year (albeit hopefully with some big additions this off-season considering our cap space). So sucking down the stretch - just to move up a couple spots in the draft and improve our chances of winning the lottery by maybe 5% - doesn't bode well for next season.  

[Hersh]

27 minutes ago, capcrunch98 said:

 

Normally I'd be with you on this, but I'm not for two reasons. One, if you look at the standings, there's a big drop off with the bottom nine teams in the league. We'd really have to crap out the rest of the way, and even then the lowest we'd likely finish would be maybe 7th or 8th. There's a half dozen teams who have been tanking since opening night; we're not going to catch them. 

Also, we're not doing a rebuild. So a lot of the players we've got now are the same guys we're going to be rolling with next year (albeit hopefully with some big additions this off-season considering our cap space). So sucking down the stretch - just to move up a couple spots in the draft and improve our chances of winning the lottery by maybe 5% - doesn't bode well for next season.  

 

The Caps really don't have much cap space. They've got three RFA defensemen this year, plus they will need to sign at least one. The following year, Wilson (UFA), Protas (RFA) and Sandin (RFA who played 30 minutes last night), will all need new deals. Of course this gets to one of the problems with GMBM. He locked up centers when the best prospects are all centers and defensemen with one winger on the list. At least the team is now forced to play younger defensemen. 

[@DCGoldPants]

 

 

 

I don't understand how Ted can own both the Caps and Wizards based on how they are run. Caps realized their situation. Dumped expiring deals. Loaded up on assets and then extended contributors young and veteran. 

 

Wizards refuse to acknowledge their situation and keep leaning into what never has worked. 

 

 

[PokerPacker]

Happy with the TvR re-signing.  I thought it was possible he'd sign for less, but only because I got the impression he was under-rated around the league.  Solid defensively-responsible blue-liner that should keep us stable through the end of the Ovechkin era.  With Fever and Alexeyev RFAs, that should probably round out our primary defensemen next year, and we can cover the 7th defenseman with either a veteran signing or allowing somebody like Lucas Johanson to come up to the NHL.

 

Biggest issue now is finding more scoring on offense.