Caps traded Darcy Kuemper to the Kings for Pierre Luc Dubois, arguably the league’s most overpaid underachiever. Pretty much an admission that the only thing the organization cares about anymore is Ovi’s chase of The Great One’s record, and if PLD can set him up with 10 or so goals this season, he’ll be worth every penny of the $8.5M they owe him each of the next 7 seasons.

On a side note, maybe they purchased CapFriendly with this trade in mind, and now fans won’t be able to go on there and see just how awful a deal this was.

Elliot (DC101) was trying to put a positive spin on this.  All I know is Kuemper was a disappointment.

The only level it makes sense is that Dubois does play a position of need, and moving Kuemper is not a big loss. But when all you care about is getting Ovi goals and sending him off into the sunset with the all-time record (and of course cashing in on his chase of the record), why take on what many say is the worst contract in the league that runs all the way through 2031 when you know you have to go into rebuild mode when Ovi retires? It’s bad enough they were gonna have Wilson’s contract weighing them down over the same period, and now this?

It's actually a pretty fantastic trade. I'm all about it.

PLD is a 30 goal, 60 assist guy upside wise. He's been in the league a while even though he's only 25. He's a replacement for Backstrom. Similar type players, contract is about the same. Throw last year out and don't even look at it. He wasn't a fit for LA or their system, and tried to force it by playing a much more 2nd fiddle, deferential style...it didn't go well. Everywhere else he's been, he's produced, and without a ton of talent around him. He was part of the trade for Patrick Laine originally, so highly touted, seeing that it was a SHOCK Laine was traded then (ironically Laine is another player the Caps have been in on so far). When he got expensive, CLB couldn't afford him and let him walk to LA. So when you hear Ohhhh he's played for so many teams already, just throw that noise out. Good prospect, got traded in a big trade, got expensive and signed with another team. That's far from demanded multiple trades and was difficult.

If we had traded a bag of burnt eggo's and gotten out from Kuemper's contract I would have been happy. Signing 2 starting level GK in the same offseason was a dumb idea. So that money got freed up too, that I never thought we would get out from under.

Don't get stuck on the contract. You want a top 6 C, you're going to have to pay for them. This one cost us nothing in terms of capital, no picks, no players, just a salary dump. With he and Strome you've got 2 legit top line C. Aging Ovi is still going to get one of the LW spots, Wilson will get one of the RW spots, and the questions are what is Oshie going to do, and where do the young kids fit in? McMichael could get that 2nd LW spot. Or could be a 3rd C on an offensive 3rd line. (Personally I hate when teams go 2 O lines, cause you lose that tough, defensive shut down line other teams have) and then yo have your specialists on the 4th line. If they do go and score Laine too, you've got Ovi and Laine on the LW, Strome and PLD at C and Wilson and TBD on the RW.

Now if they can move some of these offensive defensemen that can't play defense we may be in decent shape.

PLD is a 30 goal, 60 assist guy upside wise. 

In 8 seasons with 3 different clubs he's never come close to that. Many say the talent is there, but clearly something has been missing, and it's more than just being a bad fit for LA since he was only there one season. Thinking that's magically going to change in DC sounds like fool's gold to me. His ceiling is a ~60 point player until proven otherwise.

And it's easy to not get stuck on the contract now while they're sitting in the purgatory of being an old team whose icon is chasing a record, and PLD can help with that. I think we'll have a vastly different perspective at the end of the decade, when Ovi is gone and they're hopefully trying to build around a young core of players.

In 8 seasons with 3 different clubs he's never come close to that. Many say the talent is there, but clearly something has been missing, and it's more than just being a bad fit for LA since he was only there one season. Thinking that's magically going to change in DC sounds like fool's gold to me. His ceiling is a ~60 point player until proven otherwise.

 

And it's easy to not get stuck on the contract now while they're sitting in the purgatory of being an old team whose icon is chasing a record, and PLD can help with that. I think we'll have a vastly different perspective at the end of the decade, when Ovi is gone and they're hopefully trying to build around a young core of players.

He's been in the NHL 7 seasons, (one he was traded mid way, so the split makes it look like 8) since he was 18. Three seasons he had just under 30, three seasons he had about 20 (just under) and the last year was the year he was traded in the Laine deal (as the primary piece) when he only played like 45 games. Pretty comfortable saying he's a 30 goal guy.

The assists, yeah I'll give you, I'm embellishing some there, but mostly cause he's played on teams with no one else. If he had played WITH Laine instead of being traded for him he probably would have had 60 assists there. It's a little like Dylan Strome, who had worse numbers with two different teams before we got him and since has developed into a 20+ 40 assist guy at the same age. It doesn't always work you grab a guy on a one year, no risk deal, and then sign him IF he produces, and you run the risk of them raising their value and then bailing. Ovi even at his age is somehow scoring 30 goals. Wilson is a 20-30 goal scorer depending on his health. A lot depends on who they fill those other two top 6 spots with. They have been talking about Laine for a while now, irony if we united the kids traded for each other and then they play well together. That would be about best case for me adding offense wise. The fact we managed to dump DK's contract and not have to give up the little we have in the minors was fantastic. It's worth the risk contract wise.

Now if we can fix this defense problem, we'd be in good shape. Need defense only players willing to get rough and block shots, not guys looking to score 20 goals.

RMNB: Capitals can’t completely find their game in Home Opener loss to battle-tested Devils: numbers for the morning after

https://russianmachi...-morning-after/

A lot of new faces but looking solid so far.  PP still needs some work, but two shorthanded goals last night almost matches their total from last year.

I've just seen the results but haven't gotten to watch any games, any analysis on why we've had such a great start?

I'm not going to try to give any real analysis, but the offense is getting contributions from everyone.  Defense seems more solid too in that the goalies aren't constantly hung out to dry.  They just need to get the power play going which has been pretty bad.

Ovi got a hat trick tonight and is now just 29 goals from Gretzky's record.

I've just seen the results but haven't gotten to watch any games, any analysis on why we've had such a great start?

They had a fairly big overhaul in the offseason. Turned over like 6/18 skater positions and changed up how GK works. The moves they made were for lesser "name" guys, but guys that do a certain job. Grinding defensive guys, tough physical enforcers, playmaking assist first guy to replace Backstrom, plus Strome developing more and playing fantastic leading the league in assists. Mostly like bottom 6 players aside from the top C, but it lets us actually play defense first checking lines against other teams top lines, play a physical checking style that can still score some goals, good face off guy. It was just tweaking little things, and the subtractions while we lost big names and skill (Backy, Oshie) we got a lot faster too.

On D, we had too many offense first defenders and not enough shot blocking, or actual defense going on, so yeah, like ^ he said, the GK aren't getting hung out to dry as much. Although still seems like once a game they are getting a breakaway on them.

Just one of those things where upgrading your depth and cycling out some older players makes you a better overall team. Helps that Ovi has been on fire all year though, and and McMichael are giving them a good 1-2 punch on two different lines. Hard to shut down the offense when either one can beat you. Physical guy being a pest? McIlrath will go wreck him real quick and handle that. Need a big faceoff in your zone? Dowd is one of the top in the league. They are much more balanced now. If they made a deadline deal for a superstar Defense first defender, they may be one of the favorites to win it all. Superstars on other teams still give us trouble, but grabbing someone who can neutralize them would be huge.

Can someone reasonably good at math tell me about when he can be expected to break the record?

Let's wait to make sure his leg is okay first...

That would really suck, the guy's been on fire lately. Two more goals last night before the injury.

Week to week.