508 replies to this topic

[DuffMan]

Alright enough feeling sorry for ourselves.  Season's done and over with, time to move the discussion to a new thread and a new offseason.

 

Michael Latta has been let go, no loss there although it kind've sucked seeing on the same day Latta was let go that Forsberg signed a juicy deal with the Preds.  Whatever nothing can be done about that now.

 

Caps made a deal with the Habs and acquired Lars Eller.  I don't know too much about this guy except that he's penciled in as the 3rd line center.

 

And most recent the Caps chose to let Chimera walk.  Chim is a good dead who had some wheels and worked hard but it was time to move on.  If the Isles want to give a 37 yo winger two years and 4.5 million more power to them.  I like Jason, but that's money better used elsewhere.

[DuffMan]

http://www.spotrac.c...n-capitals/cap/

 

The Caps are in pretty good shape heading into the offseason. With most of the core intact and returning there's no reason to think they can't make another run at the Cup.

 

The Caps have about 7.5-8 million in Space right now with two RFA remaining (don't expect them to sign any of their UFA's).

 

MoJo made 3.75 million last year while Orlov had a cap hit of 2 million. Both of these guys were successful at times and contributed to the Caps team in a vacuum I would like to see both of them back, but the dollars will be interesting.  MoJo is likely to get some sort of raise and that starts to get expensive for a guy who is likely to split time between the 2nd and 3rd line.  I'm guessing they offer him a contract for next year, but with Kuz up for FA next year I don't expect MJ to be offered a multi year deal as they'll need that space and flexibility next Summer.

 

Orlov is cheaper but also  less established then MoJo.  Having said that I wouldn't mind seeing the Caps offer him a 2 or 3 year deal worth about 3 million if possible.

 

Something to keep an eye on as the season progresses and heading into next summer is the expansion draft for the Vegas team.  The Caps are sure to leave Orpik unprotected, it would be a big help if Vegas selected him and we got that contract off of the books.

[DuffMan]

Caps avoid arbitration and complete a deal with MoJo.  3 years  13.75 million dollars total which comes to 4.58 million annually.  Maybe a tad higher than I would have liked, but pretty fair deal for a guy that can do a lot of different things for the team.

 

This leaves the Caps about 3.5 million to reach a deal with Orlov.

[JeremyStrain]

Caps avoid arbitration and complete a deal with MoJo.  3 years  13.75 million dollars total which comes to 4.58 million annually.  Maybe a tad higher than I would have liked, but pretty fair deal for a guy that can do a lot of different things for the team.

 

This leaves the Caps about 3.5 million to reach a deal with Orlov.

 

Yeah I prob would have traded him and reallocated that 4.5m.

 

Could have signed Eric Staal to be the 3rd line C for less. I dunno, too much thought to put into things, I'm much more worried about extending Kuzy.

[DuffMan]

Yeah I prob would have traded him and reallocated that 4.5m.

 

Could have signed Eric Staal to be the 3rd line C for less. I dunno, too much thought to put into things, I'm much more worried about extending Kuzy.

When I saw the Arbitration numbers submitted, I thought that might be the route they go.  Looking at it a little more I now see that he's the 6th highest paid player on the team so I think I like it even less.  

 

I agree that extending Kuzy is the bigger priority, I guess they just plan on addressing that next Summer although with several UFA's next Summer that won't be easy.  Oshie, Williams and Alzner will all be UFA's and likely get more money.   

 

Unloading Orpik will help alot if they can pull that off.

[JeremyStrain]

When I saw the Arbitration numbers submitted, I thought that might be the route they go.  Looking at it a little more I now see that he's the 6th highest paid player on the team so I think I like it even less.  

 

I agree that extending Kuzy is the bigger priority, I guess they just plan on addressing that next Summer although with several UFA's next Summer that won't be easy.  Oshie, Williams and Alzner will all be UFA's and likely get more money.   

 

Unloading Orpik will help alot if they can pull that off.

 

Yep that's the problem I see coming. Keeping MJ over any of those guys is a KNUCKLEHEADED move. He's ok as a top 6 winger, but he's a playmaker, not a scorer, and that's hard to do from the wing, lowering his value. Would be much wiser to keep Oshie and Alzner. I'd love to keep Williams too, but you have to wonder when that tank is going to run dry, he's nearing 40. That's still another top 6 scoring winger they will need, you can't replace him with MJ, different skill sets. They tried to use MJ as a scorer for years and it didn't work. He's like a poor man's Backstrom who can't play C. Hopefully they can pull off some multi piece trade with a D and MJ for a legit young winger. Okposo would have been an ideal get, he's got a real similar style to Oshie, and could have replaced JWill after he leaves next year. Would have cost 6m but that's MJ and a 4th liner salary wise.

 

I guess the problem there is you still aren't clearing room for Alzner and Kuzy next year, who are probably going to cost you $10m between the 2. Coulda had half of that if you let MJ go, but trading say him and Orpik to get there is going to create holes to fill with zero money too. Long term problems popping up, and more overpaying the support players as they tend to do.

[DuffMan]

Well said.  They should still have a solid core moving forward, but next years team might be their last best chance for a while.

[FlavaDave10]

Caps avoid arbitration and complete a deal with MoJo.  3 years  13.75 million dollars total which comes to 4.58 million annually.  Maybe a tad higher than I would have liked, but pretty fair deal for a guy that can do a lot of different things for the team.

 

This leaves the Caps about 3.5 million to reach a deal with Orlov.

 

Yeah, MoJo got a very fair deal. If needed, it's definitely tradeable as well. Top six caliber forwards are quite hard to find. Keep as many as you can. MoJo does a lot of excellent work on the power play as well. His zone entries are so beautiful. 

 

And that leaves anywhere from just over $2.5 million to just under $3 million for Orlov because the Caps need to add one more roster player. Depends on who they add. If necessary, they could use Aaron Ness as a seventh defenseman instead of Chorney and save a couple hundred thousand bucks. 

[FlavaDave10]

Yep that's the problem I see coming. Keeping MJ over any of those guys is a KNUCKLEHEADED move. He's ok as a top 6 winger, but he's a playmaker, not a scorer, and that's hard to do from the wing, lowering his value. Would be much wiser to keep Oshie and Alzner. I'd love to keep Williams too, but you have to wonder when that tank is going to run dry, he's nearing 40. That's still another top 6 scoring winger they will need, you can't replace him with MJ, different skill sets. They tried to use MJ as a scorer for years and it didn't work. He's like a poor man's Backstrom who can't play C. Hopefully they can pull off some multi piece trade with a D and MJ for a legit young winger. Okposo would have been an ideal get, he's got a real similar style to Oshie, and could have replaced JWill after he leaves next year. Would have cost 6m but that's MJ and a 4th liner salary wise.

 

I guess the problem there is you still aren't clearing room for Alzner and Kuzy next year, who are probably going to cost you $10m between the 2. Coulda had half of that if you let MJ go, but trading say him and Orpik to get there is going to create holes to fill with zero money too. Long term problems popping up, and more overpaying the support players as they tend to do.

 

MoJo is a very capable top six forward. Sure, he's on the third line, but considering how important he is to the power play, he's definitely worth that much moving forward. Caps would love to have someone like Jakub Vrana take his spot. If that happens, very tradeable contract. Alzner is a goner because someone has to go to make room for Bowey. Would love for that to be Orpik, but I'd also love a billion dollars to fall from the sky and land right in front of me. Those two things have the same approximate chance of happening.

 

Got to go for a Stanley Cup while the window is open. The window is closed after this season regardless. Will be interesting to see if they can cram it open again. They've made good moves as of late so I am optimistic. 

[JeremyStrain]

MoJo is a very capable top six forward. Sure, he's on the third line, but considering how important he is to the power play, he's definitely worth that much moving forward. Caps would love to have someone like Jakub Vrana take his spot. If that happens, very tradeable contract. Alzner is a goner because someone has to go to make room for Bowey. Would love for that to be Orpik, but I'd also love a billion dollars to fall from the sky and land right in front of me. Those two things have the same approximate chance of happening.

 

Got to go for a Stanley Cup while the window is open. The window is closed after this season regardless. Will be interesting to see if they can cram it open again. They've made good moves as of late so I am optimistic. 

 

He could be a top 6 for some team, but not the way this team is built. Can't have 3 playmakers on a line and no one to put it in the net. That's why he never worked on the top line with 8 and 19. He and 19 would pass first ALL day and then teams could just sit on 8 and keep him from getting open shots, entire first line = shut down.

 

He would be more useful as a trade chip, if a team had say a power forward type C, and a scoring Wing, he would be a great fit, we just happen to have a playmaking C, a scoring C, a grinding C, and I'm not sure what to make of Eller yet.

 

Alzner will be resigned. He's the best stay at home defensemen we have, and they have learned lessons over the years about letting stay at home guys go without being replaced, it doesn't end well. Bowey may come up, but he's no stay at home guy, and that would just make the D worse in front of Holtby which will limit his effectiveness.

 

This year is wide open for a run, after that, it gets a lot more interesting. They could buy out Orpik, but that'd only save them 3m a year in cap room for 3 years, and then would cost them 1.5m for the next 3. Some BIG FA to sign next year. Oshie, Kuzy, JWill, Alzner. Ugh.

[FlavaDave10]

He could be a top 6 for some team, but not the way this team is built. Can't have 3 playmakers on a line and no one to put it in the net. That's why he never worked on the top line with 8 and 19. He and 19 would pass first ALL day and then teams could just sit on 8 and keep him from getting open shots, entire first line = shut down.

 

He would be more useful as a trade chip, if a team had say a power forward type C, and a scoring Wing, he would be a great fit, we just happen to have a playmaking C, a scoring C, a grinding C, and I'm not sure what to make of Eller yet.

 

Alzner will be resigned. He's the best stay at home defensemen we have, and they have learned lessons over the years about letting stay at home guys go without being replaced, it doesn't end well. Bowey may come up, but he's no stay at home guy, and that would just make the D worse in front of Holtby which will limit his effectiveness.

 

This year is wide open for a run, after that, it gets a lot more interesting. They could buy out Orpik, but that'd only save them 3m a year in cap room for 3 years, and then would cost them 1.5m for the next 3. Some BIG FA to sign next year. Oshie, Kuzy, JWill, Alzner. Ugh.

 

MoJo is a legitimate second line wing. He's proven that. Sure, might not be one of the Caps. But he ranks favorably to other forwards and is at worst in the 80th percentile. Won't have any trouble moving him if they need to. Lars Eller is a nice 3C. Stood out to me as a guy who consistently moved the puck down the ice despite having a revolving door of wings. Strong defensively and I think he has some untapped potential on offense that the Caps can help him unleash. 

 

Alzner can be replaced, but unless the Caps make Vegas take Orpik to get Ross Mahoney (very plausible idea that has been done in past expansion drafts), simply not enough space for him moving forward. He's not worth overpaying for. You can always swap Johansson for a D similar or better than Alzner. Have a feeling either Orpik or MoJo will be gone at the expansion draft. Hoping it's Orpik, but if the Caps have to let MoJo go to create more cap space and protect their D, so be it. 

 

Keep Kuzy and Oshie. Those are the important guys. Having MoJo around at least forces Jakub Vrana to earn a spot rather than handing it to him. FWIW, my projections had MoJo worth $4.5 million without the open market factor. So not a terrible overpay, especially not for a team that is looking to contend in 2016-17. Alzner is replaceable, but I would like to keep him. Certainly not over Kuzy or Oshie though. If he wants more than $4 million, tell him goodbye and find a better value. Not worth more than that. 

[DuffMan]

Alzner can be replaced, but unless the Caps make Vegas take Orpik to get Ross Mahoney (very plausible idea that has been done in past expansion drafts), simply not enough space for him moving forward. He's not worth overpaying for. You can always swap Johansson for a D similar or better than Alzner. Have a feeling either Orpik or MoJo will be gone at the expansion draft. Hoping it's Orpik, but if the Caps have to let MoJo go to create more cap space and protect their D, so be it. 

You're kidding yourself if you think they can replace Alzner.  Jeremy's right, he's our best stay at home defender.  We aren't exactly overflowing with those guys on the blue line he's a must resign.  I mean look what happened in game 6 when he wen't down with an injury, how'd that workout?

[FlavaDave10]

You're kidding yourself if you think they can replace Alzner.  Jeremy's right, he's our best stay at home defender.  We aren't exactly overflowing with those guys on the blue line he's a must resign.  I mean look what happened in game 6 when he wen't down with an injury, how'd that workout?

 

You can easily trade for a solid defenseman if you know what you're doing. The Penguins swapped Rob Scuderi for Trevor Daley. Also, Niskanen is their best D in his own zone. Alzner is their second best, but honestly, that's not exactly saying much.

 

Reason they lost Game 6 was because the Penguins outskated the Caps. Losing Alzner was a reason, but certainly not the biggest. I'd much rather keep Kuznetsov and Oshie over him. And if I'm a team looking to contend in 2016-17, I keep Johansson. The way the game is changing, I'd be looking to get more mobile defensemen then Alzner and I certainly wouldn't overpay for him. That transition can be made quickly if you know what you're doing. If Orpik is taken in the expansion draft, hopefully that opens things up for keeping Alzner. Gut feeling is that he will be kept because the Caps will make Vegas take Orpik in order to get Ross Mahoney. Still, Caps need to get more mobile defensemen. And Alzner is a lot of things, but mobile isn't one of them. 

[JeremyStrain]

MoJo is a legitimate second line wing. He's proven that. Sure, might not be one of the Caps. But he ranks favorably to other forwards and is at worst in the 80th percentile. Won't have any trouble moving him if they need to. Lars Eller is a nice 3C. Stood out to me as a guy who consistently moved the puck down the ice despite having a revolving door of wings. Strong defensively and I think he has some untapped potential on offense that the Caps can help him unleash. 

 

Alzner can be replaced, but unless the Caps make Vegas take Orpik to get Ross Mahoney (very plausible idea that has been done in past expansion drafts), simply not enough space for him moving forward. He's not worth overpaying for. You can always swap Johansson for a D similar or better than Alzner. Have a feeling either Orpik or MoJo will be gone at the expansion draft. Hoping it's Orpik, but if the Caps have to let MoJo go to create more cap space and protect their D, so be it. 

 

Keep Kuzy and Oshie. Those are the important guys. Having MoJo around at least forces Jakub Vrana to earn a spot rather than handing it to him. FWIW, my projections had MoJo worth $4.5 million without the open market factor. So not a terrible overpay, especially not for a team that is looking to contend in 2016-17. Alzner is replaceable, but I would like to keep him. Certainly not over Kuzy or Oshie though. If he wants more than $4 million, tell him goodbye and find a better value. Not worth more than that. 

 

Agree with you mostly, except for the Alzner thing. I learned back in the 80's run the value of the guys that can keep the puck out of the zone on an elite level, and Alzner is most definitely one of those. Hatcher was good at it, but more of a two way guy with all that offense. Scott Stevens, Mark Tinordi, Brendan Witt. Niskanen is much more of an offensive guy than defensive. He had a good season this year, but a lot of that was because of who his partner was and being forced to play a certain way.

 

I think you are right on MoJo, he just doesn't fit the way our roster is built right now. I'm not sure if they are going to go with a scoring or a checking 3rd line yet. They could really go either way with Eller and Wilson I think, if you add MoJo there, it's more of a scoring line, if not, you need a better defensive player to go checking and then where do you put MJ90? 4.5m 4th winger? Part of me wonders if they didn't sign him to that deal with every intention of trading him to GMGM, cause you know he's coming hard for some of his former Caps players, with salary cap and roster space to spare. The plus is that a lot of more veteran guys aren't going to be interested in spending more than half their season in Vegas, and it's not very family friendly. So guys like Oshie, Alzner and others with young families will probably shy away from that.

 

Hate to break your pipe dream, but zero chance GMGM is going to take Orpik at his age and salary to do a favor to the Caps. A lot more likely that he takes MoJo or Grubauer. He's going to want a guy that he drafted or acquired and want someone young that will be there long enough to see the team grow and contend. A playmaking top 6 winger could be a major target, especially if he thinks he could handle C (he can't).

 

Not many teams can match the speed the Pens have/had, they built like that at the deadline on purpose, it worked. More mobile isn't going to mean better defense, general rule is the more mobile they are the worse they are defensively. What they banked on is that our forwards wouldn't be able to get back fast enough to help out on rushes, and in the end that's what happened. They should have collapsed and played more conservatively to try to combat it, but that goes against what they did all year, so I can see why they wouldn't want to change up either. Couple that with a good goaltending performance, and we got beat. Not another of those 14 playoff teams pulls that off against us.

[FlavaDave10]

Agree with you mostly, except for the Alzner thing. I learned back in the 80's run the value of the guys that can keep the puck out of the zone on an elite level, and Alzner is most definitely one of those. Hatcher was good at it, but more of a two way guy with all that offense. Scott Stevens, Mark Tinordi, Brendan Witt. Niskanen is much more of an offensive guy than defensive. He had a good season this year, but a lot of that was because of who his partner was and being forced to play a certain way.

 

I think you are right on MoJo, he just doesn't fit the way our roster is built right now. I'm not sure if they are going to go with a scoring or a checking 3rd line yet. They could really go either way with Eller and Wilson I think, if you add MoJo there, it's more of a scoring line, if not, you need a better defensive player to go checking and then where do you put MJ90? 4.5m 4th winger? Part of me wonders if they didn't sign him to that deal with every intention of trading him to GMGM, cause you know he's coming hard for some of his former Caps players, with salary cap and roster space to spare. The plus is that a lot of more veteran guys aren't going to be interested in spending more than half their season in Vegas, and it's not very family friendly. So guys like Oshie, Alzner and others with young families will probably shy away from that.

 

Hate to break your pipe dream, but zero chance GMGM is going to take Orpik at his age and salary to do a favor to the Caps. A lot more likely that he takes MoJo or Grubauer. He's going to want a guy that he drafted or acquired and want someone young that will be there long enough to see the team grow and contend. A playmaking top 6 winger could be a major target, especially if he thinks he could handle C (he can't).

 

Not many teams can match the speed the Pens have/had, they built like that at the deadline on purpose, it worked. More mobile isn't going to mean better defense, general rule is the more mobile they are the worse they are defensively. What they banked on is that our forwards wouldn't be able to get back fast enough to help out on rushes, and in the end that's what happened. They should have collapsed and played more conservatively to try to combat it, but that goes against what they did all year, so I can see why they wouldn't want to change up either. Couple that with a good goaltending performance, and we got beat. Not another of those 14 playoff teams pulls that off against us.

 

Alzner is valuable, don't get me wrong. Would have been a monster in the 80's. I just think that the Caps should explore adding someone more mobile than him. That's the way the game is shifting. And Niskanen is very good offensively so I think people don't realize how good he is defensively. 

 

I think MoJo is still a fit for our roster. Suppose Burakovsky gets injured. Caps know that MoJo could jump right in and be an extremely capable replacement for him. His game translates well to a variety of lines. It's harder to find that than people think. Add in what he brings to the power play and if the Caps want to win a Cup in 16-17, signing MoJo was a must. 

 

Orpik going to Vegas might sound like a pipe dream, but perhaps GMGM views Ross Mahoney highly enough that it's worth it. Looking at how expansion drafts have gone in the past, "deals" like that have been done before. Unlikely? Sure. Plausible? Absolutely. Worst case scenario, Caps could buy him out. Their willingness to admit that Orpik will get a lesser role next year than Orlov tells me that if Orpik continues to trend downward, they might be willing to buy him out. There'll be enough goalies available that Grubuaer likely won't get picked.

 

And yeah, I agree about the Pens. But that's the way the NHL is shifting. Penguins were ahead of the curve. Speed is something that is extremely hard to stop. I think it was just four lines of speed proving to be too much for the Caps.

 

Also, forward depth. The HBK line murdered the Caps. Top two lines significantly outplayed Crosby's line and Malkin's line. Keeping MoJo allows the Caps to have a third line capable of scoring. Sure, Vrana could do that. But that's not something that a cup contending team should expect him to do. Caps will be an extremely good team in 16-17 that is capable of winning the Stanley Cup. No question. 

[You Play to Win the Game]

I still can't get over how bad Orpik was in the Pittsburgh series. Get rid of him. Collusion. We'll never win a cup, also.

[FlavaDave10]

I still can't get over how bad Orpik was in the Pittsburgh series. Get rid of him. Collusion. We'll never win a cup, also.

 

Luckily expansion drafts are full of collusion! And this one will actually feature legitimate talent, something that past ones have not had. And yeah, Caps should have gone with Anton Stralman over Orpik in 2014. Knew it. Ugh. 

[BSLChrisStoner]

CSN Mid-Atlantic: Can Mitch Korn coach Holtby to a second Vezina season?

 

CSN Mid-Atlantic: Trotz tweaks lines on eve of opener

 

Monumental Sports: 2016-17 Washington Capitals Storylines

[Don Quixote]

FUCK THE PENGUINS!

[Don Quixote]

Just thought I'd get things started with some rational, informed discussion.