GDT: Caps at Panthers 8PM 2.1.12

[txpd]

scratching carlson and planning the roster around carlson not being in the lineup are different things. orlov wont be on the nhl roster as a regular scratch. my guess is that the healthy six are now 52-6-27-74-81-44.

moving erskine would be another reason why the caps are seeing if they can get away with 54 in the role that 4 has been in. it could be that hunter would rather skate 3 lines than 5d.

[Roughing]

Originally Posted by txpd

@roughing: if the caps should sell off anyone over 28, they might as well sell off ovechkin and semin as well. backstrom too, if healthy enough to be traded. strip it on down, if youre going to do that.

IF you end up keeping the big salaries of 8, 19, 28, and 52, there's no point in blowing it up and paying out all that money.

Yeah, there would be decisions there, too. I'm not necessarily of the opinion that Green and Semin (especially) are returning anyway. Nicky is young and the team's best player. If he gets healthy I would consider him apart of the young core. OV? Yeah, if a huge offer came our way you have to think about it for a few reasons...

[HSHS]

Also very happy with Semin's compete level. Not overall play. But his compete level during the ovi suspension has been excellent.... well, excellent for him. It's at what should be the standard.

If he could keep it up and return to a 40-40-80 player then he'd justify his contract in my eyes. But earning that has sailed. So I guess what I'm getting at is I'm not against keeping him IF the coaching staff stays and IF a lower rate is paid based on him stealing money for 2 years.

[SDBondra]

Laich and Semin were both good last night. Would have been great to see Halpern's tip go in. I also liked the way Brouwer tried to create a couple of times. Doom and gloomers shouldn't be focusing on this game. We had two flukey goals against, Halpern's pipe could have easily gone in. Clemmensen was really sharp. I think we played better against Florida than we did in Tampa. I think the team is learning to play without Backstrom and Green and when they come back, you'll see a deeper team with more confidence.