I'd prefer Tyutin to Allen, though it would cost assets to get him. Jackman would be nice depending on his salary. I'd be willing to give him Wideman's money for sure.
Anyone else like McClement for 3C? He was very impressive for Colorado this year. Another option suggested on trade boards was Matt Lombardi. Thoughts on him?
Plekanec is great, but why would Montreal give him up? Also, 5M/year don't sound inspiring
Well that's why I said, "FWIW", it's all hypotheticals. Maybe Montreal decides to (mini-)rebuild, depends on the assets Caps are willing to send the other way.
Honestly, without a coach/identity, and with Semin's situation completely up in the air, it's really hard to say what particular player might be a good fit, or more generally -- does it even make sense to part with significant assets for this player or that. Say we give up major asset(s) for Plekanec or Ribeiro, and then Semin walks. Ok, now you have a good 2C, but potentially no firepower on the wing, and perhaps a coach comes in and installs a defensive system. Then by the time a guy like Galiev is ready for the show, your 2C got older and you're just spinning wheels again.
I do think top 6 is THE problem. Bottom 6 did fine in playoffs, defense is also mostly fine with a tweak. But top 6 has performed way below talent/cap hit expectations. Ovi+Semin+Laich = 20+m. In 14 p/o games, 20 pts, combined -5. Either figure out a way to use these guys properly/get them to play better, or.. you're not gonna win. Unfortunately, realistically I don't see the Caps doing anything smart to rectify the situation.
I guess, if the Caps want to keep the core and try again a more offensive approach, I'd throw assets at a decent 2C to try to salvage it all. Though honestly, it pains me to say, if I were completely objective, I think Caps need to trade Ovi and restart around Backstrom. I just don't see Ovi coming back to offensive juggernaut days, or any likely coach standing up to him enough to force him to play 2-way. I'd replace Laich with a real 2C, too.. and probably would keep Semin if he would sign a reasonable multi-year deal; maybe trade him later if needed. However.. since not having Ovi & Semin would take away most of the fun watching the Caps, I can't say I really want that to happen. So get a 2C and see what happens, I guess
Last edited by artilector: 05-17-2012 at 07:42 PM.
CAPGEEK.COM CAP CALCULATOR ROSTER
My Custom Lineup
FORWARDS
Alex Ovechkin ($9.538m) / Nicklas Backstrom ($6.700m) / Jiri Hudler ($3.500m)
Brooks Laich ($4.500m) / Olli Jokinen ($3.500m) / Troy Brouwer ($2.350m)
Matt Hendricks ($0.825m) / Jay Beagle ($1.000m) / Joel Ward ($3.000m)
Jason Chimera ($1.750m) / Marcus Johansson ($0.900m) / Mathieu Perreault ($0.950m)
Mike Knuble ($1.000m) / Cody Eakin ($0.638m) /
DEFENSEMEN
Roman Hamrlik ($3.500m) / Mike Green ($5.000m)
Karl Alzner ($1.285m) / John Carlson ($2.750m)
Bryan Allen ($3.500m) / Dmitry Orlov ($0.900m)
John Erskine ($1.500m) /
GOALTENDERS
Michal Neuvirth ($1.150m)
Braden Holtby ($0.638m)
BUYOUTS
Tyler Sloan ($0.233m)
------
CAPGEEK.COM TOTALS (follow @capgeek on Twitter)
(these totals are compiled without the bonus cushion)
SALARY CAP: $64,300,000; CAP PAYROLL: $60,607,349; BONUSES: $320,000
CAP SPACE (23-man roster): $3,692,651
I would feel really confident if GMGM could pull off this team. Any comments, suggestions?
CAPGEEK.COM CAP CALCULATOR ROSTER
My Custom Lineup
FORWARDS
Alex Ovechkin ($9.538m) / Nicklas Backstrom ($6.700m) / Jiri Hudler ($3.500m)
Brooks Laich ($4.500m) / Olli Jokinen ($3.500m) / Troy Brouwer ($2.350m)
Matt Hendricks ($0.825m) / Jay Beagle ($1.000m) / Joel Ward ($3.000m)
Jason Chimera ($1.750m) / Marcus Johansson ($0.900m) / Mathieu Perreault ($0.950m)
Mike Knuble ($1.000m) / Cody Eakin ($0.638m) /
DEFENSEMEN
Roman Hamrlik ($3.500m) / Mike Green ($5.000m)
Karl Alzner ($1.285m) / John Carlson ($2.750m)
Bryan Allen ($3.500m) / Dmitry Orlov ($0.900m)
John Erskine ($1.500m) /
GOALTENDERS
Michal Neuvirth ($1.150m)
Braden Holtby ($0.638m)
BUYOUTS
Tyler Sloan ($0.233m)
------
CAPGEEK.COM TOTALS (follow @capgeek on Twitter)
(these totals are compiled without the bonus cushion)
SALARY CAP: $64,300,000; CAP PAYROLL: $60,607,349; BONUSES: $320,000
CAP SPACE (23-man roster): $3,692,651
I would feel really confident if GMGM could pull off this team. Any comments, suggestions?
That second line wouldn't have a single 10+ goal scorer.
Radulov is a lot more tenacious on the puck and physical in the corners than Semin is. If this whole brouhaha really is over him missing curfew by an hour over dinner and is enough to knock his value down to a mid 1st, go for it. He did pretty well this year considering he led his team in playoff points on a torn knee.
Radulov.. McPhee has talked a lot in the past about bringing in the right "character".. I don't know how much of a judge of character he really is, but I expect he wouldn't touch Radulov with a 10 ft pole, right or wrong.
If we ignore that likely reality for a sec.. hey, why not. McPhee is throwing up crap against a wall anyway, at least this would be entertaining. Even if "lazy Russians" get run out of town shortly thereafter
Spend the 1sts on Plekanec and Radulov, bombs away:
Ovi-Backstrom-MJ
Semin-Plekanec-Radulov
Maybe no SC, but I'd watch, lol.
More seriously, I think the team will be decent either way, but championship hopes ultimately rest on Ovi being dominant (again), one way or another. If he isn't dominant, his cap hit will mean Caps losing to deeper teams..
I'd prefer Tyutin to Allen, though it would cost assets to get him. Jackman would be nice depending on his salary. I'd be willing to give him Wideman's money for sure.
Anyone else like McClement for 3C? He was very impressive for Colorado this year. Another option suggested on trade boards was Matt Lombardi. Thoughts on him?
Agreed on Jackman over Allen.
If Hunter was still coach, I'd be fine with McClement as 3C. But if the new coach isn't a hyper-conservative defensive type, he'd be a better fit at 4C than 3C. He just doesn't bring that much offense.
Lombardi has too many question marks to add his $3.5M and trade assets away, imo. Not intrinsically opposed to having him slotted as 3C, but I feel there are better options when you consider the cost. Would rather gun for a free agent like Stoll or Kelly. Even if you miss out on them, the UFA market has plenty of other bottom six center options (McClement, Pahlsson, Gaustad, Hecht, Moore, Arnott, Morrison, etc.), so there will be someone available at a reasonable price.
Quote:
Originally Posted by WetHog
Mike Vogel@VogsCaps
Krueger very successful as Swiss Nat'l coach. Brilliant guy to talk to, wouldn't surprise me to see him hired somewhere at some point.
On Laich--that 6.5% of our Cap space is really going to be restrictive. It's not like the team will have $20M or so in cap space this summer.
So what if the team has $20M in cap space? $22M would be even better. An extra $2M could be the difference, or help bridge the difference, between Jokinen and Parise. Which combination would you rather see? Parise + $2M #3C or Laich + Jokinen?
There are some wild expectations on this board in regards to FA. I think some of you have to get over that Kuznetsov is not coming, Semin is not taking a pay-cut to come back to DC (like he should). we are not getting Praise, and Suter is a slim to none chance because of the chaos happing in DC. Like it or not we have locker room problems. This was made known last year and again this year. FA like to get paid, but also like to know what they are walking into. With no coach, no system FA have no idea what to expect, so why would they sign not knowing the direction. Secondly, GMGM has proven his signings are mediocre at best. He really does not go out on a limb to bring in the very BEST player/locker room fit. The Caps tend to stay with a fringe player after getting burned by Jagr. I think this team is in so much flux right now it has no direction. Do we keep Wideman/Green same player, do we keep Knuble/Halpy/Erskine, we can't get rid of Schultz's or Ward's contracts, Aucoin is our best call up this year from Hershey. This team has some problems, and one or 2 players will not fix the broken wheel. I feel we have to figure out are we winning short term or blowing it up and starting from scratch. this team has been spinning its wheels since the arrival of our superstar and GMGM has yet to make up a direction he was going. The young guns are no longer young guns, so what way are we heading??
