Talk about Capitals hockey & more! > Washington Capitals & Other Hockey Discussion
GDT #43 Caps vs Blue Jackets @ 5pm
waynerivers:
Milano is risk free and he's played very well. I have no problem with his defense. He's only a -23 for his career playing for CBS and ANA. He's in the plus column so far this year. I agree on unloading Mantha for anything we can get. I'd love to move Carlson, too, but that's never going to happen. As mentioned, he's a "fan favorite" (ie. usually a washed up vet who the fans think is still good, if he ever was). Carlson hasn't been quite the disaster of prior years defensively but that can change quickly. The bad part is that he's now past his peak trade value which would have been about 3 years ago.
As for Backstrom, they should have a nice center ice ceremony, retire his number and move on. He just doesn't have it and anything he brings to the PP can be replaced by a guy like Strome or Mojo. Sacrificing on ice success out of sentimentality is not something winners do. A guy like Yzerman is what you need. If there's no production, there's no job. Let's remember, this is the oldest team in the league and unless you're on the cusp of a cup, there's no reason not to prune the dead wood.
Beaglefan2:
Yep - no use talking about a Carlson trade. He will retire a Cap. Our only hope is that they now realize that Gustafson is way better and can pass to Ovi equally well, so maybe they limit Carlson's ice time so he doesn't embarrass himself quite so often.
I also think they keep playing Backy unless he gets hurt again. We are a better team without him at this point, but he is one of their guys and probably deserves it.
it's going to take Willy a while to get close to normal - maybe the rest of the season, so we have to deal with that.
Really wish they could get A-K in the lineup. I would suggest him over Mojo, but Mojo has been playing well and has really been skating.
BlackIce:
--- Quote from: Beaglefan2 on Monday January 09, 2023, 09:06:26 PM Eastern ---Yep - no use talking about a Carlson trade. He will retire a Cap. Our only hope is that they now realize that Gustafson is way better and can pass to Ovi equally well, so maybe they limit Carlson's ice time so he doesn't embarrass himself quite so often.
I also think they keep playing Backy unless he gets hurt again. We are a better team without him at this point, but he is one of their guys and probably deserves it.
it's going to take Willy a while to get close to normal - maybe the rest of the season, so we have to deal with that.
Really wish they could get A-K in the lineup. I would suggest him over Mojo, but Mojo has been playing well and has really been skating.
--- End quote ---
Please don't judge either guy after one game. You seem to realize that it's going to take awhile for Wilson to round to form, but you aren't going to give Backstrom the same rope?
I realize, Wilson is still in his 20's and Backstrom is 35. I don't ever expect Backstrom to be what he was -- that's unreasonable -- but what he WAS was a point-per-game player. There is room for regression and still he can contribute. Let's see what his skating evolves to over time. In the meantime, you have to have a speedy player like Sheary on his line to help with defensive coverage against counterstrikes. When he is back, Backstrom has always been a fabulous positional defender. It's a part of his game that has gone mostly unrecognized.
Beaglefan2:
I'm not against Backstrom returning and know it will take time. My pessimism is just his age, that type of injury and the fact that he has really slowed down the last couple of years - which I realize was probably due to his bad hip. He is however 35 and I think we need youth and speed.
We are just at the stage that we knew would come - aging players with big contracts. if only, they could all be like Ovi.....
BlackIce:
I want to give the Caps a little credit here for being honorable about the salary cap. Given the nature of Backstrom's injury and procedure they probably could have hemmed and hawed and held him off until the end of the regular season, saving themselves salary cap misery. But Backstrom was diligent in his rehab and the club didn't hesitate to bring him back. Now cynics would say that the only reason they were honorable was that Carlson was available to take up the LTIR slack. So, we'll see how Carlson is handled, though it's hard to know how honorable or otherwise the club might be, because we've never heard exactly what Carlson's issues are. But if the organization is as enamored with Carlson as this site seems to think they are, I'd think that they would want to get him back on the ice as soon as possible, with whatever Salary Cap pain that might entail.
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