Talk about Capitals hockey & more! > Washington Capitals & Other Hockey Discussion
Offseason starts
KitFisto:
Losing Beagle would suck, but he'll be 33 soon. I wouldn't want to give him more than a 2 year deal at this point. When guys hit 35 or 36 there is usually a big drop off in how effective they are. No, not in every case, but many.
BlackIce:
--- Quote from: Beaglefan2 on Saturday June 16, 2018, 05:51:50 PM Eastern ---Please, please, please let Carlson go and wish him well. Somebody is going to way overpay for him and we can use that money elsewhere. We won the Cup, but that doesn't mean we have to re-sign a long-standing player. We have a lot of money tied up in 5 or 6 players and adding one more will just create long term problems.
I am afraid we will be saying goodbye to Beagle. He has been a relative bargain for years and I think the rest of the league now values him at a higher level than we will go. Well, if so..... he leaves with a Cup!!
--- End quote ---
The one advantage to letting Carlson go is that then, given the presumed salary cap increase, we have money to sign everyone else, if we choose: Kempny, DSP, Chaisson (though I think he's fungible), Beagle, and of course get all the RFA's signed, with potentially a long-term deal for Wilson. The problem of course is filling Carlson's hole in the lineup. It isn't just skill: the guy is a horse -- durable, and plays 24-25 minutes a game. The question is, who is going to fill his spot in the lineup? Who is going to absorb those minutes? Niskanen and Orlov are also playing heavy minutes, so can't absorb anything significant. Orpik is aging and can't absorb significant minutes. So it has to be Kempny, kids, or an acquisition.
Anyone else on the UFA market should cost substantially less than him, because no one else this summer is anywhere near as good. Maybe Grubauer and Burakovsky together might fetch significant defensive help in a trade, but the problem may be that if we get somebody good they are going to be costly, and thus we wouldn't be in much better shape than we would be were we to sign Carlson, so that brings some of the other signings listed above back into question. And if we didn't get somebody good, we'd simply be throwing away Grubauer and/or Burakovsky for no good reason.
So the question boils down to whether people want Carlson at the expense of a few of our other players from this year's team.
DC_1908:
--- Quote from: Maacoshark on Saturday June 16, 2018, 05:13:57 PM Eastern --- We have quite few forwards that are pretty decent defensively. Some are even defensive specialists. Here is a list of forwards that are pretty defensively responsible. Backstrom, Oshie, Wilson, Stephenson, DSP, Beagle, Chaisson and Eller. Those guys are all defence first players. That's a pretty high percentage.
And what is wrong with a skill team running a trap. You can still generate offence from the trap. Everyone remembers the Devils trap saying it was boring defensive hockey. I bet no one remembers that the Devils lead the league in scoring one of those seasons.
I still disagree with your assessment of the team. Having a high skill team doesnt mean they can't play well defensively. If the players can buy into the system. If you had your way we would have 4 lines of Beagle clones. We would have alot of heart but would average less than a goal per game.
They win the cup and you are still unsatisfied. In the end the only thing that matters is the Stanley Cup.
--- End quote ---
Well aside of Beagle, Stephenson, and DSP, the rest are 200ft players at best.
Those Devils teams (who where anything but boring), we’re absoluty not skill based, nor offensive first. But they could lead the league in scoring anyway. Hell The Wings under Bowman ran a trap, and they where loaded with defensive players, who could score when needed or the opportunity arose, but it was also defense first
Sure an offensive skill-first team can run a trap. But for how long and how well will it be effective for players who are traditionally score only? How long will it take for these guys to say “winning is great, but I wanna score and get the spotlight”? How longare they gonna be happy with their stats going down?
Even then, why pay a skill player for points he had in an offensive system to play a defensive system, if a player who can play the defensive system better can be gotten for less (because his stats aren’t that high)?
Us changing systems caught the last three teams by complete surprise and they failed to adjust to it. That won’t happen anymore, and the “changing from videogames to real hockey and the flip of a switch” should not be counted on for the same reason.
Yeah we “finally” won a Cup, and what I want is this organization: Ted, Monumental, Dickless, and BetaMale to throw out what didn't win for the past 10-40yrs, and build on what won the last 16, even 6 games.
Maacoshark:
I don't have many issues with our roster if we play the style that we played in the playoffs. I like skilled players but my preference has always been solid defensive and physical hockey. I've always believed in taking care of your own end first.
richkrt99:
--- Quote from: KitFisto on Friday June 15, 2018, 10:09:26 AM Eastern ---Seriously DC, we just won the cup and you're still on the Beta male kick? I'm not being an asshole, but are you ever happy? Like it or not GMBM made the moves to alter and bolster what McPhee left behind and it resulted in a cup. As much as it pains you the man deserves some credit. McPhee, whom you seem to love, only wanted puck moving d-men. BM did his best to at least add one physical guy in Orpik because he was the best available at the time. He moved out guys who didn't show up in the playoffs for us like Brouwer and got Oshie who just performed very well in the cup run. Yes, he made mistakes too like Shattencrap, but he's TRYING and he succeeded.
What do you want man?
--- End quote ---
I would go look it up, but I'm too busy and lazy...and incapable, but I ragged on DC at least couple years ago about this...
I said something about Caps could win three Cups in a row, going 48-0 on a three year SC run and he (DC) would not be satisfied and would still be calling them out for poor ownership, poor management, poor coaching, video game players with no heart, no effort, etc, etc.
I am grateful for our players and coaching and management and ownership. The mantra that comes out when they fall short that they just don't care is horse puckey. You can't get to this level of professional sports and play in the premier league of any sport....and not have heart.
So for now, I am Happy and will bask in the Glory of the ultimate prize MY TEAM brought home - after being a long suffering Caps fan. I always loved and supported my team even when they fell short. It did not hurt any less, but ragging on them for failure wasn't fair and does not make me feel any better.
(BTW - all this isn't pointed at DC, but just toward us fans in general)
SO much complaining on the boards about this years roster and all the mistakes management made before the season and blah, blah, blah....I'm pretty sure they know more than us....hence they run the team and we watch them play.
We just won the Stanley Cup - the hardest thing in team sports to do. I'd say a lot of someones in the Caps organization did something rather well this year.
We complained about: paying Kuzy too much money, the Orlov contract, the Oshie deal, the Eller deal, letting Alzner walk, giving up Mojo (who was always volcano bait until we trade him and suddenly he was great), letting Smitty go (yes this sucked, but we could not protect everyone, and which guy we kept over Smitty do you think we would have won the cup without?. We hated Burka, Conolly, Kempney, etc, etc etc.)
The list of guys we as a whole have complained endlessly about on this team encompasses each and every player on this roster who played as a group and just overcame every obstacle and WON us THE STANLEY CUP
We should all now be eating crow and just saying thank you and congratulations.
How about we congratulate them on a job well done and enjoy the long awaited success?
Do I think this team is built to be a dynasty that will continue for years to come? No. (What team can do that in this salary cap and free agent era anyway?)
Do I think this years Caps team played as a team, played above their skill level at times, and its sum was greater than its' parts? Hell Yes. We just won the Cup baby!
Did I think we were gonna get here this year? Heck no. Am I going to enjoy winning the cup anyway? Hell Yeah.
I'm loving it. I still can't believe it. I am so happy for this team, not bitter about how long it took them to get here.
Go Caps
Hey DC...it just dawned on me....was it you that asked OVIE if he thought "we gonna suck this year?" :P
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