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Off Season
richkrt99:
--- Quote from: Beaglefan2 on Tuesday July 02, 2019, 08:35:58 AM Eastern ---Who knows on these three signings. Could work out great and I do like what GMBM did with the draft. One thing this might hint toward is potentially losing Stephenson. I expect they will, and should, prioritize signing Vrana and there won't be any money left for Stephenson. I think Stephenson took a huge step backwards this year, but he still has a big upside. I would hate to lose him.
--- End quote ---
I'd say Stepho is a gonner. Signing Vranna is their focus (well, I sure as hell hope he is) Signing a new FA 4th line guy doesn't leave room or bode well for Stepho.
Caps have $3.5 mil in cap space. That's not enough for both Vranna and Djoos, much less Stephensen. I heard GMBM on the radio yesterday saying the Salary Cap figure was reduced from what they expected it to be and that didn't help their plans. Caps were in cap trouble anyway, but shorting the cap by 1/2 mil didn't help. GMBM said they are now looking to sign a "bridge" deal with Vranna because of the cap.
They asked GMBM directly, now that the free agent signings were done, what his plans were and his response was "signing Vranna, Djoos, and Stephenson" Honestly, what else would he say?
Hopefully they can get that done, but I sure don't see how they can swing it unless all three really WANT to be here and are willing to take short term deals to stay here.
IMO you have to sign Vranna, but we are short on D as well. Djoos is not a guy I have ever been a fan of due to his size, but we are short on D. Unless they really plan on Ziggy playing a bigger role. I'm mostly okay with that, but an injury to this D will certainly be devastating.
I'm pretty happy with the moves/direction they've made so far this (WAY TOO LENGTHY) offseason. Not happy to see Nisky go, but HAD to cut salary somewhere. I like the size and toughness pickup from the FA market. Pretty happy with Hagelin too - although I was a bit surprised, I figured we had no hope of signing him. I guess they KNEW Burka was gone and pretty likely Conno too, and they cleared salary with Nisky trade, so we had some money to spend. HAVE TO get Vranna signed yet, though.
Overall, I'd say the O-side is an upgrade to where we were last year.
Minus Conno, Burka, Jaskin, Smith-Pelly, and probably Stephenson, but PLUS Hagelin (he was a rental last year so not really counting him last year), Panik, Hathaway, Leipsic. Say Hags is a wash, but he will have a bigger role on 3rd line this year. Jaskin is kind of a non factor as the Caps just never utilized him, and I am REALLY curious why. They made moves this year to obviously toughen up the roster, yet they had a big hitting Jaskin just sitting around. I really think he has (or the Caps perceive) he has an attitude problem.
Overall, we might have lost a little scoring (if Conno is really a 20-25G guy), but we've added players that help more all around. All the new fellas are (well, at least play some) PK and PP guys which was sorely needed last year.
If you consider what Conno, Burka, Jaskin, Smith-Pelly brought in special teams, vs what the new guys bring (at least in theory), I'd say this is certainly a better team value as the new crew brings more overall team value.
Like Beaglefan says....Who Knows..
Now sign Vranna so I can quit worrying about it.
Go Caps
DC_1908:
--- Quote from: richkrt99 on Tuesday July 02, 2019, 11:33:32 AM Eastern ---
I'd say Stepho is a gonner. Signing Vranna is their focus (well, I sure as hell hope he is) Signing a new FA 4th line guy doesn't leave room or bode well for Stepho.
Caps have $3.5 mil in cap space. That's not enough for both Vranna and Djoos, much less Stephensen. I heard GMBM on the radio yesterday saying the Salary Cap figure was reduced from what they expected it to be and that didn't help their plans. Caps were in cap trouble anyway, but shorting the cap by 1/2 mil didn't help. GMBM said they are now looking to sign a "bridge" deal with Vranna because of the cap.
They asked GMBM directly, now that the free agent signings were done, what his plans were and his response was "signing Vranna, Djoos, and Stephenson" Honestly, what else would he say?
Hopefully they can get that done, but I sure don't see how they can swing it unless all three really WANT to be here and are willing to take short term deals to stay here.
IMO you have to sign Vranna, but we are short on D as well. Djoos is not a guy I have ever been a fan of due to his size, but we are short on D. Unless they really plan on Ziggy playing a bigger role. I'm mostly okay with that, but an injury to this D will certainly be devastating.
I'm pretty happy with the moves/direction they've made so far this (WAY TOO LENGTHY) offseason. Not happy to see Nisky go, but HAD to cut salary somewhere. I like the size and toughness pickup from the FA market. Pretty happy with Hagelin too - although I was a bit surprised, I figured we had no hope of signing him. I guess they KNEW Burka was gone and pretty likely Conno too, and they cleared salary with Nisky trade, so we had some money to spend. HAVE TO get Vranna signed yet, though.
Overall, I'd say the O-side is an upgrade to where we were last year.
Minus Conno, Burka, Jaskin, Smith-Pelly, and probably Stephenson, but PLUS Hagelin (he was a rental last year so not really counting him last year), Panik, Hathaway, Leipsic. Say Hags is a wash, but he will have a bigger role on 3rd line this year. Jaskin is kind of a non factor as the Caps just never utilized him, and I am REALLY curious why. They made moves this year to obviously toughen up the roster, yet they had a big hitting Jaskin just sitting around. I really think he has (or the Caps perceive) he has an attitude problem.
Overall, we might have lost a little scoring (if Conno is really a 20-25G guy), but we've added players that help more all around. All the new fellas are (well, at least play some) PK and PP guys which was sorely needed last year.
If you consider what Conno, Burka, Jaskin, Smith-Pelly brought in special teams, vs what the new guys bring (at least in theory), I'd say this is certainly a better team value as the new crew brings more overall team value.
Like Beaglefan says....Who Knows..
Now sign Vranna so I can quit worrying about it.
Go Caps
--- End quote ---
Weeeeelll. . Panik is was a fiull time PK last year, Hathaway, parttine and Leipsic not a PK.
Plus with Bura gone, we’re ahort one on the power play.
So special teams still aren’t pretty but workable and “shouldn’t” be next year.
What we need to consider and be cautious about is Kempy and Oshie not being 100% after these injuries, particularly as the year goes on.
The combo of Hathaway, Leipsic, and Stevenson?) would help cover for Oshie, but Kemply will be a bigger issue. With Hooks gone and Kempy a ?, the left side is Orlov, Sleight?, Djoos, and with any luck Lewimgton. This leaves our left side going and or mistake prone.
Mickstix:
Need to trade Orlov and get some Cap $ back.. Sign a blue collar defender in his place, have enough left for Djoos or Stephenson..
richkrt99:
--- Quote from: Mickstix on Tuesday July 02, 2019, 07:23:51 PM Eastern ---Need to trade Orlov and get some Cap $ back.. Sign a blue collar defender in his place, have enough left for Djoos or Stephenson..
--- End quote ---
There's a thought, but I think the Caps are in way too deep on Orlov and would have to retain some salary to send him elsewhere (and eat some crow) which I think they really don't like. Also, with 2 Cap-veteran guys gone from last year's D corps, I think they want some stability... (okay, how about I use the word familiarity, instead) on D going into the season.
Sure the hell hope Orlov finally gets it, and plays up to his potential. Plus, hoping some of the new tougher guys will slow down the pressure moving in on our D and give them a chance to clear the puck instead of a dumbass Orlov cross the crease blind pass from behind Holtby's net.
Maybe one of the young D guys will get a real chance to play and prove himself. (maybe my penis will grow instead of shrink as I hit middle age too) :cross:
We shall see.
Hell, with the toughness factor alone, I feel a little better before the start of this season than I did last year...although that ain't saying much. I didn't think the Caps would end up as well as they did last year....(and NO, I Aint talking about the miserable failed playoff effort where we should have beat the fuckin canes and had an easier path to the Cup than in memorable history)
Go Caps
justwincaps:
It's a bit concerning that we have to look elsewhere to find 4th line depth - what does that say about Hershey? Not that I mind the signings. The money was reasonable and the term was OK given the AAV was so low we can bury some of that [up to 1 million or something like that I heard] in Hershey. But is there so little talent in Hershey that we don't even have NHL caliber 4th liners?
I'm curious about Vrana. Those who understand the offer sheet better than I may be able to explain. If we are down to a paltry $3.5 million in cap space, and if everyone else, hell anyone else, in the NHL likes Vrana as much as we do, why wouldn't they tried to sign him to an offer sheet since the Caps have zero cap flexibility. I know they'd have to send draft picks back, but it's not like he'd be getting a large enough contract that the draft picks would be that bad. Assuming, of course, that they do like Vrana.
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