We need two big tough defensemen to pair with Fever, Orlov, TVR and Jensen. Doesn't look like we have anybody on the farm and we will have no dollars for decent free agents over the next two years, so I guess we will just have to live with it.
We have Alex ALexev 6'-4" and Tobias Gessier 6'-4" both decent sized young D guys in Hershey...although both listed about 200lbs, but I would expect they will put on
some weight in the next few years. No idea what state they are in development, but I recall Alexeyev looked pretty good in training camp.
Shultz (I see nothing) is at $4.0m and a UFA after the season, as is Kempney at 2.5m. Shulz has been probably a bit better than I expected him to be (especially injury wise), but not sure I want him back at 4.0
Caps have 63% of their cap in the top 7 guys - $53,166,666 Ovie, Backy, Carlson, Kuzy, Oshie, Mantha, Wilson (not that that is all that unusual), but it leaves $28,333,333 for the other 16 roster players
When you have three elder statesmen in your top 5 salaries, you need some young, cheap talent to work for you. Fever has been outstanding IMO, maybe next year Alexeyev is ready? sure not gonna be drafting anybody in the next few years (without having any draft picks) Hopefully McMichael comes into his own and is worthy
Shultz, Kempney, Matt Irwin, and now MOJO are the only UFA's we have coming up next year. Although, both netminders are RFA's & both are going to need more money. Whether you keep both or trade one off and pick up a replacement, we will definitely be spending more on GT next year....where THAT money is coming from I don't know.
I didn't mention him earlier when praising TVR, but Jensen has also been a pleasant surprise this year. He was a decent puck mover last year, but he's been a lot more responsible than I expected. Actually, about all our D have been better than I feared they might be. Orlov was decently solid most of the time. Carlson....meh, is what he is. He an extra winger that plays on the back line. He's not usually horrible on D. Too bad he wont use some of those muscles though. If he weren't an 8 million dollar man , he wouldn't catch as much grief.
