Imo Carlson > drai to the caps. Can’t stress that enough. Kuzy backstrom and eller are a solid top 3 centers no need for this trade to ever happen. Not to mention it wouldn’t happen anyway. No sign and trade works like this.

That defense is terrible

Good simulation would be cool to see happen

Thanks. Yeah. I had a typo steal some cap space. Here's the defense I went into it anticipating. Still a downgrade defensively, but at least fun to watch, again?

In hockey, I can think of Ryan O'Reilly.... He seemed to get full trade value for a contract negotiated through his old club. It's becoming unusual, but it's not unprecedented. In basketball they do it all the time.


I mean, I think there are a lot of teams for whom a defenseman who scores 68 points is worth mroe than a center who gets 70. If the Caps are confident they can sign Green or trade for a replacement RHD, would you consider adding depth at forward, to try to get Oshie back up to 30 goals, while Vrana, Burakovsky, Stephenson and Wilson push for 20? I think this team wins a lot of games 7-4 and 9-3, if Green comes back 95% after Neck Surgery. If Green is uncertain, then, yeah, keep Carlson.

Maybe even trade for Green's rights before working this out? Shouldn't cost more than about a 2nd round pick.


Thanks so much!

As a Caps fan I'd miss Carlson, but this third line could put up some serious offense.

1) Reilly was a RFA traded to BUF. There was no sign and trade. He was traded June 26th and signed a new deal with BUF on July 2nd.

2) This isn't basketball. There is no precedent for sign and trades, but I GUARANTEE you won't get full value for 1 extra year of a player. If teams will give up a 4th to talk to UFA players early then at best you'll get a 2nd for a team wanting an extra year on his contract or if they are really desperate a late 1st.

That may or may not be true after July 1st, but it definitely isn't true in June, for a team hoping to score a great defenseman without overpaying as much as they would on the open market. This is only the 5th summer since there was an extra year for UFAs staying put. Carlson and Tavares are the biggest UFAs to come along in that time, or maybe since Scott Stevens. Most teams have used the eight years argument to lock up their best guys before they hit market.

Last year's best was Shattenkirk. Not as good. http://www.thehockeynews.com/news/article/the-top-30-unrestricted-free-agents-of-2017
The year before that? Eric Staal, but he was coming off of a couple bad years, and a weak playoff showing, so nobody knew it: http://www.thehockeynews.com/news/article/the-top-30-unrestricted-free-agents-of-2016
In '15, Green, Ward, Williams: https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/nhl/2015/06/28/top-free-agents-unrestricted-2015-best/29442111/
In '14, Stastny and Niskanen: https://www.sbnation.com/nhl/2014/6/30/5856870/nhl-free-agents-2014-rankings

Carlson and Niskanen played together this year. Carlson got twice as many points. So he's better than what usually passes for the best UFA. On the other hand, reading these lists, it's really heartening to see how little all of these guys got paid, and for how few years.

Maybe the Caps really can keep Carlson on a team-friendly deal? With most of the league's largest market teams rebuilding, though, I think you could start to see UFA rights being traded for a high first, or a great player signed to an eight year deal at a lower cap hit going for more than that.

Has a pending UFA ever signed an 8 year contract just to be traded after wards? If Im a player why would I want that? That puts even more pressure on my shoulders to not only live up to my contract but live up to the players traded the other way. The eighth year is important but is not a deal breaker for a player.

I think you think Wash has more power then they actually do. Carlson is either signing with the Caps for 8 years or he's testing the market. Teams will simply compensate the extra year Caps can offer with more money per year.