Quoting: brady_t12
Orpik definitely has made himself look a lot better these playoffs. He’s been extremely physical, but CLEAN. He has made very few errors since the first round against Columbus, where I recall a few blunders in the first couple games. If he was 2m cheaper, there would be 0 issue keeping him. It’s just gonna be tough to keep him and re-sign Carlson. However, at 8M, they can do it and likely re-sign Orpik to a 1 year 1.5m deal after his current contract ends if he keeps this level of physicality and defensive play up. He only has negative value because he’s overpaid.
Yeah. He's been good. He's only getting 4.5M next year, which is about comparable to people who got as many hits as him in the regular season... It's his cap hit, at 5.5M from averaging with other years, that's way out of line. I think his value is negative to any team that is up against the cap, but positive to a team with over 6M in cap space, hoping to make the playoffs, and looking for a #5 defenseman who can mentor a good rookie.
Since this upcoming draft has at least two defensemen who might play in the NHl next year, I could whichever teams draft them giving up something for the guy who mentored Carlson and Schmidt, but they'll know all about Washington's salary cap situation, so I doubt anyone pays more than a 3rd round pick for Orpik.
And I guess we've gone over and over the obstacles to trading Carlson for anyone but Tavares, who's in an equally nebulous situation. I think I'd throw in one of Burakovsky or Grubauer to make that swap, if both star players are fine with it, or both and a 3rd, if Pulock comes back.