I like how deep you're digging through the pile, to be able to find guys you could sign right away, no doubt.

I like Mrazek the most of the bunch. Has some of the best rebound control according so some site, in the league. Since the Caps' goaltending coaches are great at teaching net coverage to stop deflections and rebounds, if they start with a fairly young goalie who doesn't give up many rebounds, they could put together a really complete hockey player.

Shore got traded twice last year and lost most of his faceoffs at each stop. You'd have to figure at least one of his coaches thought of using him mostly on his strong side? So I wouldn't expect that to magically improve. He maxed out at 53% with rookie luck. Isn't going to replace Beagle.

DeMelo seems pretty intriguing at that price point. Not sure I'd bench Bowey for him, but great depth to add. Bowey's two years younger, got a dozen assists as a rookie. DeMelo's a 25 year old UFA who got 20 assists? Both great guys to have. I think in his second season, Bowey should be at least as good as DeMelo, and after that he projects higher. Demelo was a 6th round draft pick who then picked up his offense and hit 50 points in his overage year. Bowey his 60 in his draft year and repeated it the next year. Not many guys do that. Most of the top scoring defensemen if you check out their junior stats have one year where they hit close to seventy, but very few of them hit sixty twice. I'm pretty confident that Bowey will be very good for a very long time, but he lost most of 2016-17 to injury. Losing next year to a less talented guy slightly further along in his development could really put a monkey wrench in his career arc. From a cap management standpoint, fine, whatever, but maybe find a way to get him waiver exempt and in the minors, still developing, because from a long-term team competitiveness standpoint, I think Bowey should be in his prime at 26 when Niskanen's contract axpires, and if they can get him more reps with Orlov the next couple years, maybe they can trade Niskanen as a one year rental instead of losing him for nothing.

Or at least play Bowey at wing. I mean, somewhere. The kid could be a phenomenal offensive defenseman. I think the combined contract cost and opportunity cost of that DeMelo offer end up being too expensive, but only because Kempny is overpaid too much to get shelved in the press box, where he belongs on that team.