Only thing missing is Beags and looks like he's off to Vancouver. I like this lineup!

Love it. Market yesterday said Tom WIlson was worth 3M. Then old friend GMGM had to throw a monkey wrench in the market and declare goons to be super-valuable again. This is now the right cap hit for Tom Wilson, and they might as well give him max term to try to avoid overpaying later.

Definitely very happy to have Orpik back at 1.5M. I think a defenseman can bring offense, stability, or toughness. The Caps are really lucky in that they have three guys who bring offense and stability in Carlson, Niskanen, and Orlov. Djoos and Kempny seem to bring more stability. I'd love to see Orpik, Schenn, or Emelin on a cheap, very short term deal to add a little bit of grit to all that skill.

But if you're saying the opportunity cost is healthy scratching Bowey a whole lot more, that does hurt a bit. Guys with back to back 60 point years in juniors, on the blueline, are pretty rare. Bowey was top fifteen in points among rookie defensemen last year. He should keep coming along, and just might get to be an offensive phenom, one of these days. These are good problems to have, but it'd be a shame if his career never gets off the ground. I think the main complain that I have seen fans make about Trotz was that he didn't give any young players time to develop, once he was on a team that would spend up to the cap, and so his legendary ability to develop young players in Nashville turned out to be just something he was doing by accident, or because Poile gave him no other choice.

I want Orpik in the starting lineup in the playoffs because I think he gives the Caps the best chance to repeat, but I doubt that Brooks Orpik is hoping to break Gretzky's scoring record, and I'd honestly ask him if he's okay dressing every other game, and putting on a suit to help coach for the other ones. He isn't slowing down much, but why push him to his physical limits in the regular season? Why not look at transitioning to embrace new challenges?

Of course, if you sign Schenn, you don't have to ask him. He knows he's a 6/7 and he's hopefully just happy to get a change of scenery and join a team that's looking to the playoffs. So maybe the best cap management is to sign Schenn for 1M so that the team has four NHL-capable right handed defensemen all year, because they know they can always call up Lucas Johansen or Jonas Siegenthaler, but the word is that Williams and co. aren't quite ready on the right side. Then you stay in touch with Orpik, you get a feel on what he's asking for, and how he wants to spend next year, and you hire him as an assistant coach, to run the defensive pairings, and around February, when you need a fill-in on a road trip, you just happen to have his equipment bag there, and a contract ready to sign, and you bring out someone else to run the defense. Anybody. There's six guys. You need two of them on the ice, and two of them ready to go next. How hard could it be?

Obviously Schenn and Franson are interchangeable at the 7 spot, and you also try to add someone on the left side with some NHL experience on a two way deal if they significantly upgrade Ness, but Jerabek is likely more expensive than last year.

One thing Beagle brought, aside from being great at faceoffs, is that he was the team's only right handed center. Boyd gives them a fifth left handed center, and that's certainly fine, but for faceoffs in the right circle of the defensive zone, or in the left circle of the offensive zone, sometimes you really want a right handed shot out there, so that if you win, you can keep the puck to the outside in your own zone, or get it centered faster in the opponents' zone. One of the last five teams I posed is a list of right handed UFA centers. Another is a Caps team that has a link to the faceoff stats of all right handed centers who took over 50 draws. I'd appreciate your comments on either. I really think it's a need the Caps should address today, cheaply, and be done worrying about.