why is bura playing over vrana.....when vrana is clearly the better player and has shown greta chemistry with that 2nd line? just wondering your thoughts on this.......bura is good but he actually has shown great chemistry with eller?

How it should be?
Djoos - 82
Bowey - 82
Orpik - 0

What it should be realistically:
Djoos- 72
Bowey- 72
Orpik- 20 (at very most)

They aren't going to sign a backup. If they do you'd have a 3 headed monster in Hershey with Sam, Van, and Cop. And none of them will play in the ECHL. They'll roll with Copley as the backup, if he fails then try Samsonov or Vanecek, and if they suck they'll make a trade.

1) Don't need to sign Lehtonen. Copley can get 8-10 games, Vanacek another 8-10 games if Copley blows awfully. Holtby 55 games (since his games were less last year due to struggles and fatigue). Samsonov 6-8 games.
2) The Caps will waive Walker eventually (again) and he will end up in Hershey where he belongs. Don't need Byron...or to give up that 2nd round pick.

3) Now to answer your actual question, which is a good question. The 3rd pairing has 164 (2 roster spots x 82 man-games):
Bowey plays 50 games at RD
Djoos plays 25 games at RD (usually when Orpik is in at LD)
Djoos plays 40 games at LD
Orpik plays 40 games at LD
That's not the exact 164, but there will be injuries, and you need to assume a few games for Hobbs, Siegenthaler, Lewington, Johansen, etc...too many guys in the pipeline to assume only Djoos/Bowey are getting development time.
4) Your forward lines do not make a lot of sense in the bottom 6. Swap Byron for Connolly on 3rd line. Roll Stevie, Boyd/Dowd, and DSP on 4th line.

Save a little cap space, you're done.

Six points in the last six games of the year. More p/60 in the finals (EDIT: than anyone but Kuznetsov, I think?). I think Burakovsky was under-played from the moment Trotz took over as coach, and will blossom under Reirden into a perennial 25 goal scorer. Vrana is faster and about as good with the puck. Burakovsky is bigger, stronger, more experienced, more reliable defensively, and his even strength production was about tied with Wilson and Connolly.

@ClockReads2113 why wouldn't they start Vanecek in South Carolina? His numbers last year in Hershey were awful, and even if it's just him and Samsonov, he stands to languish. With Vrana gone, he's just as lost, linguistically, in either league, so at least put him where he gets consistent playing time and keeps learning.

@Netminder71, you left Holtby with up to 64 games. I want him at 50. Lehtonen played 30 last year. Won 15, with Dallas. Could win 18 this year in Washington. No, they don't need him. They don't need to contend again. One Stanely Cup is enough to keep a team in Washington for decades. Why worry?

Because Vanecek is like really good. His stats last season are skewed because how bad HER was in front of him. Even Copley's stats were really bad. My bet is Vanecek ends up in top 5 goalie in the AHL next season.

I like his NHL odds better than Sorokin's the next couple years.

https://thehockeywriters.com/2014-nhl-draft-top-draft-eligible-prospect-goalies-european/

https://www.lighthousehockey.com/2017/7/3/15915146/ilya-sorokin-islanders-khl-contract-extension

Last year Copley was 40th in the AHL in GAA. Vanecek was 44th. There were 51 goalies. https://theahl.com/stats/goalie-stats/all-teams/57?playertype=goalie&qualified=qualified&rookie=no&sort=gaa&statstype=standard&page=3&league=4

They were 45th and 49th in the AHL in save percentage. Some of that might be the young defense in front of them, but again, there were 51 goalies in the AHL last year. https://theahl.com/stats/goalie-stats/all-teams/57?playertype=goalie&qualified=qualified&rookie=no&sort=svpct&statstype=standard&page=3&league=4

Rookie Colin Delia joined Hershey's underachievers in the bottom ten in save percentage, and got called up to Chicago after the trade deadline, when they were pretty well guaranteed a lottery spot, and some hawks fans thought he looked okay. I saw him play last year in the ECHL and found him uninspiring. He did better than Copley or Vanecek in the AHL. So, no. Either you're just disagreeing to be disagreeable or you're completely off your rockers. Copley and Vanecek together are not ready for more than 10 NHL games next year, and if Delia who outperformed both of them in the AHL wasn't too good to play in the ECHL, then either of them could be a great starter in South Carolina.

The only question is whether Lehtonen's consistent health makes him the ideal backup in case Holtby actually gets hurt or tired, or whether Mason's intriguing skill and experience with the same brand of goalie coaching, but inconsistent health, combined with Holtby's all around reliability mean you can play Mason for whatever 25 games he's up for. I think if the point of a backup goalie is to give your starter rest and piece of mind, then it's better to have one who was able to play the 30 games he was asked to play last year and win 15 of them. I think Lehtonen and the Caps mutually give each other a shot at the title and they should offer him one million because that's about all they can fit under the salary cap.