The dream offseason starts with the Vrana contract. In an ideal world, we can get him locked up at a number under $5M for at least five years. This contract will be an absolute steal during the last three years of the deal, but it also sets up Vrana for a huge payday when that contract expires. It's a win-win for both sides.
A Niskanen trade is also a must for this team. He's clearly lost a step, and Jensen looks ready to handle some of those minutes. I don't really care what the return for him is. If it's a mid round pick and a later round pick like I have here, I'll take it. We need the money and the extra picks help replenish a very thin pipeline.
Not planning on tendering Andre Burakovsky, the Caps then trade his rights to a team that will qualify him. The Caps are able to get a late round pick in return, and Burakovsky gets a fresh start elsewhere. As much as I want him to pan out with us, the Caps can't afford the salary hit on a wild card like him. It's better to take what you can get for him and move on.
At the draft, the Caps take Bobby Brink at pick 25. He's got some game breaking talent and has a very large arsenal of skills. We need to insert more forward prospects into the organization, and Brink is a great choice provided he's available at 25.
The Caps then sign Anton Stralman to be a #4/5 guy, splitting those responsibilities with Jensen. Stralman is still a solid player in his own right, but injuries and father time have caused him to lose a step. The Caps are able to get him for a discount as teams are chasing after Tyler Myers and Jake Gardiner on the UFA market.
At this point, there's still money remaining to bring back Carl Hagelin. He was a great fit with the Caps right when he got here, and he's only going to get better after he has a full training camp with the team. We're able to get him to come back on a relatively cheap deal as his production has dipped recently, and he likes the opportunity to win in Washington. This does mean that Connolly won't be back with the team, which is a shame. I really liked him with the Caps, but the season he had this year just priced him out of DC. Someone is going to pay him between $3.5-4.5M to provide secondary scoring.
The last trade made in the dream offseason is a trade for Connor Brown. He's a very versatile player that can fill in all throughout the lineup and help kill penalties. Due to Toronto's salary cap situation, the Caps are able to acquire him for a good value and plug him into the third line to start.
The icing on the cake to this offseason is signing Backstrom to an extension. Ideally, we can lock him up for another 5-6 years for around $7-8M per season. He needs to be a Cap for life, and GMBM should make it that way.
The last thing that I want to throw in there isn't part of the offseason, but it's very important to me that it happens. We need to get Lucas Johansen and Ilya Samsonov some NHL time this season. We need to see what we have in these guys to determine if either is apart of our long-term future. Samsonov in particular, as Holtby's contract expires after this season. Signing Holtby long term would essentially mean that we don't see Samsonov being the guy for the future, so we need to find out what he's got.
I like your detailed well thought out analysis! Agree completely that Samsonov / and Lucas Johansen need time up with the Caps. I think it is looking like Johansen maybe a 1st round pick bust. If so move on. Stralman might not be available at 3years 3.7mil. He still is a decent defender. I don't know what to think about Burakovsky. I still think he has the potential to be a 25 goal a year guy. He showed flashes of it near the end of the year, then again revert back to his sub par ways. I really wouldn't want to see him go somewhere else and start to light it up; good for him if so but with little or no return for him it would mean 2 first round picks (Johansen) that we would be giving up on. However, signing him for 3.25M or more doesn't seem to make a lot of sense either.
Hate to see Connolly go too, but looking at the cap space left I agree GMBM may not be able to sign him.
I like your detailed well thought out analysis! Agree completely that Samsonov / and Lucas Johansen need time up with the Caps. I think it is looking like Johansen maybe a 1st round pick bust. If so move on. Stralman might not be available at 3years 3.7mil. He still is a decent defender. I don't know what to think about Burakovsky. I still think he has the potential to be a 25 goal a year guy. He showed flashes of it near the end of the year, then again revert back to his sub par ways. I really wouldn't want to see him go somewhere else and start to light it up; good for him if so but with little or no return for him it would mean 2 first round picks (Johansen) that we would be giving up on. However, signing him for 3.25M or more doesn't seem to make a lot of sense either.
Hate to see Connolly go too, but looking at the cap space left I agree GMBM may not be able to sign him.
The Burakovsky issue really is a tough one. He's clearly got the skillset, but we can't afford the $3M+ to take a chance on a guy like this. He really did look like he'd be a great top six forward for us, but he's struggled so much to find consistency that it's time we move on. If there was a way to keep him for around $2M, I'd be all over it. But it's highly unlikely that he accepts a multi year deal at that number, so I think it's best that we bite the bullet and trade his rights to the highest bidder.
I do agree that the Stralman signing may be a stretch, but I could see teams being scared of his age and injury concerns. If he wants to come to DC for a few years with a chance to win a title, he may be willing to take a deal in that range.
The Stralman signing is bad, let LuJo and Siegenthaler get solid minutes instead. I'd let Stephenson go and bring up Gersich.
If we weren't in a dwindling Cup window, I'd agree with you. But Jensen hasn't proven that he's 100% ready to take top four minutes, so we need someone that can help him out. I'm not ready to trust LuJo or Siegs with that responsiblity yet.
If we weren't in a dwindling Cup window, I'd agree with you. But Jensen hasn't proven that he's 100% ready to take top four minutes, so we need someone that can help him out. I'm not ready to trust LuJo or Siegs with that responsiblity yet.
Siegenthaler was the caps 3rd best dman this season, I'm sure he's ready. Jensen was top 10 in dman GAR was was good with the caps.
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