would the caps see any value in doing something along JP + Russell for Burakovsky? I mean WSH is at the cap but maybe a deal around that framework? remove Russell maybe and try to even out salaries. Theres about a 2M gap from JP and Burakovsky.

Carlson is a top 5 dman in the nhl..... he also puts up 50 plus points a season. finished top 5 in Norris voting and previously took a team friendly deal where he made less than 4 million dollars/ 6 nhl seasons. so yeah the kid deserved to get paid. youre luck he decided to come back to dc bc if he didn't we would be facked ..... ek65 just signed for 11.50m id take jc74 over him anyday

also don't glorify conno...he had a very good season last year but what are the odds hes shooting % is that high next year.....I remember tj oshie had a similar year and has struggled to repeat.....weird enough it was after he got paid...

have faith in bura and I bet he has a 40-45 point season.. hes completely health and coming in with little competition for his spot ....he can actually focus on playing hockey and not the politics of the game

I get the sense that Burakovsky is about the level of "reclamation project" that the Caps would saddle Todd Rierden with this point. It was really patience that helped Connolly mature and no real expectations in a very steady 3RW role. Thinking seems to be either find a way to keep him, or give 1 year to Burky to find his way back to the developing asset he should have been if injuries and floating all over the depth chart did not derail him. I do not see WSH investing any effort in JP. Let MTL or NYI deal with that...also Russell just does not work unless there's a body like Orlov leaving the team.

imo the capitals could afford to retain 750k-1m in a deal where bura is traded for JP but idk if I want to risk taking JP and having bura play for the oilers and put up 50 points next to mcdavid and JP being a yak 2.0

I 100% agree I think we should chill and give bura a chance to play hockey.....the kid had a fantastic 2nd half and he was mainly playing 4th line minutes..... I think a fresh season and a hot start would due wonders for him.....id rathe risk bura and his cap hit than JP and his little success.....watch highlights of bura and the major difference between him and Conno was luck. bura has the better shot but wasn't scoring post or great saves vs conno shooting % was unreal high

well there's also a potential JP blows up with your forwards and Bura continues to play bad. either way it could be a win-lose, win-win, lose-lose deal. I just thought WSH would look into it due to the 2M in cap savings they could get. As you can see from the roster above, there's only 5K left in cap and that's without Burakovsky's 3M cap hit.

I do not disagree with you, but is there an off-ramp by Nov/Dec if he falters? His value would plummet farther than a 3rd rounder and in this AGM view I am trying to re-sign the devil we know (Connolly) and get "something" for Burky now, versus get nothing and have neither...just an idea.

But in all honesty, Vrana gets more, we're hoping to get like you said 14g-26a out of Burky, Djoos is back to 100% health and confidence, Kempny back to 100% health and top pairing minutes which makes Carly look like an $8M version of himself not a $6M version...(he is overpaid btw, but...I get your point...though he is NO EK65). We get serviceable minutes from Gudas, more growth from Willy and a healthy good vibes Oshie, and a re-focused Holtby on a contract year...IF all those chips fall as described we get to another SCF.

bura before injuries and a diminishing role put up 40 points ......JP hasnt broke 20 points in a season so idk imo its still a risk. Even during the cup run bura scored 5 points in 5 games thats pretty clutch (2 in game 7 vs Tampa) idk im one of the few that still believes in bura so my opinion is bias

yea that's fair. I guess from the Oilers side, I think Connolly and Burakovsky are good targets, Connor Brown as well, definitely would help us get some depth on the wings. In most of my recent ACGMs, I've got

Draisaitl/McDavid/Brown
Burakovsky/Nuge/Connolly - I see this as WSH third line last year except RNH is a bit better than Eller. I think they'd make a solid second line for the Oilers.

see I actually think carlson is a fantastic dman who can play d and has great offensive upside where ek65 is offensive upside with almost 0 ability to play D. hes fast and his breakout ability is solid but his ability to shutdown players isnt great.

also I have a few bets that bura scores 40-50 this season....im thinking 20 goals 20-30 apples. I haven't lost faith in bura. I think hes very talented and im happy hes coming back.... cap is tight bc the nhl screwed up the cap its nobodies fault but the capitals will be fine.. holtby should have a bounce back year and our defense is much better

nuge is way better than eller and that line was so good 2 years ago the oilers would kill.....bura played in Erie with mcdavid and they put top some impressive numbers

It's true. Bura was one of our best forwards and was looking dangerous when he had the puck and he made smarter decisions if there wasn't a play available to make. Hopefully he can carry it over. Also, keeping him on the 3rd line for an extended period (maybe all season) would let him play relaxed as some have said.