Gud enuf. I note there's still room to keep Hotlby at 4x4.5 and start with 21 guys. Would be cool if they could get Backstrom to 5x8 and give Holtby a nice, round 5x5.

Can also sell high on Kempny while he's in the top 30 defensemen in even strength points and points/60 minutes. Then sign Djoos on a two year Q.O. and let all the high draft picks (and Nardella) try to earn a spot in camp. That could let thim give Holtby up to a 6M cap hit, which I think might keep him in town without needing to test UFA. He's really declining as a regular season goalie, but in the last three playoffs, he's been elite, so he's still worth something.

At #7D, I think Johansen will be off his ELC and won't be waiver exempt, so that probably gives him the edge, if the team is looking to hold onto all of the good players it has, and keep developing all of them, but if someone else outplays him, who knows.

I'm not in the Capitals market but Backstrom totally seems like a guy that'd take a bit of a proverbial hometown discount to stay with the Caps.

Cool. I also scanned UFA RHD and to me it came down to Pyksyk and Gudas. Gave Gudas a Panik contract. Have any other FA suggestions on 2/3 rd RHD?

I think he would if we were comfortable going 7 or 8 years but don't think that will happen. I believe if he just gets more than Kuzy's 7.8 we can get him for 4 or 5 years.

Gudas is terrific if they can afford him. Hockey players, like most people, have good and bad times. Gudas is at his best right now, and Jensen's having a not great year, but I think the group, as a whole, is doing well. In my last post I tried to trade Kempny for an RHD with five more even strength points than he has, but Tampa said they're not moving Hedman.

Personally Hedman is my favorite D man so I wouldn't expect them to ever do that. I have only looked for 2nd pair type guys for the Caps and even then it's pricey and tricky.

Holtby was terrible in the 2017 playoffs. 7-6 with a .909 sv% and -4.04 GSAA. I'm probably not even paying him 6 mill. In the 2019 playoffs he wasn't much better. -0.52 GSAA.

Face it, he's streaky as hell now, and the bad streaks are starting to outweigh the good streaks.