He's still good but Caps are absolutely loaded at LHD and they want to give youngsters (Siegenthaler, Fehervary, and then Alexeyev soon) more TOI. They aren't moving Orlov so Kempny makes the most sense. They'd probably move him for a 3rd or if they get bidding going maybe a late 2nd.

I'd say he's still serviceable, but not sure on the "good" front. He's lost a step from that hamstring injury late in the 2018-19 regular season and hasn't really recovered from that. That being said, I think he's still an NHL level defenseman, I just don't know if the $2.5M cap hit is really in the cards for the Caps, considering the "overpayment" for depth players in Hagelin and Panik.

Michal Kempny got 18 points at even strength this past year and was +19. Current Rangers who did both last year are Panarin, Fox, and if they can sign him, Strome. Adding a fourth guy at that level for a 7th round pick would be awesome if you could do it, but let's be realistic.

Some Caps fans are giving away lots of guys left and right to make cap space for Hall. Other Caps fans think that the guys the old coaches benched have to be traded because the coaches didn't like them. But the coaches all got fired. The old head coach is back to being an assistant in Pittsburgh. His opinion doesn't matter anymore.

NYR, NSH, MTL, and BUF are all rumored to want a top-four LHD. Could one of them score Kempny cheaply if the Caps really are in on Hall? Sure. Otherwise, bidding probably has to get up to about a 2nd round pick, or at least a high third and a risk/reward prospect, before the Caps are strongly motivated to sell? The only way they go cheaper is if Brendan Dillon wants to stay in Washington on a contract cheaper than Kempny's, and Carlson is happier skating with Dillon, but Carlson has put up his best offensive numbers of his career playing with Kempny, so I'd honestly be surprised.

Other guys that lots of Caps fans on here are giving away cheaply are Hagelin and Panik, two wings who consistently get about 30 points a year and not only play on the Caps' top penalty killing unit, but helped it rise from a bottom ten unit before their arrival to a top ten unit this year. Kempny's defensive improvement was a part of that rise as well. I highly recommend all three players, but I don't think a 7th pick is doing it. The Caps could use a right shot defenseman. They could use a center who's good at faceoffs. Their prospect depth has again been rated the worst in the league by the Athletic, so prospects at any position besides LHD should be tempting.

Don't think either are overpayments. Maybe Hags but not Panik. He was on pace for 30 points even with the terrible start. 30 points for $2.75M is real good. Wouldn't be surprised if he hit closer to 40 next season.

Kempny was on the top pairing with Carlson for most of the year, but the organization seems to have lost faith in him. They brought in Dillon before the covid shutdown and immediately gave him Kempny's role on the top pairing and on the penalty kill while pushing Kempny down to the 3rd pairing or the press box, and then in the playoffs Kempny was a healthy scratch for the last three games of the Islanders series. There's also been talk during the shutdown that the Caps wanted to re-sign Dillon, and if the Caps have Orlov, Dillon, Fehervary, and Siegenthaler on the left side there's no room for Kempny (I think possibly no room for Siegenthaler either but that's another discussion). That's why a lot of Caps fans think he's on his way out - it's not wishful thinking, it's the logical next step based on his fall from favor. I think even his biggest supporters will probably acknowledge that he's the most likely Cap to be traded this offseason.



You're leaving out that Rierden is the same coach Kempny credits for his development into a top 4 defenseman, and that bringing in Dillon and wanting to re-sign him when Kempny still has 2 more years on his deal was/is a big vote of no confidence from management. For Rierden and MacLellan to lose faith in him is significant, even with Rierden gone. This wasn't a guy going in a coach's doghouse for no reason, Kempny's reduced role corroborates what most Caps fans have noticed about his declining defensive play.

Caps fans are so optimistic.

Is Dillon better defensively than Kempny? Yes. Is Kempny's shot attempt percentage better than any of the Rangers' LHD? Also yes.
I'm not arguing with ClockReads:



I'm giving context. The idea that Fehervary can't go back to the AHL is nonsense. He's fine there. He's also okay playing limited minutes in the NHL, but there's no need to rush him along. He and Alexeyev could play top pair in Hershey and develop just fine. A second pair of Nardella and Johansen would be encouraging.

Fehervary doesn't have much to learn at the AHL level. Time to give him NHL time.

Some people are overthinking this way too much. The way I see it, it's as simple as Kempny wasn't very good for us this whole season (although he was never 100% recovered from his injury last year) and for a team that a) is in a closing Cup window, and b) needs to retool the defense anyways, we can't really afford to hope he comes back healthy and plays like a top four defenseman again. He was healthy scratched in the playoffs for a reason.

Totally serviceable LD. Was briefly excellent, after bad injury wasn't great. Surplus to requirements in DC. Caps need right shot defenseman, (likely an) inexpensive veteran goalie, a little youth/speed on the wings (2nd-3rd line RW, 3rd line LW, maybe a 4th line RW but I think likely not.) Can be had for any of the above, or a decent pick.