God the isles aren’t good. We would be putting up a fight rn

What would you all think about potentially sending one of 2024 3rd round picks to Arizona to sign Farinacci, since he isn't planning on signing in the desert? Value would be the same as the Thrun trade, and this is assuming Farinacci would sign in DC. If he's intent on going to FA, then let him go and potentially sign him in the offseason.

Solid idea. What’s his game like?

I think he profiles as a 3C in the NHL, with the potential to play up as a 2C when needed. Was around a ppg at Harvard but like the rest of the team, disappeared when it mattered against Ohio State. I'd have him taking McMichael's place in the AHL for at least a year or two, then potentially have him be a 3C Backstrom replacement, or moving Protas to 4C in a Beagle-esque role when Dowd expires with Farinacci replacing Protas.

reading through the questions people submitted for El-Bashir's mailbag, I was quite surprised seeing how many comments there were specifically about Backstrom's contract and when it was signed. Am I wrong to say it is historical revisionism by fans to say that the deal was awful when it was signed, or am I looking at it through the wrong lens?

I remember Backstrom being the best player on the team that year and to me, you can't look back and say it was bad because we could not have expected Covid to ruin the cap, but obviously looking back now the contract doesn't look great.

I agree with your point, especially because Backstrom was severely underpaid on his previous contract (sitting at $6.7m). That being said, Caps fans always have historical revisionism. Look at how we perceive Trotz. The dude was almost fired mid season of the Cup season...I remember people hating him more than Lavy.

I know the circumstances are very different, but I do find it difficult to see Crosby being paid less than Backstrom. I love Backstrom, and I know Crosby took his current deal in 2013 (I believe) so at the time, his contract was huge. But I think on the very high surface level, it is hard seeing Crosby, who is a far better player than Backstrom (I think everyone would agree with that), being paid less than Backstrom.

Anyways, I do agree with your point. When Backstrom took his current deal, there wasn't anyone complaining and there shouldn't be now. It happened - Unpredictable things happened (Covid, Hip, Non-increase cap, etc) - just gotta accept it.

Is backstrom a reliable 2c?

Question.

Let’s say we draft Ryan Leo at 8

Trade Kuzy for a mid first to pick Gabe perrualt?

Would be amazing to draft the entire line but we can’t

I don’t think Perreault will be there to be honest. I think his performance right now will get him picked top 12 by a team that really covets him, and I don’t see any teams in that range (outside of maybe Pittsburgh if they go insane) that would be interested in Kuzy.

Don't think we'll know until preseason next year. I'd lean towards no though, I'm quite pessimistic about his recovery based on similar surgeries.

I think that almost every national commentator and most fans recognized that the contract was bad when it was signed. I think that Caps fans however rightly didn't really care as he was so underpaid previously and letting him go in FA wasn't an option. I think the big revisionism is that every national commentator said the Ovi deal was horrible when it was signed whereas I don't think any of them would admit that. The big fan revisionisms are generally about coaches (Trotz especially, Japers just put out a great article about it) and players -- everyone will swear to you that they knew Stephenson was a 1c when he was traded.

I don’t regret the Stephenson trade much, he wouldn’t be where he is today if we didn’t trade him. A 5th was a great deal.

yep, especially when he was about to be waived for Hagelin

the only trade bmac has made that was a definitive loss at the time was the seigenthaler deal and even then he's had some real struggles this year

This is huge

michkov is going to fall out of the top 5 because of the russian factor and whatever team takes him is going to get him to come this year and look like geniuses. just hope its us!

Dude we just got alexyev for 825000x2


That’s incredible

Ok with that low aav. I think we are saving cap room for something. A big move. Wonder what

Eh, it’s only probably a 200k-ish difference, not sure it changes much. I’d say it’s more likely planning for the Sandin and Wilson extensions next offseason more than a move this offseason, though that’s not to say one isn’t coming.

MoJo 2x2mil with Wild. Good for him

So, with Miro now coming to America, what are the chances we see him in the NHL to start the year?

I’d personally like to see him get a couple games and then sending him down for the ELC slide, maybe play him on Ovi’s wing for a game just to see how he fits there. He looked alright in admittedly little KHL time, so I’m hoping that it can convert to the North American game.

I don’t think he is ready imo. But we may give him the 9 game thing

Depends on camp obviously but I liked the small sample I saw from him in the KHL and he was tearing up the lower leagues. Shame Omsk was in a playoff position which killed any chance for Miro to be anything more than the 12-13th forward, so we don't have a great amount of info to work off of at the highest level.

If he looks really good in camp they might reward him with a couple games a la Lapierre but I would be shocked if he stayed up for more than two or 3. They already have quite a lot of forwards signed, almost certainly are going to look to bring in another high-end guy or two, and have 4.5 Hershey guys way ahead of him (Protas, McM, Snively, Frank, Lapierre maybe). I know everyone loves to play the kids but I hope looking at Laf and Kaakko's struggles for the Rangers and other examples reminds everyone that its completely normal and in fact almost certainly beneficial for 1st round picks to still be playing in the AHL in their D+2 or even D+3 seasons.

Totally fair, I'd like to see him get a (mostly) full year of AHL time, but I do think it would be nice to have him in the NHL for a couple games to see just how far ahead in his development he is. I'd have him over Snively on the left side (maybe with Oshie?) for at least a few games, then give him a couple years of AHL time to get situated. Would all depend on Snively's waiver eligibility I guess, since I get the sneaking suspicion they'll consider running 8 defensemen.