An interesting El-Bashir Mailbag

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Initial Creation Date: Jan. 24, 2023

Published: Jan. 24, 2023

Team: 2022-23 Washington Capitals

Description

Tarik El-Bashir today had some interesting topics to cover in this episode of mailbag.

Some prospect news to cover:
Garin Bjorklund will be out long term after back surgery. If Gibson signs, I think that may be the death sentence for any chance Bjorklund has in the Caps system.
Bear Hughes (2020 5th round pick, unsigned) and Clay Stevenson (Undrafted Free Agent) are off to good starts in South Carolina, and Stevenson is "progressing on schedule" and could play a role in the Capitals future.

Finally, the most interesting bit of news, on Laviolette and a possible extension: "I have not heard any recent scuttlebutt. My gut says it’s like everything else with the Caps these days: the answer is, “it depends.” As in, it depends on what happens between now and the end of the season."

I've always considered El-Bashir to be the most reliable of Caps reporters (no disrespect to Samantha Pell), so I'm glad to see the mailbag be so thorough/diverse in topics.

Free Agent Signings

CREATED		YEARS	CAP HIT
Hughes, Bear		1	$800,000
Eller, Lars		1	$3,500,000

Trades

WSH

Boeser, Brock

VAN

"As for Boeser, I was told that there aren’t any legs to the speculation connecting him to D.C."

Based on the extra term and price on his contract, makes sense in my opinion.

WSH

Horvat, Bo

VAN

"Horvat figures to be the most sought-after rental at the deadline. As such, I don’t see him ending up in D.C. The cost in terms of draft/prospect capital, to me, puts him out of the Caps’ price range."

Feels like MacLellan will be very inactive at the deadline with these types of reports.

WSH

Gudas, Radko

FLA

Eller, Lars ($1,000,000 retained)

Additional Details:

"with colleague Pierre LeBrun writing, “Washington, I’m told, would entertain offers for him if it could get help on defense, where the injury to John Carlson has really thinned the ranks.”

Fellow caps fans, you might get your wish. El-Bashir kind of words it like Eller is more likely dealt than Mantha. This could be for a whole host of depth defensemen, but I personally like the idea of a Gudas trade and Washington sending some sort of pick to cover the difference. Perhaps a bit of salary retention as well.

WSH

ARI

Gibson, Mitchell [Reserve List]

Additional Details:

"The Caps like Gibson, who’s having another solid season for the Crimson. In fact, the 2018 fourth-round pick is viewed as one of the organization’s most improved prospects. They want to bring him into the fold. But you’re right, there is a bit of a backlog in net. And I’m sure Gibson is well aware of that."

This one worries me a bit. Gibson has shown good improvement and I like him as a prospect, but the fact he hasn't signed yet is a bit concerning. Nice to know Washington would like to keep him around, though.

WSH

Roy, Matt

LAK

Eller, Lars ($350,000 retained)

Additional Details:

EDIT TO THE ORIGINAL POST:
With a Duhatshek report coming out that the Kings may have interest in Eller, with potentially Walker/Roy coming back the other way, I think would likely be more realistic than a trade for Gudas. Roy especially would be nice but I'm not sure what would need to be added in to even the trade out.

Retained Salary Transactions

Dmitry Orlov: $2,550,000 (50%)
Lars Eller: $1,085,000 (31%)
Lars Eller: $1,000,000 (41.41%)
Lars Eller: $350,000 (10%)

DRAFT YEAR	ROUND 1	ROUND 2	ROUND 3	ROUND 4	ROUND 5	ROUND 6	ROUND 7
2023
2024
2025

ROSTER

LONG-TERM OUTLOOK

EMBED

TEXT-EMBED

ROSTER SIZE	SALARY CAP	CAP HIT	OVERAGES	BONUSES	CAP SPACE
23	$82,500,000	$77,070,834	$100,000	$82,500	$5,429,166

Roster

Left Wing	Centre	Right Wing
Ovechkin, Alex $9,500,000 LW M-NTC, NMC UFA - 4	Strome, Dylan $3,500,000 C UFA - 1	Sheary, Conor $1,500,000 LW, RW UFA - 1
Milano, Sonny $750,000 LW, RW UFA - 1	Bäckström, Nicklas $9,200,000 C NMC UFA - 3	Wilson, Tom $5,166,667 RW M-NTC UFA - 2
Mantha, Anthony $5,700,000 LW, RW UFA - 2	Kuznetsov, Evgeny $7,800,000 C M-NTC UFA - 3	Oshie, T.J. $5,750,000 RW M-NTC UFA - 3
Johansson, Marcus $1,100,000 LW, RW UFA - 1	Protas, Aliaksei $789,167 RW, C RFA - 2	Hathaway, Garnet $1,500,000 RW, LW UFA - 1

Left Defense	Right Defense	Goaltender
Orlov, Dmitry $1,275,000 LD M-NTC UFA - 1	Roy, Matt $3,150,000 RD UFA - 2	Kuemper, Darcy $5,250,000 G M-NTC UFA - 5
Gustafsson, Erik $800,000 LD UFA - 1	van Riemsdyk, Trevor $950,000 RD UFA - 1	Lindgren, Charlie $1,100,000 G UFA - 3
Fehérváry, Martin $791,667 LD/RD RFA - 1	Jensen, Nick $2,500,000 RD UFA - 1

Scratches	Injured Reserve (IR)	Long Term IR (LTIR)
Alexeyev, Alexander $863,333 LD/RD RFA - 1	Dowd, Nic $1,300,000 C UFA - 3	Carlson, John $8,000,000 RD M-NTC UFA - 4
Irwin, Matt $750,000 LD/RD UFA - 1		Brown, Connor $3,600,000 RW, LW UFA - 1
Aubé-Kubel, Nicolas $1,000,000 RW UFA - 1		Hagelin, Carl $2,750,000 LW UFA - 1
		Boeser, Brock $6,650,000 RW UFA - 3
		Horvat, Bo $4,125,000 C UFA - 1
		Gudas, Radko $2,500,000 RD UFA - 1

Taxi Squad
Hughes, Bear $800,000 ($0)
Stevenson, Clay $855,000 ($0) G RFA - 2

Special Teams

Power Play 1
Kuznetsov, E.		Strome, D.		Oshie, T.
	Ovechkin, A.		Gustafsson, E.

Power Play 2
Milano, S.		Bäckström, N.		Wilson, T.
	Ovechkin, A.		Orlov, D.

Penalty Kill 1
	Protas, A.	Hathaway, G.
	Orlov, D.	Gudas, R.

Penalty Kill 2
	Johansson, M.	Wilson, T.
	Fehérváry, M.	Jensen, N.

Jan. 24 at 10:51 a.m.

capsfan2121

Justaboss is dad

Joined: May 2021

Posts: 14,581

Likes: 9,548

We need a defensemen. Gudas is the guy we need. I like this. Mantha for Kuzmenko. Don’t really care if we need to add.

Also Osh needs to retire

Jan. 24 at 11:02 a.m.

NoVaSpartan

Thread Starter

Nic Dowd Enjoyer

Joined: Nov. 2019

Posts: 4,152

Likes: 4,949

Quoting: capsfan2121

We need a defensemen. Gudas is the guy we need. I like this. Mantha for Kuzmenko. Don’t really care if we need to add.

Also Osh needs to retire

With how poorly the PP functions without him, I don't even care how well he does at 5v5 anymore. The team doesn't function as well without Oshie on the ice (I just wish they could redo his contract)

Jan. 24 at 11:11 a.m.

bagelbob

Joined: Jul. 2021

Posts: 3,486

Likes: 2,172

is eller a UFA after this season? regardless i don't see florida going for that if they could just sell gudas for a higher pick without taking on money and a forward they don't really want

capsfan2121 liked this.

Jan. 24 at 11:12 a.m.

capsfan2121

Justaboss is dad

Joined: May 2021

Posts: 14,581

Likes: 9,548

Quoting: NoVaSpartan

With how poorly the PP functions without him, I don't even care how well he does at 5v5 anymore. The team doesn't function as well without Oshie on the ice (I just wish they could redo his contract)

Honestly pay someone to buy him out then we can fix the contract. How much would that be tho

Jan. 24 at 11:13 a.m.

NoVaSpartan

Thread Starter

Nic Dowd Enjoyer

Joined: Nov. 2019

Posts: 4,152

Likes: 4,949

Quoting: capsfan2121

Honestly pay someone to buy him out then we can fix the contract. How much would that be tho

If I remember correctly, the NHL fixed that loophole after the Orpik trade.

Jan. 24 at 11:15 a.m.

capsfan2121

Justaboss is dad

Joined: May 2021

Posts: 14,581

Likes: 9,548

Quoting: NoVaSpartan

If I remember correctly, the NHL fixed that loophole after the Orpik trade.

Bmac masterclass. Broke the system

Jan. 24 at 11:17 a.m.

NoVaSpartan

Thread Starter

Nic Dowd Enjoyer

Joined: Nov. 2019

Posts: 4,152

Likes: 4,949

Quoting: bagelbob

is eller a UFA after this season? regardless i don't see florida going for that if they could just sell gudas for a higher pick without taking on money and a forward they don't really want

Certainly possible. I wonder if Florida looks to deal Bennett or Reinhart, would they possibly like Eller to slot in as a defensive forward who can take some pressure off of Luostarainen. (And someone who could be a possible cheap re-signing)

The trade here is more of a rough outline than anything else, with Gudas able to be replaced with another defenseman like Stecher or Walker for example.

Jan. 24 at 1:46 p.m.

markykins1

twentyeighteen

Joined: Feb. 2017

Posts: 1,064

Likes: 448

I would be (pleasantly) surprised if Bmac could get a d man in an Eller trade. Doubt it happens this way. I think if the Caps are making the playoffs (still iffy) Gudas would be a good add for this. I would not want to pay more than a 3rd rounder though, as the Caps would only last 5 or 6 games in their first round series with Bos or Car anyways...

Jan. 24 at 1:49 p.m.

NoVaSpartan

Thread Starter

Nic Dowd Enjoyer

Joined: Nov. 2019

Posts: 4,152

Likes: 4,949

Quoting: markykins1

Would also be happy if Bmac could grab a defenseman. I need to amend the post itself but Duhatshek was reporting that the Kings had interest in Eller and Walker/Roy would be potentially coming back the other way. Would, in all likelihood, end the possibility for Jensen to return without Backstrom retiring at the end of the year (or dealing Mantha), but Roy especially would not be a bad replacement imo.

markykins1 liked this.

Jan. 24 at 1:54 p.m.

#10

markykins1

twentyeighteen

Joined: Feb. 2017

Posts: 1,064

Likes: 448

Ok. That 'Kings have interest in Eller' changes a lot. Cool.

NoVaSpartan liked this.

Jan. 24 at 1:55 p.m.

#11

NoVaSpartan

Thread Starter

Nic Dowd Enjoyer

Joined: Nov. 2019

Posts: 4,152

Likes: 4,949

Quoting: markykins1

Ok. That 'Kings have interest in Eller' changes a lot. Cool.

Yeah, I was definitely ready to write off an Eller trade if it was just "Eller could be a higher trade target", but LA having reported interest makes me think something could actually happen.

Jan. 24 at 2:01 p.m.

#12

NoVaSpartan

Thread Starter

Nic Dowd Enjoyer

Joined: Nov. 2019

Posts: 4,152

Likes: 4,949

@OldNYIFan @Tryger

Interested to hear you two's thoughts on a potential Caps-Kings trade, and especially if/how an Eller for Roy or Eller for Walker trade could happen.

Here's part of the report for anyone interested

OldNYIfan liked this.

Jan. 24 at 3:07 p.m.

#13

OldNYIfan

First NY Then LA

Joined: Jun. 2018

Posts: 33,024

Likes: 19,247

Quoting: NoVaSpartan

OldNYIFan Tryger

Interested to hear you two's thoughts on a potential Caps-Kings trade, and especially if/how an Eller for Roy or Eller for Walker trade could happen.

Here's part of the report for anyone interested

I cannot imagine why we'd have interest in Lars Eller when we have Quinton Byfield and Rasmus Kupari, as well as others, we've been auditioning for #3C. Fiala, Kempe, Arvidsson, Vilardi, Kupari and Kaliyev can all play RW. Fiala, Kempe, Moore, Iafallo, Grundstrom and Turcotte (2023 debut last game) can all play LW. Kopitar, Danault, Byfield and Lizotte look pretty solid down the middle, but both Kupari and Vilardi have spent time there. And that's not considering fourth-liners like Anderson-Dolan and Lemieux, or auditioning youngsters like Fa-gem-o.

NoVaSpartan liked this.

Jan. 24 at 5:48 p.m.

#14

tryger

Joined: Jun. 2018

Posts: 4,670

Likes: 3,288

Quoting: NoVaSpartan

Quoting: OldNYIfan

Yeah, Walker is movable not so much Roy. I agree with @OldNYIFan The Kings look fairly set at forward, the question mark in goal and left defense will be what they will want for Walker, or a pick/prospect would suffice. With Clarke and Spence coming, Walker will be the odd man out.

OldNYIfan and NoVaSpartan liked this.

Jan. 25 at 8:07 a.m.

#15

NoVaSpartan

Thread Starter

Nic Dowd Enjoyer

Joined: Nov. 2019

Posts: 4,152

Likes: 4,949

Quoting: tryger

Quoting: NoVaSpartan

OldNYIFan Tryger

Interested to hear you two's thoughts on a potential Caps-Kings trade, and especially if/how an Eller for Roy or Eller for Walker trade could happen.

OldNYIFan The Kings look fairly set at forward, the question mark in goal and left defense will be what they will want for Walker, or a pick/prospect would suffice. With Clarke and Spence coming, Walker will be the odd man out.

Quoting: OldNYIfan

Thank for the input guys! I'll admit I was pretty confused why they would have interest in Eller outside of any PK needs, but if Walker is available that seems like a realistic target for Washington.

OldNYIfan liked this.

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