Who fills the 2c spo. That’s a huge problem

McM, but would need to be surrounded by strong wingers - plus you have Backy who hopefully returns to somewhat form?

Idk

if we wanna win we can’t have a rookie at 2c or aging injury prone backstrom
We are screwed

If we run it back we are doomed.

Keep Kuzy, get a top 6 forward like a Schmaltz or Barbashev and go from there.

Value is fine but I think it makes the team worse. We’d have to decline

I think McMike is ready but we do need two strong wingers. Get Wilson and someone else on the other side.

However we are gonna keep kuzy so it’ll be like

Ovi - Strome - Top 6 Addition
McMike- Kuzy- Wilson
Milano- Backy - Osh
protas- Dowd - Brown

And the top 6 addition cannot be Connor brown.

Hoping the reports that the Yotes want to be competitive are wrong cuz we need schmaltz.

@hughmann413

Welcome, this is where we discuss the caps outside of ACGMs.

I think the Caps could look into the Flames for a forward

What would Toffoli cost?

I don’t get peoples idea of knowing osh would want to play for the kraken. He step up his entire family in the dmv. There’s a reason why he signed 8 years. He loves it here wouldnt want to play anywhere else. Like most of the core tbh

zero chance oshie wants to move and zero chance gmbm moves him without his approval. he's earned an honorary NMC with the franchise

Thanks!!

What do you guys think is reasonable to trade up to 5?

I think we add 40 OA then either a 2025 2nd or 2024 3rd

Sounds like we are keeping Mantha and Kuzy. I don’t understand how they can just run it back

i guess i understand keeping kuzy but i need mantha sent to the shadow realm

It seems like GMBM thought he could get an asset for him. He’s totally against dumping him. Literally just dumping him and upgrading plus adding McMike and protas is enough imo

I wish Backstrom took a discount. Same with ovi

I really don't understand how Caps mgmt can look at this team and be "fine" with running it back, as is.

My guess:
They saw the team fighting for a playoff spot pre-Carlson injury and believe that Carbery will be enough to fix any flaws in team defense and get Kuzy+Mantha back to form. That said, I don’t think we’ve seen anything yet, I would not be concerned moving forward until we have no signs of life on Friday night. So much has been swirling for the last week that I have no doubt that something (potentially a Toffoli trade?) could catch us by surprise. First things first though, I believe MacLellan is trying to get a potential trade up with Arizona at 6 first before anything else. Trade up is assuming Michkov is at 6, in which I expect the board to fall: Bedard, Fantilli, Carlsson, Smith, Leonard, Michkov (WSH), Benson, Reinbacher (ARI).

Have you guys seen this Wilson BS to Ottawa lmao? One ex sen mentions it and now hockey Twitter explodes

Also if we draft Michkov this off-season is a success even if we run it back

every year right before the draft and right before the tdl so many people fall for these bs "insiders" and it's maddening. literally the only trustworthy guy is friedman and he usually wont say anything until like 3 hours before a deal is about to be done.

I know the Caps have multiple bottom / middle 6 wingers (Snively, McM, Protas, Beck, Milano, NAK, etc)

But I am wondering if GMBM tries to find another "Sheary" type (low cost, veteran but still youngish, and cheap). Now I want to say first, the below options are not preferred and honestly, I probably would avoid all together. But, seeing how GMBM does a fantastic job at finding those cheap players, figured I'd throw out some options.

If everything stays as expected, Caps will have just around $2mil to play with. That automatically eliminates guys like Olofsson (unless retained?) who make too much but need a change of scenery. I thought Brown would be a great fit, but looks like he will test the market.

To compare to Sheary, who I think we all would agree was a great find:
2019 - 2020 season stats: 63 GP; 23 P; 27yo; coming off a 3m contract

A few guys that came to mind who could be targets for "Sheary-type players":

Noel Acciari (25 P; 31yo; 1x1.5m)
Nick Bjugstad (32 P; 30yo; 2x2m)
Ryan Donato (29 P; 27yo; 3x2m)
Jesper Fast (38 P; 31 yo; 2x2.25m)
Mattias Janmark (26 P; 30yo; 1x1.75m)
Matt Nieto (24 P; 30yo; 1x1.25m)
Nick Ritchie (26 P; 27yo; 2x1.75m)

Once again - I personally would not go for these players, as the Caps have internal options. But maybe GMBM tries to replicate Sheary from 4 years ago?

I’d say yes but i expect it to be Connor brown

My thoughts on the possible lack of movement/running it back with the current core:

I believe that MacLellan could be expecting Backstrom to retire based on his previous statements/ultimatum issued regarding Backstrom’s future with the team and his progress towards getting back to the Nick Backstrom of old, and hasn’t considered moving Kuznetsov and Mantha in any real capacity because he believes he can keep both and still add to the core with the money Backstrom could free up. While I’m not sure this is the best solution, I do believe it’s the most likely at the time, with the Caps possibly considering someone like Toffoli for a year that could potentially be resigned over Mantha in the off-season.

Best solution is backy gets back to form from a few years ago but that’s highly doubtful. I think him retiring is the next best solution. Allows us to put McMike at 3C and bring in a true top 6 winger