Offseason Changes to the Roster?

[Toasted Oates]

I can't argue with any of that, Oakland. Most especially the comment on Lapierre. Perfect agitator and he's got a little clutch gene in him too. Contributed on the PK as well. I know some fans typically don't like a villain like Lappy wearing the beloved note. To that i say "pish posh." I'm down with keeping #40.

[not_a_wings_fan]

There is plenty of salary coming off the books to pay a top line playmaker or finisher. Money won't be the issue.
...at least it shouldn't be.

Morrow, bergie, miller, ott and Roy are a nice pile of coins to get the forward we need and there are cheaper guys in the system to round out the roster.

[JCShutout]

You find a way to keep Shatty. Having 3 talented scoring Dmen are pretty key to our game.

I would keep Berglund if he came at a 3rd liner's price. He's not a scorer, but he can be a quality shut down forward who can chip in some goals.

Keep Steener. He, Backes and Oshie make a heck of a 2nd line. I'm on board with pooling the remaining money (especially dropping Roy and Miller) and trying to buy an elite scorer or playmaker for the 1st line, with Tank and Schwartz. Then go with Elliot/Allen. That might not be possible, since everyone wants elite scorers, but pool the cash and try hard for a top guy.

Jax played well this year. When he's not expected to be a top 4 guy, he's useful.

[flyingnote38]

one other free agent off the radar. Kovulchuk.

[JesusNEVERexisted]

Over at the PD forum they want D Stastny or Spezza.

[dmiles2186]

Guys, you know if we sign Paul Stastny, we're going to have to re-sign Yan. Just like we did with Paul and Martin Kariya.

[flyingnote38]

Ott - I'm on the fence about him. He's physical and we got him knowing he isn't a goal scorer.
Cracknell - KEEP.
Polak - Go the #$% away.
Lappy - Any guy that screws up one game to come back and score a goal stays. Shows heart. Was a major physical force in the playoffs, so he can suck eggs all season as long as he plays like this in the playoffs for us.
Leopold - G.O.N.E.

Thoughts?

I don't see much of a point in having Lapierre and Ott. Lapierre is under contract; Ott is a UFA. If he wants half of what he made this year he can stay, but he did almost nothing for us in 26 games and its not like he's going to get better. If you don't have a Brett Hull, you can't afford to have third liners who can't score.

Cracknell is a UFA, but would likely re-sign. But he's filler not killer.

You could probably replace Polak with an equivalent d-man for half his cap hit if you can move him.

Never understood why they signed Leopold last year. I'd be happy to trade him as well.

[WaukeeBlues]

Getting Ovie would certainly be a statement. And maybe he'd want to come here because (a) it isn't Washington, and (b) he might be a great mentor to Tarasenko. But some nutjob oligarch in the KHL is also probably going to make a run at him, so I'm not sure how that's going to go. But heck, it seems to make a lot of sense. More sense than expecting Rattie to turn into Brett Hull.

It makes a shit ton of sense! Imagine him on a line with Tarasenko. Washington isn't done just by firing Oates and McPhee plus their new GM wants to make a statement no doubt. Capitals fans have been bitching for quite a while about Ovechkin and a change of scenery would do him--and their fans--very well. I think they'd certainly welcome having a solid blueliner in Shattenkirk and Berglund seems like the type of guy who might fit in the east better. As for Miller, let him sign wherever. It's irrelevant because Elliott/Allen is the duo next season anyway and not signing Miller saves the extra money for Ovie.

Personally I think it'll be a cold day in hell long before the Capitals look to trade Ovechkin but that's just me. IMO, the Caps would blow up the entire rest of the roster to surround him completely with different personnel (even assigning a new captain to remove any leadership capabilities) before they would trade him. He and Crosby are once in a generation players that happened to enter the league at the same time.

Any top-end talent we could possibly trade for would require a mortgage on the farm (and future) to get done and we've already been doing that in recent years every deadline.

[WaukeeBlues]

How is it an automatic assumption that Miller is gone? I think it's a very real possibility the Blues retain him.

An Elliot/Allen combo scares the crap out of me, I can't fathom how any of you are comfortable with that idea...

[Nyghtewynd]

How is it an automatic assumption that Miller is gone? I think it's a very real possibility the Blues retain him.

An Elliot/Allen combo scares the crap out of me, I can't fathom how any of you are comfortable with that idea...

You're willing to switch that extra 3rd rounder into a 1st rounder, AND pay a .500 goalie $6M a year?

[cardsfan04]

Getting Ovie would certainly be a statement. And maybe he'd want to come here because (a) it isn't Washington, and (b) he might be a great mentor to Tarasenko. But some nutjob oligarch in the KHL is also probably going to make a run at him, so I'm not sure how that's going to go. But heck, it seems to make a lot of sense. More sense than expecting Rattie to turn into Brett Hull.

It makes a shit ton of sense! Imagine him on a line with Tarasenko. Washington isn't done just by firing Oates and McPhee plus their new GM wants to make a statement no doubt. Capitals fans have been bitching for quite a while about Ovechkin and a change of scenery would do him--and their fans--very well. I think they'd certainly welcome having a solid blueliner in Shattenkirk and Berglund seems like the type of guy who might fit in the east better. As for Miller, let him sign wherever. It's irrelevant because Elliott/Allen is the duo next season anyway and not signing Miller saves the extra money for Ovie.

Personally I think it'll be a cold day in hell long before the Capitals look to trade Ovechkin but that's just me. IMO, the Caps would blow up the entire rest of the roster to surround him completely with different personnel (even assigning a new captain to remove any leadership capabilities) before they would trade him. He and Crosby are once in a generation players that happened to enter the league at the same time.

Any top-end talent we could possibly trade for would require a mortgage on the farm (and future) to get done and we've already been doing that in recent years every deadline.

Agreed. I'd love to have Ovie. But, I don't see it happening. And, if it did, we'd be without any prospects. FA is the way to go for missing pieces right now.

[cardsfan04]

How is it an automatic assumption that Miller is gone? I think it's a very real possibility the Blues retain him.

An Elliot/Allen combo scares the crap out of me, I can't fathom how any of you are comfortable with that idea...

It's a risk for sure. But, if the risk brings us an elite scorer, it's one I'd be willing to take.

I don't think Miller is necessarily gone either. Re-signing Miller is my 2nd choice to getting an elite scorer. Hell, with the salary cap going up, maybe we could do both? ehh, probably not, but it's fun to dream.

[cardsfan04]

How is it an automatic assumption that Miller is gone? I think it's a very real possibility the Blues retain him.

An Elliot/Allen combo scares the crap out of me, I can't fathom how any of you are comfortable with that idea...

You're willing to switch that extra 3rd rounder into a 1st rounder, AND pay a .500 goalie $6M a year?

I am not willing to do that. I am however willing to switch a 3rd into a 1st rounder and pay Miller $6M a year.

[WaukeeBlues]

How is it an automatic assumption that Miller is gone? I think it's a very real possibility the Blues retain him.

An Elliot/Allen combo scares the crap out of me, I can't fathom how any of you are comfortable with that idea...

You're willing to switch that extra 3rd rounder into a 1st rounder, AND pay a .500 goalie $6M a year?

As I understand the deal, it was only if he was re-signed before/on draft day would the pick convert to a first rounder. If true, then just re-sign him after the draft but before July 1.

As for the $6 million figure, there might be some play there. I don't know and you don't know, I guess we'll see.

[Kerfuffle]

Agreed. I'd love to have Ovie. But, I don't see it happening. And, if it did, we'd be without any prospects. FA is the way to go for missing pieces right now.

Ovie was like -35 this year and the knock on him is he plays no defense which is shown in the numbers. One dimensional player. Can't win that way.

[Nyghtewynd]

Agreed. I'd love to have Ovie. But, I don't see it happening. And, if it did, we'd be without any prospects. FA is the way to go for missing pieces right now.

Ovie was like -35 this year and the knock on him is he plays no defense which is shown in the numbers. One dimensional player. Can't win that way.

And the Blues have been totally killing it with all of these defense-first scrappy players for the last three years. Gotcha.

[flyingnote38]

As I understand the deal, it was only if he was re-signed before/on draft day would the pick convert to a first rounder. If true, then just re-sign him after the draft but before July 1.

very complex conditions. see below from Hockey transactions, but I think something's screwy with what the have listed.

If we sign or trade Miller before making our first round pick this year, Buffalo gets our 1st this year and our 2016 3rd and we get Buffalo's 2014 3rd pick and a 2014 2nd round pick(unclear if it is Buffalo's or the Wild's though HT thinks its the #50 pick).
If we sign or trade Miller after making our first pick in this year's draft, we owe them our 2016 2nd round pick and get bumpkis back.
Otherwise they get our 2016 3rd round pick.

Traded Ryan Miller, Steve Ott, conditional draft picks (2014 second round pick and 2014 third round pick if any of the following conditions are met: 1) Blues advance to 2014 Western Conference Finals and Ryan Miller appears in at least 50% of the game minutes played by all Blues goalies during first and second rounds of 2014 playoffs, 2) Blues re-sign Ryan Miller prior to making their 2014 first round pick, 3) Blues trade Ryan Miller prior to making their 2014 first round pick) (?-?) (?-?) to Blues for Jaroslav Halak, Chris Stewart, William Carrier, 2015 first round pick (?-?), conditional draft pick(s) (2014 first round pick and 2016 third round pick if any of the following conditions are met: 1) Blues advance to 2014 Western Conference Finals and Ryan Miller appears in at least 50% of the game minutes played by all Blues goalies during first and second rounds of 2014 playoffs, 2) Blues re-sign Ryan Miller prior to making their 2014 first round pick, 3) Blues trade Ryan Miller prior to making their 2014 first round pick. If none of those conditions are met then 2016 second round pick if any of the following conditions are met: 1) Blues re-sign Ryan Miller to a contract extension after making their 2014 first round pick, 2) Blues trade Ryan Miller after making their 2014 first round pick and prior to 2014-07-01, 3) Blues re-sign Ryan Miller to a new NHL contract for 2014-15. If none of those conditions are met, then 2016 third round pick) (?-?) on 2014-02-28

[Oaklandblue]

I would honestly chalk the Miller/Ott trade as a loss and let them both go unless Ott's price goes down very signifigantly. It was a risky move anyway and it didn't pan out. And not just because Miller wasn't that good, but because we should have traded for firepower. There were the right people avaliable and we passed them up. Fact is, we have to pay elite prices for an elite player, you can't keep expecting to spend nothing to gain something. That happens, but it's not the rule. This time we got what we paid for and paid too much.

My thinking is, if we sign the right elites for the going price, Elliott in goal will be enough. If we need a lights out goalie every night to win games, the problem isn't the goalie. A goalie that gives up 3+ goals isn't going to win us jack, either. Especially in the playoffs. Miller was advertised as a guy who had the skills and could steal games. I'm sorry, Halak was better. Chalk it up to experience and move on.

[Oaklandblue]

For those who are in the keep Miller camp, consider this:

For the season, he's 10-8-1 with 2.47 and 0.903
For the playoffs, he's 2-4 with 2.70 and 0.897.

Brian Elliott, for comparsion from last year's playoffs, the playoffs that mimicked this years, was 2-4 as well but was 1.90 and 0.919.

Miller was playing for a bigger contract. If that didn't motivate him to steal a game or do something better than sub par .900, would you really want to sign him?

Sure you can make the argument that the D held him out to dry. Fact is, he let in a LOT of shots on goal that he could have stopped. And if you add it up, we could have actually have won the series with what we got in goals from our guys.

My opinion.

[goon attack]

SIGN STASTNY DO IT LEERY