I know this is a bit late by now, but I think the Capitals did really well in their flurry of deals at the start of free agency. I realize that isn’t the boldest statement, as there has been almost uniform praise for GM George McPhee after his few days of wheeling and dealing. But honestly, looking at the moves very objectively, I can poke a few holes, but that’s about it.
Let’s start with the trade of Semyon Varlamov. At first glance, I wasn’t a huge fan of this trade, as I think Varlamov is the most talented of the Caps’ goalies. I think that he could easily develop into an all-star goalie with the Avalanche, provided he stays healthy. He has got the talent to be that true No. 1 goalie that a team needs come playoff-time. However, upon further examination, I recognized that the Avalanche were REALLY bad last year. As in, they had the second-worst record in the league. So getting a first-round pick from them could net a top-five pick next year for the Caps. Not only would this be a huge asset if they were to keep the pick, but impressive trade bait for the deadline next year. You can build a deal for a big star (and now I’m talking about a Brad Richards-type player, not a Dennis Wideman-type player) around that pick at the deadline and maybe put the team over the edge. Besides, if Varlamov went to Russia and the KHL, the Caps would have been stuck with no compensation. Now they got two premium draft picks for the young Russian goalie. Good trade.
In more goalie news, I like the Tomas Vokoun signing, strictly based on the value that they paid. Any time you can get a goalie of Vokoun’s stature for backup goalie money (they got Vokoun for a fraction more than they were reported to be offering Varlamov), it’s a good deal. But that’s just from a collecting assets perspective. I’m not sure how exactly he fits in to the team’s plans next year. Is he the undisputed No. 1 entering the season? Is it another time-share with Neuvirth? If so, is this just another Varlamov-Theodore situation? There’s also the issue that this isn’t a playoff-tested veteran. Vokoun has played most of his years on bad teams. Now he has put up impressive numbers over that stretch, which is certainly admirable. But Vokoun is still something of an unknown come crunch time. And clearly some players just can’t come through in the clutch (as we have seen in the past two postseasons). Maybe they develop that skill over time, but Vokoun is already 35. How much time does he have to adjust to playoff hockey?
Not a big fan of the Joel Ward signing. McPhee even acknowledged that the team overpaid pretty significantly for Ward. I’d be okay if this were an established veteran, but if you look at Ward’s track record, he was basically a career minor leaguer until a couple of years ago. Then he burst onto the scene and, to his credit, he has had three solid seasons with the Predators and a couple of successful postseasons. He is another bigger, grittier player, which seems to be a theme for the Caps this offseason after the early acquisition of Troy Brouwer. But consider me a skeptic in giving a player with sucha limited track record this amount of money.
Roman Hamrlik is a solid addition as a veteran defenseman, who can do a little bit of everything. In the Caps defense corps, he will probably fill a stay-at-home defenseman role, but that’s not to say he is incompetent with the puck on his stick (looking at you Jeff Schultz). There has already been talk about pairing Hamrlik with Mike Green, which could be a dynamite combination. Green has been searching for a partner for most of his career. Clearly the Jeff Schultz partnership wasn’t ideal. I think Hamrlik’s veteran presence might just be the right fit.
Suddenly, Washington’s blue line is very crowded. I think you can pencil Green, Hamrlik, Alzner, Carlson and Wideman into the top-five. That leaves one spot in the lineup and maybe one more spot on the roster for a group that includes John Erskine, Tom Poti, Scott Hannan (although the odds that he is brought back fell precipitously once Hamrlik was signed) and top prospect Dmitri Orlov. If I had to guess, I would say Erskine gets the nod as the last defenseman on the squad.
It might have gone under the radar, but the signing of Jeff Halpern is a good one. He basically replaces Boyd Gordon, who might be younger and more talented at this stage, but Halpern signed significantly cheaper and can replace some of the things Gordon brings to the table (locker room presence, defensive-zone faceoff prowess, penalty killing, etc.). I think at this stage of his career, Gordon might be a stronger offensive player, but that clearly isn’t what the Capitals are valuing in their recent additions. McPhee has targeted gritty, battle-tested veterans who bring a physical presence on the ice, and positive influence in the locker room. And the former Capitals captain Halpern certainly fits this bill.
It will be interesting to see if this is the end of the moves (aside from re-signing Brouwer and Alzner, which everyone expects to happen), or if McPhee makes a big trade in a week or so, after some of the free agent market. After all of the chatter about a potential trade leading up to the start of free agency, and the Capitals precarious salary cap situation, I wouldn’t be surprised if McPhee pulls off a big deal (possibly involving Semin) in the next couple of weeks.
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