General Sports Water Cooler

Looking at capgeek, the D and goalies are easy to set up:

Timmonen-Pronger-Meszaros-Coburn-Carle-Bartulis
Bryzgalov-Bobrovsky (presumably Bob will be the backup)

Line combos at forward are difficult to figure out, especially because a lot of guys are unsigned - Carcillo, Leino, Nodl, Zherdev, plus new boys Voracek and Simmonds.

Capgeek has nine forwards signed, and one of them is Ian Laperriere who is never playing again. So there are really eight - Briere, Hartnell, JVR, Giroux, Schenn, Versteeg, Shelley, and Betts. Assuming Lappy and Leighton go away, they'll have about $10m to play with. Voracek, Simmonds, and Carcillo are RFAs and will probably cost you around $3.5m combined to sign. Leino is a UFA, so I'd expect he'll get more on the open market than Philly can pay him.

Lots of decisions for Philly to make, and not a lot of cap room to make them with. Realistically, to get Brad Richards in there they'd need to deal off another piece or get him to take a discount. They'd love to get someone to take Briere or Hartnell's contracts off their hands but I don't think that's happening.

Yeah, I realized my mistake and fixed it quickly.

Adams resigned last Friday for two years.

And no, Martin is not overpaid. Letang is an offensive defenseman. Martin is not used in that role nor is he expected to be used in that role on our team. He did just fine this year to deserve the money he got.

He looked terrible the last half of the season too. His offensive production dropped off completely without Crosby and Malkin in the line-up and he had some awful defensive lapses.

I despise Letang, but then again I always seem to hate our top offensive defenseman. I hated Whitney before this too.

I believe they re-signed Adams last week for a slight raise.

He's a very good player, but his hit is $6.5m a year for the next four seasons, and he turns 34 in October. They'd ritually sacrifice small children to be rid of his deal.

Come to think of it, it's the Flyers, so we can't put that move past them

Comrie will not be back next year. It's unfortunate because he didn't really get a fair shake with injuries, but it is the nature of the game.

I really doubt Asham takes the same money next year. He signed for less to play with Pittsburgh, but I just cannot see him doing that. Though I'd love to have him back.

Rupp thinks he can get $2 mil on the open market, so at the very least, he is going to test it. Again, another player I'd love to have back.

It was just reported that Max turned down a 3-year offer from the Pens because he wants a 4-year contract. I love him, but he's gone.

Nothing. We have nothing to replace Rafi's minutes. I'm a huge Kronwall fan, but if we ask him to step into Rafalski's role (especially on the PP), I'm afraid his play will suffer.

As far as our cap space, we could be okay if Draper and Osgood both decide to hang it up for good. We're also not going to bring Salei back, so that along with the cap going up $4.9 million, anything is possible.

I love Kronwall too - most underrated player in the league in my book - but he's not a 1st-unit PP guy. Let him shut down other team's best lines and chip in with occasional offense rather than expecting him to turn into Lidstrom's second coming.

FIFY

I agree with your analysis, RHTB&G, and I can live with it either way. Plus, there is room for the two way players on the 4th line freeing more money for the other holes. It's becoming more of a question of who wants to stay and compete for the Cup with an outstanding Defense and Goalie and a couple of the games stars. God I wish we could dump Cooke. LOL!!!

And as I said earlier, there are clubs who might give Talbot 4 years at $3 mil just because they have to meet the minimum. It's like musical chairs, and the real wild card appears to be who starts tossing money at guys and over-paying. Freddie is just sitting there seeing how it all comes to him. What we do have is SOLID.

I'm getting senile. hahaha!!!! Feeble minded for sure. Uh, make that Ray Shero. But what have you come to expect from the ODB?

Oh, and I don't mean to pontificate to the Caps fans, but there will be some "mad money" out there for guys like Laich. I seriously doubt he, or anyone else who has a shot to continue to make big money stay put taking a serious pay cut. I consider Laich a better player/FA than guys like Talbot, and if Max can command $3 million on the market, Laich can command a whole lot more, IMHO.

Oh, I found the link. http://www.thepensblog.com/pensblog-news/tpb/tuesdays-with-stoosh-621.html

For those who might not want to read something that long, just go to the 5th and 6th dot down under the Pens pre-season schedule and check out where Stoosh goes into the minimums and the problem that teams like the Caps and the Pens and others will have with their FA's. There are 10 teams $10 million under the minimum and the Panthers are $30 million under in a state with no state income tax. He's an inciteful blogger albeit a Pittsburgh blogger (which might be offensive to all except us Pittsburgh fans).

My one issue with that theory - the Caps and Pens have the ultimate trump card: Winning. Neither Brooks Laich nor Max Talbot is going to Florida even for $5 million They aren't going to the Islanders without that arena getting approved yet. They aren't going to Phoenix. I'm sure there are some teams that could poach them. And, Laich, especially may just get too much on the open market from a Toronto - or, hell, even a Winnipeg. But most of those teams with crazy cash to spend aren't legitimate options for players used to being Cup contenders.

The other difference would seem to be that Talbot, Rupp and Dupuis have won the Cup. I just don't see Laich taking a HUGE pay cut to stay in Washington when there will be someone willing to pay him or give him a raise. Shoot, Rupp and Talbot have been offered in the $1.5-1.8 million range in Pittsburgh, and Max thinks he can get $3million? FML! He's young, has a Cup on his resume, but he's not worth near that. Rupp has been a journeyman and it's his shot for some big money before it's too late. Dupuis is a nice player with a house full of kids, and this is his best shot for a big pay-off. But dang, are any of them worth $3million?

I love Laich, but all it takes is one of those 10 teams looking like they are building a team to compete for the Cup to give him a raise and some contract length, and if I were him, I'd be gone before taking a pay cut to stay in DC. Christ, if I were him I'd be pissed at the money they pay Semin if they expect him to take a pay cut, and if I were the Caps, it's Semin who would be going to the Panthers (or somewhere else) so I could keep Laich.