Best of your proposed Caps trades, with some twists.

...and before you repeat them, here are the answers to the common objections when I and others before me posted similar trades:

Those teams wouldn't make those deals: they have to. Edmonton needs a #1 defenseman, Vegas needs fewer defensemen, and Detroit needs salary cap space and, frankly, a rebuild. Check what their fans are posting on CF

Those forward lines are ____: Trotz changes up his lines every week. Any configuration has weaknesses. The whole idea is to have enough guys with enough talent to beat the Penguins.

RNH is too expensive for a 3C: He's a 1cC. If you put a center who gets more than thirty assists with two wingers who get more than twenty goals, you've got yourself a first line on an average NHL team in today's offensively starved league. RNH is the thrd best first-line center on this team, and Marchesault becomes its third best thirty-goal scoring winger, when RNH's experience and average defensive play push Marchesault out of the middle.

That Defense is awful: yep. Until the trade deadline. But Vegas has so many potentially great young guys that it would be a shame not to bid on them, and Hershey has so many talented guys ready, that it would be a shame not to give them some experience.

Why not sign a couple defensemen on two way contracts to call up at the deadline? Why not, indeed. Go for it. I hate to insult anyone by claiming their one-way-deal days are done, but there are a TON of passable, thrd-pairing defensive defensemen unsigned, this August. If any of them want a good chance to win a Stanley Cup, maybe they'll be willing to risk getting stuck in Hershey at 80 grand this year. But for someone used to earning a million bucks, I'm sure that's a bitter pill to swallow, so I'm not naming their names.

But will any defensemen be available at the trade deadline? It's too soon to tell, but it sure looks like there will be a TON of them. Depending who's out of contention by the deadline, teams could be bidding on Chara, Green, Carlson, Enstrom, Emelin, Gorges, Bieksa, Sbisa, Oduya, Cole... (http://www.spotrac.com/nhl/free-agents/2018/defenseman/ufa/). The Caps can pick up a #4 guy for almost nothing, with so many options, call up Ness and whatever guy they sign two-way, move Chorney up to #6, and start six veterans for the postseason. But they'll have spent the regular season developing their blueline of the future, which everybody on here is obsessed with, even though teams like the Penguins and the Blackhawks seem to win Cups just fine by loading up on offensive defensemen as UFAs and trade deadline bargains.

Will any of the above replace Carlson? No. But do the Caps want to lose the best UFA defensemen two years in a row for nothing? A lot of teams' fans are dreaming of trading players, prospects, and picks for him. The Caps have Niskannen and Orlov ready to go, with Djoos and Bowey just a year away from being credible two-way defensemen in the NHL. Adding some average young defensemen from Vegas gets them through the transition of losing Carlson, and adding RNH makes their incredible forward group even better than before, possibly as good, overall, as Pittsburgh's or Edmonton's.

Will the Caps be as good without Orpik's toughness? No. Not this year, and not next year. But if McNabb and Miller actually develop into second pair guys, they'll get over it.

Will the Caps be as good with Nugent Hopkins instead of Eller? Defensively? No. But it's a question of whether Trotz, with a team that can spend up to the salary cap, believes he needs two checking centers, or whether he'd rather make other teams wish they had three checking centers. Backstrom is as good defensively as Eller and Beagle, so they'll still be good enough, up front, once Vrana, Larkin, and Marchesault learn their roles on a team that values two-way play.

Is this team good enough to win the Cup? Yes and No. First, Pittsburgh and Edmonton have to not win it. If they falter just a little bit, and these guys buy in to Trotz' team game, then it's theirs to lose.

Oh, and: will they be able to re-sign Marchesault? No. Not if he scores another thirty goals, playing the kind of sheltered minutes and weak competition that keep a guy like Kessel competitive. But the goal is to win the Cup, one season at a time. Also, losing Marchesault, Chorney and Beagle as UFAs >>>>>>>> losing Carlson, Eller, Chorney, and Beagle as UFAs.

How do you win a playoff series against a Penguins team that outskates and outscores everybody at even strength, when giving them concussions and endless cross checks hasn't worked two years in a row? How do you compete with a team that, on paper, has nobody who's good at defense, but in practice, doesn't care because it has the puck. Well, I don't know, but you might try outskating them and outscoring them at even strength, and just not giving them the puck.

You're giving up three good penalty killers/checkers from a team known for its defense: No, we're giving up three great penalty killers/checkers from the President's trophy winner, in back to back seasons, that has the best penalty kill in the league. Orpik and Carlson, between them have more than a handful of President's trophies. They're excellent checkers and they can play a lot of minutes if they're asked to, without giving up a lot of goals. The same can be said of Eller. But between those three great players, the Caps are spending fourteen million dollars on three guys who, on this team, anyway, with Niskannen and Orlov getting as much power play time as Carlson sometimes, aren't even counted on to help with the offense. They would be worth more to other teams that need defensive help, that value Carlson's power play genius, and that will give them more ice time. The Caps will still have an above average penalty kill, returning Beagle, Wilson, Niskannen, Chorney, and Connolly. But in the playoffs, when entire games go by without any penalties being called, it doesn't matter. They have the opportunity to reinvest that 20% of their cap space that they're spending on three defensive stalwarts into youth and offensive depth to remain competitive for a longer period of time. And they have a lot of good checkers in Hershey they can audition over the coming seasons, to gradually build back into a defensive powerhouse, as well.

The only move I wouldn't make is the Nugent-Hopkins trade. I just don't think he's that good, especially not at his salary. He has yet to hit 60 points in a season - I'd rather hang on to Carlson and re-sign him for less than what RNH makes.

Edmonton already as a #1 defensemen in Oscar Klefbom and have him locked up on a bargain.

Well, yeah. Me, too. And so would 30 other teams. Shattenkirk got 6.6M this summer, and made headlines for leaving money on the table to be with his fiance, who is from New York.

Do you thnk Carlson, with a year's inflation, gets less than Shattenkirk's worst offer?

Compare RNH's age and goal scoring to Kuznetsov. Look up both of their highlight reels of assists. Now imagne RNH gets to play half a season with Ovechkin or Oshie, and try to predict how many assists he gets. I think he's the same player, one year younger, and almost 2M cheaper, locked up for four years, which is how long Ovechkin is locked up. So I think it makes sense to have a third capable setup guy in the system, at some level, to help Ovechkin stay Ovechkin as long as he's in Washington.

Carlson is totally a better, and more valuable player, but Niskannen and Orlov can take turns on the right point on the power play until Bowie is ready, and trading for Miller, with his 105mph slapshot, if he's able to play defense well enough to stick in the NHL under Trotz, could make them all obsolete.



Fair point, but an Oilers fan suggested that trade, with Edmonton throwing in the first. I added the 4th the other way, because you never want to overvalue your favorite players if you're trying to be realistic. But you could drop the picks, and it's still better for Washington than watching Shattenkirk, Alzner, Schmidt, and Carlson disappear for nothing in the space of a year. The difference is that, even if they sign Drasatl for 13M/yr, Edmonton has the cap space to offer Carlson that extension right away, without having to dump any salary to fit in his cap hit. In fact, they could fit him in at 8M, although if he's really demanding that, maybe Washington should throw in a 3rd.

Washington is too close to the cap, so I think they have to wait until next summer to extend Carlson, and watch as a bunch of other defensemen re-sign, and prices go up and up, until they lose him for nothing, most likely. Right?

Wideman and Franson are still unsigned, and might be cheap. Gelinas and Polak might even take two way deals. If Beauchemin isn't ready to retire, he can probably still eat minutes, and might want one more shot at a title. The Caps can limp through the regular season and give their myriad defensive prospects some tryouts, and then make their usual additions at the deadline and survive losing Carlson for RNH. I don't know that they really recover from giving him up for nothing, while spending another year with only two offensive centers in their entire system.