Quoting: BrianMacLeonsis
Caps will need to rebuild sooner than later and you can rebuild on the fly with a Backstrom trade
The first trade says rebuild. The second trade says giving potential goalie of the future to go all in with a thirtysomething defenseman whose game is falling off pretty quickly.
Quoting: BrianMacLeonsis
Caps will need to rebuild sooner than later and you can rebuild on the fly with a Backstrom trade
RNH is definitely a lot younger than Backstrom, and it is pretty cool that he has had two fifty point seasons by the time he was 24. Of course, by 24 years old, Backstrom had four seasons over 60 points, including one with 88 and one with 101. Backstrom broke 80 again last year, when RNH broke... 40.
Puljujarvi is on a pace for 40 points this year, in his second year. Not bad, or anything, but.... not a significant upgrade over Burakovsky.
They are younger, but they aren't as good.
If Edmonton throws in their 2018 first, okay.
The second trade, I think you've suggested ten times. I still hope the Caps don't do it, because Hjalmarsson is declining at a much faster rate than Orpik, and they're both over the hill. You don't rebuild by trading greybeards.
McDavid, Connor
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