I've posted this trade on here before, but only Caps fans have commented on it, so I'd like to see what others think of it.
In my opinion, something that the Caps desperately need is a high end, shutdown defenseman. Holtby faces too many quality chances for us to be comfortable with. At the end of the day, Brooks Orpik is still a pylon, so an upgrade on the third pairing would be fantastic. Niklas Hjalmarsson would be the perfect guy for us to target. He is an excellent shutdown defenseman, and can do an excellent job eating minutes on the penalty kill. Arizona can retain some salary on him, and it makes sense to move him (since this season has gone down the toilet, and he most likely would walk after next season). The retention gives the caps a lot of options for the offseason.
The cost to get him is a little tricky. The expendable asset with the most value that the Caps have is Grubauer, who should be a quality starter at the very worst (essentially, he's the next Martin Jones). Arizona needs a goalie of the future, so it's a good fit. Yes, they just got Raanta, but he hasn't been too impressive in the limited workload he's gotten (due to injury), but I see Grubauer as a more reliable option for them, who is more controllable and has more of a long term future as a starter. They can run the both of them until the TDL, and then decide which one they want for next season (hell, they could just keep them both).
We also use this opportunity to shed the contract of Brooks Orpik, which has negative value. He can still provide good mentorship for a youngster like Chychrun (or Dahlin if they get him), but I'm not going to tell you he has any sort of value in the deal.
In addition to shedding Orpik and giving them their goalie of the future in Grubauer, we send them Brett Connolly and Vitek Vanecek, plus a third round pick. Connolly is a good third line scoring option, and the Coyotes like guys like this. If given an expanded role with the right linemates, he could probably hit the 20 goal mark. That opportunity just isn't in Washington. Vanecek has the potential to be a solid backup, and he maxes out as a "1B" member of a goalie tandem. Nothing special about the third rounder, it's just a quality draft pick.
To summarize, Arizona gets their goalie tandem of the future, plus a quality, middle-six scoring option, and a draft pick in exchange for a replacement backup goalie and a defenseman which they have minimal need for at the moment, and won't be around for the long haul.
I would scrap the the extra goalie coming to Az. Giving us Grubauer is the goalie we would want. I would add your second third round pick and I would call it a done deal from Az side
I like the idea a lot, like the comment above you prob don't even need to have Vanecek and Wedgewood in the deal. Would be a good Orpik dump and cap-space opener while upgrading the defense. I think Connolly is useful t the Caps, but if it makes the team better overall, do it. But I'm a Caps fan...so i'll step aside and let some non-Caps folks chime in.
I would scrap the the extra goalie coming to Az. Giving us Grubauer is the goalie we would want. I would add your second third round pick and I would call it a done deal from Az side
I like the idea a lot, like the comment above you prob don't even need to have Vanecek and Wedgewood in the deal. Would be a good Orpik dump and cap-space opener while upgrading the defense. I think Connolly is useful t the Caps, but if it makes the team better overall, do it. But I'm a Caps fan...so i'll step aside and let some non-Caps folks chime in.
The reason I included Wedgewood was because we’d need a new backup after trading Grubauer, and I’ve never been to high on Copley. Wedgewood could be a solid backup, and he’d be under team control until Samsonov is ready
Same comments as in the other proposal. Grubauer is interesting, but he just doesn't hold that level of interest from the Coyotes.
Add that one year of Connolly only has a little more value to the Coyotes than UFA Eller. Vanecek isn't that interesting because the Yotes are fairly satisfied with their goalie prospects (Hill, Miska, Langhamer).
I think you can go simpler with the trade and still achieving the same results.
Grubauer and Burakovsky might get you Hjalmarrson. They just moved similar pieces to acquire him, so I doubt they are interested in moving him not even a year later if Connolly is the return. It doesn't help Washington with cap either. If you add Orpik and a 2nd (FLA - 2018), perhaps you can pick up Raanta as a backup to replace Grubauer, which also compensates Arizona for taking Orpik?
No significant drop off in goaltending or on the wing (Grubauer -> Raanta, Connolly -> Burakovsky) for Washington, but a significant defensive upgrade in Hjalmarsson -> Orpik, with gains in cap space as well.
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