Caps givin too much for Grubs and Connolly

Are you saying that they are getting too much in the trade?

Yes

Care to explain why? Grubauer is at least an average starter, possibly better. Connolly is scoring at a 20 goal pace as well. A late first, B prospect and a fifth seems like a fair return for that IMO.

Batherson looks promising, and that 1st could turn into someone good. I’ve seen Grubs worth a 2nd and Connolly worth a 4th or 5th. They just dont seem too highly valued to me.

Just going off of what other goalies have gone for, Martin Jones went for a late first, Antti Raanta went for a potential top four defenseman essentially, just to name a few guys with term in similar scenarios. I see Gruby being similar to those two guys value-wise.

A 4th or 5th for Connolly is certainly too low. I'm sure there is some analytic out there that shows he doesn't generate a ton of offense, but he scores goals at a real good pace given his role. If playing with some quality linemates in a top-six role, I could see him easily hitting 22 goals ish.

Ok whatevs. I guess its ok then.

Five star description.

"Team Explanation
Key Points


1. Continue to build the farm system. Trading Grubauer and Connolly at the draft for the Pittsburgh first (should be no earlier than 27), Drake Batherson and a fifth. This brings in two really good prospects to the organization and replenishes the fifth round pick from the Jerabek trade. The whole point of this is to build the farm system back up for the Capitals, which is one of the worse in hockey. This is a really good start.


2. No more Orpik. The dude makes everybody he plays with look horrible. Bury the last year of his contract in the AHL. We don't necessarily need the cap space from shedding him, and I'd rather keep the assets that we'd need to give up to move him. Bowey deserves the sweater over Orpik every single night, and he should get it.


3. More ice time for the youngsters. I want Bowey in the everyday lineup. He can develop into a top four guy for us soon, but only if we give him the proper minutes. Stephenson needs to be in the top-nine regularly. The kid has shown flashes of brilliance, all happening when he's gotten more than a fourth line role. Vrana and Burakovsky both should be in the top six to help further their development. Barber and Boyd deserve the opportunity to play on the fourth line next season. They've played so well for Hershey, and these are the type of youngsters that we need to keep cycling into our lineup. Samsonov gets the backup gig next year. His KHL numbers are really good, and he can be ready to take the starter's role by 2020-21 (when Holtby's contract expires). Lucas Johansen also gets the 7th D spot. He can spend time in Hershey too, but if there's an injury, I want Johansen up to play those games.





I know a lot of Caps fans want a big move to be made. But what's best for the organization is to spend a year or two waiting for these young guys to improve. We're seeing it from Tom Wilson this year. Djoos has been a true top-four defenseman this year, and he's only getting better. Bowey has that potential. Stephenson can be a great secondary contributer. Vrana and Burakovsky have both shown flashes of greatness this year, and we need to unlock that potential in them. Those are the upgrades that are going to push us over the top. Not making a big trade for someone like Mike Hoffman, which will only set us back as we try and rebuild our prospect pool and clear up the salary outlook."

Okay trade, too. I could see Ottawa taking a big interest in inexpensive guys who can help make their team more exciting right away. Obviously their owner has tipped his hand that they might be more interested in reducing expenses, so with Grubauer headed for RFA, their interest in this deal is far from certain.

Caps also could just sign the college kids like zar butcher kerfoot. Instead of making 0 effort at it. Or try bringing over some of their draft picks playing in Europe like axel and samsonov. Reguardless of how you feel caps owe ovi a cup and should do whatever it takes to do it. The franchise never won a cup they have the players to do it. And being a middle pack team is worse than being a bottom bc u miss out on the 1-10 top players.

Bowey hasn't looked incredible...yeah he's mostly been paired with orpik but anytime he's with djoos or another pair he def makes short-sighted plays. I do think he does need more playing time to shore some of this up but at 22 and having been developed in hershey, he really should have came up and climbed the ladder. On samsonov, his khl numbers are def not good, especially from a goalie you want to transition to the NHL soon. Other goalie prospects like Vasilevskiy and Sorokin at Samson's current age had ridiculous numbers (sub 2 GAA and like .935%). Samsonov has definitely regressed. On another note, I think the trade is pretty fair and is a really smart one. I totally support it and like ur moves in general and def agree young players should get more time. What role boyd and Barber should play, i don't know. Barber has not looked good with the caps, but boyd def looked solid. I would like to see johansen in top 6 role, but hey, as long as he's in the nhl.

Bowey has not shown he can play in the NHL. He should not have made the club this year. He needed more Hersey time. Under no circumstance should Samsonov be the back up next year. He needs to be Hersey's #1 to give him consistent playing time to get him ready for the following season.

It would be nice for the Caps to target those guys, but I was mainly going for guaranteed things that can be done. Signing college free agents is just and added bonus, but you're right that it would be nice to see GMBM put forth the effort to bring one or two in.

Yes, Ovechkin deserves a Cup. But we can't continue to sell the farm and hope that something changes. This new wave of young talent that we get is going to be what can push us over the top in a year or two.

caps should try to move holtby while he has 2 years left for some picks..................i like bc he was actually draft over kuzy hes still fairly young and a rfa............maybe package him and orpik.......grub isnt a downgrade and he and samsonov could battle for starts like holtby and nuev did

Until Grubauer proves he can handle a heavy workload, I'm not moving Holtby. There's no point to take that type or risk and just wait for Samsonov if he doesn't pan out. We can still get some good assets for Grubauer, and still have an elite goalie left. Once Holtby starts playing like he usually does and moves on from the slump he was in, nobody is going to want him to get traded as badly. Connolly doesn't generate any offense for us, but he finishes. We have guys that can play that role, and more consistently than Connolly does it. Draft position doesn't matter at all anymore, so the fact that Kuzy was picked later is irrelevant.

Exactly what team have you watched? Bowey played well in the minutes he got for the most part, even though he spent a lot of it with Orpik. If Trotz were to pair him with Kempny right now, the results would be so much better. If Trotz got his head out of his @$$ and gave his guys with potential a chance to actually get better, it'd be a completely different story.

If Bowey wasn't with Orpik, he'd be a solid 3rd pairing defenseman right now. He's certainly good enough to play on this team, Trotz just isn't giving him the proper looks. Samsonov also battled an injury at the beginning of the season and had a rough start to the year. Since around December, he's been lights out. I'm not worried about him having that one rough stretch.

i agree with the draft position not mattering but bc will be the cheapest 20goal scorer in the nhl

and anyone that thinks bowey isnt good doesnt watch the caps play................they pairing him w orlov for a few shifts and he looked amazing the kid can play he just is playing w the nhls worst player......look at schmidt orpik only looked good bc he was playing with a top pairing guy last season

29-74
9-2
6-22

This is maximizing everyone's talents. Orpik has none, which is why he's scratched.

I think Bowey def can improve, but let's be real dude, he's got a lot of work to do before he becomes a consistent top 4 guy. I don't think he will ever become a top defender, but hey, i'd love to be proved wrong. Bowey makes a ton of bonehead plays, even beyond just rookie growing pains. Some growing pains are healthy, but the frequency of Bowey's def are noticeable. Watch any board battle he gets into with a guy. He loses the battle frequently because he either just rushes into the boards and allows the guy to squirm out or he just totally misplays it and the dude walks out the other side. He's been caught time and time again behind Holtby's net or just out of position for that matter. He plays like a rookie and I just have not seen that many flashes, besides the one dope stretch pass to stephenson on his breakaway goal, to warrant saying that he could be really good down the road. He does have a good slapshot but doesn't really do much with it (misses the net or shoots right into the goalie's logo). He's sorta consistently a non-factor every game. He hasn't gotten a goal and almost all his points are secondary assists where he gets a point solely for just being on the ice. He's not the most mobile guy and frequently plays the puck into open spaces within our own zone where the opposing team frequently gets the puck again and continues their onslaught. Djoos on the other hand has done a great job of utilizing the wall and clearing the puck completely out of the zone in smart ways, while Bowey sorta just throws the puck around carelessly and kicks the can down the road. He has great physicality and size, but at some point that can only get you so far...

I love these d-pairs. and oh how I would love to see orpik scratched. However, I do sometimes think about if we aren't seeing something the caps are with Orpik. Do statistics and advanced statistics really tell the whole story? Some previous stanley cup teams have had the worst advanced statistics (some have had really good advanced statistics on the other hand). I'm always wary of jumping on the bandwagon with these cases (just as everyone is doing with bashing orpik) and I would love to hear from someone who really likes orpik. I'd welcome disagreement and an opposing view because maybe there is something that we are not considering. Trots and BMac are smart guys (even tho I really disagree with them with Orpik) but why would they continue playing him if they are as dumb as we think they are? Mac and Trotz didn't get to where they are by making dumb decisions, so I'm really wondering if someone can vouch for orpik on this.

There are a few things that I can think of as to why Orpik is still getting a sweater.

1. The Caps want to keep Orpik's physical presence in the lineup, as he's one of the most physical defenseman in the league (even though he has to be physical because he can't skate with any somewhat skilled forwards these days).
2. He is an alternate captain, and Trotz doesn't want to sit one of their "leaders" (even though guys like Niskanen, Oshie and Carlson are capable of being alternates).
3. They don't want to have $5.5M sitting in the press box every night (even though he's the 8th best defenseman on the team right now).
4. He played somewhat decent with Schmidt last year, and since Schmidt and Djoos are very similar players, Trotz hopes that this can be a decent third pairing (it actually hasn't been terrible, but there are still much better options).