LOL

Just to be clear, Chara didn't beat Anderson. Chara kinda slipped and as he was falling he brought Anderson down with him and somehow Chara ended up on top of him

Mentioned it already in another armchair GM that featured that Jackets trade, but it works for the Jackets just fine.

I'll do that. But I'll ask for a future conditional pick if Backstrom doesn't resign in 2 yrs.

I think Backstrom has overperformed for a top five pick. Poehling is hard to judge against other late first round picks because so few historically have gone on to college. In his Sophomore year, Poehling has about a point a game against children. Nick Backstrom has only fallen below sixty points in three of his eleven NHL seasons. None of them were in the last five years. I assumed it was clear that I clicked like because, by claiming you would "trick" the Capitals into taking a salary dump for Nick Backstrom, you had acknowledged that this post was a joke. But then you're acting like it's serious:



For a comparable proven two way star with two years left at a reasonable cap hit, I'd compare him to McDonagh. He fetched a 25 year old 20 goal scorer, two top prospects, and two late first round picks. https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/nhl/2018/02/26/rangers-trade-ryan-mcdonagh-to-tampa-in-blockbuster-deal/110875328/

On the other hand, McDonagh has been the Rangers' top scoring defenseman many times, but never pushed up the leaderboard beyond that. Backstrom has had a hundred points in a season, over seventy in each of the last five years, and 86 two years ago. That was the second time Backstrom finished top ten in voting for both the Selke and Hart trophies.

https://www.hockey-reference.com/players/b/backsni02.html

McDonagh finished top ten in Norris voting once, in 2013-14. He's a year younger but much further removed from being a dominant player at his position, and has never received a vote for the Hart trophy, so he's probably never been thought of as a dominant player in the entire NHL. https://www.hockey-reference.com/players/m/mcdonry01.html

So let me help you understand how to sort this out: you were joking, after all.

No.

Not straight up for Galchenyuk.

Not close.

Galchenyuk has broken fifty points (barely) twice in six NHL seasons: https://www.hockey-reference.com/players/g/galchal01.html

Backstrom has scored fewer than fifty points (barely) twice in eleven NHL seasons: https://www.hockey-reference.com/players/b/backsni02.html

Galchenyuk, 2018 1st, Juulsen, Poehling. Or explain how being one year older than McDonagh makes up for how much better Backstrom is than McDonagh.

Okay, yes, Galchenyuk had a 30 goal season, while Namestnikov in the trade of comparable recent age and term, only had 22 this year. It's not like the Caps are hurting for goal scoring wingers, but feel free to swap him out for Lehkonen, and add a pick.

This year Galchenyuk had ten even strength goals, tied for 3rd on the Habs. The Caps had two guys with that many this year. They also had eight guys with more. https://www.hockey-reference.com/teams/WSH/2018.html

Galchenyuk consistently starts 60% of his shifts in the offensive zone, gets even corsi, and plays 15 to 16 minutes a night. If he clicks with a center like Backstrom on the Caps, then.... oh wait.... so, no.

If this were part of some amazing and absurd scenario where the Caps get Tavares (maybe in a joint sign and trade for Carlson?) and then trade Ovechkin for cap relief and need cheap scoring depth on the wings, then Galchenyuk could be tempting. Otherwise, this year, Gallagher scored twice as many goals at evens as Galchenyuk. Since the Caps don't have a ton of available spots on their power play, he'd be a lot more valuable to them.

Would you have given up a 1st 2nd 3rd for Tomas Tatar?

Would you have given up a 1st 2nd 3rd for Tomas Tatar?

Would you have given up a 1st 2nd 3rd for Tomas Tatar?

Sorry for the spam, it was unintended

McDonough and JT Miller fetched that return, not McDonaugh on his own

Fair enough. Some trades are dumb.



Fair point. https://www.hockey-reference.com/players/m/millejt01.html

Miller's not bad. So the Caps throw in Connolly.

This isn't exactly arguing that Backstrom's value is low right now, though. Another comparable in terms of age, contract years left, and position might be Derrick Brassard, who fetched a top four D in his prime with multiple Cup rings, a promising rookie, a 1st and a 2nd. Of course, Backstrom outscores Brassard by 7/4ths, this season and career, and Washington is a playoff team without external financial constraints motivating them to get rid of a top six center.

I don't know what's worse. The fact that these deals were thought of or that they were released for the world to see...

The point I'm trying to make is that the only reason McDonaugh fetched that return is because TB felt he was the missing puzzle piece for a cup run. TB is super talented, young and have 1 of the top prospect pools in the league. They were able to overpay for Mcdonaugh. I don't think for a minute that was fair value. Same thing goes for the Tatar trade. When you're stacked with draft picks you can afford to over pay. In my books it doesn't mean that's their actual value on paper. Just like how Buffalo got fleeced by the Sharks on the Kane trade. BUF got garbage in return.

Don't think too hard...

Not bad? Miller any day over Nemestnikov.

Derrick Brassard didn't fetch that on his own. Pttsburgh got assets coming back their way for those assets you mentioned above

Pittsburgh got a prospect from Vegas to send to Ottawa as part of the above? I already looked it up once for the sake of getting an accurate read on Backstrom's value. If you want to keep refuting, cut and paste a better explanation than I read. Otherwise, and this may not bother you, I am not remotely convinced.

You're claiming all these other teams have desperate needs that skewed trade values. It's worth noting that Montreal doesn't desperately need a center, and hasn't desperately needed one for years, right? Not enough to trade Sergachev for a wing who can almost play center?

Right...

If you want to get a good deal on a center who isn't necessarily successful with his current team, call Buffalo about O'Reilly. In his best years, O'Reilly is almost as good as Backstrom. He may be enough to get the Habs to the playoffs.

Backstrom is third on the Caps in playoff points this year, but he's usually higher. I just don't see Washington wanting to move a center without getting a fantastic offer, probably built around a high 1st pick, plus prospects, and maybe a decent NHL player or two.

The value of Brassard and McDonagh comes down to the goals they have scored in high pressure situations in the playoffs. Backstrom has more playoff ppg than either, and reminded us why with a brilliant deflection to win the first round this year.

Again, if the Caps decide they want to give up and rebuild, you might get lucky, but it's hard to make that call when they've won their division three straight years and just keep running into a Pittsburgh team that's stocked almost entirely with guys like Brassard and Kessel who coast through the regular season and then show up like superstars in the playoffs. Backstrom, in the playoffs, can shut down Crosby and outscore him through seven games.

If the Caps aren't rebuilding, your trade offers are insults that get laughed off, because they make it much harder for Washington to beat Pittsburgh. If Washington is rebuilding, a top ten draft pick and a couple good prospects, and a couple decent young players might do it? It'll really just come down to market economics and, even if they are rebuilding, lowball offers for Karlsson showed that sometimes the best move is to keep a longtime star around, and see what people offer the next year.

Along with Brassard, Pittsburgh also receives a third round draft pick (2018) and forward prospect Vincent Dunn from the Senators as well as forward prospect Tobias Lindberg from the Golden Knights.

This checks out.

Whatevs.

I agree with your main point that the above roster has a ton of depth at center.

Can you see where Ottawa and NYR did not see themselves as immediate Stanley Cup contenders with McDonagh and Brassard, and felt it was time to cut bait?

I have previously traded Backstrom on here for Juulsen and MTL's 2018 first. But not on a contending Caps roster. Only on frustration posts after the Caps were down two games to Columbus or down one home game to the Pens. Now they're tied with Pittsburgh, and three games from the rest being downhill, so you're out of your mind to suggest that kind of pessimistic nonsense where Washington's concerned.

Give it a week and get back to us.


There's a dilemma with Petry: before free agency, the Caps don't accept the cap hit because they don't want to lose Carlson. After you've signed Carlson for the same money at shorter term than Washington offers him if they have half a brain... the whole league can see that MTL is paying Petry 4M to play 3rd pair, and his trade value falls a lot. So whether you're making the trade before or after free agency, you're trying to get Nick Backstrom for a late first round pick whose name you cant' even remember because he has been so unimpressive.

Do you get how that's trolling?

I gotta give it to you...only because the time you invested to prove a point.

Here's what I calculate. Backstrom's age, his # of years left on his term. The fact that he played with Ovi all these years which there's a strong argument to make that he inflated Backstrom's stats. His team has underachieved when it counts the most in the playoffs, and as a leader a bulk of the blame falls on him, it seems as though he can't elevate his team to seize the moment. So Im offering Galchenyuk who's 24, has potted 30 goals, with a decent cap hit. And here's Petry, that the whole league can see that he played 1st pairing minutes and PP, and started lighting it up on the scoresheet once Weber went down with injury, and that a good chunk of his time in MTL played with Emelin, who hindered Petry's game cause he shouldn't be anywhere close to playing top 4 D minutes.

As far as the timing for the trade I made above, I'm guilty for not being more strategic. The Backstrom trade specificaly has to be one of the last moves.

If i was to get my hands on Karlsson, O'Reilly and Giroux early on, then the rest of the dominos (Tavares, JVR, Carlson) will start falling. Carlson could get 8×8 in WSH, but he'd have a hard time turning down 8×7 to play with the above players, if I got my hands on them one way or another.

Backstrom has 84 points in 104 playoff games. He's third on the Caps in playoff points without playing on Ovechkin's line this year.

If the Caps are looking to get better at playoff hockey, they keep him.

If they're looking to trade him, it's for a top five pick, plus prospects and depth players.