Who adds what?
Rejoint: juill. 2017
Messages: 13,677
Mentions "j'aime": 2,703
Here's the difference: Green was always just a power play specialist and offensive specialist in Washington. In the playoffs, Hunter randomly decided to have him shadow Crosby for a series, and Crosby scored a goal a game from the crease, with Green either watching, or standing nearby not really watching.
Orpik was always old and slow, but in 2018 he led all playoff players in plus/minus, came in 2nd in blocked shots (Niskanen) and came in 2nd in hits (Wilson). He played the last 2:22 with Niskanen to keep the one goal lead against VGK when they pulled their goalie. He's slow, sure, but they don't moe the nets yet and in the playoffs, when you're allowed to cross check a little, he stays in front of the net and knocks people down who try to score against him. He also now has as many playoff GWG as Erik Karlsson or Mike Green (2). Carlson has one (1). Obviously the main value in the regular season of 37 year old Orpik is that the coaches pair him with a guy each year to teach him positioning and then that guy, whether it's Schmidt or Carlson or whoever, goes on to lead some team in ice time and lead them to the Stanley Cup Finals. So, yes, you can keep Orpik for a year and then re-sign him more cheaply, or you can trade him now while his value is about a 3rd round pick or a 4th and a couple of prospects. I think that's about what Chicago got for sending Chelios to Detroit at 37 years old to win two more Cups with their rival in a deal that makes every list of the worst trades in Hawks history.
I asked Dallas fans to check out some Caps teams that have been posted lately, I assume you could do it, too. The answer to "how do you keep all these great young players with the potential to win the Cup?" is that you don't have to now that they've won the Cup and their trade value has gone way, way, way up. Chicago managed to win a bunch of championships with that approach, of just trading away all the good young players before they got too expensive, because winning makes a team a reasonably attractive destination to many UFAs, and if they aren't willing to take the contract that fits in with the contender, someone is. If you think Connolly is going to be worth 4M or whatever in a year, then you trade him now for a late 1st pick and sign someone else who can score goals on a checking line. Grabner and Maroon are each slightly better than him, so far, and one of them might sign for 15 over 3. I keep trading Burakovsky for Hagg and Vecchione, and the Flyers are cool with it.
Obviously the Caps aren't trading Holtby for Bishop because even if one tries to imagine that Bishop is still as good as Holtby, the goalie is the one guy who fans can cheer for, sixty minutes a night, and Washington cares about having fans. Kolzig led them to a finals where they got swept, and stuck around for well over a decade afterwards, earning what, at the time, was a huge, huge salary. Obviously anyone can be traded, but I haven't seen offers for Holtby on here that i would consider. Most of them are just like this: "wanna trade the star goalie that the whole country associates with your team winning its only championship for some other goalie who also is kind of good in some ways?" No thanks, guys. Washington does not want to do that.