too many crazy guys on this team

You think that's weak D? That's one of the better Dcores in the league. It might be lacking some offensive punch but it's going to shut down other teams and get the puck up the ice.

Gudas is worse than Niskanen... and Siegenthaler hasn't proven anything yet

I don't have much problems with the top-4 tho... the issue is the depth

Gudas has much better underlying stats than Niskanen, at least last season. Gudas was also only on the ice against 67 high danger chances against...Niskanen had like 299. At even strength.

Gudas is by all metrics better than Niskanen. Nisky's play fell off hard last year. It's gonna be that 6th spot that's a question mark, but Siegenthaler showed promise last year, and the coaching staff is very high on Fehervary. It's not their best D group ever, but it's solid enough with that forward group.

Siegs had far and away the best defensive metrics of anyone who played more than 20 games for the Caps last season. Smaller sample size, but he looked good.

You just said that Gudas was better than Niskanen last year... Niskanen was a beast a year ago... a down year isn't catastrophic... and he's only 32... he can still have 2-3 good seasons

Nooooo. Gudas is MUCH better than Niskanen. Niskanen has been declining for 2 years. Gudas has been putting up legit top 4 underlying numbers for years. But anyways, you got it wrong in that Jensen will be 2RHD, Gudas will be 3RHD.

Siegs in 30 games has been amazing. He has a 56xGF% with 45% ozone start. That's extremely impressive.

Caps bottom pair is a lot of teams 2nd pair.

A down year isn't catastrophic, you're right. Niskanen had an awful year. He'll even tell you that.

And very importantly, the Caps got a younger, better defenseman while reducing the cap hit by over $3mil.

Gudas has also looked very good in the pre-season. He's patient, strong on the puck and makes a good first pass. That Stephenson toe drag pass to Oshie for a goal vs Carolina was all because of Gudas' long pass from around the goal to Stephenson deep in the middle of the neutral. Great read by Gudas.

Please go back in and add Lewington as your 7th defender. Any mild overage shown in CapFriendly is mitigated by the Kuzy suspension and Kempny injuries to begin the year, but you need a 7th D man...21 players would be suicide for the team.