did Sammy stay in Russia? Not a fan of this sorry.

I signed two temporary goalies to audition for Seattle. Samsonov can play this year in Russia or Hershey and develop. If he's in Hershey, Vanecek's in SC, getting 60 starts.

Edit: Disliking just the goalie, or the Kuznetsov to wing, with a Russian center, idea? Neither center is a proven superstar, but on that line, I think they'd get a few points.

i dont like Kuzy not playing center i dont think we need to change a thing in net. i think with the capitals less is more

Uh, what? Samsonov proves he's capable of playing at the NHL level and Vanecek goes to his second straight AHL All Star game, so we reward them by demoting both of them and signing two cheap backups? And what do you mean by auditioning for Seattle? Are we just doing them a solid? I honestly have no idea what you're going for here.

As for Anisimov, hard pass. The only times he's looked remotely like a capable top 6 center in the last five years were when he was centering Panarin and Kane in 15-17, and literally anyone could put up 40 points in that situation. His cap hit would make it a lot harder to upgrade the defense too, which should be the real priority. I'm not opposed to bringing in a 2C and moving Kuzy to wing, my last ACGM involved trading Vrana for Danault to do just that, but it's gotta be a legit 2C, not a reclamation project. I don't want to go back to the days when the Caps were throwing random guys in at 2C every year and hoping one of them would stick.

Oh. It looks like I misread the expansion rules. Thought each team had to expose a goalie with 40 games played this upcoming season. But the games played minimum is just for skaters. So if the Caps can wait until after the expansion draft to extend Samsonov they can protect Vanecek and expose Copley and anyone else they sign by then, in net. Found a different source that explains it better. Got it. Thanks. I still don't think they need to throw Samsonov into the pressure cooker of an NHL starter's role, yet, coming off a season where he was a great backup and then got injured. Most sports injuries are from repetitive stress, from having too much of a workload. Most leagues don't play as many games per year as the NHL and AHL, so becoming an NHL starter can take some time of building up strength.

With twenty teams cutting costs by letting most of their UFAs walk, there are going to be a lot of cheap starting goalies on the market. But I see your point about the Caps not needing a Forsberg to fill in at backup.

As for upgrading the blue line, sure. Sounds good. I don't think WSH is likely to carry five forward lines, although in back to back games, if they can get six 20 minute defensemen at a bargain, that might give them a boost. Mostly just built it this way to show two different center options for Ovechkin and Kuznetsov, and try to see which fits better. Depending on cap hit, Namestnikov could be a better option because he's a right hand shot, so he and Kuznetsov can each take mostly strong side faceoffs, and hopefully both climb towards 50%.