IMO Edmonton. Washington is giving up players who have more than this year while getting 4 expired contracts in return

Washington definitely pass. They don't need Larsson or Chiasson. That leaves Poolparty and Nugent, but Kuz is better than him so they are basically downgrading here.

Being bad at face-offs != struggling at center. Kuznetsov is currently posting career high marks in Fenwick For and Corsi For, likely due to two things: a coach that actually knows how to deploy him (77.8% offensive zone starts) and actually playing better defensively (0.4 Even Strength Defensive GAR this season vs a team worst -5.4 GAR last season). Caps fans on here consistently rail on Kuznetsov (and sometimes deserves it), but the only thing he struggles with as a center is face-offs.

Prior to Kuznetsov joining the Caps, the Capitals struggled for almost a decade to find a true 1-2 punch up the middle. McPhee put some patchwork pieces in there, like Mike Ribeiro, Jason Arnott, Brendan Morrison, etc. Kuznetsov and Backstrom is probably the best 1-2 punch at center that the Capitals have arguably ever had. I don't think it's a good move to trade Kuznetsov unless you're getting back a center with term that can play at or near the level of Kuznetsov's potential.

Not sure this makes much sense for either team. Considering the make up of both rosters I’d pass from both sides.

They have Backstrom and Kuznetsov both signed through 2025 and Eller through 2024. Where does that leave Connor McMichael? I can't see them leaving him in the minors for 3-4 years and this trade gets them out of 2 bad contracts in Hagelin and Jensen so i don't think it's as bad for the Capitals as you seem to.

Eller is signed through 2023. McMichael will likely play the wing until Eller moves on. I wouldn't bank on McMichael coming in and immediately playing at a 2C level. Kuznetsov, while being a pariah, was elite in 2018 during the cup run, and is historically pretty much good for at least 70 points for a full season.

Also, not sure if you've watched Jensen lately, but he's been playing really well. Definitely wouldn't consider his contract bad if he keeps this level of play up. Hagelin's contract is bad though, no arguments there.

Could see Hagelin for a depth center, if EDM is looking to strengthen its left wing depth.

The tricky part of valuing this offer is Puljujarvi: he's having a good season, and is outplaying Sprong, but the Caps can afford to re-sign Sprong. Take that swap out since it doesn't fit the Caps' long term cap picture, and then suddenly it looks like EDM is letting the Caps out of the tail end of two contracts while they're still both good (each worth a 3rd) in exchange for swapping a 60 pt center for a 70 pt center. So it's not that Edmonton would necessarily have to add more than a pretty good young player like Puljujarvi, but the value would have to be in a form that the Caps could afford to hold onto while still signing Ovechkin, Vrana, and RNH this summer.

eta: I love the idea of Kuznetsov back at wing, and I've been pushing for the Caps to try it for years. I think he'd score more goals there, if they could find a different center who could get as many assists. That's the hard part.

John Carlson leads the team in assists by a pretty wide margin since the 17-18 season began with Backstrom and Kuznetsov 2nd and 3rd. More concerning is that over the same period of time Kuznetsov has taken 17 more penalties than he's drawn which is the worst differential on the team for forwards and again, terrible on face-offs.

No thanks. Nuge will re-sign and Puljujarvi is playing very, very well now that he's past his hip issues. Not interested in a bunch of old guys with long contracts.

Oh no. That's (counts on fingers) three more penalties taken than drawn PER SEASON. GIVE HIM AWAY FOR FREE RIGHT NOW!!!!!

Out of curiosity, how much would you bet RNH makes next year, under a flat cap?

From what I've heard, Holland is determined to keep him under $7M. And with the season he's having right now, that shouldn't be a problem.

I think Kuznetsov at 7.8M is a better deal than RNH at almost 7M, but with the start Kuznetsov has had, between a brief injury, and a week off for protocol, he isn't showing it, yet, this year.

Hmmm... Nuge was better last year, too. He's a year younger, too. And IMO Puljujarvi is a bigger part of the deal and trading him is a nonstarter.

Yeah. Puljujarvi's doing great, this year, and finally getting the minutes and the power play chances he needs to make an impact. It's good to see.

(edit: if you total up the four full seasons before last year, Kuznetsov's 19th overall in points, and 6th among centers in even strength points. Not that that matters, if the Oilers are happy with RNH, and why shouldn't they be? But I do think the above top line could be pretty good.)

Do the Oilers need anything?

Kuzy's a coke-head, the Oilers don't need him.


Sure, but old guys with long contracts aren't on their list of needs. They have a bunch of cap space this summer and COVID pricing should get them a lot more for their money than the legacy contracts that Washington wants to get rid of.

Coming from a fan of the team that supported Grant Fuhr through his recovery from cocaine addiction all the way to the Hall of Fame? I'm confused.

Yeah, that flat cap math is tricky. Don't talk it up too much, though, or people might not put in big offers on Koskinen or Neal.

I'm perfectly ok with that. Most of my AGM's have both players on the roster for next year.