I was big on the HHA signing when it happened so while I kind of got the thought process with Edmundson, I was not a fan of the deal. Both should at least get more time next year, though Iorio could complicate things.

No surprise to me, NAK on waivers today. Good for the cap situation, I hope he gets claimed so he can go succeed elsewhere, but there wasn't a spot for him imo.

Full cut downs, surprised Johansen has lasted this long.

Frank, Limoges, Sgarbossa, Snively, McIlrath, Priskie, Sutter, Shepard -- was always going to take either a truly incredible camp or devastating injuries for one of them to make the team, behind other AHL types on the depth chart
Iorio -- looked great but still needs another year
lapierre -- don't have much hope for him as an NHL player. didn't have a "bad" camp but I just don't see what his role is as an NHL guy. Doesn't seem like he actually has the offense
NAK -- writing was on the wall as soon as he signed that extension. glad he got that money but the extra ~400k compared to other options makes a big difference at the end of the day

Final roster predictions:

Ovi - Backstrom - Mantha
McMichael - Kuzy - Wilson
Milano - Strome - Oshie
Malenstyn - Dowd - Protas
Phillips

Sandin - Carlson
Fehervary - Jensen
HHA - TVR
Alexeyev

Malenstyn will start on that fourth line but if they think they can get away with another more offensive guy, Phillips comes in and Oshie gets bumped down. Mantha and Protas I think are most in danger of losing their spots as well. HHA has definitely won that 6d spot rather than AA losing it, sucks because I think he is a good NHL defenseman but the other 6 are playing better than he is. Miro, Johansen, and Gibson are the last cuts. Plan is obviously for Gibson to go to SC, he's more still up to not disturb Hershey's camp. Johansen I'm somewhat surprised is still here and has been clearly passed by HHA, Alexeyev, and even Iorio for me. Miro looks really good but I think ultimately Phillips has as well and its better for him to be playing in Hershey than sitting as the 13th or 14th forward. Don't really see where the spot for him to play regularly is unless you do something completely unexpected like waive Mantha or have someone like Oshie go down injured.

Capitals PR announce your roster moves at 2 PM challenge (Impossible)

wish miro made it

He'll be up next year I imagine

KInda mad with the decision on the Eddy trade. Did we need that type of player in the lineup. Yes but not him. And with the emergence of HHA and alexeyev what was the point. pulled the trigger to soon on that type of move imo. Players I wanna see have a tight leash is kuzy and mantha. time will tell but Im not sure how much time we have. Backstroms health and play as made me ok with playing him 1c or and 2c. Strome and MIlano is a duo I wanna see more of this year. I really want miro to have 9 games. I trust him. want phillips in the line up full time. giving nak the extension that early was another question mark that is biting us in the ass rn cap wise as we could have protas in the lineup over Sutter.

what do you want the starting lineup to be and lines for the first game

For Edmundson, even though Alexeyev is tall he's not a net-front clearer. HHA they didn't know for sure how he was going to translate to the NHL before camp and preseason. Don't at all hate that they have 9 NHL quality defenseman, as we all know from last year injuries happen often

Protas will still be in over Sutter that’s just a temporary move, my one complaint with Edmundson is that he costs 1.75 as opposed to someone who can fill that role at, say, 950k like Gus last year. I was a big believer in HHA but getting someone to fill a more physical role was a good idea, and great insurance in case he failed to stick at the NHL level.

I hate the lines I’ve been seeing. Hoping they aren’t what we run. Backy and Osh on top line with big man. Strome on third line, Mantha scratched. I trust Carbery but hoping these don’t stick

I'm fine with Strome on the 3rd line as long as they get about equal time with the 2nd, but Osh on the top line just can't stick long term. Would like to see Wilson up there and Mantha with McM and Kuzy, to bring a bit more defense to that line.

thoughts on smth with mantha and garland swap. cap with get fixed with Vancouver but still

makes too much sense for both teams that it will never happen

don't hate them as long as the top 3 lines get pretty similar 5v5 time. mantha needed to show up to camp and win a spot and he didn't. at some point it's on him to force himself into the lineup. no problem with him scratched at all

Should clarify i don’t hate that Carbs scratched mantha, i hate that Mantha didn’t do enough after all this talk that he is seeing a psychologist and is in better shape. Was hoping Carbs could motivate him

I think the good thing is unlike last year he does look motivated. The bad thing is that even though he does look motivated he still doesn't look very good!

I whole-heartedly disagree with the second part of that statement. Throughout the preseason he was making excellent passes and put consistently put himself in places to make plays. He got extremely unlucky with the amount of posts he hit but was otherwise he was consistently where he needed to be and was creating lots of good chances. For instance, in the Boston game he had multiple passes to Backstrom that set up good opportunities in front of the net. I'd say with how unbelievably well Phillips has done, he'll probably get the nod over Mantha, but it's been due to Phillips overperforming, not Mantha underperforming.

Am I the only Caps fan who doesn't want Garland or no?

His value comes from being a power play guy and he wouldn't get PP1 time here, otherwise he's just a more expensive Sheary who's best PPG season to this point was in 2020-21 where he could have all the ice-time in the world with Arizona. His extra term on his contract also makes it harder to navigate the cap situation next year with Sandin's extension, since you can't count on Oshie or Backstrom to retire and give Washington extra cap space. Also, he would keep a top 6 spot away from Miroshnichenko and Leonard for 2 more years, it just makes the next two years even more of a pain than it needs to be.

Yet, the last year and a half Caps Twitter has been all over Garland, and I just can't come to terms with making that move.

Odd lines. I'd swap Protas to the 4th, Oshie to the third, Mantha/Phillips to the 1st. It would be a little weird to see lines change the day before a game in such a pronounced way but at the same time I wonder if Carbery is keeping Ovi-Backstrom-Oshie together for the Easton people who are there to watch practice (probably not but I'd like to think we won't start the year seeing that slow of a 1st line)

I also do not want Garland so that makes 2 of us. Basically for all the reasons you stated, but will only re-emphasize the extra term. I see the Caps having one more final contention year with this core, and that year is next season. The cap goes up, we get Mantha off the books, potentially Kuzy (if we trade at deadline, I see Kuzy going), and possibly (probably unlikely, but maybe) get Oshie/backy to LTIRetire. That is a lot of potential cap space, and I do not want any other "meh" contracts (i.e., Garland) to hold that offseason back.

I worry about how long AA lasts before asking for a trade. Signing a two year extension, thinking you are getting the 6th spot, and then not playing...I don't really get it honestly. I like LuJo, but I think Aktell and AA are much better

They've scored at remarkably similar rates over their careers and up until last year Garland was just as little a PP guy as Mantha was. I agree the extra term is tough, but at the same time the ~800k in cap hit difference for this year is significant as well. Also don't discount the need for some guys -- like Mantha and Garland clearly -- to just be in a different place and room.

was ovi bakcstrom osh an old line back in like 2016

I know 2017-2018 that's when we got ovi kuzy Wilson and that went on for years