Fedorov, Laich back in the fold

The Caps have signed forwards Brooks Laich and some guy named Sergei Fedorov to contracts today. Per Tarik, Brooks' deal averages a little over 2 mil a year for three years, while The Hockey News reports Fedorov will make 4 million for his one year of service.

With that done there's precious little left in the coffers for any other moves (barring a trade). The Caps roster once again looks loaded on offense, but the team has done precious little in free agency to bolster their defense.

Even if this year's uber-rookie Karl Alzner is next in the line of great Capitals defensemen, his first year will still be a learning experience (with all the mistakes and adjustments that come with being an NHL rookie). Get ready for a bunch more 4-3 and 5-4 games this year.

I, for one, can't wait.

Theodore a Cap, Huet to Chicago

The Caps have certainly made an interesting move here. Figuring one French-Canadian is as good as another Frenchman, the Caps passed over signing Cristobal Huet to a three year deal and instead inked Jose Theodore to a two year, 9.5 million dollar deal.

Apparently, the Caps were willing to meet Huet's asking price of 3 years and $15 million. But when Huet announced his intention to test the free agent market (and this year's market for goaltenders is pretty thin) for a potentially more lucrative offer, the Caps signed Theodore in order to secure a number one goaltender instead of possibly being left out in the cold (no offense to Brent Johnson).

The move certainly makes sense from a financial standpoint (less money per year) and is a shorter term deal, but one has to wonder which Jose Theodore the Caps will be getting. Will he be the confident goaltender who won the Vezina and Hart trophies in 2001-02, or will he be the suspect goalie who couldn't lock down a starting job in Colorado in 2006-07? The hopes for a long Capitals playoff run this season rest on it being the former.

Caps Re-Sign Green!

TSN and The Hockey News are reporting that the Caps have agreed to terms with restricted free agent defenceman Mike Greeen. It is rumored to be a four year deal with an average annual salary of $5.25 million. So what do you think? A fair deal? Too short a term?

The Deuce: I think it's a fair deal for both teams. Green gets paid as an elite player -- though not quite as elite as Phaneof, which, in my opinion, he's not. The Caps get a few years to see what they really have, but then they'll really have to pay up. At the end of this contract, Green will be 26 (just about to turn 27). Now unless my research is mistaken (which it very well may be), Green is eligible for UFA status at age 27 OR at 7 years NHL service. I don't THINK he reaches either by the end of that deal, as he'll be 26 until October 2012, and he doesn't qualify for 7 years by then either (I don't think he's played what qualifies as 3 NHL seasons, but again, I'm no NHL lawyer or agent). So hopefully the Caps get another crack at Green as an RFA before he hits the UFA market. But either way, if he keeps playing the way he did at the end of the year, and improves defensively, it'll be time to back the trucks up in 2012.

Caps qualify five

Per Tarik, the Caps have tendered qualifying offers to Mike Green, Eric Fehr, Shaone Morrisonn Brooks Laich and Boyd Gordon, thus maintining the rights to those players heading into the upcoming free agency period.

Why the Flyers are Doomed to Fail for the Next Decade

Ladies and Gentlemen, the Deuce breaks out his hatchet and murders the Flyers:

Since everyone is wrapped up in predictions and series breakdowns, I thought I would look at the futures of the two franchises facing off tonight at the Verizon Center. As others have noted, these two teams have taken two radically different views on rebuilding. The Flyers’ approach can best be described as “the quick fix,” sort of like that commercial where the engineers stick a piece of bubble gum over that crack in the Hoover Dam. The Caps, on the other hand, were patient, tearing down the team prior to the lockout/work stoppage, and rebuilding through draft picks and deadline acquisitions that do not bring contract obligations past this year.

After one bad year, in which they missed the playoffs, Philly went out like a drunken sailor in the Hotel California and brought in everyone’s favorite punk, Danielle Briere, and traded for and signed Scott Hartnell, Kimmo Timmonen, Marty Biron. They then totally lost their minds and signed Mike Richards, everyone’s favorite 20-goal scorer, to an 11-year, $5.75 million a year contract. Good move. For this lunacy, Flyers GM Paul Holmgren was almost universally praised.

The Caps, on the other hand, took the hard road. They traded away Gonchar, Bondra, Nylander, Jagr, and the rest, and got back a bunch of young kids nobody had ever heard of and some draft picks in return. They stank the year before, and two years after the lockout. But they drafted intelligently, refused to panic and trade their prospects and draft picks, and played the kids, both in DC and Hershey. They made smart, reasonable free agent signings (Pothier, Nylander, Poti, Kozlov). For this approach, Ted Leonsis and GM George McPhee were almost universally panned. So let’s take a look at the rosters and salary cap numbers, shall we?

Philly:
Forwards of Note
Danielle Briere: $6.5 million/yr through 2014-15
Simon Gagne: $5.25 through 2010/11
Scott Hartnell: $4.1 through 2012/13
Mike Knuble $2.8 through end of next year
Jeoffrey Lupul: $2.8 through end of next year
Sami Kappanen & Scottie Upshall: $1.25 through end of next year
MIKE RICHARDS: $5.75 through 2019/20
RJ Umberger and Jeff Carter are RFAs this summer

Defensemen of Note
Kimmo Timmonen: $6.33 through 2012/13
Derian Hatcher: (wait for it --- wait for it ---) $3.5 million through end of next year
Mike Rathje: $3.5 million through 2010/11
Jason Smith: $1.975 through end of next year (UFA)
Braydon Coburn: $1.3 million starting next year for 2 years

Goaltenders: Wait for it, wait for it:
Marty Biron: $3.5 through 2009/10
Antero Nittymaki: $1.225 through 2009/10

Cap hit this year $55 million
Cap hit next year $49.5 million - and they still need to resign Umberger and Carter, who will be RFAs this summer.
Cap hit in 3 years: $33 million

Compare that with the Capitals:
Capitals Cap Hit this year: $39.021
Cap Hit next year: $34.8 million (but we still need to sign Green (RFA), Morrison (RFA), and Huet/Kolzig (UFAs))
Cap hit in 3 years: $28.4

So which roster would you rather have in 2009/10 for essentially the same salary cap hit?
Philly - with Briere (31 years old with 5 years left on his contract), Gagne (30 years old); Hartnell ((27 with 3 years left), Richards (24 years old with 9 years remaining); and VanRiemsdyck (on an entry level contract) up front, and
Timmonen (34 with 3 years remaining); Rathje (35); and Coburn (24) on the back line (and Biron and Nittymaki in net)

OR

Ovechkin (23 years old with 11 years remaining), Semin (25 years old coming up RFA the next summer), Clark (33 years old with a year remaining), Nylander (36 with a year remaining), Backstrom (21 and and RFA the next summer), Fleishmann (25 and RFA the next summer) up front; Poti (32 with 2 yrs left), Pothier (???) (32 with 1 year left), Green (who we know we’ll resign), Alzner on the back line (on an entry-level contract with 1 year remaining), Huet or Kolzig in net.

I think if we polled NHL GMs, even Holmgren would take that second lineup. In a second. And remember, that’s when you factor in 5 million a year or so for Green!

Even worse, the Flyers have killed themselves in the long term, as Briere will be a 6.5 million dollar cap hit when he’s 35 and 36 with a no-trade clause!
Timmonen will be a $6.3 hit when he’s 37!
MIKE FREAKING RICHARDS will be a $5.75 hit when he’s 34 years old.
AND, they’re just above-average enough to be a fringe playoff team for the next 6-7 years, meaning no high draft picks, no blue-chip sure fire young superstars in the near future. Oops.

The only deal the Caps have past 2010/11 is Ovechkin: at 9.5 a year. I’ll take that one. So the Flyers have taken the quick fix route back to the playoffs, where they are doomed to be a team that will be average to pretty good for the next, oh, six years or so. They’ll play a hard nosed, hard working style, have mediocre goaltending, and are doomed to eventually bow out to teams with more talented superstars. Sound familiar Caps Fans?

Boy, am I glad those days are over. On the other hand, the Caps still have some work to do…they have to resign their restricted free agents (Green, Morrison, Laich, Gordon, Fehr, probably in that order of importance), and lock up a solid netminder until we find out if Varlamov or Neuvirth are any good (Huet, anyone?), but even then, the Caps will have the salary cap room to make moves and add to an already potent lineup.

Sorry Philly. It looks like the Championship drought is going to last at least a decade or so longer. But you can always reminisce about the old days of the Broad Street Bullies, and talk about how tough your team is. And hey, how about them Eagles?

Oh, and one more thing: Jim Butler --- you’re an idiot. Only someone as dumb as you could insult an entire fan base in the NY Times, then act surprised when they (rightfully) hammer you for it.

Yeah, but can your city beat up ours?

In yesterday's Calgary Sun, Eric Francis takes an uninformed cheap shot at our city where he refers to DC as a place where Nylander and his wife could "raise their five kids amidst the gunfire and politics of hockey hotbed Washington -- one of America's most violent cities." (That's eric.francis@calgarysun.com, if you'd care to respond.) Instead of returning fire in the same low-brow, childish manner, allow us to show a little class.

This from Original 6:

"Sour grapes. Actually Edmonton is lovely…..in July and August. Mom and I were there 35 years ago and loved it."

Dollars and (no) sense

Ladies and gentlemen, the Deuce:

Since everyone is raving about the Rangers' "Free Agent Coup," I thought I'd take a look at their roster and see what their outlook looks like for the next few years:

Salary Cap Hits for NYR (in millions, of course):

Jagr (now 35 years old): 8.36 - expires 09/10
Gomez: 7.35, 7 more years (will be 34 yrs. Old)
Drury: 7.05, 5 more years (will be 35 yrs old)
Straka (now 33 yrs old): 3.3, expires next year
Mara: 3
Cullen: 2.8, expires 10/11
Malik: 2.5
Rozsival: 2.3
Montoya: 0.984
Tyutin: 0.95
Staal: 0.850
Betts: 0.615
Hollwed: 0.513
Orr: 0.538
Callahan: 0 .575
Thomas: 0.668
Girardi: .550

Free Agents Yet to Be Signed
Shanahan (37 yrs old): UFA, made 4 million last year
Avery: RFA - made 1.1 last year
Rachunek: RFA, made 1.8 last year
Hossa: RFA - made 0.6 last year
Prucha: RFA - made 0.55 last year
LUNDQUIST: RFA - Made 0.817 last year; Will make A LOT MORE this year!

TOTAL: 42.9 MILLION - WITHOUT NEW CONTRACTS FOR RFAs Shanahan, Hossa, Prucha, Avery, Rachunek, and LUNDQUIST! The Rangers have just under 10 million dollars per year to sign those 6 players (say goodbye to Rachunek). It would seem to me that they can sign Lundquist, Hossa, and Prucha with that money, but not Shanahan, and they may have to cut ties with Avery. Regardless, this is the Rangers' roster for the foresesable future (with the exception of Cheraponov coming over with a rookie contract in 08/09).

Grumpy Outlook: They'd better win in the next couple of years, because unless the Cap continues to skyrocket, they have very little flexibility to make changes (unless they let Lundquist walk, which I don't see happening). Remember, Hossa and Prucha should command substantial raises. If Marc Staal turns out to be the player they hope he will, they will need to start looking at resigning him come 08/09. The same may be true of Montoya (aka Trade Bait). Regardless, they will still lean heavily on Jagr…a fatal flaw for any team in the NHL. Especially considering his team just spend around 100 million dollars and he's whining about them letting Nylander go. We'll see, but in 5 years, when Drury and Gomez (two smallish centers whose games depend quite a bit on speed) are getting long in the tooth are counting 14 million against the cap, they'd better be producing like superstars. We've all seen what Tampa Bay has done since they had to let everybody but Lecavalier, St. Louis, and Richards walk. The Rangers will also have to let their roll players walk with that kind of money tied up in their "superstars." And as we've seen this offseason, experienced blueliners don't sign contracts worth under a million a year.

Basically, what I'm trying to say is -- The Redskins, er, Rangers, are making the classic Big Market Big Spender mistake in a Hard-Cap System -- throwing max money at two guys, neither of which I would classify as a "superstar," simply because they can, with no though as to the ramifications down the line. Here's to hoping it blows up in their faces.

Nylander back in the fold

The Capitals have just issued a press release announcing the return of center Michael Nylander, just signed to a 4 year deal. Contract dollars have not been disclosed.

Things are looking up in Capsland, boys and girls.

Let's go back and look at the offseason checklist for a second:

Top tier center - check (Nylander). Bonus points for adding a Swede to the roster to help Backstrom adjust to living in the US.
First pairing physical defensemen - still missing.
Power play specialist / top 4 defenseman - check (Poti).
Versatile mid-range center/righ winger - check (Kozlov).

Hopefully there will be enough crow to go around for all the folks that said the Caps wouldn't address the team's needs through free agency this summer. And it's only day 2. At this rate, we may have to change the name of this blog. Hot diggity.

Caps add Kozlov, Poti

Two solid moves by the Caps yesterday. While Philadelphia and New York were busy breaking the bank, the Caps made more modest signings to address their biggest needs.

To add experience and a legitimate power play threat on the blueline, the Caps inked 30 year old Tom Poti to a four year deal averaging 3.5 mil per year. While he may not be the physical force the Caps need, he is an experienced top four defenseman with an all-star selections. He moves well and has an absolute cannon from the point, which should keep penalty killers honest when pressuring either him or Pothier (if that ends up being the Caps power play defensive pairing). All in all, a very good signing for a very reasonable price.

After the signing of Poti, the Caps added a second former Islander in forward Viktor Kozlov to a contract averaging 2.5 mil over 2 years. While Kozlov is capable of playing all three forward positions, at this point it looks like he'll be playing the pivot, which is not his strongest spot. Still, he's an appreciable upgrade to our current group of centers. If the Caps sign another center, it's possible they might move Kozlov to the right wing. The fact that the Caps now have that option is important in that they can now go after whichever player makes most sense at either center or right wing, knowing that Kolzov can be moved to whatever position is not filled.

All in all, I'd say the Caps made two solid signings that will make for a stronger team next year. They filled their two biggest needs, and they still have plenty of Cap room, although I don't expect them to make more than one big move since they'll need that cash to lock up Ovechkin and Semin after this season when they become RFAs. If you had to grade their moves up to this point, they'd get a solid B+. If they add another solid player at either center, right wing, or defense, they move into the A range.

Caps fans, it's time to start getting fired up. The elements for a solid playoff team are coming together.

Also, it may be time to stop selling peanuts at the concessions stand.

On tempering expectations

Since the draft, Original Six has been sending emails to the Deuce and I every day, with a countdown to "D-Day," or the start of free agency. There is a sense of anticipation, a buzz that is evident on the message boards, in several blogs, and in the hearts of Caps fans everywhere. Caps fans are giddy in anticipation that the club will dig deep into its pockets and pull Drury, Gomez, or even *ugh* Briere into the fold. So, as the resident grumps in the group, it's up to us to bust the bubble for everyone.

You will not see Chris Drury, Scott Gomez, or little Danielle Briere in a Capitals sweater (or jersey or uniform system) this year.

Okay, deep breaths everybody.

Here's why:

The Capitals are shallow at the center position, but they also have a prospect that they believe can be a true number one center in Nicklas Backstrom. He has top tier Swedish Elite league and international experience with Team Sweden (the senior team, not a junior roster). He'll be a full year older, more experienced, and more physically developed than other NHL rookies. And George McPhee almost cracked a smile when talking about him during a recent press conference (for those of you that know how much McPhee dislikes dealing with the press know this is no small thing).

Signing one of the "big three" immediately cuts into Backstrom's minutes. Severely. And if Nick is anything like a certain other Capitals rookie who came into the league a full year after he was drafted, the Caps will want him playing first line minutes. So it makes very little sense to go out and break the bank on a number one center when you have the makings of one already under contract with the organization.

So, if the number one center position is taken, what do the Caps need to do?

I wrote last season that the team's most pressing needs are at the blue line, and that still holds true. The Capitals absolutely NEED a top tier defenseman, for two reasons. First and most obviously, they need a defenseman with the experience to play first line minutes and strike fear into opposing players who right now view the Caps defense as a set of turnstiles. Don't get me wrong, the Capitals do have talent back there, especially with the younger players. However, they don't have a hammer, a guy who forwards will actively avoid engaging. Think Scott Hannon, not Sheldon Souray.

That brings us to the second reason the Caps need a big time defensive defensmen. They have a wealth of young, talented blueliners who lack experience. And while teaming with Pothier will help them learn how to make a great breakout pass, it will not teach them how and when to play the body of an opposing forward. Having a veteran defenseman to tutor Jurcina, Green, Shultz, Morrison, Eminger and now Alzner is an absolute necessity for them to continue their professional growth. Without one, it will take a minor miracle for them to develop into top tier NHL defensemen.

Once the Caps make a move for a free agent defenseman, they still have a hole up the middle that needs to be addressed. But since they're looking for a number 2 center, and not a number 1, they have options. Options like Handzus, Nylander, or even bringing back Dainius Zubrus. Reuniting Ovechkin, Zubrus and Clark would give the Caps two top tier scoring lines with Semin, Backstrom and either Fleischmann, Fehr (should his hip heal up) or a mid-level free agent right wing working the second line. This looks more and more likely since Buffalo has decided not to sign Zubrus to an offer before the start of free agency. It's no secret that we aren't huge fans of Zubrus as a number one center, but as a number 2 or 3 he could be effective. And since Backstrom would be the number one pivot on the power play, that's effectively the role Zubrus would fill, even though he'd be logging minutes on the first line at full strength. Handzus could fill that role equally well, and his defensive prowess would allow him to play with either the first or second line (since we all know Semin and, to a lesser extent, Ovechkin need someone willing to do the dirty work in the defensive zone).

So Caps fans, when the Capitals don't break the bank signing Drury, Briere, or Gomez, don't fret. But if they don't sign a big-time defenseman and a second tier free agent center, if may be time to hit the panic button.

Two Swedes for the price of... well.. two?

This from Big Bad Buccigross...

"The Rangers are always a favorite because New York likes stars and playing with Jaromir Jagr would be very satisfying. Plus, Forsberg could get big money from New York. Washington's cap room, Alexander Ovechkin and incoming Swede Nicklas Backstrom make the Capitals attractive. The Bruins have tried to sign Jeremy Roenick and Mike Modano in recent offseasons, so I guess you can never count them out. Would he return to Philadelphia? The Flyers offered him a very nice contract before they traded him, so I don't think much has changed there; but the Flyers are probably better off going in another direction."

I think it's safe to say we'd take Forsberg for the right price, both for his on ice play and to tutor young Nicklas Backstrom on and off the ice. Such a move would be risky, as Forsberg has been injury prone in the latter part of his career, and he will likely command a VERY high salary. I also doubt that Forsberg fits the Caps long-term roster plans, as he is 34 years old. That said, it would be silly if the Caps didn't at least check and see what he's asking (as I'm sure they will).

Handzus anyone?

From SI.com:

"Once optimistic that he was going to be able to re-sign center Michal Handzus, now even Blackhawks GM Dale Tallon isn't so sure. Handzus would become an unrestricted free agent July 1, and earlier this week Tallon met with the veteran's agent. It's believed Handzus wants close to $4 million a season after making $2.1 million in 2006-07 while playing in only eight games because of a knee injury."

While Handzus is coming off an injury plagued season, he is a solid 2nd line center who plays great defense (which would free up the Russian Machine for more offensive forays), and would be a definite upgrade at the position. If the Caps are unable to secure the services of a 1A center, Handzus looks like a reasonably priced (in this year's market, at least) second tier option.

The big question mark for Handzus, who isn't exactly the fastest guy in the NHL, is whether his surgically repaired knee will slow him down even further.