Who Will Replace Brashear?
With training camp finally poking its head out on the horizon, the Capitals roster is all but set.
There will be spots open for competition. But not many.
The Caps have quite a few young and talented players ready to make the jump, but with such a tightly packed lineup already, there is serious doubt as to who or how many of those young guns will actually get to make the jump.
This is how I currently see the Capitals lineup for the upcoming season:
Forwards:
Ovechkin-Backstrom-Knuble(Semin occasionally)
Semin-Morrison(or Nylander)-Laich
Fleischmann-Nylander(Steckel)-Clark(Fehr)
Bradley-Gordon(Steckel)-Fehr
Extras: Aucoin,
Hershey Hopefuls: Bourque, Osala, Bouchard, Perreault, Giroux
Defense:
Green-Shamo
Poti-Pothier
Jurcina-Alzner
Extras: Schultz, Erskine
Hershey Hopefuls: Godfrey, Carlson, Dovgan
Goaltending:
1A. Theodore
1B. Varlamov
Hershey Hopefuls: Neuvrith, Holtby
The lineup is pretty much set. Or so it seems.
The Caps did a decent job of replacing Fedorov and Kozlov by bringing in Knuble to aid the top line and Morrison to compete with Nylander for a spot on the second line.
The last and final piece of the puzzle, the one thing that the Capitals have actually not addressed this off-season, has been replacing Donald Brashear.
Although tougher players like Laich, Erskine and Bradley will all drop the gloves, only Erskine can be considered a reputable fighter. On top of that, the Caps cannot count on someone like Mike Knuble to cover any of the fighting duties. That would just be too much.
So the Caps are ready to go, but still need a tough guy.
Fortunately, getting a “tough guy” in today’s NHL won’t cost the team as much as any of the other much hyped moves that critics feel the Caps should make, such as trying to trade for another top 4 defenseman.
It would be great to grab the defenseman, but not at the cost of some of the young up and coming talent in the Caps pipeline.
So no top flight defenseman.
But, grabbing a tough guy? Not such a hard thing to do. It just depends on who interests you?
Currently still on the market is tough guy Andrew Peters.
He would be an ideal candidate to fill in for Brashear, but may cost too much and is currently rumoured to be in talks with New Jersey.
Others still available include Rob Neidermayer, Chris Gratton and Aaron Downey.
Neidermayer is definitely not a “tough guy” but would bring a tremendous amount of leadership and grit and is certainly no slouch when it comes to dropping the gloves. Gratton and Downey would likely be more of an affordable option but are also likely nowhere near the players they used to be.
Pursuing the tough guy via the free agency route may not be the best way for the Caps to land the tough guy they need. Turning towards a trade may be the more realistic way to go.
The Caps are technically over the cap, so making a move like bringing in a tough guy - even on a cheap 1 year deal, would still require moving someone’s salary out.
Pursuing a trade is obviously the easier route.
Tough guys are not necessarily in abundance, but recently rumours have surfaced that Steve Ott, Daniel Carcillo and Raitis Ivanans are all being potentially shopped.
If that is the case, perhaps George McPhee will dip into the trade pool to get his hands on a tough guy.
Someone like Ott or Carcillo would seriously up the tough factor on the Capitals as well as bring an ability to contribute on the scoresheet as well, but it’s highly unlikely that the Caps would be able to get their hands on Carcillo as he plays in the same conference and Ott is likely an expensive piece as he scored 19 goals last season.
Ivanans, on the other hand, comes at a much cheaper price tag, but brings exactly what would be asked for in a tough guy. He is a true fighter and has no problems sticking up for his team-mates. He would likely only cost a draft pick or a cheaper end contract and would give the Capitals exactly what they need in terms of an enforcer.
Are the Caps going out of their way to land a tough guy? Likely not.
But, in order for the Caps to ensure a good season, they are going to eventually be in need of someone to protect their top flight players.
Although not urgent, I do expect the Caps to address this need before the puck drops on October 1st versus the Boston Bruins.
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