Follow @james_tanner123 The other day I ripped GM Brian MacLellan for his completely nutzo failure of an off-season, and today I came across this, which I thought was a really succinct demonstration of his failure:
And some said I was too hard on Caps GMBM during @JunksRadio segment the other day.... https://t.co/1eBj5a0Db7 (via @domluszczyszyn) pic.twitter.com/HxLIjkXdbB
— Neil Greenberg (@ngreenberg) July 7, 2017
It still blows my mind that he signed Oshie to the contract he did, when he could have kept Williams and some flexibility for a much better price.
I can't believe he allowed Schmidt to walk and that he was incapable of coming up with any kind of creative solution to the problem. Such as protecting 8 players and letting Marcus Johansson be selected. (the lame draft picks he got for Jo would surely be worth paying to keep Schmidt).
But even then, you don't really have to expose Marcus Johansson - he's an excellent player on a team-friendly deal with term, if you can't quietly shop him and get a nice return on the player before a trade deadline and two drafts, you're simply an incompetent GM.
It really does seem like MacLellan entered this offseason with no plan. Or, more likely, that he had a plan, and panicked as soon as it started to go off the rails.
Given the Capitals window, it's pathetic that they didn't find a way two years ago to pay a team willing to take Orpik's contract (like Toronto or Phoenix, who were both doing that for a while).
Look at the stacked team the Caps had last year and imagine another $5 bills to spend on it. Imagine that contract isn't still costing the team players today.
Anyways, MacLellan has had a worse summer than any other GM in hockey.
He did sign Philip Grubauer to a one year $1.5 extension. Got a nice back-up goalie without breaking the bank......... So there's that.