Fresh off of back-to-back President's Trophy wins and almost a decade of contender status, the Washington Capitals have just had the worst summer (from a team-building perspective) in the NHL.
You could make a case that GM Brian MacLellan just had the worst summer, from a job performance perspective, of any GM in the history of the NHL. That's how _____ bad he just did.
Going into the summer, everyone knew the Caps were in a difficult position. They had a bunch of UFAs, RFAs, and not a lot of cap-space. When you have the best roster in the NHL, and you have to operate under a salary cap, there is going to come a time when you have to face difficult decisions. The Capitals faced such a dilemma this off-season, and they blew it.
They should have paid someone to take Orpiks $5 million dollar cap-hit, and they should have let T.J Oshie walk. He so obviously played over his head last year that it's almost impossible to believe a real life NHL GM can't look at his age, shooting percentage and then, when considering his team's precarious cap situation, let the guy walk.
It's one of those situations that makes it laughable when someone inevitably writes in the comments section of my blog "do you think you can do better than a professional NHL GM?"
The answer is always yes.
Signing T.J Oshie to the extension he got was a blunder on par with thinking a hurricane is just a mainstream media conspiracy.
The Capitals hilariously bad GM then followed that up by losing Nate Schmidt in the expansion draft, failing to get rid of the onerous Orpik contract, the botched Marcus Johansson trade and overpaying for Kuznetsov.
Overall, the Capitals lost Shattenkirk, Williams, Winnik, Johansson, Schmidt and Alzner. Their main addition was signing the terrible Smith-Pelley. No team is good enough to sustain those losses, have no internal replacements, and then keep winning.
They lost half their defenseman, and a player from each line other than their first line. The Capitals were the NHL's best defensive team because they could roll four competent lines and had four top-pairing defenseman on their roster, and, and this is key, they had depth at every position.
Now they are a top-heavy group with tons of talent but no depth. They have three NHL players on their defense and they have zero depth and no money. They are giving PTOs to guys (Jokipakk) who project to be in their top four!
The Capitals top line are all past their peak. The depth is gone and I have zero confidence that the GM can patch this team up enough to make it competitive. Holtby has been an elite goalie lately, but he's also been in front of the deepest, best defensive team in hockey.
The Capitals appear to be absolutely screwed, and what's worse, is that all of their moves were designed to help the team win now.
They botched it, and based on their roster right now, I don't think they'll make the Playoffs.
Washington Capitals Blogger • 
Join the Discussion:
»