"GM George McPhee just said that captain Chris Clark could miss the remainder of the regular season with the wrist injury that has been dogging him since training camp. Clark is at the doctor's office right now. I should know more later, but McPhee said it's looking like Clark will, in fact, need surgery on the wrist."
about 3 years ago
J.P.
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This is an unfortunate way to receive great news.
Get better, Cap’n. Get here, King.
Japers' Rink: Hockey blogging from the most powerful city in the world
I'm not yet so sure.
As I said in a previous thread:
Don’t get me wrong, I like Alzner a LOT. I like what he brings to the table, but if Clark does go on LTIR, there are a couple of options for what to do with the cap space, and the trade deadline is less than a month away. Also, we have to factor in the possibility of Pothier coming back, since he appears to be getting close to being cleared for contact. That might not be till next season, and that seems to be the most likely scenario, but it’s still out there.
I’m okay with bringing Alzner up IF he sees as much ice time here as he will in Hershey. Right now, we need to get the lines and pairings to gel for a playoff run, and if we’re rotating D in and out because we have 7 D up, that’s a problem too.
Judging by what we’ve seen so far, I don’t see why he wouldn’t/couldn’t have similar ice time. Or at least top 4 minutes, which I’m OK with.
I have as many wins in a Capitals uniform as Michael Belhumeur does.
Right now, we need to get the lines and pairings to gel for a playoff run, and if we’re rotating D in and out because we have 7 D up, that’s a problem too.
I disagree. We’re talking the remainder of the season and (hopefully) a deep playoff run. There’s simply no way whatever top 6 the team wants are all gong to stay healthy through that stretch. There’s a reason NHL teams generally carry seven defensemen, and it’s the way to go for the Capitals right now too.
so who sits?
do you call up another winger (Bourque) or a d-man (Alzner)? both? who would sit?
i’m not sure they will bother to call anyone up.
And Ersky/Poti/Mo get some maintenance days, as needed.
Japers' Rink: Hockey blogging from the most powerful city in the world
What do you do if Pothier comes back? :x
I know he can get 6 days in Hershey, but after that…
Football's boring. Get over it.
Pothier isn’t coming back. He’s a nice story, and good on him for getting to where he is, but I’d be fall-off-my-chair surprised if he was cleared for full contact AND able to get into game shape this season.
Japers' Rink: Hockey blogging from the most powerful city in the world
I tend to think moved. He wants $3M a year and will NOT get it from the Caps, not when they need to sign Backstrom and Semin. His play doesn’t justify it.
Better to move him for something than let him sit around and do nothing. Not that he’s Alfonso Soriano or anything.
Football's boring. Get over it.
The Nationals did get two first round draft picks for Soriano, which is more than the Capitals would get for Mo under any circumstances.
That was only because of stupid baseball rules about losing free agents, though. They could have gotten more.
Football's boring. Get over it.
I mis-remember, it was actually a first round pick and a second round pick, but I still think find it hard to believe the team would have gotten more for a rental player who wasn’t going to re-sign with any team he was traded to.
In any event, the first and second round picks are a lot more than ‘nothing’.
Zimmermann
Soriano turned into Jordan Zimmermann, who is currently ranked as the #1 prospect in the Nats’ system by Baseball America, and who will be battling for a spot in the rotation this year. They also got a kid named Josh Smoker, another left-handed pitching prospect (although with less of a chance at making an impact).
by Scott in Shaw on Feb 2, 2009 2:41 PM EST up reply actions
Yes. It has to be Alzner up and Juice sitting. Anything else would be curious to say the least. We already have our healthy compliment of forwards and the general consensus is that our defense needs improving.
I have as many wins in a Capitals uniform as Michael Belhumeur does.
I think we have to take the trade deadline into account too. What are GMGM’s plans come March 4th? Agreed that the D needs shoring up, definitely, but bringing up Alzner isnt the only option, and I would think that moving at the deadline for a veteran D man sure isn’t out of the question, which leaves Alzner out.
(Still, I’d keep a bag packed and by the door were I Mr. Alzner.)
I don’t mind when players play hurt. It bugs the Hell out of me, though, when players are hurt, and play and it hurts their team. I feel Clark may have been doing it, trying to uphold the integrity of his “C”, or whatever reason he was doing it. It’s a god damn shame the guy has injury problems, but if surgery was needed, he needs to get it done. There’s no sense in blubbering around with it and hurting your team.
Here I was, thinking it was a slump. =(
Are we looking at one call-up(Alzner) or multiple(Alzner/Bourque?)
Football's boring. Get over it.
by Whiter Mage on Feb 2, 2009 12:20 PM EST reply actions 1 recs
“…when players are hurt, and play and hurts their team.”
Could not have been said better. He was just being stubborn, and should have just sat out.
You play when you’re hurt, not when you’re injured.
by Simply Sensational on Feb 2, 2009 12:29 PM EST up reply actions
Sadly, I think we’ve seen the last of Pothier. As Clark demonstrated, it takes a while to get back up to speed playing in the NHL after you’ve missed a significant amount of time. Even if #2 was able to return this season, I highly doubt he’d be as effective as we (and he) would want him to be.
I have as many wins in a Capitals uniform as Michael Belhumeur does.
I think his “potential ceiling” is the AHL now. I’d love for the guy to surprise me, though.
Football's boring. Get over it.
And I think he’d only be eligible to play in the AHL for a short while – like a reconditioning stint or something like that. Besides, he is an NHL caliber D-man when healthy. But concussions are so unpredictable when it comes to recovery time.
I have as many wins in a Capitals uniform as Michael Belhumeur does.
I don’t feel qualified to make that call, honestly. Remember that he’s said that he’s going to get completely healthy and cleared to play and then decide whether to retire or not.
I think a lot of that has to do with if he feels he can play NHL quality hockey. Good for him.
Football's boring. Get over it.
And I concur with your above comment about hoping Pothier can surprise us. I’m not anti-#2, not at all. I’d love to see him back. I just have a feeling he might not be able to. :/
I have as many wins in a Capitals uniform as Michael Belhumeur does.
Don’t they like to replace guys who get hurt with similar players? In this case, I see them bringing Bourque back up, and not Alzner
Ron and Fez Noon to Three
by YvonLabresMoustache on Feb 2, 2009 12:29 PM EST reply actions
Well, we’re already scratching forwards from the lineup each game right now, so a forward position can be filled without even calling anyone up. Moving Clark to LTIR gives us extra cap space, and cap space was the only reason Alzner wasn’t playing for the big club right now.
I totally follow your logic, but I think the Caps will bring Alzner back up.
I have as many wins in a Capitals uniform as Michael Belhumeur does.
I agree, but I think more options = better. With 23 players, you can have two spare forwards and a spare d-man. Trade the parts around when you need to. It’s a good situation.
Football's boring. Get over it.
If it plays merry hell with the chemistry.
I still think Mo moves at the trade deadline – when he was Green’s partner, he was part of the plan. That didn’t work out, so now he’s kind of on his own. Schultz is young and cheap and still improving, so I can’t see trading him.
I didn’t mean a trade to another team. I meant, if a guy needs a night off, he trades his ice-time for a press-box seat for a night.
Football's boring. Get over it.
1) Another option is to make no roster moves unless/until an injury ocurrs or the team slumps?
2) Agree that bringing up a forward wouldn’t make sense as they have an overabundance there right now.
If it was up to me, that’s exactly what we would do. Ride the current roster until a move NEEDS to be made.
by Sombrero Guy on Feb 2, 2009 12:53 PM EST up reply actions
I could go with that, although I could also see us making a move at the deadline for that veteran S@H D everyone’s been screaming for.
yeah, that’s what I was thinking as well. No need to call up Alzner or Bourque or another Bear until we need them. Hopefully we can get some extra Cap space along the way allowing us to make some deadline moves.
The only thing is that with players on LTIR you don’t earn cap space, you’re just given the chance to replace the salary if needed. I think.
Correct on the way the cap works with LTIR. At least that’s my understanding.
I just don’t think it’s to Alzner’s benefit to call him up as a 7th Dman.
Now, one possibility that continues to appeal to me is moving Mo and bringing up either Sloan or Alzner – either works. Sloan is a much larger cap hit differential from Mo than Alzner is and lets us rack up more wiggle room, and is still a reasonably capable NHL Dman.
Captain
If Clark is out for the season, I hope Fedorov is given the “C” for the stretch run. I love his experience and trust him to take on that responsibility very seriously.
Looking ahead, I can’t see anyone other than OV wearing the “C” after this year…Clark included.
Why would they assign captaincy to someone if Clark is out for the rest of the season? He was out all year last year and I think they just tossed an extra A on someone.
The only way I see them moving the C off Clark is if they are done with him.
I’d like Ovechkin or Laich to get it in that case.
Peerless makes a really good point – that if Clark is indeed done for the season, suddenly we have enough cap room to wiggle with to make something happen at the trade deadline, where we didn’t before. That’s like a gift, and not one GMGM is fool enough to throw away.
I think Alzner comes up next year or next injury, not before. Certainly not before the trade deadline.
I think Alzner coming up is about as likely as my passing my upcoming Acoustics quiz that I’ve kind of studied for but not really.
Football's boring. Get over it.
“We’ve talked about some options in there,” McPhee said. “It may be Karl, it may be some other defenseman we bring up. [Sean] Collins has been good [in Hershey], [Tyler] Sloan has been good.”
Someone’s coming, it seems.
Football's boring. Get over it.
IMO GMGM will hold off on bringing up Alzner
For no other reason but to gain more cap space. We’ll see Alzner up here full time by the trade deadline, but for the next month, he’ll be in Hershey getting as much PT as possible.
The longer we go without calling up Alzner the bigger the splash GMGM will make at the trade deadline IMO.
We can go out and get a more expensive rental by saving cap space for a month.
GMGM will bring someone up from Hershey for an audition so that he can trade that person by the deadline .
true, but they do keep the amount of money being paid out by Ted down quite a bit by running a roster 1 or 2 players short of being full
True, but Alzner’s actually salary this year is about $875,000 which means he probably making about $175,000 in Hershey. With less than half the season to go, the difference paid out by Leonsis would be ~$300,000 and I get the feeling Leonsis would rather have the team have a player like Alzner on the roster than save the money.
Isn’t his Cap hit higher then $875k because of all the added bonuses he ‘could’ hit?
If not then MY B – I need to reread Sombrero’s Salary cap guide from the summer time.
Yes, the high cap hit is higher. I’m not sure what the performance bonuses are in his contract, though.
Regardless, at this point the Capitals are spending about 58M in salaries and are on pace for 109 points, which is about $532,000 per point. Bringing up Alzner would cost Leonsis 1.1-1.4 million more in salary, even if he hits all his bonuses. I’d think Alzner in the lineup would result in more than a two/three points increase over the course of the rest of the season so I don’t think Leonsis is going to start penny-pinching now.
There’s also the issue of playoff revenue: it’s a huge boon for NHL teams. If Alzner can get the team in a higher spot for the playoffs and/or his added experience nets the Capitals an extra few playoff games at home, he more than pays for himself.
Don’t get me wrong, I see your point and I want Alzner back just long we all do, but I was thinking along the lines that if we save $1 in February, we can spend $2 in March.
Alzner’s overall cap hit is $1.67 million. But there’s other factors involved, I believe, and I’m not even going to pretend to understand them all.
My guess is that Alzner will be called up after the March trade deadline, after McPhee gets who he wants to get and sees what cap space is remaining. I don’t think Mo will be moved (he’s an RFA, so his rights still can be traded in the off-season) unless a great deal drops in McPhee’s lap, but Nylander probably will be heavily shopped.
I also believe that the salary cap doesn’t apply in the post-season.
In that scenario I don’t see the value of not playing Alzner in Washington right now. Why not just use the 2.67M in cap space to keep Alzner on the team now and send him down if the team trades for someone who puts them over that threshold?
+1
He can be sent back to Hershey if someone falls into the Cap’s lap. The only reason I can see to keep him in Hershey is if he won’t be getting playing time up with the big boys.
Which is a real concern, to my mind. Who do you sit? If you won’t have him for the playoffs, then you’re hurting the team’s chemistry by sitting someone for Alzner if you’re not sure he’s going to be in the playoffs and the final rush, and right now, we’re not there yet.
I’m not in a huge hurry to bring Alzner up. I like the kid a lot, but I don’t want to rush along to get aomsthing now when it could bite us in the butt in May.
Or be able to move at the trade deadline. I don’t see how we get more benefit from having 7 D right now (and just because every other team doesn’t mean we have to). I’m looking for a healthy captain next year and room to play at the trade deadline for that veteran Dman everyone’s been calling for. Alzner closer to playoff time.
I think the benefit to seven defensemen is that it lets Alzner get more NHL playing time, which should help him in the playoffs. Plus Alzner is better than at least a couple of the guys who are on the team now, so it makes the team better, which is always good.
My understanding of the cap situation is this: the team is allowed to exceed the cap by the amount of Clark’s salary on a day-to-day basis in order to replace him. Clark’s at 2.67M and Alzner’s at 1.675M, with Alzner on the roster the team has about 1M to play with; without him they have 2.67M. That’s true whether Alzner’s in Washington today, tomorrow, Valentine’s Day, or St. Patrick’s Day. Keeping him in the minors now is not going to add any more financial flexibility come trade deadline time.
I personally don’t see the value in trading for another defenseman if the team already has seven and seven’s too many anyway though.
eklund…which was to underscore how absurd the suggested trade was. i can’t always bat 1.000 with the jokes, people….
Russian Machine Never Breaks
Interesting stuff, guys.
So, assuming the Caps leave Alzner down, which doesn’t make a ton of sense to me, what is the next move? A deadline trade I presume, but whom? The salary cap would still be a pretty major constraint for anyone they’d bring in, and I’m not sure this team really needs any cheap veteran wingers. A stay at home D would be nice, but I’m having a hard time picturing anyone better than Jurcina/Mo (our 7th guy if Alzner is up) that would fit under the cap and would be an on-ice upgrade.
I wonder if McPhee is going to try to pull off something like trading for and stashing Gaborik on LTIR until the playoffs, not that I think it would be a great idea. A move like that is the only way I see to give the team a big on-ice boost and still fit under the cap.
Of course, all of this presumes Nylander can’t be moved. If he can be dispensed with, then things could get interesting.
I really don’t think it’s in the Capitals best interest to do anything. The one scenario I could see playing out is this:
(1) The team trades Shaone Morrisonn for a draft pick, freeing up 1.975M in cap space. Of that, 1.675 is taken up by Alzner. That leaves ~300k in cap room.
(2) The Caps use picks and/or prospects to pick up another defenseman, replacing Morrisonn and retaining team depth at the position. With ~3M in space (assuming Clark on LTIR) the team should have a decent number of options.
i can actually see this. I can also see moving for a veteran D at the trade deadline. Guess it all depends.
I see a move for D as more likely than landing our future #2 center at the deadline this year. Two teams to watch, who could be major sellers at the deadline: Anaheim and Ottawa.
Possible D targets on those teams (note that this is not an endorsement – I don’t know how good a lot of these guys are). Also, Luke Richardson is still on the books for Ottawa!
Ottawa:
Chris Phillips, 30, $3.5m/year, signed through 2011
Filip Kuba, 31, $3.0m/year, pending UFA
Anton Volchenkov, 26, $2.1-3.2m/year, signed through 2010
Anaheim:
Surprisingly few options here. Niedermayer and Pronger both make over $6m/year and it’s hard to imagine a trade. Hedican and Montador are relatively cheap (~800k) pending UFAs. Pretty much everyone else is young and making peanuts. Looks a lot like the roster of a team in/recovering from cap hell.
Leadership
Assuming Clark’s done, I agree Feds gets the C (even if they don’t stitch one onto his sweater, he’s the leader.) With or without Clark, I am worried we just don’t have the type of leadership on the ice, in the pipes or in the room to win a Cup just yet.
I know its a different NHL now. But this club reminds me of the Red Wings in the early 90’s. They actually lost a bit of overall talent level and added experience and grit before it clicked. The Sharks clubs of the last five years are another example – young talent and size, but something has always been missing.
A healthy Clark would do wonders i the playoffs, but we don’t have that. I think we need a Scott Walker/Aaron Ward type of guy.
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Southeast Standings
| GP | W | L | OTL | PT | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Florida
|
53 | 25 | 17 | 11 | 61 |
|
Washington
|
54 | 28 | 21 | 5 | 61 |
|
Winnipeg
|
56 | 26 | 24 | 6 | 58 |
|
Tampa Bay
|
53 | 23 | 24 | 6 | 52 |
|
Carolina
|
56 | 20 | 25 | 11 | 51 |
(updated 2.11.2012 at 8:02 AM EST)
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