Right about now, the trade deadline is on the mind of just about every hockey fan in North America. Given the pretty good chance of their being some player and/or prospect movement, we figured now would be as good a time as any for a prospects update, although we’re going about it a little differently this time around. The last prospects update, which came in late January, featured short blurbs on each prospect, their development, and where they might fit in with the club in coming seasons. Those blurbs are forgone here (though I encourage anyone who may have missed the January update to go back and check them out) in favor of discussion on subject matter more pertinent to the upcoming deadline: organizational depth by position, untouchable players, and guys who might be trade bait.
Goalies
By now most Capitals fans are familiar with the team’s young and talented netminding duo of Simeon Varlamov and Michal Neuvirth. That the Capitals have two guys who have the talent to be legit NHL number ones is a level of depth that is very rare. The question is this: does the fact that the Capitals have two talented young goalies make the players untouchable or expendable? On one hand, keeping both Varlamov and Neuvirth significantly increases the odds of the team having a homegrown number one goalie on the roster since it’s unlikely both will wind up busts and goaltending tandems seem to be on the rise. On the other hand, young goaltenders are so valuable that holding two of them rather than moving one to shore up other areas may not be great asset management.
Defensemen
The Capitals are deep in terms of prospect depth on the blue line, with at least a half dozen defensemen who stand a chance at being good NHL players. Size is a plus here: Eric Mestery, John Carlson, and Joe Finley are all least 6’3”, the biggest being Finley who’s 6’7”, 245 pound frame would already put him among the biggest defensemen in the NHL. The Capitals’ defensive prospect pool also boasts versatility: Finley, Mestery, and Viktor Dovgan are all stay-at-home types, and Josh Godfrey, Sami Lepisto, and Keith Seabrook have offensive upside. The untouchables here are John Carlson, who has been compared to Mike Komisarek and has the hardest shot in the OHL, and Karl Alzner, who most Capitals fans already know about, both for their high ceilings and their likelihood of realizing their potential. Lepisto may be the most likely trade candidate, as he seems to be buried on the Capitals depth chart and his production at the AHL is likely to intrigue potential trade partners. Finley, valued for his size, could also make his way out of town, though his upside is high enough that it would probably take a pretty significant return to pry him away.
Forwards
While the Caps’s defensive prospects have a nice combination of NHL caliber talent and size, most of the team’s forward prospects are on the small side: both Chris Bourque and Mathieu Perreault are generously listed at 5’9” and among the younger high-end prospects, only Oskar Osala and Anton Gustafsson are over six feet tall. It’s probably the case that none of the team’s forward prospects are off limits, but we’d like see Osala designated as such. The young winger has the potential to be a 25 goal scorer at the NHL and could play at over 230 pounds in a couple years. Players like that don’t come along all that often. Chris Bourque and Francois Bouchard are probably the most likely trade bait, other than Osala.
So, what jumps out at you? Who should the Capitals hold on to and who’s expendable? Perhaps most importantly of all, who might George McPhee be able to move for more than they’re really worth?
