Chelios: A Fedorov for our D
by chockster on Jun 29, 2009 10:29 PM EDT
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In the spirit of one of the biggest "Let’s Play GM for the Day" days of the year, let’s celebrate July 1 by playing poor man’s GM and see if we should sign Chris Chelios.
The ageless wonder Chris Chelios is leaving Detroit due to cap restraints and want to go to the Eastern Conference. And I have just the team in mind.
More so, he’s the player/coach to replace Sergei Fedorov.
Players, as well as Boudreau, raved over Fedorov’s wisdom and his influence over young players the past season-plus. Surely he had taught something to the young guns about being a good forward, as well as throwing in a lesson about the blueline.
Chelios would be the perfect candidate to do the same for our defenseman providing some institutional knowledge to help round out Green, Shultz and especially Alzner’s game during a full rookie year.
What better person to have on the blueline with Alzner to guide him in a first full season in the NHL? And someone to give Green more defensive guidance to make that Norris trophy a reality.
Remember not too long ago, Cheli was known more for his offense than his chili bar. Then as he came to Detroit and he realized he wasn’t as quick anymore, he transformed his game into a shutdown defenseman.
Perhaps he’ll score more than the 0 points he garnered in an injury-shorten season last year by playing with a young, fast team that will give him a defensive workout.
We’re full at D right now, but I’d be willing to let Shaone Morrisonn go to another team as an RFA or at least trade him.
How would this make sense financially and contractually? Considering his age, despite his fitness, he won’t be given a long-term deal. His 2008 cap hit was $750,000.
With Fedorov, Kozlov and presumably Brashear gone, that’s $7.75 million in cap hit ($7.7 million in salary) off the books. Still, you need to essentially replace a line.
In addition to RFA raises, still up in the air is Brent Johnson’s $812,500 cap hit and whether that comes back and higher or lower, conversely, does Simeon Varlamov come on board with his $821,667 cap hit and does Alzner get a full season promotion with his $875,000 contract plus bonuses?
Let’s say Alzer comes and so does Varlamov – that’s about $1.7 million combined cap hit.
All of a sudden that miniscule $100,000 cap increase to $56.8 million becomes a spit of rain.
(As an aside, the cap makes fantasy deals less fun having cap hits, salaries and other factors to play with. Now it's like being a kid asking your parent's how much money are you allowed to spend on toys and figuring out what you can get for $20.)
Do you go after Chelios and flip a trade taking one of our defenseman for a forward? Let Morrisonn or Jurcina walk in RFA and get a compensatory pick? Skip the gamble and focus strictly on the forward vacancies instead?
It’s your turn to play.
If this FanPost is written by someone other than one of the blog's editors, the opinions expressed in it do not necessarily reflect those of this blog or SB Nation.
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i love cheli and this brings up a point. he could contribute some and would be a great teacher at practice. with him and bob woods, the caps d could have a complete transformation.
did cheli really say he wanted to go to the eastern conference? ha i hope gmgm has this in mind.
Yeah, he said he wants to play with the Eastern Conf. because the traveling would be easier, and if he wasn’t playing a month or two into the season, then he’d retire.
I actually thought of this when I read it on Puck Daddy but didn’t really think too seriously of it. But, hey, maybe it could work. If we did want/get him, I wouldn’t mind losing Mo because I know he’s going to want more money that he’s not going to get from the Caps. But if Alzner comes up as it’s expected he will, we’d be 8 deep; Alzner, Green, Poti, Erskine, Pothier, Schultz, Jurcina, Chelios. That would probably mean a trade, and it seems like some people would want that to be either Jurcina or Schultz.
It’s certainly something to think about…I’d certainly be intrigued at only 750k per year…
Flip side of that is that I don’t know if the Caps are deep enough defensively to risk having a 47/48 year old coming off an injury plagued season…even as the 7th man.
Well let’s say he does get injured with minor injuries throughout the year. That will give Carlson the “mini-stints” that he needs to get acclimated to the NHL (assuming he doesn’t make the team), and we’ll be able to better judge what he brings. And if Cheli is hurt, but still traveling with the team, the young guys can continue to learn from him, even with him off of the ice.
And if you listen to management, apparently we have a plethora of D just ready to contribute….but take that as you will
That will give Carlson the "mini-stints" that he needs to get acclimated to the NHL (assuming he doesn’t make the team)
Personally, I would prefer Carlson to spend a full year…or atleast the majority of the year…playing in Hershey. As strong as he is, he is still extremely young and really hasn’t had the opportunity to play against men.
And if you listen to management, apparently we have a plethora of D just ready to contribute
Ready to contribute does not equate to top 3/4 dman. Right now the Caps have a plethora have 4/5/6/7 dmen. Which players on currently on the roster are slated for top 3 minutes? Green, Poti, ShaMo (if he’s back) and Pothier. The top 3 look a helluva lot stronger if the team finds a true top tier dman…
Another note on D and finances
Erskine is due for a raise in his contract from $537,000 in 08/09 to $1.25 mill in 09/10 and 10/11. Despite his improvement, I’m still shaking my head at that one.
What if the team dressed 11 forwards and 7 defensemen every night?
Ovechkin, Backstrom and Semin already pull double-shift type minutes (although I wish they were actually taking double the number of shifts, rather than taking really long shifts). The team could roll just 3 lines, keep Gordon as a dedicated PKer who gets very little even strength time, and play 7 defensemen with Chelios getting only a few minutes a night….
by Gould Old Days on Jun 30, 2009 12:57 AM EDT reply actions
i’m even more worried about AO’s shift length during the regular season than i am during the playoffs. we need our offensive horses as fresh as possible at the end of the season. taking away a winger sends the exact wrong message from BB, IMO. especially with so many serviceable 5/6/7 defensemen between washington and hershey.
by Natty Bumppo on Jun 30, 2009 10:21 AM EDT up reply actions
well a team can never have too many defensemen. we learned that well last winter.
but seriously, this guy would be a great influence even if he barely played. as long as he was dressed for practice, he could help out there. he could turn alzner, carlson, and even green into great defenseive dmen. i’m really falling into this idea
No thanks. If the Caps are adding anyone, it needs to be a #1,2,3 guy, not a #6,7 guy. We’ll already need to let one guy go to accommodate Alzner assuming he makes the team (which he should), we’ll have to move someone else to get that bigger-minute player, and so we’d have to move someone else again to bring in a Chelios-type depth guy.
I guess moving Morrisonn, Jurcina, and Pothier isn’t out of the question, but it’s too much movement to expect ahead of time.
I floated this out there before, but there’s a longshot gut feeling in me that says they move 26 and 23 for modest forward help (or a low end 2/3 dman) once things shake out.
by Bald Pollack on Jun 30, 2009 9:22 AM EDT up reply actions
I see 26 gone, and 23 or 2 moved to (hopefully) make space for a moderate top-3 upgrade if the cap space can be worked out.
I don’t think 2 gets moved since the contract expires this year anyway. For what it’s worth.
by Bald Pollack on Jun 30, 2009 9:45 AM EDT up reply actions
I don’t think it’s likely either, although I’m thinking sentimental reasons may play a role as well.
But he would be a logical move if there’s any salary being added to the back end at any point this season.
God, I hope sentiment isn’t playing a factor, otherwise Brashear would have been resigned by now.
by Bald Pollack on Jun 30, 2009 10:28 AM EDT up reply actions
but really, why not? he would take up only about 750k and could make a difference in green alzner and carlson’s career. he could help them a lot and form them into responsible dmen. even if he just fills in for injury, i think it is worth it.
He still takes up a roster spot. His prime was also a very different era in the NHL. If you want to improve Alzner and Carlson, bring in Stevens or Langway as a coach. 750k sounds like nothing, but that could be the difference between the Caps being able to call up Aucoin to fill in for an injured player or not.
There’s a big difference between Feds and Chelios – Feds could still play.
by D'ohboy on Jun 30, 2009 3:10 PM EDT up reply actions 1 recs
That really would make the Caps the “Poor Man’s Red Wings” wouldn’t it? Or maybe “The last stop before NHL Retirement for Aging Red Wing Wonders”
Chelios was never really a Red Wing wonder. He will always be, in my eyes, a Blackhawk.
I'm so sick and tired of the refs explaining the calls like this is the NFL.
by Whiter Mage on Jun 30, 2009 12:53 PM EDT up reply actions
Great minds think alike.
I posted something similar on my blog on Friday.
I think that it would be a great pickup for the Caps if the price is right. Jurcina, Shultz, and Green could all use a mentor on the blue-line. That doesn’t even take into consideration rookies like Alzner and Carlson.
Bob Woods does a great job with defensemen, but having a living NHL legend like Chelios there giving them tips would do wonders for their development.
by DisGraceland's Grizzled Vet on Jun 30, 2009 9:26 PM EDT reply actions
that i clicked on this fanpost just to see this comment is a sign that i have an unhealthy addiction to this blog.
by Natty Bumppo on Jul 1, 2009 11:13 AM EDT up reply actions
relax
i do the same thing. its completely natural
by twistedlogic on Jul 6, 2009 10:47 AM EDT up reply actions
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