My bold predictions for this upcoming year.

I really just don’t get why everyone wants to move Semin. Unless we have a total turn around of our team’s defensive philosophy, our success is totally based on our offensive production. And you want to trade away our only consistant goal scorer who isn’t named Ovechkin? Doesn’t make sense.

And why in the hell do we need a notable second line center to center nobody? It’s great if you can get one to center Semin. Without Semin there, who cares? Flash has proven to be inconsistent, small, easily pushed off the puck. Fehr? Love him, but verdict is still out, only thing he has proven is that he can consistantly get hurt. Laich could center that line, would probably be just as good as having a great center on a crap line.

I understand the urge to move a player of value to gain a position of value, but it doesn’t make any sense if the you lose the the talent that you needed the new player for in the first place.

PM Bouchard is not a center, and he’s pretty overpaid.

Also, Semin isn’t going to cost 7 mil unless he stays totally healthy and scores something like 100 points this season, and even then it’d be a stretch.

And trading Semin at the deadline makes zero sense. Semin is our best trading asset, true, but this is a team that should be focused on winning now as well as keeping the future bright. If we trade Semin at the deadline we’re likely only getting futures, as no contender is going to give up a good “now” piece and no seller is going to want a big fish like Semin at the time.

If we’re dead set on trading him, it’s either this offseason or next that makes the most sense. That way we bring in a return that can help us now, probably on D, and we have time to set up a game plan rather than having to adjust to losing one of our best playoff weapons down the stretch.

And things like this make me wonder:

As for the defense Green, Poti, Pothier, Erskine, Alzner, Carlson, Schultz and Jurcina will be battling for 6 game day spots and 2 press box spots.

Let’s be real; Green, Poti, Schultz, and Juice/Pots will be on the ice every night.

Alzner may or may not be up, depends on what GMGM does with the “Mo Situation”. If Mo is here, he’s going to be playing, no doubt in my mind. Include Johnny-Boy as a 6/7 Dman and your lineup is set; no Alzner, no Carlson. Move Mo and Alzner comes up.

Carlson isn’t coming to the big show unless he has an AMAZING camp and/or injuries decimate the team, and even then you probably see Helmer and Sloan up before Carlson.

And I think Nyls beats Laich for #2C if given the opportunity, he’s just better. (When he wants to be)

Schony, good work—a lot of it makes sense. However, the trade deadline, imo, will be where we beef up our defense. I still hold out some hope that George gets the second pivot situation in better shape before the season starts, with the trade route the absolute best option to acquire one.

Maybe the question to ask is this… who would most benefit from acquiring ShaMo? Those are the teams we should be scouting for 2C talent (if any) to get back in trade. Or is the consensus that no one’s shopping for his type of Dman and we’re stuck with him until the trade deadline when injuries can help the Caps move him? If that’s the route GMGM is on, then we probably (hopefully?) won’t see much of Alzner or Carlson (as Witter said above re: injuries like last year).

I used capgeek.com and took a couple wild guesses for some of the RFA’s and came up with the following roster. Ignore the line formatting, that is Cap Geek’s doing.

FORWARDS
Alexander Ovechkin ($9.5m) / Michael Nylander ($4.9m) / Alexander Semin ($4.6m)
Mike Knuble ($2.8m) / Chris Clark ($2.6m) / Brooks Laich ($2.1m)
Matt Bradley ($1.0m) / Nicklas Backstrom ($0.8m) / * Eric Fehr ($0.8m)

• Boyd Gordon ($0.8m) / Tomas Fleischmann ($0.7m) / Dave Steckel ($0.7m)
• Chris Bourque ($0.7m)

DEFENSEMEN
Mike Green ($5.2m) / Tom Poti ($3.5m)
Brian Pothier ($2.5m) / John Erskine ($1.2m)

• Milan Jurcina ($1.2m) / Karl Alzner ($0.9m)
• Jeff Schultz ($0.8m)

GOALTENDERS

Jose Theodore ($4.5m) / Simeon Varlamov ($0.8m)

CAPGEEK.COM TOTALS

ROSTER: 22; PAYROLL: $53.035m; CAP ROOM: $3.765m ADDITIONAL BONUSES: $2.450m.

Cap room – bonuses = $1.315 million

Even if we assume every bonus eligible player meets all of their bonuses, the above roster has $1.315 million leftover. That should be ample room to make a move or two at the trade deadline without shedding too much salary.

semin is too valuable to lose. without him, Caps are basically a one line offensive team. but, backstrom is a must sign and semin would be more of a luxury to keep.

the question is what would be get back and would it be better on the cap?
also remember ovi and semin are best friends. im sure he would take 5 or 6 mil to stay

Surprised no one has brought up Theodore or Varlamov in the comments here. This is a bit of wishful thinking, but the fact remains: Varlamov became the starter in the playoffs, and I see no reason why he won’t be the starter in the regular season. Of course we need to go through training camp, and “everyone has to prove their worth” etc, but let’s look at this realistically:

Theodore was inconsistent for most of the season. He completely bombed against a terrible offense in the playoffs. He’s not the Hart trophy goalie he once was, and the coach obviously has no confidence in him. Sure, he had one of his better seasons in the W column, but you can thank Ovechkin & crew for that, not him.

Varlamov is young, which is exactly what Boudreau likes. He’s got conditioning issues, but nothing that can’t be dealt with if you manage him and Theodore properly. I’m not suggesting the kid starts 70 games, but even 50 or 55 is realistic. We all know his skill set, and it’s obvious he is the future.

Give Theodore his shot, sure, but who wants a repeat of last season?