Ranking the Capitals: #5

Wow! We are flying through these today. :-) I picked Knuble due to the skill set he brings.

We haven’t seen what Knuble will really do for the team yet, and Laich is an all-around hard working guy that everyone loves. 21 FTW.

I struggled with this one, but ultimately went with Poti. I just think the defense is lost without him. He’s the only guy around who’s been at this gig for more than a few seasons. I’d feel differently if the Caps traded for another veteran on D, but for now he’s a lynchpin and underrated around here.

Knuble and Laich got serious consideration from me. Not any goalies though. The fact that we have so many good options pushes each of them down on my list.

“Where would the team be without Varlamov?” — “Actually, probably OK.”

“Where would the team be without Poti?” — “Screwed”

Went with Tsarly.

Yet again, I nominate Flash to be added.

At this point for me it was kind of a push between several people…
In the end I decided to look at it from the point of view of who I would least like to see traded and I voted for Steckle..

I probably still have rose colored glasses after this years play offs but he’s one of the reliable guys the team can count on to perform when its necessary.. He works hard every shift, a good two way game and is as reliable as we can ask for on the face off dot…

I also want to nominate Matt Bradley for the next poll.

This was hard for me. I wanted to go with Poti for what he brings to the defense but in the end I had to go with Brooks cause of what it seems he brings in leadership and fight to the team.

Seems like after the first 4, you almost need to have a netminder up there. Besides, given everything we know right now I believe Varlamov is the most valuable player on this list, given (a) what he’s done so far, (b) what was and is expected of him, and © his overall potential to perform in this league.

Is he the best or most proven on this list? No. Is he even my personal favorite as a fan? No. (Laich and/or Steckel fill that role from this list)…But most valuable? Yeah, I believe possibly so.

Still, this pick and the next few are gonna be tough

With all due respect to all the myopics that have posted in consideration of this season, it’s Karl Alzner. He’s going to be a stud on the blueline for many years. He was Captain of Team Canada. He’s a great quote. He brings everything you love in Brooks Laich, and he will be a top pair D within 2 years. We’d suffer this year if we lost Poti, but he’s probably gone after this contract anyway. We’d struggle without Laich, but it’s easier to replace a 3rd line guy with 2nd line potential than it is to replace a 2nd/3rd pair D with top pair potential. If you want a team built around AO to compete for a decade, Karl Alzner is your man.

I went with Varly. There are other good choices here, but when you’re talking about most valuable, it’s pretty hard to dismiss what Varly did in the playoffs and the increasingly real potential that he turns into an all-star caliber goalie. Neuvirth looks strong too, but until you do it in the NHL, you’re still an unknown (and on that note, Varly hasn’t completely proven he can do it over the long haul, but all indicators are good and he has a first-round pedigree).

I love Laich and Steckel, love what Poti brings to the equation, etc., but you need a good goalie to win championships, and Varly looked like that kind of goalie to me in the playoffs. If the Caps traded him today, goaltending would become an enormous concern for me going forward, Neuvy or not.

Oh as far as the next man on the list goes, while he gets bashed for being a bottom tier D, I say Erskine gets on there. He would have been a top 4 guy in the old NHL because of his size and mean streak and that’s what you need come playoff time.

Wah wah waaaaaah

I voted for Alzner before reading the comments but F and B nailed it. When you consider “age, potential, contract status, and organizational depth” there is no one on that list that is more valuable than Alzner: he’s not yet 21; he is potentially a player who will mature in a cornerstone top pair D; he has a very manageable cap hit for the next several years; and there is no one in the organization who brings to the table what he could potentially bring. He is the complete package both on and off the ice and could (reasonably) be this generation’s Rod Langway. It would suck to lose Laich, Varly etc but I would rather lose them than Alzner.

Go Steckel… He’s one of the most dependable players on the ice at any given point in time. Always doing the tough work short handed and winning more face offs than any one else.

As important as developing players may be, Steckel is proven at this point to be a steady hand out there.

I went with Varly. I considered Alzner and Laich, but the kid keeper takes the cake in my mind when considering the criteria of trade value, age, potential, and contract status.

Plus, I consider a hot goaltending prospect similar to a stud starting pitching prospect in baseball. You simply value them as a commodity more than the other positions in the sport. They are harder to find. The bonus here is that Varly has shown significant glimpses of what he is capable of (in high-pressure situations to boot). He’s not all the way there yet, but considering how deep the Caps’ goaltending depth supposedly is, I am impressed by the way he has grabbed the opportunity by the throat.

As the loan Schultz voter out here on the interwebs, I’d like to explain myself.

To me, Varly and Alzner are both full of immense potential that’s close to being realized. But neither of them has gone through a full NHL season as yet.

So sure, Schultz is goofy awkward on skates at times, he doesn’t hit as much as Chara, he’s not nasty like Pronger, and the pratfall against the Rags sticks out big time. But not many 23 year olds have played 150+ NHL games on the blueline in the league. He doesn’t have the leadership makeup that Alzner has, but his ceiling is just as high and he’s closer to reaching it than King Karl.

Varly looks like he’s got a shot at being stupendous too. But there’s always a goalie or two in every generation who looks like the second coming of Dryden or Roy then fizzles out into obscurity. So until we see some sustained production from Varly, he can’t make #5.

If you want to call this “most trade value” then I’d agree that Alzner and Varly are both ahead of Schultz, because they’re still on entry-level deals. But for long-term franchise value, I vote Schultz

Props to F&B for making the argument before me, but here was my thinking going into the voting as well (hopefully I’m not just repeating his argument:

Had to go with Alzner here with my thinking being “who from that list would be the hardest to replace with someone of equal value inside or outside of the organization?” I would say Neuvirth is (at this point) still fairly comparable to Varlamov so that eliminated Varly from my consideration (although a 20-something goalie with that much upside is definitely a close call). A net-crashing forward is fairly easy to find, though the price makes it a closer call for Knuble. 2nd and 3rd liners can always be found somewhere, so despite their nearness to the top of my list of favorite players I had to bypass Stecks and Laich. Someone like Alzner – a defensive minded blueliner, under team control for a long while, still very young, proven as a top tier guy in all other levels that he’s played – is not easily replaceable when you look around the league (at least to someone with as limited knowledge as I have). That type of player is also a big need when you’ve got someone like our #3 most valuable guy for him to (hopefully) pair up with – someone has to protect Green’s backside. So I voted for Alzner. These next few are going to be brain-twisters.

Also, I vote for Bradley to be added to the list next (being from those still not on the list who are signed for next year as a main consideration, although he is also fairly “replaceable” per my logic above…).

I’d like to see Clark added to the list- it will be most revealing.

Oh, crud. I meant to vote for Laich, but I accidentally voted for Pat Buchanan Varly. Darn confusing ballots!

(In all seriousness, if it’s within one vote, hey, it’s my fault for mis-clicking. =)

I went with Alzner. Not going to spend too much time explaining my rationale since I’m sure most of it’s already been said. BLUF…it came down to Alzner, Laich and a keeper.

Alzner > Laich – Personally, I think Alzner is going to be much more important to this team than Laich, especially when you consider the additions of Morrison and Knuble.

Alzner > Keeper – IMO Varly and Theo are going to be much closer to splitting the games than any of us want to believe. If the option had been for the tandem of Varly/Theo I probably woulda chosen them over Alzner.

Seriously, how many times did Theodore let the team down last year? Too many to count. When the goaltending slumps, the teams confidence slumps and it shows. Everyones play suffers. Varly gives you a chance to win every single night. This team plays supremely confident hockey when Varlys on his game. The defense also picks up its game when they have competent goaltending behind them. Its Varly, plain and simple.

This rating thing requires some assumption/angle.

If I have mooks and those 4 on my team I think I need a goaltender now and I would actually choose a goalie with less “potential” and more stats than Varly as my starter but, he’s the best option available – possibly a great option – so I’d personally have to go with him.

Let’s put it this way…

If it’s not a goaltender, the Caps have no chance to win the Stanley Cup this year.

Varly - You’ve got to have solid tending to do anything in June, and it ain’t three-or-more, and Bjork Neuvirth isn’t on the list. If Neuy were on the list, it might be pretty interesting.

Knuble is interesting in terms of what he COULD bring to the Caps. We know that we should be able to expect 20-25 goals, but if he manages to be a mentor in the school of net crashing and garbage goal collecting for Laich and Fehr, then he will be even more valuable.

I picked Laich because he’s young, under contract for a couple more years and provides that element of dirty work that other young guns tend to miss. However having read all of the comments and arguments, I kind of wish I had picked Alzner.

Related to Varly, I think he is very important, but I am also tempering expectations for him. He had a great run, but he is still very much an unknown quantity, and with Neuvirth in the wings, I think its kind of hard to say which player is going to have the better career since the sample size on both is so small.

Poti or Steckel? must give this more thought.

Ok, even thought I voted for Laich I think you guys have gotten this right with Varly, after sleeping on it.
That’s only IF he is awesome this year though. If he ends up blowing up or Neuvy surpasses him…

11% lead now for Valry

Come on, dudes. We all know that Brooks is the guy here, right?

I mean, I like Varlamov, but he hasn’t proven all that much yet in his one NHL season. I’m not ready to put all my eggs in that basket yet. Brooks is a young, heart and soul guy and a clear leader in the locker room, and he also happens to produce consistently at the NHL level (I’m looking at you, David Steckel).

Vote Laich!

Brooks is a young, heart and soul guy and a clear leader in the locker room, and he also happens to produce consistently at the NHL level (I’m looking at you, David Steckel).

Brooks’ PP time per game also more than doubled from ‘07-08 and he saw 3+ minutes a game more than Stecks did in ’08. I’m not about to discredit the value of Laich to the team, but if the inference is that Stecks has had his shot and blown it, I’d suggest Stecks hasn’t gotten much of a shot to blow.

I would LOVE to see BB participate in this little exercise and see who he slots where (a possible indicator as to how he assesses his players). Too many bruised egos though, huh? I’m not sure ice time is a 100% indicator, there must be times where he’d rather play a certain player but can’t due to penalties or relative position on the ice (offensive/neutral zone/defensive draws, etc.)

(The next poll is up)