A minority of one

Baxter and B-Mo aren’t our only centers that can do anything. Stecks is the Dotmaster, and on top of that we’ve got a number of wingers who can play center, including one who WISHES he was center, Laich.
Nevertheless, I do see your point. Circles should get at least one more chance. Preferably a preseason one so it doesn’t count for anything. We’re stuck with him for now, so we might as well make an attempt to use him for something.

From CI:

Michael Nylander has not suited up for any of the Capitals’ first three preseason games and you won’t see him on the ice against the Blackhawks at Verizon Center tonight, either. Boudreau declined to expand on the well-documented Nylander situation, but offered the succinct: “He’s here, but we’re looking at other guys.”

It’s a postulate at this point, but given what the Caps know, and have seen thus far, are they possibly thinking that Nylander as an unknown in 2009 is a more intriguing player for possible acquisition by other teams than Nylander as a known factor? (That is, if they put him out there and it’s back to the indecisive turnover-ridden Mike, do they risk further impairing his trade value?)

Personally, I’m sticking with the simple answer.. there are, at minimum, 3 forward slots that need to be filled to get this season underway in Washington, and a lot of potential skaters to fill those slots. If Mike’s not in the game plan, his evaluation is less valuable to the team right now than the evaluation of people who will be seeing ice time.

As one who had apprehensions about the Fedorov signing last year, I’ll rec that. Besides, if Morrison isn’t over his issues, then this becomes a blunder in two different ways.

Somebody needed to say it and you said it well. You can increase the size of the minority from one to two.

I also suspect there are several other GMs who would have been able to trade him and hs cap hit for something useful (if only for a couple of 2nd round picks) long before his reputation was shot to hell (like last March).

I agree and have been saying this to a smaller degree in other posts.

I think at this point the Capitals game plan for making the best of a bad situation is ignoring doing anything with Nylander entering the line-up.

This is my take on why Nyls hasn’t seen the ice yet this preseason:

1. He’s a known quantity. Regardless of whether you think he’s tragically underrated, or the most useless player on skates, you still know what you’re getting out of Nyls. His “skillset” didn’t change over the summer. He’ll be 37 at the start of the season. He is what he is.

2. The Caps have a TON of forwards to evaluate. Two or three years ago, when the talent cupboard was bare, this might not have been an issue, but now the Caps want to give a long look to some guys who contributed down in Hershey. In particular, I think they want to see what they’ve got in Perrault and Kyle Wilson at C, as well as Andrew Gordon, Bourque and Osala at wing (I think they already know what they’ll get out of Aucoin).

3. If Nyls got injured in a preseason game, the Caps would be totally screwed. Unless the guy got some kind of really long-term injury that allowed him to be removed from the roster for salary cap purposes (ala Pothier last year), they’d never be able to pawn him off to a European team. He’d do the same thing he’s gonna do now – sit in the press box – except there would be no way to get rid of him.

Honestly, I see no upside in putting Nylander in. He doesn’t fit in the team’s plans. He’s not going to come out and drop a hat trick and suddenly become the #2 Center. Putting him out there would take playing time away from younger players who would benefit more from the experience. The only possible outcome of him playing that would alter the status quo would be for him to get injured, which wouldn’t be a positive development.

I believe the opportunity was there at the beginning of camp for Nylander to show the team that he’s willing to change his game and become a player that fits the system. From everything I heard about the early practices (and all the practices since), Nylander let the opportunity pass without doing what he needed to do to earn any playing time.

Nyles seems to be approaching this season no differently from last season. Why should the team treat him any differently than they did then? If he’s not good enough in practice, why waste everyone’s time and put him in a game? Better to concede that he ain’t going to help this team, and move on with our lives.

Playing time should be earned. Nylander hasn’t earned any.

I don’t want to speculate- that is the entire point I want to see for myself, even if it is in preseason,what- if anything- this guy has got left. Preseason is of course not a regular game. But if preseason can tell them something about Perreault it can tell them something about 92.

If the Caps were owned by Al Davis and managed by Mike Milbury, I’d be a lot more skeptical about them keeping Nylander down like this.

The problem is, it’s guys with a downright commendable record in recent years, BB and GMGM. I’m just naturally predicated to trusting in them right now.

Perhaps.. perhaps.. the only reason it might not be is because of the uniqueness of the situation. How many people are stuck with a recognizable name at a position your team was labeled as weak as, chilling on the bench because he doesn’t mesh with the system, eating up the second-highest cap hit and a roster spot? Do GMs train for this kind of circumstance?

Perhaps.. perhaps.. the only reason it might not be is because of the uniqueness of the situation. How many people are stuck with a recognizable name at a position your team was labeled as weak as, chilling on the bench because he doesn’t mesh with the system, eating up the second-highest cap hit and a roster spot? Do GMs train for this kind of circumstance?I’m also curious what Be A GM mode for NHL 10 would be like on the Wii. Motion sensor arbitration signing! That actually sounds really, really, really, really boring. =)

Of the speculation presented, I have to concur that it’s got to be primarily because they can’t risk him getting injured if there is a glimmer of hope that he can be moved somewhere.

The only thing that I could possibly add to this discussion that hasn’t been said already is those who are advocating fro Michael Nylander to play had best not complain if they let him play and he craps the bed.

As I wrote, I will be the first (possibly second if F and B is online) to say he still sucks if he should crap the bed. My point is not that I think he will be great; my point is that I think he might be good again and I’d like to find out before we park 5M or so in the press box every night.

Not to avoid the question but part of the reason I advocate playing him is to increase the chances of him getting moved. I think that there is zero chance he will get moved/loaned/whatever if all prospective suitors have to go on is his play last year. A good preseason, with all the caveats of the preseason, still might entice someone to take him, be it the SEL,KHL or whomever. I see and appreciate the argument that playing him increases the chances of an injury which might eliminate all hope of moving him. I think his value is already at 0 and that an injury or poor preseason can’t realistically and meaningfully move it any lower.
 
That said, whether to entice other teams or in the event he is on the Caps to stay, I see him possibly fitting in in one of two backup roles: either as a 2C in the event BMo gets hurt, which is not as unlikely as I might have hoped or maybe even on the wing with 14 hurt.

It’s only my opinion but Nyls looks so much better this year that I think he could play 2C effectively enough in BMos absence that it wouldn’t require a complete reshuffling of the lineup- Laich or Stecks moving to 2C with all the attendant iterations that would accompany such a reshuffle. And I think he is a better option than Aucoin or any other call up from HER. Am I rght? I don’t know but I think a preseason game or two in the 2C spot would have been a worthy experiment.

I know that Nyls playing the wing didn’t work out well when it was tried sporadically last year but it might not be a bad move this year if he could get acclimated. If 2C is just not a possibility under any non-armageddon-like circumstances, I think he could have spent camp and the preseason playing on the wing to see if it might work. If nothing else, being on the wing would severely limit his defensive responsibilities and his game is not altogether different that 14’s. Again, I don’t know that it would have worked but I would like to have seen it tried, even just once.

But my point, at the end of the day, is that parking Nyls in the press box should be the absolute last resort and i don’t think the team tried all that hard to fit him in. I would like to have seen the team give him the chance to show that he is not the same player he was last year and to let his play this year exclude all possible chances of him meaningfully contributing before exiling him. The consensus seems to be that he sucked so much last year that playing under any circumstances this year was not worth the cost of a preseason game or 2. I could not disagree more as I think the Nyls question is THE question.

And FWIW, 17 was a close second to 92 in the whipping boy category last year and he has been given every opportunity this year to show that he is not the same player he was for the last TWO years. This was a smart decision because, despite a rather large contingent of naysayers, 17 looks like a different player. Why wasn’t 92 given the same chance?

I would suggest there is almost no data to support the conclusion that 17 fits BBs system. In 2007, he played 18 games and went 5-4-9. In 2008, he played 33 games and went 1-5- 6. He ether doesn’t fit or there isn’t enough data. I’m glad he’s getting the chance to play in the preseason so we can see.

And the anecdotal evidence (how good he looks this year etc- Scott In Shaw, got anything?) suggests that Nyls was injured as well; he just kept it hidden, much like 17 did for most of the season.

If he were injured, would that change your analysis?