Who do you want, and what would you give up?

id stay with a minor league prospect hopefully giroux would suffice in the predators mind, since he supposdly doesnt fit our system. Fehr is a good winger and one of the few we have that can drive the net. behind knuble and brooks hes i believe prolly the biggest net presence we have, and come playoffs time that might show important.

I’d prefer we trade Flash over Fehr.

I wonder if GMGM could convince Poile to take some of our top AHLers for offensive players. . .Giroux, Wilson, Beagle, Aucoin, Gordon, Bourque, or even Perrault perhaps. . .maybe he says they could produce in Poile’s system over our barn burning system. I am a severe Flash lobbyist and a fierce friend of fehr, don’t want to see either one of them go. . .

Good stuff about the potential d-man, i bet Morrisonn goes if they want a replacement.

Then give a draft pick.

I bet Hamhuis would be willing to take a bit of a pay-cut to play on the Capitals

Shaone Morrisonn and Francois Bouchard for Scott Niedermayer would make me very happy.

If we give up an active forward for any D-man, we’d be asking for trouble without getting a forward in that return deal.

A lot of us have negotiated discussed with Chris Burton from On the Forecheck what getting Hammer would take. What surfaced, with us at least, was Nashville getting Fleischmann and Erskine and we come away with Hamhuis and Santorelli.

The return defenseman to Nashville really only has to be a body, as they have a pretty solid core of d-men. After Suter and Weber, they still have Klein, Boullion, and Franson, and a decent prospect or two in Milwaukee.

With us, however, giving up a Flash or a Fehr creates a hole, as currently one of those guys is a second line center, and the other a third line winger. As much as I love MP and Bourque, among others, there’s no one in Hershey ready to step up and play forward for this Caps squad on a level that gets us deep into the playoffs. A trade for Santorelli along with Hammer gives us a center, and (assuming we move Flash and not Fehr) B-Mo moves into the second line center spot, and Santo probably takes the third line center spot barring another trade.

The reason we would want to hold on to Erskine is that after you trade Mo, our defense looks significantly worse than it would after you trade Erskine.

Would you rather have
Hamhuis – Green
Poti – Schultz
Pothier – Morrisonn

or*

Hamhuis – Green
Poti – Schultz
Pothier – Erskine

Frankly, I’d rather see Alzner in that last spot, but since in the world of realism that won’t happen, you want the guy on a shorter contract, and you want the guy to be a decent defenseman.

One last thing to consider about Hamhuis is that our expectations for him would be really tough for a guy to fill. Poti and Pothier are two examples of defensemen we brought in who were really above average 3-4 pairing guys, tried to throw out as 1-2 guys, and they were clearly outclassed and outgassed. Hamhuis should be a 1-2 guy, but right now he’s a 3-4 guy, and without Weber and Suter, can he still be the defenseman he is?

I’d prefer Hamhuis over Niedermeyer, if only because Hamhuis can be a medium term player we sign without really crimping our team long term. I also think Neidermayer has kind of slowed down, and while I do think he’d thrive in a pairing with Green (and vice versa), I absolutely hate rentals.

I think we could lose our horn guy and replace him with Montreal’s horn guy

I think the Caps need to get a guy like Hamhuis but I can’t see GMGM giving up Flash or Fehr for a rental player of that caliber. Maybe they sign Hamhuis, maybe not, but I’d like to think it could be done for less. I’d rather give up Nashville’s choice of the d-man grab bag and Bouchard/Gordon/even MP. And/or a pick.

The Caps need to deal from their surplus, which is the defense. I worry about their depth at forward. Although he’s a fan favorite, Quintin Laing can’t be playing regular minutes come playoff time. He’s fine filling in for a game here and there, but that’s the most I want him in the lineup. I like the idea of Morrisson + prospects (MP/Orlov) + 1st/2nd for someone like Niedermeyer. In addition to being a solid defender, he does have offensive capabilities that our 2nd PP unit could definitely use.

While I would love Hamhuis, I’m concerned his price tag may be a bit more than i’m comfortable with for a potential rental. There are two teams / potential deals that I am keeping my eye on. …

First – Sutton (NYI). To me he’s a poor man’s Hamhuis with much more nasty in his tool box. A draft pick + prospect should be able to get Sutton. Pairing him with Poti would give the Caps a “shut-down” d pairing to go against opoosing top lines (think Crosby, Kovalchuk, etc) and free up Green to go against the 2nd tier (i.e. more O).

I also want to keep an eye on the Blues. I have grown a facination with the trade possibility of acquiring both Jackman and Tkachuk. Hear me out first – Jackman fills a need and is locked up at a very reasonable price for the next 3 years. He’s also young and still maturing. Now to get him alone you will have to offer StL a replacement D for this year as they’re still in the playoff hunt (ShaneMo, or Erskine, or Pothier) + a scorer/top 6 forward (Fehr/Flash) as that’s what they’ve stated their looking for in return. Now, if we were to offer ShaneMo + Fehr + pick/prospect then we create a roster spot (RW) to fill, hence also asking for Tkachuk. Tkachuk would provide extra playoff sandpaper we need, is flexible position wise (i.e. can play center if we become disillusioned with Flash and BMo), and would be a great 3rd line addition to BMo and Chimera. Now for such a deal to work, I imagine it would have to look something like this; tkachuk + jackman for fehr + shanemo and/or erskine or pothier + top prospect + pick. Does that sound about right?

In a perfect world, both my trades would go through and the lines would be;
ovie-backstrom-knuble
laich-flash-semin
chimera-bmo-tkachuk
gordon-steckel-bradley
(lots of flexibility with this roster as BMo could bump up and play 2nd line C with Flash moving to LW and/or Laich moving to 3rd line C and/or Tkachuk moving to 2nd line or 3rd line C, etc, etc).
green-shultz
poti-sutton
jackman-alzner (/ShaneMo,Pothier,Erskine)
(again, depending on who’s dealt lots of flexibility pairings wise; green-jackman, schultz-alzner, etc)

In the end though, if either or any of the above trades occured I would be happy (Hamhuis included). I just would hate to see us sit pat with the teams around us piling up for a Cup run.

Hamhuis – 3.9 GVT – $2.0m, UFA next year, 27

Shamo – 0.9 GVT – $2.0m, UFA next year, 27
Fehr – 6.8 GVT – $0.8m, RFA next year, 24
2nd rounder

Looks lopsided to me. If they were to add in Steve Sullivan, that would even out the GVT and I could get behind it.

Fehr is very cheap, very young, and quietly very productive this year. His trade value is far less than his value to the team.

Jackman – 5.1 GVT – $3.6m for 3 years, 28
Tkachuk – 2.3 GVT – $2.6m, UFA next year, 37

Shamo – 0.9 GVT – $2.0m, UFA next year, 27
Fehr – 6.8 GVT – $0.8m, RFA next year, 24

That looks much more reasonable than the Hamhuis trade, unless the Jackman salary would affect our ability to sign Backstrom.

I think Flash/Fehr right now both have too much value to trade for rentals.

The situation with those two is very similar to the Varlamov/Neuvirth debates we go through. Just like the goalies, they’re pretty well cost-controlled for the next couple years, with lots of upside, and the terrible danger that you just might trade the wrong one if you move one of them now.

This team is about to be very top-heavy for offensive salary structure, and young/cheap will be at an even bigger premium. Especially since, unlike on the blueline, there’s no one in Hersey who seems likely to replace their production effectively next year.

A pick or a prospect (or both) for a rental, absolutely. A solid, young, cost-controlled guy like Fehr, no thank you.

To me, the Hamhuis+Santorelli for Flash+ Erskine trade makes the most sense. Jackman plays over the edge a little too much for my taste. I fear that he might take an unnessecary roughing/major penalty at exactly the wrong time come the playoffs.

I would throw in Sloan also, just to get him off the books.
(I know it wouldn’t happen, but I can dream, can’t I)

anyone else think we should try to nab Halak? I think this guy is phenominal, and I don’t trust Theo in April, no matter how good he is during the regular season. P.S. Varly can’t play every single post season game. Yea Yea I know the D is slacking, but then we should make 2 deals, one for Sutter and one for Halak…game- set- match You get a big body D man and solid G