Saturday Caps Clips: Gold Medal Game Set

I guess I’ll find out what you think of the Vokoun crap down below, then?

Good call a couple of weeks ago on Team USA. I didn’t think they could medal, and you did. Its been a great ride.

We also gave up Scott Stevens for draft picks, not an already-established elite NHL player at the most important position.

True, but he’s the closest thing this franchise has had to a Stevens since Scotty left (and I’m not dissing Green, just different players). All I’m saying is that you move heaven and earth to get Vokoun without including Carlson. That said, if you it comes down to Carlson being the lynchpin for a Voukon trade, I guess you have to do it.

Yes, but have you seen his performance lately? They’d be giving up next year as well.

Maybe they’ll do it, though. I’d find it hard to give up American Hero, but that trade is risky but one you make if you think you have a legitimate shot at a Cup.

I was looking at it from their perspective. In order to assess the real potential of a trade, it has to pass the sniff test from both sides.

If he was on the Caps I think he’d be a Vezina candidate.

is about 65% better than Theodore or Varlamov

Not that I disagree that he’s better than both – he clearly is – but how’d you come up with 65%?

Rec’d for dropping statistical knowledge.

Nice, thanks! I just did a quick check of the NHL stats page for this year.

Plus, Neuvirth is also injured and played not at all during the Olympic break. And Holtby’s in a slump.

Carlson + Varlamov does not sound good to me. We’d have to be getting much more than just Vokoun back.

This I have to agree with. To paraphrase Romeo and Juliet…

“Younger than he are playoff goalies made.”
“And too soon play’d are those so early made.”

Too many goalies have been ruined by being forced to the top of their game before they’re ready for it.

And, as we have seen, one player does not a hockey team make.

I love idea of getting Vokoun, and that price isn’t that bad. I think I’d rather give up M.Jo, but we might be deeper at D looking 2 years down the line.

The real issue is the salary ramifications.

With the inclusion of Vokoun we would be at 15 players signed @ $44,151,796, leaving $12,648,204 to sign 8 players.

Backstrom $6.5M

That leaves $6.15M for 8 players.

Players signed – Ovi, Semin, Knuble, Laich, Chimera, Steckel, Bradley, Green, Erskine, Carlson, Alzner, Sloan, Varlamov, Vokoun and my favorite, Poti.

Thought he looked quite strong the last two weeks in Vancouver too.

The teams that Vokoun played on or how well he played is not what I was driving at there.

Yeah Vokoun didn’t have a whole lot of help nor was he in a position against the Red Wings to win the series by himself. If he was that good, he’d have won a Cup in Nashville.

But he doesn’t have a Cup to his name. Chris Pronger does. The Caps didn’t make the standard “youth for age” trade to bolster themselves for a Stanley Cup run last year, why would they do it in this fashion this year? Our core players are all 25 and younger. There’s no need to go all out to win the Cup this year.

And as for Carlson specifically, the Caps feel as though he could have played in the NHL last year. As frustrating as it is, they’re slow walking the kid to the NHL for a reason. They clearly believe he’s going to be a vital part of the team for years to come and will need him to in order to win the Cup years down the road.

Sorry but I don’t see the point of trading off the future for a quick shot in the present. If Carlson is the demand made by every team that GMGM talks to, then that’s more of a reason to hold onto Carlson no matter what the cost is to this season.

And here’s another thing to consider, let assume for a second that the Caps do go out and get Vokoun, do you think you’ll see Semin backchecking ever again? How much will A.O. cherrypick and Green dangle in front of his own net? I have to shudder at thought of a lights out goaltender on this team because the rest of the guys wouldn’t worry about defending anymore.

Don’t forget the Czech party girls.

Too soon. I’d be surprised to see Mackan as a second line center in 2 years. Backstrom has really spoiled us.

Well Mackan wasn’t going to solve that problem next season, and it’s a stretch to think he’d do it the season after that. He’s probably going to need a year in HER to learn the system and small ice, but if he blows the doors off maybe he gets a chance. I don’t think MP will be fully ready next year either, and I’m done with Flash at C.

So basically we are looking at getting lucky with a late first round draft pick (unlikely) or trying to re-sign older veterans to short term deals like we did with BMo until we ultimately trade for or develop our own long term solution.

At the moment he isn’t playing center he’s at LW and have been there for a couple of months. I’m sure that’s mainly to do with the center depth that Färjestad got and it isn’t a problem short term, he played C earlier in the season and they seemed happy with his performance. But if he dosen’t get to play C at all over a long period of time it can hinder his development not practising at face-offs and the defensive responsibility that comes with the c position in comparission to L/RW.

adjust the trade so it’s Vokoun./Reinprecht ;)

I think “un-freaking-stoppable” implied that, by picking up both Hamhuis and Vokoun, other teams would be “unable to stop the Caps from winning the Cup.”

While I disagree on which Preds roster I’d take (c’mon. . . really? You guys are struggling to make the playoffs this year…), I don’t watch them enough to speak with much intelligence on the matter. My larger point is that picking up Vokoun sounds like a fantasy hockey move to me and fundamentally ignores the larger reason why the Caps have defensive issues.

At the same time, a position in favor of this trade ignores the fact that Vokoun has spent his career backstopping defense-first teams – would his success transfer when playing for the Caps?

Basically, what’s the point of getting Vokoun for the Caps in 2010 if, like the Preds in 2007, our team defense and penalty killing are going to suck?

Ok, this is getting off the rails. I agree with you fer chrissakes. My original point was simply that it doesn’t make the Caps “unstoppable,” it just makes them better. If I’m trading a future #1 defenseman, I’d like to be pretty damn sure that my team is actually going to be unstoppable.

Also, the trade just sounds a little imbalanced for me – let’s not forget that Jocelyn Thibault, Andrei Kovalenko and Martin Rucinsky netted Colorado Patrick Roy and Mike Keane. That’s why I said below that I’d be more willing to take the deal if Florida threw in a defenseman the other way.

I think that’s an important question to think long and hard about. Because we all know that even the best goalie in the world can struggle when our defense is at its absolute worst.
Also where does Vokoun’s cap hit leave us for next year? It’s pretty high I think.

does Vokoun in goal with our current defense make a bigger impact than an upgraded defense in front of our current goaltenders

That would obviously depend on the upgrades to the blueline that we’re talking about, but I think that it would be much easier to lower the team GA/G by an equal amount by bringing in a great goalie than by bringing in (and dumping) multiple defensemen.

Not really, but I’m a hell of a lot more comfortable with the D we have now than what we had last year.

It certianly could be improved, but looks better than last year. It’s rough when you’re top 2 or 3 are hurt.

You’ll get no argument from me there. Bad picks.

Yeah, I was hoping that would get through unmentioned. But hopefully he’s the nail in the coffin on those type of picks.