Since a general manager’s season is hard to quantify beyond a team’s regular season numbers and projections about prospects and draft choices, we figured we’d have a roundtable discussion on what MacLellan did well and what he may not have done so well. Feel free to weigh in on any of these points in the comments.
What would you say was Brian MacLellan’s best move in 2015-16? What did you think was the biggest misstep, if any?
Tommy: It’s really hard to decipher which move was actually better, the T.J. Oshie trade or the Justin Williams signing, but I think I’m going with the Williams signing. For me personally, Williams was never on my radar as a potential signing, simply because I wasn’t thrilled about giving a 34-year-old forward his last chance to cash out on a big time deal (sound familiar?). But I was pleasantly surprised with the $3.25 million per deal for two years, and Williams was just so, so outstanding. I don’t think I have ever seen a player as strong along the boards as Williams, or even a player as strong with the puck. You just get the feeling that, when he has the puck, no matter how long he holds it, he will not turn it over. I’m thrilled that Williams is apart of this team.
Biggest misstep? The fact that the team keeps trading for big, well past-prime stay-at-home defensemen at the trade deadline probably needs to stop.
J.P.: It’s hard to disagree with Williams, but for the sake of argument I’ll go with Oshie – finally finding a more-or-less permanent fit in that top line right wing slot was important and Mac not only said he was going to do it, but then he went and did it (basically twice over, of course, with the Williams add).
In retrospect, it would’ve been nice to have kept Eric Fehr. His versatility would have benefited this team and helped them get closer to that “top-nine” approach they talked about early on but never really had.
…what ever became of Fehr, anyway?
Rob: Oshie and Williams were great, but what was the impact, really? They replaced Ward and Brouwer, and while I’m as happy as anyone to see Brouwer go, those guys were both pretty productive players so the upgrades ended up being marginal in a lot of respects. Maybe if those moves had made more substantial impacts on some of the underlying numbers I could have been swayed, but it didn’t play out like that.
And further, Trotz prefers that heavy hockey to the possession hockey, and both of those moves made the team less prepared to play a heavy hockey game. If Trotz finally saw the light before game 6 against the Penguins and decided the team needed to play a possession game then that’s great news moving forward, but for this year the two replacements weren’t always all they were cracked up to be. What ever became of Ward and Brouwer anyway?
But given the contract crunch the Caps are staring at, with new contracts for young players starring the team in the face, getting rid of Brooks Laich was a coup. The team is trying to add talent to round out the forward corps, and they already have one Brooks not worth his salary on the blue line. Keeping Laich would have been crippling to their ability to navigate the off-season and create the flexibility they need to navigate this wave of new contracts that need to be handed out. Connor Carrick going the other way as a dowry stings because in a perfect world there’s never any reason to give away value just to get rid of a toxic asset, but Mac was in a tough spot and did what he had to do to improve the team both for the playoff stretch and for next season.
If you can help the team across two seasons, that’s a great move. Carrick is nice, but he’s an undersized one-way defender on a team that has a lot of young defenders already on the NHL roster and a few more in the pipeline. If there was any area the Caps could afford to give away talent, it’s the undersized puck moving defenseman.
Adam: The addition of T.J Oshie was a huge win for Brian MacLellan. I loved the production of the Ovechkin, Backstrom and Burakovsky line during the 14-15 campaign but it was clear going into last summer that the team didn’t. The revolving door of 1st line right wingers had to be closed and MacLellan was able to do it without giving up a lot in return. The team’s underlying numbers stayed roughly the same this season but I think that has more to do with coaching than a lack of roster improvement. In reality I like almost all of the moves that MacLellan has made since he signed Brooks Orpik.
I think his biggest misstep was the acquisition of Mike Weber. A third round pick is a lot to give up for a guy that doesn’t appear to have a lot of NHL ice time in his future, and what makes this deal more frustrating is that it’s very similar to the Gleason pickup of last year.
Pepper: I love the deal for Oshie as well. His addition solidified the top line and added a breath of fresh air to the “leadership corps.” But I’ll also throw in MacLellan’s patience and persistence throughout Marcus Johansson’s arbitration process last July. Johansson was (and still is, in my view) an essential piece of the puzzle, and the outcome gave the team some flexibility to make minor additions, including signing Mike Richards.
The obvious misstep was acquiring Mike Weber. On the other hand, he seemed to fit exactly what the coaching staff wanted to add to the toolbox going into the playoffs, so it’s hard to fault Mac for giving them a guy that fit the bill. Maybe MacLellan should have refrained from pulling the trigger and giving Trotz the option of using a guy like Weber. But we’ve seen very recently in Washington what happens when there’s a disconnect between who the GM thinks the team needs and who the coach wants to send out on the ice.
MacLellan has identified the team’s most pressing need this offseason as forward depth (a 9th or 10th forward). Given that so far he’s followed through after calling his shot, what target(s) do you see him going after? Do you agree with his assessment of the team’s needs?
Tommy: I think MacLellan is right: This team needs a ninth forward, and you have to look no further than the Pittsburgh Penguins series. This team needs speed in their bottom six, and they did not have that this season.
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With that being said, one player really stands out to me as a potential target, and that’s Darren Helm of the Detroit Red Wings. Helm is specifically known for his speed, has respectable possession numbers and is good for 25-30 points a year. Imagine penciling Marcus Johansson on the left, Helm up the middle and inserting Jakub Vrana on the right (I’m banking on a Vrana sighting). There are certainly other possibilities as far as top-nine players go, but I think Helm should be MacLellan’s guy.
J.P.: They definitely need another middle-six type forward to round out that “top-nine,” but I think the more pressing need might be sorting out the blueline a bit. Maybe the pieces are there already, but it’s becoming clear that Brooks Orpik’s days of giving productive top-four minutes are drawing to a close (if we’re not there already, as the playoffs certainly implied).
That’s no surprise, of course – everyone in the hockey world knew the Caps would get, at most, two or three good years out of Orpik when they signed him. But I don’t think they can rely on him to give them top-four minutes come next spring, so they need to figure out who that top-four will be – John Carlson, Matt Niskanen, Karl Alzner and… ? Could it be Nate Schmidt or Dmitry Orlov? Perhaps. But more likely, they’re going to need to go get someone, and that’s going to be neither easy nor cheap.
Rob: I agree with JP’s assessment of the Brooks Orpik problem, but overall agree with Mac that forward depth is the most important need. Orpik’s minutes can be managed and if the Penguins series taught us anything it’s that deep and well-coached forwards can hide deficiencies along the blue line. If the Caps can get the forward depth to roll three lines that can threaten and they can get their possession game going, a blue line with incumbents and more managed minutes for Orpik seems like one that can survive.
Does Schmidt step up and take a greater role? Does Orlov? The nice thing is at most only one of them has to. If Mac finds another D that he can plug in, great, but that would be gravy. With the lack of secondary scoring being the perpetual playoff Achilles’ heel for this team, he needs to find another guy that can help provide the solution up front.
It’s tough to pick names because so much of that will depend on what happens with Johansson, but Teddy Purcell and Michael Grabner seem like the kind of versatile players that could fit into that third line pretty well (and Grabner would be a perfect replacement for the Jason Chimera speed but no finish role) if Johansson’s deal leaves them with space, and Nathan Gerbe and Darren Helm could provide a more bargain contract if the team makes a substantial commitment to Johansson.
Pepper: I’m also worried about the second pairing and MacLellan’s leap of faith that Orlov will take minutes from Orpik next season. As JP said, getting someone in free agency isn’t going to come cheap and would require other moves (like letting Marcus Johansson go). Would Dan Hamhuis still be an option? What about pursuing Hampus Lindholm in Anaheim?
Otherwise I think the needs are replacements for Chimera at third line wing and, likely, Richards at 4C. I’m not sure if someone in the organization can replace Chimera with decent speed but also be a better compliment to generate even-strength production from that line. Scott Cullen at TSN forecasts a Kris Versteeg signing. Seems like a good fit on the third line, for a more modest deal than his last one.
While I don’t like it, I think we’ll see Jay Beagle as your 3C for the Caps on opening night. And upgrading the third line could just mean going with internal options and preserving cap room for an in-season trade.
Overall, what grade would you give MacLellan for his second season at the helm?
Rob: I don’t know what else you can ask of the GM. The roster was deep, talented, and had no obvious holes. He upgraded the top two RWs, even if marginally. The roster had no obvious holes and steamrolled the regular season. And in the midst of it all, he got rid of easily the worst contract on the team without doing anything to jeopardize the current window of contention. That’s easily an A as far as I’m concerned, and I’m looking forward to watching Mac continue to work his magic.
Tommy: I think for two straight offseasons, MacLellan has been aggressive, and that’s what I like to see in a general manager. He has called his shots, and got exactly what he intended to get. Sure, his Orpik terms were a little bit off, but, at the time, defensemen were needed, and if having Orpik swayed Niskanen to consider Washington a bit more, then it makes the deal slightly better to me. And we all saw what MacLellan did this offseason, once again stating exactly what he wants and getting exactly what was necessary.
But I can’t help but think, over the last two trade deadline periods, MacLellan has been, for a lack of a better word, a bit underwhelming. Two years ago, MacLellan swapped a second and third-round pick for Curtis Glencross, a guy who could not even crack an NHL roster this season. He also added Tim Gleason, an albatross of a defenseman for Jack Hillen and a fourth-round pick, and, once again, a guy who was out of hockey by the 2015-16 season.
This year, I get that parting with Laich’s contract was absolutely critical, but I can’t help but think that the trade was still a bit lopsided in Toronto’s favor. Toronto can afford to take on Laich’s deal, which expires next season, as they are essentially going to try to secure another top pick in the 2017 draft. Laich is still a contributor. He’s not at the same level as Nathan Horton, Chris Pronger or Marc Savard.
But to include Laich in a deal for Connor Carrick and a second-round pick for Daniel Winnik and a fifth seems just a tad steep to me. I get that Carrick needed to be included to sweeten Toronto’s end, but I just believe a second-round pick was a little too high. Maybe I’m just completely downplaying the true value of shedding Laich’s contract, but I just haven’t been able to get my head around that one.
Not to mention, MacLellan once again traded for an albatross of a defenseman, parting with a draft pick for less than mediocre services.
For MacLellan’s offseasons, I give MacLellan an A confidently. For his trade deadlines, I think I have to go with a C.
Pepper: Brian McLellan squarely addressed offensive needs, made bold and difficult moves, and gave the coaches virtually everything on their wish list. A.