Maybe. After all, we know the answer to
Pierre LeBrun's rhetorical question:
Washington Capitals defenceman Mike Green went into the weekend tied for the league lead at his position with 10 goals.
Would even the most hardcore hockey fan know that?
OK, so the answer to the question is actually "yes - even the most hardcore hockey fan would know that," but you get the point. And while we may not be the most hardcore hockey fans, we certainly do know what we have in Mike Green. In fact, it's signing Green - and not
Alex Ovechkin - that
Tarik correctly points out should be the bigger concern regarding D.C.'s pending free agents:
Tarik El-Bashir: If I'm the Caps, Ovechkin isn't the player I'm worried about signing an offer sheet. Everyone in the league knows the Caps will be forced to match.
If I'm the GM, I'm worried about someone like Lowe making a crazy offer to snag Mike Green. Something like five years, $25 million. It could happen.
It could. But it won't. And even if it did, Green is a pillar of this team's rebuild, and while a team can let a guy like
Dustin Penner - or even a
Thomas Vanek - walk, you simply cannot let go of a two-way, puck-moving defenseman like Green. Five million dollars per year? If it came to that, you'd pay the man and not think twice. After all, if you've already declared
Alex Semin worth $4.6m per year, you couldn't very well turn around and say Mike Green isn't worth $5m, could you?
Maybe. After all, we know the answer to Pierre LeBrun's rhetorical question: