Now that we’ve wrapped up the players and the coach, it’s time to turn our attention to the big man himself, the architect of the 2023-24 Washington Capitals… GM Brian MacLellan.
Q1: What do you think was Brian MacLellan’s best move – or perhaps the best move he didn’t make – last season?
J.P.: No need to overthink this one – it was unloading Evgeny Kuznetsov. The team was endlessly patient with a guy who was arguably the best player in the world for the most important two months in Caps history but then openly told everyone that he’s not interested in putting in the work to stay there. Things went from bad to worse in recent years, to the point that Kuznetsov wasn’t simply failing to play up to his potential, but was failing to play up to replacement level:
Eating nearly $4 million to be rid of Kuznetsov’s $8-million contract next year was fine work from a salary cap perspective, but freeing Spencer Carbery and the Caps from the distraction and detriment he’d become is even more valuable to the organization going forward. It’s remarkable (and sad) that it came to that.
Luke: That Kuz trade was mighty fine as JP pointed out. The fact he got actual decent value out of that trade is crazy good, when everyone thought he’d have to pay someone to take Kuz. Outside of that trade, a pretty obvious great addition has been head coach Spencer Carbery. It’s always scary hiring a first time NHL coach (we saw what happened with Todd Reirden) but Carbery did a hell of a job for what he had to work with. You can see this team really loves him and responds well to his coaching. Now it’s a matter of MacLellan giving Carbery the right pieces to make his system really hum along.
Andrew: If you can lump it into a single move, I like the overall sell at the trade deadline. Anthony Mantha for a 2024 2nd round and 2026 4th round pick. Joel Edmundson for a 2024 3rd round pick and 2025 5th round pick. And the 2025 3rd round pick for one Evgeny Kuznetsov. Despite being within reach of a Wild Card spot around the trade deadline it was clear the team were not buyers. But perhaps one the best moves was to not sell Charlie Lindgren. His play down the stretch helped the Capitals sneak into the last Wild Card spot and seeing him play well at this point in his career was great to see.
Q2: What do you think the biggest priority should be for MacLellan this offseason?
J.P.: The Caps clearly need more skill and youth in the top-six forwards, and Mac has acknowledged as much whenever asked. For the past decade, this team has shown that it excels at surrounding high-end talent (most of which was homegrown via the draft) with complementary players, but now needs to backfill that high-end talent as it ages out. Easier said than done, of course, but no team has ever won a Cup with four third lines, so giving Carbery a new toy or two in the top-six has to be at the top of Mac’s to-do list.
Luke: To me, MacLellan needs to take one of two roads. He either needs to go all in and add 2-3 great young, skilled, fast players or stand pat and just let the kids we have get more minutes. To me, a bad road to take is signing a handful of middling players for multiple years just to stay in a mediocre state. That doesn’t do anyone any good. Adding 2-3 great younger players might actually make them a good playoff team. And letting the kids play and develop might hurt now but could get you a couple good picks for a quick retool while Ovi chases greatness.
Andrew: First answer that comes to mind is a center. Where would this team be without Dylan Strome? But maybe it could be a top six player overall. Whether that’s someone that could play wing or center. Maybe it doesn’t need to be a center, and like Luke said let the kids play and hopefully grow into the role. Is Connor McMichael the 2nd line center of the future? Maybe, maybe not. But for now he’s got the job. The team has some talent upcoming like Ivan Miroshnichenko and Ryan Leonard but the team does need some top six talent now while they are trying to compete with the aged Alex Ovechkin.
Goaltending is the second thing that comes to mind. Darcy Kuemper will be heading into year three of his $5.25 m a year contract. He lost his job to Charlie this season. And last season it was thought that Charlie should have gotten some more playing time. I don’t have a real answer here. MacLellan got the veteran goaltender and back up he wanted. So far only one of them seems to be working out. And if the team is going to stay competitive in Ovechkin’s chase down of Wayne Gretzky they will need at least competent goaltending. I love Charlie but is he someone you can ride an entire season? The most games he started was this season at 48. Second is the 22-23 season with 26. If Kuemper is again unplayable the team might have another big need.
Q3: How would you grade MacLellan’s overall moves in 2023-24?
J.P.: Well, he seems to have gotten the biggest move right in hiring Spencer Carbery. He made the difficult decision and move to trade Evgeny Kuznetsov (inside the Division, no less). He seems to have hit a home run drafting Ryan Leonard. But it really was a kinda quiet year for Mac – not a lot coming in or going out, and they probably could’ve used a little more of each. I’m at a B+ for a guy who has consistently been one of the most underrated managers in the sport for ten years now. One last note: when we refer to MacLellan here, we need to acknowledge that that’s a proxy for a terrific staff of hockey ops folks, including Ross Mahoney, Don Fishman, et. al. Really impressive stability and results from a front office that doesn’t get the flowers it deserves.
Luke: If MacLellan wasn’t handcuffed by Nicklas Backstrom and Evgeny Kuznetsov’s contracts, I think he could make some moves to improve the team this past season, but hard to do anything when $16M+ is tied up in players that can’t play or refuse to try. For what he had to work with I think he did quite well, I’d agree JPs B+ rating. It’s going to be very interesting to see what he does this offseason with a good chunk of space that could grow depending on what TJ Oshie does.
Andrew: I’m going to be a little higher on MacLellan and give him the A-. The grade is more for how he is able to rebuild/retool. The team has to stay competitive while Ovechkin and Nicklas Backstrom are still on the roster. I would expand that to T.J. Oshie, John Carlson and future captain Tom Wilson as the core. Or it has been post 2018 Stanley Cup run. MacLellan has done a good job adding new core pieces like Dylan Strome and Rasmus Sandin and their matching five year extensions. Add in the draft picks of Ryan Leonard and Ivan Miroshnichenko and the team is already refilling the cupboard. I’m also a fan of the Trevor van Riemsdyk extension as a solid defensemen that can play with the kids or be a second/third pairing guy. The Aliaksei Protas signing could be a big positive if he can find some offense.
His Max Pacioretty and Joel Edmundson acquisitions may not have moved the needle. But he did what he could with a roster that he was expecting to have on opening night of the 23-24 season. As mentioned above he will have some cap space to work with, now that he knows for sure – aside from Oshie – who will be playing and what to expect out of those players.
The rebuild/retool also includes the hiring of Spencer Carbery. It’s a great hire so far. If MacLellan doesn’t hit on that hire, his job may be in question. He might be tied to Ovechkin and the rest of his time in Washington. But with a positive coach hire after one no and one so-so coach hire. He needed to get a coach that was “the guy” for now and the future.