Commandant

3/4 points is a solid weekend.

5 on 3 What a one timer.

Yes which is also why trading soon to be UFAs for non-premium picks is something im willing to bypass. I think Dvorak and Armia are more valuable to making a push for a playoff spot then getting a 5th and 3rd or something for them.

There is self preservation in GMs too. Who is secure enough in their job that they want a 2nd rounder or later for 4 years from now, knowing that best case scenario, you are getting an NHL player 6 years from now and maybe longer. You could be long gone as GM before even being able to use the assets you acquired.

I think Savard is a 6th defenceman now that we have Carrier. Hes older and slowing down. We can survive without him. Even if that's struble/mailloux rotating IMO. I think Evans is much harder to replace of course. Thats why my first priority is to sign him but if he wont sign and I can get a first round pick or top prospect i do the trade. If its just a second rounder i dont. There is weight to everything, and I agree there is value to keeping the team together and fighting for a spot. Thats the value I put though around a first round pick.

Im not proposing managing by the seat of my pants. Im proposing managing with flexibility in mind. You dont need to have every position in your bottom 6 forwards and bottom pair defence planned out for the next 10 years. You call that managing by the seat of your pants, i call it flexibility and being able to take advantage of opportunities. I say There is a certain percentage of cap allocated to positions. You want to name every player. I dont. I name more core and fill in around it as needed. Going short term and keeping flexibility. As for a visual aid... no... i talk on here as a hobby and to talk for fun. You are making it work in what you are asking for, Im sorry but Im not going to do that. Others might but i dont need charts and spreadsheets to talk on message board. Nor should anyone elsebe forced to (if you want to, i have no issue). People should respect that position too without insults like Bergevin 2.0 or flying by the seat of my pants or anything else. As for cap wages, i recommend using puckpedia which is more accurate. Last time i looked at capwages several contracts and details were wrong.

We all know that. But we need to make a deal with another NHL GM. And here is the secret. Other GMs will see with the 50 contract limit, and 75 man reserve list limits, that we quite simply have too many picks and prospects to keep them all and some will need to be consolidated in 2 for 1 or similar trades. If i can see this... nhl teams can too and are going to lowball offers as a result.

On the first question, nothing acquired for Dvorak or Armia is a needle mover. If someone offers a first or even a second for Savard, with retention, then of course make that trade. I highly doubt it though. And given our picks and prospects dont think another third round pick is a needle mover. Evans Id need a first to move. And that would be assuming i cant get him to sign at a reasonable number.

I think Pezz isnt trusted (with good reason) and hasnt been used minutes in any of our games. Struble last night was benched for bad penalties and play.

Kane was also one of the worst players on the Oilers in last year's playoffs. The idea that he was playing at 100% and didn't need all these surgeries and is just doing it for cap reasons is kinda crazy when anyone who watched him play could clearly see he was struggling greatly out there. With a full year off, I'm not even sure he'd be an asset in this year's playoffs if he is dropped into the team with no regular season hockey and rehab. Think how long its taking Dach to get up to speed, or how Laine might be good on the PP, but he's not great 5v5 right now. I think we'd see the same with a rehabbing Kane.

Multiple areas I've disagreed have already been set out. 1) Take the best player available in the draft. If you make good picks you might end up with too many players at one position and need someone in another. That's not an issue for a good GM who will make trades to fill in the places he needs. 2) Leave flexibility and cap space open to take advantage of a player like Laine wearing out his welcome in Columbus, or a team like Nashville wanting to trade a guy they signed 5 months earlier like Carrier to a contract extension. This doesn't fit with the rigidity of the spreadsheet. 3) Identify the areas that are part of the core and what you have for them and then find solutions. Core pieces right now.... Suzuki, Caufield, Slafkovsky, Laine, Hutson, Guhle, Matheson Pieces needed and possible solutions. #2 C - might be Dach, no medium term option if Dach fails.... might be Hage long term. #3 C - currently is Evans, could be re-signed.... no medium term option if Evans leaves.... long term Beck and Kapanen could grow to it. Top 6 winger - Should be Demidov soon. Top 4 RHD - Carrier is filing in now, could use a second option, maybe Reinbacher, Mailloux as long term pieces. Goalie, no elite option, but Montembault serviceable. Long term Dobes and Fowler are there. PKers - need some options if Armia, Dvorak, Evans, leave. So when you go into the summer you are looking to decide.... is Dach the guy at #2, if not you need to fill medium term options at 2nd line C. Is Evans back, if not you need a stop gap at #3 C. What wingers can kill penalties, Can Heineman do this? Roy? or do you need another vet winger if Armia leaves? This is the type of plan I think a GM is thinking about. 1

you say others who don't have the spreadsheet are Bergevin 2.0. But I disagree entirely. I think focusing on the spreadsheet and not the human aspects of a team is to steal a Bergevin phrase, you are playing PlayStation. The development of young players in a winning environment is something your spreadsheet ignores. The chemistry between players is something your spreadsheet ignores. The confidence that can be inspired by a GM believing in his club and giving them a chance to make the playoffs rather than strip it down and the emotions that brings, vs giving up on a team playing well by trading a bunch of vets off despite being close to the playoffs, is something that your spreadsheet ignores. The human part of managing matters too, and its just not part of such a rigid system.

We have our own ideas. Don't demand that they have to be presented the way you like them.

Its been explained multiple times that having 1 plan for building the team is too rigid and not how NHL teams work. GMs don't plot out 23 man rosters 6-8 years in advance. They have their core pieces and fill in the rest as they go. They leave themselves options for someone not living up to expectations for whatever reason, or for a player they didn't' expect being in free agency or out there for trade, or for a late round pick exceeding expectations or for any of a number of things that will happen in the next 6-8 years that can't be anticipated today. Filling out who their fourth line centre will be in 6 years is not practical and not how the league works.

100% This is why the spreadsheet is too rigid and lacks the ability to pivot, take advantage of opportunities and look at the team in the way a real GM does. We've been discussing how to build the team for.YEARS on this site without the rigidity of the spreadsheet. If Butterface wants to use it, fine. But dont demand everyone else lay out a similar spreadsheet or something different. Not every user here agrees with being so rigid about a plan and not wanting to trade Armia for.a 4th rounder or Evans for a 2nd rounder doesnt mean we are Bergevin 2.0 and suggesting that we are is quite frankly insulting.

I was just kidding since Cole Hutson is a caps prospect.

What's little brother got to do with it?

Caufield!

Savard is upper body injury.

51.40% xGF 8th in the league. A good team? sure. Best in the NHL? Nope, not close.

Last year their PDO was 996. This year is 1026 The vast improvement is mainly a better shooting percentage, ie 40 games of puck luck. They were slightly unlucky last year.... and lucky this year.....

As I suspected.... Caps PDO 1026 is 1st in the entire NHL, indicating that they are benefiting from puck luck and the record is unsustainable. Montreal is 10th from the bottom at 991, even including the puck luck from their recent good streak, indicating that we are still below our true level of play on the season as a whole.

The Caps are playing well, no doubt. But its half a season... are they this team, or are they overachieving and are the bubble team they have been for several years before this. I tend to think its the latter. They are not as good as their record and have had some puck luck through 40 games, and are the same team they have been the last few years. There are no major additions that have truly changed the team. Yes, Logan Thomson, but they had outstanding goaltending from Lindgren last year, so that doesn't explain the upgrade.

Yes, 100%. And the rest of us aren't necessarily adhering to the spreadsheets and plans that have been made. We look at options. Three years ago, the spread sheet wouldn't have had areas to trade Barron for Carrier, or to acquire Laine. But the way a real GM works is to have the flexibility to take advantages of opportunities that present themselves.