The opening of free agency yesterday was quite a busy one for Brian MacLellan and the Capitals, as the team continued its aggressive retooling, swinging a big trade and making savvy free-agent signings. So…let’s talk about it!
Q1. Biggest surprise (good or bad) from yesterday’s flurry of moves by the Caps?
J.P.: I think the Chychrun move caught everyone off-guard (which has been a hallmark of this organization for a long time now – they simply don’t leak much info at all). Roy was hinted at by Elliotte Friedman, and they needed to replace the wings on the fourth line, so, yeah, it’s gotta be Big Chicky.
Luke: I don’t know how Chychrun isn’t the answer here. BMac has always been a big fan of him (there were reports Caps were deep in discussion trying to get him from Arizona before they shipped him off to Ottawa) but with Fehervary and Sandin under contract I didn’t think they would be interested in trading for him. At best I thought they’d wait until he hit free agency next summer to get him for free, but for the price of Jensen and a third you make that trade all day. As for Roy it was reported the Caps were interested and with Kubel and Malenstyn gone we knew Caps would look for one or two fourth liners so Duhaime and Raddysh were expected. Chychurn was out of left field.
Kalilu: Getting Chychrun at all was out of nowhere, and the price it took to get him (while I’ll miss Jensen’s random nightly Cale Makar impressions) was a bigger surprise to me. Only having a year left on his contract likely played a role in that, but still–there’s no way that trade goes through in my Be a GM save.
Becca: I’d agree that the Chychrun move was a huge surprise, for all the reasons provided above by my compatriots – but I will give an honorary mention to the signing of Matt Roy. Given the team’s salary cap situation and what seemed to be a full (if somewhat lackluster) blueline, I didn’t expect the Caps to be active at all once free agency opened, so it was somewhat surprising to hear the Caps mentioned as a likely suitor for him by Friedman early on yesterday, and even more surprising that they were able to get a deal done.
Q2. What was your favorite move on UFA opening day by MacLellan?
J.P.: Gotta be the Chychrun deal for me. They got rid of a player I wasn’t particularly fond of (especially going forward), and a lottery ticket for a good young-but-experienced player to bolster the blueline.
Luke: Since JP covered Chychrun, I’ll go with Roy. The Caps desperately needed a player like him. He’s responsible at both ends, but is at his best defensively. He’ll be able to anchor that second pair with Chychrun or Sandin and let them use their offensive capabilities. The best part is if Carlson goes down Roy can step in and eat those minutes. He obviously won’t put up points but he is reliable enough to not let any goals in. When Carlson went down when he took the puck to the head the Caps season tanked in 2022-23. We don’t have to worry anymore if Carlson gets hurt.
Becca: Signing Brandon Duhaime, duh!
…joke. It’s a joke. In reality (and no offense to Duhaime, who I’m sure is going to be great), yeah, it’s the Chychrun move. Mac gets yet another young, talented player in exchange for only a third-round pick and an older blueliner who, despite some good moments, never really found his stride consistently. Just an incredible move…we hope.
Kalilu: I’ll also go with Chychrun, especially given how much smoke there was around the team’s attempt to acquire him around the 2023 deadline. He went for a first round pick and a couple of seconds that time around. Tough to beat getting a player they coveted to that extent at what ended up being a discount compared to what his value was a year ago.
Q3. Grade the team’s moves over the last two weeks.
J.P.: For the second time in a decade, Mac used the opening of free agency to address the blueline. Can Chychrun and Matt Roy be this generation’s Matt Niskanen and Brooks Orpik? Maybe. Add to that unloading an aging goalie with a burdensome contract for a high-risk/high-reward player (Dubois) at the team’s position of greatest need, adding a scoring winger (Mangiapane) to possibly mitigate the loss of T.J. Oshie, and upgrading the fourth line wings (Raddysh and Duhaime) with the exits of Nicolas Aube-Kubel and Beck Malenstyn, and it’s hard to see a team that has upgraded more in free agency and through trade so far this offseason. Now, that may not mean a massive spike in the standings (because they ended up better there than their roster and play probably fairly deserved last season), but this is a much better team going forward than it was where the season ended, and for that, I can’t go lower than an A-minus.
Becca: A-, knocking down just slightly for what is an expensive and potentially risky move in the PLD acquisition. What I love the most about what Mac has done is that, while he’s opened up the summer by making some big moves, he hasn’t given up a lot to do so (the team still has its talented prospects and all of their first- and second-round picks for the next three seasons) and hasn’t (yet) handed out any truly ludicrous contracts. You could argue that Roy is a little too long but the money is decent and it fills a big need the Caps have for another steady, veteran defenseman to help Carlson shoulder the load. MacLellan managed to retool the roster almost entirely in a matter of just a couple of weeks, and did so with an eye toward flexibility and youth going forward. Of the new acquisitions, only Roy and Dubois are signed past the 2024-25 season; only Roy will be 30+ at the end of this season. It upgrades almost every position but also leaves room for some of these to not work out and be easily moved at the deadline – and with a significant chunk of money coming off the cap this time next year, putting themselves in a very good spot to continue the process next summer. Just incredibly solid work.
Kalilu: A. There’s a level of risk involved with the bigger moves made that’s been well-documented, it’s mitigated by how little they had to give up to make these swings. No first-round picks or prospects were moved, and most of the new additions sans PLD and Roy are on contracts that expire after this season. MacLellan entered this offseason with a lot of ammo to retool the roster, and he did so aggressively while leaving the Caps with enough wiggle room to course correct if things don’t pan out this season.
Luke: What MacLellan was able to add while losing so little is astounding to stay the least. The only thing I can complain about is maybe the Caps first round pick. I like the pick fine and it could pay off but I like to swing for the fences and thought they could have done that with their pick but it was perfectly fine. The grade so far comes down to Dubois. If he hits, this might be the Caps best offseason in their history. I’d easily give it an A+ if Dubois hit. If he comes in and settles as a second line center than a A-. But if he bombs it can go down to a C. I’ll be safe and give the offseason an optimistic A.