Wednesday, March 5, 2014

Post-Deadline Day Lines: Welcome Halak, Bye Neuvy (and Erat)

Every Caps fan knows the major trades that have gone down since my post yesterday, written after the Dustin Penner trade but before the Martin Erat trade. But to recap:

1. To Anaheim: 2014 4th round Draft Pick
To Washington: Dustin Penner

2. To Phoenix: Martin Erat, John Mitchell
To Washington: Rotislav Klesla, Chris Brown

3. To Buffalo: Michal Neuvirth, Rotislav Klesla
To Washington: Jaroslav Halak, 2015 3rd round draft pick

The Capitals quite honestly didn't improve much, but they didn't become worse either. Overall, it was a safe year for GMGM, and a comparatively good one (see last year; or better yet, don't).

How do these deals change the line combinations for the Caps? Here are the probable lines for tonight's tangle with Philly:

Laich-Backstrom-Ovechkin
Penner-Johansson-Brouwer
Ward-Fehr-Chimera
Stoa-Beagle-Wilson

Alzner-Carlson
Hillen-Green
Erskine-Carrick

Holtby
Halak

At full strength, this is how (I would like) the current Caps team looks like:

Johansson-Backstrom-Ovechkin
Penner-Grabovski-Brouwer
Ward-Fehr-Chimera
Laich-Beagle-Wilson

Alzner-Carlson
Orlov-Green
Hillen-Carrick

Holtby
Halak

Of course, things could change if Evgeni Kuznetsov starts to play in a week or two, or if the Caps stop their love affair with Erskine and Carrick and bring up some other guys, or...

I digress. All I'm saying is that this team could be getting a lot stronger in a few weeks, or even later this year.

For today, however, we're going with the formidable Stoa-Beagle-Wilson line. #Playoffs (or is it #Playoffs?!).

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