The Trade

Reading the various blogs and message boards about this makes me think that there's a lot of over-analyzing going on out there - a lot of it based on the fact that Chris Clark was the captain and management is trying to "send a message".  While the Caps can be frustratingly inconsistent - and I have been critical of that fact (just wait for my next post) the Caps ARE the best team in the league right now and not in need of shaking up. 

This trade was simply a combination of opportunity and salary management.

Once you take the emotion out of it - Chris Clark was underperforming. A lot. $2.5 M is way too much to pay a player with four goals and a minus rating at the season midpoint. Before his injury-plagued seasons of late, Clark was good for 20-25 goals a season but is now unable to crack the first two lines and is not particularly effective as a third line player.

A combination of age and injuries reduces the effectiveness of a moderately expensive player at a position where the Caps are deep. Captain or not - if the opportunity arises you have to make that trade.

At $1.3 M, Milan Jurcina is already overpaid and he becomes a UFA at the end of the season. Despite his size Jurcina never developed into the type of D the Caps needed. His puck moving abilities were challenged under Boudreau's stretch offense and he never used his ample size to control the crease or deal punishment to unwanted interlopers.

Someone out there with cap room will be enticed by his size and would have made an offer at the end of the season. Its unlikely the Caps would have been motivated enough to match an offer.

Jurcina was no more than a third line defenseman - with no particular skill set to offer - on a club carrying NINE of them. He was the million dollar 'bag of pucks' in this transaction.

Jason Chimera carries a $1.9 M price tag.  He is a largish gritty winger who has 8 goals and 9 assists to this point in the season - in fact, he looks very much like a more in-your-face version of Chris Clark with double the production and the added bonus of being a natural left winger, where the Caps are thin once you get past the world's best player.

For the Blue Jackets - I assume they had some salary room to spend, needed a defenseman, and were looking to add leadership and shake up a team that is on a 1-7-2 stretch and in danger of missing the playoffs.

So the net effect of this trade is that the Caps cleared out $2M of cap space and pruned the defensive group - which is still bloated at 8 players. It was not a blockbuster deal and did not resolve their most pressing need - a shut-down stud defenseman, although it did better position them to make such a deal.

The only question is: What do you do with the $2M plus the $2-3M cleared up by resolution of l'affair de Nylander?

That's easy - some combination of the following:

• Bank it for the upcoming Backstrom deal.
• Use it for a trade deadline rental.
• Make another deal for that shut-down stud.

The good news is that the Caps now have a lot of flexibility to pursue any number of opportunities - which is a 180 turnaround from just a month ago when they couldn't even afford to bring up their rookie prospect Karl Alzner for some much needed NHL seasoning.

I would think they'll be adding a player at some point before the season ends although - given McPhee's conservative approach - not necessarily a blockbuster transaction.