Capitals acquire Dennis Wideman from Florida

[johnnytata]

i like wideman, he's a good d-man, and he's fairly young, buried in florida where there's not much support. i think the caps will have a lot of flexibility on the back end, which is not something they've ever had. they'll find a center, or they'll go with the young guys they have right now.

don't think they ever should have let belanger go though.

 

[elocomotive]

Ugh, Belanger. So glad he's gone.

I really like this move. To piggy back and expand on some thoughts...

The cap - The Caps may be pushing the cap right now and next year, but unlike the Hawks situation, they don't have any a couple players bogging them down and they have lots of very tradeable, young assetts, including Wideman himself. If they ran into cap issues, they would have little problem making a move to clear space up as I can't find anyone on the roster who is being paid way beyond their performance/value or is a long-term liability. Guys like Johansson and Carlson are still on cheap EL contracts next year, so 2012-2013 is a bigger concern for the cap, which Wideman's contract does not extend to.

Green - I think this move has less to do with the health of Mike Green, and more to do with the health of Tom Poti. He has been hurt basically all year and I think the team has little faith he'll be back b/c he's been re-injured after a few games every time he comes back. This keeps a guy like Tyler Sloan (our weakest D-man by far) off the ice. Ritari will be pleased. I think Green will be okay. His head injury was just one part of a bad couple weeks that included getting the flu and his grandmother dying. His symptoms have been mild and I think he'll be fine in a week or two.

The power play - Wideman leads an anemic Florida PP in both goals and points. Given the help he had on the Panthers, his 19 power play points are somewhat impressive. The Caps have struggled in that department all year long. So I think you'll see Wideman (and Green when healthy) QBing the PP from the blue line with Ovechkin. This should help produce better results on the PP and allows Carlson a little more rest, since he and Alzner have been handling other teams' tops scoring lines.

Center needs - While they might need a center more than a D-man, it always depends on what is out there and what is being offered. Aside from Brad Richards, who is concussed and appears to be going nowhere, there isn't anyone I'm salivating for the Caps to get and would likely only be a marginal improvement. And just IMHO, our needs at center "are widely exaggerated." Just like we needed a goalie at the start of the year according to many fans of other teams. We need our guys to finish more than we need someone setting them up. Japer's rink did a great analysis and found the team was down about 30 goals this year based on where they are shooting from and how often they should convert. It's not that the opportunities aren't there, it's that our big guns aren't putting it home when they have their chances. A second line center isn't going to change that. Those guys have to step up.

My 732 cents.

 

[I cAnT wAtCh]

Make sure he's paired up with your best defensive D man because he sucks defensively.

He'll help your powerplay, and is a good PMD.

Bad trade for the Panthers value-wise, although I guess they just wanted another pick/get rid of Wideman's contract/have a bunch of cap space this offseason.

Seriously...we have a bunch of cap space this offseason...