Puck 'N Hockey

We’re close to 3/4 of the NHL season being complete, and with NHL Trade Deadline Day (also known as “GMGM Sits-on-Hands Day”) approaching, I figured I’d do a brief rundown of the Caps off-season transactions and how they’ve stacked up so far this season.

We’ll start with the good:

Troy Brouwer
A good, hard-skating winger who can play in multiple situations. He was my favorite off-season move by GMGM, and is on pace for a 20+ goal season. Satisfied.

Tomas Vokoun
A top netminder for dirt cheap, Vokoun hasn’t done anything wrong. He’s just been the guy in net with a horrible team in front of him. 2.45 GAA and a 92% save percentage should win a bunch of games with the skating talent on the Caps’ roster. Unfortunately, that hasn’t been the case.

That’s about all the good I’ve got. Not joking.

The bad:

Roman Hamrlik
Now before the “He’s a plus 1!” crowd gets all antsy, let me just say this: the Caps signed this aging blueliner for 2 years and 7 million dollars. Simply put, the Caps overpaid for a “piece of sh*t car” and are feeling the effects of it now. And here I thought we were done with stupid “Nylander-type” deals…

Joel Ward
In other instance that I immediately tweeted as a gross “overpay” when the caps signed Ward for 4 years and 12 million on first day of free agency this past summer. As the team has needed players to step up due to injuries to its star players, Ward’s been almost non-existent over the past 30 games or so. It’s one thing to dish out money for a proven player with years to back it up. This one, however, feels like GMGM wanted this guy to become something he just wasn’t… which I’m guessing is “The Next Big Thing in Power Forwards”. That 12 million dollar gamble has turned out to be a bust so far… oof.

The indifferent:

Jeff Halpern
The DC native jumped at the opportunity to come back to Washington, and at 825k for a year, I’m happy he did. Good on face-offs and just a solid player, I have no complaints. Oh, and if you’re into counting points, he has 13 and Joel Ward has 15. Just sayin’.

Parting shot:
Fun statistical question for those of you into this sort of thing…who leads the Caps in +/-? No, Jeff Schultz fanboys, it’s not him. And no, Captain America fans, it’s not John Carlson. Who is it?

It’s actually a guy who Eric Rigsby and I have sung the praises of for years… Karl Alzner.

His deal? 2 years, 2.57 million. And hey, he has 13 points…

You do the math.