Wednesday, June 13, 2007

Caps Will Not Target Any Restricted Free Agents


George McPhee confirmed today that the Capitals will not be a player in the restricted free agent market. So anyone out there with hopes that the Capitals would target someone such as Thomas Vanek can forget about it. On the restricted free agent market McPhee said, "It wouldn't be our style because in most cases teams match (the offer). We'd just be waisting time."

I find this interesting because if ever their was a time to go after a restricted free agent, Vanek might just be worthy of the compensation required. The winger recorded 43 goals and 41 assists this past season and is only 23 years old. An offer of up to $3.9 million a year would cost the Caps a 1st, 2nd, and 3rd round pick. I think that just might be worth it. What do you think?

5 comments:

FAUX RUMORS said...

1) A 3.9 mil offer would quickly get matched by the Sabres. In order to get Vanek a team will have to make an offer the Sabres simply can NOT match.(6+ mil/year)
2) The Caps with Semin/AO set to become RFA's next year are not likely to be in the position to make such an offer

Allen Popels said...

That might be true. But the Sabres will have their hands full trying to fit both Drury and Briere under the cap. Who knows, the offer just might work. And it couldn't hurt to try.

The underlying factor I believe is that general managers have a gentleman's agreement not to go after other team's restricted free agents.

The Peerless said...

Vanek is an RFA equivalent of a top-end UFA. If one is going to tender an offer, it is probably going to be something above market, something a club would have trouble accommodating under its cap.

The flip side of that coin is that if the team doesn't match, you're likely to have yielded a lot of juicy draft picks. So, you'd better hit a home run with that decision, because it will have ripped out a good portion of your developmental stream for years. And, you're on the hook for that big contract, so it limits your other options.

I would think second-tier RFAs would be better deals, but that being the case, I would think trades for equivalent players would be an even better deal.

I think McPhee is correct -- it's a colossal waste of time.

Allen Popels said...

Good points. But how many prospects can a team possible have? The Caps system is already loaded, including 2 picks in each of the top two rounds this year. Just imagine a first line with Ovechkin-UFA-Vanek and a second line of Semin-Backstrom-Clark. Sounds pretty good to me.

But I realize it might take more than the $3.9 million offer meaning the compensation would include at least two first round picks. Still it's at least worth consideration.

Unknown said...

Not to mention that Buffalo or any other team could play that game with our RFAs next year. Namely, Ovechkin and Semin. What's that saying, "What comes around goes around"?