New Washington Caps Continue to Prepare

 

Linke’s First 10 Days Were Exciting

 

 

 

We recently caught up with the new General Manager of the Expansion Washington Capitals. Linke explained that he has formed a projected protected list of all 30 teams. On top of the page are goalies who he expects to be available. Under that on the left of the page are the nine forwards who he projects will be protected. Under that are forwards who he projects to be available. Some teams only have one forward projected to be available that he might be interested in while some teams have almost ten. On the right side of the page are the four defensemen that he projects to be protected and under that are the projected available defensemen. Again the list of projected available defensemen varies from some teams have one while others have over five. On the bottom of the page are the younger minor league skaters who Linke may use a late round pick attempting to “find a diamond in the rough”.

 

 

 

Linke then stated that Rex Shuck is a formidable opponent. The Shuck name is BRHL royalty. Bryce Shuck is a sure first ballot Hall of Famer while Kirk Shuck is a three time Stanley Cup champion, most recently last year with the Ottawa Senators. Linke is familiar with Rex Shuck going back to last years Rangers vs Flyers playoff series. Rex won that series. Linke states that he has spoken with most GM s in the league and the opinions what Rex will do are all over the place. The word patient has never been used to describe Rex. The convention wisdom is that there are 10 obvious choices in an expansion draft that you hope to build around. After that it is up to the philosophy of the GM. Will Rex value older players in an attempt to contend sooner than later or will he build through youth and draft picks.

 

 

 

In an attempt to counter this Linke recently had two mock expansion draft. In the morning he drafted against one of this Asst GM’s with the mandate to draft in an attempt to contend in the near future. In the afternoon he drafted against his Scouting Director with the same philosophy as his. Linke stated he was encouraged by the results.

 

 

 

Linke stated that he is not upset about all the trades in an attempt to circumvent the expansion draft. Linke stated he expects to get the 121^st best defensemen, 31^st best goalie and the 270^th best forward and it will all work out.

 

 

 

Linke then stated he has had trade discussions of one level or another with about one third of the GM’s in the league. Linke stated that draft and trade the player back has been discussed, while taken a lesser player and receiving compensation had been discussed and recieving compensation for not drafting a player has been discussed. Linke expects a flurry of trade talk after the protected lists are released.

 

 

 

Lastly, Linke stated while some of these players may not be available, a good possibility exists that goalies Aaron Dell, Robin Lehner, Anthony Stolarz, Malcolm Subban, Jacob Markstrom, and Charlie Lindgren may be available. Among forwards are Sam Gagner, Ryan Callahan, Brandon Dubinsky, Lee Stempniak, Martin Hanzel, Leo Komarov, Jori Lehtera, Joel Ward, Matt Cullen, Joe Thorton, Beau Bennett, Domini Moore, Matt Belesky, Paul Byron, Scott Hartnell, Marcus Foligno, Thomas Plekanek, Nate Thompson, Bobby Ryan, David, Desharnais, Jay McClement, Trevor Lewis, Cody Eakin, Darren Helm, Ryan Reaves, Nick Bonino, Shawn Matthias and Chris Kunitz.

 

 

 

Among defensemen are Andrej Sekera, Kevin Connauton, Trevor Van Riemsdyk, Mark Borowiecki, Andrej Sustr, Matt Hunwick, Chris Wideman, Brendan Smith, Zac Bogosian, Dmitry Kulikov, Robert Bortuzzo, Brendan Dillon, Mark Giordano, Adam McQuaid, Luke Schenn, Josh Georges, Kevan Miller, Nick Holden, Kevin Bieksa, and Cody Franson.

 

 

 

Linke admits that most of these players are on the  back side of their career but is sure they can help the right contending team in the right situation. He also cautioned that the projected protected lists change daily.