On Frozen Blog

Do the Caps really need to acquire “a top six forward” — i.e., a center (to replace Michael Nylander) — and “a physical, top 4 defenseman” before today’s 3:00 trade deadline? Such acquisitions indisputably would help the team in the short term. But there are two compelling reasons arguing against their being buyers today.

Let’s first be clear about market conditions. It is a buyer’s market this February by virtue of the unprecedented competitive balance across the league. The Los Angeles Kings this morning are dead last in the league’s standings, with a 26-34-4 record. As worst-team records go, that’s really not all that lousy. They have, perhaps, Rob Blake to deal, but like Mats Sundin in Toronto, Blake isn’t interested in waiving his no-trade clause.

Tampa Bay is in 29th place. The Bolts dealt Vaclav Prospal back to Philly yesterday, and they are apparently interested in dealing Brad Richards and his budget-busting contract. They might have to deal Dan Boyle as well. If the Caps wanted to replace Nylander they’d need to acquire a pending UFA pivot — Nylander is signed for the next three years, through 2010-11, and obviously Nicklas Backstrom is a fixture in the middle in the team’s top six. Boyle is a terrific puck-moving defenseman, but he doesn’t fill that perceived need on the Caps’ blueline.

You might throw in the towel, too, if you’re Kevin Lowe in Edmonton, with 61 points and now captain Ethan Moreau on the shelf for the remainder of the season.

Other than these three teams, who’s truly out of it for the postseason this morning? You have perhaps 27 buyers and three sellers. And this well explains the inertia in player movement in the hours leading up to today’s deadline.

How did the league arrive at such extraordinary competitive balance? Better scouting across the board, more refined and thorough player development, and a broadened talent pool that includes not just outstanding European professional leagues but a well-oiled development program in place at USA Hockey and a vastly improved NCAA. North American kids — and some Europeans as well — are looking at U.S. college hockey as a route to the NHL in a way they didn’t just 10 years ago.

When Caps’ management authorized the tearing down and rebuilding of the team roster early in 2004 it’s highly likely they imagined the team being post-season competitive in 2007-08 — with good reason.

And unlike previous offseasons, the Caps won’t have a great deal of roster “off-loading” to perform this summer. There were a number of vital questions confronting team entering 2007-08, and one of the most important — where is the no. 1 blueliner? — has been answered. And that needed big-bodied rearguard may already be in the organization (playing for the Calgary Hitmen), and he may be ready to join the club this autumn. It’s understandable that Caps’ fans would clamor for an improvement with the team so close to making the league’s top 16. But this trade deadline, with 27 poker faces at the table, is unlike any we’ve ever seen. And most likely, wheeling and dealing for two key parts is not the right thing to do.

This team doesn’t need new faces — it needs more scars and creases on those stubble-challenged visages.

Late last week General Manager George McPhee told the Washington Post, “We like the players we have and the people they are. To start trading things out that could be a part of the future makes no sense.”

Then came the money quote, the quote of the year from GMGM: “We had a power play late in [Wednesday's 3-2 shootout loss to the new York Islanders] and five kids jumped over the boards, with an average age of 21 or 22. We’ve got to keep playing them if we’re going to be going for a Cup.”