With four straight first round exits for the Capitals, is Brian MacLellan on the hot seat?
Yesterday we looked at whether or not head coach Peter Laviolette is on the hot seat entering the final year of his contract. Today we look at Washington Capitals General Manager Brian MacLellan and whether or not he’s on the hot seat after four straight first round exits.
The short answer is yes.
The long answer is the purpose of this article.
And now with a fourth straight season of early bookings at the golf course, MacLellan enters a pivotal and important offseason that could determine the direction of the Capitals in the years to come.
MacLellan told the media on breakdown day:
"“We’ve lost in the first round the last four years. We’re going to explore changes. I don’t think anything is off the table.”"
His first offseason task? The goaltending.
"“I think our goalie decision will be our first one. And then we’re going to go from there depending on how much money we have.”"
This is where MacLellan made a big mistake both last offseason and at the trade deadline. He failed to sign or trade for a veteran goaltender. He decided to run it back with two unproven goalies and it once again did not work. It is likely MacLellan will be playing for his job this upcoming season just like Laviolette.
MacLellan told reporters that the team will “look at everything” from top to bottom. According to Cap Friendly, the Caps are projected to have nine million in cap space to spend this offseason.
He’ll also have decisions to make among the forwards. We know that Tom Wilson will be out for six to eight months. We’re still waiting on updates on Nicklas Backstrom and Carl Hagelin. Those updates will impact what GMBM will do. Right now, it’s too early to tell since there’s a lot of unknowns.
On the defense the Caps will look to get younger. They also have Dmitry Orlov with one more season left on his contract. That’s the type of guy that you re-sign based on his improvements the last two years. He’s honestly been Washington’s most reliable blue liner.
More. Scott Arniel could leave Capitals to coach Jets. light
Back to the goaltending, that will be the biggest challenge for GMBM but after running it back with Ilya Samsonov and Vitek Vanecek for two years and it not working he has no choice now but to make a decision between the two. No matter who he chooses, Caps fans will be divided as the fanbase is split on Team Sammy or Team Vitek.