On the main board, it's the usual suspects who are in their sky is falling mode. I'm not saying some of them don't have good points or that they should totally buy into the plan, but I think the true state of the team lies somewhere in between.

I know people are uneasy about McPhee being the one who's trying to build this team, but does that mean they want to go back to the days of high spending? We all know how well that went. I know that people are still skeptical about Ted's motives. Does that mean we should go back to the Old Miser or god forbid have Dan Snyder buy and run the team?

Were there some UFA's that I had hoped they had taken a look at? Absolutely. Who says they didn't take a look. I won't be shocked if they acquire some players via trade. The big wildcard is obviously the youngsters, in particular some of the guys who were part of the Calder Cup-winning Hershey team. Will any of them make the team, and will they improve this season and pick up the slack and replace Halpern ane Willsie.

There are certainly a lot of question marks. Rebuilding is painful, and no fan wants to go through it, because too many questions are brought up. I'm sure this is what all teams go through, especially dealing with the angry fans who are venturing into the unknown.

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Just wondering, what do you all (on this board) think of the offseason so far?

There are certainly a lot of question marks. Rebuilding is painful, and no fan wants to go through it, because too many questions are brought up. I'm sure this is what all teams go through, especially dealing with the angry fans who are venturing into the unknown.

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It seems that our current strategy is to pick up veterans here and there to teach and guide our young talent on both sides of the puck, green, morrisonn, eminger, schultz, and flash, klepis, laich, fehr, bourque, gordon, and generally keep the team afloat while the aforementioned, and now backstrom, bouchard in the pipeline, mature and achieve their caps-projected potential. my general concern is that, with the exception of the first three defensemen mentioned, none of these guys are going to be the "core" players the caps seem to think they will be, especialy top 2 line forwards.

The additions of semin and hopefully backstrom next year, and Potheir on the blue line, will help some. We'll have a decent defense next year. Nevertheless, I just don't think we have enough solid young forward talent to be considered truly rebuilding. Maybe some of those in the system will rise out of nowhere next season or the following one.

I'm all for building from within, but I seem to fall into the camp with those that don't trust our scouting staff to select those necessary to build a contender, especially when it seems ted has now decided, rightly or wrongly, that we have to rely on the draft, rather than UFA signing method, of constructing a team, more heavily than most teams.

One other obvious point is that Carolina built a solid team constructed of some "high priced veterans" like weight, recchi, brind'amour, yet clearly face the same issues that we do, i.e. small, non-traditional market. They've been to the finals twice this decade and won a Cup. And with their success they've inexplicably managed to have dynamite young talent like staal and cam ward. As fans we shouldn't be satisfied with stay the course, wait-and-see mode, unless a couple of these young guys actually do bust out beyond their perceived abilities next year (perceived by those not of the caps organization).

I think if there's one thing that's unfortunate from all this is that Ted is so turned off to signing free agents or acquiring players with fairly large salaries he appears to be excessively gunshy. I realize he got burned with Jagr and perhaps Cassels, but when this team improves to the point they will start to make it to the playoffs on a regular basis, hopefully he'll be willing to pay for a major free agent or two again.

Back to the present, I get the feeling McPhee isn't done yet. I know he says he's pretty much done, but he's usually secretive. Maybe after they've taken a look at what they've got at training camp, I won't be shocked if he acquires someone via trade between now and the start of the season once other teams start to determine what their cap situation is.

Even some of the players the Caps picked up in the firesale, the jury's still out on if they're going to be able to be solid contributors.

The other complaint I have is that it's an all-or-nothing strategy seemingly employed through the first seven years of ownership. For the first few, they were convinced free agency was the way to go, and paid little attention to development. Then, drafting was the way to go. However, it's a combination of the two that will win the Stanley Cup, not one ideology.

As for the state of the team, I don't see much improvement at this point. While I understand the rationale of letting Willsie and Halpern go, you also have to replace them in the lineup. Pothier isn't a bad defenseman, but I don't see a marked improvement back there.

The other flaw I think is they may be counting on Ovechkin to put the same kind of numbers again. He certainly exceeded expectations in 2005-06, but I wouldn't count on an equally dominant performance - he needs some support to help him out this time around.

As for offensive support, the same idea applies. Fleischmann, Laich, Pettinger, Gordon, Suts should all be better just due to experience. Zubrus is Zubrus, Clark is Clark, Clymer and Bradley are Clymer and Bradley. Beech could make the team in Halpern's spot. Semin is coming back, don't forget, and he could add a lot of offense in a hurry if his attitude is OK. These guys won't score five goals a game, but I can't see them being worse than last year, particularly considering how bad the PP was for most of the year.

Let's Go Caps!
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The big problem with those over on the main boards is the belief that one forward and one defenseman is all this team needs. If we learned anything last year, it is that the Caps have the market cornered on grinding forwards. The blueline needs time to mature. I understand why Yonkman was bought out, but if he ever learns how to pass and handle the puck (and stay healthy) he'll become a monster for somebody. It seems to me though that there is an overall lack of patience. We really can't judge the Caps on drafting until some draft picks start to come up and play for us on a regular basis. Expecting second, third, and later round draft picks to regularly become a two top line forward is just downright absurd.

I've felt for a long time that we need five consective years of top five draft picks. We alredy have had two, (I don't count last year because that whole thing was a bleepin' joke) so three more years of suffering. But something tells me that the Caps management is impatient too. That is what really concerns me. We don't need to pull any Pittsburgh type stunts.

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Everybody Wang Chung......

Please load brain before shooting off mouth.™

Steady away...this team will be allright.