I am glad Oshie is gone. I believe he was a cancer in the locker room. Look at the attitude and the belief system from when he was here compared to after he was gone. It's been night and day different. His comments in interviews were always lame and full of excuses. I say good riddance, that move was addition by subtraction.

I just saw a tweet from a Caps writer that said that Osh and the Caps have only had "general" talks and the Caps ability to re-sign him depends a bit on how much the salary cap goes up.

As for Oshie...he might not have ever worked out here the way he has in Washington, but it still was just an awful trade from a value perspective, especially at the time. It looks a bit better now since Brouwer was so big for us during the playoffs, but at the time we traded a two years of a top line winger for one year of a third liner and spare parts. It was simply a terrible trade, value-wise.

FWIW, I don't think the mistake was trading Oshie. I think the two mistakes were trading Oshie instead of moving on from the coach -and/or - not getting a better retrun for a plyer that was probably highly sought after. A borderline 1st/2nd liner for one year of a 3rd liner, a goalie we apparently had little value on, and a 3rd was a pretty crap return. I get the idea that Brouwer helped us get over the hump to the WCF and all, but you know who else would have done that? Literally any player who was better than Brouwer.

The previous three seasons prior to last year, Oshie had 47 goals in 181 games, Brouwer had 65 goals in 211. Oshie's physical play had been fading from his first few seasons (he wasn't 'Oshieing' anyone anymore) and while he racked up more assists, he got about as much SH time in Washington as Brouwer did last year, and more PP time, and Brouwer brought some much needed size, physical play, and veteran leadership (not to mention Stanley Cup experience).

IMHO, if we had Oshie instead of Brouwer last year, there's no WAY we make it past Chicago in the first round, and there're just more recriminations and players talking about how it's not their fault after yet another 1st round exit.

Is this deal actually all but done at this point? Haven't really heard much about it nationally...

Dread_Pirate_Westley wrote:Is this deal actually all but done at this point? Haven't really heard much about it nationally...

I honestly wouldn't be surprised if it is. I think we sill see quite a bit of "shenanigans" over the course of the next few weeks. If they announce an Oshie extension now, it means they have to protect him at the risk of losing someone else. My guess is that it gets announced within hours after the submission deadline for the VGK expansion draft picks.

RAFritchey wrote:The previous three seasons prior to last year, Oshie had 47 goals in 181 games, Brouwer had 65 goals in 211. Oshie's physical play had been fading from his first few seasons (he wasn't 'Oshieing' anyone anymore) and while he racked up more assists, he got about as much SH time in Washington as Brouwer did last year, and more PP time, and Brouwer brought some much needed size, physical play, and veteran leadership (not to mention Stanley Cup experience).

IMHO, if we had Oshie instead of Brouwer last year, there's no WAY we make it past Chicago in the first round, and there're just more recriminations and players talking about how it's not their fault after yet another 1st round exit.

I agree.

After the collapse against Minnesota 2 seasons ago, Oshie's time as a Blue was done.

The Blues could have used Brouwer in this years playoffs.

CaptSMRT wrote:The Blues could have used Brouwer in this years playoffs.

Yep. Losing him was big. I was prepared for the Blues to lose Backes but I knew things were going to be a lot tougher when they couldn't get Brouwer re-signed.

RAFritchey wrote:The previous three seasons prior to last year, Oshie had 47 goals in 181 games, Brouwer had 65 goals in 211. Oshie's physical play had been fading from his first few seasons (he wasn't 'Oshieing' anyone anymore) and while he racked up more assists, he got about as much SH time in Washington as Brouwer did last year, and more PP time, and Brouwer brought some much needed size, physical play, and veteran leadership (not to mention Stanley Cup experience).

IMHO, if we had Oshie instead of Brouwer last year, there's no WAY we make it past Chicago in the first round, and there're just more recriminations and players talking about how it's not their fault after yet another 1st round exit.

This is all true...but 2 years of TJ Oshie for 1 year of Troy Brouwer and spare parts is still a terrible trade, value wise. Like I said, it looks a bit better because of how important Brouwer ended up being, but it was still only one good year.