The cost of pulling in the big names would wipe out two years of good draft picks for the Capitals. So when general manager George McPhee was faced with the choice, he choose to error on the side of prospects.
"For us to do anything, it had to be an upgrade on what we had, and based on what was out there, there were not a lot of upgrades we saw that we could do," McPhee addressed reporters. "Guys like Pronger and Bouwmeester, but the price to get into that game wasn't something we were willing to pay. We had some discussions with Anaheim and it wouldn't make sense to go after Bouwmeester and have the guy be a free agent."
I could not agree more. Why work so hard to get good draft picks just to waste them on a rental player. It took three young players to land the Coyote's Derek Morris, a price the Rangers paid for a marginal defenseman. The cost for an All Star blue liner would be something that would go against what the Caps have worked so hard to build.
In other news Brian Potheir has been sent down to Hershey to start his recovery. There is a possibility that he could see some action by the end of the year. He was a big reason why McPhee didn't really persue Morris or any other defenseman.
The conditioning stint for Potheir is the biggest of his carreer. McPhee made no bones about it, if he suffers a setback now, his life as a hockey player is over. Staffan Kronwall was also sent to Chocolate Town.
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