7/6, 6:00 AM - Laich, Morrisonn file for arbitration; Matt Cooke to Penguins
Two news items of interest to Capitals fans broke yesterday, one good and one not so good.
The good news is that in all likelihood both Brooks Laich and Shaone Morrisonn will be back with the Capitals next season:
Tarik El-Bashir just reported that Brooks Laich and Shaone Morrisonn have filed for arbitration. While the arbitration process (pronounced “pro-cess,” of course, for the Canadians out there) includes evidentiary submissions of an often-contentious nature, this comes as welcome news.
By filing, Brooks and Shaone are no longer eligible to sign offer sheets from any other team. So we no longer have to worry about another general manager throwing the Capitals’ whole salary structure out of balance, signing up a fine player like Brooks to a Dustin Penner-style offer sheet, and forcing management to make a painful decision.
While neither Laich nor Morrisonn is likely to steal the show on a team like the Capitals, each brings more to the table that their respective hockey skill: Laich for his ability to play any of the three forward positions and to play in any role and Morrisonn is the anchor that lets Mike Green be the dynamic offensive force he’s capable of being.
In other news, Matt Cooke has signed a two-year, $2.4 million contract with the Pittsburgh Penguins, essentially to serve as a replacement for Jarkko Ruutu. While it has been taken as a given that Cooke would be playing his 2008-09 hockey elsewhere ever since Matt Bradley signed an extension with the Capitals, it’s worth nothing that Cooke will only be making $100,000 more than Bradley next season. Given that Cooke is probably a better penalty killer and has more offensive upside, would it have made more sense for the Capitals to dish out the extra cash and keep him instead of Bradley? Or does Bradley’s physical presence making him the better signing?
dmg: I consider Bradley and Cooke pretty even, though as you point out different players, I think as far as what the Caps needed and their desire to keep some more of the younger core together Bradley was the right signing. However, looking at next season’s play of Bradley, Cooke and Pettinger will tell the tale. No doubt after loosing Ruutu, Cooke is a very good signing at a fair price for the Pens and there will be times we miss him. Hopefully Bradley and Gordon both saw how he does it and learned some tricks while he was here.
The only downside is that Cooke is on the Pens! But seriously speaking, Bradley and Cooke as very similar, and both fill the agitator role nicely. No use in having two agitators unless you are building a team akin to the Flyers. Bradley has been part of the system for years now and is a great fit with the team. Cooke was a great fit but as GMGM said, he was a bit redundant on a team building a high powered offense.
Initially I personally would have favored Cooke over Bradley because most of the time, on most teams, I think he is the most valuable player.
However the Capitals don’t have much in the way of guys willing to drop the gloves after Donald Brashear and with Erskine likely to ride the (press box) pine for most of next season, that’s only going to exacerbate things. Having Bradley in their gives the Caps a nice middleweight option when it comes to the rough stuff.