I think Gruby would only get the 1 first, probably the Islanders second first. If Carlson stays it will have to be an 8 year deal to keep the AAV to 7.5 max. Copley is not an NHL player, we would need a back up and not Samsonov, he needs a year in the A. I think Kempny gets a a bit more maybe close to 3. He played great with second pair minutes since the moment he got to DC. Not sure Bowey is ever going to be good. I'd be worried having him set in the top six.

Bowey, as a rookie, produced even strength points at a faster rate than Mike Green last year (at least through the trade deadline, when everybody wanted to trade Bowey and picks for Green, and I did the math).

Kempny blocked a lot of shots and two of his five playoff points came in the finals. The same could be said of Orpik, but Orpik also had 88 playoff hits, good for 15th all time (in the 19 years anyone's counted) and 4th all time among defensemen, behind Dustin Byfuglien, Brooks Orpik, and Brooks Orpik. http://www.nhl.com/stats/player?report=realtime&reportType=season&seasonFrom=19971998&seasonTo=20172018&gameType=3&position=D&filter=gamesPlayed,gte,1&sort=hits

Kempny's 10 regular season points last year were a career high. He's never broken 30 at any professional level and he's a 27 year old UFA. Bowey had 12 points last year as a 23 year old. In the regular season, Kempny got 57 hits and 82 blocks in 843 minutes. Bowey got 48 hits and 42 blocks in 699 minutes. Can they win a Stanley Cup with Kempny? Sure. But most hockey players keep improving until age 27 or so, then level off for a few years, and start declining. Bowey played with Canada at the WJC. He had back to back 60 point years in juniors. He's going to stay in the NHL and get pretty good, actually. http://www.hockeydb.com/ihdb/stats/pdisplay.php?pid=134163 Carlson had 43 and 76 in his last two junior years. Bowey will be fine. He might get traded if Carlson and Niskanen both stick around, because offensive defensemen need power play opportunities to develop, and Bowey hasn't gotten any. Just ten minutes a night at even strength, until the trade deadline, when he pretty much got pressboxed. It kept him from being a defensive liability, but next year he either needs more opportunity in Washington or somewhere else.

In conclusion, since neither Kempny nor Orpik should be expected by age to improve much next year, since Orpik brought just as much offense, just as many blocks, and over twice as many hits to the playoff Caps, buying out Orpik to save 3M and then spending 2M on Kempny is a questionable move, especially since Orpik's the one with the 6 year playoff round winning streak and the second Cup ring.

Not going to get the #11 for Grubauer.