Why would you trade a 3rd just to see if the guy can land an nhl spot?

Also isn’t Samsonov the plan?

The plan is a committee, with Copley starting the year, presumably Vanecek getting a cup of tea at some point, and Samsonov earning his way up once he's adjusted to North American hockey at the AHL level.

Nilsson clearly is not going to fit under the salary cap in Washington, but three stars for signing Pavelec at 1M. Perfectly reasonable proven backup to stabilize what could otherwise be a topsy turvy situation behind an all time great. No sense in Holtby playing 65 games and being too tired to give another good effort in the playoffs.

Thanks! Nilsson isn’t necessary but I just added him encase. People think Samsnonov will be backup. He very well could be but I think he’d be sent to AHL to let him earn that backup role amd to let him adjust to North American game

You're right. McLellan and Samsonov have confirmed he will start in Hershey, (https://russianmachineneverbreaks.com/2018/06/23/with-backup-goalie-phillip-grubauer-gone-the-capitals-will-turn-to-two-inexperienced-netminders/). The debate on here is just a guessing game of how long it might take him to earn his way up. I'm guessing somewhere between zero and 1.5 seasons. Signing a proven backup shouldn't change that, either way, but if the number turns out to be anywhere over .6 seasons, signing a proven backup now will prevent the Caps from having to overpay for one at the deadline, and overpay further to get salary retention, if that backup, like Nilsson, earns more than they have space for.