McPhee's Pre-Frenzy Comments

GM George McPhee spoke to the Washington Post and Washington Times today in preparation for tomorrow's free-agency frenzy. As expected, McPhee didn't divulge any real news and continued to preach patience.

"We're going to be prudent tomorrow and see if there's anything makes sense for our club. If there is, we'll be involved and try to sign somebody. But if doesn't make sense, we're not going to do anything right now. No deal is better than a bad deal," he said on the Post blog. "If it's the right player at the right money, we'll be interested. But it's not going to be big money. The teams that have done that regret it. Don't be surprised if we sit this one out."

"The forward position, if we could add some more talent or depth we would. On defense we're fine. Goaltending we're fine. We have enough [forwards] internally, we believe, to be a good team, a playoff team. But if there's something that makes us really good, we'll be involved. If not, we'll just go with what we have," he added.

Meanwhile, Corey of the Times spoke with the agents for Alex Semin and Nicklas Backstrom. Both seem to be in the early stages of contract extension discussions with the team. Stating the obvious, any money that goes to them can't be used to sign a free agent or pay a player acquired in a deal.

This is yet further evidence that McPhee will not break up most of the team and only would add either supplemental parts or veterans on the cheap. That's not to say there won't be a signing or trade, and clearly getting rid of Michael Nylander remains a priority. But McPhee historically has been tight-lipped and it seems he's taking that to new levels this year; he was the same way leading up to the trading deadline.