30 replies to this topic

[ivanbalt]

Lost game 1, 1-3 against the Bruins.  Power play needs some work as they had 5 chances and no goals.

[You Play to Win the Game]

Grabbed tickets to the game tomorrow night to take in Ovi's 900th goal. Can't wait.

[You Play to Win the Game]

I was there last night for #900.

[BSLChrisStoner]

Capitals can’t stave off an eighth loss in their last 10 games: numbers for the morning after

 

Alex Ovechkin hasn’t scored in his last 13 shootout attempts, dating back to 2022. The Capitals are still using him anyway: ‘It’s a gut call.’

[ivanbalt]

Got back in the win column last night.

[BSLChrisStoner]

Tom Wilson Off IR & Looks Set To Return For Capitals, Eager To Help Team Get Back On Track: 'Feels Like It's Been Forever'

[ivanbalt]

Caps traded long time players John Carlson (Ducks) and Nic Dowd (Knights).  Sad to see them go especially since I'll need to replace my Carlson jersey.

[BSLMikeLowe]

I saw where they have about $26M of cap space if they still want to make an acquisition today and make a push to get in the playoffs, or if they’re just going to punt and use the draft capital to infuse the system. They don’t really need a rebuild, but it does feel like the end of an era and they could use some more youth.

[JeremyStrain]

I saw where they have about $26M of cap space if they still want to make an acquisition today and make a push to get in the playoffs, or if they’re just going to punt and use the draft capital to infuse the system. They don’t really need a rebuild, but it does feel like the end of an era and they could use some more youth.

I think part of it is that they have some of the best prospects in hockey knocking on the door, I think they are trying to work room in for some of them, which saves money and infuses youth. Could see them make a splash for a top 6 forward for big dollars. Hopefully they don't go trading the system away though, they just overhauled it. 

 

You got Cole Hutson who will be here either late this season or next to reunite with Leonard. 

Baby Protas and Cristall are ready. Miro is ready. Belpedio is probably right there. 

Lakovic and Parascak are next step down. 

 

Honestly ok, there's enough depth they could probably make a decent trade and bring in a big player. But they need to keep their Def prospects. 

[BSLMikeLowe]

Well, they did pick up a defenseman and forward to fill out the roster, but they seem more like placeholders than actual replacements for Carlson and Dowd.

[JeremyStrain]

Well, they did pick up a defenseman and forward to fill out the roster, but they seem more like placeholders than actual replacements for Carlson and Dowd.

Yeah that's why I think they are just shaving some money and prepping for the young kids next year. Especially depending on what Ovi does, there COULD be another spot for a top 6 guy, but Cristall is also a top level offensive guy, you want him top 6. 

 

We have a terrible history of taking elite offensive guys and putting them on the 3rd line to break in, and the physical and defensive aspects don't line up with their play style, and they end up getting traded or pushed out. You see it right now with Hendrix. 

 

First and second are your elite offensive players. Third are your physical guys with some offensive ability. No slouch, but they aren't scoring 40. Tom Wilson is kind of the unicorn here. This type of player, but he can score more than a typical 3rd winger, letting him bring some physicality to the top lines. This is also why you don't see the top lines playing each other normally. You see the 3rd or 4th lines matched up with the high level offensive lines, because thats where your physical and defensive players live. 4th line is for your faceoff experts, PK guys, Enforcers. Your best defensive players. 

 

In recent years the way teams use the lines have gotten muddied some, but that's when you end up with imbalanced teams. It's been an issue here. They'll try to go three scoring lines, and the 4th is like a hybrid of what 3rd and 4th is supposed to be. They don't get as many minutes and then poor defense from the forwards ends up costing us. 

 

Cristall - DLP - Frank would be close to what a traditional top line was in the 80-90's. A sniper of a LW, a playmaking C, and a Fast goal scoring RW. Wilson changes that dynamic a little bit and you get into BOS or STL like lineups with Power Forwards. This one pains me to type...one of the big botches and the beginning of the end for the CAPS, but Samsonov - Allison - Guerin is one of those top lines where you flip the speed to the LW and have a power forward at RW. Or the Blues circa 2001 with Keith Tkachuk - Turgeon - Scott Young. 

 

Think Khristich - Ridley - Bondra. Or later is when they got Juneau for that more playmaking C role. Or I guess another good example is Robataille - Gretzky - Sandstrom. Francis - Lemieux - Jagr. You get the point. 

 

Cristall isn't fast. Speed is his biggest weak spot, but he's crafty and makes good cuts and movement in tight spaces. Putting him on a line with Wilson limits your explosiveness. Better to balance him with a fast RW. I like McMichael at LW with Strome at C and then you can put Wilson on that line and it's pretty dangerous. Then your 3rd line you can go Baby Protas - Protas - Leonard and that line gives you some grit and scoring. I'd say Leonard on the top with Frank here makes more sense to people cause Frank is kinda one dimensional, but so were Bondra, Selanne, Mogilny....the NHL was made on that. Leonard does have the speed for it though, he's not ELITE level like Frank but he's the next step down, above average with crazy bursts. Beaulivier - Sourdif - Duhaime is your 4th line, and a good one I think. 

 

That's a pretty full roster and it's leaving out some other guys that will be ready soon like Miro. But it's that or you have to package and trade some stuff for improvements...and this is assuming they do exactly that with Hendrix already. 

 

**That horrible trade I referenced earlier basically created a talented Caps team in BOS in 1997. They already had Byron Dafoe and Dmitry Khristich putting up big numbers. It doesn't get talked about as terrible because it led to the stanley cup appearance in 1998 but it was Jim Carey - Jason Allison - Anson Carter and picks for Adam Oates - Bill Ranford - Rick Tocchet but they let Tocchet walk and he scored 81 goals the next 4 years and was a real solid power forward. Ranford wasn't good and was gone a year later with Kolzig really breaking out. Oates was OK here but nothing like he was in BOS. While Jason Allison was better than Oates the same stretch before injuries ended his career about the same time we dealt Oates, Anson Carter went on to have a REAL solid 3rd/4th line C career, and Carey flamed out famously. Deal really wasn't GREAT for either side, except in the sense that had we taken less and gone for their 1st round pick which was a rumored version, they ended up with the no. 1 overall pick that year, and drafted Joe Thornton. That always bothered me. The centerpiece was Carey. We wanted Oates. Could have kept Allison and Carter, and had better, cheaper production and just traded Carey for the 1st and given the job to Kolzig, who took it anyway. Moves like that and dealing Forsberg a decade ago are why I don't like to dump prospects in the NHL. Our drafting is generally really good. Trust them. 

[BSLMikeLowe]

Yeah that's why I think they are just shaving some money and prepping for the young kids next year. Especially depending on what Ovi does, 

And that part of this sucks. If this is it for him, hate to see him going out playing in meaningless games.

[You Play to Win the Game]

Anyone think he’s back next year? I could see him running it back one more year. He’s played well after a rough start. Age has definitely caught up to him though, and if you’re paying attention, they’re definitely hiding him to a degree.

[JeremyStrain]

Anyone think he’s back next year? I could see him running it back one more year. He’s played well after a rough start. Age has definitely caught up to him though, and if you’re paying attention, they’re definitely hiding him to a degree.

I've assumed all season that this was it. Like you said, he's been a liability for more than a year now. I think they sent him somewhere he could have a last ditch shot at the playoffs to try to do right by him, but they weren't going to offer him a new deal. I just don't think he helps at all even as the 6th Dman. 

 

You've got Hutson coming in, and there's one other in Hershey that deserves a look already. I could see them make a run at Cole Makar from COL. Best D free agent. Will be pricey, and I don't know if that's the best place to sink money, but you probably should have at least one expensive defenseman. Big time offensive guy. 

[ivanbalt]

Ovi scored #1000 but sadly the Caps only picked up 1 point.  Not looking good.

[BSLMikeLowe]

Yeah they’re done. They’re 6 points behind the Islanders for the last spot, plus there’s three other teams in between them.

[ivanbalt]

Caps season in a nutshell this weekend: beat a good Buffalo team 6-2 on Saturday and follow up with an 8-1 loss to a terrible Rangers team.  Was at the Saturday game so at least that was a good time.

[Mashed Potatoes]

It's crazy that at the end of the season our points total could put us 4th in the Western Conference, and out of the playoffs in the Eastern Conference.

[JeremyStrain]

It's crazy that at the end of the season our points total could put us 4th in the Western Conference, and out of the playoffs in the Eastern Conference.

Very weird year. Has had people asking if things need to be realigned again. 

[BSLMikeLowe]

I don’t think realignment makes sense. Geography is what it is. The NBA has been tilted heavily towards the west since the end of the 90s Bulls dynasty.