Speculation: Caps General Discussion (Coaching/FAs/Cap/Lines etc) - 2021-22 Regular Season Part 5

[CapitalsCupReality]

BMac took a gamble with these two goalies and it has crashed and burned.

He got half the equation right….VV would be a good backup….

 

[TheLegendOfPatPeake]

He got half the equation right….VV would be a good backup….

Agreed. VV is a solid backup. I will give him that.

 

[SherVaughn30]

I don't do Twitter or anything. Anyone know if Hagelin is okay?

 

[TheLegendOfPatPeake]

CBJ will be 8 pts behind after tonight. FFS.

 

[Misery74]

CBJ will be 8 pts behind after tonight. FFS.

Game in hand too. A week from now, who knows.

 

[ClevelandCapsfan]

Just watched Wings beat Canes 4-3 in OT. Frankly, I don’t see any chance the current Caps lineup beating either team.

 

[SherVaughn30]

Just watched Wings beat Canes 4-3 in OT. Frankly, I don’t see any chance the current Caps lineup beating either team.

Frankly, I don't see the Caps beating anyone at this point unless it's luck!

 

[Roshi]

Im actually starting to think we should just run with Sammy/Vanecek for the season. I dont think we are Reimer or Holtby away of anything, or that they would help us much if at all. So just take it as it is, win or lose, and look back to it on the summer. There is also the 1% chance Samsonov gets on to a somekind of weird voodoo hot run, and that would be much better than a guy like Reimer doing it.

I dont mind using a low round draft pick for Holtby/reimer or whatever, but I just dont see why.

Main target should be top6 winger that can actually score goals regularly, and has term beyond this season. I still believe they can snap out of it, but the way we are playing is depressing so putting all the chips in the middle for this season looks like a losing play. Any moves made should be targeting further on, next season and beyond, and not in a rebuilding way but in a contending way.

 

[Kuz]

Weird how fast things change. Team looked very good until January. Ovechkin and Kuznetsov was of course carrying most of the load, but still there was a lot of injuries, but the younger guys handled the minutes and they where getting wins. Perhaps some of the players in the dressing room are to comfortable and some hungrier AHL guys should get some games.

I believe some are underplayed and to much of the load are put on the older guys, but its not only that something is clearly wrong. If you're not putting McMichael in a scoring role you could just as well let him develop in AHL and bring up Malenstyn, Fjallby, Pilon or Sgarbossa. Goalie is of course an issue, but scoring have clearly gone down as well so its not all on goalie here. Also defence doesnt look as sharp as earlier.

Were also a team who plays for the playoff so players might have gotten a little bit to relaxed when things looked to be a sure thing with the big gap to fall out. Now it has closed fast and players need to deliver every game. If they regain form there will at least be hope they arrive to the playoff as a team who had everything to play for in the end of the season. Happens quite often that the top team have gotten to relaxed after securing division and doesnt get their top game back when it matters again. If this team get to the playoff they can upset anyone at their best, but I dont think goaltending is good enough to go more than a round or two.

 

[g00n]

Holtby has started one game since losing to the Caps a month ago:

And those numbers don't look good. I think he's off the radar.

 

[StrikingDistance]

well. hive, we can revise the state of things in a year or smth

obviously I'm patented dumb guy
and you're never wrong

but time will tell how close I'm to reality

"Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak and to remove all doubt."

 

[KillerMillerTime]

Backstrom doesn't even look like a top 9 player right now. Is he done?

 

[BiPolar Caps]

Would have commented/posted about this in the Russia/Ukraine thread but they've locked that. Perhaps it's already been posted but Mass Mutual has cancelled the commercial that probably most of us enjoyed with Ovechkin his wife and Backstrom CCM Hockey, MassMutual drop Ovechkin from promotional campaigns. Obviously Ovechkin's brand is suffering and other Russian players as well. I know from time to time you would hear about what the most popular player jerseys or merchandise was and there would even be a ranking of the players related to the sales associated to players, would have to think world events will have a significant impact on this as well.

 

[twabby]

Backstrom doesn't even look like a top 9 player right now. Is he done?

He's probably fine as a 3C who can play more of a static role on the PP, but his injury and recovery reminds me a lot of Ryan Kesler's injury 10 years ago. Kesler had surgery on his hip in 2011 and was able to return and play decent but not fantastic hockey for 6 more years, before falling off a cliff in 2017-18 and eventually forced into LTIR retirement. Backstrom is about that same 6 years out from his initial surgery in 2015 and I have fears that that same cliff is here now as well.

 

[TheLegendOfPatPeake]

He's probably fine as a 3C who can play more of a static role on the PP, but his injury and recovery reminds me a lot of Ryan Kesler's injury 10 years ago. Kesler had surgery on his hip in 2011 and was able to return and play decent but not fantastic hockey for 6 more years, before falling off a cliff in 2017-18 and eventually forced into LTIR retirement. Backstrom is about that same 6 years out from his initial surgery in 2015 and I have fears that that same cliff is here now as well.

Funny enough, the Caps downfall started when Backstrom returned. Could be a complete coincidence but interesting.

 

[CapitalsCupReality]

Funny enough, the Caps downfall started when Backstrom returned. Could be a complete coincidence but interesting.

Nick Backstrom…..noted team killer.

 

[Jacoby4HOF66]

 

[Jacoby4HOF66]

I don't do Twitter or anything. Anyone know if Hagelin is okay?

 

[twabby]

Japers’ Rink Radio Episode 208: Diagnosing Disaster

Interesting discussion with Corey Sznajder, who took a bit of a look at Washington's woes using his microstat lens.

He tweeted out the following graph after the podcast was released:



Worth a listen.

 

[um]

Japers’ Rink Radio Episode 208: Diagnosing Disaster

Interesting discussion with Corey Sznajder, who took a bit of a look at Washington's woes using his microstat lens.

He tweeted out the following graph after the podcast was released:



Worth a listen.

Pretty random graph. Good teams are all over the place on this.

 

[McVechkin]

Hags going to be out long term with an eye injury. Hope it’s not too bad for his sake.

For the caps on ice product, hope GMBM can get creative with some extra cap space now via LTIR.

 

[twabby]

Hags going to be out long term with an eye injury. Hope it’s not too bad for his sake.

For the caps on ice product, hope GMBM can get creative with some extra cap space now via LTIR.

Assuming that means LTIR for Hagelin, that's $2.75M of cap space Washington could potentially play with at the TDL. That's quite a bit.

 

[twabby]

Pretty random graph. Good teams are all over the place on this.

He goes into a bit more on the podcast and what it may mean for Washington in particular.

 

[pman25]

Basically what I heard was that relying on D for zone entries is fine but the D for us also are the ones who end up with the puck in the high danger areas when you want your forwards and finishers with the puck. Ovechkin, Oshie, Wilson, Kuzy should be getting those chances not Trevor van Reimsdyk, Nick Jensen, and Martin Fehervary so things just kinda die

 

[Langway]

The Nashville parallels says it all I think. And, like was said, this team does not have Roman Josi.

Also came across this:

Ungood for a supposedly heavy team that keeps it super basic.