1/2 way mark, rate the team.

[RandyHolt]

Our defense without Orpik seems young and inexperienced. Is it cup worthy?

They have looked great to date, however.

Schmidt may be the key to filling any Orpik void. I thought it was telling to hear a CSN fan poll where he was voted well above Alzner. Sure fans are stoopid and it may have been only 5 people casting votes, and this was before his big save. May corrected the pollers, but still.

I think we need D vet experience added, to firm up the A+. The kids may not stand up to a Isles 4th line for 7 games. Orpik may be a mess this year. He was injured even in camp.

 

[g00n]

Surprised people are grading Oshie so low. He's solidified that top RW spot and his ability to create and extend plays from seemingly nothing is probably second only to Kuz so far. If he misses a chance it probably only gets noticed because he created it out of thin air in the first place (magic). His 14 goals put him at a 28 goal pace and his 73 hits are third behind Ovechkin and Wilson.

Dude is a solid "A".

 

[AlexBrovechkin8]

I agree with you. A+ is PERFECT. A is the only grade that makes sense.

Yes, this is what I was saying. That said, perfect is unattainable and they're about as close to perfect as you can get.

One other thing that keeps them out of A+ territory for me is their advanced stats fell off a cliff in November and December. <50% possession metrics, high PDO, etc. I haven't checked in the past week or so, but the eye test says they've been winning those battles again with suffocating defense and a good forecheck.

 

[AlexBrovechkin8]

Surprised people are grading Oshie so low. He's solidified that top RW spot and his ability to create and extend plays from seemingly nothing is probably second only to Kuz so far. If he misses a chance it probably only gets noticed because he created it out of thin air in the first place (magic). His 14 goals put him at a 28 goal pace and his 73 hits are third behind Ovechkin and Wilson.

Dude is a solid "A".

At least an A. He's been everything we asked for and more. Tough, physical, creative, solid defensively; he's been the total package. I think his game has dipped the past 4 games or so which is maybe why people are grading him a bit lower.

 

[Melkor]

As good as the team has been IMO you overrated several of the individual players. Here's my tally with a B being "meets expectations":

Ovechkin: B- (puck handling and passing have been flat out bad at times this season)
Backstrom: B
Oshie: B+
Johansson: B (fluctuates from A- to D on any given night)
Kuznetsov: A
Williams: B+
Chimera: A
Beagle: B+
Wilson: A-
Laich: D (would get an F from me without the decent PK)
Latta: B
Burakovsky: C
Galiev: B-

Carlson: B- (I'm in the camp that doesn't love his PP game)
Orpik: C- (based on the few games he's played)
Alzner: A
Niskanen: A
Schmidt: A
Orlov: B+
Chorney: A-

Holtby: A+
Grubauer: C+

Trotz & coaching staff: A (amazing work with a lot of different pieces on D)
GMBM: A (assuming we're including the offsesason moves)

Love Holtby but not A+ worthy. ANd I know he's inarguably frontrunner for Vezina. There have been some games he's played pretty average, to say the least, and the team bailed him out with furious comebacks or terrific defense when it was needed. A is my grade for him.

 

[sycamore]

Williams is far more deserving than a B+. He's been money in so many games. A- is more like it.

 

[Ridley Simon]

Duplication of the first half would give them one of the best regular season totals in NHL history, a couple of points off the '76-'77 Habs. That's an A+ first half.

I get it, but setting any all time team points/wins records is a little disengenuous due to the loser point and the shoot out win.

The 77 Habs team had neither (no OT either)
The 96 Wings team had OT.

So while I am not diminishing any of the team's accomplishments, as they are awesome-- it's not apples to apples for these records.

 

[Ridley Simon]

Surprised people are grading Oshie so low. He's solidified that top RW spot and his ability to create and extend plays from seemingly nothing is probably second only to Kuz so far. If he misses a chance it probably only gets noticed because he created it out of thin air in the first place (magic). His 14 goals put him at a 28 goal pace and his 73 hits are third behind Ovechkin and Wilson.

Dude is a solid "A".

People are not giving Oshie enough credit. He's been ideal.

They are also giving some players too much credit. Namely Burakovsky, Orlov, Carlson, and ......you know who.

Not that any of the players (save you know who) are bad...just I think below expectations. I don't think Carlson has moved to elite yet. He's terrific, but not top 5 (or even 10?). Orlov is getting better, so this may change by seasons end....same with Burakovsky. You know who has been bad overall. I expected him to be a good PK'er, but i also expected *some* offense, and more physicality and pkaymaking. I didn't expect a lot of it- but more than zero.

 

[sycamore]

Grade I give to the rest of the East this year minus Florida: D

 

[Backstrom #19]

I get it, but setting any all time team points/wins records is a little disengenuous due to the loser point and the shoot out win.

The 77 Habs team had neither (no OT either)
The 96 Wings team had OT.

So while I am not diminishing any of the team's accomplishments, as they are awesome-- it's not apples to apples for these records.

You forgot the fact that those teams didn't have Brooks Laich on their roster, so they are automatically better.

 

[ALLCAPSALLTHETIME]

This team is doing things I haven't seen before.
They seem very strong even on the tail end of back to back games and they just destroyed Ottawa tonight and it was the Caps' 3rd game in 4 nights. I even remember them doing pretty well in early games. Lol.

They definitely deserve an A as they are on pace for 130 points and that is crazy good. They are 2nd in GF/G and 2nd in GA/G. 2nd best PP and a very good PK. They've even had some injuries to deal with.

Should be an interesting 2nd half of the season.

 

[ALLCAPSALLTHETIME]

Plus, they played 22 road games in the first half and only 19 home games. A 16-4-2 road record is outstanding.

 

[txpd]

I get it, but setting any all time team points/wins records is a little disengenuous due to the loser point and the shoot out win.

The 77 Habs team had neither (no OT either)
The 96 Wings team had OT.

So while I am not diminishing any of the team's accomplishments, as they are awesome-- it's not apples to apples for these records.

Its true. That the 77 Habs didn't have OT to bleed points. They also didn't have a salary cap or free agency anything like the current parity league. Its like saying that Guy LaFluer's 50 goals were as hard to score then as Ov's 50 goals now. Its not the same thing

 

[trick9]

1 game too late but anyways.

30 ROW - 1st (Dallas 2nd with 27)

67 points - 1st (Dallas 2nd with 62, 2 games in hand for WSH)

16-3-1 home record - arguably the best (Chicago has 18-5-1)

16-4-2 away record - Easily best in the NHL (no other team with over road 13 wins)

3.26 GF/GP - 2nd in the NHL (Dallas best with 3.34)

2.12 GA/GP - 2nd in the NHL (Florida best with 2.10)

26.6% PP - 2nd in the NHL (Boston best with 28.3%)

85.5% PK - 4th in the NHL (ANA 89.7%, NYI 86.4%, STL 85.6%)

Win% when leading after 1st 100% - tied for 1st

Win% when leading after 2nd 95.8% - 3rd in the NHL

Win% when trailing after 1st 50% - 1st in the NHL

Win% when trailing after 2nd 55.6% - 1st in the NHL

We have Vezina -favorite, Rocket Richard -favorite, Hart -candidate, and Carlson is 4th in P/GP by D's.

How is this not an A+ season so far...?

 

[Mackinnonen]

To be honest, I did not expect this team to step up like they have after last season. It's still January though.

 

[Backstrom #19]

1 game too late but anyways.

30 ROW - 1st (Dallas 2nd with 27)

67 points - 1st (Dallas 2nd with 62, 2 games in hand for WSH)

16-3-1 home record - arguably the best (Chicago has 18-5-1)

16-4-2 away record - Easily best in the NHL (no other team with over road 13 wins)

3.26 GF/GP - 2nd in the NHL (Dallas best with 3.34)

2.12 GA/GP - 2nd in the NHL (Florida best with 2.10)

26.6% PP - 2nd in the NHL (Boston best with 28.3%)

85.5% PK - 4th in the NHL (ANA 89.7%, NYI 86.4%, STL 85.6%)

Win% when leading after 1st 100% - tied for 1st

Win% when leading after 2nd 95.8% - 3rd in the NHL

Win% when trailing after 1st 50% - 1st in the NHL

Win% when trailing after 2nd 55.6% - 1st in the NHL

We have Vezina -favorite, Rocket Richard -favorite, Hart -candidate, and Carlson is 4th in P/GP by D's.

How is this not an A+ season so far...?

Brooks Laich.

 

[Stewie G]

What do the "not perfect" people expect? 42-0-0? If that's the case, that option should be taken off, since the team already fell wayyy short of that.

If we take a step back from that, at what point would they get an A+? All-stars at every position? Given the restraints of the salary cap, every team is going to have weaknesses, but the Caps' weaknesses are well down the lineup. This isn't the same as having Flash at 2C. Plus, with the injuries they've had, I don't know how much more could be expected at this point.

It's an 82+ game slog. They're not going to have an A+ effort every night, and it is a bit crazy to expect that they would.

 

[CapitalsCupReality]

Clearly A+ is perfect on ANY grading scale.

 

[strungout]

18 point division lead.

How can in not be an A+?

 

[Stewie G]

Clearly A+ is perfect on ANY grading scale.

Then the A+ option should have been removed after Game 2.

 

[g00n]

Clearly A+ is perfect on ANY grading scale.

Some scales have it at various percentages above 95%. Grading can vary depending on the teacher/district/school/region/country/etc.

 

[msrulo]

B, this is the regular season, nothing is seen yet.

We might win the presidents trophy but most of the teams who have were taken out in the 2nd or 3rd round of the playoffs.

 

[Turd Ferguson]

Surprised people are grading Oshie so low. He's solidified that top RW spot and his ability to create and extend plays from seemingly nothing is probably second only to Kuz so far. If he misses a chance it probably only gets noticed because he created it out of thin air in the first place (magic). His 14 goals put him at a 28 goal pace and his 73 hits are third behind Ovechkin and Wilson.

Dude is a solid "A".

I didn't see much of him in St.Louis but I can honestly say his work ethic is second to none, hence why he is making plays out of nothing. Haven't seen him give up on a play much this year. I wouldn't call him the most efficient skater, but a few times this year he's moved damn fast on the back check.

Impact wise on this team's mentality, him and Williams are A's in my books.

With regards to the grading scale, my graduate program in the U.K anything above 70% is an A, and 60-69% is a B. I'd give them an A where there is room to grow, no team is perfect and given their situation with Carlson, Orpik and Beagle out we can improve more once they get back to regular play.

 

[txpd]

18 point division lead.

How can in not be an A+?

The Panthers have won 12 in a row. Its amazing. They are still 11 pts back and have only made up 3pts in that period.

It is the regular season, but you cant grade them on anything but the games they can play. there are no playoff games on the schedule

 

[CapitalsCupReality]

Then the A+ option should have been removed after Game 2.

I wouldn't have it as an option....game 2 or game 40.