Speculation: Acq./Rost. Bldg./Cap Part XXXVI

[usiel]

Well, that's one way to ruin Kuz.

Love that first line though.

As much as I despise Laich/Brouwer on the same line having a center with size/speed and and setup ability might be interesting. Plus L+B are decent defensively.

 

[Devil Dancer]

Blaine Forsythe will work with Centers, and PP. Has been working with Kuz this summer.

I love that Kuz has been here working to improve his center game. That would be such a miracle for this team if he worked out at 2C. He didn't look great on the boards last year anyway, so might as well see what he can do in the middle.

I hope his shoulder's healthy.

 

[GoGoGrabo]

Psyched on Burakovsky in development camp is still very premature for a 2014-15 roster spot (especially on opening night). Let's see how he does in big boys camp and the pre-season first.

Ovechkin - Backstrom - Ward
Laich - Kuznetsov - Brouwer
Chimera - Johansson - Wilson
Brown - Beagle - Fehr

Latta in for Beagle since they win the same amount of draws and Latta is 100000x more productive with the puck than Beagle. Biznasty can rotate in with Brown.

 

[fedfed]

Latta in for Beagle since they win the same amount of draws and Latta is 100000x more productive with the puck than Beagle. Biznasty can rotate in with Brown.

It's like saying Ferrari and '99 Camry are interchangeable.

 

[RandyHolt]

That is a bit extreme.

More like a tank and a Chevette

 

[HunterSThompson]

FJ Cruiser and 2001 Jeep Cherokee

 

[RandyHolt]

Latta in for Beagle since they win the same amount of draws and Latta is 100000x more productive with the puck than Beagle. Biznasty can rotate in with Brown.

I found it somewhat odd that Trotz wants vets, family guys, on 4.

If true, I am not sure where Latta is going to fit in on the team. Maybe he considers him a vet, I dunno.

 

[Langway]

Quick, Latta. Get hitched!

 

[Devil Dancer]

Quick, Latta. Get hitched!

At first I read that as a suggestion that Latta marry Jonathan Quick.

 

[Hivemind]

At first I read that as a suggestion that Latta marry Jonathan Quick.

 

[Roughing]

At first I read that as a suggestion that Latta marry Jonathan Quick.

Not that there's anything wrong with that.

 

[SimplySensational]

Mainboard Metro predictions are.... interesting.

 

[Coldplay619]

Mainboard Metro predictions are.... interesting.

I wouldn't be surprised if we finished anywhere between 2 and 7 quite honestly.

 

[Devil Dancer]

I wouldn't be surprised if we finished anywhere between 2 and 7 quite honestly.

1 and 8 wouldn't surprise me that much more, TBH.

 

[BobRouse]

Mainboard Metro predictions are.... interesting.

I saw this and wandered over there to check it out.

I find it interesting that people consistently rated 3 teams ahead of the Caps in Philly, NJ and the Isles.

The Devils first off are probably the oldest team in the league. How much more gas to guys like Elias and Jagr have? They haven't been good the last couple season and they lost Fayne who was a good dman for them.

Philly got a bit lucky last year quite frankly. They trapped their way to the playoffs and got suprisingly strong goaltending. Their D is brutal and McDonald gets eaten alive at ES. Losing Timonen is a big blow as is Hartnell who is in all ways a superior player to Umburglar who I suspect will be a healthy scratch half way thru the season.

The Isles signed Grabovski and Kulemin along with Halak. Their D is still brutal and unless young guys step up bigtime its hard to win in this league without D. Everyone here knows I do not believe Grabo/Kulemin to be 2nd line players on a playoff team. I don't know what to make of Halak outside of the fact that he is an upgrade over an aging Nabakov. But behind that D I can't see them going to the playoffs.

The Caps certainly have to prove they are better than the Rags and Pens. We'll see if Columbus will maintain and their players will progress. Alot went right for them last year down the stretch.

The Rags lost some helpful players in Stralman, Boyle and Pouliot who played real well for them. Guys like Dan Boyle and St Louis have to be running out of gas.

 

[ryan519*]

everyone is seriously selling the caps short for this upcoming year, but what else is new. cant believe some are even dumb enough to put the isles devils and even CANES ahead of us...i think biased hatred is getting in the way of pure objectivity. for christs sake, the devils top scorer is 42, how long will that last. just firing oates alone has made this a better team, but when u factor in the new defensive depth, trotz, korn, and kuznetsov/burakovsky hopefully coming into their own, this team could easily compete in the east, let alone the metro division.

we shouldnt be asking IF the capitals will make the playoffs, but how far they actually go once they make it..that will be trotz's real test. get this team past the second round

 

[Hivemind]

Meh. While the range of plausible outcomes is quite wide, if I had to guess a finish, I'd probably pick 5th (ahead of NJ, NYI, Car).

 

[NobodyBeatsTheWiz]

No one believes, outside of the Caps' (and maybe Devils') fanbase, that the Caps had the worst coaching staff in the league last year.

I think the coaching change alone adds 5+ wins, not even considering player-personnel upgrades. I think it's a 45W/95 point kind of team, conservatively.

 

[BobRouse]

Myst

What do you see in Philly that makes you believe they will finish ahead of us?

They lost Timonen and Hartnell and replaced them with a full year of McDonald (gets shredded at ES) and Umburger. I don't like their D outside of Streit and Coburn and I'm not even 100% sold on those guys.

Didn't they have worse possession metrics than we did? Maybe not. But they weren't a good possession team last year.

 

[ryan519*]

which is more than enough to grab a playoff spot in the east @Wiz

 

[Hivemind]

Myst

What do you see in Philly that makes you believe they will finish ahead of us?

They lost Timonen and Hartnell and replaced them with a full year of McDonald (gets shredded at ES) and Umburger. I don't like their D outside of Streit and Coburn and I'm not even 100% sold on those guys.

Didn't they have worse possession metrics than we did? Maybe not. But they weren't a good possession team last year.

I have little certainty that they will. This division is a garbled mess, and the season could break any number of ways.

I do think they have vastly superior depth up front (especially down the middle), and at lest similar depth on the back-end. Mason is still a question mark, but has largely been a useful goaltender since landing in Philadelphia. MacDonald got shredded as a top pairing defenseman, but may see much improved numbers when on a lower pairing than he was on Long Island. Either way, despite the warts, I'd say their defense is full of legitimate NHL defensemen on all 3 pairings. I'm not in love with the roster, but it looks more well-rounded than the Capitals'. Not a contender, but assuming the goaltending doesn't implode and they get reasonable performances from their special teams, it's probably a playoff team.

 

[BobRouse]

I have little certainty that they will. This division is a garbled mess, and the season could break any number of ways.

I do think they have vastly superior depth up front (especially down the middle), and at lest similar depth on the back-end. Mason is still a question mark, but has largely been a useful goaltender since landing in Philadelphia. MacDonald got shredded as a top pairing defenseman, but may see much improved numbers when on a lower pairing than he was on Long Island. Either way, despite the warts, I'd say their defense is full of legitimate NHL defensemen on all 3 pairings. I'm not in love with the roster, but it looks more well-rounded than the Capitals'. Not a contender, but assuming the goaltending doesn't implode and they get reasonable performances from their special teams, it's probably a playoff team.

Streit, McDonald, Coburn, MDZ, Grossman and Nick Schultz is pretty awful.

McDonald got shredded playing as a 2nd pairing dman too. I read that Lighthouse article from the Islanders blog last year and it was pretty damning.

http://www.lighthousehockey.com/2013/11/25/5146534/andrew-macdonald-vs-various-levels-of-competition-this-year-and-last

AMac played only about 41% of his time vs Poor or Mediocre opponents. Unfortunately, he didn't play well vs these guys either, which is why his #s look so poor.



Here's this year:

Amac vs Poor Opponents: Average Corsi of these opponents: 43.5% (Terrible). Actual vs AMac: 54.5%
Amac vs Mediocre Opponents: Average Corsi of these opponents: 48.3% (Meh): Actual vs AMac: 59.0%
AMac vs Good Opponents: Average Corsi of these opponents: 51.2% (Good): Actual vs AMac: 59.7%
AMac vs Elite Opponents: Average Corsi of these opponents: 56.7% (elite): Actual vs AMac: 59.9%


AMac reminds me of Brian Pothier in both how he plays and his numbers. That should tell you alot right there...

Streit is 36 years old and will be expected to play alot.

I have no confidence in Grossman, MDZ or Nick Schultz. No one wanted MDZ. There is a reason he was nicknamed Delzaster.

Its not hard to be better down the middle than the Caps but I'd say our wingers are better and our D is much better or should be at least.

Again..I think Philly is coming back down to earth this year. I don't like the way they play. More passive than any Philly team I can remember since Hitch.

 

[ryan519*]

a trade involving green could solve the caps problem down the middle quite nicely i think..i dont know why there isnt more consideration of this. it could basically end up being trade of what will be to us a third pairing defenseman for a legit 2C. i like the idea of competetion for the 2C, but that could just as easily backfire as work out..why not strike something up with the wings and get one of their young guns? or maybe NYI for nielsen, who knows. damn shame nyquist isnt a center

 

[BobRouse]

a trade involving green could solve the caps problem down the middle quite nicely i think..i dont know why there isnt more consideration of this. it could basically end up being trade of what will be to us a third pairing defenseman for a legit 2C. i like the idea of competetion for the 2C, but that could just as easily backfire as work out..why not strike something up with the wings and get one of their young guns? or maybe NYI for nielsen, who knows. damn shame nyquist isnt a center

These sentences do not compute. The wings don't want to trade a young player for him (they would offer us trash) and they don't have a young center. We'd be trading Green for a winger and the Caps won't do that.

 

[ryan519*]

nielsen?