Post-Game Talk: Big Bald Babies @ Ravishing Rugged Russians 7:30 PM

[discobob]

Caps are now

#1 Goals for (tied)
#1 Goals against

When was the last time a team did that?

 

[RandyHolt]

....

I kind of hope things get back to normal when they start back. 2-1, 3-0 wins.

I don't. We saw him dial O back after the blizzard, dial O back for 13 years before that. The Caps have seen this defense first story close to 3 decades now. The one year we didn't, our monster offense in 2010, seemed our best chance as any at the Cup. That's why that loss hurt so much.

I simply think he struggles to use Ovi Oshie Kuz Bura BCon Eller Wilson Orlov Schmidt Sanford Vrana and likely others to their strengths trying to win games 2-1. No players get "hot". One mistake, and it's series over.

Even a guy like Backstrom who is strong defensively, is even stronger offensively. What do you know, he is suddenly among the league leaders in points.

What we need to see is how this offense fares vs the famed Hunter Hunker 0-5-1, before panicking and back peddling from his uncontested Adams and Presidential grade coaching, to hunker ourselves.

 

[895]

Caps are now

#1 Goals for (tied)
#1 Goals against

When was the last time a team did that?

Vancouver in 2011. Lost in SCF to Boston

 

[RandyHolt]

....asking young talent to grind out wins isn't going to allow their offensive games to flourish at all. The fact that Wilson was good enough at the grinding to pass only hurt his case by allowing him to "fit in" and look finished, refining his best elements rather than building up weaker ones. ....

That is the key point in evaluating Willy right now. Thanks for replying, you said it better than I could.

He embraced solid defense, PKing, not getting fancy on the rush etc, things demanded of him by Barry.

After a recent run of nice games, scoring at a ~40 point pace playing 4th line minutes, leading in ESTOI last night, and scoring to boot, it's a not a good time to pick on Willy.

 

[trick9]

Wilson has been really good for 2 straight games. Even before then he had some good games. Trotz is rewarding him.

Ovechkin below 15 minutes again. Even that was propably more ice than he deserved.

 

[twabby]

I don't. We saw him dial O back after the blizzard, dial O back for 13 years before that. The Caps have seen this defense first story close to 3 decades now. The one year we didn't, our monster offense in 2010, seemed our best chance as any at the Cup. That's why that loss hurt so much.

I simply think he struggles to use Ovi Oshie Kuz Bura BCon Eller Wilson Orlov Schmidt Sanford Vrana and likely others to their strengths trying to win games 2-1. No players get "hot". One mistake, and it's series over.

Even a guy like Backstrom who is strong defensively, is even stronger offensively. What do you know, he is suddenly among the league leaders in points.

What we need to see is how this offense fares vs the famed Hunter Hunker 0-5-1, before panicking and back peddling from his uncontested Adams and Presidential grade coaching, to hunker ourselves.

This. The strength of this roster is playing uptempo hockey. Even on nights where Holtby is uncharacteristically weak and the defense (Orlov, Carlson/Alzner) has a few breakdowns they still end up winning. This is the blueprint that recent Cup winners have had.

 

[txpd]

it's a not a good time to pick on Willy.

Leave him unprotected.

 

[discobob]

This. The strength of this roster is playing uptempo hockey. Even on nights where Holtby is uncharacteristically weak and the defense (Orlov, Carlson/Alzner) has a few breakdowns they still end up winning. This is the blueprint that recent Cup winners have had.

In addition, there are different versions of uptempo...

This version can relentlessly forecheck, tilting the ice. The 2010 version didn't do that nearly as well, and it limits possession time for the opponent.

 

[Ridley Simon]

Leave him unprotected.

I will use your line "who do you sit(leave available)" instead?

Ovechkin, Backstrom, Kuznetsov, Burakovsky, Eller, Johansson are all "have to protect", yes?

Winnik, Williams, Oshie are all UFA's.

That leaves Wilson, Beagle, Connolly. You'll get various opinions. And that's assuming Oshie isn't resigned before the season is over. Alan May was calling for his to be resigned ASAP. If he is, then he's automatically a protected player....IMO.

So no Oshie means one of Wilson, Beagle and Connolly. I can get behind a Wilson keep, even though I love Beagle, and I think losing him would hurt the team far worse than losing Wilson. The current 4c backbone would keep this team in a good place offensvely for the next 3 maybe more seasons. Connolly will get some looks from people, if he scores close to 20, is cheap, and young. He could easily be top 6 in Vegas.

It's not as easy as you sarcastically make it.

 

[twabby]

Eh the 2010 team was pretty dominant possessing the puck. They were also more top-heavy on the roster and had some of the worst goaltending in the league. People often note how bad their defense was for good reason, but if Theodore or Varlamov could have made one more save they would have beat Montreal and they often made games closer than they should have been.

 

[Alexander the Gr8]

Eh the 2010 team was pretty dominant possessing the puck. They were also more top-heavy on the roster and had some of the worst goaltending in the league. People often note how bad their defense was for good reason, but if Theodore or Varlamov could have made one more save they would have beat Montreal and they often made games closer than they should have been.

In a 7 game series, the 2017 team beats the 2010 or 2016 teams.

 

[marcel snapshot]

Concur in the Willy props - he's added several dimensions to his game including pk, vision, positional soundness, more pace, more selective on when to dole a big hit or drop the mitts. Scoring touch is often the last thing to develop in big guys: think Chris Simon (nearly 30 goals 1 year with Oatsie), Bertuzzi, or further back guys like Al Secord and Tim Kerr - all of whose production rose dramatically after a few years in the league.

Also want to throw some love to Mojo, the top 6 Swiss Army knife. Speed, entries with possession, defensively sound, net front presence and wily screens, potting some one-timers, and play-making. First goal last night he takes the lane to the net the D gives him and then makes a sweet dish to Osh. Or the Kuzy goal Tuesday against the Canes where he makes a drop pass to Kuzy when he's 5 feet from the goalie but at a tight angle. Seeing some elite level playmaking from him

 

[g00n]

Guys, the obvious answer is probably the correct one here regarding Ovechkin. He probably has/had the flu since players have recently missed games because of it.

http://www.ottawasun.com/2017/01/24...lu-bug-ahead-of-game-with-washington-capitals

http://www.russianmachineneverbreak...-misses-game-against-senators-due-to-the-flu/

Sens had the flu going through their locker room at the same time as the Caps, just a few weeks ago when the teams met. Not everyone gets it at the same time. Ovie is probably the latest guy to have it. Trotz probably knows this and is keeping his minutes down. When have we known Ovechkin to get such low minutes when healthy under Trotz, whether slumping or not? He even looked like he had about 50% of his energy for the ceremonial puck drop vs Detroit, and you know he would normally be a complete ham for such a thing.

Ovechkin is pretty clearly sick, imo. This break comes at a perfect time for him. I'm betting you see him flying out of the gate in the first or second game back.

 

[Devil Dancer]

Lots of positivity in this thread. What are we going to complain about all week?

Edit: Oops, missed the Ovie talk. There you go.

 

[txpd]

7 goals against in 2 games. We know that winning streaks often begin with a well played loss and end with a poorly played win. They kind of look like they are ripe for a 5-5 10 game run.

Maybe they at saved from that by this break. If that turns out to be the case, it may be the reverse effect of the blizzard last year.

 

[marcel snapshot]

7 goals against in 2 games. We know that winning streaks often begin with a well played loss and end with a poorly played win. They kind of look like they are ripe for a 5-5 10 game run.

Maybe they at saved from that by this break. If that turns out to be the case, it may be the reverse effect of the blizzard last year.

Agree - if they played tomorrow, they'd lose, based on trajectory of last 2 games. Even the Canes win Tuesday, they were out-worked, out-skated and outshot in first 10 minutes.

Break is well-timed

 

[Alexander the Gr8]

7 goals against in 2 games. We know that winning streaks often begin with a well played loss and end with a poorly played win. They kind of look like they are ripe for a 5-5 10 game run.

Maybe they at saved from that by this break. If that turns out to be the case, it may be the reverse effect of the blizzard last year.

Trotz mentioned last year's snow storm in his post game press conference. He said that they didn't build on the momentum they gained before the storm, and that they thought they could just flip the switch and get back to their pre-snow storm level.

Trotz said that he will not allow the same mistake to happen twice, and that he wants the team to be even better coming out of the bye week. He concluded by saying that he had identified many things that he wants to work on at the end of the break to address some minor issues.

 

[txpd]

I will use your line "who do you sit(leave available)" instead?

So no Oshie means one of Wilson, Beagle and Connolly.

That's easy. Beagle does not need to be protected though. He will be going into his last contract year at 32. He is a win now player that they couldn't keep. His only value is to trade at the deadline next year. They can do better than that.

 

[Ridley Simon]

That's easy. Beagle does not need to be protected though. He will be going into his last contract year at 32. He is a win now player that they couldn't keep. His only value is to trade at the deadline next year. They can do better than that.

Lots of assumptions. Beagle would easily be their 3c. Best face off and best PK'er. They will want to be competitive.

Again.....I think Beagle is more valuable to this team the next 2-3 years than Wilson. Obviously I am in the minority in that regard.

 

[artilector]

7 goals against in 2 games. We know that winning streaks often begin with a well played loss and end with a poorly played win. They kind of look like they are ripe for a 5-5 10 game run.

Maybe they at saved from that by this break. If that turns out to be the case, it may be the reverse effect of the blizzard last year.

Not to me. All in all, they still dominated these last two games, outshooting Wings and Ducks 31-17, 39-22.

The only real reason why these games were close is because Mr.System had an 0.820 SV%. Which could be a fluke, too. He got beat by some great shots.

 

[artilector]

As far as protecting Connolly, Beagle, Wilson...

Would not protect Beagle simply because of age. Short term, he may be the most valuable player of the three, but maybe not by much (if at all), and long term it's not close.

Connolly vs. Wilson, there's the challenge. As recently as a week ago I'd say no contest, it's Connolly as long as he continues to look on track to fulfilling top-6 potential. But now, the 4th line has decided they want to score, too, and Wilson is not looking out of place making plays.

I'd still lean Connolly, I guess. He keeps making top-6 plays, at what point do you decide it's not likely to be a phantom hot streak? If Caps can add a top-6 piece out of the blue, at relative bargain price (given his chequered past), that's a major coup.

The way the two are going right now, I'd definitely talk to Vegas about paying them off to take somebody else. Maybe really try to ship Grubauer for a 1st to whoever needs goalie the most, and then package that 1st to Vegas for them to take Orpik. Don't really want to lose Schmidt, either, unless he craps the bed in playoffs, he fits the current system well, too.

edit: the conversation is here, but the content is for acquisitions thread...

 

[Devil Dancer]

Connolly looks like he's evolving into a top 6 talent. Willy looks like he's evolving into a decent third liner, but he does bring that physical edge no one else does now that 8 and 44 have toned down the hitting.

It's a potentially tough choice, especially since the sample sizes are so small.

 

[Calicaps]

Connolly looks like he's evolving into a top 6 talent. Willy looks like he's evolving into a decent third liner, but he does bring that physical edge no one else does now that 8 and 44 have toned down the hitting.

It's a potentially tough choice, especially since the sample sizes are so small.

Playoffs will tell the tale.

 

[txpd]

I don't. We saw him dial O back after the blizzard, dial O back for 13 years before that..

of course. if I said it was day, you would say its night. If you think 5-4 is the way to the cup, lets just agree to disagree.

 

[txpd]

Connolly looks like he's evolving into a top 6 talent. Willy looks like he's evolving into a decent third liner, but he does bring that physical edge no one else does now that 8 and 44 have toned down the hitting.

It's a potentially tough choice, especially since the sample sizes are so small.

Last 15 games. Connolly 12pts. Wilson 8pts