Post-Game Talk: Capitals Vs Devils - 12/21/13 7:00 PM - Caps Lose 5-4 (OT)

[Halpysback*]

It's not like Dale Hunter got them to contest the neutral and defensive zone as hard as any team in the league or anything...

 

[Capitlols]

It's not like Dale Hunter got them to contest the neutral and defensive zone as hard as any team in the league or anything...

Jim Johnson played a big role in it, loved his man-to-man scheme vs. this passive zone one.

 

[trick9]

Not really that bad of a game for Holtby... he did give up few bad goals but he made several game-savers too. For me it seemed like Carlson and Alzner were absolutely terrible today, and seemed like they were on ice for every goal against.

And for those ridiculous suggestions to trade Holtby i'll just say that go back and see Holtby's stats from november. He single-handedly won this team games.

Do people really want to see him getting traded? It sure brings lots of faith to future starting goalies for this team. I mean if you want Grubauer to take over as #1 guy right now what happens in 1-2 years when he is having a bad month? You want him traded too. Then we are back to similar situation as now when we are watching Varlamov in contention for Vezina while GMGM we have Erat and Latta left from that deal.

Calle Johansson should be first one to go (since McPhee is a pipe dream), then if things don't improve Oates, and finally get some veteran coach like Laviolette.

 

[RandyHolt]

veteran coach candidates?

You must mean Games played leaders

1. Calle Johansson 983
2. Peter Bondra 961
3. Kelly Miller 940
4. Dale Hunter 872
5. Michal Pivonka 825
6. Mike Gartner* 758
7. Rod Langway* 726
8. Olaf Kolzig 711
9. Steve Konowalchuk 693
10. Kevin Hatcher 685

 

[Halpysback*]

Jim Johnson played a big role in it, loved his man-to-man scheme vs. this passive zone one.

He did but Dale played a large role in actually getting them to step on their nuts and execute it. That's how it should work honestly - have a guy like Oates/Johnson who understands tactics as an assistant coach, and a guy with his finger on the pulse on of the bench and the game be the head coach. That's how pretty much all organizations work, from the military to business to government. Have a Dale Hunter/Darryl Sutter/Peter Laviolette coaching and a Jim Johnson/Adam Oates perfecting the tactics.

The best thing about man to man defense is how much it equalizes any talent gap between your defense and the opposing offense. You can have a mobile 2nd pairing caliber defenseman shut down just about anyone as long as they have the effort and the discipline to consistently execute the scheme. You don't need a high hockey IQ, you don't need amazing stick skills yet you can make it pretty much impossible for the other team to generate any skilled offensive plays by always being on top of them never giving them any time or space. You don't need a lot of skill to stay close to a guy and interfere with him in all sorts of legal-ish ways. It was so easy even a Mike Green could do it. Boston and LA have become much more elite than their talent level suggests they should be by doing just that. Letting Johnson go and moving away from man to man defense is the biggest organizational setback we've had in a while.

 

[SimplySensational]

It's not like Dale Hunter got them to contest the neutral and defensive zone as hard as any team in the league or anything...

No he didn't. That team just blocked 30 shots a game come playoff time.

Capitals only made the playoffs due to Ovechkins goal scoring run to end the season that usually was the first goal of the game.

 

[Halpysback*]

No he didn't. That team just blocked 30 shots a game come playoff time.

Capitals only made the playoffs due to Ovechkins goal scoring run to end the season that usually was the first goal of the game.

And the reason they blocked 30 shots a game was because the primary way opposing teams could get the puck to the net was through point shots since everything closer was contested to **** . Thanks for proving my point.

 

[RandyHolt]

I think our defense is better suited to play man to man.

Our soft as butter defensemen become much more aggressive forced to play man to man. Slackers get exposed and can't just sit in their zone and do little more than hope to end up plus fiddy.

I agree that Oates may be better suited to be an assistant.

 

[BrettXNA*]

Not really that bad of a game for Holtby... he did give up few bad goals but he made several game-savers too. For me it seemed like Carlson and Alzner were absolutely terrible today, and seemed like they were on ice for every goal against.

And for those ridiculous suggestions to trade Holtby i'll just say that go back and see Holtby's stats from november. He single-handedly won this team games.

Do people really want to see him getting traded? It sure brings lots of faith to future starting goalies for this team. I mean if you want Grubauer to take over as #1 guy right now what happens in 1-2 years when he is having a bad month? You want him traded too. Then we are back to similar situation as now when we are watching Varlamov in contention for Vezina while GMGM we have Erat and Latta left from that deal.

Calle Johansson should be first one to go (since McPhee is a pipe dream), then if things don't improve Oates, and finally get some veteran coach like Laviolette.

I want to see Neuvirth traded, but thanks to that asinine contract our genius gm just had to sign him to, I fear it may be impossible.

 

[Ovechkins Wodka]

noovy will be here for the rest of his contract then walk FA

 

[IafrateOvie34]

A firm no to trading Holtby, unless severe over payment by another team. Amazing how fans dump on players through a rough stretch. The logical move is Neuvy. Try moving him to Vancouver with Luongo out.

 

[IafrateOvie34]

He did but Dale played a large role in actually getting them to step on their nuts and execute it. That's how it should work honestly - have a guy like Oates/Johnson who understands tactics as an assistant coach, and a guy with his finger on the pulse on of the bench and the game be the head coach. That's how pretty much all organizations work, from the military to business to government. Have a Dale Hunter/Darryl Sutter/Peter Laviolette coaching and a Jim Johnson/Adam Oates perfecting the tactics.

The best thing about man to man defense is how much it equalizes any talent gap between your defense and the opposing offense. You can have a mobile 2nd pairing caliber defenseman shut down just about anyone as long as they have the effort and the discipline to consistently execute the scheme. You don't need a high hockey IQ, you don't need amazing stick skills yet you can make it pretty much impossible for the other team to generate any skilled offensive plays by always being on top of them never giving them any time or space. You don't need a lot of skill to stay close to a guy and interfere with him in all sorts of legal-ish ways. It was so easy even a Mike Green could do it. Boston and LA have become much more elite than their talent level suggests they should be by doing just that. Letting Johnson go and moving away from man to man defense is the biggest organizational setback we've had in a while.

My initial reply I posted wasn't uploaded from my Ipad, but I agree. I liked Johansson as a player and appreciate loyalty to the organization, however his coaching is nothing to be desired. You will not find many supporters of DH here unfortunately. Sure, the scoring was terrible, but he made the best use of any GMGM defense of all the Caps coaches, IMO. Furthermore, DH had the guts to sit guys like Schultz. Yes, losing Johnson is a big loss.