Post-Game Talk: Caps/Boltz 7pm (punch, pie)

[hockeyfan88]

Have faith guys, you don't go from pres cup and a game 7 against the champs to nothing. Just believe that it's better to play like this and get it out of the system while the season is young. If i'm not wrong they are still right in the mix for the division despite this shaky start. Remember how awkward Pittsburgh looked last season early and how good the Caps looked? Remind me what happened after the all star break.....

I disagree. Playing this bad is never a good thing for a hockey team.

With that much talent, they can't play this dumbed down offense all year and expect good results in the playoffs.

Something needs to change...System, coaches, players, idk. It's not working.

 

[Calicaps]

Would've liked to have seen Vrana, one of the fastest on the team, in OT.

This. And really this is a key Trotz problem: he's way too safe. I mean for Christ sakes you've scored 1 goal in 6 periods and played like garbage for at least 3 games. Take a flyer on something. If you lose, at least you tried, and hell, you were probably gonna lose anyway.

 

[g00n]

When the Pens were struggling last year I remember hearing from the stat-heads that their bad numbers weren't sustainable and they were a better team on paper than their record showed. Can the same be said for this Caps team?

 

[Coldplay619]

When the Pens were struggling last year I remember hearing from the stat-heads that their bad numbers weren't sustainable and they were a better team on paper than their record showed. Can the same be said for this Caps team?

Our underlying numbers are pretty good.

But it seems like our offensive approach is flawed, we're not generating good chances.

The low to high philosophy is terrible.

 

[HecticGlow]

Nothing against Johansson, but i knew he wouldn't score in the shootout

Actually, the more I think of it, the more this sums up the Caps problems. We have very few successful shooters on our team right now.

Few of our players have been scoring goals - you certainly wouldn't trust Carlson or Niskanen to put it on net right now - and Burakovsky and Williams have been missing the net or fanning on good opportunities for a while now. I'm honestly surprised Kuzy scored in the shootout. Lars Eller, Tom Wilson and Brett Connolly have hardly been impressing offensively.

I hope Vrana's here to stay. If he's here when Osh returns, I think we can be more confident that we've got 3 top-9 left wingers and at least 2 top-9 right wingers. The only question there will be whether we have a legit 2C and 3C. So much for being so strong up the middle...

Great speed and puck control, net drives, general idea to shoot the puck... Give him a couple of shifts with Mojo and Backstrom and I bet he starts scoring.

 

[HecticGlow]

Our underlying numbers are pretty good.

But it seems like our offensive approach is flawed, we're not generating good chances.

The low to high philosophy is terrible.

We're covering the point too much, making it much harder on the three forwards to move about unchallenged and find open ice or the net. But frankly, getting the D to pinch in more would be risky.

• Schmidt can pinch in because his speed makes a 2-on-1 less likely, and Orpik's one of our steadiest D-men
• Niskanen and Alzner aren't the fastest on their feet
• Carlson looks slow, Orlov makes bad D decisions, and Carlson has been a bit of a pylon for most of the season anyway, so I'm not sure you'd want either guarding Braden alone.

Meanwhile, did anyone see the 3-on-3 shift where we had no defenders on the ice, in our own zone, under huge pressure? No idea what mistake was made on the line change - surely it can't have been deliberate - but you had Mojo, Eller and (I think) Kuznetsov out there together. That could have ended badly.

 

[SpinningEdge]

Have faith guys, you don't go from pres cup and a game 7 against the champs to nothing. Just believe that it's better to play like this and get it out of the system while the season is young. If i'm not wrong they are still right in the mix for the division despite this shaky start. Remember how awkward Pittsburgh looked last season early and how good the Caps looked? Remind me what happened after the all star break.....

We lost in 6 games to the Pens...

 

[amjay13]

It's so boring. Very little scoring, very little physical play, very little fighting. We've been so lucky to see a decade of Ovi, I fear what it'll be like after he is done.

 

[SpinningEdge]

Does anyone even notice Tom Wilson on the ice anymore?

Better question.... does anyone really notice any Caps players stand out much anymore?

 

[Blitzkrieg365]

It's so boring. Very little scoring, very little physical play, very little fighting. We've been so lucky to see a decade of Ovi, I fear what it'll be like after he is done.

They have no identity, they look so lost out there.

 

[Brian23]

Does anyone even notice Tom Wilson on the ice anymore?

Better question.... does anyone really notice any Caps players stand out much anymore?

Honeslty, no one on the Caps stands out besides the netminder. I think he looks really good on the PK. The real issue is that the entire team has essentially been set in low gear and not allowed to get going. The only times Wilson looks great is when he's allowed to be aggressive and allowed to just put the hammer down and go. I think him being invisible is as much the team being bad as anything.

 

[DanTHEMan71]

We have the second best goalie in the world. It's time for Trotz to be riskier offensively and change it up.

 

[Alexander the Gr8]

This team is dead in the water. There's no magic line combination to pull out of this funk. It seems that whatever was affecting Kuzy is now affecting the whole friggin' team aside from 19 and 90.

Our defense has 3 lousy goals so far this year, and one of them is an empty netter. Out with Trotz and Reirden, I've had enough.

 

[ovikovy817]

The presence of T.J., just for the SO, would give us a W.

When you look to the standings, with the games in hand, we have the same amount of points that PIT and NYR.

For the 5 next games, I'll be satisfied only with 5W, not 4. FIVE

 

[aonb]

I know some of you guys are still dreaming about top 6 wilson but being honest, I have no faith in Tom. And its not an overreaction after stretch of bad games or something, I just think he cant produce in offensive zone no matter if he plays with talents like ov and nicky or with scrubs in 4th line. He has like zero offensive instinct and we should stop getting crazy after every decent pass he made or shoot he took. At this point he is nothing more than Brooks laich 2.0 if we talk about secondary scoring (can we even name it secondary scoring?). And I dont really care about hits and grit at all. It cant win you a hockey game (ok, maybe sometimes it can) but definitely cant win you a cup.

 

[ReggietheSavage15]

Bigger issues than Tom Wilson. Not sure why folks are dedicating paragraphs to him.

 

[txpd]

This team is dead in the water. There's no magic line combination to pull out of this funk.

actually, Alan May highlighted it last night. 77 would fix some of this mess. Sure sign he needs an extension sooner than later.

 

[trick9]

Not sure why they keep throwing Ovechkin out there for the SO. He is a ridiculously good goalscorer but he sucks in the SO's and that's been the case for few years. Never seems to score.

 

[g00n]

actually, Alan May highlighted it last night. 77 would fix some of this mess. Sure sign he needs an extension sooner than later.

May also talked about the lack of identity and issues with the system and the way they're playing.

The answer is not always the guy who's injured. It's like how every football fan thinks the backup QB is going to save the team. Usually he's JAG who will be no better than the starter, maybe worse. In our case it manifests in our "glue guy" fantasies (Green, Laich, Beagle, Kuz, Oshie, etc). When they're out or slumping we imagine them returning to form and pushing us over the edge.

IF Kuz had played like a top 5 forward in the playoffs....IF Oshie had been in the shootout....

Every team has these IFs. There is no IF Cup. The guys who are playing have to do the work.

 

[twabby]

This isn't a good look for Trotz. Once again effort over execution.

The Capitals looked painfully inadequate on offense and in transition. I guess Holtby and their defensive structure were pretty good (which it seems clear is what he cares about most) but when pretty much every single young player is struggling the blame falls on the coach.

 

[AlexBrovechkin8]

When the Pens were struggling last year I remember hearing from the stat-heads that their bad numbers weren't sustainable and they were a better team on paper than their record showed. Can the same be said for this Caps team?

To an extent, yes. Their underlying numbers this year are actually better than they were last year. They're 4th in the league in CF% in all situations and 5th in 5-on-5. They're somehow 11th in GF60 at 5-on-5 even after getting blanked their last two games. They're 2nd in GA/60. The potential is seemingly there to be a contender.

It's pretty evident they have no confidence with the puck right now. They're either just endlessly cycling the puck or chucking it at the net from the point hoping it goes on. There's no assertiveness and seemingly no plan of attack and you can tell by watching that they don't actually expect to score. They bring no speed into the zone and are too easily herded into low danger areas. Whether that can be fixed by this coaching staff and this group of players remains to be seen.

 

[hockeyfan88]

The fact that the Capitals appear to be a contender looking at advanced stats tells you a lot about their utility as the only measuring tool.

This team can't create a single quality scoring chance.

 

[Raikkonen]

Tom Wilson is useful player. Paid about what such a player should be.

He's no Bobby Orr (c)

This problem is not remotely close to the top of the list.

On ice product sucks right now. There is still time to fix it and then reassess Wilson later.

Next question.

 

[Ovechkins Wodka]

To be honest... Being the wild card in the playoffs is a much easier path to the cup.

 

[42]

Is Vrana likely to stick around when Oshie returns? Trotz played him a lot last game so it seems he feel comfortable with him in a top 6 role for now.