No. Didn't watch the game. Its blacked out here. I catch a few shifts the next day on NHLN replay. I have not seen the rookie games. I am not sweating it yet.
Then perhaps you should wait until you have a chance to see a game or two before protesting against the opinions of those who did watch the game?
Meanwhile. Connolly isn't what I would call an established middle 6 forward. I would describe him as a failed top round draft pick that has never established and his fighting for his career. He could easily be cut.
Connolly is one of the forwards contending for the open roster spots I'm referring to. As is Galiev. None of Connolly, Sanford, Boyd, Barber, Galiev, or Stephenson have really stepped up. It's been a very lukewarm performance from the bunch of forwards contending for the final skater spot in the line-up, wherever that may be (and it could be top 6, as the coaching staff made explicit statements about trying out guys like Connolly and Galiev in scoring roles during the pre-season).
And....it would stink if this was mostly NHL players and have a shot at the NHL roster players. Its not. None of the Caps best players are playing one top 6 defenseman in each game. No NHL goalie. The only regular 1pp player has played one game and scored a goal. The head coach is not even there. If it really does stink, then its good to know that 90% of these players are not projected to be on the NHL roster. Right?
Nobody here is talking about the outcome of the games. Nobody here is handwringing about the Caps actual roster sucking. The issue here is that the bubble players aren't stepping up, leaving a lackluster taste in the mouths of those who were pushing for another top 9 addition. Further still, the coaching staff doesn't seem to have emphasized the areas of weakness that even they identified during the post-mortem period of last post-season. We're not saying the season is over, but we are saying we aren't pleased with what we saw. Not sure what's contentious about that.
Also, the other teams are playing AHLers and prospects, too. It's not as if we're complaining about 20 year old forwards getting overshadowed by Shea Weber last night.