GDT: GDT Carolina

[Langway]

If the argument is just fire kuzy off into the sun and bench him I'm not sure that does much either in terms of creating a functional third line. You then rip Protas away from our best line to become 3C or push a undercooked Lappy into a big role he's not ready for. At this point you stay the course, play the hand you've been dealt and try to improve the roster in the off-season. The window got boarded up last year no matter what public statements BMac makes about staying competitive.

It makes zero sense to sink the season for the sake of catering to Mr. Clueless. I'd definitely instead play Protas at center. That line isn't going as great guns as it had been and I'd prefer the work rate, reliability and potential upside in playing Protas at center. Big picture it's the ideal near-term experiment and I continue to be baffled by their resistance to it. He's a playmaker and line-driver defensively. He's big. He works hard. The answer is right in front of them. He's not going to be the true 1C they need to be highly competitive but he's got all of the makings of a very versatile two-way 2C. Having potentially three decent 2C types can work by committee. What we do know is that 92 is exceedingly marginal and largely non-competitive. It isn't viable.

Sure it's still an awfully limited group and not worth throwing away futures to augment the forwards just to remain very mid overall. But they do have options they need to more seriously explore. Culturally it also makes sense to ditch the guy that deserves zero benefit of the doubt. That he somehow leads all forwards in average ice-time just goes to show the extreme labor they've tried to go through to give him every opportunity to be trustworthy. Again, though, it's time to get real and change tactics because it is IMO the single best fix they have available in creating something more functional. He's a player that gets absolutely cratered playing the most important position on the ice. Something has to give there if they want to compete as a team.

 

[bacchist]

Disagree. The roster is not bottom 5 bad. We have a 1C that doesn't fit this team anymore and it's hurting them that he hasn't been shipped out yet. The roster as is, isn't enough to support Carbery's coaching system. The problem is part of the roster has not been ousted yet for all the good prospects that are playing in Hershey. Holy Crap the Bears are dominating the AHL with a 27-6 record! That Hershey is a combination of excellent coaching, great goaltending, D and forward prospects. This thing that the Caps prospect pool is ranked in the bottom 5 is a bunch of garbage. The prospects might be cooking too long in Hershey and need to grow now with the big club!

Most of the forwards in Hershey are not prospects. They're good AHL players that never broke through and took the next step. Aside from Miro and Dube, they're all on the wrong side of 25.

 

[RandyHolt]

My Takeaways - we couldn't clear the zone for shit. Patches hitting the crossbar was the beginning of the end for the night. Pooh Bear was on for 1:30 to start the game if anyone heard me on the broadcast yelling for him to get off. The leaker Darcy let in was a nail in the coffin. Kuz slash was the final nail.

The only way to win with this roster is to pummel the opposition but Willy cannot do it alone. Its a no hit league that I refuse to believe is what fans want. I did see maybe huggy bear or someone half ass hip check Orlov behind our net for the hit of the night.

Highlight was thinking Ovi scored since looking through the penalty boxes causes double vision only to see it was an assist.

Grateful Dead night was a joke promotion. They played 2 20 second clips of songs. I was expecting a NY city toothpick J when exiting but nope on the dope.

 

[marcel snapshot]

Grateful Dead night was a joke promotion. They played 2 20 second clips of songs. I was expecting a NY city toothpick J when exiting but nope on the dope.

As the 3rd period progressed, PA should have played Brokedown Palace ~ Ship of Fools ~ To Lay Me Down.

 

[RandyHolt]

As the 3rd period progressed, PA should have played Brokedown Palace ~ Ship of Fools ~ To Lay Me Down.

Yeah i was trying to think of appropriate songs with 5 left in the 3rd. Brokedown... Lay me down lol perfect.

Other candidate: Looks Like Rain --->Black Muddy River--->Drums--->Space---->Stella BLEW---->Loser

 

[Midnight Judges]

Well, that was ugly. lol

Mantha looks fully back to his normal lazy self.

 

[g00n]

Yeah i was trying to think of appropriate songs with 5 left in the 3rd. Brokedown... Lay me down lol perfect.

Other candidate: Looks Like Rain --->Black Muddy River--->Drums--->Space---->Stella BLEW---->Loser

"He's Gone" every time Kuzy is on the ice

 

[VaCaps Fan]

Randyholt, talk to the bums in the metro for constant green.

 

[Monsterrain]

6 giving me nightmares of double nickel.

Don’t remind me.

 

[John Price]

My Takeaways - we couldn't clear the zone for shit. Patches hitting the crossbar was the beginning of the end for the night. Pooh Bear was on for 1:30 to start the game if anyone heard me on the broadcast yelling for him to get off. The leaker Darcy let in was a nail in the coffin. Kuz slash was the final nail.

The only way to win with this roster is to pummel the opposition but Willy cannot do it alone. Its a no hit league that I refuse to believe is what fans want. I did see maybe huggy bear or someone half ass hip check Orlov behind our net for the hit of the night.

Highlight was thinking Ovi scored since looking through the penalty boxes causes double vision only to see it was an assist.

Grateful Dead night was a joke promotion. They played 2 20 second clips of songs. I was expecting a NY city toothpick J when exiting but nope on the dope.

I barely noticed anything, they focused more on Mascot Night. I spent 2 periods in the arena before heading to District X for the Bud Light Tye dye T-shirt

Also the way they do promotions is weird. The grateful dead hat wasn't an all-arena giveaway, it was one of those "buy a special ticket package", which may have confused some people who brought tickets to the game. Have to buy a special package just for that hat.

 

[John Price]

and yes I'm aware they gave up 5 goals unaswered after I started watching at the bar

 

[Holtbyisms]

It makes zero sense to sink the season for the sake of catering to Mr. Clueless. I'd definitely instead play Protas at center. That line isn't going as great guns as it had been and I'd prefer the work rate, reliability and potential upside in playing Protas at center. Big picture it's the ideal near-term experiment and I continue to be baffled by their resistance to it. He's a playmaker and line-driver defensively. He's big. He works hard. The answer is right in front of them. He's not going to be the true 1C they need to be highly competitive but he's got all of the makings of a very versatile two-way 2C. Having potentially three decent 2C types can work by committee. What we do know is that 92 is exceedingly marginal and largely non-competitive. It isn't viable.

Sure it's still an awfully limited group and not worth throwing away futures to augment the forwards just to remain very mid overall. But they do have options they need to more seriously explore. Culturally it also makes sense to ditch the guy that deserves zero benefit of the doubt. That he somehow leads all forwards in average ice-time just goes to show the extreme labor they've tried to go through to give him every opportunity to be trustworthy. Again, though, it's time to get real and change tactics because it is IMO the single best fix they have available in creating something more functional. He's a player that gets absolutely cratered playing the most important position on the ice. Something has to give there if they want to compete as a team.

Kuzy playing isn't going to "sink the season". There's slim to no chance this team is talented enough with or without him in the lineup. I don't think he has such negative value he's holding us up from being a competitive team. I'm not buying that excuse as to why we stink. I'm not advocating for him, his ship has sailed, but that said... so has the rest of this core.

 

[notDkristich]

Kuzy playing isn't going to "sink the season". There's slim to no chance this team is talented enough with or without him in the lineup. I don't think he has such negative value he's holding us up from being a competitive team. I'm not buying that excuse as to why we stink. I'm not advocating for him, his ship has sailed, but that said... so has the rest of this core.

The team would be more entertaining with Kuzy gone, but probably still stink given the dead weight and cost of the core.

Here's some replacements for Kuzy 'around' 1/2 the cap hit. This assumes BMac would actually pull the trigger and swallow half of Kuzy's salary.

Elias Lindholm (CGY) $4.8 8 G 17 A
Phillip Danault (LAK) $5.5 7 G 13 A
M. Granlund (SJS) $5 4 G 21 A
Yanni Gourde (SEA) $5.1 6 G 9 A
Adam Lowry (WPG) $3.2 7 G 10 A

 

[sycamore]

The one thing we were good at was keeping leads late. Whelp we now can’t do that. So little speed, so little skill, average goaltending. I’m getting very close to getting on the tank bandwagon again this year.

Right behind you.

 

[YippieKaey]

The team would be more entertaining with Kuzy gone, but probably still stink given the dead weight and cost of the core.

Here's some replacements for Kuzy 'around' 1/2 the cap hit. This assumes BMac would actually pull the trigger and swallow half of Kuzy's salary.

Elias Lindholm (CGY) $4.8 8 G 17 A
Phillip Danault (LAK) $5.5 7 G 13 A
M. Granlund (SJS) $5 4 G 21 A
Yanni Gourde (SEA) $5.1 6 G 9 A
Adam Lowry (WPG) $3.2 7 G 10 A

Lindholm would be nice but the rest apart from Lowry is no thank you and Lowry isn't going anywhere.

 

[Langway]

Kuzy playing isn't going to "sink the season". There's slim to no chance this team is talented enough with or without him in the lineup. I don't think he has such negative value he's holding us up from being a competitive team. I'm not buying that excuse as to why we stink. I'm not advocating for him, his ship has sailed, but that said... so has the rest of this core.

Kuznetsov is sub-replacement level, no? Yet here they are trotting him out there on the top line for some strange reason. While he won't single-handedly sink them he is addition by subtraction at this stage and anything that puts him in the top six, arguably at center at all, is a competitive impediment. It's an impediment toward the sort of work rate Carbery and the coaching staff wants to compete on a basic level. His NHL days are winding down. Everyone, himself included, knows it. I've got to believe the ship has sailed on dumping this fool at half price. Anyone that suffers a severe center injury pre-deadline would be better off adding an Eller type to their mix where there's no maintenance required. There's just hardly any reward these days for all of the risk.

Mostly it's that when teams are in defining stages of the season it's helpful to pare back and be guided by core principles. Do they have them? Are they willing to eat it to make a stand? They've had zero idea what to do with for how long now? It's untenable. It's just a matter of when they'll finally act. Maybe it's reactionary to do it now during a tough patch for the team...but they do need to be forward-thinking. What's the end-game?

It is a significant problem to play a largely non-competitive forward the most. So it's not just that they have this rando in the lineup but that they're somehow still trying to act as though he's reliable. Or that it's still this acceptable learning stage of trying to figure it all out. He's finished. Maybe he helps in shootouts but that's basically all he's good for most nights. At the very least IMO it's a recipe to him being a 3LW most nights. That it isn't a strategic imperative makes you wonder what they really must think of Strome & McMichael overall at least. Or just how weighed down their thinking must already be in trying to piece it all together with such limited pieces.

 

[AlexBrovechkin8]

He’s definitely one of the five worst defensive players in the NHL if not the worst defensive player and he’s on pace for 30something points despite being force fed 1C and PP1 minutes. He doesn’t even have negative value at this point; we’ve sailed straight into untradeable/waive and buyout territory.