GDT: Hurricanes @ Capitals | 2/14/23 | 7:00p ET

[troyerlaw]

Mantha has had a lot of nights where “he should have scored a goal”

This.

Both teams lost that trade.

 

[mad4comp]

Downturn definitely coincided with their return. But we’re kinda stuck with them due to past service and achievements (and massive contracts). Now eller and mantha, on the other hand, i’m not sure how they still get sweaters.

This team ain’t going nowhere this year. There’s no area of the game which they do particularly well. Just a warm bucket of meh

Because as bad as eller and mantha are... when you watch them play, they're head and shoulders above oshie and backstrom. All you have to do is bench those two and we still dont do it. Like I said, they care more about those two rather than the rest of the team.. or the fans.

And it's not coincidence... just look at the avs game which we lost.. but the team was skating circles around the avs and basically imposing their will with speed. And then take a look at what happened against the golden knights right before or the leafs after with backstrom and oshie.

 

[pman25]

It’s just more of the same. Team cannot score at all. Some good pushes but like usual, nothing to show.

Gustafsson, Strome, Sheary after having some decent stretches have been mostly invisible lately

 

[troyerlaw]

TVR, Jensen, Snively, Milano, amd NAK all played well, I thought. The rest, same as usual, not good enough

 

[PlushMinus]

I would be interested to see how many goals we've allowed this season from long distance shots / screens / tips. I didn't see the whole game tonight but i think all 3 were those kinds of goals?? And it seems this happens a lot to our team.

If I'm right that's a pretty easy thing to fix, isn't it? Block shots, keep guys out of the crease, etc?

 

[RedRocking]

Puck luck and special teams the difference tonight.

If it helps, STL is shredding the Panthers. Though Leah Hextall is shredding my ears in the process.

 

[Silky mitts]

Would have been a shutout without Snively

 

[Monsterrain]

Puck luck and special teams the difference tonight.

If it helps, STL is shredding the Panthers. Though Leah Hextall is shredding my ears in the process.

Yea turned it on and hit mute immediately

 

[DWGie26]

Eller is the one most driving me nuts right now. for every one thing he does adequately he made 2-3 bad plays/loses control of the puck. Dowd in at 4th C will be big upgrade. but most of all we miss Wilson. He opens up so much space.

 

[pman25]

We are missing our 1C (Nic Dowd)

 

[BallardEra]

It’s just more of the same. Team cannot score at all. Some good pushes but like usual, nothing to show.

Gustafsson, Strome, Sheary after having some decent stretches have been mostly invisible lately

Pretty much this. Making mediocre goalies look good.

 

[troyerlaw]

Eller is the one most driving me nuts right now. for every one thing he does adequately he made 2-3 bad plays/loses control of the puck. Dowd in at 4th C will be big upgrade. but most of all we miss Wilson. He opens up so much space.

I’d argue we miss Dowd more, at this point. It’ll be a while before Wilson returns to form. He has missed a lot of hockey. And he is not the same kamikaze body-wrecker he used to be. He’s trying to play smarter and under more control. Which is for the best, but I just didnt think he was making a noticeable difference in the (admittedly) few games he got before getting injured again

 

[notDkristich]

NHL How To Score Goals 101
Exhibit A: Have a PP that can score

Fire Forsythe

 

[DWGie26]

I’d argue we miss Dowd more, at this point. It’ll be a while before Wilson returns to form. He has missed a lot of hockey. And he is not the same kamikaze body-wrecker he used to be. He’s trying to play smarter and under more control. Which is for the best, but I just didnt think he was making a noticeable difference in the (admittedly) few games he got before getting injured again

We miss both for sure. And Dowd might provide more right out of the gate. But Wilson is a unique talent Who opens up the ice. But yeah, he needs to gain confidence and bit a bit more of his old self.

 

[RedRocking]

Yea turned it on and hit mute immediately

The woman is an international menace, and must be stopped before it’s too late!

 

[Misery74]

Nice to see Snively play so well. How many healthy scratches he endured while our ancient team hit the ice boggles the mind.

He made Laviolette look as inept has most of us believe he is.

 

[Neil Racki]

I agree with a lot of the realistic gloom in here. We are who we are at this stage with our core, bit disappointing the team couldnt buttress a bit better but that was a tall task.

BUT ... the team will go on a nice win streak at some point, things will click for a bit, we get to feel good. We probbaly miss the playoffs maybe not .. but we will get some good Caps hockey before seasons end.

 

[895]

Not so hot take: The team plays better when injured or otherwise missing vets not because Laviolette is some sort of coaching genius that keeps the team on track but because Laviolette is forced to play younger, faster, hungrier players instead of slow, complacent vets.

 

[Misery74]

Not so hot take: The team plays better when injured or otherwise missing vets not because Laviolette is some sort of coaching genius that keeps the team on track but because Laviolette is forced to play younger, faster, hungrier players instead of slow, complacent vets.

No doubt about it. This is where we are, same place as we were at this time last season. I cannot believe Peter Laviolette is still coaching this team.

 

[AlexBrovechkin8]

No doubt about it. This is where we are, same place as we were at this time last season. I cannot believe Peter Laviolette is still coaching this team.

I think this and the last few comments are both true and unrealistic. It’s true they play better with guys who are younger, faster, healthier, and hungrier. They have multiple years of data to show that.

But, do you honestly think he has a choice in playing or benching Backstrom, Kuznetsov, Mantha, and Oshie? You think it’s possible for him to healthy scratch decent chunks of their cap space on a regular basis? Saying Lavi should be fired because he’s not scratching underperforming veterans for young guys is wild when almost all of his highest paid players are underperforming and he literally can’t ice a team due to the salary cap if he benched all of the vets that got outplayed by young guys.

This is a deeply flawed roster because guys like Backstrom, Kuznetsov, Oshie, and Mantha are not pulling their weight and because they’re missing four very important players at the moment. That is not the fault of Laviolette. Their best players have been guys who were brought in on prove it contracts or who are working to break into the league. If anything it shows that his system works because the young cats and new guys can come in and play well within it. They need to get rid of guys on retirement contracts who are stealing money at this point.

 

[CapitalsCupReality]

I think this and the last few comments are both true and unrealistic. It’s true they play better with guys who are younger, faster, healthier, and hungrier. They have multiple years of data to show that.

But, do you honestly think he has a choice in playing or benching Backstrom, Kuznetsov, Mantha, and Oshie? You think it’s possible for him to healthy scratch decent chunks of their cap space on a regular basis? Saying Lavi should be fired because he’s not scratching underperforming veterans for young guys is wild when almost all of his highest paid players are underperforming and he literally can’t ice a team due to the salary cap if he benched all of the vets that got outplayed by young guys.

This is a deeply flawed roster because guys like Backstrom, Kuznetsov, Oshie, and Mantha are not pulling their weight and because they’re missing four very important players at the moment. That is not the fault of Laviolette. Their best players have been guys who were brought in on prove it contracts or who are working to break into the league. If anything it shows that his system works because the young cats and new guys can come in and play well within it. They need to get rid of guys on retirement contracts who are stealing money at this point.

wasted breath……some people don’t understand the nuances….or they just don’t care to.

 

[twabby]

I think it’s fair to say Laviolette has been pretty good overall but has his big warts and is probably not the guy to lead them next year.

 

[AlexBrovechkin8]

I think it’s fair to say Laviolette has been pretty good overall but has his big warts and is probably not the guy to lead them next year.

I could buy that. I do think it’s unfortunate that he’s been saddled with aging bags of ass. They generally look like a competent outfit when half the salary cap isn’t a boat anchor on the team.

BMac has to sell to Ted that either this team’s slow death over the last few seasons accelerates into an expensive and public death if they don’t trade some of the big names or they make bold moves with the goal of improving the team and helping Ovi get to Gretzky, even if casual fans will have heartburn seeing the guys whose jerseys they own leave town. Continuing the status quo is admitting they’re ok with getting worse and becoming irrelevant from a competitive standpoint.

 

[Hivemind]

I think this and the last few comments are both true and unrealistic. It’s true they play better with guys who are younger, faster, healthier, and hungrier. They have multiple years of data to show that.

But, do you honestly think he has a choice in playing or benching Backstrom, Kuznetsov, Mantha, and Oshie? You think it’s possible for him to healthy scratch decent chunks of their cap space on a regular basis? Saying Lavi should be fired because he’s not scratching underperforming veterans for young guys is wild when almost all of his highest paid players are underperforming and he literally can’t ice a team if he benched all of the vets that got outplayed by young guys.

This is a deeply flawed roster because guys like Backstrom, Kuznetsov, Oshie, and Mantha are not pulling their weight and because they’re missing four very important players at the moment. That is not the fault of Laviolette. Their best players have been guys who were brought in on prove it contracts or who are working to break into the league. If anything it shows that his system works because the young cats and new guys can come in and play well within it. They need to get rid of guys on retirement contracts who are stealing money at this point.

I very much agree this is a flawed roster with too large of chunks of the salary cap drastically under performing.

But I also think Laviolette has had plenty of opportunities to make lemonade at various points in his tenure, and he has opted against it at almost every chance. He's buried young, quick forwards behind veterans repeatedly during his tenure. While it's hard to justify benching a Backstrom or Oshie, benching Hagelin or Eller or Raffl or Larsson isn't exactly going to destroy the locker room. This is a guy who gave a roster spot to Daniel Carr over Daniel Sprong in a playoff game. A guy who's put Mantha in a position to fail this season, with zero powerplay time and ever decreasing partners and ice time. A guy who's banished McMichael, Snively, and even Protas to the AHL before considering benching under-performing vets. A guy who keeps trying NAK on the top line. Laviolette's favorable treatment of veteran forwards over the youth and speed this team needs is well documented at this point.

 

[Misery74]

I think this and the last few comments are both true and unrealistic. It’s true they play better with guys who are younger, faster, healthier, and hungrier. They have multiple years of data to show that.

But, do you honestly think he has a choice in playing or benching Backstrom, Kuznetsov, Mantha, and Oshie? You think it’s possible for him to healthy scratch decent chunks of their cap space on a regular basis? Saying Lavi should be fired because he’s not scratching underperforming veterans for young guys is wild when almost all of his highest paid players are underperforming and he literally can’t ice a team due to the salary cap if he benched all of the vets that got outplayed by young guys.

This is a deeply flawed roster because guys like Backstrom, Kuznetsov, Oshie, and Mantha are not pulling their weight and because they’re missing four very important players at the moment. That is not the fault of Laviolette. Their best players have been guys who were brought in on prove it contracts or who are working to break into the league. If anything it shows that his system works because the young cats and new guys can come in and play well within it. They need to get rid of guys on retirement contracts who are stealing money at this point.

How about Eller? How about Sheary? How about MaJo? How about top line NAK? How about Irwin?

Not saying we bench them all, but they should be sitting regularly for young guys. Back to backs are great examples.

Bottom line, Laviolette is dogshit at mixing in youth. There is no reason at all those 5 guys should get jerseys every night.