I Am Super Excited For This Season

[Sam Spade]

I can't be the only one is really pumped for this season (and beyond) am I?

Actual competition for spots in the bottom six and on defense.

Seeing Djoos and/or Bowey up this season. I am a huge Bowey fan.

Vrana getting a shot.

They kept Oshie, which was the only player I really cared about re-signing.

Knowing Johansen and Hobbs and Gersich (hopefully) are coming soon. And to a lesser extent Siegenthaler, who I think will be the next Alzner in terms of a steady dman without any flash to his game.

People think the window is closed but honestly I think the window is wide open for the Caps to be a competitive team for years to come.

I am going to training camp this year with a real sense of hope and excitement to watch the battles for positions to come.

I really hope I am not crazy and other Capitals fans feel the same way.

Click to read more...

 

[SpinningEdge]

I can't be the only one is really pumped for this season (and beyond) am I?

Actual competition for spots in the bottom six and on defense.

Seeing Djoos and/or Bowey up this season. I am a huge Bowey fan.

Vrana getting a shot.

They kept Oshie, which was the only player I really cared about re-signing.

Knowing Johansen and Hobbs and Gersich (hopefully) are coming soon. And to a lesser extent Siegenthaler, who I think will be the next Alzner in terms of a steady dman without any flash to his game.

People think the window is closed but honestly I think the window is wide open for the Caps to be a competitive team for years to come.

I am going to training camp this year with a real sense of hope and excitement to watch the battles for positions to come.

I really hope I am not crazy and other Capitals fans feel the same way.

Will watch - but literally don't care much at all about the regular season.

As long as Ovi/Backstrom/other same guys who have been here for a long time are still on the roster the only thing that matters is the playoffs.

 

[Alexander the Gr8]

I don't see how this season is going to be much different from 2014-2015.

 

[Hivemind]

I remember when I thought every prospect would pan out.

 

[Sam Spade]

I remember when I thought every prospect would pan out.

That is the beauty of it though, they all don't have to. If Vrana doesn't work out maybe Gersich will, if Bowey or Djoos doesn't maybe Johansen and Hobbs do and down the line we go. I also think Burakovsky is just 22 and we will see better from him this season with top six minutes. Kuz getting PP1 minutes will also make me happy.

Look I understand the negativity, I really do, I am guilty of it myself (especially around playoff time), but for better or worse the Caps are my team. So I am not going to sit around and be pissed and just dismiss the regular season. I really think it will be a fun one.

I have also spent a lot of time watching the Hershey guys and Gersich at ND, you can see that some of them really have "it" and deserve a shot. My biggest fear is Trotz and his aversion to giving kids chances, although he does seem better with the Caps than the Preds in this area.

Reading reports, and watching video on Hobbs and you can see if given what he needs he can end up being a 5th round gem.

So yup, I'm excited. Not in the "Caps are winning the Cup way", but in a "let's see what some new blood can infuse into this lineup" way.

 

[trick9]

I get why most people aren't that excited for the upcoming season, although there propably are more reasons to be than for nearly any other team. This core is dubbed as losers and that's never going to change until they win in the Playoffs, but i don't mind it if someone is already excited for the upcoming season at this stage. Usually the (false?) hope starts to come around mid-season around here after some good run. It will happen again this season for most people. This team is still pretty stacked when you look at around the league. They have top-5 winger, good 1-2 punch down the middle, atleast 2 D's that are considered top-pairing ones around the league (Carlson, Niskanen) and arguably the best goaltender in the league. The holes are there obviously but in the salary cap -era, they are there for every single team. The holes this team have are minor compared to most teams.

Personally, i'm not really super excited about this season. Should be some entertaining regular season games again, but i'm not hopeful about this come Playoff -time. The team is good but i don't think they are strong enough mentally to win.

 

[Jacoby4HOF66]

Meh.

 

[Dr John Carlson]

Bleh.

 

[Langway]

Yawn.

 

[Blades of Steel]

I want to be, but I know I shouldn't.

 

[CapitalsCupReality]

Triple yawn. This will be the most disinteresting season since 2005. Sure some young guys will potentially be marginally interesting, but it's not like there are a lot of prospects to be super excited about. Vrana could have drummed up some excitement, but instead decided to pout like a child. I plan on finding something else to do on game nights sometimes instead of wasting a lot of cycles on a franchise of underachievers and disappointments. No longer will I get amped up for the playoffs until they make the 3rd round.

Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me 32 times.....

 

[HTFN]

Wish I could be excited for Bowey but I think his IQ is going to hold him back at this level. Want to be wrong, but I just didn't see it from him in Portland.

EDIT: to be clearer, live in Portland and watched their playoffs against the Rockets, and a few other games.

 

[Corby78]

Triple yawn. This will be the most disinteresting season since 2005. Sure some young guys will potentially be marginally interesting, but it's not like there are a lot of prospects to be super excited about. Vrana could have drummed up some excitement, but instead decided to pout like a child. I plan on finding something else to do on game nights sometimes instead of wasting a lot of cycles on a franchise of underachievers and disappointments. No longer will I get amped up for the playoffs until they make the 3rd round.

Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me 32 times.....

Lol, well we this years playoff avatar.....

 

[Devil Dancer]

It's Caps hockey, so I'm interested. I do appreciate that they finally have to play some younger guys, but I'm not real enthusiastic about the pipeline. When your best prospect is Jakub Vrana, you're in trouble.

But when you start with Ovechkin, Backstrom, Kuzy, Niskanen, Carlson and Holtby, you're going to be pretty good. They should be entertaining most nights. I'll tune in and support the team.

Can't say I'm going to be on the Caps HF page much though other than GDTs. The atmosphere here is as poisonous as ever. I just wish there was a legit alternative, but I haven't found one.

 

[CapitalsCupReality]

The atmosphere isn't poisoned, but the fans have been by countless heartbreaking failures.

 

[Hivemind]

If they had a coach known for his ability to develop young players and utilize them to their fullest, it would be a lot easier to be optimistic about a lot of these borderline prospects they have. Unfortunately, that's pretty much the opposite of Barry Trotz.

 

[AlexBrovechkin8]

As I'm sure many of you did, I more or less arranged my life around Caps hockey the past few years. Tried to watch every game as I knew they had the potential to be historically good and that it wouldn't last forever and spent waaaay too much time on here. I'll be much more of a casual fan this year. We just had baby #2 two months ago, my wife returns to work in October, I'm trying to launch a side business outside of my full-time job, and I'm also considering grad school so once my kids go down I'm studying for a few hours every night. Life is much busier right now and I feel that I gave the Caps my best, so to speak, the past few years and I just don't have the time (or the inclination, really) to be as dedicated as I've been recently. Still will tune in when I can, still will drop by here from time to time, but I won't be nearly as invested, interested, or involved as I was before.

 

[AIRAQ7]

Am I excited? eh sorta. Am I interested to see how the season will go? Yes. Till I get a sense how the team is playing and their possible chances in the post season I won't be excited. I'll watch, read and listen to stuff about this team. I hope the moves that Mac made will pan out....but I don't know yet.

 

[twabby]

They are still a very good team, albeit not nearly as deep as previous versions. Backstrom/Kuznetsov is a great 1/2 punch down the middle, their top 3 defensemen are all very good, Holtby is very good this postseason notwithstanding, and young established players like Burakovsky and Wilson will hopefully continue improving.

But I am concerned about the man behind the bench. It's not just his unwillingness in the past to put young players in the best position to succeed, it's his lack tactical awareness especially in the postseason. It's hard to get too excited about a team that is going to likely be outcoached again.

 

[Alexander the Gr8]

As I'm sure many of you did, I more or less arranged my life around Caps hockey the past few years. Tried to watch every game as I knew they had the potential to be historically good and that it wouldn't last forever and spent waaaay too much time on here. I'll be much more of a casual fan this year. We just had baby #2 two months ago, my wife returns to work in October, I'm trying to launch a side business outside of my full-time job, and I'm also considering grad school so once my kids go down I'm studying for a few hours every night. Life is much busier right now and I feel that I gave the Caps my best, so to speak, the past few years and I just don't have the time (or the inclination, really) to be as dedicated as I've been recently. Still will tune in when I can, still will drop by here from time to time, but I won't be nearly as invested, interested, or involved as I was before.

Dedicating all your time to your kids, wife and studies is far more rewarding than watching the Caps give us false hope.

As for me, I'm entering the final year of my engineering studies, and it's going to be busy as hell. I was super involved the previous two years but I can't spend too much time on the Caps anymore. Really wish all this time and money devoted to the team would've resulted in one championship. Alas.

 

[Ovechkins Wodka]

I like watching the caps every seasons. I'm not going to cry they aren't the presidents team anymore.

 

[Raikkonen]

We need a doctor here.

 

[Capathetic]

Either the players show up and care or the pressure being off them allows them to play well. I just have this feeling that we're going to see a lackluster effort from the star players and it'll be Trotz to blame.

 

[Ovechkins Wodka]

ESPN should make a 30 for 30 on the Caps

 

[Portable Mink]

hockey literally makes me sick.

we should change our name to the washington mercury farmers.

i will get excited about hockey again after we win a cup. which we all know will never ever. ever ever ever happen.