Out of Town - Washington Capitals Stanley Cup Champions! Edition

[OldCraig71]

Why do people say that player x wouldn't have made a difference here? Did you guys not just witness the cluster f*** of a roster that our GM proclaimed was in his image? Do you guys forget this?

 

[Runner77]

In before Runner77 becomes Runner77*.

Actually mods, I'll take the infraction/ban instead of him. He's a lot more useful for this board.

You're killing me.

I love you, brother. And after this Anthony Bourdain news today ... damn, I'm so down.

I love you all, goddamit. It needed to be said.

 

[SirClintonPortis]

Eller had a "monstrous" playoffs for us in 2014 and we ended up with sweet fanny adam to show for it. If the day comes when the Habs are ever able to amass the kind of top-end talent that the Capitals have, then we can go looking for a deal on an Eller or a DSP just like they did.

Don't think that even third line Cs in their prime like Eller are willingly traded away. It took Washington practically a decade to solidify their center depth.

 

[didimentionlarseller]

The real thing everyone should learn here is hone in one player you like just start predicting in every GDT thread that they're killing it and about to score.

I mean over and over and over again get real repetitive with it start sickening people with it. Literal entire games revolve around this player and you've been consistent over years with this shit

Then eventually Lars scores the stanley cup game winning goal and because of persistence you've predicted his GWG

 

[Bryson]

How are these clowns still in charge? Subban in the final last year, Eller winning the cup this year.

Lars Eller feels he's 'in the right place' with Capitals - Sportsnet.ca

The way Eller says he's in the right place twice with a sarcastic smile on his face, he knows he was treated like crap here. Like he said you could not have wrote a better script, at the end of the day the good guys won. How the clowns in management still have a job nobody knows.

Why did Eller have a good playoffs? Because his teammates believed in him and yes, he's in the right place.

 

[Bryson]

 

[SirClintonPortis]

The way Eller says he's in the right place twice with a sarcastic smile on his face, he knows he was treated like crap here. Like he said you could not have wrote a better script, at the end of the day the good guys won. How the clowns in management still have a job nobody knows.

Why did Eller have a good playoffs? Because his teammates believed in him and yes, he's in the right place.

You just know he was talking to Bergevin and Therrien and subtly humiliating them if they were watching on that HD TV screen.

 

[Bryson]

You just know he was talking to Bergevin and Therrien and subtly humiliating them if they were watching on that HD TV screen.

Of course he was.

 

[Runner77]

Caps fan here.. he's right... everytime we played the pens and they scored, Lolzner would be swimming somewhere around the crease out of the play. He was a great defenseman, but at some point around 2013 it just went downhill for him.

No worries, we had the perfect idiot to sign Lolzner. Of course, Caps were smart enough to know what they had on their hands and won at a game of addition by subtraction, while our GM was playing a game of chicken. He wanted to find out what happens when you gut the whole left side of your D in one fell swoop. And, he found out what most of us already knew.

 

[scrubadam]

I feel like DSP should thank his 3 other teams. He needed a wake up call.

This isn’t some holier than this attitude. Personally I need a kick in the ass sometimes because I get complacent.

I think DSP riding a high in NJ then getting bought out a year later was a wake up call.

I kinda say not really. Look at the season he had in WASH this year, not playoffs. Same old 16 points. Heck Deslauries and Froese brought more than DSP did in the regular season.

He went on a tear in the playoffs and maybe that lets him cash in on a nice multi year contract. Probably gets bought out again LOL.

DSP did this before in ANA, which was why MB wanted him in the first place. He just took like a decade to repeat his playoff performance.

If only he had lived up to his hype when we first traded for him. Alwasy thought he could be a good 2nd/3rd line tweener who could get you 15-20 G a year.

 

[LaP]

No worries, we had the perfect idiot to sign Lolzner. Of course, Caps were smart enough to know what they had on their hands and won at a game of addition by subtraction, while our GM was playing a game of chicken. He wanted to find out what happens when you gut the whole left side of your D in one fell swoop. And, he found out what most of us already knew.

The most frustrating part for fans is there's still two years left on Schlemko's contract, 1 year on Benn's contract and 4 on Lolzner's contract. So unless MB is ready to admit he was wrong changes are not coming.

 

[Bryson]

Their weakest of the Ovi-Backstrom era when the Caps became good is what I meant.

They’ve had teams that included Semin and Green at one point, a real good Alzner, a young Carlson playing behind Green, highly productive depth with Fleischmann, Knuble, Laich, last year they added Shattenkirk. This past summer the rumblings were that their Cup window “probably” closed because they had a cap crunch without winning the Cup in the previous decade.

On paper I don’t think anyone can say they would have taken these Caps over previous years’ Caps... yet they got through Pittsburgh and they finally did it.

When they had Semin, their center depth was an issue through and through. Laich was overrated because of the unusual amount of skill on that team buoying up his production. They were rolling through guys at 2C like old Fedorov, Brendan Morrison, Marcus Johansson, Mike Ribeiro, before Kuznetsov finally was a regular. And even Kuznetsov was not immune to fans raging because he didn't do anything in his first couple playoffs.
Kuznetsov fixed their 2C problem. WE fixed their 3C problem by giving them Eller.

Thanks to both of you for this insightful post. I was wondering myself what made this version of the Caps so much better than previous iterations. Not going to lie, I was one of the ones that thought Washington's window was "closing" and now all of a sudden it looks wide open. What a difference acquiring a couple of depth players makes. If they can re-sign Carlson and Kempny and finally with the emergence of Kuznetsov and Eller there is no reason why they can't go for it for a couple more years. Washington's GM Brian MacLellan deserves a lot of credit for that. How hilarious is that George McPhee who was once thought of as the worst GM on the planet, is the one responsible for building the two teams in the Stanley Cup finals.

The key to a great bottom six is a great top six.

 

[Milhouse40]

Even on the very last goal of the 2017-2018 season.....Bergevin managed to look like even more like an idiot than he already was. Hard to do, but he did it.

Good for Lars Eller.

Still can't believe we traded that guy for picks and prefer to go with Desharnais down the middle

 

[OldCraig71]

You're killing me.

I love you, brother. And after this Anthony Bourdain news today ... damn, I'm so down.

I love you all, goddamit. It needed to be said.

Rethink your potential trip to NFLD runner.

 

[scrubadam]

This Caps cup goes all the way back to our upset of them in 2009-2010. Halak's value would have never been so great without that playoffs. Eller would never have landed in Montreal, and probably would have been a Blues player for his prime since he did fit their mold of a big, skilled player. Blues wouldn't have had a monkey brain GM give a solid player like that away for a bag of picks and covet Andrew Shaw like a rookie fantasy player.

Basically, we stole the thunder from a Caps Cup run 8 years ago to repay them favor now. Halak crushed your dreams then, but we'll give you the player we reeled in for him as compensation to fix your center depth so you can get the Cup.

And I've stated my personal hatred of the Capitals. Grew up a fan, burned my fan bridges because the Habs earned my respect during that playoff upset. And now, the Caps make me hate them even more by winning the Cup, with the "reward" obtained by Halak's performance during that same playoffs.

Bergevin deserves every inch of blame for making the Caps a Cup champion. A 3C with 18 points in 24 games, scores a game-winner to defeat Columbus, has a THREE POINT night when KUZNETSOV WAS OUT, and scores the GAME-WINNER to clinch the Cup? Those players are actually quite rare. Probably Dave Bolland would be a comparable given how he crushed Vancouver fans' hopes everytime Chicago and Vancouver met.

LOL comeon.

Its not on GMGM or Ovie or Kuz, yup its thanks to MB. Did MB build the caps as well to get eliminated last year?

Kick MB when he is down I get it. But I think that statement is far off. Caps aren't winning a cup without Ovie and Kuz and Holtby and Orlov which had nothing to do with MB. Geez.

If anything Polie should be getting the credit for the caps win. I mean if he didn't fire Trotz they Caps never win the cup. Nash might have actually won the cup last year with Trotz behind the bench ...

 

[OldCraig71]

Even on the very last goal of the 2017-2018 season.....Bergevin managed to look like even more like an idiot than he already was. Hard to do, but he did it.

Good for Lars Eller.

Still can't believe we traded that guy for picks and prefer to go with Desharnais down the middle

It's the same way we chose Drouin over Galchenyuk, more of the same. I often feel like we are not even part of the relevant NHL teams, yeah we have our history but that was from a time when we were actually great and not the political statement we have become under Bergevin. We are in very bad shape right now and I wish I could see actual change and hope on the horizon but the reality is that things will be the same sadly.

 

[Frank Drebin]

I wasn't sure but i thought wsh went down 0-2 to cbj in the first round, sure enough they did.

And then game 3 went to 2OT. Anyone remember who scored the winning goal?

Bonus points for who assisted on that goal

 

[SirClintonPortis]

Thanks to both of you for this insightful post. I was wondering myself what made this version of the Caps so much better than previous iterations. Not going to lie, I was one of the ones that thought Washington's window was "closed" and now all of a sudden it looks wide open. What a difference acquiring a couple of depth players makes. If they can re-sign Carlson and Kempny and finally with the emergence of Kuznetsov and Eller there is no reason why they can't go for it for a couple more years. Washington's GM Brian MacLellan deserves a lot of credit for that.

The key to a great bottom six is a great top six.

Kuznetsov finally being healthy enough and/or figuring out playoff hockey was the real key. Before, he underwhelming his first two years. The next year after that, it was alright with 10 poitns in 13 games. Then, he basically pulled a Malkin this year with his 32 points in 24 games.

One consistent factor in ALL of the Cup winners post-lokcout is quality center depth. Every one had real top 6 centers who performed above and beyond the norm and they had a 3C chip in crucial points to break through to the next round.

The other is at least one offensively talented Dman. Yes, even Justin Schultz had enough talent to get on the scoresheet even if he didn't look at that great. We destroyed all of those components under Comrade Marc and Master Michel. We're trotting out a career winger as our 1C and a 3C as our 2C. Our top puck mover is freaking Jeff Petry.

 

[SirClintonPortis]

LOL comeon.

Its not on GMGM or Ovie or Kuz, yup its thanks to MB. Did MB build the caps as well to get eliminated last year?

Kick MB when he is down I get it. But I think that statement is far off. Caps aren't winning a cup without Ovie and Kuz and Holtby and Orlov which had nothing to do with MB. Geez.

If anything Polie should be getting the credit for the caps win. I mean if he didn't fire Trotz they Caps never win the cup. Nash might have actually won the cup last year with Trotz behind the bench ...

Tell me who is replacing those 18 points and brief top 6 fill in from their 3rd C? Caps were not strong on the farm there. They had to use Mike Richards the year prior to the Eller acquisition. That's how poor their center depth was. And here comes Marc Bergevin, giving them a 3C who had one great playoffs already on his resume and consistently good production for a 3rd liner with crap linemates and no "elevation" from a Paciorety, Crosby, etc.

 

[SirClintonPortis]

LOL comeon.

Its not on GMGM or Ovie or Kuz, yup its thanks to MB. Did MB build the caps as well to get eliminated last year?

Kick MB when he is down I get it. But I think that statement is far off. Caps aren't winning a cup without Ovie and Kuz and Holtby and Orlov which had nothing to do with MB. Geez.

If anything Polie should be getting the credit for the caps win. I mean if he didn't fire Trotz they Caps never win the cup. Nash might have actually won the cup last year with Trotz behind the bench ...

Trotz hadn't won crap with his defensive system for decades and finally did so with center depth beyond compare.

 

[VAN-HAB]

The most frustrating part for fans is there's still two years left on Schlemko's contract, 1 year on Benn's contract and 4 on Lolzner's contract. So unless MB is ready to admit he was wrong changes are not coming.

4??? lol lol LOLzner
Good job Purple Pants
lol

 

[SirClintonPortis]

4??? lol lol LOLzner
Good job Purple Pants
lol

Bergevin was a pylon himself. His own goal is a testament to that fact. Alzner is the closest thing to Bergevin standard of high-end play, which is sabatoging your own team with inept play. Hell, the Boyle hug is right up there with the Bergevin own goal. Alzner is basically the modern Bergevin experience, and we must have half a decade of the gorgeous Bergevin.

 

[Bloumeister]

Always one of my favorite post-finals moments:



So, without further ado, I bring you this politically-incorrect 'shoop:

 

[didimentionlarseller]

http://hfboards.mandatory.com/posts/146668637/

thats AFTER Smith Pelley tied it and about 5-8 minutes before Eller scored

years in the making

 

[Adriatic]

What about those dumb Vegas fans booing Bettman. He's basically the reason they not only have a team, but he's the main reason have a good enough team to make it to finals in their first year...and they boo him.