Post-Game Talk: stl @ Supreme Champions of the NHL

[troyerlaw]

Coach Q is available

 

[traparatus]

I don't know if it's Reirden, but I suspect he has something to do with it. He inherited a team that was firing on all cylinders and - somewhat surprisingly - came out firing on all cylinders after winning the Cup.
It's as if he didn't even need to coach them or do anything - just activate "Trotz mode" and let them play their game.
Last few weeks the team has struggled and there is zero evidence that Reirden or the rest of the coaching staff know how to fix things. That concerns me - regardless of what month we're in.

That's a whole lot conjecture. You are not attributing any of the success to the coaching staff and you are blaming them for all of the failures.

You are looking at 'Trotz mode' through some seriously rosy glasses. This team played some ugly hockey through very long stretches last season, some of the least inspired hockey I've seen them play in the Ovechkin era. Caps were plummeting going into the trade deadline. I guess that wasn't 'Trotz mode'.

 

[Hivemind]

Holy cow, some unbelievable overreactions to this game in this thread.

 

[Capitals40]

I think it's called practice. Not sure though. I just post gifs and memes and drink a lot.

So if they are down by 10 they might pull the goalie to practice 6 on 5 .. yeah just post gifs and memes.

 

[Capitals40]

That's a whole lot conjecture. You are not attributing any of the success to the coaching staff and you are blaming them for all of the failures.

You are looking at 'Trotz mode' through some seriously rosy glasses. This team played some ugly hockey through very long stretches last season, some of the least inspired hockey I've seen them play in the Ovechkin era. Caps were plummeting going into the trade deadline. I guess that wasn't 'Trotz mode'.

If Reirden turns them into a Cup winner then he will be in "Trotz Mode"..otherwise his hire is a failure..fair or not that would make the decision to "fire" Trotz wrong..that simple.

 

[traparatus]

If Reirden turns them into a Cup winner then he will be in "Trotz Mode"..otherwise his hire is a failure..fair or not that would make the decision to "fire" Trotz wrong..that simple.

That's lunacy. There will be 30 coaches who will be a 'failure' this season.

Barry Trotz was not some kind of gift from gods. He is a good coach and it took him 20 some years to win the Cup. It might take him another 20 to win his next one.

Brace yourself for this info. Likelihood of any team winning the Cup is extremely small. This includes 2019 Capitals.

 

[AussieCapsFan]

That's a whole lot conjecture. You are not attributing any of the success to the coaching staff and you are blaming them for all of the failures.

You are looking at 'Trotz mode' through some seriously rosy glasses. This team played some ugly hockey through very long stretches last season, some of the least inspired hockey I've seen them play in the Ovechkin era. Caps were plummeting going into the trade deadline. I guess that wasn't 'Trotz mode'.

Fair enough - I am frustrated at the way the team is playing and I'm (probably unfairly) speculating on the reasons.
The team had plenty of failures when Trotz was their coach. But in the end he handed over a team that brought home the Stanley Cup despite a huge amount of adversity. That is his legacy and that's what I'll remember him for.
Time will tell if Reirden can get the same results / success from this team. It's a much tougher thing to ask because it's very hard to win back to back Cups. I can't begin to imagine how difficult it is to motivate players, let alone players motivating themselves,
after winning a Cup. But I don't get paid the big bucks so it's not my butt that's on the line.

 

[troyerlaw]

Fair enough - I am frustrated at the way the team is playing

Yeah. They look like *** lately. And their jam/battle quotient seems chronically low.

Time will tell, i guess. And Reirden’s coaching style will inevitably evolve.

But team personality wise, it’s a fair ways off from the Trotz, Hunter, Quenneville style. At least with those guys you knew there was a bag skate, tongue lashing, or benching of the sacrficial rookie around the corner.

Reirden seems like more of a technocrat.

Losing Beagle hurt, too, both at the dot and in setting tone for work ethic. Didn’t help to have Kuz say publicly that he’s not the type to give 110% every night. Keep that **** to yourself, bruh, esp. when you don’t know what’s around the corner, injury wise or production wise. As trotz used to say, the hockey gods seem to even things out, over time. If there’s cheat in a team’s game, or in a guy’s game, it gets revealed soon enough.

Oh well. I hope the boys start to look sharper soon.

 

[philip]

Ok, this is now starting to be a bit of a mini crisis. We should sort it all out, but it won't happen on it's own, so something needs to change.

 

[StrikingDistance]

So if they are down by 10 they might pull the goalie to practice 6 on 5 .. yeah just post gifs and memes.

Hyperbole much?

For someone with your quantity and 'quality' of posts, maybe follow your own advice.

 

[Sam Spade]

Let's get riled up -- what's the record since Orpik came back?

Put Jaskin back in -- with him 4th line had way better zone time, at least against most opponents.

Bottom 6 is being kind of useless right now -- top 6 has an "excuse" to "optimize effort", these guys don't, 'cause they can't consistently bring anything else to the table.

You joke, I think, but you don't want to know, cause it's bad. I mean is it coincidence or is having a non-PMD back there an issue that leads to the Caps getting hemmed in the zone?

Also, while Burakovsky was not the issue tonight, he brings NOTHING to the table so playing any of the scratches would be better at this point. 4th line of Jaskin/Dowd/Boyd would be really good I think. Sit DSP or Stephenson and Burka and see what happens.

 

[tenken00]

Whoa whoa whoa. When I brought up Trotz, I meant I just wanted to see some emotion. Right now these are the dog days of winter. We aren't even at the all star break yet. Take a deep breath.

 

[RandyHolt]

What assumption are we referring to?

Yours: Niskanen and Orlov should be minus 2 and Backstrom minus 1. And obviously some guys were given minuses when they weren't on the ice. Carlson and Kempny shouldn't be minus 2 in this game

St. Louis Blues - Washington Capitals - January 14th, 2019

Like the Ovi possible deflection non goal a few games ago, there is little motivation for the league to review this stuff. A team has to make a stink IMO.

 

[Hivemind]

A lot of people forgetting how close Barry Trotz was to getting fired a year ago. Teams go through slumps. It happens. This slump isn’t even that bad. They’re 5-5 in their last 10.

 

[marcel snapshot]

The core leadership group - Ovie, Nick, Carlson, Holtby - perhaps hasn't shed all vestiges of the default to complacent mode they would go into after a period of success. The Cup win may have simultaneously dispelled and reinforced that. What I know is that the Ducks game in December was a classic in-game downshift to "we are unstoppable" cruise mode, resulting in an atrocious collapse.

They righted the ship, but then got into the same mode in the Preds New Year's Eve game, and haven't been right since. No surprise it coincides with Ovie, Nick, Carlson, and Holtby (somewhat) underperforming, and with the 3 skaters mentioned there looking pretty disengaged for long stretches. Meanwhile, Oshie, a guy who's there to help lead during these lulls is clearly compromised, and Willy, another guy who can wake the team up, has been neutered a bit.

You could see it last night - Ovie scores his 1st period PPG (afterBlues had been dominating) and the team breathes a sigh of relief, "yea we're good again." They actually outplayed the Blues for most of the rest of the 1st period, clearly expected the Blues to collapse in the face of their greatness in periods 2 and 3, and instead got out-hustled and outplayed for the rest of the game, looking like dung in the process.

Really thought after the Blues scored to make it 3-1, Todd needed to call a timeout and scream at them, to maybe shake them from their stupor - but doesn't seem like that's how he rolls. I would hope we see a very different team tonight

 

[um]

you guys are overreacting a bit... Caps are playing at a .500 level despite our awful powerplay while St.Louis is on a warpath to get back into the playoffs.

Caps need to get it back together and I'm so sick of Burakovsky, but other than that It'll be fine.

 

[Devil Dancer]

They're sucking at just the right time.

 

[trick9]

Putrid effort all around. They get 1 PP goal early and everyone stops skating thinking the game is over.

Backstrom and Kuznetsov both certainly took the day off.

 

[Foots]

They're sucking at just the right time.

Suck now. Peak later!

 

[Bananas]

Another lazy game with a Capital L?

Big whoop.

 

[Sam Spade]

A lot of people forgetting how close Barry Trotz was to getting fired a year ago. Teams go through slumps. It happens. This slump isn’t even that bad. They’re 5-5 in their last 10.

And in two of the "losses" they got points.

#participationtrophy #doomandgloom

 

[RandyHolt]

Ovi scored. Willy hit someone, and didn't get suspended.

That's a victory.

 

[Sam Spade]

The more I think about it the stuff after the game with the Metro Leafs team makes me realize last night was an abolute success, no matter the score.

 

[txpd]

Fair enough - I am frustrated at the way the team is playing and I'm (probably unfairly) speculating on the reasons.

You said there is zero evidence that the coaching staff knows how to coach this team. There is no public evidence going either way because that stuff isn't public.

They are now in the dog days part of the season. They are all beat up and trying to cope. I am fairly sure they are not that excited about playing these western conference teams either.

Didn't I see somewhere that the Caps are like 18-2 in their last 20 against the east?

 

[maacoshark]

The comment directly above his. In which the poster said he “assumed” the numbers would be changed. There is an old saying about the word “assume.”

That was me assuming that the game stats would be corrected.