Speculation: 2018 Off-Season: We fell short again... now what do we do?

[JFleegs]

Some really damning stats:

Miller had 2 goals in 17 games after having 10 in 19 regular season games. Out of his two goals, one was at even strength.


Our blue line had a combined 6 goals across 17 games. Two from Sergachev and two from Girardi - one which was an OT GWG. Girardi scored more than McDonagh (and Hedman - combined)

The players who played top 6 minutes for the majority of the post season were all a minus. Recall 2015 where TKO was absurdly high at like what, +20? Kucherov and Point were both -6.

Stamkos 6 out of 7 goals were on the powerplay.

Our leading goal scorer even strength was Ondrej Palat with 6. Kucherov had 5. Yanni Gourde did not score a single goal 5v5 in 17 games.

Chris Kunitz had one point.

Morrow and Kunitz have been two terrible signings when it comes to postseason performances.

Ouch

 

[Stormbreaker]

Morrow and Kunitz have been two terrible signings when it comes to postseason performances.

Stop signing dinosaurs

 

[Stammertime91]

Stop signing dinosaurs

Would have rather struggled with Conacher or Erne all year because I don't think either one could've been any worse than Kunitz. At least Conacher shoots the puck and chips in on occasion. Erne isn't slower than molasses when delivering a hit either. Regular season doesn't mean much when you play 17 games and end up with 0 goals and 1 assists. Much rather just plug another tweener in the bottom 6 as Morrow and Kunitz did squat for us. That signing vets on the last leg isn't helping us in the end.

 

[Bolt 45]

I'd have liked to have seen more production out of Kunitz, and he had some games where he just kind of floated, and it was annoying. But he kept Wilson occupied in a way that only a veteran pest could. I'm fairly confident that Wilson's gameplan coming into this one was to just hammer as many of our guys as he could get ahold of, but after the first game or two, and very sporadically throughout the series, he was pretty much a non-factor. Surprisingly so, to be honest.

None of our young guys would have known how to pull that off. Kunitz earned his money this year. Not sure if he's got enough in the tank for another full run next year, but that applies to more than a few guys on the roster

 

[JoVel]

lol I knew what your number 1 was going to be.

Did someone really think it would be a good idea to put Carle's number in everyone's jersey and in the middle of the arena?

 

[DMB06]

Just curious, what type of return would you find acceptable if we traded Point?

 

[JoVel]

Just curious, what type of return would you find acceptable if we traded Point?

More than any team is willing to give up.

 

[DFC]

Just curious, what type of return would you find acceptable if we traded Point?

I see Point as the future #1C, and that future could come any time. I just don't know what you trade that kind of asset for.

 

[LightningStrikes]

So Stammer and Kuch were fine?

Pathetic.

Well the Stamkos quote just states he won't require surgery and felt better at the end of the series (which you could see in his play). It still leaves a lot of room for speculation as for what held him back in the earlier rounds and to what extent.

 

[Maelmoor]

Pens also won two cups, we came up short 3 times. We've become the Ducks/SJ of the East.

True but what Pens did was a fantastic achievement, not the norm.

 

[Lightning1995]

I'd have liked to have seen more production out of Kunitz, and he had some games where he just kind of floated, and it was annoying. But he kept Wilson occupied in a way that only a veteran pest could. I'm fairly confident that Wilson's gameplan coming into this one was to just hammer as many of our guys as he could get ahold of, but after the first game or two, and very sporadically throughout the series, he was pretty much a non-factor. Surprisingly so, to be honest.

None of our young guys would have known how to pull that off. Kunitz earned his money this year. Not sure if he's got enough in the tank for another full run next year, but that applies to more than a few guys on the roster

Curious as to who else you see as being near the end? Cally? Girardi? Which kinda sucks since both are under contract.

 

[LonLon Lei]

Gee, look what two Bolts defensemen had the best overall exit with possession and entry defense stats among the Conference finalists. Surprise, surprise.

Sergachev was really good in his limited exposure to his first ECF. Coburn might not be able to exit the zone well, but he was excellent at defending against entry into our zone. McDonagh was a disappointment.

I wanted to see the numbers so I could tell if I was just being biased against McD because, during the regular season after the TDL, the pairing of him and Girardi didn't work out so Hedman/Strålman had to be broken up AGAIN. I was actually beginning to think that I'd misjudged him but now...nope. And, yeah, Coburn actually had a pretty decent postseason!

I am curious to know which Bolts were playing injured. If McD was still havin problems with his broken hand, I'd cut him more slack. Strålman definitely looked like he was playing injured after he left the first game of the Caps series after a nasty Wilson hit and was gone for 9 minutes. He'd have a good game after that, then a sucky one then a good one then... Kucherov got slammed hard a bunch of times by the Caps during this series. They were definitely hunting him down.

geez is that the only stats that matter though? This is sad. cuz you can take a look at this and say Strals and Heddy were worse than him.Then, we had hits, blocks, takeaways, some other nice defensive plays from all 3, not to mention the rest(yes,even G ) And you know, even those are not just numbers, it's the quality of plays that may have more effect than the certain others.　

 

[MattM92]

We had a long summer, took the 2nd half of the season off, and finished the first two rounds faster than anybody besides Vegas. Fatigue couldn't be an excuse.

Our star players are confirmed to have no serious injuries or setbacks.

To me, it comes down to what a coach can get out of his roster. On paper this team is probably the best in the league. Compare to a team like Vegas with a bunch of "who?" and "huh?" players. A team that is able to put Hedman and McDonagh on the ice for 50 minutes a game should not struggle this much defensively. A team with 9 players who could easily make any other team's top 6 and scored the most goals in the entire league should not struggle offensively. It is a pattern that this staff is either unwilling or unable to pull every drop of potential out of the team.

Saying some shit like "It wasn't our time" is complete f***ing nonsense. If you just wait for the other teams to lay down and give it to you then it will never be your time. Washington doesn't have a superior roster in any regard. They just went out there and took it. This is what I mean when I say it's time for a change in philosophy. Do you think Trotz or Ovechkin would've said some shit like that if they lost game 7? Absolutely. f***ing. Not.

 

[Goober]

1. Wait 4 months.

2. Try again.

** sigh **

 

[Todd1a]

We had a long summer, took the 2nd half of the season off, and finished the first two rounds faster than anybody besides Vegas. Fatigue couldn't be an excuse.

Our star players are confirmed to have no serious injuries or setbacks.

To me, it comes down to what a coach can get out of his roster. On paper this team is probably the best in the league. Compare to a team like Vegas with a bunch of "who?" and "huh?" players. A team that is able to put Hedman and McDonagh on the ice for 50 minutes a game should not struggle this much defensively. A team with 9 players who could easily make any other team's top 6 and scored the most goals in the entire league should not struggle offensively. It is a pattern that this staff is either unwilling or unable to pull every drop of potential out of the team.

Saying some **** like "It wasn't our time" is complete ****ing nonsense. If you just wait for the other teams to lay down and give it to you then it will never be your time. Washington doesn't have a superior roster in any regard. They just went out there and took it. This is what I mean when I say it's time for a change in philosophy. Do you think Trotz or Ovechkin would've said some **** like that if they lost game 7? Absolutely. ****ing. Not.

The cooper comment was the worst thing I heard it's not our time up 3 games to 2 in a series two chances to close them out and game 7 was at home ? then we get shutout bacvk to back game.

 

[nhljohnson]

Miller had 2 goals in 17 games after having 10 in 19 regular season games. Out of his two goals, one was at even strength.

Yes, Miller went on quite a tear after being traded but it's not that surprising the goals dried up: 5 of his 10 regular season goals after joining the Bolts came via the power play and, overall, he rode a very high shooting percentage (22%) in those productive weeks that few players in the league can sustain.

Stamkos 6 out of 7 goals were on the powerplay. Our leading goal scorer even strength was Ondrej Palat with 6. Kucherov had 5. Yanni Gourde did not score a single goal 5v5 in 17 games.

More precisely regarding Kucherov, he only managed 2 5v5 goals the entire playoffs (his other three non-PP goals: 1 via 4v4 play and 2 empty net goals).

 

[T REX]

Cooper seems to be too comfortable in his position. I blame Stevie Y for that. It must be known publicly that Cooper's time is winding down. URGENCY. We lack it. Whether it is a top down issue or whatever...the players did not have it for a large chunk of the season. Unacceptable.

 

[CupsOverCash]

Now that the sadness has almost washed away. I think its time to think of the positives. Vasi, Point, and Sergachev are 3 great young players that are only within their first couple years of being full time in this league. With them and some of the other core players here, I think we will have another shot at this. Sucks that its not this year but this team just wasnt good enough. Go back to the drawing board until we are giving Stanley a tan again.

 

[Maelmoor]

geez is that the only stats that matter though? This is sad. cuz you can take a look at this and say Strals and Heddy were worse than him.Then, we had hits, blocks, takeaways, some other nice defensive plays from all 3, not to mention the rest(yes,even G ) And you know, even those are not just numbers, it's the quality of plays that may have more effect than the certain others.　

Those final chart series are really interesting, gives food for thought. A bounce here, a missed call there, a great save there, taking the right decision.

 

[LonLon Lei]

Those final chart series are really interesting, gives food for thought. A bounce here, a missed call there, a great save there, taking the right decision.

I know. Really inspiring, huh?
Too bad we ended up being the victim of Hockey Gods' mischievousness, but after having seen quite a few Caps fans sympathizing with us since they had been in the same spots many times before, I actually feel so much better now!

 

[LonLon Lei]

Now that the sadness has almost washed away. I think its time to think of the positives. Vasi, Point, and Sergachev are 3 great young players that are only within their first couple years of being full time in this league. With them and some of the other core players here, I think we will have another shot at this. Sucks that its not this year but this team just wasnt good enough. Go back to the drawing board until we are giving Stanley a tan again.

Add Cirelli, too!

 

[EspenK]

Take our coach. Please. To me the Bolts played like they would under Torts. Cirelli & Point would probably be in Syracuse because they can't check. Girardi & McD would be cherished for their shot blocking. Good luck.

 

[TeslaCoilFan]

geez is that the only stats that matter though? This is sad. cuz you can take a look at this and say Strals and Heddy were worse than him.Then, we had hits, blocks, takeaways, some other nice defensive plays from all 3, not to mention the rest(yes,even G ) And you know, even those are not just numbers, it's the quality of plays that may have more effect than the certain others.　

You are, of course, correct. There's more to our guys' overall defensive play than just a certain selection of stats. I think I was overreacting to some people's overreactions in declaring certain players as poop.

Now that a day has passed, if I try to look at it more objectively, all of our defense actually played very well overall until the final series vs Washington. McD was offensively strong in the first series with 5 assists, the McD/Stråls pairing helped the Point line keep Taylor Hall and the Bergeron/Marchand/Pasternak lines under control for both of the first two series which is a terrific accomplishment. G made some great defensive plays, scored two goals and blocked a ton of shots and hit plenty. Coburn played better than we've seen in years. Sergachev made humongous progress considering he's a 19 year old rookie. Hedman had some solid moments too despite an ever rotating complement of partners.

It was just that final series when everything seemed to fall apart. But heck, we were down and drove it to a Game 7 part of which was pretty close.

I know. Really inspiring, huh?
Too bad we ended up being the victim of Hockey Gods' mischievousness, but after having seen quite a few Caps fans sympathizing with us since they had been in the same spots many times before, I actually feel so much better now!

Me too. Some Caps fans have been very understanding and sympathetic. Like Yzerman said in his 'exit' interview, the season ended in disappointment, not failure and that he will be spending his summer tweaking things to keep us improving so that we can return to the SCF and bring Lord Stanley home.

 

[CupsOverCash]

I wouldnt be opposed to trading a few players this offseason. Johnson, Killorn, Coburn or Girardi, and Callahan. Bring up some young and hungry players like Joseph, Peca, Stephens, Raddysh, Katchouk and Cernak. Probably not all of those guys. Wouldnt surprise me to see one or two of those guys on this list get traded and one or two of those guys replace them.

 

[Todd1a]

I wouldnt be opposed to trading a few players this offseason. Johnson, Killorn, Coburn or Girardi, and Callahan. Bring up some young and hungry players like Joseph, Peca, Stephens, Raddysh, Katchouk and Cernak. Probably not all of those guys. Wouldnt surprise me to see one or two of those guys on this list get traded and one or two of those guys replace them.

it's doubful yzerman will rush Raddysh or Katchouk he starts them both in the ahl for at least a year