GDT: Yotes @ Caps | 11/5/22 | 7:00pm ET

[AlexBrovechkin8]

Ovechkin goal and Mantha 1+1 to pump up his trade value. Exactly what the doctor ordered.

As for the game... with all these injuries and Orlov dropping is anyone really surprised we suck? Bubble team can't cope missing 4 top-6 forwards and top D pairing.

Most teams can’t cope with that. Some teams could cope better than others but they’re missing two full lines of forwards and their best two defensemen. They’re missing an entire F1 line and their D1 pair. They could make a top PP unit up with guys they’re missing.

 

[YippieKaey]

Are you sure about that translation?

Think it's english originally:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2018/10/12/caps-think-evgeny-kuznetsov-is-one-nhls-best-he-just-wants-have-fun/

Dauphin had a blank stat line and their 3LW scored 2 goals on us including the game winner.

Their 7th D played 6min over 11 shifts.

It's not why they won.

Shot chart. AZ is on the left

View attachment 604180

Once again plenty of shots from the slot, including all the goals. The side for Ovie's goal seems reversed, fwiw.

This team is losing because they're shit on defense in the slot. They need better backchecking and attention from the forwards there, and more physical presence from the d-men.

This is a pattern.

I'd argue our defense is fine. 9th in the league in GA.

The offense however is a complete joke. Think we score the least goals of any team in the league.

 

[g00n]

Think it's english originally:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2018/10/12/caps-think-evgeny-kuznetsov-is-one-nhls-best-he-just-wants-have-fun/

I'd argue our defense is fine. 9th in the league in GA.

The offense however is a complete joke. Think we score the least goals of any team in the league.

The GA is largely a function of outstanding goaltending. The people in front of the goaltender are responsible for dealing with the slot area because it's prime scoring territory.

If the defense were better we wouldn't see so many shots and goals in that area.

 

[max21]

Lose hard for Bedard…? Is that a thing? #losehardforbedard (I’m only half serious)

 

[twabby]

I'd argue our defense is fine. 9th in the league in GA.

The offense however is a complete joke. Think we score the least goals of any team in the league.

I’m with you. The defense has lapses at times but every defense does. I wish a few of the forwards were more adept defensively but in general team defense just isn’t an ongoing issue for the team.

This is the issue:

Just nothing going on in the offensive zone. Every postseason it’s the same thing: lack of chance generation against good teams.

It’s tough to imagine the solution. Carlson could help when he returns. So could Wilson. But even when they’ve been in the lineup they aren’t exactly creating tons of good chances. In terms of impact I don’t think they have a single first-line talent right now except for Ovechkin and his talent is shooting rather than playdriving.

I don’t know what a retool would entail, but they need a significant retool. This group just isn’t capable. Carlson would be their most significant trade chip. Maybe someone would bite on Kuznetsov. I’d still entertain the idea of floating Tom Wilson if a team is willing to give up the farm, but I know that’s heresy around these parts to even speak of such a thing.

The solutions aren’t easy. Rebuilding would be sensible if Ovechkin’s goal pursuit wouldn’t be impacted, but it is important to fans and the team to see that chase. It throws a wrench into things but it’s also making history. Think of how many fans (like me) are satisfied if he scores even in a loss.

 

[Brian23]

This should be when the developmental system starts paying dividends but they've really strayed from it.

This is probably the thing that drives me really crazy. Forwards I get, assuming we believe that the draft just fell where defense was the value at all the picks they had, but how many picks over the last 4 or 5 years did we draft defenders? Why is our D poor with no one ready to step up?

I wasn't expecting Boston quality defense but I figured, with the picks they tried investing, we wouldn't need guys like Irwin or Gustafson or even TVR (who I'll admit I at least) to fill out our defense.

 

[Langway]

Fire Lavi. Hire some sort of offensive guru. Who? No idea. Someone more progressive conceptually. But that absolutely has to be coupled with better pro scouting or else it'd be wasted. Their vision is half-assed and largely compensatory. What are they actually good at? What's their identity? Beats me. If you're not unabashedly exploiting whatever it is you've found yourself to have collected/developed that's exceptional on a team level you're not going anywhere. The method in all regards is weak and essentially mediocre in intent. Their identity is basically that they have some skilled players and they're pretty good but getting older. Not dominant. Effort alone isn't going to pick up that slack...or else you'd just see teams of knuckle-draggers rag-dolling teams. Nuance is still mostly king and they don't do nuance much.

If their discipline falls off further a change will become unavoidable. There's probably not much improvement to be had offensively. Maybe it's not altogether fair to Lavi but someone has to pay the price. If they continue ignoring the slot area I think that says all that needs to be said about buy-in. Maybe it was a function of daring a team like Arizona to beat them when they'd be tighter against better teams. Just it shows their essential carelessness. If teams go to work against them down low those chances will be there. They're not compact like you'd think a defensive-minded team would be. So in that sense it's probably just a matter of time before significant changes will need to be made. But you wonder if MacLellan really grasps their issues comprehensively. You wonder if he has the capacity for a full scale freshening rebuild on a conceptual level.

The injuries are bad. They significantly lower their margin of error. But fundamentally speaking they don't do enough either way to put themselves on more favorable ground most games. And that tends to get coaches fired. Hell, if they had any sort of bad goaltending that drum would be beating much, much louder. They're about the only thing keeping it down.

 

[YippieKaey]

Lose hard for Bedard…? Is that a thing? #losehardforbedard (I’m only half serious)

I feel that if we're not going to make the playoffs why try to get a good position in the conference? I mean there's no real reward except pride.

Being a decent team that never makes the playoffs is one of the worst things for an organization in my view.

 

[CapitalsCupReality]

It doesn't matter who is in the line up for us or who we are playing against... they play the same way. It's the style of hockey they play that is the issue. This style just does not generate enough chances for them to score goals.

If they open it up, they’ll get abused in their own end. It’s pretty easy to see why they play this system. They’re old and slow, and now woefully undermanned.

Fire Lavi. Hire some sort of offensive guru. Who? No idea. Someone more progressive conceptually. But that absolutely has to be coupled with better pro scouting or else it'd be wasted. Their vision is half-assed and largely compensatory. What are they actually good at? What's their identity? Beats me. If you're not unabashedly exploiting whatever it is you've found yourself to have collected/developed that's exceptional on a team level you're not going anywhere. The method in all regards is weak and essentially mediocre in intent. Their identity is basically that they have some skilled players and they're pretty good but getting older. Not dominant. Effort alone isn't going to pick up that slack...or else you'd just see teams of knuckle-draggers rag-dolling teams. Nuance is still mostly king and they don't do nuance much.

If their discipline falls off further a change will become unavoidable. There's probably not much improvement to be had offensively. Maybe it's not altogether fair to Lavi but someone has to pay the price. If they continue ignoring the slot area I think that says all that needs to be said about buy-in. Maybe it was a function of daring a team like Arizona to beat them when they'd be tighter against better teams. Just it shows their essential carelessness. If teams go to work against them down low those chances will be there. They're not compact like you'd think a defensive-minded team would be. So in that sense it's probably just a matter of time before significant changes will need to be made. But you wonder if MacLellan really grasps their issues comprehensively. You wonder if he has the capacity for a full scale freshening rebuild on a conceptual level.

The injuries are bad. They significantly lower their margin of error. But fundamentally speaking they don't do enough either way to put themselves on more favorable ground most games. And that tends to get coaches fired. Hell, if they had any sort of bad goaltending that drum would be beating much, much louder. They're about the only thing keeping it down.

Classic Langway post!

I have no loyalty to Lavi, so sure, shitcan him. What‘s the worst that could happen…..they suck even more. They’re close enough to the tipping point with this many longterm injuries.

zero problem with a change, just probably won’t change much this year. Who knows? Maybe a new coach can make them fast and healthy again?! lol….

 

[Misery74]

Laviolette should not have challenged the first goal, terrible miscalculation.

He’s a lame duck, just get it over with.

 

[Midnight Judges]

That was a bad loss.

 

[DWGie26]

For those of you calling for a rebuild this is what it looks like with a bunch of AHL level players in the lineup. I also don’t want to trade away picks because it takes a draft pick 2-5 years to make it to the NHL and 2-3 to start regularly producing at NHL level. So sure, you could trade away Mantha, Eller, JC74, Orlov, and pending UFA’s like Sheary and Hath but then who plays? even with what we have, we are not a Bedard sweepstakes participant.

This is top level adversity we are dealing with right now. And losing sucks. but i don’t want management panicking. There will be no Erat type trade as they have said they want to look at their system players. But you also have to grab value (for free) when you can which they did in Milano and NAK. I’d really like to see Johansen get in though.

 

[traparatus]

For those of you calling for a rebuild this is what it looks like with a bunch of AHL level players in the lineup. I also don’t want to trade away picks because it takes a draft pick 2-5 years to make it to the NHL and 2-3 to start regularly producing at NHL level. So sure, you could trade away Mantha, Eller, JC74, Orlov, and pending UFA’s like Sheary and Hath but then who plays? even with what we have, we are not a Bedard sweepstakes participant.

This is top level adversity we are dealing with right now. And losing sucks. but i don’t want management panicking. There will be no Erat type trade as they have said they want to look at their system players. But you also have to grab value (for free) when you can which they did in Milano and NAK. I’d really like to see Johansen get in though.

A rebuild might come calling for this team, whether any of us want it or not. What do you do if the team finishes 11th-12th in the conference? Their trajectory has been very steady for many years now.

Frankly, if not for Ovi, the answer would be clear. As it it, I have no idea about what they should do. The team doesn't have any elite centers. Players they do have do not display enough attention to detail and discipline to play the kind of mistake free game needed to compensate for lack of offensive skill.

 

[DWGie26]

A rebuild might come calling for this team, whether any of us want it or not. What do you do if the team finishes 11th-12th in the conference? Their trajectory has been very steady for many years now.

Frankly, if not for Ovi, the answer would be clear. As it it, I have no idea about what they should do. The team doesn't have any elite centers. Players they do have do not display enough attention to detail and discipline to play the kind of mistake free game needed to compensate for lack of offensive skill.

Yep… that is kinda what I was saying. Rebuild may come closer to the deadline. But it is not today 20 games into the season. If we are sitting 11-12 come deadline time, I’d be in favor of moving some players. We have a lot of UFA’s (un RFA’s) at season end. If we can get value when we are clearly out, then do it. We’ll have some free agency / roster flexiblity and hopefully another couple of farm guys to make mark.

 

[YippieKaey]

For those of you calling for a rebuild this is what it looks like with a bunch of AHL level players in the lineup. I also don’t want to trade away picks because it takes a draft pick 2-5 years to make it to the NHL and 2-3 to start regularly producing at NHL level. So sure, you could trade away Mantha, Eller, JC74, Orlov, and pending UFA’s like Sheary and Hath but then who plays? even with what we have, we are not a Bedard sweepstakes participant.

This is top level adversity we are dealing with right now. And losing sucks. but i don’t want management panicking. There will be no Erat type trade as they have said they want to look at their system players. But you also have to grab value (for free) when you can which they did in Milano and NAK. I’d really like to see Johansen get in though.

And since we already are at the point of having a bunch of AHL level players in the lineup, why not trade the players that are constantly injured and/or underperform so at least having AHL players in the lineup is a pathway to improvement and not just slowly sinking into a swamp with no benefit gained from it?

 

[tycoonheart]

If they open it up, they’ll get abused in their own end. It’s pretty easy to see why they play this system. They’re old and slow, and now woefully undermanned.

They are losing anyway, so why not try something different? Maybe they can win games 5-3 rather than trying to win 2-1.

Our goalies have been great. Maybe they can keep us in games while we open things up and see if we can improve the scoring issue.

 

[g00n]

 

[Jags]

Their vision is half-assed and largely compensatory. What are they actually good at? What's their identity? Beats me. If you're not unabashedly exploiting whatever it is you've found yourself to have collected/developed that's exceptional on a team level you're not going anywhere.

100% this. It's like our "identity" is 895. And what you said at the end is a thousand percent true. If we had average goaltending right now, heads would be rolling. If we were giving up goals on all the bad, golden opportunities we're giving our opposition, our coaching and buy-in issues would be crystal clear to everyone. Kuemper and Lindgren are saving jobs right now.