5/30/17 GMBM press conference 12:00pm

[OV Rocks]

is Darryl Suter not a good candidate, I mean what more can the guy do?

As Herb Brooks said "I'm not looking for the best players I am looking for the right players." It is the same for the coaches. Suter plays a slow heavy game which doesn't correlate to the East where you play the Penguins, Lightening, Maple Leafs now, Senators, Habs, and Rangers. Look at how the Bruins got left behind 3 seasons ago and are just now putting it together. Speed and skill is the name of the game in the East. Suter does not bring that. Who even knows if Suter wants to keep coaching at this point.

I am no mind reader but from his comments about their disagreement (BMac and Trotz) to saying he needs to see how things go in the first few months in regards to if he will extend him. Then add in he said there are some internal problems with the staff and players, as well as calling the coaches out for not getting the guys minds right for game 7. I think Trotz will have the hottest seat in the NHL to start next season.

A big talking point from BMac was that he wants to play young guys. Guess who doesn't like to play young guys, Trotz. I can't think of one skilled top6 winger Trotz has developed from rookie to 70 point scorer. That is not good.

 

[txpd]

If what you say is true, Snyder/Allen and Leonsis/Patrick are starting to morph into the same people. That said, do we have any evidence BM wanted to fire Trotz other than a disagreement on the role history plays? If Leonsis/Patrick don't want Trotz fired, that means they believe it's a roster issue rather than coaching, which is an indictment of Maclellan. While I think it's foolish to keep Trotz, at the very least I hope the decision to keep him is Maclellan's.

My read is that Leonsis is control here. Firing a coach has always required Leonsis to sign off. I just think Trotz is such a good and admirable man that Leonsis doesn't want to fire him. Let his contract run out and not reup him might strike him as different.

IMO its worse because Trotz twists in the wind all season. BUT, he did the same with McPhee. Let him work out his lame duck season and then moved on.

 

[Capsman]

My read is that Leonsis is control here. Firing a coach has always required Leonsis to sign off. I just think Trotz is such a good and admirable man that Leonsis doesn't want to fire him. Let his contract run out and not reup him might strike him as different.

IMO its worse because Trotz twists in the wind all season. BUT, he did the same with McPhee. Let him work out his lame duck season and then moved on.

Ugh and we know how that turned out. Last thing we want is a panicked coach or GM.

 

[AlexBrovechkin8]

Ugh and we know how that turned out. Last thing we want is a panicked coach or GM.

Would much rather have a panicked coach than a panicked GM. Panicked coaches can't make franchise-altering decisions.

 

[Hivemind]

Would much rather have a panicked coach than a panicked GM. Panicked coaches can't make franchise-altering decisions.

Sure they can. Bruce Cassidy burned what was left of the bridge with Jagr (and pushed Calle Johansson into retirement), which ultimately propelled the team from being a pseudo-contender with the likes of Oates/Jagr/Bondra/Lang/Gonchar/Kolzig to a completely firesale.

 

[CapitalsCupReality]

Lol Cassidy did nothing. Jagr made his own bed and Calle was clearly done.

 

[RandyHolt]

A coach can easily shatter a player's confidence, or even make them want to bolt town. Or country. If you complain about losing PP time, I'll scratch your ass.

The players know he is a dead man walking - wasting another prime year of countless players. There are more apt to push him off, versus rally around him and save him. Makes them lose respect for the org. Makes re-signing them more difficult.

 

[Hivemind]

Lol Cassidy did nothing. Jagr made his own bed and Calle was clearly done.

Go back and read the stories about Cassidy, he did plenty. Throwing blame on players who were upset about sick wives. Reading his first address to the team off a crumpled napkin from his pocket. Benching Jagr for the entire period 3 of his 7 point game (and costing him a chance at the 10 point record). Getting in near fistfights with both Jagr and Witt.

And this is what WaPo had to say about Calle/Cassidy's relationship

Johansson vowed after that game that he would never play for Washington again and ultimately retired; he was set to sign a contract extension prior to the incident and the Capitals have had the NHL's second-worst defense this season in his absence.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/arch...365-ad55-7e2534cf9c5a/?utm_term=.2ae5901e0834


Cassidy was Oatesian levels of bad (just with a different set of problems).


Here are some History board threads that touch on Cassidy:
http://hfboards.mandatory.com/showthread.php?t=2173285
http://hfboards.mandatory.com/showthread.php?t=1614061
http://hfboards.mandatory.com/showthread.php?t=2344673
http://hfboards.mandatory.com/showpost.php?p=106692595&postcount=20

 

[CapitalsCupReality]

Cassidy was terrible, but he did nothing to shift the team into "fireasale" course. It was already there. Fans had been losing faith in the team forever. Their ultimate no show in the elimination game was the death blow.

Calle was done. At best he had one more bad year in him. Turned out it was only 8 games.

 

[Hivemind]

Read the Washington Post article about Cassidy's firing.

 

[AlexBrovechkin8]

Read the Washington Post article about Cassidy's firing.

Cassidy was young and arrogant and overly concerned with proving he belonged/establishing dominance. Not really the same as Trotz in this situation, at all, but I can see your point.

I still maintain that a GM can do far more damage to a franchise than a HC.

 

[artilector]

Imagine Russian National Team fan. Long time fan knows Russia won't win Olympics because of Canada. Canada is much stronger and there is no chance to win practically.

Do we fans expect to win OG? No.

Is it still worth to watch hockey? Yes.

Is there a chance situation changes? Yes. 10-15 years of kid/youth hockey development, new generation of coaches with NHL experience (at least as players) - and then maybe we have a new foundation to win it all. What is sad - there is no movement to that so far in Russia

Now get back to Washington DC. Things are much better here.

There is on ice product to watch and enjoy. There is a little shortage of ultimate results. And nobody to know how to fix that. But they know how to maintain current state for another 5 years (or maybe more) and still have a puncher's chance. They will go this road for sure.

Ovechkin is a part of both stories. I expect things to change after his career is over. Will I care at that point? I don't know. I'll try.

FIRE McTROTZ!

Pretty much. With nice goals in the regular season and puncher's chance in playoffs it's still possible to enjoy Caps hockey... as long as one learns to block everything else out

 

[washlion]

In reference to my last night's comment re the Pens and Blackhawks that Mr. Gone commented on, I should have added for his benefit that getting the RIGHT coach and GM is the issue. Who are the GM's of Chicago and Pittsburgh? Look at the depth Pittsburgh could call up. How many AHL players did they against the Caps?
This year aside for Chicago look at the players and coach during their cup runs and the GM. The same can be said for the Devils in the Scott Stevens era.
1998 being the exception, the Caps have gone nowhere. Imho, they have not drafted/developed the right players at the minor league level and have never had a cup winning gm {Milt Schmidt} excluded.
They need to draft/obtain tougher players who do go to the net, e.g., Knuble and find a Letang like defenseman.
However, it all starts in the front office, and their is where the problem lies.
Many people extoll the scoring virtue of Ovechkin, and rightly so, however, he is not a 100% team player, e.g., forechecking and backchecking consistently. His defensive attributes are very poor and set a terrible example as a team captain.
I recognize that many may disagree with me and in answer to Mr. Gone's question asking if I am new here--no been following HF since it's inception. And the Caps for much to long.
By the way, Mr. G, how many cups have the Caps one, keeping the same group together and the present GM and coach for the last 3 years?

 

[artilector]

Maybe it's nitpicking, but I think Ovi is not a bad defensive player anymore -- maybe a bit below average, but he is serviceable. His positioning is fine on the backcheck, and ok in the defensive zone (he mostly stands around in the D zone, but as long as it's in the right place, it's serviceable for a winger).

Where he remains terrible is on the boards and at puck retrieval (e.g. forechecking). Basically, he will not really battle for a puck unless winning the battle offers an immediate goal-scoring opportunity. It's on him.. and also on the coaches that have not made it a requirement. "Ovi, win 50%+ of your puck battles, or your ice time goes down"... what could be simpler... with his physical qualities, he could win 50% with an amputated limb, lol.

 

[um]

Maybe it's nitpicking, but I think Ovi is not a bad defensive player anymore -- maybe a bit below average, but he is serviceable. His positioning is fine on the backcheck, and ok in the defensive zone (he mostly stands around in the D zone, but as long as it's in the right place, it's serviceable for a winger).

Where he remains terrible is on the boards and at puck retrieval (e.g. forechecking). Basically, he will not really battle for a puck unless winning the battle offers an immediate goal-scoring opportunity. It's on him.. and also on the coaches that have not made it a requirement. "Ovi, win 50%+ of your puck battles, or your ice time goes down"... what could be simpler... with his physical qualities, he could win 50% with an amputated limb, lol.

winning board battles is a big part of being defensively responsible, especially for a winger. Ovechkin's awful defensive play led to both Penguins goal in game 7.

 

[g00n]

This could probably fit in 4 or 5 of our threads, but since GMBM was talking about Ovechkin in the press conference I guess this is where it should land:

After one of our first two playoff exits under Trotz, Gmbm was quoted as saying he didn't like the team's strategy and we didn't play a fast enough game. Our gameplan was questioned, iirc. It was interpreted by some of us as a shot at Trotz's plodding style and viewed as possibly part of a disconnect between the GM's and the HC regarding team philosophy and identity.

Fast forward to this year and these comments about Ovechkin changing his game. Is this more dissatisfaction with Trotz and his usage of Ovechkin? If Gmbm wants Ovie to play a fast, up tempo, dynamic game while Trotz seems to place more emphasis on grinding and defense, what is Ovechkin supposed to do?

Trotz likes to say that backchecking and defensive responsibility is what enables a faster style and more offensive chances for Ovie. Is anyone actually seeing that??? Because to me it sounds like ******** and spin designed to sell Ovechkin and everyone else on the Trotz System as the cure for all ailments.

 

[Ajax1995]

Their ultimate no show in the elimination game was the death blow.

IMO it was Leonsis' knee jerk budgetary reaction to said no show that technically was the death blow. They weren't able to bring in anyone to replace Johansson and Klee and went into the next season with a nice group of forwards, a good goaltender, and 2 NHL defensemen over the spare part level. I guess McPhee could have traded from his strength to address the gaping hole on the blueline but for whatever reason he didn't.

 

[Ovechkins Wodka]

Kiwi and doig playing in playoff OT PK was pretty god awful

 

[CapitalsCupReality]

Doig I never minded terribly, but Kiwi....oye.


Proper tanking roster.