Speculation: Acq./Rost. Bldg./Cap/Lines etc. Part LXXV (Dog Days - Woof!) Galiev waived

[txpd]

After 40+ games maybe they are hoping OV can get him going. They could be grasping at straws at this point.

Sure. You would have to think that getting Kuzy going again was an early season priority. I think that it has the pitfalls of the pressure of playing with the superstar and the difficulty of playing against the top defense group of the oppo.

They could moving him down to 3 but you risk hitting his confidence harder with a demotion.

 

[txpd]

Yea...I get this. Move the kid to 4 for a game or two. Winnik wont be scratched for long. Get Connolly a game. See if Willy can stir the pot. Get Kuzy and Jojo back together. Last season, those two as a pair ran a lot of those long dominant shifts in the offensive zone.

 

[twabby]

The lines look good, hopefully they work. Second line will be interesting to see, and that should be a really good 3rd line.

 

[Devil Dancer]

Not sure why 77 is on the left and 65 on the right. Any theories?

 

[ovikovy817]

You want Kuzya to score more goals and get more points, but you put him with MoJo and Wilson

You scratch a guy who was good in all games since the beginning of the season and one of your best PKer.

#Capsfansproblems

 

[Ajax1995]

Not sure why 77 is on the left and 65 on the right. Any theories?

I'm going with user error during tweet composition...

 

[BackToTheBasics]

not sure why 77 is on the left and 65 on the right. Any theories?

 

[CapitalsCupReality]

Thanks to Trotz for the pizza comment. one of the all time greats

That will eventually transcend Orlov. Good line.

 

[hockeykicker]

 

[Calicaps]

Twabby's head just exploded.

 

[hockeykicker]

 

[txpd]

Twabby's head just exploded.

boom

 

[txpd]

You want Kuzya to score more goals and get more points, but you put him with MoJo and Wilson

You scratch a guy who was good in all games since the beginning of the season and one of your best PKer.

#Capsfansproblems

Sure. 90 can and will get 92 the puck. Ive said it before. Those two together had a thing going last season where they would circle the offensive zone around and a round and wear the oppo down the the nub. They they would start creating scoring. Wilson is going to get top 9 placement this season. He can keep up with those two and the oppo will have to keep their heads up.

Not sure why Winnik is sitting. My view is that he is a little dinged.

 

[g00n]

http://nhl.nbcsports.com/2016/10/27/alzner-capitals-playoff-letdown-is-deep-somewhere-in-our-heads/

“Last year, we were just so hungry all over the ice, and that’s why we had so much success. We just haven’t been as hungry right now,” Karl Alzner said, according to the Washington Post. “I don’t know if it’s because deep somewhere in our heads, we did that all season long and it still didn’t work for us, so maybe it’s just taking some time to build back up and as the season goes on, we get better. I don’t feel that in the front of my head, but maybe deep in the back, that’s kind of what’s going on. We’re better than how we’ve been playing.”

I am SO ****ing sick of hearing about how this team regrets gagging in the playoffs and still can't get motivated for games.

 

[Coldplay619]

Trotz quote on him only caring about the scoreboard concerns me DEEPLY.

He's too fixated on small sample sizes.

 

[txpd]

http://nhl.nbcsports.com/2016/10/27/alzner-capitals-playoff-letdown-is-deep-somewhere-in-our-heads/



I am SO ****ing sick of hearing about how this team regrets gagging in the playoffs and still can't get motivated for games.

There are costs to losing. They rolled up the league last season and again they failed out again. There is damage there that needs to heal that might not.

I am not entirely surprised that one of the long term caps hasn't cracked under the stress. Might be Kuzy has cracked. I doubt Karl has but he is the most honest guy in the room

 

[txpd]

Trotz quote on him only caring about the scoreboard concerns me DEEPLY.

He's too fixated on small sample sizes.

I am guessing the above is sarcasm.

 

[HTFN]

My thing, though, is that it implies that they truly tried their best all year. The mentality shouldn't be "we tried so hard and failed, why bother", it should be "where are we not trying hard enough?"

that comes from within.

 

[CapitalsCupReality]

http://nhl.nbcsports.com/2016/10/27/alzner-capitals-playoff-letdown-is-deep-somewhere-in-our-heads/



I am SO ****ing sick of hearing about how this team regrets gagging in the playoffs and still can't get motivated for games.

It's mind boggling. Today's entitled pro athlete. "Oh poor us, we worked so hard only to get upset again and now we don't feel like working hard. Whaaaaa..."

Pisses me off. This is why I have zero faith in this team in the playoffs. They say they want it bad but they're not really hungry.

 

[CapitalsCupReality]

Trotz quote on him only caring about the scoreboard concerns me DEEPLY.

He's too fixated on small sample sizes.

Ultimately pro sports is about one thing. WINNING

It's why phrases like "he played good enough to win" are meaningless to me. If you didn't win, you didn't play good enough to win, or you didn't do enough.

 

[Roughing]

http://nhl.nbcsports.com/2016/10/27/alzner-capitals-playoff-letdown-is-deep-somewhere-in-our-heads/



I am SO ****ing sick of hearing about how this team regrets gagging in the playoffs and still can't get motivated for games.

It's how the majority of the fan base feels. Explains the minimal GDTs. I'm with the Caps like every year but I can't sit here in October and get highly excited [yet] knowing how mentally weak this team is. If Kuzy keeps sucking I'll start losing what little hope I have. Haven't seen much to be super invested in and I don't believe in the coach at all.

 

[Raikkonen]

Cheaters. They've read the boards and used all our proposed line combinations in one change. What we will talk about now?

I mean. Who cares. More sleep for me

 

[Alexander the Gr8]

See, that's what I said yesterday. These guys want to win, but they don't want it as bad as they want their next paycheque. How could they not be motivated? Some of the main core players are in a contract year, and this is the last year we will be able to have such a deep team to go for the Cup and they can't get motivated?

It's going to be hard to stay interested in this team during the season.

Also, Trotz is starting to worry me. It's like he's been constantly trying to justify his decisions this year, never a good sign coming from a coach.

 

[HecticGlow]

These lines appear to me to be an attempt to do exactly what I and other posters have been discussing lately - spread your offence across all your lines.

• Ovi + Backstrom is guaranteed to attract the most attention, and all three of them can can finish.
• Jojo and Kuzy can play well together, Willy can forecheck well and buy them some space on the ice, and actually has had some good chances recently. He also worked well with Jojo for a time last year. Expect to see lots of net presence from him is my guess
• If Bura and Oshie can't get going with Eller, our third line is doomed. Literally, we will not put together a stronger third line, at least centred by Eller. Given Eller has been average-to-poor on faceoffs and created no offence, I actually think he's a downgrade on Mojo at 3C.
• The fourth line... I don't get it either. Winnik's been playing well, and is one of our stronger PKers (and we need strong PKers right now). They had Sanford and Connelly PKing at practice the other day, though...

I don't see these lines lasting more than a game, and likely will have changed a bit before the next one anyway. And I'd be tempted to try the lines from the first few games with just Oshie and Williams flipped, but anyway.

 

[txpd]

My thing, though, is that it implies that they truly tried their best all year. The mentality shouldn't be "we tried so hard and failed, why bother", it should be "where are we not trying hard enough?"

that comes from within.

That is really easy to say. Its harder to do. Particularly when you consider the history this Ovechkin era group has had. They have had the best record in the league twice. This time they were convinced that they had it right and they crashed and burned again.

Hockey is a game where 100% plus is the minimum to succeed. Let the will and want to slip just a bit and its hard for any of them.

You do know that they hear all the jokes and jeers about the President's Trophy. Do you think they really want that again?

They are a good team that is dealing with adversity from the get go. Ive said that I think Trotz is a coach capable of doing what Bruce couldn't. Keep them together and pointed in the right direction. It wont be easy. Best I can tell the veterans are playing. Kuzy and Burt are clearly struggling and they are key players that are the difference makers. They have a rookie they are trying to establish and they have a defenseman they are trying to break into the top 4. That's a lot of mess.

I am sure you guys would rather not see Orlov just dropped to the 3rd pair, the kid scratched, and Kuzy and Burt demoted. Burt was demoted but he is playing with Oshie and that softens the blow a bit. It might be that Kuzy was the one really demoted. Will be interesting to see how the TOI gets spread.

I would give them 20 games to work thru it.