Player Discussion Andre Burakovsky

[Melkor]

You are missing my point with Burakovsky. I'm not defending him. I'm pointing iut the problems go much deeper.
As for Eller, I dont understand the love for him. You say Burakovsky us here to produce. Why is Eller here? He isn't producing. Burakovsky is actually producing more per 60 mins. Eller gets alot of mins and takes a lot of shots. And he has a grand total of 6 goals. For all of you stats freaks here, Eller has the second lowest goals per 60 mins of our forwards. Ahead of only Jaskin. He has had time in the top 6 and on the top pp unit so his lack of production is unacceptable. So I ask again, why is Eller here? What is his role. If he was a great defensive player I'd give him a pass but he isnt. He also isnt a good faceoff guy. What does he do well? He doesnt have a good shot and he isn't much of a playmaker.
Have you not watched him play this year. He has been one of the culprits that has been turning the puck over entering the zone because he trues to get cute at the blue line instead of getting it deep. He does it every game. I can think of a couple of shorthanded goals against that happened when Eller was stripped of the puck trying to be too cute. He did it against New Jersey and we gave up a shorthanded goal. Maybe you remember the meltdown against the Ducks. It was Eller that got stripped by Getzlaf trying to make a stupid move at the blue line. That stupid mistake cost a shorthanded goal against and cost us the game.
If Ellers productivity is down that's fine but he better be helping in other areas of the game. He isn't doing that at all. He is hurting this team more than helping. And I can't figure out how you can't see that.

Eller is a puck-possession player. His wingers are usually a turnover machines and he's the only guy who can maintain possession in tight spaces on his line. I actually am not a stat geek at all and could care less what his corsi is. This season he looks out of his sort as well as pretty much most of the forwards on this team. Kuznetsov is a complete mess, Backstrom alone cost this team a couple of games with his turnovers. Oshie most of the time has no idea where he is and what he has to do out there. So I wouldn't single Eller out with his shitty performance this season. His playoffs performance from first to last game last year earned him the benefit of the doubt from my pov. What is really worrisome is how Orlov, Niskanen and Bowey looking so far. Orlov's had much better season a year ago but he's getting exposed on the D since the start of his career. The guy got manhandled by Vegas in the finals series, Niskanen had been coming to the rescue all the time. Now that Niskanen is incapable of moving his feet for whatever reason, Orlov is a hole on the backend and he's either gonna get better right after this break or the Caps are in deep trouble.

 

[hb12xchamps]

Burakovsky is supposed to be a better player than DSP, Dowd, etc. AND he makes a lot more money than they do. That’s the issue. If he’s not going to be useful he’s just wasting $3 million in cap space

 

[Ridley Simon]

You are missing my point with Burakovsky. I'm not defending him. I'm pointing iut the problems go much deeper.
As for Eller, I dont understand the love for him. You say Burakovsky us here to produce. Why is Eller here? He isn't producing. Burakovsky is actually producing more per 60 mins. Eller gets alot of mins and takes a lot of shots. And he has a grand total of 6 goals. For all of you stats freaks here, Eller has the second lowest goals per 60 mins of our forwards. Ahead of only Jaskin. He has had time in the top 6 and on the top pp unit so his lack of production is unacceptable. So I ask again, why is Eller here? What is his role. If he was a great defensive player I'd give him a pass but he isnt. He also isnt a good faceoff guy. What does he do well? He doesnt have a good shot and he isn't much of a playmaker.
Have you not watched him play this year. He has been one of the culprits that has been turning the puck over entering the zone because he trues to get cute at the blue line instead of getting it deep. He does it every game. I can think of a couple of shorthanded goals against that happened when Eller was stripped of the puck trying to be too cute. He did it against New Jersey and we gave up a shorthanded goal. Maybe you remember the meltdown against the Ducks. It was Eller that got stripped by Getzlaf trying to make a stupid move at the blue line. That stupid mistake cost a shorthanded goal against and cost us the game.
If Ellers productivity is down that's fine but he better be helping in other areas of the game. He isn't doing that at all. He is hurting this team more than helping. And I can't figure out how you can't see that.

Couple of things:
It seems like you tend to use extremes here. If people are not slobbering at your redundant “Eller hate” posts, then they “love” him. How about we see him for what he is? A 3C that can help..and hurt....in any given game? Pretty much same thing he’s been his entire career?

We also quick remember what he did in last years playoffs. He was huge. So that’s certwinly carries more weight than this years RS issues. As it should.

And I can’t figure out how you can’t see that.

 

[g00n]

Don't let him make THIS thread about Eller, too.

 

[RandyHolt]

He's a seller on Eller

I think Bura should just be a healthy scratch at this point, short of a scoring line vacancy. Lets use and develop other young players who we haven't already given up on. If there is any way to get Barber a game, lets do it. Maybe the Ovi suspension game.

 

[trick9]

Burakovsky is here to produce, not showing elite defensive awareness. Although the latter one is very important but if they wanted a player with such features, I'm sure as hell they would not have picked 65 back at the time. He doesn't produce so it doesn't matter what he is defensively. Defense must go along as a nice bonus.

Not sure what else is needed from Eller aside from being much better on the dot. He's a career 25 pts player with a couple of 30+ pts seasons. You can't expect him to be some driving force on a line.

Is this meant to be a bad joke?

Nobody is expecting him to be a driving force on a line, but he's here as a defensive specialist. He has been bleeding goals against the entire season. You ask what more he can do better, i'll ask can he even be worse than that defensively? He gives up more ES goals against per 60 minutes than any player regularly playing in the NHL.

 

[searle]

I'm not disagreeing about Burakovsky. I thought we should have moved him long ago while he was still worth something. Ive always felt he played as an individual out there in a game that is supposed to be a team sport.
I'm just trying to point out that the problem goes alot deeper than Burakovsky.

It's easy to now say that we should have moved on from Bura earlier, but how was that going to work? Trade him when he was starting to show promise and play well??

That trade wouldn't have made sense.

He had enough skill and upside to keep around and hope he worked it out, he didn't and as a result his asset value has depreciated. That's the way the cookie crumbles.

 

[Melkor]

Is this meant to be a bad joke?

Nobody is expecting him to be a driving force on a line, but he's here as a defensive specialist. He has been bleeding goals against the entire season. You ask what more he can do better, i'll ask can he even be worse than that defensively? He gives up more ES goals against per 60 minutes than any player regularly playing in the NHL.

Not sure who told you that Eller is a defensive specialist. Whoever it was, that was a lie. He has always been a talented player with good hands and not so good IQ to become a consistent top-6 guy. Good enough to produce here and there and earn himself a spot in the league tho.
Again: I'm not going to single out a player on a really bad looking team if he earned himself the benefit of the doubt. Aside from the fact that Kuznetsov and Backstrom are superior players offensively, tell me with a straight face that they are the better defensive players than Eller. I'll wait.

 

[trick9]

Not sure who told you that Eller is a defensive specialist. Whoever it was, that was a lie. He has always been a talented player with good hands and not so good IQ to become a consistent top-6 guy. Good enough to produce here and there and earn himself a spot in the league tho.
Again: I'm not going to single out a player on a really bad looking team if he earned himself the benefit of the doubt. Aside from the fact that Kuznetsov and Backstrom are superior players offensively, tell me with a straight face that they are the better defensive players than Eller. I'll wait.

I guess you didn't follow him much when he was on the Canadiens...

You don't have to wait for long. Backstrom is easily, and has always been. Kuznetsov has been this season, and that's not close either. You act like my point is based on the last week or two but it's on the whole season. Before this slump when they were 9-1-0 in their last 10 and i believe 3rd in the entire NHL the same number was there for Eller. Over 5 ES goals allowed for each 60 minutes he's on the ice. Again, it's among the worst by any forward that regularly gets an sweater at the NHL. The number was there late November too. It was even higher in October.

That's not really to bring up either Backstrom or Kuznetsov. They have both been terrible defensively. Eller's defensive game is just reaching another level.

Your turn. Can you actually provide a single point that suggests Eller has been decent defensively this season? I'll wait.

 

[Melkor]

I guess you didn't follow him much when he was on the Canadiens...

You don't have to wait for long. Backstrom is easily, and has always been. Kuznetsov has been this season, and that's not close either. You act like my point is based on the last week or two but it's on the whole season. Before this slump when they were 9-1-0 in their last 10 and i believe 3rd in the entire NHL the same number was there for Eller. Over 5 ES goals allowed for each 60 minutes he's on the ice. Again, it's among the worst by any forward that regularly gets an sweater at the NHL. The number was there late November too. It was even higher in October.

That's not really to bring up either Backstrom or Kuznetsov. They have both been terrible defensively. Eller's defensive game is just reaching another level.

Your turn. Can you actually provide a single point that suggests Eller has been decent defensively this season? I'll wait.

My point actually is not that Eller is a good defensive player. It's exactly the opposite and I stated it right above. My point is Backstrom and Kuznetsov both horrific in that regard too. The difference is they are the better offensive players and, tell me if I'm wrong, get more o-zone starts which might prevent from more goals against.

 

[trick9]

My point actually is not that Eller is a good defensive player. It's exactly the opposite and I stated it right above. My point is Backstrom and Kuznetsov both horrific in that regard too. The difference is they are the better offensive players and, tell me if I'm wrong, get more o-zone starts which might prevent from more goals against.

Eller actually was a good defensive player before this season, and the reason why i said ''defensive specialist'' is because he used to be one of the best PK'ers in the game as recently as last season aswell. This season he's been terrible on the PK as well and defensively absolutely putrid at ES. He starts most in the defensive zone out of those three but his number (~54% in the D-zone) is not really that high one to explain all those goals against. There are guys way above 70% and even 80% who have no where near that bad defensive stats.

 

[hb12xchamps]

If they can get a 2nd and 3rd or 4th for him they need to pull the trigger. Gives them cap space and more flexibility with their roster before the TDL and allows them to call up Barber and give him a shot.

Bottom 6 could then have multiple different looks
Connolly-Eller-Boyd
Jaskin-Dowd-DSP
Or
Connolly-Eller-Barber
Jaskin-Boyd-DSP
Or
Jaskin-Eller-Connolly
Boyd-Dowd-DSP
Etc.

Barber could slot in on either line and Boyd’s flexibility means he can play wing or bump Dowd out of the lineup. If Barber doesn’t do anything before the TDL they have more ammo to use to acquire another player

 

[traparatus]

Is this meant to be a bad joke?

Nobody is expecting him to be a driving force on a line, but he's here as a defensive specialist. He has been bleeding goals against the entire season. You ask what more he can do better, i'll ask can he even be worse than that defensively? He gives up more ES goals against per 60 minutes than any player regularly playing in the NHL.

I mean that's just a blatant lie. Not a slight exaggeration but out right BS.

 

[CapitalsCupReality]

I mean that's just a blatant lie. Not a slight exaggeration but out right BS.

Never let a pesky thing like truth get in the way of a good debate! Lol....

 

[dillyboy93]

Burakovsky/Bowey for Virtanen?

 

[trick9]

I mean that's just a blatant lie. Not a slight exaggeration but out right BS.

I stand corrected: There are 15 players with 40+ games who have given up more ES goals per 60 than Lars Eller (3.9 GA per 60 minutes). Most of them play on bottom-dwellers.

Of those 15, only Brendan Leipsic provide less 5-on-5 offense at 1.7 GF per 60. Nick Schmaltz is tied with Eller at 2.5 GF/60.

 

[CapitalsCupReality]

I stand corrected: There are 15 players with 40+ games who have given up more ES goals per 60 than Lars Eller (3.9 GA per 60 minutes).

Of those 15, only Brendan Leipsic provide less 5-on-5 offense at 1.7 GF per 60. Nick Schmaltz is tied with Eller at 2.5 GF/60.

Exaggerator.....lol...

 

[trick9]

Exaggerator.....lol...

I didn't realise Eller's numbers have gone down so much during this losing streak. His number currently is at 3.9 GA/60 when it was at 5.2 GA/60 mid-december. My bad.

 

[CapitalsCupReality]

If many weren’t struggling, I might be alarmed by one guy like Eller.

 

[trick9]

Eller is the one guy who has escaped any kind of criticism pretty much the entire season, though. Think how much crap guys like Kuznetsov, Backstrom, Burakovsky, Bowey and Niskanen have gotten for their defensive game this season... then turn around and each of them have significantly better numbers than Eller. Which to say doesn't mean any of them have been good. It's there to point just how bad Eller has been.

Only times he gets even mentioned around here is when people are hailing his bargain contract. To me it looks more like him mailing it in after finally winning the Cup and securing his future earnings.

 

[CapitalsCupReality]

How could anyone miss Maaco droning on and on about how crappy Eller is all season? That's escaping criticism? If anything the nagging has just left people numb and there are MANY guys with salaries much larger who are shitting the bed. Eller is down the list for sure.

 

[AlexBrovechkin8]

Burakovsky/Bowey for Virtanen?

Easy yes for me.

 

[RandyHolt]

Those down on Eller may have set too high of expectations. He is first and foremost a tireless worker and puck hog. He eats up a lot of puck time making life easier for everyone else. Until he has linemates that can control the puck like he does, he is a net positive in my book. If he gets lazy, lets talk.

He scored our cup winning goal, works hard, and has a reasonable contract. That goes a long ways in my book.

 

[maacoshark]

Eller is a puck-possession player. His wingers are usually a turnover machines and he's the only guy who can maintain possession in tight spaces on his line. I actually am not a stat geek at all and could care less what his corsi is. This season he looks out of his sort as well as pretty much most of the forwards on this team. Kuznetsov is a complete mess, Backstrom alone cost this team a couple of games with his turnovers. Oshie most of the time has no idea where he is and what he has to do out there. So I wouldn't single Eller out with his ****ty performance this season. His playoffs performance from first to last game last year earned him the benefit of the doubt from my pov. What is really worrisome is how Orlov, Niskanen and Bowey looking so far. Orlov's had much better season a year ago but he's getting exposed on the D since the start of his career. The guy got manhandled by Vegas in the finals series, Niskanen had been coming to the rescue all the time. Now that Niskanen is incapable of moving his feet for whatever reason, Orlov is a hole on the backend and he's either gonna get better right after this break or the Caps are in deep trouble.

Check the stats buddy. It is Eller that is the turnover machine in the 3rd line. Not the wingers.
Why are you defending him? He is playing awful. At this moment he is a bugger liability than Burakovsky. Thought Id point out that Burakovsky was switched to the 4th line and stated producing. I dont think it is a coincidence. Any winger has been less productive on Eller line. Sorry if it upsets you but right now Eller is the biggest liability of our forwards.

 

[maacoshark]

Those down on Eller may have set too high of expectations. He is first and foremost a tireless worker and puck hog. He eats up a lot of puck time making life easier for everyone else. Until he has linemates that can control the puck like he does, he is a net positive in my book. If he gets lazy, lets talk.

He scored our cup winning goal, works hard, and has a reasonable contract. That goes a long ways in my book.

I dont care if Eller scored the cup winning goal. If he didnt score that goal someone else would have. We weren't going to loose that series without that goal.
Stop blaming his linemates. He has been in a line with almost every winger on the team and he hasn't had chemistry with any if them. The problem isn't the wingers. Its Eller.
Tell me how this meathead is helping our team at the moment. Holy shit guys. Can't believe the praise for this guy.
For all the stats guys here. Check out his stats. They are ugly. Or do stats not count for this guy.