Are the Capitals the new New Jersey Devils?

[Bananas]

Maybe it's the Trotz effect, but boy are they defensive and boring to watch. I do give Trotz credit for turning around this team and Ovechkin, but they're a far cry from Boudreu's Capitals entertainment wise.

It's probably because there are too many hipsters in America nowadays...

 

[FloridaCap]

We're boring because we have no scoring depth.

Give Kuzy a couple of years and give him somebody that can actually score and we won't be boring. We're good defensively, with a rock in goal, and an offense that sputters unless Ovechkin/Backstrom is doing it all himself.

 

[Hippasus]

Yes, they do.

I think blatant trapping is typically having four players defending in or right around the neutral zone to crowd the opposition when the latter are trying to move the puck up-ice. I rarely notice Washington doing this. They tend to pressure with two forwards forechecking in those sorts of situations. They are a relatively careful team defensively though.

 

[Drakon]

They play a pretty high pressure forechecking game, not sure how that's trapping.

 

[Mrb1p]

Ovechkin, Backstrom, Carlson, etc. Lotsa offensive firepower.

 

[Mickey Mouse]

Washington fans probably hope so. I'm sure they wouldn't mind winning a Cup or 3.

 

[adsfan]

I think blatant trapping is typically having four players defending in or right around the neutral zone to crowd the opposition when the latter are trying to move the puck up-ice. I rarely notice Washington doing this. They tend to pressure with two forwards forechecking in those sorts of situations. They are a relatively careful team defensively though.

I see a lot of AHL teams doing this. They switch to a four man trap when short handed.

 

[pezpunk]

Washington fans probably hope so. I'm sure they wouldn't mind winning a Cup or 3.

I know, right? Honestly the caps are their own thing, though, and I think it's a very well balanced thing. Heavy and physical. Excellent goalie. Defensively sound. Not especially creative offensively, but they have the best goal scorer in the game and a deadly power play. Not a one trick pony by any means, and they bear almost no resemblance to the run and gun team of 2010, which a lot of people still seem to think of them as.

 

[Hippasus]

I see a lot of AHL teams doing this. They switch to a four man trap when short handed.

Cool. I went to my first AHL game a week or so ago. It was great. I'm going to be going to more in the future.

 

[BHD]

They play a pretty high pressure forechecking game, not sure how that's trapping.

Because it didn't end with a 6-5 score.

The Capitals aren't boring. Unless something drastic occurred during the days off between the Islanders series and this one...

 

[Hivemind]

I think blatant trapping is typically having four players defending in or right around the neutral zone to crowd the opposition when the latter are trying to move the puck up-ice. I rarely notice Washington doing this. They tend to pressure with two forwards forechecking in those sorts of situations. They are a relatively careful team defensively though.

They play a pretty high pressure forechecking game, not sure how that's trapping.

They send two forecheckers in early in games when there's a chance they can cause a turnover (and one of them still hangs back relative to the other). However, Trotz implements a passive 1-2-2 forecheck later in games when they have the lead. When you see Capitals fans whine about Trotz "turtling" with the lead, this is what they're referring to.

The Capitals don't trap all the time, but they certainly do trap situationally.

 

[BHD]

Pretty much every coach has his team play a passive forecheck ('trapping') when protecting a lead.

 

[Burner Account]

They haven't won a championship, so no.

 

[Man Rocket]

They are definitely more entertaining than when Boston played them in 2012. That Hunter system was boring! (yet effective). Caps were my pick to make the Final and I think its a great pick

 

[McNasty]

I don't think the Caps are doing it at a higher rate than any other team, I think it just has to do with the way the game gets called in the playoffs. The refs are largely letting them play, so when teams are getting away with more it stands to reason that teams are going to have an easier time defending.

 

[stranger34]

msg was way way quieter than the coliseum

most places are... MSG is for the suits.

 

[Hivemind]

Pretty much every coach has his team play a passive forecheck ('trapping') when protecting a lead.

Doesn't change the fact that stating "the Capitals don't trap" is false. They, like almost every team in the NHL, do trap in particular situations.

 

[Homerhawk]

Washington fans probably hope so. I'm sure they wouldn't mind winning a Cup or 3.

You got that right. This time of year I'll take boring over losing 8 days a week.

 

[Alexander the Gr8]

Our style of play is so different from the early 2000 Devils. We are a lot more like the Kings IMO.

 

[NYR713]

No. The Capitals are a good team and a contender. Devils haven't made the playoffs in 3 years and are looking like there won't be much of a change in that pattern for a few more.

 

[NobodyBeatsTheWiz]

msg was way way quieter than the coliseum

Don't underestimate the effect of arena acoustics and how they come across on TV. MSG has always produced weird sound levels on TV.

 

[hangman005]

In response to the thread tittle question.

Nope, the NHL is denying all attempts to move the Capitals to New Jersey and Vice Versa.

 

[BHD]

Doesn't change the fact that stating "the Capitals don't trap" is false. They, like almost every team in the NHL, do trap in particular situations.

Yet they still manage to be entertaining.

Besides, where are the 28 other threads about "(random team) are the New Jersey Devils"?

 

[CapitalsCupReality]

I don't see the comparison. Those Devils teams sucked the life and joy out of watching the game. Caps play good D, are physical and have some elite offensive talent.

 

[Hippasus]

Doesn't change the fact that stating "the Capitals don't trap" is false. They, like almost every team in the NHL, do trap in particular situations.

I interpreted txpd to be saying that 'no they don't trap (in general)'. I added the qualification in the brackets since the OP is trying to say that the Caps play a trapping style enough to merit to comparison to one of the classic trapping teams. The OP's thread-title is suggesting that and that is false. New Jersey was more consistently a hang-back team with a transition game than Washington currently is. Washington is more of a forechecking team. For 2010-11 or 2011-12 the comparison between Washington and New Jersey would be more apt than it currently is.

(The first of those two seasons was under Boudreau. This is also contrariwise to what the OP said.)