Dipsy Doodle
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- May 28, 2006
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News Article: Barry Trotz (among many other things) breaks down the Pens' success
- Thread starter Jaded-Fan
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Scandale du Jour
JordanStaal#1Fan
And still a second round casualty. They couldn't/didn't adjust to the playoffs. They still think, regardless of who is coaching it seems, that brute force is the way to go. I still think a slight change in Ovie's game and they could have won the Cup this past year. Fortunately they as an organization and Ovie as a player just do want to make that change.
I call it the Dan Bylsma disease. They would rather lose their way than win any other way.
I could coach the Caps to the Cup next year and it really wouldn't be all that difficult. As it is, they won't change a thing and will likely bow out in the second round, again. Good for them.
Dipsy Doodle
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- May 28, 2006
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Well, they still won the President Trophy and lost in the second round
Trotz isn't a panacea. But he got the team to consecutive 2nd rounds when the two years before he got there, the Caps had a 1st round out and missed the playoffs entirely. He made them a much better team, even if he didn't make them a perfect team.
XanderCrews34
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A lot of what he said was fair with a pretty obvious hint of "I can't say that team is better than mine..." added in.
Can't say he was wrong about much other than acting like it was a 50/50 series although the Caps were definitely the toughest challenge of the playoffs. I never really felt like the Pens were going to lose, though.
Can't say he was wrong about much other than acting like it was a 50/50 series although the Caps were definitely the toughest challenge of the playoffs. I never really felt like the Pens were going to lose, though.
Which is exactly where the Caps were under Boudreau and Hunter. They couldn't get past the second round. All you're really saying is that Trotz is a better coach than Oates.
billybudd
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Yeah, I didn't see a "failure to adjust." I saw the Capitals lose a coinflip series against one of maybe two teams that had the personnel to beat them.
I did after the first game. I thought the pens dominated the majority of the game and didn't come home with a win. I thought against the caps as well as they were playing it wasn't a game the pens could bring their A game, lose, then come back from it.
Guess not.
BeautiPhil
Toronto Sun Model
Washington faced a seemingly unstoppable Pens team, and came the closest to beating them. I would say they are quite close.
They also, yet again, blew a 3-1 series lead in 2015. They're still the same old Caps until they prove otherwise.
Jaded-Fan
Registered User
Washington is a great team, and Trotz a great coach.
That said, they lost because of exactly what a number of us said would prove to be the difference. Speed up and down the lineup and depth. Simply put, Trotz could not strap on skates and improve that bottom six. He resorted, by admission, to double shifting his stars rather than play the bottom six. So while the Pens had Cullen's line in the defensive zone taking faceoffs, Backstrom was double shifted, but Trotz dared not do the same thing back with his fourth line.
When you have two highly skilled teams that is enough to be the difference.
It does not guarantee the win, but if these teams played one another a hundred times in a series the Pens would win at least eighty of them. That has nothing to do with the coaches, and everything to do with the hand Trotz and the Caps dealt themselves.
That said, they lost because of exactly what a number of us said would prove to be the difference. Speed up and down the lineup and depth. Simply put, Trotz could not strap on skates and improve that bottom six. He resorted, by admission, to double shifting his stars rather than play the bottom six. So while the Pens had Cullen's line in the defensive zone taking faceoffs, Backstrom was double shifted, but Trotz dared not do the same thing back with his fourth line.
When you have two highly skilled teams that is enough to be the difference.
It does not guarantee the win, but if these teams played one another a hundred times in a series the Pens would win at least eighty of them. That has nothing to do with the coaches, and everything to do with the hand Trotz and the Caps dealt themselves.
madinsomniac
Registered User
For a bit in that washington series we did that... We changed strategies several times in the playoffs to fit our opponant... We did that vs washington because our guys were fast enough to beat their to spots
I don't think they ended up being the toughest challenge, that ended up being Tampa Bay imo. The only team to put the Pens into an elimination situation.
XanderCrews34
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Pens dominated TB like they did SJ. The only thing that kept TB in it was the MAF game and TB scoring on their limited opportunities.
Vesey completely kept that series from being over in 5. I never felt like they were nearly as good as WSH. If they had Stamkos the whole series and Stralman 100% healthy, it might have been a different story, but they were very lucky to have been in that series and to have actually had that 3-2 lead.
No, but what really surprised me is that Malkin was 50%+ in the faceoff circle from late in the WSH series onward. At least I think that's when it was. He had a game where he was something like 70% in the dot.
I'm hoping that he can be much closer to 50% this season.
- Jun 13, 2010
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Vasilevsky
But I agree. Jones took the Sharks to 6. That should have been over in 5.
AjaxTelamon
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No ****. It's not unlike us icing Scuderi or Eaton instead of Despres or another young kid.
Or hell in 2013, with a STACKED forward roster, Craig ****ing Adams saw ice time.
Those are the types of things that cost series. That one blunder in game 4 was the turning point in the series. One mistake...right to Horny...boom down 3-1.
My only complaint about Trotz was his pandering and whining to the media on the cheapshots. Letang should never have received that one game suspension. Never. That was pure BS and purely a make up call for the Orpik hit on Maatta despite the equally egregious knee hit from Wilson on Sheary.
I would be embarrassed if any Penguin coach came off like Trotz did.
I honestly spend most of my life trying to not be a ***** because I really don't want to see anything bad happen to anyone, but I do have to admit, I will enjoy Washington watching us raise that Cup banner opening night.
I wonder if Washington realizes that one of the things all four of our Cups have in common is the fact we eliminated them each of those seasons?
I wonder if Washington realizes that one of the things all four of our Cups have in common is the fact we eliminated them each of those seasons?
XanderCrews34
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Vasilevsky
But I agree. Jones took the Sharks to 6. That should have been over in 5.
Eh, Vasey. Shortened up with the wrong vowel haha
M0NTY26
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- Feb 27, 2010
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Johansen, Forsberg, Neal, Josi, Ellis, Subban, Rinne... lets hope they don't put it together, bc they're a scary team, IMO.
AjaxTelamon
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Rinne will be 34 by November, he's at the age that goalies tend to fall off a cliff statistically. Lundqvist hit it last year. Neither of them is getting any better at this stage of their careers, and neither will carry their team like they used to.
billybudd
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Weber's a lot worse than any of them, so it's an even bigger mistake.
I get that Orlov's pair was looking totally overwhelmed, but there has to be a better answer somewhere in the Caps' org than subbing in Mike Weber. Didn't Hershey have some Oleksy/Nasreddine sort of journeyman? There had to have been someone like that.
Burgs
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I think Therrien did in 2008, he whined a lot during the Finals especially. But then he has never been the most dignified guy.
DoobeeDoobeeDoo
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People could analyze what the Pens did all they want, but at the end of the day there were 2 keys to the Pens' success: speed & depth
With those 2 components to our game, we were able to do whatever we wanted & whenever we wanted.
With speed, you get space & time. Give a player in the NHL enough space & time, and you'll keep getting burned. It was really a numbers thing. Pens came after team in waves. Wave after wave & they eventually broke. While everyone else was trying to reach the sound barrier, Pens were going at Mach 3 the whole time. It was really amazing to watch after years of watching slow Penguin teams. Now I know how Barry Allen felt when the speed force entered his body.
With those 2 components to our game, we were able to do whatever we wanted & whenever we wanted.
With speed, you get space & time. Give a player in the NHL enough space & time, and you'll keep getting burned. It was really a numbers thing. Pens came after team in waves. Wave after wave & they eventually broke. While everyone else was trying to reach the sound barrier, Pens were going at Mach 3 the whole time. It was really amazing to watch after years of watching slow Penguin teams. Now I know how Barry Allen felt when the speed force entered his body.
