GDT: Bedardapalooza - Flyers at Caps 7:30pm EST

[troyerlaw]

After game Tochet complimented Ovie on his tendency to increase his physical play when team needs a lift. Ovie kind of deflected the praise and said it was Oshie who led the way with physical play tonite

 

[PlushMinus]

Those goalies seem to have gone on to do well elsewhere.

I think those goalies (Vanacek and Samsonov) needed to move on because there were issues with team morale / locker room etc. In the case of Samsonov I could definitely imagine a scenario where there was friction among his teammates. He did some dumb shit in previous offseason and let in some absolutely terrible goals at crucial times. I really think mentally he was struggling with the Caps. I'm not convinced he's THAT much better in his time with the Leafs. Need a bigger sample size to really know for sure. Murray is back in goal now and the media and fanbase haven't yet sunk their teeth into Samsonov. If he has some bad games that could change very quickly and I think Samsonov could unravel.

Vanacek also had some stinkers and gave up some bad goals which I think rattled him, but I believe his success in Jersey can also be attributed to the D playing in front of him. He is getting a shitload of support from them, almost certainly more than he was from our D. Pretty sure there are stats to support this but I'm not really one to go looking for them and posting them. It's just various stuff i've read over the last couple of weeks.

 

[Holtbyisms]

Team still stinks, fire Lavi. Lucky to win tonight.

 

[um]

Team still stinks, fire Lavi. Lucky to win tonight.

A coaching change may help, but the problem is way bigger than the coach. I think they should let Lavy finish the year, its not on him.

I also don't want a new coach to cause a surge where we finish 9th in the conference.

that's how you 3 on 3

I don't know... not enough 4th line grinders for my liking.

Sooooo why didn’t any team want Milano? Seems like a solid middle 6 contributor to me. What am I missing?

whyd the Caps give away Siegenthaler, Stephenson, Forsberg, etc.

some time management sucks.

 

[trick9]

Yikes this game. Atleast there was a Ovechkin goal (should have been 2).

Watching this game it seemed like who was trying to lose the most, Flyers or Darcy.

These are 2 very, very bad hockey teams.

 

[StrikingDistance]

Best Caps 3 vs 3 I've seen in years. Hope Chucky gets the next start.

Darth had too much Sammy Scramble in his game last night. He's been solid most starts but that was ugly.

 

[Holtbyisms]

A coaching change may help, but the problem is way bigger than the coach. I think they should let Lavy finish the year, its not on him.

I also don't want a new coach to cause a surge where we finish 9th in the conference.


I don't know... not enough 4th line grinders for my liking.


whyd the Caps give away Siegenthaler, Stephenson, Forsberg, etc.

some time management sucks.

I dunno man, a coach literally has one job and it's to motivate the players he has. I don't see a motivated team, at all, most nights. Is it built poorly, perhaps, but still too much talent to be a 500 team. If you're suggesting we don't want a mid season coaching change surge to improve our draft position I can get down with that but we also need to be sellers at the deadline if that's the direction. I'm not sure BMac has the balls to fire sale and go all in.

 

[ovikovy817]

Need a streak.

 

[CapitalsCupReality]

I dunno man, a coach literally has one job and it's to motivate the players he has. I don't see a motivated team, at all, most nights. Is it built poorly, perhaps, but still too much talent to be a 500 team. If you're suggesting we don't want a mid season coaching change surge to improve our draft position I can get down with that but we also need to be sellers at the deadline if that's the direction. I'm not sure BMac has the balls to fire sale and go all in.

BMac has the balls, but not the Ownership approval.

Team doesn‘t seem unmotivated to me. Broken down, yeah…

 

[trick9]

BMac has the balls, but not the Ownership approval.

Team doesn‘t seem unmotivated to me. Broken down, yeah…

I agree. I don't really see an unmotivated team, i see team that creates a lot of chances but finishes very poorly. On the defensive side there are issues. Which you would expect with their best overall D out and top D playing defensively below expectations.

 

[um]

I dunno man, a coach literally has one job and it's to motivate the players he has. I don't see a motivated team, at all, most nights. Is it built poorly, perhaps, but still too much talent to be a 500 team. If you're suggesting we don't want a mid season coaching change surge to improve our draft position I can get down with that but we also need to be sellers at the deadline if that's the direction. I'm not sure BMac has the balls to fire sale and go all in.

Eh, I don't think the issue with this team is motivation. We are old and slow and very injured. Our centre depth is bad, our winger depth has been depleted, our defence isn't very deep, our #1D has declined quite a bit, and our goalies are pretty good, nothing special.

Nah, I don't blame Lavy for the team sucking.

I fear you may be right about BMac.

 

[SherVaughn30]

genuine kudos for Tortorella on that one, just said "f*** it" and approached the tie game with the call on the ice.

Actually I was curious what Torts had to say about not challenging for off-sides. So I watched his post game interview. He stated him and his coaches reviewed it and concluded it wasn't off-sides, but he also said it was very close.

Glad it turned out that way, but I still have some qualms about the rule. For one, all NHL arenas should be installed with high definition cameras for the blue lines. I don't know why it's not a standard? 2nd, when a team has possession of the puck in the O-zone, to keep the puck in the zone the puck can be in the blue line paint as long as no part of the puck crosses over the blue line edge. Why does a play have to be on-sides entering the O-zone where the puck has to fully cross over the 2nd edge of the blue line? They should change the rule where the whole puck only needs to break the initial edge of the blue line. I guarantee you there would be less gray area with the rule. In/Out of the O-zone should apply the same regarding the blue line. It perplexes me sometimes why the NHL stubbornly holds onto original rules that maybe don't fully apply to the modern game.

 

[SherVaughn30]

I think those goalies (Vanacek and Samsonov) needed to move on because there were issues with team morale / locker room etc. In the case of Samsonov I could definitely imagine a scenario where there was friction among his teammates. He did some dumb shit in previous offseason and let in some absolutely terrible goals at crucial times. I really think mentally he was struggling with the Caps. I'm not convinced he's THAT much better in his time with the Leafs. Need a bigger sample size to really know for sure. Murray is back in goal now and the media and fanbase haven't yet sunk their teeth into Samsonov. If he has some bad games that could change very quickly and I think Samsonov could unravel.

Vanacek also had some stinkers and gave up some bad goals which I think rattled him, but I believe his success in Jersey can also be attributed to the D playing in front of him. He is getting a shitload of support from them, almost certainly more than he was from our D. Pretty sure there are stats to support this but I'm not really one to go looking for them and posting them. It's just various stuff i've read over the last couple of weeks.

There are a few reasons Vitek/Sammy are doing better with their new teams than they did with the Caps. For one, the Devils/Leafs are faster teams than the Caps. In regard to team D, the Devils/Leafs converge faster on their opponents when defending their D-zone. So opponents have less time in a play to execute scoring chances. Lavi's/McCarthy's system allows opponents more high danger scoring chances, so the Caps goalies have to come up with more big saves. 2nd, the jury is still out on goalie coach Scott Murray. His coaching/communication with Vitek/Sammy did not mesh. I don't know if it was a language barrier or not understanding certain concepts, but the goalie coach and goalies were not in sync. I have watched many clips of Vitek/Sammy with their new teams. I still see some same tendencies that both goalies had issues with playing with the Caps, but at the same time I have seen improvements. Vitek doesn't look as stationary as he shows better movement in his crease now. Sammy looks more stable/patient in his crease than what he showed playing for the Caps.

The bottom line, Vitek's/Sammy's improvements are a combination of goalie coaching and how much better their new teams play in front of them.

 

[SherVaughn30]

I agree motivation is not the issue with the team. I thinks it has to do more with some players are not wanting to fully grasp the system. It's the coaching is not putting the players in the best situation to succeed. I feel like at times Lavi's/McCarthy's system forces the players to play away from their strengths. The coaches are not adjusting the system enough to fit the players on their roster.

 

[YippieKaey]

I agree motivation is not the issue with the team. I thinks it has to do more with some players are not wanting to fully grasp the system. It's the coaching is not putting the players in the best situation to succeed. I feel like at times Lavi's/McCarthy's system forces the players to play away from their strengths. The coaches are not adjusting the system enough to fit the players on their roster.

i mean, this is kind of an oxymoron.

 

[HecticGlow]

Team defence has taken a dive this season despite 6 of the top 7 returning (and Gustaffson is hardly a downgrade on Schultz). Goaltending is getting worse the longer both guys are in our system. Our fourth line, which has been excellent for the last few years, is struggling to find its groove.

Yes, we’re old and banged up, but it’s hard not to see coaching as part of the problem. A good coach would be locking down on defense when the skill isn’t there up front, and there’s no reason for Kuemper to suddenly be letting in soft goals every game after years of pretty consistent play.

Get a new goaltending coach, get someone who can actually coach defense.

 

[um]

Team defence has taken a dive this season despite 6 of the top 7 returning (and Gustaffson is hardly a downgrade on Schultz). Goaltending is getting worse the longer both guys are in our system. Our fourth line, which has been excellent for the last few years, is struggling to find its groove.

Yes, we’re old and banged up, but it’s hard not to see coaching as part of the problem. A good coach would be locking down on defense when the skill isn’t there up front, and there’s no reason for Kuemper to suddenly be letting in soft goals every game after years of pretty consistent play.

Get a new goaltending coach, get someone who can actually coach defense.

Soft goals has always been a part of Kuempers game, so I hear.

 

[Holtbyisms]

I agree motivation is not the issue with the team. I thinks it has to do more with some players are not wanting to fully grasp the system. It's the coaching is not putting the players in the best situation to succeed. I feel like at times Lavi's/McCarthy's system forces the players to play away from their strengths. The coaches are not adjusting the system enough to fit the players on their roster.

So the coaches are not properly motivating the players to play the system they have been paid to come in and put in place by management is what you're saying lol....

For everyone saying motivation isn't an issue, think about every defensive breakdown because someone blew an assignment. That's a player who did not follow the system the coaches are teaching. That means the player hasn't been appropriately motivated by the coaching staff because they are choosing to not run the system. Either A they don't care or B they don't trust in the system and believe their way is better. Both option A and B show a coaching staff who has lost the team and cannot get them to play the system correctly...AKA can't motivate them.

 

[CapitalsCupReality]

So the coaches are not properly motivating the players to play the system they have been paid to come in and put in place by management is what you're saying lol....

For everyone saying motivation isn't an issue, think about every defensive breakdown because someone blew an assignment. That's a player who did not follow the system the coaches are teaching. That means the player hasn't been appropriately motivated by the coaching staff because they are choosing to not run the system. Either A they don't care or B they don't trust in the system and believe their way is better. Both option A and B show a coaching staff who has lost the team and cannot get them to play the system correctly...AKA can't motivate them.

Well that’s simply inaccurate. A player making a mistake or simply getting beaten has zero to do with motivation by the coaching staff. This all comes back to fans clamoring for any excuse to have the coach fired.

 

[SherVaughn30]

So the coaches are not properly motivating the players to play the system they have been paid to come in and put in place by management is what you're saying lol....

For everyone saying motivation isn't an issue, think about every defensive breakdown because someone blew an assignment. That's a player who did not follow the system the coaches are teaching. That means the player hasn't been appropriately motivated by the coaching staff because they are choosing to not run the system. Either A they don't care or B they don't trust in the system and believe their way is better. Both option A and B show a coaching staff who has lost the team and cannot get them to play the system correctly...AKA can't motivate them.

Their is another possibility. McCarthy's system has been said to be a bit complicated, so maybe some of the players don't have the hockey IQ to grasp the system? Quite frankly, I don't think the roster has fully grasp the system since Lavi/McCarthy were hired.

 

[Holtbyisms]

Their is another possibility. McCarthy's system has been said to be a bit complicated, so maybe some of the players don't have the hockey IQ to grasp the system? Quite frankly, I don't think the roster has fully grasp the system since Lavi/McCarthy were hired.

They're on year 3 lol...if the coaching staffs system is so complicated a professional NHL player cannot grasp it by year three then that's another coaching problem that needs solved.