GDT: Capitals at Blackhawks Oct 1, 2013 8:00 PM ET

[amjay13]

Yandle is fine defensively and I would make that trade 10 out of 10 times.

 

[troyerlaw]

What about Fehr's game didn't look great? I'm curious what you saw. I thought that whole line looked great in the offensive zone at least and hope they're kept together. Erat can bide his time until Laich gets hurt again.

not sure whether the Kane goal is on him or Green, but it was certainly one of them. together they watched 88 waltz in totally unchallenged. SOMEBODY needed to step up on him. it was laughable that the broadcast team was putting it on Holtby and him possibly being distracted by Toewes sliding past him.

but the Oduya goal, sweet jesus, that was all Holtby. shame, too, because the boys played pretty well.

Carrick'll be fine. give him some more time. you don't need to be gigantic. there have been plenty of effective puck-moving D-men who are small, such as Mathieu Schneider, back in the day. but certainly, if you are small, then you need to be totally rock-solid on positioning, which he wasn't tonight.

anyway, the coaches watched him all through camp and preseason. they certainly know more than I do. I would trust them and certainly wouldn't pull the plug after 1 or 2 games.

we looked great in 2nd period. long stretches of dominant possession hockey.

I wish Fehr had buried the shot on the doorstep. i'm bummed we couldn't convert the 5-on-3. then again, it's tough to complain about PP when they score 3 goals.

stoked to see #8 get one in the first game of the season. and to see Grabo get 3. i'm sure there were some face palms among Leafs fans watching the highlights.

psyched the season is underway. can't wait till Thursday.

 

[IafrateOvie34]

What about Giordano from Calgary?

A lot of us would love to have him, but he is the figurehead of the Flames now.

On another note, I think Carrick gets to see Hershey not Plymouth.

 

[Jacoby4HOF66]

Aren't you the one ready to tar and feather Shanaclan for the Skins start? Seems a little hypocritical?

Nope, but I see you have your tried and true "Fire George" bit fired up already.

 

[EroCaps]

How did Erat look in his 9ish minutes?

Definitely worth 3.5m more than Matty P.

 

[Zoidberg Jesus]

Yandle's best quality is his ability to QB a power play, and Green here and the handedness issue, that'd totally go to waste. I'd rather not pay a premium for a guy who's a PP contributor when we'll get no use out of it. Giordano's a good option, but the Flames just named him their captain so the chances of getting him seem slim. I think Gorges is the best option that's really within the realm of possibility. If Montreal decides they need more size/toughness (and losing Parros tonight could contribute to that) then Brouwer and Erskine probably look pretty enticing.

 

[Halpysback*]

Kuznetsov in the new year guys for that push.....

He'll look great next to Erat on that 4th line

 

[Calicaps]

Yandle's best quality is his ability to QB a power play, and Green here and the handedness issue, that'd totally go to waste. I'd rather not pay a premium for a guy who's a PP contributor when we'll get no use out of it. Giordano's a good option, but the Flames just named him their captain so the chances of getting him seem slim. I think Gorges is the best option that's really within the realm of possibility. If Montreal decides they need more size/toughness (and losing Parros tonight could contribute to that) then Brouwer and Erskine probably look pretty enticing.

Brouwer and Erskine for Gorges and... Does MTL have a useful LW prospect? Or maybe a pick?

 

[Zoidberg Jesus]

Brouwer and Erskine for Gorges and... Does MTL have a useful LW prospect? Or maybe a pick?

Needs to be roughly salary neutral since the Habs are just as close to the cap as we are, so we'd pretty much have to take Moen back. Not a great contract, unfortunately (3 more years and a modified NTC, pretty WTF deal for a guy his caliber), but he's pretty good as a 4th line LW. Brouwer and Erskine are ~5.6M total, and Gorges and Moen are 5.75M, so that's pretty damn close to perfect.

 

[Calicaps]

Needs to be roughly salary neutral since the Habs are just as close to the cap as we are, so we'd pretty much have to take Moen back. Not a great contract, unfortunately (3 more years and a modified NTC, pretty WTF deal for a guy his caliber), but he's pretty good as a 4th line LW. Brouwer and Erskine are ~5.6M total, and Gorges and Moen are 5.75M, so that's pretty damn close to perfect.

Moen. Meh. 3 years is a lot, but maybe he can be moved or waived later if needed.

 

[NobodyBeatsTheWiz]

Nobody's taking Erskine.

 

[brs03]

You could use a compliance buyout on him (Moen) this summer. Alternatively, retain salary on Brouwer and Erskine and just not take back Moen.

 

[Zoidberg Jesus]

Nobody's taking Erskine.

Hal Gill was signed. So was Douglas Murray... although now that I think about it he was signed by the Habs, so they probably don't have any reason to want Erskine.

Oh well. Just Gorges for Brouwer then. Still workable, I think.

 

[Calicaps]

Nobody's taking Erskine.

Erskine is a useful player in the right role. I know he's overpaid, but someone could be willing.

You could use a compliance buyout on him (Moen) this summer. Alternatively, retain salary on Brouwer and Erskine and just not take back Moen.

Rather take Moen and be able to buy him out. Take back salary and you're stuck with it.

 

[IafrateOvie34]

I don't think I want to deal Brouwer to Montreal. He is the type of guy they need and we could possibly be facing them for the Eastern Conference.

 

[Hivemind]

How did Erat look in his 9ish minutes?

He won some races to pucks and managed to maintain possession along the boards a fair bit, but didn't have any scoring chances or create any real opportunities for his line-mates. Given that he was playing with Latta and Wilson, that may be par for the course. But not encouraging, especially from a fantasy stand point (which is what I presume you're asking about). Even more damning was Grabo's play on PP1 seemingly cementing his spot there for now.

 

[Zoidberg Jesus]

I don't think I want to deal Brouwer to Montreal. He is the type of guy they need and we could possibly be facing them for the Eastern Conference.

What do you think he brings that one of Fehr, Ward, or Wilson couldn't, given the same minutes?

 

[vippe]

Yandle is fine defensively and I would make that trade 10 out of 10 times.

Depends on how you definer fine... he's not a guy that will make great defensive plays every game.

 

[FloridaCap]

Hoping next game's lines are:

Johansson-Backstrom-Ovechkin
Erat-Grabovski-Brouwer
Fehr-Laich-Ward
Chimera-Latta-Wilson

Fehr seems to be the only righty Oates will put on the left. I honestly have no idea why he's playing center. He was such a good bottom-6 RW for us last year and now we're screwing it up with him at center.

As far as defense goes:

Alzner-Green
Orlov-Carlson
Hillen-Oleksy

Will never happen because for whatever reason Orlov doesn't really get a fair shake with this coaching staff. Ideally Erskine would be on the 3rd pairing but with Oleksy it would be abysmal.

 

[IafrateOvie34]

What do you think he brings that one of Fehr, Ward, or Wilson couldn't, given the same minutes?

I mean I don't want to make Montreal stronger. They are a few pieces from making a major step.

 

[CapitalsCupReality]

Not worried, in fact pleasantly surprised. They gave the Champs their $'s worth tonight. Carrick, oof...tough debut. Clearly he was overmatched. Sit him a game or two and rotate out the next bottom pair whipping boy on Sat.

Holtby wasn't good, almost disgustingly casual on the 5th goal. This is a good team with glaring holes. The Blackhawks don't have that problem and that's the difference..right now.

 

[Chimaera]

Unless the plan is to let Tom Wilson grow into the games as the season goes, if they're going to give him 6 minutes a night, then send him back.

The same goes with Carrick.

If you can't use them in real games, with real minutes, then don't keep them here.

 

[BobRouse]

Not worried, in fact pleasantly surprised. They gave the Champs their $'s worth tonight. Carrick, oof...tough debut. Clearly he was overmatched. Sit him a game or two and rotate out the next bottom pair whipping boy on Sat.

Holtby wasn't good, almost disgustingly casual on the 5th goal. This is a good team with glaring holes. The Blackhawks don't have that problem and that's the difference..right now.

Me too. I thought the Caps matched them with speed, physical play and traded chances. It was just a good game as a hockey fan to watch.

Carrick really struggled like a true rook. But I contend that was the right thing to do to let him play and keep putting him out there. I wouldn't mind going right back to him next game in order to keep his mind straight. Sorta like when a running back fumbles or a receiver drops a ball. Some coaches bench them. Some go right back to them showing them that they have faith in them. It took major cajones for Oates to put him in on opening night..on the road..vs the defending champs..in his hometown. I like it tho.

I thought Hillen struggled too a bit. Thats just not an optimal pairing.

Erskine was ok. He put some hurting on. That 4th goal I blame more on Carrick as I'm not sure what he was thinking. If Erskine went to Saad then we'd have 2 defenders on that one guy and a wide open slot.

3rd line cycled well. 4th line looked good. Grabovski and Ovechkin looked GREAT as did the PP.

I thought Alzner was excellent on D. Carlson was good outside of that one time Backstrom hung him out to dry (since Erskine hung Backstrom out to dry)..just a string of bad passes.

Difference in the game really was Holtby giving up 2 marginally questionable goals to Crawfords 0. Hawks had their breakdowns on D too. Fact is both teams have outstanding offense which will make D look bad from time to time.

Latta and Wilson looked good. Made a couple nice plays and had a couple good chances. Some good hits too.

 

[SlappaDaBass]

Can we talk about how much of an improvement we made in the face-off circle? It seemed like Backstrom and Grabo won every single face-off during the PP which set up our possession for nearly the entire PP. I was seeing red during our PKs so I don't remember how well we did in our own zone. Overall, I think we improved the most in our forwards' speed and face-offs.

 

[txpd]

Wilson, carrack, holtby, erat.....others. one game at the champs on banner night. the goalie put an easy shot in his own net for the winner. if that happens regular, its good that the caps have an option. for those that hate that option, then its just one game. if its just one game, then its just one game for the rest of the players some of you are all freakin out about.

by the way,,,,grabo....its just one game.

listen...I didn't watch ONE second of pre season play. I read about a little here. I know poo about Carrick save for he's a kid they drafted. I don't know if keeping him was smart or not. I do know that making up my mind on that based entirely on that game last night night is a fools errand.

I wish there was a way to turn down the instant meltdown that goes on here if the caps have a bad game or a bad moment. but there's not.