GDT: Capitals de Washington vs Le Club de Hockey Canadien de Montréal 7 PM EST

[Alexander the Gr8]

Caps win, Habs lose, everybody wins!

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[Langway]

Johansson to PP1 over Kuznetsov. Oshie elevated to the second line over Protas. No lineup changes.

Gonna be a long season.

 

[twabby]

Johansson to PP1 over Kuznetsov. Oshie elevated to the second line over Protas. No lineup changes.

Gonna be a long season.

Strome and Kuznetsov flipped. Protas and Oshie flipped.

I don’t know. I’m not an expert but I’m not taking the overperforming rookie out of the top 6 and sticking him with a 3C who hasn’t earned a spot in the lineup.

Trade McMichael at this point. He’s not getting a fair shake under this coach.

 

[Corby78]

At least they doing something

 

[kicksavedave]

Capitals de Washington

 

[HecticGlow]

I don’t know. I’m not an expert but I’m not taking the overperforming rookie out of the top 6 and sticking him with a 3C who hasn’t earned a spot in the lineup.

What difference does it make if he’s only going to play <10 minutes regardless of which line he’s on? Maybe it’s about getting guys like Eller and Oshie going rather than punishing or rewarding players.

That said, I’d rather see them give Protas a go at 3C and move Eller to 4LW.

 

[zappa4ever]

 

[SecretaryofDefense5]

Makes total sense to keep McMichael on nacho duty after losing two games…send the dude to Hershey so he can be playing at least. This is dumb asset management.

 

[Langway]

I think the thing for me is there isn't a forward-thinking approach. It's just what can we try today to get back on track and get two points. Which is fine. But in the bigger picture, where they increasingly should be operating from day-to-day, I don't know where this configuration leads them. Does Oshie stay in the top six with a win? Is that realistically workable? Does Strome maybe get going on PP1 in more of a feature role? Does Kuznetsov add balance to PP2?

There are some workable ideas when it comes to PP usage perhaps but 5v5 fundamentally I don't know that their modest changes do anything much. I also think execution being the primary issue that simple shuffling of a couple players doesn't do much. They know they need to be better and tighten up but there's knowing and there's doing. I'm not sure they're still good enough to just reel it in at will and keep the status quo so entrenched.

It's early. You don't want to overreact either but their sloppiness is nothing new and IMO requires a more widespread freshening up than just sort of mashing it back together very slightly differently.

 

[BallardEra]

Caps better be ready. Habs played tough against the Leafs and killed them in transition with turnovers.

 

[zappa4ever]

Makes total sense to keep McMichael on nacho duty after losing two games…send the dude to Hershey so he can be playing at least. This is dumb asset management.

It's 2 games.
2.

 

[g00n]

It's 2 games.
2.

I recall CMM's preseason performance being excused in the same way. "What if Ovechkin had 2 bad games in a row" or something to that effect.

It's a pet gripe for some here. The entire situation is under a microscope and won't resolve until CMM is the C1 with the best xWhatever stat guys on his line. Then and only then will he be getting a "fair chance".

And I say this as someone who wanted him to play more last year, even before the season started. I'm fine with him playing more. The whining every day is tiresome, though.

 

[traparatus]

I recall CMM's preseason performance being excused in the same way. "What if Ovechkin had 2 bad games in a row" or something to that effect.

It's a pet gripe for some here. The entire situation is under a microscope and won't resolve until CMM is the C1 with the best xWhatever stat guys on his line. Then and only then will he be getting a "fair chance".

And I say this as someone who wanted him to play more last year, even before the season started. I'm fine with him playing more. The whining every day is tiresome, though.

Or Caps 3rd line center played like a turd for two games, after playing like a turd for a whole season and fans would like to see the situation addressed.

Talk about tiresome whining.

 

[Dr John Carlson]

Locking your two most talented LHS half-wall quarterbacks in the dank dungeon of the 2nd unit, and then presumably barely playing that unit at all based on what we saw Thursday night, can't be the solution to the powerplay.

That said, I don't have any suggestions as to what the solution may be.

 

[SecretaryofDefense5]

It's 2 games.
2.

Right. He is a young guy. He needs to be playing one way or another.Hershey or here. This is the same stuff that went on last year and IMHO it hurt his development.

 

[Misery74]

Peter Laviolette is a terrible choice to coach this team. Luckily, it won’t be for much longer.

 

[Peeri]

Peter Laviolette is a terrible choice to coach this team. Luckily, it won’t be for much longer.

I think I just saw some rumour that they are about to give him a new contract. Was it a fake one?

 

[Capsman]

I see we shuffled deck chairs on the titanic. Meanwhile CMM rotting in the press box, neither getting time in Hershey nor NHL. Wonderful.

 

[Misery74]

I think I just saw some rumour that they are about to give him a new contract. Was it a fake one?

I think it was real, but I don’t buy it. They could have extended him over the Summer.

The team is ancient, firing him is the only bullet BMac has in his gun if this season starts to get away from him.

 

[Capsman]

It's 2 games.
2.

So what is the plan then? Plays 1 in 5, swapping with Protas any time Protas has an off game?

 

[g00n]

Or Caps 3rd line center played like a turd for two games, after playing like a turd for a whole season and fans would like to see the situation addressed.

Talk about tiresome whining.

Would you like to also ramble endlessly about how blue the sky is? Or how wet water may be?

We get it. We know. And the constant whining about it is one tier above shitposting.

Many long-time posters and some newer ones have talked to me about how this is turning them from the boards.

Before long you may get your wish and every post will be the same half-dozen people saying nothing but 'ELLER SUCKS! NO CMM, NO PEACE!" all day long.

 

[Capsman]

That first line is going to be big time hemmed in their own zone.

 

[lakai17]

No McMichael? No Snively? Why?

 

[AZ Caps Fan]

Ovi mentioned a wake up call after the last game. Let's hope that is reflected in their play.

 

[traparatus]

Would you like to also ramble endlessly about how blue the sky is? Or how wet water may be?

We get it. We know. And the constant whining about it is one tier above shitposting.

Many long-time posters and some newer ones have talked to me about how this is turning them from the boards.

Before long you may get your wish and every post will be the same half-dozen people saying nothing but 'ELLER SUCKS! NO CMM, NO PEACE!" all day long.

Ideally, I'd like to read posts that make some kind of point regarding the team or game of hockey. Nothing that you post contributes anything to the discussion. It's just endless criticism of other posters, often in a somewhat derogatory manner.

3rd line center is playing poorly and moving one of the young centers, be it Protas or CMM, into his spot is one of the ways to address it. It seems like a perfectly reasonable argument to me.