Capitals History Pt. 1 (former players & coaches, past seasons, etc.)

[txpd]

we forget that the Caps goaltending in that Montreal series was average to poor on top of the Halak issue. in the 3 losses, Varly allowed early soft goals that just set the Habs up to play Hunter hockey. The Caps win that series easy if they just got a little goaltending.

I would certainly have not have allowed the team to get turned upside down because of that series. IIRC both 8 and 19 took that loss hard and it had an effect on their attitude to start the next season.

 

[Alexander the Gr8]

we forget that the Caps goaltending in that Montreal series was average to poor on top of the Halak issue. in the 3 losses, Varly allowed early soft goals that just set the Habs up to play Hunter hockey. The Caps win that series easy if they just got a little goaltending.

I would certainly have not have allowed the team to get turned upside down because of that series. IIRC both 8 and 19 took that loss hard and it had an effect on their attitude to start the next season.

The Olympic loss and the first round exit against Montreal broke Ovi beyond repair. Thank God for the lockout, it seems Ovi returned to his normal dominant self in Moscow.

Maybe we shifted directions too fast after the Habs series, but what Trotz is doing right now is the way to go IMO.

 

[BobRouse]

The ironic part of that painful goalie bulldozed goal.... Flash of all players tried to do that, mostly failed, and got a penalty for it, and a goal waved off to boot.

Also, Shamo had a broken jaw and had lost a bunch of weight otherwise may not have been bulldozed quite as easily.

Yep. That was in a critical game towards the end of that season where we needed to win to make the playoffs vs Tampa.

Also the next year...



Ovie did the same thing Thoreson did...but ofcourse it works against the Caps yet again.

Then the Knuble tap on Halak in game 7 wiping out a goal.

Then last year Ward way outside of the crease and Lundqvuist runs out to him...no goal!...all coaches in offseason say that was a good goal.

Go figure. 99% of the time (and critical times) that call works against us.

 

[RandyHolt]

That never gets old, and is even more impressive with Hal "Pylon" Gill being 6'7" 245... imagine if that was a diminutive player, or even more interesting, Jeff Schultz.

 

[Alexander the Gr8]

It's BS, we can't catch a break with refs in the playoffs. Only instance in which we got a pass at a crucial moment was on Ward's Game 7 OT winner against Boston. Knuble was in the crease and interfered with Thomas.

 

[um]

Watch at the 8:40 or 9:30 mark right in front of the Pittsburgh net.

That was us on a PK in the 2nd OT.

The intereference on Gordon opened up that play for the Pens which resulted in Malkin's goal.

The Pens were coming off yet another OT PP they had been awarded in that series.

Obvious call right in front of the ref who let it go. Remember this was a period where they were cracking down on obstruction.

That was no penalty (especially in playoffs overtime), Gordon went down very easy. The defensemen didn't even extend his arm that much, he just got in front of Gordon and Gordon fell down as if he wasn't aware of him.

 

[RandyHolt]

That was no penalty (especially in playoffs overtime), Gordon went down very easy. The defensemen didn't even extend his arm that much, he just got in front of Gordon and Gordon fell down as if he wasn't aware of him.

That was while they were on the PP

That is a big difference. Almost any time a PKer is fouled to any degree in any part of the year, it gets called.

Especially after a likely lame duck penalty called against us that in the playoffs would never have been called 15 years ago. Let em play is a thing of the past in OT hockey. Clearly a mandate was issued to the refs, and it was I believe when NBC took on hockey games. And didnt want to interfere with their "prime" time scheduling which of course is a joke in itself., so Mario caved to get his Pens exclusive coverage, to save his income stream since they couldnt pay him as a player.

I had never heard a losing OT team nor fans complain about a lack of penalties after a game 7 loss before Mario became owner. Ever. I miss the days when a guy stepping on Poti's stick doesn't end our season.

 

[BobRouse]

Yeah RH. Also that was 08-09 when the slightest bit of obstruction would be whistled. It was an obvious call when we were down a man.

How many times have the Caps lost in OT when the other team has had a PP?? hmmmm

In 99 (I think) we lost a game on a Jagr OT goal against us.

In 2003 we lost game 3 on a 5 on 3 and game 6 on a PK as well (Tampa)

Game 7 vs Flyers in 08 is one as mentioned.

The Malkin goal in game 6 of 09.

We lost on a Staal OT goal in 2012.

I know we won at least 1 vs the Rangers in 2013 so theres that.

I wonder what the breakdown is in our history...PPs vs PPs against in playoff OTs?

 

[BobRouse]

Was thinking of the 06-07 team the other day. At the time I recall being brutally harsh on McPhee and Co. and thought we did a poor job in the offseason.

We signed Pothier as our big ticket FA and we had Semin coming over finally.

When I look back I think we actually played fairly well for what our roster was and we were right in the mix for about half the season until...

THE TRAP

We were actually scoring and playing exciting hockey and winning some games at the time. Ovechkin picked up right where he left off and was on a serious pace (around 50 goals and over 110 pts).

We had a game vs Pitt at home that started it. We were up 4-0 midway through the game and just deteriorated defensively. We ended up losing 5-4 in a shootout and Hanlon was furious. We were 13-10-7 after that game according to Wikipedia.

Over our next 22 games we went 8-14-0..not good. But they were actually not playing terrible. We were getting chances, playing fun for the most part despite having a very limited roster.


We went to the Trap after a loss to FLA. We ended up losing 2-0 to Pitt in a BORING afternoon game.

For the last 30 games we went 7-16-7 and played DREADFUL hockey. We couldn't even muster a scoring chance it seemed and were just lifeless...But that wacky Hanlon stuck to his guns.

Anyhow the Trap carried into next year and finally got Hanlon fired thankfully.

Ovechkin finished with 46+46 despite being on a much better pace until we started messing around. (We scored 73 goals in our final 30 games and 10% of that was in one game vs Tampa)

We scored 162 in our first 52 games that year.

 

[RandyHolt]

Today we would call it Hanlon Hockey

I joined this site to voice my displeasure with GMGM over bringing in plus fordy Pothier. Sure enough, Pots first shift has an ill advised pinch 10 seconds in the game. Jagr scored IIRC. BAM account confirmed. Check Join Date.

 

[txpd]

The Olympic loss and the first round exit against Montreal broke Ovi beyond repair. Thank God for the lockout, it seems Ovi returned to his normal dominant self in Moscow.

Maybe we shifted directions too fast after the Habs series, but what Trotz is doing right now is the way to go IMO.

Had McPhee just found an Orpik after Montreal and stuck with the game, they might have been fine. If Ov's heart was broken and they suffered as a team, then that is on Ov.

 

[BobRouse]

Today we would call it Hanlon Hockey

I joined this site to voice my displeasure with GMGM over bringing in plus fordy Pothier. Sure enough, Pots first shift has an ill advised pinch 10 seconds in the game. Jagr scored IIRC. BAM account confirmed. Check Join Date.

That signing was bad. But it was probably the 3rd worst UFA signing under McPhee. I'd say Mironov was 2nd. The worst was signing a 34 year old Nylander to a long term deal at a (at the time) high cap hit.

Nylander was coming off several successive impressive seasons..infact his two best in the NHL with NY playing alongside Jagr. But signing an aging scoring forward to a large contract with term is a bad deal.

 

[um]

Had McPhee just found an Orpik after Montreal and stuck with the game, they might have been fine. If Ov's heart was broken and they suffered as a team, then that is on Ov.

we needed Orpik before Montreal, post Montreal our defense was not the biggest problem.

 

[Alexander the Gr8]

Had McPhee just found an Orpik after Montreal and stuck with the game, they might have been fine. If Ov's heart was broken and they suffered as a team, then that is on Ov.

The team suffered because it was ripped apart by the media. Don Cherry called us "losers", Ovechkin was called lazy, selfish, uncoachable, KHL bound...
Jeez, Ovi was getting the Kessel treatment back then. It's a vicious circle. The more we get criticized, the more we choke. The more we choke, the more we get criticized.

It's over for now, even the haters at TSN had to acknowledge that this team has a legit shot at the Cup.

 

[txpd]

we needed a take charge veteran defenseman from the time they thought they were playoffs bound. I let the first season in pass because it was a pipedream that came true. after that, they needed that player.

if the caps allowed themselves to be destroyed by the media, then they will never win because they will never be the favorite of the media. that is an excuse.

 

[Xaroc]

How was a guy like Orpik going to help against Montreal? We dominated them but their goalie shut us down in the last 2+ games. We didn't lose that series because of bad defense. That is the kind of thinking is what led to us getting away from our offensive style and going to the trap. Not sure any one player makes us win that series.

Remember that Pittsburgh saw what they did to us, had time to prepare, had Orpik and a better defense, had Crosby and Malkin, and still went out and lost to them. Sometimes you lose no matter who you have or what you do.

 

[txpd]

leadership and defense. the caps should have shut the habs out in 2 of the games they lost. influencing one goal against changes that series

 

[Xaroc]

leadership and defense. the caps should have shut the habs out in 2 of the games they lost. influencing one goal against changes that series

So why did Pittsburgh *with* Orpik then lose to them? Shouldn't his leadership been enough to carry them to victory?

 

[BobRouse]

We did have a chance to get Pronger at the TDL in 08-09 and in the following offseason.

I'd like to think a guy like that could have certainly put us over the hump in both those seasons.

The cost was probably prohibitive (GMGM mentioned Carlson, Alzner or Varlamov) as was the Nylander albatross but who knows what would have happened if we found a way to pull it off.

He was THE piece we needed both those years and would have slotted our other guys INFINITELY better. Going from Schultz to Pronger is an astronomical leap.

Hopefully in time it will prove to be the right move that we didn't pull the trigger. Winning a cup would go towards that.

 

[Hivemind]

Raise your hand if you think we could have won a Cup with Jose Theodore as our starting goalie. With Varly and a defensemen going to Anaheim, we wouldn't have had an option other than Theodore in net during those playoff runs.

 

[BobRouse]

Raise your hand if you think we could have won a Cup with Jose Theodore as our starting goalie. With Varly and a defensemen going to Anaheim, we wouldn't have had an option other than Theodore in net during those playoff runs.

Remember in 2009-10 the Blackhawks won the cup with Niemi as their goalie and the Flyers got there on the back of Michael Leighton who is equivalent to Justin Peters.

Flyers had Pronger and he was the man.

In 2005-6 the Oilers, led by Pronger, made it to game 7 of the finals with their 3rd string goalie. Roloson was hurt in game 1 and they went with Conklin and Markannen.

Don't underestimate the value of a dominant HOF #1 dman.

The Red Wings won cups with Osgood while having one of those. Its not beyond the realm of reason.

Besides GMGM didn't say ALL of Carlson, Alzner and Varlamov. It would have been interesting to see how it played out. Could have very well blown up in our faces.

 

[Hivemind]

Antii Niemi isn't a bad goaltender. If the Capitals had a deep, stacked blueline like Chicago, they might have been able to make it work with Theodore in the net. Adding Chris Pronger doesn't make your defense deep (especially when one of Alzner or Carlson goes the other way). Heck, with Pronger as a RD, we'd still have someone like Tom Poti or Jeff Schultz as 1LD on those teams.

GMGM said that Anaheim was asking for a young defenseman (Carlson or Alzner), a young goalie (Varlamov or Neuvirth), and picks (1st+, which means Johansson and/or Kuznetsov).

 

[RandyHolt]

I never really believed George's spoken words

Secrecy was the order of the day with him. When he did speak, it thus rang hollow to me.

It is Braden Holtby's turn. Next day, it wasn't. Have fun in Hershey another year.

 

[BrooklynCapsFan]

Antii Niemi isn't a bad goaltender. If the Capitals had a deep, stacked blueline like Chicago, they might have been able to make it work with Theodore in the net. Adding Chris Pronger doesn't make your defense deep (especially when one of Alzner or Carlson goes the other way). Heck, with Pronger as a RD, we'd still have someone like Tom Poti or Jeff Schultz as 1LD on those teams.

GMGM said that Anaheim was asking for a young defenseman (Carlson or Alzner), a young goalie (Varlamov or Neuvirth), and picks (1st+, which means Johansson and/or Kuznetsov).

McPhee only ponies up when gamebreakers like Martin Erat are available. This conversation reminds me of how he made a lowball offer to Chara.

 

[BobRouse]

Antii Niemi isn't a bad goaltender. If the Capitals had a deep, stacked blueline like Chicago, they might have been able to make it work with Theodore in the net. Adding Chris Pronger doesn't make your defense deep (especially when one of Alzner or Carlson goes the other way). Heck, with Pronger as a RD, we'd still have someone like Tom Poti or Jeff Schultz as 1LD on those teams.

GMGM said that Anaheim was asking for a young defenseman (Carlson or Alzner), a young goalie (Varlamov or Neuvirth), and picks (1st+, which means Johansson and/or Kuznetsov).

Niemi isn't that good either. He's not a world apart from Theodore and Theodore is certainly better than Conklin, Markannen or Leighton.

Didn't matter Pronger was a RD. Oates wasn't coaching us back then. And Poti was pretty darn good for us btw

If you don't think that Chris F'ng Pronger would have made us an infinitely better team then we will have to disagree on a great many things. Pronger was a stud and dominated in all phases of the game.

GMGM threw out all those names but he never said that. If we look at what Pronger historically went for it would not have taken all that. Guys like Lupul, Sbisa and a couple draft picks. Again take what GMGM says and throw it out the window.

The guy was never a straight shooter like BMac is.