GDT: Caps @ Blues 11/15/14 8PM EST

[Bladerunner]

Ovi is just so frustrating. His movement when players around him have the puck is so unintelligent, the amount of time he just runs in a straight line in front of the puck carrier before realizing he's about to go offside and checking himself, instead of peeling away and finding space.... the puck more and more just seems to bounce off him when passed to him, unless he's winding up for a 1 timer.. or he tries to carry it past 2 guys without using any real trickery and just gets it poke checked away.. his passing game is as poor as always... he still floats around when too much in the d-zone... you feel like just grabbing him and shaking him a lot of the time

as good a player as he is, he could be so much better.. it's a crying shame.. he's half the player he was when he first burst on the scene and it makes me sad.

As always, after a few losses, some fans will overreact.

While it may be time to consider a serious shake up, even a rebuild...
Ovy is hardly a "poor passer" and he's in his late 20s. He won't be hitting quite as much as when he was 23... if he did you can bet he'll get more suspensions. Also doubt he'll score at the level he once did - few players could score 50+ and have a decent +/- with this team

So I don't think he's "half" the player he once was.

 

[Coldplay619]

This board cries more tonight than my 1 month old daughter has.

 

[txpd]

Shocking that there's overreaction to a loss to one of the best teams in the league on the road on the second game of a back-to-back.

Did people miss the tidbit about Hitchcock saying he was glad to face the Caps now, while they're still in transition, and not a month from now?

Still not even a quarter of the way through the season.

doom
blow it up
fire sale

 

[KevinM]

Shocking that there's overreaction to a loss to one of the best teams in the league on the road on the second game of a back-to-back.

Did people miss the tidbit about Hitchcock saying he was glad to face the Caps now, while they're still in transition, and not a month from now?

Still not even a quarter of the way through the season.

Yeah I'm not happy with how they're playing at the moment for good reason but I agree that the talk of blowing up the team and trading Ovi is way way premature.

 

[Hivemind]

This board cries more tonight than my 1 month old daughter has.

Tonight?

 

[philip]

If one thing tonight definitely showed us it's the gulf between us and the top teams in this league. We just can't compete, we're lacking in so many areas. I'm not sure at what point you say 'ok, let's start again'...

My only worry with it is that after those heeyuge contracts handed out to Nisk and Orpik, I'm not sure I'd trust the new GM to manage a fire sale and rebuild any better than GMGM did.

 

[capsfan59]

I'm heading to sleep, but the Caps lately have been pretty frustrating . I would be fine if they lost dominating Corsi. But lately, they haven't been doing so. Yesterday was a very poor game against a pretty mediocre team in New Jersey. Today was even poorer.
I rather watch a young team than this team to be honest. At least I could watch the young team grow.

 

[caps8]

It's unbearable being on this board. 8th in adjusted corsi in the league, have gotten terrible goaltending which will surely turn around and a good powerplay should get them into the playoffs.

With that being said, it is clear this team needs a proven, legit goal scorer to compliment the forward corps. Who that is gonna be? I don't know but I hope GMBM is on the phones looking for him.

 

[leova]

is this the week of Goalie flubs or something?
all around the league, drunk goalies....

 

[SimplySensational]

The top line had like 2 bad shifts and the rest of the game was ****ing even.

Stop crying. Especially about Ovechkin who is saddled with lackadaisical Backstrom and worthless Wilson.

Kuznetsov constantly showing he is a highly skilled played playing with scrubs, so Trotz chooses instead to put those stupid ****ing scrubs on the top line instead of him.

 

[RandyHolt]

It was great to see Ovi and Nick playing like they cared last night. Maybe it was just from playing with Wilson. Or they are getting tired of losing. Hockey when not racking up fancy goals is all about effort. The Blues were a tough out and I for one was pleased with the effort from our aging guns. Nick looked angry for a moment there, and had Wilson's back.

We are still soft as silk on the backend though. Niskanen and Orpik add much needed physical play but take nights off, and the rest wouldn't hurt a fly most every night.

I knew tending would take time. Korn has to deprogram Holtby. Peters is a backup. But how long until we need someone else tried? We need to stop the G bleeding by 1/1 I would think.

Wilson is a stud. You can see he is our most physically imposing player. He is a handful for teams and deserves moar TOI. Is he going to keep 43 forever? If he changes his number rest assured I just got his 43 jersey.

 

[txpd]

If one thing tonight definitely showed us it's the gulf between us and the top teams in this league. We just can't compete, we're lacking in so many areas. I'm not sure at what point you say 'ok, let's start again'....

I think what is it shows is the gulf between the caps and the top teams when the caps on the back end of a back to back on the road when the top team is rested and at home.

I don't think its a particularly good measuring stick. I mean, how often does a team in a big game against a top team play their backup goalie?

 

[g00n]

This board cries more tonight than my 1 month old daughter has.

The whining is unbelievable. The same group of what I assume are kids and/or fanatical Russian player fans have been clogging up the boards and the GDTs with constant complaining, anti-Canadian/grinder comments and general heat of the moment hysteria and hyperbole. Many of the threads are becoming unreadable.

There doesn't seem to be any repercussion for acting that way so no point in trying to just put up with it quietly anymore. I guess the door is open to start talking about "soft euros" and "lazy russians" if we're going to tolerate endless shrieking about how the skill guys are saddled with "worthless" and "deficient" Canadiens and role players? Is that what people want? Because you can't have one without the other.

 

[tycoonheart]

I'll give the team 25-30 games before saying there needs to be a shakeup or whatever. There is no way they had a chance to win the game last night. St Louis is the best team in the league right now. I just wish we saw improvements with the team since the first game of the season. I think they were playing a lot better early on than they are right now.

 

[Blades of Steel]

Hey I'll be the first to admit I think we need a shake up of some sort, but it certainly isn't Ovechkin or Backstrom, that's a bit silly.

Just too many plugs and not enough finishers, the Goalies need to get their **** straight. If we can address those before seasons end somehow we will be doing great.

 

[g00n]

I'll give the team 25-30 games before saying there needs to be a shakeup or whatever. There is no way they had a chance to win the game last night. St Louis is the best team in the league right now. I just wish we saw improvements with the team since the first game of the season. I think they were playing a lot better early on than they are right now.

STL's 4th line could be our 3rd, easily. That's how deep and solid that lineup is. When I saw the lines in the early GDT I knew we were boned.

And of course when there's the inevitable cold streak for STL people will be saying "I thought they were so great hurrr", as usual. Same thing happens every year whether it's Boston, Chicago, LA or whoever's tearing up the league most of the season. But last night was a good example of how a truly deep team looks, and what they do to tired teams in transition.

Granted, they've also had several years of consistency under an Adams winning coach. We're not even 20 games into the Trotz Era and are on our 3rd or 4th coach in the same span the Blues have been guided by Hitchcock.

 

[Langway]

One goal in two games. Only one forward with a multi-shot game (Ovechkin) vs. STL. Not going to cut it. They're still way too easy to play against. The forwards and their overall puck movement don't threaten the hard areas of the ice nearly enough. They deserve to lose playing a loose, sloppy perimeter game. "Structure" without urgency is a losing approach. When they play teams that defend well their terrible puck movement and cohesion gets exposed. How much will that improve in the short-term given these players?

There is a longstanding mediocre mindset that Trotz isn't just going to turn around by merely telling them to work harder. The strategy and execution has get a lot better. The third line needs to become more reliable and their overall puck movement and heaviness on the puck has to improve if they're going to be a factor. If the strategy is making the game choppy and "working hard" (aka Beagling) then there should be no expectation of achieving much of anything.

 

[KevinM]

I feel like once Holtby gets going and they move their legs consistently every night this team will be a joy to watch. Until then it's going to be horribly frustrating, but playing St. Louis the second night of a back to back is just unlucky scheduling. They looked great to start the season as someone else said so if they can return to that form and play that way for 82 games a year I'll be thrilled.

 

[Vladiator16*]

Glad i missed last 2 games...
Just read last 2 pages, with fans like this who needs enemies.

 

[artilector]

Glad I missed this game.

 

[um]

He will be valuable for many teams out there. I think we will get a good return. He has been with us for what now, 10 years? He hasn't brought the Stanley Cup home for that long. When is it time to move on?

bring us a stanley cup single handed? what sport do you think this is?

anyways i don't get why people would want to move ovechkin and not backstrom, nicky has been a much bigger disappointment in the playoffs.

 

[mdurbin1234]

bring us a stanley cup single handed? what sport do you think this is?

anyways i don't get why people would want to move ovechkin and not backstrom, nicky has been a much bigger disappointment in the playoffs.

 

[mdurbin1234]

I'm sick of watching our pathetic first line. And to be brutally honest, it's OV's fault. No puck possession, same old turnovers, leads to chances, goals and momentum for the other team.

I know, same old same old. It's been said before.

It's not an opinion though, it's a fact.



///On a side note, has any player in the history of the league every taken less penalties than Mojo??

He has 26 PIM in his career (8 over the last 2 seasons), and 0 PIM this season so far.

 

[NobodyBeatsTheWiz]

Again, we have three wingers playing center, and somehow people still find an excuse to blame Ovechkin.

 

[RaindanceMaggie]

The only players who seem to give a damn this year are Ovechkin, Wilson & Backstrom.