GDT: Caps @ Bruins, 6:30PM

[Gopack76]

He’s been terrible. His UFA signings are terrible. He signs marginal players for too much, and too long.

He won’t be fired, but he should be fired.

He has given out some bad contracts to marginal players, this is fact.

 

[troyerlaw]

How many cups does McPhee have? How many did he screw up with awful TDL moves?

He may get his first this year. They’ve been knocking at the door for a while. Same with bruins actually. My bigger fear is the Pens. They look good, and their TDL acquisition is cranking out goals

 

[IafrateOvie34]

The training staff needs to be fired for allowing these guys to play when they’re 75% at best.

Post series injury list will read:
Ovechkin
Carlson
Backstrom
Oshie
Eller
Vitek
And maybe even Chara

They did that in 97 iirc correctly.

 

[IafrateOvie34]

He may get his first this year. They’ve been knocking at the door for a while. Same with bruins actually. My bigger fear is the Pens. They look good, and their TDL acquisition is cranking out goals

It's either the Pens or Avs at this point for me. Both are pretty stacked and getting production.

 

[RandyHolt]

If Sunday's game is at 11:30am my head is going to explode

 

[DanielMarois]

yes he could have scored 0 points for 3 years in a row….

At least he would have scored some goals over the last month of the season

 

[sycamore]

No one is saying that we shouldn't have traded Vrana -- he wasn't a good fit for this team any more.
But NOT for Mantha. And NOT for as much as we gave up.

 

[Hivemind]

No one is saying that we shouldn't have traded Vrana -- he wasn't a good fit for this team any more.

We shouldn't have traded Vrana

 

[Melkor]

In any other franchise that spends right to the cap and trades what they traded for Mantha this automatically would mean a firing on the spot. But we're talking about Washington Capitals ..

 

[crab]

The window is closed IMO.

I think they are in a really challenging spot going forward. From a business standpoint and sentimental perspective you have to sign Ovechkin and keep a few of the core guys. However, with them eating that much cap they won’t be competitive. It will be a long time before they are a serious contender based on that. If you didn’t have those factors I really think the team should start looking towards the future.

Anyway, they got their Cup that we all thought was never going to happen after all their failures and that will never be taken away. Even with South George petitioning the league to retroactively nullify it due to Ovechkin’s steroid use. It was an unbelievable moment and makes these playoff loses bearable. Remember that Cup at times likes these and all those special moments and plays leading up to it.

 

[AussieCapsFan]

I think Laviolette made a mistake injecting no youth into this team at any point this season. We won a SC with the likes of Djoos and Siegs. We literally have nobody remotely ready we can use for a change of pace. Maybe the cap situation prevented it, I don’t know.

But I was told that in order to win in the playoffs you need to be a big, heavy team that punishes your opponent.

Meanwhile in Florida (both teams) and over in Colorado and Vegas.....

 

[RandyHolt]

Mantha trying to fit in and hit but is so slow he has to hit Rask a stationary target

 

[Firsov99]

Dare I say that is the worst game even worse than the Islanders series in the Fall?

I think that we weren't in the Islanders series at all. This time around we started well. We should have won the first two games. Could have won game 3 as well. But today everything fell apart. The Caps look like a tired and beat-up team.

 

[IafrateOvie34]

In any other franchise that spends right to the cap and trades what they traded for Mantha this automatically would mean a firing on the spot. But we're talking about Washington Capitals ..

Some teams wont' spend to the Cap or make trades at all. I remember those days before Ted bought the team.

 

[Ovie's Neighbor]

The window is closed IMO.

I think they are in a really challenging spot going forward. From a business standpoint and sentimental perspective you have to sign Ovechkin and keep a few of the core guys. However, with them eating that much cap they won’t be competitive. It will be a long time before they are a serious contender based on that. If you didn’t have those factors I really think the team should start looking towards the future.

Anyway, they got their Cup that we all thought was never going to happen after all their failures and that will never be taken away. Even with South George petitioning the league to retroactively nullify it due to Ovechkin’s steroid use. It was an unbelievable moment and makes these playoff loses bearable. Remember that Cup at times likes these and all those special moments and plays leading up to it.

Decisions like these are what made the patriots a dynasty for so long. They let go of players at the end of their prime. Obviously I want OV to retire a cap for sentimental reasons but I think we all know he isn’t a 12/13 million player a year.

 

[IafrateOvie34]

I think that we weren't in the Islanders series at all. This time around we started well. We should have won the first two games. Could have won game 3 as well. But today everything fell apart. The Caps look like a tired and beat-up team.

Yeah, but I"m still disappointed the road warrior spirit didn't show up.

 

[troyerlaw]

Caps will come out pissed in Game 5, take a lead, blow it, and clutch it out in the end. Then the series ends in Game 6.

We said that after last game too. They won’t come out pissed. They dont start trying till it’s way too late. Dress the taxi guys. Oshie, backstrom, carlson —it’s the walking wounded and it’s not improving our chance of winning. F*** it, play a no-name squad in game 5. At least there will be energy

 

[Devil Dancer]

Sure feels like the end of an era.

 

[Melkor]

Some teams wont' spend to the Cap or make trades at all. I remember those days before Ted bought the team.

Yeah but this team does and should monitor their personnel's performance much more attentive than they do

 

[Capsman]

He’s been terrible. His UFA signings are terrible. He signs marginal players for too much, and too long.

He won’t be fired, but he should be fired.

These playoffs non-withstanding, how can you argue with Dowd, Hathaway, and Sheary? He’s made a lot of shrewd marginal player signings.

 

[IafrateOvie34]

Yeah but this team does and should monitor their personnel's performance much more attentive than they do

Indeed. It's a country club for sure.

 

[895]

Tbh flaming out of the first round is probably better for this franchise long term than eking this series out and losing in the second to the penguins.

It's time for a re-tool.

 

[Raikkonen]

Id say Mantha played some solid minutes this series. At least comparing to other top-6 forwards.

Wilson? Invisible, plenty of mistakes, didnt even break anyone (or actively tried).
Kuznetsov? Did some zone entries this last game but that's all.
Ovechkin played bad. Started to show fire in G4, isnt it a bit late?
Oshie - invisible, ineffective. txpd always says how Oshie is puck retriever but this series Oshie couldnt do much even on PP. Boston was just faster every time. Oshie had a game on his stick in 3rd period of G3 IIRC but got the pipe only. Other than that and his redirection goal earlier - nothing.

Backstrom goes without saying. Clearly injured, played so good this season. Obviously goes nowhere and retires as a Cap. Surround him with good wingers and dont pair with Ovi. Nothing much to discuss here.

Ppl saying Vrana would change anything are wrong.

 

[RandyHolt]

At least my memory cap protects memories of our cup win

 

[Misery74]

These playoffs non-withstanding, how can you argue with Dowd, Hathaway, and Sheary? He’s made a lot of shrewd marginal player signings.

Panik, Dillon, Schultz, Hagelin. All overpaid and over signed.