Speculation: Caps General Discussion (Coaching/FAs/Cap/Lines etc) -- 2018-19 We Are The Champions Edition - Pt. 4

[VaCaps Fan]

Where did you get this ridiculous thought?

Your tone in posts for the 2018-2019 defending cup champions season in October...

 

[maacoshark]

Honestly? You seem to take the negative play of certain players, and highlight/focus on it....and it alone. Eller, Niskanen, Grubauer, to name a few.

Eller is very very strong w the puck. He has really good vision, and is a good passer. I agree he doesnt have a consistently good shot, but I have seen some very good shots from him.

I think he is a pretty physical player. He wins more battles along the boards than he loses, he's very hard to take the puck from (which to me connotes physicality and strength), he certainly drives possession = drives play.

He's inconsistent, for sure. But he's a workhorse who shows up to play every night. He doesnt take nights off, at all. For 3.5m, hes a great value.

You seem to want every player to be better than their contracts. Thats misguided, IMO. From where I sit, the only players that are playing beneath their contracts, on a consistent basis, are now....Burakovsky. Thats it. It used to be Orpik, but thats been remedied.

That is also why Bura is the current whipping boy of the board. The fact that he is the only one, is also why this team won the Cup

Actually I want consistent play from everyone. You aren't going to have your best game everyday but when Eller is off he is bad and it happens way more often than his good games.

 

[maacoshark]

Your tone in posts for the 2018-2019 defending cup champions season in October...

Have I ever said anything about Ovi? Nope.
I said things about Eller and how he is perceived here and after last nights game you guys have proved me 100% right.
Thanks guys

 

[Carlzner]

Actually I want consistent play from everyone. You aren't going to have your best game everyday but when Eller is off he is bad and it happens way more often than his good games.

And that is how you see last night? Eller was bad?

 

[maacoshark]

And that is how you see last night? Eller was bad?

You are proving me 100% right again. Jumping on the Eller bandwagon after one decent game. I so much wanted this to happen just to prove a point and it did.
One decent game doesn't make up for the previous 6 that weren't good. He needs to have more than one decent game out of 7. Of those 7 games he was downright awful in most of them.
And I will remind you too that Eller also put one on our own net last lastnight.
You guys are pretty predictable. I knew most of you would jump on the Eller bandwagon after ONE game. Let's hope he can continue to play at that level more consistently. That's what I want from him.

 

[VaCaps Fan]

Is your real name Mike Keenan?

 

[maacoshark]

Members here wanted a more offensive minded team. It looks like that is the direction we are going. Its a high risk system. If it even is a system.
A play that is etched in my head is the play when Niskanen got the penalty late in the 3rd. On that play everyone had left the zone. Even Orlov was leaving the zone when Niskanen passed him the puck. The puck bounced away from Orlov and Niskanen who was by himself got caught flat footed and had to take a penalty. I found that was an odd time to be trying anything high risk. Can you even blame a player for a play like that? Bad bounces happen. But we are so aggressive in transition we are leaving ourselves vulnerable.

 

[maacoshark]

Is your real name Mike Keenan?

Ya. How did you guess that?

 

[VaCaps Fan]

Intensity over sanity on the ice....

 

[Langway]

I kNeW mOsT oF yOu WoUlD jUmP oN tHe ElLeR bAnDwAgOn AfTeR oNe GaMe.

 

[um]

It feels like half the post are now maacoshark complaining after every game, kind of making these boards boring. Just the same conversation over and over.

 

[StrikingDistance]

It feels like half the post are now maacoshark complaining after every game, kind of making these boards boring. Just the same conversation over and over.

Very true.

You have something else to contribute that the board can complain about?

 

[kicksavedave]

Members here wanted a more offensive minded team. It looks like that is the direction we are going. Its a high risk system. If it even is a system.
A play that is etched in my head is the play when Niskanen got the penalty late in the 3rd. On that play everyone had left the zone. Even Orlov was leaving the zone when Niskanen passed him the puck. The puck bounced away from Orlov and Niskanen who was by himself got caught flat footed and had to take a penalty. I found that was an odd time to be trying anything high risk. Can you even blame a player for a play like that? Bad bounces happen. But we are so aggressive in transition we are leaving ourselves vulnerable.

Here's the thing, it sounds to me like you think the Caps have chucked their successful Cup winning system for a high risk, free wheeling system that you don't prefer. Preferences not withstanding, the Caps have not ditched their Cup winning system at all, they simply aren't executing it like they did in June. First, their Cup winning system was one that created a huge amount of odd man rushes for them, which they converted to a lot of breakaway goals, not the least of which was the ones that beat both the Pens and the Bolts. It is higher risk than the so called "Trotz Turtle" or the Dale Hunter "never leave the defensive zone under any conditions" systems that we've watched fail in the past. But this is not a new level of risk the Caps under TR are suddenly taking on out of some perceived lack of concern for defense.

Instead, the issue here is that their high risk, high reward system that just delivered them a Cup, takes a lot more precision and chemistry than you're going to see in game 7 in October. It just does. Thats what Cup winning teams gel in April, May and June, not in October or November. It takes time to get the right mix of higher risk breakouts perfected so that the risk is reduced, but when you have that precision down you become nearly unstoppable. The Caps right now clearly don't have that precision down, and your Nisky to Orlov botched breakout simply proves that point. In June they make that play and they have 4 on 3 entering the offensive zone, and that leads to more Caps scoring. In October, they fumble that pass, Nisky is left alone and its a penalty/goal against us.

The difference is execution of the same system, not a new "defense be damned" system that TR has implemented.

So, be patient, crawl back off the ledge, and wait to see what this team looks like in February and March and really, in the playoffs. Players take more risks in October, and they make more mistakes in October. Thats why the whole damn league is scoring 5 goals per game right now, not just Caps opponents.

 

[VaCaps Fan]

We need Tom Wilson’s muscle back to protect our players...

 

[kicksavedave]

Members here wanted a more offensive minded team. It looks like that is the direction we are going. Its a high risk system. If it even is a system.
A play that is etched in my head is the play when Niskanen got the penalty late in the 3rd. On that play everyone had left the zone. Even Orlov was leaving the zone when Niskanen passed him the puck. The puck bounced away from Orlov and Niskanen who was by himself got caught flat footed and had to take a penalty. I found that was an odd time to be trying anything high risk. Can you even blame a player for a play like that? Bad bounces happen. But we are so aggressive in transition we are leaving ourselves vulnerable.

If its true (and I could dispute that it is) that the members here wanted more offense, maybe it has some thing to do with our game 7 offense in the Ovi era: Going back to his entire playoff career, the Caps in game 7s have scored 2, 2, 1, 1, 0, 1 and 0. Thats dreadful, and painful, to watch the offense disappear when it mattered most.

This years Caps, when they had a chance to clinch a series score 6, 2, 4 and 4.

So yeah, gimme offense, when it matters.

 

[Devil Dancer]

If its true (and I could dispute that it is) that the members here wanted more offense, maybe it has some thing to do with our game 7 offense in the Ovi era: Going back to his entire playoff career, the Caps in game 7s have scored 2, 2, 1, 1, 0, 1 and 0. Thats dreadful, and painful, to watch the offense disappear when it mattered most.

This years Caps, when they had a chance to clinch a series score 6, 2, 4 and 4.

So yeah, gimme offense, when it matters.

I'm sure Maaco would prefer the '98 Caps to the '18 Caps.

 

[Silky mitts]

I wanted more offense. The Caps lead the NHL in goals per game. You are welcome.

 

[Sam Spade]

I wanted more offense. The Caps lead the NHL in goals per game. You are welcome.

This is what I'm talking about, positivity!!!

 

[VaCaps Fan]

Don’t forget we still got points last night...

 

[CapitalsCupReality]

It feels like half the post are now maacoshark complaining after every game, kind of making these boards boring. Just the same conversation over and over.

Is it wrong that I’ve been logging in lately anticipating what new dumb Maaco vs The Boards argument is taking place?

 

[maacoshark]

Don’t forget we still got points last night...

Points is plural. We got 1 point.

 

[VaCaps Fan]

1>0

 

[maacoshark]

I wanted more offense. The Caps lead the NHL in goals per game. You are welcome.

1st in offense 28th in defence.

 

[Chokingdogs]

The banter on here reminds me a little of the old caps boards circa 2000 or so, when The Board of Directors reigned supreme.

Only difference then and now, that I can see, is that they were right and the posts were funny to downright side splittingly hilarious.

Those of you privileged enough to have been witness to that era are members of a select fraternity.

The golden era of message board hijinx.

Grierscores, kaopectate, killertinner.....you are missed....long live the BOD!

 

[Ridley Simon]

Here's the thing, it sounds to me like you think the Caps have chucked their successful Cup winning system for a high risk, free wheeling system that you don't prefer. Preferences not withstanding, the Caps have not ditched their Cup winning system at all, they simply aren't executing it like they did in June. First, their Cup winning system was one that created a huge amount of odd man rushes for them, which they converted to a lot of breakaway goals, not the least of which was the ones that beat both the Pens and the Bolts. It is higher risk than the so called "Trotz Turtle" or the Dale Hunter "never leave the defensive zone under any conditions" systems that we've watched fail in the past. But this is not a new level of risk the Caps under TR are suddenly taking on out of some perceived lack of concern for defense.

Instead, the issue here is that their high risk, high reward system that just delivered them a Cup, takes a lot more precision and chemistry than you're going to see in game 7 in October. It just does. Thats what Cup winning teams gel in April, May and June, not in October or November. It takes time to get the right mix of higher risk breakouts perfected so that the risk is reduced, but when you have that precision down you become nearly unstoppable. The Caps right now clearly don't have that precision down, and your Nisky to Orlov botched breakout simply proves that point. In June they make that play and they have 4 on 3 entering the offensive zone, and that leads to more Caps scoring. In October, they fumble that pass, Nisky is left alone and its a penalty/goal against us.

The difference is execution of the same system, not a new "defense be damned" system that TR has implemented.

So, be patient, crawl back off the ledge, and wait to see what this team looks like in February and March and really, in the playoffs. Players take more risks in October, and they make more mistakes in October. Thats why the whole damn league is scoring 5 goals per game right now, not just Caps opponents.

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