Speculation: Caps General Discussion (Coaching/FAs/Cap/Lines etc) - 2019-20 Season Pt. 4: 2020, Act II, Scene II

[hockeykicker]

Speculation: - Caps General Discussion (Coaching/FAs/Cap/Lines etc) - 2019-20 Season Pt. 4: 2020, Act II, Scene I

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[Melkor]

Really wish someone out of reporters would ask Maclellan or Reirden a direct question about Jensen's play. I mean I get that if you make it sound disrespectful to the player by asking that you might lose respect from the players and an access into the locker room but at the end of the day the job of a journalist is to ask a begging question even if it makes things uncomfortable. Maclellan's not a guy that shies away from honest public assessments of his players so would love to give a listen to what he has to say at this point of the season.

 

[txpd]

Really wish someone out of reporters would ask Maclellan or Reirden a direct question about Jensen's play. I mean I get that if you make it sound disrespectful to the player by asking that you might lose respect from the players and an access into the locker room but at the end of the day the job of a journalist is to ask a begging question even if it makes things uncomfortable. Maclellan's not a guy that shies away from honest public assessments of his players so would love to give a listen to what he has to say at this point of the season.

Why are you so sure that no one has asked that question. All you can know is that you personally haven't heard a direct question lately. They could ask that question regularly and no one provide an answer worth printing.

Asking MacLellan straight up if he is happy with his defense for the trade deadline, asking if he wants to make changes is a pretty straightforward way to ask your question. MacLellan has been asked specifically about Jensen and has answered but added Gudas to the answer.

This is the best team in the league with a very tight locker room and you want a news making answer that will throw a grenade in that room to come from Reirden or MacLellan. I can tell you that if Reirden gave a strong anti Jensen answer(face it, you wouldn't believe a pro Jensen answer of any kind), its the kind of thing that gets coaches fired.

So, its not the WaPo beat writer that you want to risk their access and their job, its the coach and the gm.

 

[Raikkonen]

Talk (about Jensen) is cheap. They are either trading him or not.

 

[kicksavedave]

Really wish someone out of reporters would ask Maclellan or Reirden a direct question about Jensen's play. I mean I get that if you make it sound disrespectful to the player by asking that you might lose respect from the players and an access into the locker room but at the end of the day the job of a journalist is to ask a begging question even if it makes things uncomfortable. Maclellan's not a guy that shies away from honest public assessments of his players so would love to give a listen to what he has to say at this point of the season.

Even if someone asked him the direct question, he's not going to give you a HF answer. GMBM simply isn't going to say "we're disappointed in his play and we're looking to trade him, or we will bench him for a rookie soon" or anything else of any sort like that.

The answer you would get would be more like "We like Nick, he's been a huge part of our success this year on the PK, he's enabled Dmitri Orlov to have one of his best seasons in years... we'd like to see a little more from him offensively but overall we're happy with Nick's play." That's what you'd get even if he was secretly dialing every GM looking to offload him. And thats what you SHOULD get from a direct question. GM's who publicly trash their players even when they deserve to be trashed, don't stick around too long.

 

[hb12xchamps]

Fehervary and VV reassigned to Hershey

Edit: Nothing to confirm this, but I’d suspect it’s a move that’s salary cap related so they can bank as much cap space as possible

 

[tenken00]

Even if someone asked him the direct question, he's not going to give you a HF answer. GMBM simply isn't going to say "we're disappointed in his play and we're looking to trade him, or we will bench him for a rookie soon" or anything else of any sort like that.

The answer you would get would be more like "We like Nick, he's been a huge part of our success this year on the PK, he's enabled Dmitri Orlov to have one of his best seasons in years... we'd like to see a little more from him offensively but overall we're happy with Nick's play." That's what you'd get even if he was secretly dialing every GM looking to offload him. And thats what you SHOULD get from a direct question. GM's who publicly trash their players even when they deserve to be trashed, don't stick around too long.

This is the anti-Redskins strategy of lowering the value of your own players before trading them.

 

[txpd]

Its clear to me that for the Flyers Jensen is going to get scratched. Fehervary will get his spot with Orlov and Siegenthaler will get back in. Tomorrow that will likely be reflected in practice assignments. It will get addressed then.

 

[tenken00]

Fehervary and VV reassigned to Hershey

I really do wish they would let VV start one game. Just a cup of coffee. An "I don't know how your future will shake out, but for all your hard work and patience in the face of uncertainty here's at least your first NHL game" type of deal.

 

[Melkor]

Why are you so sure that no one has asked that question. All you can know is that you personally haven't heard a direct question lately. They could ask that question regularly and no one provide an answer worth printing.

Asking MacLellan straight up if he is happy with his defense for the trade deadline, asking if he wants to make changes is a pretty straightforward way to ask your question. MacLellan has been asked specifically about Jensen and has answered but added Gudas to the answer.

This is the best team in the league with a very tight locker room and you want a news making answer that will throw a grenade in that room to come from Reirden or MacLellan. I can tell you that if Reirden gave a strong anti Jensen answer(face it, you wouldn't believe a pro Jensen answer of any kind), its the kind of thing that gets coaches fired.

So, its not the WaPo beat writer that you want to risk their access and their job, its the coach and the gm.

First of all, even if the answer isn't worth printing it's the answer nonetheless and it should and will be printed if the question is asked in the first place. Second, if he was in fact asked how he feels specifically about Jensen at any point of the last month or so - feel free to provide a link or a quote. Whatever answer Maclellan gives to that question, barring some absolute public obliteration of a player, it ain't gonna do shit to that locker room. Jensen is barely a year on this squad and not the kind of player that the team would challenge the front office for. He is not a part of the core, never was and never will be. They've criticized some role players in the past and nothing dramatic came out of that. DSP, Orlov, Niskanen got publicly criticized more or less. Guess what? The locker room remains intact as well as the front office.

 

[txpd]

Fehervary and VV reassigned to Hershey

Edit: Nothing to confirm this, but I’d suspect it’s a move that’s salary cap related so they can bank as much cap space as possible

Caps are not on the ice today and don't play again til Saturday. That has something to do with it. VV was to be expected regardless

Edit: It will be interesting to see if/when Fehervary gets the call back. It might not be for practice this week and might be Jensen isn't scratched for the Flyers game.

 

[txpd]

First of all, even if the answer isn't worth printing it's the answer nonetheless and it should and will be printed if the question is asked in the first place..

Seriously? Unless you want Samantha to write a story based on "no comment" and really stir the pot by trying to get unnamed sources to answer, I don't know what you expect. MacLellan and Reirden are not going to throw Jensen under the bus.

As throwing him under the bus is the only answer you would accept, you are not going to get what you want. The WaPo isn't going to give Sam the space she needs for that kind of shit anyway.

The bloggers recently have been posting pro Jensen fancy stats. Again, I am not sure what you want

 

[Melkor]

Seriously? Unless you want Samantha to write a story based on "no comment" and really stir the pot by trying to get unnamed sources to answer, I don't know what you expect. MacLellan and Reirden are not going to throw Jensen under the bus.

As throwing him under the bus is the only answer you would accept, you are not going to get what you want. The WaPo isn't going to give Sam the space she needs for that kind of **** anyway.

The bloggers recently have been posting pro Jensen fancy stats. Again, I am not sure what you want

I've made it pretty clear what I want, not sure which other way you prefer me to spell. I want Brian Maclellan to give an honest answer to the aforementioned question to get the better insight of his outlook on that defense and the player in particular.

 

[txpd]

I've made it pretty clear what I want, not sure which other way you prefer me to spell. I want Brian Maclellan to give an honest answer to the aforementioned question to get the better insight of his outlook on that defense and the player in particular.

Ok. Were you to get a pro Jensen, we like him going forward, kind of answer. You would accept that? You wouldn't suggest that it was a politically correct dodge of the question?

BTW. MacLellan has very specific times where he gives a media avail. There will be one right before the trade deadline. Nothing before that. He's not available daily like Reirden.

 

[Melkor]

Ok. Were you to get a pro Jensen, we like him going forward, kind of answer. You would accept that? You wouldn't suggest that it was a politically correct dodge of the question?

BTW. MacLellan has very specific times where he gives a media avail. There will be one right before the trade deadline. Nothing before that. He's not available daily like Reirden.

I would take any honest answer even if it's obviously something delusional.

 

[txpd]

I would take any honest answer even if it's obviously something delusional.

ok. moving on.

 

[kicksavedave]

I would take any honest answer even if it's obviously something delusional.

An honest answer is not a requirement of a coach or GM when asked about their players. Honest answers don't always benefit the club, so you're request to just get an honest answer will be denied.

If a club is ready to move on from a player, they simply aren't going to publicly say so and drive down his value for no reason other than to "be honest". There's a reason why "upper body" and "lower body" are all you get from an injury report. There's a reason why coaches use "coach speak" about players to protect them from public ridicule or criticism. Coaches who ignore this rule, like Torts, do so at the risk they they wear out their welcome with clubs in a short order, so being "honest" often comes at a price.

Simple fact, if McLellan was ready to shop Jensen, he would tell other GMs, not the Washington Post, because if he can't get what he wants for Jensen, he still has to deal with him on our roster in some way. Trashing players in public doesn't make future FA's want to come work for BMac. The Caps have carefully created a culture of support for players and now they can get their home grown players to stick around and FA's to WANT to come play here. They didn't do that by trashing players in public, even when "trash" is the honest answer.

 

[StrikingDistance]

An honest answer is not a requirement of a coach or GM when asked about their players. Honest answers don't always benefit the club, so you're request to just get an honest answer will be denied.

If a club is ready to move on from a player, they simply aren't going to publicly say so and drive down his value for no reason other than to "be honest". There's a reason why "upper body" and "lower body" are all you get from an injury report. There's a reason why coaches use "coach speak" about players to protect them from public ridicule or criticism. Coaches who ignore this rule, like Torts, do so at the risk they they wear out their welcome with clubs in a short order, so being "honest" often comes at a price.

Simple fact, if McLellan was ready to shop Jensen, he would tell other GMs, not the Washington Post, because if he can't get what he wants for Jensen, he still has to deal with him on our roster in some way. Trashing players in public doesn't make future FA's want to come work for BMac. The Caps have carefully created a culture of support for players and now they can get their home grown players to stick around and FA's to WANT to come play here. They didn't do that by trashing players in public, even when "trash" is the honest answer.

Thanks for the sanity.

 

[Melkor]

An honest answer is not a requirement of a coach or GM when asked about their players. Honest answers don't always benefit the club, so you're request to just get an honest answer will be denied.

If a club is ready to move on from a player, they simply aren't going to publicly say so and drive down his value for no reason other than to "be honest". There's a reason why "upper body" and "lower body" are all you get from an injury report. There's a reason why coaches use "coach speak" about players to protect them from public ridicule or criticism. Coaches who ignore this rule, like Torts, do so at the risk they they wear out their welcome with clubs in a short order, so being "honest" often comes at a price.

Simple fact, if McLellan was ready to shop Jensen, he would tell other GMs, not the Washington Post, because if he can't get what he wants for Jensen, he still has to deal with him on our roster in some way. Trashing players in public doesn't make future FA's want to come work for BMac. The Caps have carefully created a culture of support for players and now they can get their home grown players to stick around and FA's to WANT to come play here. They didn't do that by trashing players in public, even when "trash" is the honest answer.

It's all good and all but I've never suggested that Maclellan has to necessarily "trash" Jensen. It's the word that you really wanted to use to make it seem like I want to hear from Maclellan something that fits my narrative which is not true. My opinion on Jensen has nothing to do with Maclellans. You automatically equate my opinion to his which is pretty telling about Jensen's ability but what I wanted is to hear what he really thinks. BM didn't give two shits about Niskanen or Orlov's market value when he had publicly admitted that their level of play concerns him before the playoffs last year. I don't expect him to change the direction in that for the sake of keeping Jensen's value high which is rather impossible at this point anyway.

If he loves him some Jensen then be it. But it has to be said out loud to clear the air.

 

[SherVaughn30]

Has there been any injury status update on Samsonov yet?

 

[kicksavedave]

It's all good and all but I've never suggested that Maclellan has to necessarily "trash" Jensen. It's the word that you really wanted to use to make it seem like I want to hear from Maclellan something that fits my narrative which is not true. My opinion on Jensen has nothing to do with Maclellans. You automatically equate my opinion to his which is pretty telling about Jensen's ability but what I wanted is to hear what he really thinks. BM didn't give two ****s about Niskanen or Orlov's market value when he had publicly admitted that their level of play concerns him before the playoffs last year. I don't expect him to change the direction in that for the sake of keeping Jensen's value high which is rather impossible at this point anyway.

If he loves him some Jensen then be it. But it has to be said out loud to clear the air.

Yeah, um, nope. It doesn't have to be said. There is no air to be cleared in public except the hot air in this forum. Jensen and the team know exactly where they stand and what their teammates think of each other.

 

[Melkor]

Yeah, um, nope. It doesn't have to be said. There is no air to be cleared in public except the hot air in this forum. Jensen and the team know exactly where they stand and what their teammates think of each other.

You're talking from the public perception's standpoint. Those are all obvious things. What is also obvious from this page is I don't care about Jensen's market value (it's terrible whichever way you want to look at it, other executives aren't blind no matter what BM says in public about him) and just interested in what Maclellan has to say on the matter.

 

[tenken00]

It's all good and all but I've never suggested that Maclellan has to necessarily "trash" Jensen. It's the word that you really wanted to use to make it seem like I want to hear from Maclellan something that fits my narrative which is not true. My opinion on Jensen has nothing to do with Maclellans. You automatically equate my opinion to his which is pretty telling about Jensen's ability but what I wanted is to hear what he really thinks. BM didn't give two ****s about Niskanen or Orlov's market value when he had publicly admitted that their level of play concerns him before the playoffs last year. I don't expect him to change the direction in that for the sake of keeping Jensen's value high which is rather impossible at this point anyway.

If he loves him some Jensen then be it. But it has to be said out loud to clear the air.

I think there is some validity in this - people do votes of confidence/no confidence all the time. But right before the trade deadline is the worst time to do it. Need to keep your cards close to your chest.

 

[marcel snapshot]

MacLellan and Reirden are not going to throw Jensen under the bus.

Especially if you think, as I do, that a big part of Jensen's issues are simply confidence in his decision-making. The guy has pretty good tools, but mentally he just seems unsure, and the moment of uncertainty leads to panicky plays and late decisions. That can change - we saw it with Orlov, mostly because some of his coaches wanted him to be more conservative in his decision-making. Once they stopped doing that, he cut down (but, sure, didn't eliminate) decision-related mistakes. Jensen just seems frequently caught betwixt and between - and that's potentially fixable with his tools. So it wouldn't surprise me if they don't sit him for Fever, because it might only aggravate a confidence issue just as they're trying to ascertain whether it's fixable. Because if they decide over the next 2-3 weeks he's just not shown enough progress on that front after being here for a year - and there's no real prospect that he will - it's going to strongly dictate what we do at the deadline. Again, I'm fine with them continuing to give him a look, because there are times when you watch him and say - right, there he is using his tools in a decisive and committed manner and when he does so he's a useful asset. But the absence of consistency is a bit wearing.

 

[txpd]

Has there been any injury status update on Samsonov yet?

Nothing til tomorrow at the earliest. If he is practicing tomorrow, he is cleared to play. If he is not, then the concussion issue could go on a while.