Speculation: Caps Hockey General Discussion (Coaching/FAs/Cap/Lines etc) -- 2017-18 Regular Season Edition

[Corby78]

Probably one of the last guys we could afford to lose. But its early and gives them plenty of time to work on the young D. Hopefully we can turn this into a positive. Also, can we stop with the "trade Carlson" talk now? He isn't going anywhere.

 

[CapitalsCupReality]

We all knew Losing a top-4 guy for some significant time at some point this year was likely.

Not really concerned. Time for others to sink or swim. As I said in my earlier posts, the young guys will all eventually get here. This is a little earlier than I hoped for in catching a significant injury, but I think this is the perfect opportunity to test Bowey, but even more so, to test Orlov and Carlson. They need to elevate their games. Orpik needs to play a little more conservative physically now IMO.

 

[Acallabeth]

It's early in the season, other teams aren't on their best tires, the defensive pairings aren't as well-oiled, best time to test Bowey.

 

[Sam Spade]

Will they ever say what it is with Niskanen? I think it is a finger, maybe a broken thumb from what I see looking at the video of him on the bench.

Horrible because Niskanen is a really good dman, but maybe a blessing in disguise.

Also isn't it ironic with all the ticky tac crap slashes they have called they miss the one that puts a guy on LTIR.

http://www.nbcsports.com/washington/video/matt-niskanen-injured-slash-wasnt-called?ls=social-vid

 

[bur and 666 others]

As many stated could be blessing in disguise. Better to happen when the season is young. Only thing, I hope it's not long term injury for Nisky and hopefully recovery will be good. excited to see what bowey can bring to the table!

 

[ovikovy817]

What do you do tonight??
9-74
44-22
29-55

Or you put one "vet" with one "rookie"???
29-74
9-55
44-22

I think we will see the first option + double shifts for 9 and 74 with 29 and 55

And what about this pair 9-22? Could they mesh well together?

 

[bur and 666 others]

I think this:
9-74
44-22
29-55

With whom Bowey played in Hershey? In one preseason game on 6on5 Djoos and him together were dynamic. Best 6on5 from the caps i've seen.

 

[Alexander the Gr8]

Nisky isn't just a good D, he's our best D. He's the one guy aside from Ovi that we can't afford to lose for a long period of time. Now we need Carlson to step up his game, and I hope Bowey performs well in Nisky's absence.

 

[hockeykicker]

isabelle says bowey is playing with djoos tonight

 

[Langway]

Top 4 Aaron Ness. YOLO.

 

[Alexander the Gr8]

isabelle says bowey is playing with djoos tonight

Nice, can't wait to see how they perform.

Top 4 Aaron Ness. YOLO.

Bowey and Djoos together is the second pair, so no Top 4 Aaron Ness hopefully.

 

[AlexBrovechkin8]

Top 4 Aaron Ness. YOLO.

Hopefully not for long.

 

[Brian23]

As scary as Orpik - Ness is, I think I'm more worried about Orlov - Carlson.

I'm not sure we've got a real pairing to rely on at the moment without Niskanen.

 

[Hivemind]

This defense is arguably worse than Boudreau-era defenses

 

[Brian23]

This defense is arguably worse than Boudreau-era defenses

Yeah, no... The only person who would be "better" is Green. I'd take everyone else (cescept Ness), we have over those teams. Hammer and healthy Poti are the next closest I guess.

 

[ovikovy817]

As scary as Orpik - Ness is, I think I'm more worried about Orlov - Carlson.

I'm not sure we've got a real pairing to rely on at the moment without Niskanen.

I only hope Carlson won't drag Orlov's play down.

 

[Hivemind]

I'd take 2010-2012 Carlson over 2017 Carlson without much doubt. I love Orlov, but he's not as good as prime Mike Green. A younger/better Alzner is clearly an upgrade on the rest of our LD options. Pre-injury Poti is superior to Orpik, same with the first season of Hamrlik (second season Hammer being a downgrade). Djoos has potential, but he's not there yet. Chorney is an upgrade on Sloan, but not much else. Trying to split hairs between Chorney and ShaMo or Schultz is more or less pointless. Ness is Sloan-level bad.

 

[MW6]

Very much OT, but I miss Quintin Laing!

 

[Corby78]

Will they ever say what it is with Niskanen? I think it is a finger, maybe a broken thumb from what I see looking at the video of him on the bench.

Horrible because Niskanen is a really good dman, but maybe a blessing in disguise.

Also isn't it ironic with all the ticky tac crap slashes they have called they miss the one that puts a guy on LTIR.

http://www.nbcsports.com/washington/video/matt-niskanen-injured-slash-wasnt-called?ls=social-vid

I hope your right, a finger doesn't take as long to get over, and you can even play with it before its 100%. We all know some of the issues with a wrist injury in hockey. Longer wait time and you need to be 100%

 

[Ridley Simon]

8-2 is prob better than 3-2. Wake some people up.

 

[Calicaps]

8-2 is prob better than 3-2. Wake some people up.

This

 

[Hivemind]

This defense is arguably worse than Boudreau-era defenses

*cough cough*

 

[Acallabeth]

*cough cough*

I'd take 2010-2012 Carlson over 2017 Carlson without much doubt. I love Orlov, but he's not as good as prime Mike Green. A younger/better Alzner is clearly an upgrade on the rest of our LD options. Pre-injury Poti is superior to Orpik, same with the first season of Hamrlik (second season Hammer being a downgrade). Djoos has potential, but he's not there yet. Chorney is an upgrade on Sloan, but not much else. Trying to split hairs between Chorney and ShaMo or Schultz is more or less pointless. Ness is Sloan-level bad.

Well, of course it's better when you basically pick the defensemen at their best from different seasons. Last night we had 2 rookies with combined 2 games of NHL experience. They will be better by the end of the month, let alone by the end of the season.

But even with that' we're going to have a hard fight for a playoffs spot. Right now we have 3 tested NHL defensemen, none of whom is shutdown material. We are not a team with strong defensive forwards who can hide it. We have to rely on goaltending to stop high-power offensive teams, and there's abundance of them in the East. If Carlson continues to play like that and the rookies don't improve tremendously, we should just admit that we wasted our window and focus on the future.

 

[Brian23]

If we do end up firing Trotz, and praying they don't just promote Reirdan or Mann, who do you think they go for?

Sutter is still available, but I don't think he get's it done. Generally, they just need someone who knows how to promote a good proactive passing game and actually has some kind of offensive system.

 

[CapitalsCupReality]

I’d bet it’s 70% or more likely they would promote from within, at least for the interim to finish the season.