GDT: Caps vs canes mar 14th..dont screw this up!!

[ChibiPooky]

And Kundratek was standing right next to the net on the other side with Johansson standing right next to him, it was either of those guy's job to pick up the guy in front, while Schultz, the closest of those 3 to the guy with the puck on the boards closed him down.

It makes no sense for Kundratek or Johansson to come all the way around the net to close that guy down while Schultz takes Semin because they would have had to come right through Semin and Schultz, which would have slowed them down even more.

If Schultz was by himself then by all means he needs to stay with Semin but he wasn't.

But in general that is par for the course around here. If Schultz is on the ice when a goal is scored it is by default his fault and most don't even think about taking a second look to be sure.

Johansson was too busy picking up his stick (in the crease) to play defense.

 

[Ajax1995]

Johansson was too busy picking up his stick (in the crease) to play defense.

And I guess Kundratek was dealing with the premonitions of his not too distant future ankle injury?

Schultz should have known all this and stayed put I guess...

 

[RandyHolt]

And Kundratek was standing right next to the net...

Fans complained and Sarge was a team worst -2 last night. Damn blind squirrels.

I think they are irritated because they just want Sarge to try to do more. They want to see him trying to help out on a breakdown. Kund is a rookie. Sarge is our vet leader. Get your ass over there.

If he peeled off and really whacked Kunds guy after scoring, no one would complain.

Sarge just rarely seems to give full effort, and fans always can see hard work, and generally give a lower skilled guy a break for that.

He is a symbol of George's failed defense so he is going to be a punching bag. Gone are they days of a guy getting harassed for simply not hitting. Few on the team hit.

A minor leaguer like Oleksy makes him look bad. A well played 2 on 1, hustling after pucks, confronting the opposition at every turn, quick first step to the puck, he will get a free pass on a gaffe because at least people think he cares.

 

[ChibiPooky]

And I guess Kundratek was dealing with the premonitions of his not too distant future ankle injury?

Schultz should have known all this and stayed put I guess...

Kundratek gets more of a pass than JoJo (as the players seem to call him). From a defenseman's perspective, he's covering the appropriate spot (far post) while the center is low and should be covering the man. He would have had to skate directly through JoJo to get to Semin.

This one's clearly on Johansson. Maybe Schultz could have gotten to the passer sooner, but you have to cover the guy standing at the edge of the crease.

 

[caps4cup]

Johansson looked very good last night. He really utilized his speed well. I like seeing him at center as he can make the most of his skating there.

Chimera-Backstrom-Ovechkin
Laich-Ribeiro-Brouwer
Fehr-Johansson-Ward
Hendricks-Beagle-Volpatti/Crabb

Looks good to me when Laich comes back.

 

[tycoonheart]

I think they are irritated because they just want Sarge to try to do more.

At this point we just want his ass shipped the f out of DC.

 

[Lawrencejame]

Johansson looked very good last night. He really utilized his speed well. I like seeing him at center as he can make the most of his skating there.

Chimera-Backstrom-Ovechkin
Laich-Ribeiro-Brouwer
Fehr-Johansson-Ward
Hendricks-Beagle-Volpatti/Crabb

Looks good to me when Laich comes back.

omg yuck, you really think chimera on the first line is a good idea this year?

I'd much rather see

85 - 19 - 8
16 - 9 - 42
21 - 90 - 20
25 - 83 - 26

 

[RandyHolt]

At this point we just want his ass shipped the f out of DC.

I really think the teams core is mired in complacency. If the coach cannot remedy it, the GM has to. Shipping out a leading complacator as we call them, just one, will get the coaches message across.

Only, the coach may have gotten the memo from George, the core is going no where, and give him time. He is long term development core. LTDC

Long Time DC, before George thinks Sarge is done simmering. Too much upside still to risk in a trade. Hunker down.

 

[marcel snapshot]

What was encouraging about last night was that in the 2nd period they became a team that was hard to play against. They were forechecking hard, denying time and space, and banging the 'Canes (especially Patti and Ovie).

What's been so infuriating about this team this year is how easily it concedes key areas of the ice to the opposition, and how meekly we fight to gain those areas from the opposition. I had hoped Dale had begun to turn the team around on this - we didn't play like that in the playoffs last year. And we didn't play like that last night, once the 2nd period started.

The battle quotient on this team needs to go way up - and last night instead of going into woe-is-me mode, they seemed to get pissed about their circumstance. Think Patti and Olesky help a bit on that score.

What this team needs to do is cast off forever the notion that it can get by on talent alone - you could almost see after the Boston game and the 7-1 rout of the kitty cats, guys perhaps thinking that maybe we'll have some easy games again, like we used to, 'cuz we're so skilled. That's a mindset that they should have long since shaken.

 

[caps4cup]

omg yuck, you really think chimera on the first line is a good idea this year?

I'd much rather see

85 - 19 - 8
16 - 9 - 42
21 - 90 - 20
25 - 83 - 26

Much better than Hendricks on the 1st line at least. Chimera can use his speed to draw defenders away from 19 and 8. Preferably Laich could play with Ovechkin and Backstrom but I think having he and Ribeiro together makes sense so Laich can take face offs.

 

[Ajax1995]

Kundratek gets more of a pass than JoJo (as the players seem to call him). From a defenseman's perspective, he's covering the appropriate spot (far post) while the center is low and should be covering the man. He would have had to skate directly through JoJo to get to Semin.

This one's clearly on Johansson. Maybe Schultz could have gotten to the passer sooner, but you have to cover the guy standing at the edge of the crease.

I appreciate you saying that. When it happened this board was a cacophony of 'Schultz sucks!!!'

And I don't want anyone to think I am saying Schultz doesn't make plenty of mistakes, because he clearly does, but IMO he gets blamed for a decent amount of things that are not on him and called out of plenty of things other guys do that nobody calls them out about.

 

[swimmer77]

Sushi rules!

 

[RandyHolt]

The problems sarge causes with our team are not always clearly seen in dissecting goals against.

Lets run some mobility or speed tests. Its a skating league now, after all.
Lets try and get a measurement on how much extra pressure and legwork his partners have to carry, if any.
Lets measure his return on investment. Time and money committed to his development. Did it cost a cup?
Lets assign a grade to his playoff performance.

Almost every DMan to come through has had at least one strong series. Even Jurcina and Pothier did fine versus Pitt, for instance. What was Sarge's best playoff series? I would say Montreal but would only grade him a C in that one.

 

[Ajax1995]

What was Sarge's best playoff series? I would say Montreal but would only grade him a C in that one.

It was definitely the Rangers series in '11. He was a team best +5 while playing 23+ minutes per game.

But that is the thing about Schultz, he is a player you only notice when he makes mistakes. When he is playing well you don't notice him for the most part.

 

[NobodyBeatsTheWiz]

Yeah, I didn't really want to mention it and risk jinxing it, but in the few games since his return from injury, Johansson's actually looked able along the boards. Strong at times, even.

Now, to just cut out those risky passes that are repeatedly intercepted...

 

[caps4cup]

It was definitely the Rangers series in '11. He was a team best +5 while playing 23+ minutes per game.

But that is the thing about Schultz, he is a player you only notice when he makes mistakes. When he is playing well you don't notice him for the most part.

The thing is you always notice him. He's weak on the puck, gets outmuscled by players much smaller than him, and looks like he's skating in quick sand.

Case in point is Thursday night, 3rd goal. Any other player on the ice can get back and touch up that icing. Instead the Carolina player touches it 1st, then outmuscled Schultz to get possession (pretty sure Schultz had a good 6 inches on the player at least), and the puck ends up in the back of the Caps net.

The puck dies on Schultz's stick, he's not good defensively, he's huge but isnt physical and constantly gets outmuscled, and is possibly the slowest player in the NHL. He's useless and a liability.

 

[Ajax1995]

If you spent entire games just looking for a certain player to do or be involved in anything negative you are going to see lots of those regardless of who the player is for the most part.

I'll say it again. Schultz is going to go on and have a very nice career somewhere else in the NHL and just like with Semin the haters around here are going to go 'hmmm, I guess he really wasn't the problem either...'

 

[bonzaibondra12]

omg yuck, you really think chimera on the first line is a good idea this year?

I'd much rather see

85 - 19 - 8
16 - 9 - 42
21 - 90 - 20
25 - 83 - 26

Poor Nikky. He will be battling the boards all night while OV does his Nylander circling impression and 85 gets knocked off the puck.

Looks good for tanking though

 

[Capsman]

Yeah, I didn't really want to mention it and risk jinxing it, but in the few games since his return from injury, Johansson's actually looked able along the boards. Strong at times, even.

Now, to just cut out those risky passes that are repeatedly intercepted...

Not only along the boards, but he is entering the zone easily and getting things set up. I think it would be a huge mistake to trade the kid after we endure his growing pains.

 

[brs03]

Most years Schultz has gotten more crap then he deserved. He's having a very poor year this year though; worst possession Dman, bottom 4 among all players on the team (if you discount Hillen in both cases). And he doesn't have the tools or skills to gloss over that as easily as some others.

Getting a bit unlucky goaltending behind him, though.

 

[CapitalsCupReality]

If you spent entire games just looking for a certain player to do or be involved in anything negative you are going to see lots of those regardless of who the player is for the most part.

I'll say it again. Schultz is going to go on and have a very nice career somewhere else in the NHL and just like with Semin the haters around here are going to go 'hmmm, I guess he really wasn't the problem either...'

Quoted for amusement and easy ridicule in the future. I'm guessing you'll probably roll out the excuses when he takes a dramatic paycut? Is that still having a very nice career? I see him getting his salary halved if he's lucky and eventually out of the league. He strikes me as a guy who's heart isn't into hockey anyway. It's his job and he tries, but he's he doesn't love it and it shows.

 

[NobodyBeatsTheWiz]

Schultz is a problem, just like Semin was a problem.

Neither was the problem because the problems with the roster go much deeper than one player.

Schultz's lack of speed, physicality, toughness, leadership, any kind of offensive or transition ability, and general passiveness hurts the team just as Semin's boneheaded offensive zone turnovers and penalties, inconsistent effort, and offensive under-production hurt the team.

The problem with losing Semin is that they didn't really replace his strengths (puck possession, shot, ability to draw defensive coverage, etc.).

With Schultz, what strengths would they have to replace? Tallness?

 

[CapitalsCupReality]

If you're not part of the solution you're part of the problem right?

@NBTW....Tallness, ability to look goofy on command, good at pumping up the egos of men half his size through feats of sloth and weakness?

 

[RandyHolt]

Sarge has regressed. Whether his plus fiddy year was his best year or not, his development has stagnated, to say the very least.

In lieu of the significant commitment made to his development, it is a significant failure. Coaches forced to play an anchor, and shape the defense around him. What may be the worst is, George is sticking it out to the end.

Sure his 2.75M cap hit didn't render us brown capping, but he is overpaid. I can only wonder what some of the other players thought about that. An Alzner or Erskine perhaps. I know I wonder how Sarge makes double what they do. Sure he has some value doesnt take dumb penalties but he is nothing more than a one dimensional 6/7 that I don't trust in playoffs because I know he will not step up his game. He always looked more scared to me than ANY other player I have ever seen in the loffs, including a rookie in their first NHL or playoff game, maybe an Alzner or Sloan.

 

[txpd]

Yeah, I didn't really want to mention it and risk jinxing it, but in the few games since his return from injury, Johansson's actually looked able along the boards. Strong at times, even.

Now, to just cut out those risky passes that are repeatedly intercepted...

i am traveling a lot and not keeping up at all, but did i hear oates say something that johansson maybe got hurt in camp and that is why he looked so off til they sat him and why he looks like himself since returning?