Post-Game Talk: Champions vs Wings

[Sam Spade]

 

[Silky mitts]

And yet he has one if the highest shooting percentages on the team. His shooting percentage is 20 %. According to you he should be shooting 100%.
You are very unrealistic.

I'm not a Burakovsky fan either but he isnt our worst forward right now.

Do you watch Caps games?

 

[Silky mitts]

Not even close to GI, lol. Nice try though Detroit. Willy has gotten too smart for that.

Close to high stick by Ovy, ref said goal stands too.

 

[traparatus]

Do you watch Caps games?

A perfectly reasonable question.

 

[txpd]

ok...Tom scores again. If this is the new normal, are we looking at...gulp....Allstar Willy?

 

[Silky mitts]

ok...Tom scores again. If this is the new normal, are we looking at...gulp....Allstar Willy?

Counting playoffs Willie had 21 goals his first 341 games and 34 goals his last 134 games, so he’s going to score this year as many goals as he had in his 1st 350-450 games in 60ish games

 

[ovikovy817]

I like everything on that first goal.

-Dominant shift from 2nd line
-Reirden sends the 1st line instead of the 3rd, double shift for 8 92 43 just before the commercial break
-wonderful pass by Kuzya
-good goal.

 

[maacoshark]

Do you watch Caps games?

Ive watched every game. And recently I dont think he has been our worst forward. He hasn't had any puck luck. He isnt making as many bonehead plays in recent games.

 

[txpd]

Counting playoffs Willie had 21 goals his first 341 games and 34 goals his last 134 games, so he’s going to score this year as many goals as he had in his 1st 350-450 games in 60ish games

I am impressed. Its always been clear to anyone that watches closely that Wilson is both incredibly coachable and has all the skill potential that was projected. Since playing his first games in the NHL, Willy has learned to skate and has become and elite level skater. He has learned to make all the right decisions on the forecheck. He has learned to make all the right decisions in the defensive zone and then the penalty kill. Now he has learned where to go to score goals and what to do with the puck when gets it. Look at this game. Wilson caught that pass from Kuznetsov. Catching and shooting that is not something the average player is capable of. Certainly not consistently and his 12 goals show without a doubt that he is doing it consistently.

One day he is going to learn the power play. 11 goals in 22 games at even strength. I bet that puts him well up the league list.

Checked. Forgot about the shorthanded goal and the second ppg. Even at that he is 3rd on the team and tied league wide with Barkov, Barzol and Kopitar

LOL!!! A continued check on Wilson stats shows he is listed at 20th in goals per game. At 21st is Filip Forsberg. How about that for an irony?

 

[AlexBrovechkin8]

I am impressed. Its always been clear to anyone that watches closely that Wilson is both incredibly coachable and has all the skill potential that was projected. Since playing his first games in the NHL, Willy has learned to skate and has become and elite level skater. He has learned to make all the right decisions on the forecheck. He has learned to make all the right decisions in the defensive zone and then the penalty kill. Now he has learned where to go to score goals and what to do with the puck when gets it. Look at this game. Wilson caught that pass from Kuznetsov. Catching and shooting that is not something the average player is capable of. Certainly not consistently and his 12 goals show without a doubt that he is doing it consistently.

One day he is going to learn the power play. 11 goals in 22 games at even strength. I bet that puts him well up the league list.

Checked. Forgot about the shorthanded goal and the second ppg. Even at that he is 3rd on the team and tied league wide with Barkov, Barzol and Kopitar

LOL!!! A continued check on Wilson stats shows he is listed at 20th in goals per game. At 21st is Filip Forsberg. How about that for an irony?

Sure looked like Tom was getting PP time last night. I think right now he's a better option than Oshie on PP1. I love Osh but at this point while Oshie is clearly still getting his game back after another concussion Wilson is a faster skater and better forechecker which is important given their struggles entering the zone cleanly.

No Skill Willy might be the team's MVP at this point (except for that Ovechkin guy).

 

[tenken00]

I love how Tom Wilson hustles and gets himself opportunities for short handed shots on the PK while making the right decisions defensively. There are times when our PK has the better looks than the opposition's PP.

 

[Silky mitts]

Ive watched every game. And recently I dont think he has been our worst forward. He hasn't had any puck luck. He isnt making as many bonehead plays in recent games.

When you use shooting % to argue Stephenson isn’t struggling with his shot right after missing everything on a breakaway (as predicted by @Sam Spade ) that’s the kind of thing someone would that doesn’t watch the game and only looked at the stats would say

 

[txpd]

When you use shooting % to argue Stephenson isn’t struggling with his shot right after missing everything on a breakaway (as predicted by @Sam Spade ) that’s the kind of thing someone would that doesn’t watch the game and only looked at the stats would say

Lets be honest here. Stephensen has 25 shots on goal on 39 games. That ranks him 17th in a game of 18 skaters. Only Dowd and Boyd have fewer among forwards and both have played significantly fewer games. He gets breakaways with is speed and that's about all he gets. He is also -6. That ranks him 23rd on the team with only Eller being worse. He is not doing well.

 

[895]

Shouldn't that goal be disallowed then?

edit: nvm, second angle shows it better.

 

[Silky mitts]

Lets be honest here. Stephensen has 25 shots on goal on 39 games. That ranks him 17th in a game of 18 skaters. Only Dowd and Boyd have fewer among forwards and both have played significantly fewer games. He gets breakaways with is speed and that's about all he gets. He is also -6. That ranks him 23rd on the team with only Eller being worse. He is not doing well.

I feel like he has the yips to a degree where he’s looking not to shoot at all 5 on 5 and he’s still better than Burakovsky

 

[Capsman]

Do you watch Caps games?

I agree with Maaco, Bura isn't our worst forward right now, at least not in our past few games.

 

[CapitalsCupReality]

I dunno, for some reason I’m just not bothered by Stephenson’s lack of offense. I like his speed and hockey IQ for the playoffs.

 

[Sam Spade]

I dunno, for some reason I’m just not bothered by Stephenson’s lack of offense. I like his speed and hockey IQ for the playoffs.

Not really bothered either but there are players that GET you to the playoffs through production, and then players you use in the playoff when everything tightens up.

Stephenson is the latter.

 

[Silky mitts]

I agree with Maaco, Bura isn't our worst forward right now, at least not in our past few games.

I see it as
Ovy
Backstrom/Wilson
Kuzy
Vrana/Oshie/Eller
Connolly

Boyd
Dowd/DSP
Stephenson
Burakovsky/Jaskin

And whatever minimal production Bura gives 5 on 5 over DSP or Stephenson isn’t worth losing the PK

 

[CapitalsCupReality]

Agreed so far.

He’s a second year 4th line player. I think it might click for him offensively at some point. He carries a high shooting percentage....maybe he needs to shoot more.

 

[kicksavedave]

I agree with Maaco, Bura isn't our worst forward right now, at least not in our past few games.

For $3M, he's most definitely our worst value right now. Jaskin, DSP, Boyd, or anyone else who may be in the competition for "worst forward" is likely a close to minimum wage guy playing at/around their value. Bura isn't.

 

[kicksavedave]

I dunno, for some reason I’m just not bothered by Stephenson’s lack of offense. I like his speed and hockey IQ for the playoffs.

To me it's not a lack of overall offensive ability, its purely the lack of finish on those breakaways, and specifically the lack of any form of creativity on those chances - he's entirely too predictable there. He's generating a ton of breakaways with his play, but finishing them so rarely. He really should just spend the extra time working on that to get to a Matt "Paralyzer" Hendricks level of efficiency.

 

[CapitalsCupReality]

Value just doesn’t matter today (when comparing who is the worst forward right now)

The money is all budgeted and accounted for. All that’s left is to see who plays better.

 

[Ridley Simon]

Value just doesn’t matter today (when comparing who is the worst forward right now)

The money is all budgeted and accounted for. All that’s left is to see who plays better.

Well...except that if you deal away a Jaskin type, you can only replace him with another Jaskin type ($$$ wise).

Burakovsky getting dealt allows for a lot of leeway in the type of player you could then acquire to fill the $$$ void, if you so chose.

It's not irrelevant.

 

[kicksavedave]

Value just doesn’t matter today (when comparing who is the worst forward right now)

The money is all budgeted and accounted for. All that’s left is to see who plays better.

Ridley points out half the disagreement with this. The other is that "better" is simply relative. If Ovi was producing points like Bura, we'd be suicidal and the team would be struggling, no matter what other things he was doing like PK or hustling on the backcheck. But if a minimum wage 4th liner is struggling to produce points, they can still be earning their pay with those other things. Bura is here to produce offense, and he's not. So yeah, value is still based on expectations, and Bura, more than any other player, is not meeting his expectations. I think we had a poll that asked us this a few weeks ago, didn't Bura come in dead last?