GDT: Devils at Capitals 7:00 PM Verizon Center

[Blades of Steel]

Welp...uh....that was great.

What do you guys wanna fight about?

 

[Blades of Steel]

I think that was his mouth guard, no way that was his lip, right?

 

[CapsJunkie]

When lips split it looks devastating, but it heals nicely though

 

[um]

He was likely getting squeezed out anyway. Where do Forsberg and Eakin play in tonight's lineup? I'm fine with the roster we have. No way the Caps field that many young players. (FF, Eaks, Kuz, Kovsky, Wilson)

where i put them in my lineup? do you honestly think brown, latta and o'brien would earn spots over eakin and forsberg, especially when we got several guys that can play in the bottom 6 (ward, chimera, laich, brouwer, fehr, wilson, eakin). and even than trotz has no problem playing kuznetsov on the 4th line so he doesn't seem to be in that mindset.

as for saying no way they play that many young players, well that's what happening now as latta, kuznetsov, burakovsky, wilson, brown, and o'brien are all young players.

 

[Jacoby4HOF66]

Anybody seen this yet? It would appear the Caps retired the hard hat for this.

 

[SimplySensational]

Adam Vingan @AdamVingan
Barry Trotz: "I think the group recognizes that Alex Ovechkin is becoming a pretty dynamic, rounded player. It was his choice." #Caps

 

[troyerlaw]

where i put them in my lineup? do you honestly think brown, latta and o'brien would earn spots over eakin and forsberg, especially when we got several guys that can play in the bottom 6 (ward, chimera, laich, brouwer, fehr, wilson, eakin). and even than trotz has no problem playing kuznetsov on the 4th line so he doesn't seem to be in that mindset.

as for saying no way they play that many young players, well that's what happening now as latta, kuznetsov, burakovsky, wilson, brown, and o'brien are all young players.

Adding eakin and forsberg to kuzya, bura, backstrom, MoJo, would lead to a SERIOUSLY soft lineup. And i dont think chimmer, ward, brouwer would be suited, age or energy-wise, for fourth line duty. A team needs to be a blend of players, not an accumulation of blue-chip talent, to wit, the Oilers. Just my opinion.

 

[Vladiator16*]

Andre Burakovsky really does it like he's done it before, with such calmness about him, love it...
Andre->Dre->Dr. Dre->calm and collective->Evil Doctor B.

 

[NobodyBeatsTheWiz]

Great game from just abotu everybody after the first.

Kuznetsov was as confident as I've seen him in that 3rd period. With a healthy lineup, Trotz is going to have some interesting decisions to make.

 

[Vladiator16*]

Great game from just abotu everybody after the first.

Kuznetsov was as confident as I've seen him in that 3rd period. With a healthy lineup, Trotz is going to have some interesting decisions to make.

We'll need to get Wilson in the line up, as bad as it sounds, thats pretty much all i care about... oh yeah, Orlov, he will find his way to the line up...

 

[troyerlaw]

We'll need to get Wilson in the line up, as bad as it sounds, thats pretty much all i care about... oh yeah, Orlov, he will find his way to the line up...

Easy to dress Wilson over LOB or Brown. Orlov trickier. I guess he would replace Schmidt, but 88 has been very steady, IMO.

 

[Skrudland2Lomakin]

and Cody Eakin.

Ovechkin-Backstrom-Brouwer
Johansson-Burakovsky-Forsberg
Chimera-Eakin-Ward
Laich-Kuznetsov-Wilson

Damn you McPhee!!! Damn youuuu!!!

That's a soft line up. We'd go back to being pushed all over the ice again in no time. Gotta balance finesse with physicality.

 

[CapitalsCupReality]

where i put them in my lineup? do you honestly think brown, latta and o'brien would earn spots over eakin and forsberg, especially when we got several guys that can play in the bottom 6 (ward, chimera, laich, brouwer, fehr, wilson, eakin). and even than trotz has no problem playing kuznetsov on the 4th line so he doesn't seem to be in that mindset.

as for saying no way they play that many young players, well that's what happening now as latta, kuznetsov, burakovsky, wilson, brown, and o'brien are all young players.

This isn't NHL 15.

This is a team looking to be a playoff contender. Those guys you listed, 2 have been part time players and one isn't playing. Like I said, no way the Caps field that heavy a rookie lineup regularly if they're looking to be a contender.

 

[sycamore]

Do you guys think that Wilson is going to be our next Mike Knuble? Is that the role he will most likely play -- the big strong power forward causing chaos in the crease?

 

[CapitalsCupReality]

Adam Vingan @AdamVingan
Barry Trotz: "I think the group recognizes that Alex Ovechkin is becoming a pretty dynamic, rounded player. It was his choice." #Caps

It's always been his choice. Glad he's maturing (seemingly) his game.

 

[CapitalsCupReality]

Adding eakin and forsberg to kuzya, bura, backstrom, MoJo, would lead to a SERIOUSLY soft lineup. And i dont think chimmer, ward, brouwer would be suited, age or energy-wise, for fourth line duty. A team needs to be a blend of players, not an accumulation of blue-chip talent, to wit, the Oilers. Just my opinion.

Well said...

 

[um]

Adding eakin and forsberg to kuzya, bura, backstrom, MoJo, would lead to a SERIOUSLY soft lineup. And i dont think chimmer, ward, brouwer would be suited, age or energy-wise, for fourth line duty. A team needs to be a blend of players, not an accumulation of blue-chip talent, to wit, the Oilers. Just my opinion.

why would chimmer, ward, or brouwer need to be on the 4th line? and based on my lines which i threw together quickly, i'd change up the second line as it is a little small and young but that really isn't a soft team. Ovechkin, Brouwer, Laich, Chimera, Ward, Fehr, Wilson, and Eakin aren't even close to being soft. even than Kuz is 6'0, bura is 6'1, forsberg is 6'1, backstrom is 6'1, and mojo is 6'1 (the only one i'd call soft). thats a pretty big team and is far from soft. really all your losing is one half-decent fighter (o'brien) once wilson comes back, does that really change the entire makeup of the team? hell i agree keeping o'brien or brown in until wilson gets back would be my strategy as well, it's just ridiculous to suggest that forsberg or eakin are too soft and would somehow actually hurt our team. You can keep derailing the topic to other current players but its really about forsberg + eakin vs. Nothing, and anyone with any sense would pick the first duo.

 

[CapitalsCupReality]

You don't get the concept of players having roles. Eakin and Forsberg don't fill the roles of those two. See Edmonton Oilers for lots of talent and no TEAM.

 

[Coldplay619]

You don't get the concept of players having roles. Eakin and Forsberg don't fill the roles of those two. See Edmonton Oilers for lots of talent and no TEAM.

Eakin would be the perfect third line centre.

The Garbutt-Eakin-Roussel line drove teams crazy last year.

 

[um]

You don't get the concept of players having roles. Eakin and Forsberg don't fill the roles of those two. See Edmonton Oilers for lots of talentand no TEAM.

well thats a load of BS. i watch edmonton a lot and sure hall, eberle, RNH, perron, schultz, and yakupov are nice young pieces but calling them a talented team based on 6 players is a huge stretch. it's an extremley untalented team, they're also terrible at basically everything as well.

Also i think your confusing Eakin with someone else, like Coldplay said he's a great 3C. Eakin was here for awhile, I don't understand why you've all forgotten what kind of player he is.

anyways this is partially my fault with the stupid line up that i posted, let me post a better one:

Ovechkin-Backstrom-Forsberg
Johansson-Burakovsky-Brouwer
Chimera-Kuznetsov-Ward (switch kuz and eakin if you want a shutdown line)
Laich-Eakin-Fehr
Brown,O'brien, Latta
IR: Wilson, Beagle, Volpatti

 

[artilector]

Watching Caps' regular season is fun again

Kind of a weird game, Caps weren't playing well at all early, despite getting the lead, then got a couple of lucky goals as NJ seemed to run out of steam.

Still nice of course to see players get going offensively. Good for individual confidence, good for confidence in the system that they are playing.

Fehr transforms that Chimmer-Ward duo into a cycling line from hell. How do you break that up? Need to clone Fehr.. Although, Brouwer didn't look too bad on the 1st line today. Still not convinced about the 2nd line line, while the game was still in balance, they seemed to mostly run around their own zone. Kuz and Wilson (when he's back) need to make a push to join Bura.

Looking good, though!

edit: re: Forsberg, I don't even understand what the debate is. If he's still showing the kind of upside he appeared to have when drafted, it would be infinitely easy to get him into the lineup -- Forsberg in, MJ out, done. Or until he's ready for that, to keep him with Kuz on the 4th line with Latta/OBrien/some mucker. So, still a crap trade, although with Kuz & Bura in the lineup, it's hard to get seriously annoyed at that any more. For that, we now just have to look at how the Caps are responding to Trotz, and think where was experienced coaching for almost 10 years of Ovi..

 

[noptov]

Welp...uh....that was great.

What do you guys wanna fight about?

Um.. Uh... Brooks Laich - terrible or the worst of all time?

 

[troyerlaw]

You can keep derailing the topic to other current players but its really about forsberg + eakin vs. Nothing, and anyone with any sense would pick the first duo.

No one is trying to derail anything. We are just pointing out what we think 30 out of 30 coaches, and 30 out of 30 GMs, in the league would tell you. Which is that your team needs a healthy dose of grit.

When I called your proposed roster 'soft,' I was not calling out individual players such as Backstrom or Bura for being weak or cowardly or small or something like that; I was saying they are players who have skill and are looking, first and foremost, to make a play with the puck. They are not looking to hit first. They are not looking to rock an opponent and cause him to leave the game. They are not looking to avenge perceived dirty hits against teammates.

You really do need a handful of gritty, tough, energy guys on a team. Otherwise, the Bruins (or the Kings or the Flyers or the Blues, right down the line) will eat you for lunch. They will physically intimidate your team and grind you down physically and even injure your blue-chippers.

Have you never heard of the designation of 'top-6' forward? It suggests what GMs and coaches, over decades, have slowly agreed to and come to embrace, which is that the top half of your lineup, on balance, should tilt more to the skill side, and the bottom half should tilt more toward the grinders, hitters, defensively-sound forwards, fighters, and so-called 'energy guys,' guys who can forecheck forever and block shots and maybe kill penalties.

To fill a lineup with all (or mostly) skill would be a conceptual shift. I am not even saying it would absolutely be the wrong thing to do, but it would be a paradigm shift, like always going for it on the 4th-down in football, no matter what the field position, or regularly going to your bullpen after 4 innings instead of 6 or 7 innings. I am just saying that the overwhelming majority of GMs and coaches at all levels of professional hockey wouldn't do it.

Look at Trotz. Do you think he believes that Brown and O'Brien are more skilled than, say, Nathan Walker in Hershey? No. Walker has loads more skill. But he is not ripe for fourth-line duty. Nor is Kuzya, to tell you the truth. He himself would be described by most as a top-6 type forward, but there just isn't room for him right now, and so he idles on 4th line, getting 4-6 min per night, unless there's a blowout like tonight. And if you were absolutely bent on dressing Forsberg and Eakin for the night, yes, I am here to tell you that Kuzya would get sent down to Hershey before O'Brien or Brown did. The coach simply does not want a lineup overweighted with skill players. The conventional wisdom, and again, maybe you are visionary and thinking outside the box, but the conventional wisdom is that with too much skill and finesse, your team gets steamrolled.

You may say, 'We're only talking about two players. What difference does that make? It makes the whole team soft?'

I would answer that analysts through the years have suggested that our squad is already too soft and has been that way for a long, long time. They say we are too reliant on skilled European players and that we bet too heavily on Russians, draft-wise, leading to a soft-as-butter culture and an easy road rink to play in.

So yes, if you believe the Caps are already verging on too soft, then swapping out Brown and O'Brien or any others of their ilk, for Eakin and Forsberg would not be the direction you want to go in.

 

[jeffl97]

Why is Carlson in over Green for the 1PP?

 

[troyerlaw]

Welp...uh....that was great.

What do you guys wanna fight about?

We settled on the hypothetical problem of Eakin and Forsberg still being on the payroll.