Post-Game Talk: G6: Sabres @ Russian-less Caps, Part 2 | 1/24/21 | 3p ET

[Ovechkins Wodka]

Sprong is going to have to start showing something because he won’t be in the NHL much longer if he can’t make more of a contribution

He looks odd kindof like a troll being small with his huge shoulders. He still gets around guys and has good shots. Maybe his skating is off from his akward body shape. Its something an NHL trainer can help him on

Edit: it could just be his pads but NHL been wanting smaller ones

 

[txpd]

I don’t believe that skating work was exclusive to the injury...he was trying to get better I read.

It just created the path way. Started him a skating instructor that hit the spot

 

[CapitalsCupReality]

It just created the path way. Started him a skating instructor that hit the spot

i believe he was already working on his skating.

 

[Hivemind]

Sprong is going to have to start showing something because he won’t be in the NHL much longer if he can’t make more of a contribution

He's generating some chances, so I'm inclined to give him a little bit more of a rope (and he's certainly not going anywhere while we're missing 3 forwards to COVID precautions/injury), but eventually he is going to have to start converting some of those chances. He doesn't bring much else beyond his scoring, so he will have to score sooner or later.

This is opposed to Panik, who also has looked good, generated chances, but been snakebit. At least Panik helps elsewhere when not on the scoresheet. Eventually he's going to have to convert to be worth his contract, but he can at least hold down a 4th line spot without production (similar to Hagelin).

Tom Wilson didnt start skating with Ovechkin until he was a fully developed NHL player

He got multiple chances with Ovie in basically every season after his first. He didn't stick on the first line until he was about 23/24 years old.

 

[txpd]

i believe he was already working on his skating.

ok....uncle. i am getting old enough that anything I remember could be fake news. I may never be right again

 

[Ridley Simon]

Just a note for those that would return to ties.

I’m here. 2-0-4. But NO losses.

 

[txpd]

I’m here. 2-0-4. But NO losses.

Yea, I'm hip. I am just asking if half or more of the games ending in ties is cool with you? 30-2-50? I hope you know that that would fail.

 

[Ridley Simon]

Yea, I'm hip. I am just asking if half or more of the games ending in ties is cool with you? 30-2-50? I hope you know that that would fail.

As I stated, yes. I would be.

 

[capsdom86]

I'd rather NHL return to ties as well. No OT. Just one point for each team - game over end of regulation. 3 on 3 is a ridiculous gimmick and the SO is really boring. And this would have been the season to do it with compressed schedules to save on wear and tear and improve the product come playoff time when we get to watch authentic sudden death overtimes!

 

[Devil Dancer]

My first complaint about Lavi is that his OT deployment sucks. It seems like he's turtling to try to get to the SO. But Oshie has been cold, so it's not working.

But it's all about the playoffs, and there's no 3v3 there, so whatever.

 

[txpd]

As I stated, yes. I would be.

Its not worth arguing over. It will never happen. Moving on

 

[txpd]

My first complaint about Lavi is that his OT deployment sucks. It seems like he's turtling to try to get to the SO..

Just listening to him talk I concur. Very conservative in 3 on 3. Without the face off wins they dont get the puck. Oh the salad days of Jay Beagle

 

[txpd]

I'd rather NHL return to ties as well. No OT. Just one point for each team - game over end of regulation. 3 on 3 is a ridiculous gimmick and the SO is really boring. And this would have been the season to do it with compressed schedules to save on wear and tear and improve the product come playoff time when we get to watch authentic sudden death overtimes!

Just remember that this is now a salary cap parity league. The numbers of ties would be mind numbing

 

[Ridley Simon]

It’s better than shit teams like the Pens scooping up extra points during the season. It rewards individual play too much, reminds me of the NBA.

I hate it.

 

[txpd]

It’s better than shit teams like the Pens scooping up extra points during the season. It rewards individual play too much, reminds me of the NBA.

I hate it.

Its better how? I can tell you that the teams dont want ties. The players dont want them. The league doesnt. The league's paying partners like television and their advertisers dont want it.....AT ALL.

They ditched ties well before the salary cap because there were too many. In today's league the teams are just too close together. 5 ties or 10 our of 80 games? Ok. 35 ties is death. Why watch that? Wait for the playoffs and see a winner.

 

[Calicaps]

It’s better than shit teams like the Pens scooping up extra points during the season. It rewards individual play too much, reminds me of the NBA.

I hate it.

Yep. totally agree. You're right it will never happen, but the solution they've conceived to avoid ties is shit.

 

[Ridley Simon]

Its better how? I can tell you that the teams dont want ties. The players dont want them. The league doesnt. The league's paying partners like television and their advertisers dont want it.....AT ALL.

They ditched ties well before the salary cap because there were too many. In today's league the teams are just too close together. 5 ties or 10 our of 80 games? Ok. 35 ties is death. Why watch that? Wait for the playoffs and see a winner.

Oh come on. Teams play for the loser point. All the damned time. They turtle to get to the gimmicky part of the contest as they know they have a better chance there than during the normal game.

A LOT would change it it went away, a LOT. To assume a third of the games would end in ties is absurd.

The easiest solution is to make a real win 3pts. So that teams that cannot win that way often enough, and need the crap 3-3 or shootout to somehow amass points, don’t get rewarded the same as a team that can handle its business in 60min.

It’s chicken shit what they are doing now. It’s a crime towards fairness. It just is.

 

[Calicaps]

Oh come on. Teams play for the loser point. All the damned time. They turtle to get to the gimmicky part of the contest as they know they have a better chance there than during the normal game.

A LOT would change it it went away, a LOT. To assume a third of the games would end in ties is absurd.

The easiest solution is to make a real win 3pts. So that teams that cannot win that way often enough, and need the crap 3-3 or shootout to somehow amass points, don’t get rewarded the same as a team that can handle its business in 60min.

It’s chicken shit what they are doing now. It’s a crime towards fairness. It just is.

I have been firmly in this camp for years. Even more so since they switched from 4 on 4 which was lame enough, to 3 on 3. We want guys to play hard, but they know they're arguably better off playing timid and getting at least a point. It's a terrible, terrible system. It rewards boring meek game planning. I never watch past 60 minutes because it's not hockey. HATE. IT.

 

[AussieCapsFan]

I'd rather NHL return to ties as well. No OT. Just one point for each team - game over end of regulation. 3 on 3 is a ridiculous gimmick and the SO is really boring. And this would have been the season to do it with compressed schedules to save on wear and tear and improve the product come playoff time when we get to watch authentic sudden death overtimes!

The problem with 3 on 3 OT and the shootout is that it's not designed with purists and genuine hockey fans in mind. It's designed for casual or new fans who MUST have a result because what on earth (my sarcasm) is the point of watching a game or going to a game and then there is no outcome?
It's also supposed to make the game more exciting - which it does for some teams (Colorado and the Oilers), but becomes a snooze fest for others (the Caps, who are slow and clueless at 3 on 3, and end up without the puck for about 3.5 to 4 minutes of every OT I've watched).
And I guess they also brought in the loser point to create parity in the league, which it has certainly done. That means fanbases are supposed to stay interested a lot longer into the regular season because their teams don't get eliminated from the playoffs really early (unless you're Detroit last season).

So it all comes back to the same thing: the almighty dollar.

 

[Random schmoe]

The first MLS DC United game I ever went to ended in a 0-0 tie. I've never been back, and after watching it, have no interest in watching professional soccer.

 

[txpd]

Yep. totally agree. You're right it will never happen, but the solution they've conceived to avoid ties is shit.

Have a better idea? Hockey is a coach driven, defend first sport. Coaches have learned how to defend 3 on 3. Defending 4 on 4 is easier yet. What the way NHL teams play in OT proves the point that if the terminal end of the game was a tie, coaches would play for the tie unless an opponent's mistake created a chance to score.

The support for ties is the IMO mistaken idea that bringing back ties or a 3, 2 , 1 points system is going to change the culture of the game. Teams will throw defend first to the wind and embrace aggression

 

[Calicaps]

Have a better idea? Hockey is a coach driven, defend first sport. Coaches have learned how to defend 3 on 3. Defending 4 on 4 is easier yet. What the way NHL teams play in OT proves the point that if the terminal end of the game was a tie, coaches would play for the tie unless an opponent's mistake created a chance to score.

The support for ties is the IMO mistaken idea that bringing back ties or a 3, 2 , 1 points system is going to change the culture of the game. Teams will throw defend first to the wind and embrace aggression

The support for ties is not based on that idea. I remember pre-OT hockey so this isn't hypothetical. The support for ties is based on the idea that they happen in low-scoring sports and trying to "fix" them leads to crap like 3 on 3 keep-away.

Shootouts suck, but at least they mimic something that can happen in-game. Soccer is far and away the most popular sport on the planet Earth and soccer games end in ties regularly, so the argument that it's unbearable is flat nonsense.

BUT, if the league insists on a winner for every game then skip the OT nonsense and go straight to penalties, and reward those winners with full value. The NHL shouldn't be able to have it both ways: I.e. we want winners, but somehow they're not real winners. But since shootouts are a weak way to end a hockey game, I'd be ok with a regulation win = 3 points, SO win = 2, and a SO loser = 1.

The system they have now 100% rewards teams for playing to get past regulation and provides a tiny incentive to play hard for a 60-minute win. It's weak sauce. Period.

 

[Corby78]

A zero zero tie in any sports sucks, not exactly the same for any tie. A 4-4 game could still be entertaining. Yes nobody wants to see a game end in a tie, but this isn’t hockey. The shootout has no place in deciding the NHL standings IMO.

I think the 3-2-1 points idea is interesting, could drive more aggressive hockey at the end of games.

 

[txpd]

The support for ties is not based on that idea. I remember pre-OT hockey so this isn't hypothetical. The support for ties is based on the idea that they happen in low-scoring sports and trying to "fix" them leads to crap like 3 on 3 keep-away.

Shootouts suck, but at least they mimic something that can happen in-game. Soccer is far and away the most popular sport on the planet Earth and soccer games end in ties regularly, so the argument that it's unbearable is flat nonsense.

BUT, if the league insists on a winner for every game then skip the OT nonsense and go straight to penalties, and reward those winners with full value. The NHL shouldn't be able to have it both ways: I.e. we want winners, but somehow they're not real winners. But since shootouts are a weak way to end a hockey game, I'd be ok with a regulation win = 3 points, SO win = 2, and a SO loser = 1.

The system they have now 100% rewards teams for playing to get past regulation and provides a tiny incentive to play hard for a 60-minute win. It's weak sauce. Period.

3 points for a regularion win would just create more regulation ties. Losing a divisional game in regulation will drive more conservative play. Dead horse kicked. Onward

 

[Calicaps]

A zero zero tie in any sports sucks, not exactly the same for any tie. A 4-4 game could still be entertaining. Yes nobody wants to see a game end in a tie, but this isn’t hockey. The shootout has no place in deciding the NHL standings IMO.

I think the 3-2-1 points idea is interesting, could drive more aggressive hockey at the end of games.

This is a really important point. A lot of the OT/SO shit rose out of the dead puck era when 0-0 and 1-1 games happened all the time. Today's game is quite different.

3 points for a regularion win would just create more regulation ties. Losing a divisional game in regulation will drive more conservative play. Dead horse kicked. Onward

I'm not really for that. I'm for 2 point wins, 0 point losses, and 1-1 ties. But I rarely get what I want, so yeah, onward.