GDT: G75: Capitals @ Canadiens | 4/16/22 | 7:00p ET

[CapitalsCupReality]

Doesn't mean he isn't right. Backstrom is holding this team back... it's pretty evident to anyone who watches the games. If the goal is to win a SC.. he shouldn't be playing. Neither should MoJo. Both need to be replaced by McM and AJF respectively.

1st…he’s not going to be the difference in a Cup or not (and neither are CMM or AJF), so irrelevant….
B……they owe it to him to let him play through it. Next year, if he hasn’t rebounded a significant amount….maybe. It might be different if CMM was producing. Not now….IMO.

 

[twabby]

Doesn't mean he isn't right. Backstrom is holding this team back... it's pretty evident to anyone who watches the games. If the goal is to win a SC.. he shouldn't be playing. Neither should MoJo. Both need to be replaced by McM and AJF respectively.

I’m not even saying they should bench Backstrom. He is providing real value on the power play that makes it worth it to have him be a drag at 5v5.

But there’s no reason he should be playing big minutes at 5v5 when he is a drag. Put him and the team in a position to succeed.

 

[twabby]

1st…he’s not going to be the difference in a Cup or not (and neither are CMM or AJF), so irrelevant….
B……they owe it to him to let him play through it. Next year, if he hasn’t rebounded a significant amount….maybe. It might be different if CMM was producing. Not now….IMO.

It’s not either/or. Both McMichael and Backstrom can play. Johansson can go to the press box.

 

[twabby]

I literally just dissected his performance for the entire game because people keep saying this without backing it up. Where was he holding the team back in an 8-4 win?

What's CMM's ES points/60 vs Backstrom's, if we're talking about stats?

You dissected a performance where he was still outscored and outchanced at 5v5 and put up zero points against one of the worst teams in the league when the rest of the team was generally pretty dominant. I don’t care how a player looks when it still results in a negative goal differential and is likely to continue to result in a negative goal differential, especially a negative goal differential against a cellar-dweller.

It’s 1.37 for Backstrom and 1.51 for McMichael.

 

[g00n]

You dissected a performance where he was still outscored and outchanced at 5v5 and put up zero points against one of the worst teams in the league when the rest of the team was generally pretty dominant.

It’s 1.37 for Backstrom and 1.51 for McMichael.

Quanthockey has NB at 1.579 and CMM at 1.583, basically the same.

Washington Capitals @ NHL - 2021‑2022 Stats

Washington Capitals stats, scoring leaders and demographics breakdown in the 2021-2022 NHL season. Player nationality and age distributions, draft rounds of players in the 2021-2022 season.

www.quanthockey.com

What part of what I wrote do you not understand? Nothing in NB's performance led to any reason to interpret his stats negatively. He had an obvious positive effect on the game. But looking ONLY at stats (with a jaundiced eye) turns the impression sinister and completely loses the plot.

 

[SecretaryofDefense5]

Quanthockey has NB at 1.579 and CMM at 1.583, basically the same.

Washington Capitals @ NHL - 2021‑2022 Stats

Washington Capitals stats, scoring leaders and demographics breakdown in the 2021-2022 NHL season. Player nationality and age distributions, draft rounds of players in the 2021-2022 season.

www.quanthockey.com

What part of what I wrote do you not understand? Nothing in NB's performance led to any reason to interpret his stats negatively. He had an obvious positive effect on the game. But looking ONLY at stats (with a jaundiced eye) turns the impression sinister and completely loses the plot.

I don’t really have a dog in this fight but the simple eye test reveals the gentlemen’s stride is sub par and I think at this point Lucic could beat him in a straight away race. It’s all sad and troubling. And when you’re that slow you become a liability defensively at some point.

 

[twabby]

Quanthockey has NB at 1.579 and CMM at 1.583, basically the same.

Washington Capitals @ NHL - 2021‑2022 Stats

Washington Capitals stats, scoring leaders and demographics breakdown in the 2021-2022 NHL season. Player nationality and age distributions, draft rounds of players in the 2021-2022 season.

www.quanthockey.com

What part of what I wrote do you not understand? Nothing in NB's performance led to any reason to interpret his stats negatively. He had an obvious positive effect on the game. But looking ONLY at stats (with a jaundiced eye) turns the impression sinister and completely loses the plot.

I was only considering 5v5 stats. Mainly because McMichael hasn’t accumulated any non-5v5 time to speak of (only 14 of his 688 minutes have been at a non-5v5 situation this year). It’s not an apples to apples comparison otherwise. At 5v5, the numbers I provided are accurate.

Nothing in Backstrom’s results or underlying play this year lead me to interpret his performance in a positive way at 5v5. Last night or for the entire season. And he’s getting worse.

He can pass an eye test with flying colors and still be a detriment to his team if he keeps contributing to them getting outscored. It’s why I’m only half joking when I’m saying to stop watching the games.

 

[HTFN]

I was only considering 5v5 stats. Mainly because McMichael hasn’t accumulated any non-5v5 time to speak of (only 14 of his 688 minutes have been at a non-5v5 situation this year). It’s not an apples to apples comparison otherwise. At 5v5, the numbers I provided are accurate.

Nothing in Backstrom’s results or underlying play this year lead me to interpret his performance in a positive way at 5v5. Last night or for the entire season. And he’s getting worse.

He can pass an eye test with flying colors and still be a detriment to his team if he keeps contributing to them getting outscored. It’s why I’m only half joking when I’m saying to stop watching the games.

Consider dialing that back from half because that’s a wack position. Unless “passed with flying colors” means something different to you the only real conclusion there is that the numbers are less than infallible.

 

[traparatus]

I literally just dissected his performance for the entire game because people keep saying this without backing it up. Where was he holding the team back in an 8-4 win?

What's CMM's ES points/60 vs Backstrom's, if we're talking about stats?

You didn't dissect anything. You formed a strong and inflexible opinion and then went looking for any possible proof that you are right through the prism of your unwavering opinion. You are biased as all hell and not interested in anything that contradicts your opinion.

 

[g00n]

You didn't dissect anything. You formed a strong and inflexible opinion and then went looking for any possible proof that you are right through the prism of your unwavering opinion. You are biased as all hell and not interested in anything that contradicts your opinion.

I have an idea. Why don't you put in the work and provide facts to back up your own claims instead of just saying "nuh uh, u biased".

I could give zero shits who suits up for this team so long as they win. But I know a mob mentality driven by a guided narrative when I see one.

Do you think anyone on the "Backstrom is done and here are the stats" has any kind of bias or agenda?

 

[traparatus]

I have an idea. Why don't you put in the work and provide facts to back up your own claims instead of just saying "nuh uh, u biased".

I could give zero shits who suits up for this team so long as they win. But I know a mob mentality driven by a guided narrative when I see one.

Do you think anyone on the "Backstrom is done and here are the stats" has any kind of bias or agenda?

To your first suggestion. No, I won't 'do the work'. I'm not qualified to go through every play and analyze what was done and compare it to a list of possible options of what could have been done. Maybe you are, maybe not. I can spot obvious mistakes, missed coverage and the like but that's about it. Also, there is nothing that I could post that would make you change your opinion so what's the point.

As to your second point, I don't think that anybody pointing out Backstrom related stats has an agenda. What agenda? We all want Backstrom to be a strong 1st line center. The team desperately needs him to be that. Your are acting so superior to other posters, as if there are fans out there wishing for Backstrom to fail and you are the one defending his honor. That's absurd.

To my eyes, he looks slow, immobile and his line is unable to get back in time to defend rush chances against. Players perform better away from him than with him. I double check that impression against some pretty damn basic stats and they seem to confirm it. His line regularly gets outscored and outchanced, this includes the last game against an absolute bottom feeder.

 

[PlushMinus]

Backstrom is probably one of the most beloved players among the fanbase. To suggest there is an agenda is - kind of mind boggling.

"Yeah, we're all REALLY hoping his career is over so McMichael can take his place"

 

[usiel]

Backstrom definitely slower which is the main complaint here. Seeing the Tom Wilson fight video you can see has more speed juice. Rather wait to see how a full off season goes. People forget how well he played last season.

 

[g00n]

To your first suggestion. No, I won't 'do the work'. I'm not qualified to go through every play and analyze what was done and compare it to a list of possible options of what could have been done. Maybe you are, maybe not. I can spot obvious mistakes, missed coverage and the like but that's about it. Also, there is nothing that I could post that would make you change your opinion so what's the point.

As to your second point, I don't think that anybody pointing out Backstrom related stats has an agenda. What agenda? We all want Backstrom to be a strong 1st line center. The team desperately needs him to be that. Your are acting so superior to other posters, as if there are fans out there wishing for Backstrom to fail and you are the one defending his honor. That's absurd.

To my eyes, he looks slow, immobile and his line is unable to get back in time to defend rush chances against. Players perform better away from him than with him. I double check that impression against some pretty damn basic stats and they seem to confirm it. His line regularly gets outscored and outchanced, this includes the last game against an absolute bottom feeder.

Ok here goes. There's a group of posters here who are constantly harping on at least some version of "younger, faster, fancier stats".

They're always pushing for TOI for the new guys over the "old" players who are around 30, and they use any stats they can find to back up their claims, regardless on whether those stats actually mean anything to the final result of the game, or what the coaches are looking for in a player and his role.

Backstrom is a favorite target because there are some who will spend YEARS trying to prove some prediction or observation made based on one of those stats. This is not the only instance of it, but it's the most obvious one because NB has not been scoring or skating aggressively.

The ongoing "why isn't Lavi playing CMM more" debate feeds into this because NB is seen as an obstacle by some (or was) to CMM getting more ice time or better linemates.

So tearing down NB has become part of that "agenda".

Does that clear it up?

 

[Ridley Simon]

Well, we all have seen the Hagelin hate. Obviously.

Now add Eller, Oshie, Backstrom, Carlson to the 2022 whipping boy list. (Schultz is on there too, but he’s never been a player Caps fans have taken to, as is now MaJo, but he never left the list)

People aren’t seeing this? I sure as hell am….and I’m sure there’s a line of posters ready to detail why they are all whipping boys.

 

[kicksavedave]

Backstrom definitely slower which is the main complaint here. Seeing the Tom Wilson fight video you can see has more speed juice. Rather wait to see how a full off season goes. People forget how well he played last season.

Until he apparently reinjured the hip... his play started hot, and tailed off dramatically. Its continued that slide this year.