GDT: G8: Aisles vs Nick-less Capstroms - 7:08pm EST

[Langway]

I don't think he's the MVP I'm just saying it is absolutely wild that people are concluding he isn't an NHLer because he gets pushed off the puck easier than most others?

When it results in pucks not getting out defensively it's not nothing. He's a fringe NHLer that isn't flashing enough and his TOI reflects that. He's not explosive nor often disruptive. He's the sort of player the clock will always be ticking on unless the production speaks for itself.

Also Rasmus Sandin is still stuck on zero points on the season. He doesn't kill penalties. He's not the toolsiest guy physically. What's his niche? As-is he's trending toward being a player to flip rather than commit to IMO. He's playing ~22 minutes a night but I'm not sure they're the better for it.

This forward group won't cut it, even with Pacioretty and a boatload of cap space at the ready. I'm sure they'd like to add further but they still ought to be thinking about subtracting, who's essential, what qualities are essential and what's not. Until they execute with that level of clarity hard to expect much more than warm mush.

 

[HTFN]

Replacing Matt Phillips will surely solve all of the Caps problems. He is def the biggest issue this team has.

Way to make that immediately stupid and exaggerated. If someone calls him an honorable mention for one of the best players on the team tonight it's going to come up, you're just going to have to live with that.

When it results in pucks not getting out defensively it's not nothing. He's a fringe NHLer that isn't flashing enough and his TOI reflects that. He's not explosive nor often disruptive. He's the sort of player the clock will always be ticking on unless the production speaks for itself.

Also Rasmus Sandin is still stuck on zero points on the season. He doesn't kill penalties. He's not the toolsiest guy physically. What's his niche? As-is he's trending toward being a player to flip rather than commit to IMO. He's playing ~22 minutes a night but I'm not sure they're the better for it.

This forward group won't cut it, even with Pacioretty and a boatload of cap space at the ready. I'm sure they'd like to add further but they still ought to be thinking about subtracting, who's essential, what qualities are essential and what's not. Until they execute with that level of clarity hard to expect much more than warm mush.

Sandin looks like a mess. He's not good so far at all and even his better plays just kind of crap out or get deflected.

 

[ClevelandCapsfan]

Just finished watching the Bruins beat the the Leafs and Samsonov in a shoot out. Watching that style of play reminds of why I love hockey, not the lull you to sleep and forecheck style of the Islanders.

 

[Ovie's Neighbor]

Sandin looks like a mess. He's not good so far at all and even his better plays just kind of crap out or get deflected.

And we traded a first for him

 

[Capitals40]

And we traded a first for him

And the first for Toronto is having a great year in juniors...and had a fantastic camp with the Maple Leafs

 

[WanderingCapsFan]

Are we really debating Matthew Phillips and Rasmus Sandin?

OK.

Phillips is a very good AHL player, and has no business being on an NHL roster, even one this bad.

Rasmus Sandin is..........OK? Has some good puck skills but the defense........

Lots of issues to address. These are two. Lots more.

Gonna get ugly.

 

[twabby]

When it results in pucks not getting out defensively it's not nothing.

Does this actually happen with any regularity? The numbers don't indicate so. Indeed he's the best on the team in xGA/60, and 4th in actual GA/60. Doesn't mean he's a defensive stalwart individually but it also doesn't indicate he's somehow terrible defensively.

Seems like he may have been bullied off a puck once in the defensive zone and it burned an impression in people's heads.

 

[Hivemind]

They've been shutout twice. This game and Jarry in game 1. So no.

They're going to be playing a lot of back-up goalies the rest of the season, and this won't be the last time they're shutout. So yes.

Also, being shutout twice in 9 games....

 

[CapitalsCupReality]

We're not surprised though. I mean it goes back to grab you sacks.

Never gets any less frustrating after all these years.

 

[twabby]

Regarding Sandin: I've been disappointed with him. I was certainly hoping for more and so far it hasn't clicked this year. There's still plenty of time to turn it around!

 

[HTFN]

Does this actually happen with any regularity? The numbers don't indicate so. Indeed he's the best on the team in xGA/60, and 4th in actual GA/60. Doesn't mean he's a defensive stalwart individually but it also doesn't indicate he's somehow terrible defensively.

Seems like he may have been bullied off a puck once in the defensive zone and it burned an impression in people's heads.

It's more like the visible difference between play and stats. Even when he makes what the spreadsheet would quantify as "good touches" that bring xGF higher or whatever, he's one of the smallest players in the NHL making that play at that point.

The rate where he gets spun or pushed out of play, or just pinned is much higher than other players, which means that those extrapolated stats don't have the same follow up other players generate with them. Those are the things that make the danger chances what they are.

To his credit, I don't think his defense is necessarily the problem, it's the disparate gap between his offensive fancystats and the actual production he's providing and part of the reason for that is how easy it is to take him out of plays. He can work 50/50 pucks, but he has to do so in a way that usually puts him at a disadvantage for the follow up.

 

[Langway]

Does this actually happen with any regularity? The numbers don't indicate so. Indeed he's the best on the team in xGA/60, and 4th in actual GA/60. Doesn't mean he's a defensive stalwart individually but it also doesn't indicate he's somehow terrible defensively.

Seems like he may have been bullied off a puck once in the defensive zone and it burned an impression in people's heads.

It happened tonight a couple times. And it does stand out in the sense that it isn't something you often see for very long to that degree when the player is also unproductive offensively. His job is the lightest on the ice defensively. His overall battle success level doesn't look to be NHL quality, though, and his overall tools are fringe. In the pre-season he was alright causing disruption now and then but it's waning lately. He hasn't been all that visible as a forechecker either. A more stout checking team like NYI is a tough match-up for him. He played basically fourth line minutes tonight and overall he's trending more toward being outside of the top nine than in. Mantha has seemingly jumped him. Even Protas seems to be trusted more.

This is likely a difficult environment for any fringe player compared to the heydays when there were much more favorable team headwinds and easier self-confidence. That said, it also helps when fringe players have average to above average physical tools and many of their bargain bin finds don't possess them. Shrug.

They probably deserved this game to be closer on the scoreboard but overall it's hard to believe they'll have enough separation ability. They're bottom five in ROW early on. Some of their underlying play has promising elements but it remains a group lacking killer instinct. Burning through any opened up boatload of cap space to mask that seems counter-productive ultimately. They still need to be in a subtraction/assessment mindset and part of that is becoming more selective and forward-thinking than they've been for a while.

 

[Rayquaza64]

But hey guys. we have patches and edmundson waiting in the wings!

 

[traparatus]

Does this actually happen with any regularity? The numbers don't indicate so. Indeed he's the best on the team in xGA/60, and 4th in actual GA/60. Doesn't mean he's a defensive stalwart individually but it also doesn't indicate he's somehow terrible defensively.

Seems like he may have been bullied off a puck once in the defensive zone and it burned an impression in people's heads.

I think Philips is a player that can play a somewhat prominent role on a very poor, rebuilding team. Feed him ice time, power play opportunities and he'll provide you with some 40 points a season. Help get you through the worst years of a rebuild.

Kind of reminds me of Travis Boyd, as far as Caps go. Good ability on the puck but there isn't any stand out NHL level offensive skill. And yes, he does get swatted away occasionally.

For a multitude of reasons, I think it will be hard for him to carve out a niche on the Caps this year. Maybe if Caps were bold enough to deploy him heavily on the power play, otherwise I don't see it.

 

[Holtbyisms]

Back to reality. Expect lots more of that this season lol

 

[notDkristich]

For the record, I'm tired of Lockers "puck luck" schhhitck

THIS is bad luck

 

[SherVaughn30]

Back to reality. Expect lots more of that this season lol

Caps will go back to regular rhythm for the week+, so I expect things to get a bit better. This game sort of equates to the 4-0 and 6-1 loss to the Pens and Sens

For the record, I'm tired of Lockers "puck luck" schhhitck

THIS is bad luck
View attachment 762190

Did the pitcher just throw a pitch and a dove just happened to flying in the path of the ball?!

 

[HTFN]

For the record, I'm tired of Lockers "puck luck" schhhitck

THIS is bad luck
View attachment 762190

in a game where a single bounce can make all the difference, that's a laughable statement.

Just like how a ground ball can escape the infield by inches, sometimes a puck bounces off you in traffic and lands at your feet and sometimes it ends up behind you. The whole premise of baseball is to respect the process over the result.

Caps will go back to regular rhythm for the week+, so I expect things to get a bit better. This game sort of equates to the 4-0 and 6-1 loss to the Pens and Sens

Did the pitcher just throw a pitch and a dove just happened to flying in the path of the ball?!

Have you not seen this? Because yeah, that's Randy Johnson absolutely annihilating a bird that just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.

 

[CapitalsCupReality]

Regarding Sandin: I've been disappointed with him. I was certainly hoping for more and so far it hasn't clicked this year. There's still plenty of time to turn it around!

We all wanted him to be the guy you were suggesting, but yeah still time to improve for sure.

 

[CapitalsCupReality]

For the record, I'm tired of Lockers "puck luck" schhhitck

THIS is bad luck
View attachment 762190

I too get tired of the puck luck cries…stop being a perimeter team, go to the net and make some “luck”.

 

[SherVaughn30]

I feel like the complaints started way before that

Some ppl have short memories, so I said two years. It's been at least 5 years that Scott Murray has found some way to ruin most of the Caps goalies. It goes as far back as Holtby. Thank goodness Mitch Korn did enough to save Holtby and get Holtby back on track enough for the '18 playoffs. If Kuemper was a much younger goalie, Murray would be messing him up more. Meantime in Hershey, the Finnish goalie coach appears to be doing well with Hunter Shepard, Clay Stevenson and Mitchell Gibson. Murray might have already ruined Lindgren. When the goalie coach for your main farm team is having a lot more positive success coaching goalie prospects who are still developing, than the goalie coach who has been allowed substantial years coaching NHL goalies with closer to more negative results and is working with 2 goalies who already have substantial NHL experience, yet the results showing to be more negative, than that should tell you why Scott Murray shouldn't be coaching any goalies that play professional hockey(in this scenario AHL and NHL)!

It doesn't matter if you are the best goalie in the world or far from it. Goalie coaching does matter. Scott Murray is a fairly big negative and the Caps have a better goalie coach in Hershey right under nose, but refuse to acknowledge it and address it so the situation gets better.

 

[Capsman]

Regarding Sandin: I've been disappointed with him. I was certainly hoping for more and so far it hasn't clicked this year. There's still plenty of time to turn it around!

I actually liked a lot of what I saw from him tonight. Thought he skated well, played solidly in his end, and showed some nice puck handling.

 

[PlushMinus]

All I want is to play competitive each night, get more youth in for experience, and play spoiler to rivals. Vegas probably going to repeat and stick with the plan while watching other Eastern teams spend all their assets.

Early in the season but Vegas sure look like they are the team to beat. Very surprised at how they've just come out and dominated.

Didn't our team do that to start the season after winning the Cup??

 

[IafrateOvie34]

Early in the season but Vegas sure look like they are the team to beat. Very surprised at how they've just come out and dominated.

Didn't our team do that to start the season after winning the Cup??

It's hockey anything can happen. It's one of the reasons, especially the first rounds are the most exciting in sports, imho. 1991 Blackhawks, Caps in 2010, Tampa in 2019, and Boston last year prove nothing is given with regular season success. Vegas better hope they don't win the regular season title, lol.

 

[PlushMinus]

He's leading the team in 5v5 scoring this year on a per 60 basis. He's also leading the team in 5v5 expected goal share. He also has the same number of 5v5 points as Tom Wilson, John Carlson, and Dylan Strome. He's only behind Ovechkin in total 5v5 points (by 1 point).

Jesus Twabby - I know sometimes you tell us what you're going to be drinking tonight. A mead or some ale you've brewed.

Tonight it appears you've drunk....everything in the liquor cabinet!