GDT: McDrai’s Nugget Minute - WSH @ EDM | 12/5/22 | 5:30p PT

[DWGie26]

Definitely improvement for AA. Thought he was well positioned tonight. Him and Irwin played really conservative but that is the right move for that pair. Let the top 4 create more offense.

I hope we keep feeding Alexyev games including when Orlov is back. Fever is out for at least two more so AA should get those and longer if Fever is out for a while. When everyone is healthy he is probably 7th.

 

[YippieKaey]

Real nice to see a glimpse of Protas offensive game and what he can become in the best of worlds. If he finds that gear as he grows older he's gonna be a good core player for this Caps team going forward.

Also interesting to see Mantha throw like 5 hits this game. My guess is some players have been told they need to step it up in certain aspects or they're gone. Laviolette read the complaints on this board about Manthas lack of physicality and decided to tell him

And also nice to see Ovi harassing McD quite a lot. Always love it when Ovi goes into power forward mode.

 

[Empty Goal Net]

This story is from October of this year - not sure if it's been posted previously - Prince Albert Right Now - but it provides a bit of background on Protas' billet family. Earlier in the match, the local feed had shown the kids and some friends and Joe B. I guess mentioned that they had attended the game in Calgary as well. Nice that he could get an apple on the GWG with those guys in attendance!

 

[AlexBrovechkin8]

Only saw the first because I was smoked but thought it was close to their best effort of the season if not the best. Right before I fell asleep I got an alert that Edmonton scored shortly into the second so I figured it’d be one of those nights when they were burned for not scoring when they were playing well so this morning was a nice surprise.

Seems like they saw the BMac presser yesterday

 

[Neil Racki]

Went to bed at start of 3rd

Nice to wake up to a W

 

[Cappy76]

Why? So ovie can fumble the puck and lose possession that way? The Caps PP as it’s currently setup can’t be successful until the puck gets over to that right side half wall. It’s predictable..and the best player in the world knew how to expose it.

Ovie would have had plenty of time to handle the pass and ring it around the boards to the right side as he does often when a shot isn’t available. It was flat out a dumb decision for Carlson to try and instead pass it through one of the best players in the world with no one to cover behind him.

 

[usiel]

Very cool story about the billet family.

 

[g00n]

Real nice to see a glimpse of Protas offensive game and what he can become in the best of worlds. If he finds that gear as he grows older he's gonna be a good core player for this Caps team going forward.

Also interesting to see Mantha throw like 5 hits this game. My guess is some players have been told they need to step it up in certain aspects or they're gone. Laviolette read the complaints on this board about Manthas lack of physicality and decided to tell him

And also nice to see Ovi harassing McD quite a lot. Always love it when Ovi goes into power forward mode.

More likely Mantha heard about GMBM's comments about him not using his size.

No need to guess about what the message was to all these players. It was loud and clear in the GMBM interview and that was intentional.

 

[Midnight Judges]

I'm not sure I'd want John Carlson at $3.5M/3 more years right now let alone the $8M he's getting.

 

[Holtbyisms]

I'm not sure I'd want John Carlson at $3.5M/3 more years right now let alone the $8M he's getting.

God, he's so bad...I was watching last night and thinking how amazing it was this team won a cup with him as the 1D. The stars truly did align for the cup run.

 

[DWGie26]

Right now we have a spot open (22 roster spots) since Fever was put on IR. Orlov still on IR and I doubt he will play against Philly. May need to bring up Nardella or Johansen. Doubt they would play but we need a 7th dee.

 

[Midnight Judges]

God, he's so bad...I was watching last night and thinking how amazing it was this team won a cup with him as the 1D. The stars truly did align for the cup run.

He was way better back then though. It's been a steady decrease in quality since the cup.

What's odd is that he doesn't appear to be getting beaten due to physical limitations. He's just making dumb mistakes all over the place. Taking bad angles, telegraphing passes, getting caught up ice, miscommunication with other players, etc.

 

[IafrateOvie34]

Definitely improvement for AA. Thought he was well positioned tonight. Him and Irwin played really conservative but that is the right move for that pair. Let the top 4 create more offense.

I hope we keep feeding Alexyev games including when Orlov is back. Fever is out for at least two more so AA should get those and longer if Fever is out for a while. When everyone is healthy he is probably 7th.

Agreed and I thought Irwin was pretty good also.

 

[Neil Racki]

Right now we have a spot open (22 roster spots) since Fever was put on IR. Orlov still on IR and I doubt he will play against Philly. May need to bring up Nardella or Johansen. Doubt they would play but we need a 7th dee.

Martin is on IR? Didnt he just get his second goal of the season last game?

The way he throws his yet-to-fill-out body around ... surprised he lasted last season.

 

[Marshall]

Fun. Game.

And Protas is The Terminator.

 

[JohnCarlsaurus]

He was way better back then though. It's been a steady decrease in quality since the cup.

What's odd is that he doesn't appear to be getting beaten due to physical limitations. He's just making dumb mistakes all over the place. Taking bad angles, telegraphing passes, getting caught up ice, miscommunication with other players, etc.

Nah it's definitely both. He's making puzzling decisions and like Ovie, his quickness has dropped off quite a bit. He's fast when he has the time & space to get up to speed but the acceleration doesn't seem to be there anymore and as a result he's often a step or two behind

 

[Drakon]

Hard to ask that a guy make the play and score the goal. He needs a playmaker on the line. He's stuck with 2 possession guys who can't make a nifty pass.

I don't feel like Lavi has put anyone on the team in a position to succeed since he got here.