Post-Game Talk: So... What is actually wrong with McDrai? *or Cloned's reverse jinx thread*

[Oil Dood]

We traded Hall for this!

Huh? I think I missed something here, the guy we traded Hall for was injured.

 

[Soundwave]

funny enough that happens every single game the caps play.

Yeah it never ceases to amaze me that teams continually just play their PK in a regular formation against the Caps and don't seem to give him any extra attention.

 

[Perfect_Drug]

Yeah it never ceases to amaze me that teams continually just play their PK in a regular formation against the Caps and don't seem to give him any extra attention.

I think the plan is to cut off the pass. Covering him doesn't work well. He's really really big, and can gain position on just about anyone in this league.


Problem is the way Kuzy and Backstrom cycle, they always find him.


They have one of the closest things to a perfect PP setup.

 

[Soundwave]

I think the plan is to cut off the pass. Covering him doesn't work well. He's really really big, and can gain position on just about anyone in this league.


Problem is the way Kuzy and Backstrom cycle, they always find him.


They have one of the closest things to a perfect PP setup.

I'd say screw that. I'd have someone basically play zone on him specifically so there's always some one near by him to take away his time and space. If one of the other guys scores, so be it.

 

[9GWG9]

He doesn’t even get those looks in practice.

 

[Soundwave]

He doesn’t even get those looks in practice.

It was bad breakdown, but I'm not going to rake the PK over the coals for it. The PK has been light years better than years past, they entitled to a mistake here and there.

 

[Patch101]

Talking heads on TV be talking about how we'll have the cap space for depth next year... but I just don't see it.
NHL won't raise the cap as much as we think because the players want to get rid of escrow so that they get 100% of their pay and the only way to do that is to stop artificially inflating the salary cap to ensure the cap is closer to league revenues so that players get 100% of their money back.

Ya, and the team needs to factor in contracts for Nurse, and Bear. Lets not forget Nuge, Larsson in 2 years too.
Gatta keep Kassian around too.

We do drop Gagner's 3.2, Grandlunds 1.3, and 2.2 on Manning, but I think we're given their money to Bear, Nurse and Kassian to keep them.
So then its all the other 1 years deals, not a lot of room no

 

[9GWG9]

The stats do show they are doing better but that play was really a continuation of what we are used too seeing. Would any team allow McDavid to just hangout like that?

 

[Chef de Cuisine]

Huh? I think I missed something here, the guy we traded Hall for was injured.

We traded Hart Hall for defense.. and our defense is leaving Ovi wide open on PPs..

 

[OilerTyler]

We traded Hart Hall for defense.. and our defense is leaving Ovi wide open on PPs..

Yes, Larsson was clearly at fault for that play

 

[oil Leaks]

Oilers are undefeated with Gagner on the roster this season.

 

[gordonhught]

Yes, Larsson was clearly at fault for that play

Nope. Larsson broke his leg and did not play last night!

 

[I am the Liquor]

I'd say screw that. I'd have someone basically play zone on him specifically so there's always some one near by him to take away his time and space. If one of the other guys scores, so be it.

I believe the words you are looking for are man to man. Zone is the opposite of that.

 

[Chef de Cuisine]

Yes, Larsson was clearly at fault for that play

I didn't mean it literally..

 

[LTIR]

I didn't mean it literally..

With Hall we were scraping the bottom of the barrel collecting 1st overalls.
Larsson pushed others down where they belonged and helped us make the playoffs.

 

[nabob]

I would also like to point out that I first had the Nurse-Bear pairing together. Figured they’d work off each other’s strengths.

You also claimed that pairing any rookie Dman with Nurse would be a complete disaster...

 

[CornKicker]

We traded Hart Hall for defense.. and our defense is leaving Ovi wide open on PPs..

if you are expecting a defenceman to cover a top of the circle shooter on the PP you might want to read a little on how a PK actually works

 

[nabob]

if you are expecting a defenceman to cover a top of the circle shooter on the PP you might want to read a little on how a PK actually works

well at least he isn’t blaming the goalie for leaving the point man open

 

[CornKicker]

anyone acting like ovechkin doesnt get 2-3 of those looks every single game are insane. watch the caps play they have Kuznetsov/Backstrom/Carlson that can move that puck around so well they just time it for when they can get him that shot. its impressive and helped them win a cup

 

[Soundwave]

With Hall we were scraping the bottom of the barrel collecting 1st overalls.
Larsson pushed others down where they belonged and helped us make the playoffs.

I think Larsson's role in that is overrated.

McDavid playing a full season and going from a wide eyed rookie to the best player on the planet and Draisaitl going from a rookie type player to a full blown All-Star were the main big changes.

Klefbom being healthy, Russell joining the d-corps, and Sekera having a good season had as much to do with the improvement on the back end as well as Larsson.

We never got to see what Taylor Hall could do with the real McDavid and Draisaitl, they never gave that a chance to really happen.

McDavid and Draisaitl as we know them now ... they never had been given a chance to have a dominant secondary offensive force on their team to give them a break once in a while.

 

[LTIR]

I think Larsson's role in that is overrated.

McDavid playing a full season and going from a wide eyed rookie to the best player on the planet and Draisaitl going from a rookie type player to a full blown All-Star were the main big changes.

Klefbom being healthy, Russell joining the d-corps, and Sekera having a good season had as much to do with the improvement on the back end as well as Larsson.

We never got to see what Taylor Hall could do with the real McDavid and Draisaitl, they never gave that a chance to really happen.

McDavid and Draisaitl as we know them now ... they never had been given a chance to have a dominant secondary offensive force on their team to give them a break once in a while.

We would never know I guess .
Larsson IMO played a bigger role than Draisaitl in us winning games and making the playoffs that year.
Who knows how this team would be under captain Hall right now if we never made that trade.

 

[iCanada]

Just thought this was funny from last night.

Ovi chilling on his own, seconds before scoring on the PP.

Yeah Ovi is THE guy that you don't leave alone when you're killing a penalty, not just on the Caps but in the entire league. That this happened last night is mind bottling.

I'm no coach but maybe next time we won't let that happen.

He looks so harmless, but oh how dangerous he can be

I think leaving him open is fine. Worked for like 7 minutes of PP time. Problem on the goal isn't Ovi being open, its losing two puck battle within 5s.

You lose two puck battles in that time frame on a PK its in your back of the net unless your goaltender bails you out 100%. On the other hand, we win one of those even man puck battles and the zone is cleared, successful penalty kill.

 

[guymez]

It's really been an ongoing issue for teams playing WSH for quite some time. Seems like the plan is to plug up as much of the lanes so Ovi doesn't get a clean pass to one-timer.

The other problem is their PP has so many options. Cover Ovi and leave Carlsson open?

I hear you...its not an easy task for sure.
That said they do have to have a much more heightened awareness of where a player like Ovi is. You cant just leave him on an island.

 

[guymez]

funny enough that happens every single game the caps play.

As @joestevens29 mentioned the Caps do have a lot of weapons...its not easy to defend.
I mean overloading the player along the wall on the PK is fine but if that puck gets loose (and you dont have possession) you're done.
I have a very hard time beliiving that they were playing that situation exactly the way Tippett drew it up.

 

[The Batman]

Ethan Bear is my favorite Oiler to watch after Batman and Robin. He's so incredibly poised and calm under pressure. This was a beautiful play where he wins a battle against Ovechkin and calmly skates away with the puck with Backstrom barreling down on him: