Put on the playoff tape vs Montreal
I can't. Every time I watch that series I get this queasy feeling in my stomach reminding me of what could have been.
For all the OV bashers, I know some can agree that OV doesn't give nearly as much effort on D and some will excuse that and say he's just doing that to preserve himself for offence. Either way, OV's lack of defence is not the root of the problem.
All of this **** starts from the top and works down. OV is not motivated to play his best because our staff is terrible. The only good department of our staff is the scouting. He realizes that this organization, with this current staff, CAN'T be successful. They never will be. He knows there's nothing he or any of the other stars can do to turn this around, other than what they're doing now, which is giving up and just coasting till summer. They know if we make the playoffs, things might stay the same for another 2 years, probably even get worse.
Not only is McPhee not giving Oates enough tools to win, but also Oates isn't correctly using the tools he already has.
The whole team is losing confidence in McPhee (if they haven't already), Oates and each other. I bet Ovechkin, Backstrom, Green, Carlson, and Alzner have been quite depressed since BB left and their production shows that. The only reason OV made a slight bounce back last year is because he was still in the "honeymoon stage" with Oates after having such a terrible, alienating experience with Hunter.
Now reality is setting back in and OV realizes this team is much worse and less deep than we were. He knows the current staff doesn't know how to fix it. He's given up and coasting and I don't blame him. As a result, all aspects of his game are deteriorating.
I know he still has it in him to be great but until we don't completely change the staff, he'll remain a mental case. Immense pressure with no hope in sight.
This team never had the balls to push it all the way when OV, Backstrom, and Green were in their primes and now we're suffering a long road of mediocrity that only ends in tanks/rebuilds. If it keeps going this way, NONE of our current stars will retire in Washington.
We need to miss the playoffs big time. Otherwise things won't change or won't change enough and we'll stay mediocre.
Personally, I can't wait for this year to be over where we'll be sitting 5th-7th in the Metro, excitingly waiting for Ted's presser where he announces that he won't be resigning McPhee. Then we get to watch a trembling Oates talk to the media scared of whether or not the new GM will keep him.
Personally, I think Oates should be kept as an assistant/PP coach because he is very analytical and cerebral and he has done good things with our PP. However, he's just too PC and gentlemanly to be a head coach. You can tell he doesn't fire up his troops and barely shows emotion. You need a coach that grabs the attention of the locker room and not some short little suit who says all the right things to the media. Also his system has been accused of being too complicated. That's a telling sign that maybe Oates is in over his head and should just stick to the PP. He's better suited to be a behind the scenes guy, dishing out advice to the head coach.
Question for next year: Laviolette or Torts?
