GDT: Subprime auto loans @ AOL, 7:07pm

[Rayquaza64]

old slow teams who throw tons of hits like ours does just dont work anymore. unfortunately doesnt seem like our coach or front office realize that.

 

[Empty Goal Net]

old slow teams who throw tons of hits like ours does just dont work anymore. unfortunately doesnt seem like our coach or front office realize that.

Confession: I bailed on the game late in the 2nd.
old slow team = yes, agreed
who throw tons of hits = would not say the Caps have been much of a hitting team under Lavi. Maybe tonight they were. If your team doesn't have the puck, you can hit more.
just don't work anymore = maybe not in the RS, but could be effective in a playoff series. Not sure a consistently heavy game is enough to win 4 of 7, especially for an offensively challenged Caps team, but at least it could make a series more competitive.

 

[twabby]

Going to echo what others have said: Johansson doesn’t deserve a spot in the lineup at this point. Just doesn’t create any offense and isn’t playing effective defense either. That effort against Aho was weak. I don’t know that they are going to miss Sprong, but Johansson isn’t the solution either it appears. Call up Sgarbossa or someone else until a forward returns healthy, I don’t care.

I thought McMichael had another pretty good game. Lots of good setups and some opportunities. If he’s removed from the lineup I’ll be bothered!

Kempny is a garbage fire. Thank you for your service in 2018-19, but he doesn’t deserve a sweater over Steve Irwin or guys in Hershey. Perplexing decisions from the coaches.

Orlov and Jensen were great, none of the other defensemen were any good.

 

[usiel]

Did not have a good feeling for this game based on the 3 games in four nights plus a long layoff after the game so did not watch which I feel good on the maximizing useful time.

 

[aonb]

A very good team beat the average one. is anyone really surprised? It happens

 

[trick9]

Trading for Johansson was a stupid move that's going to bring GMBM's grade down for this season. Picks gone to waste. For the love of god end that experiment already and send him down with Kempny. +16 minutes and PP time for that guy is a f***ing travesty after how they have treated McMichael this season.

 

[895]

Going to echo what others have said: Johansson doesn’t deserve a spot in the lineup at this point. Just doesn’t create any offense and isn’t playing effective defense either. That effort against Aho was weak. I don’t know that they are going to miss Sprong, but Johansson isn’t the solution either it appears. Call up Sgarbossa or someone else until a forward returns healthy, I don’t care.

I thought McMichael had another pretty good game. Lots of good setups and some opportunities. If he’s removed from the lineup I’ll be bothered!

Kempny is a garbage fire. Thank you for your service in 2018-19, but he doesn’t deserve a sweater over Steve Irwin or guys in Hershey. Perplexing decisions from the coaches.

Orlov and Jensen were great, none of the other defensemen were any good.

I'm pretty sure the ghost of an Australian crocodile wrangler is still gonna be worse than Kempny, no matter how bad he is right now.

 

[Langway]

They're capped out so their options are pretty limited when it comes to sitting/resting/shuffling down the stretch of the regular season. They've made their collective bed. So be it.

I will never fathom why they didn't put Kempny back through waivers leading into the deadline. Instead they played the bean-counter game with moves that were mostly just for show. I have some hope for Larsson but given the way they play generally, esp. at home, it's hard to any faith in them finding solutions. The coaching staff, for all of their experience, seems out to lunch and much too inflexible in approach.

 

[895]

They're capped out so their options are pretty limited when it comes to sitting/resting/shuffling down the stretch of the regular season. They've made their collective bed. So be it.

I will never fathom why they didn't put Kempny back through waivers leading into the deadline. Instead they played the bean-counter game with moves that were mostly just for show. I have some hope for Larsson but given the way they play generally, esp. at home, it's hard to any faith in them finding solutions. The coaching staff, for all of their experience, seems out to lunch and much too inflexible in approach.

Not sure what you mean by Kempny on waivers. No one would have taken him.

 

[Langway]

Not sure what you mean by Kempny on waivers. No one would have taken him.

To give themselves more cap flexibility by stashing him in Hershey again for either a D depth upgrade or just a bit space to work with. It could have expanded their options or lessened the price in some of the retention situations. Instead they just sat on the whole $2.5M as though it wasn't an issue for a replacement level D (or worse).

In general it's hard to grasp the method at play on a lot of levels. I don't know where the foresight/planning is or a really honest assessment of strengths and weaknesses and, in turn, agenda toward self-improvement. It's just the same sort of BS again and again. They're a defensive-minded team supposedly but mostly just dumb. They're one of the dumber veteran teams you'll see so you wonder what's the point? Where's the potential here? Where's additional improvement coming from? Just CMM/Lapierre/future picks? It's not going to cut it. Where's more tangible skill development, cohesion and refinement? I say enjoy making the playoffs because if MacLellan has an uninspired status quo off-season I don't think this current vibe sustains them another time around. Too much BS. Too much staleness.

They're incredibly fortunate there's no competition for a playoff spot. You can bet if there was they would have been sharper and more aggressive at the deadline. Which I suppose says it all about their goals.

 

[AlexBrovechkin8]

Not sweating last night. The Canes were due and the Caps looked like a team looking forward to their last break of the season.

I am however concerned about VV.

 

[pman25]

I've changed my mind on the last second Eller hit. Why is Carolina pushing for goal 7 in a 6-1 game? Just take it behind your net and play patty cake for the last 10 seconds. It's funny they think Eller is trying to be the hero but it's clearly Carolina looking for Necas to get a hat trick

 

[Skrudland2Lomakin]

old slow teams who throw tons of hits like ours does just dont work anymore. unfortunately doesnt seem like our coach or front office realize that.

I just don’t really agree with either parts of this.

The sport is cyclical and also a copy cat sport. When one team wins everyone tries to emulate their style, it seldom works though, it’s why there is always a “new” blueprint but it’s actually not new at all, just one of like 5 ones teams rotate through. Heavy hockey works with the correct personnel, I’m confident another team will show us this in the next 3-4 years.



I also disagree that the team could’ve done more. We’re kind of hamstrung at this point outside of like maybe 3-4 contracts.

You aren’t going to move Backstrom/Ovechkin, for better or worse so that’s not really a conversation.


Kuznetsov was an all time “if you sell now you sell very low” move.


I just look at the cap, and look at the position we came into this year and I think maybe they could’ve moved a guy like Eller but even that is complicated by not knowing McMichaels ceiling in the summer. It’s not easy to just reinvent a roster when you’re basically in a flat cap. Oshie is maybe the only other guy you look at moving but that’s also us a bigger conversation and does that really better the team?


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