The problem with Backstrom and how it can be fixed

[um]

Everyone remembers 2 weeks ago when Backstrom was the best skater in the Isles series right? I mean, it was only two weeks ago so I assume they must remember...

In his last 43 playoff games he has 21 Points. It's not complicated, he's a bad playoff player.

 

[Alexander the Gr8]

Do we really have fans who want to build an NHL roster around allergies and pollen rates? And I though GMGM was bad.

I'm sure Craig McTavish and Kevin Lowe are Caps fan now and post here secretly.

 

[Ajax1995]

In his last 43 playoff games he has 21 Points. It's not complicated, he's a bad playoff player.

Ovechkin has 20 points in his last 35 playoff games. Does that also make him a bad playoff player?

 

[artilector]

Ovechkin has 20 points in his last 35 playoff games. Does that also make him a bad playoff player?

Well, let's see.

Taking this season, regular season scoring was 2.66 G/gm (per team), down to 2.44 in playoffs, an 8% drop.

Ovi and Backstrom went from 1 and .95 pt/game to .64 and .57 respectively, that's a 36% and 40% drop. Caps scoring dropped from 2.89 to 2 G/gm, that's 31% drop.

So yeah, if you take it purely by points, Ovi and Backstrom underperformed, but more or less in line with the the Caps in general.

And they were each -3 in playoffs, which is probably a fair reflection of what happened.

It's a problem. They scored some big goals, but the Caps need more consistent offense and better defense out of them, IMO, if they are going to go far. Let's hope it can be done with different linemates... it really may not possible if they continue to play together.

 

[Alexander the Gr8]

http://www.monumentalnetwork.com/videos/nicklas-backstrom-exit-interview-5-15-15

Nicky looked ashamed of himself in the exit interview. He had no injury apparently. This one is on him. I don't understand how he went from red hot to ice cold in 3 games.

Learn from your mistakes Nicky

 

[Raikkonen]

Backy's interview is... how do you call that? pathetic?

Ugly. Ovi is in much better mood today (in Prague). He's smiling and kind of easy. Perhaps he's glad to come to National team.

 

[PucksInDeep]

I'm interested in seeing Ovi and Kuznetsov play more together next year, and have a Johansson/Backstrom/Burakovsky line. I think the three of them could be our version of the Toews/Hossa or Bergeron/Marchand line; take on the tough competition 5v5 and open up space for Ovi/Kuzy to put up the points, like Kane in CHI or Krejci in BOS.

Kuznetsov has looked good enough that I don't think playing him with Ovechkin will hurt Ovi's 5v5 production much, and Backstrom would still run the PP.

 

[artilector]

Backy's interview is... how do you call that? pathetic?

Ugly. Ovi is in much better mood today (in Prague). He's smiling and kind of easy. Perhaps he's glad to come to National team.

"Depressing"

Yeah I could not finish watching it... good guy, feels bad, really doesn't want to talk.

 

[RandyHolt]

Allergies?

Do a ton of situps and stomach exercises which flushes the histamines out of your system, which is made by special cells in your stomach. There are other places in the body it is likely formed but I dont know for certain.

Few know this can work for even the worst allergy sufferers. It cured my sister. Tighten the gut as you sit at your desk at work. At worst if it fails your keg is becoming a couple cases.

 

[artilector]

Allergies?

Do a ton of situps and stomach exercises which flushes the histamines out of your system, which is made by special cells in your stomach. There are other places in the body it is likely formed but I dont know for certain.

Few know this can work for even the worst allergy sufferers. It cured my sister. Tighten the gut as you sit at your desk at work. At worst if it fails your keg is becoming a couple cases.

Sounds like an episode for Mythbusters

 

[TheFlowerist]

I do agree on trading Backstrom, he should be able to fetch something very valuable.
But what if we sweetened the deal by adding Carlson into the mix. Yes I think we should keep Green, much more poised and focused, he's entering his prime defensively and his offense will be there for the foreseeable future

Carlson can be replaced by one of our upcoming D prospects Bowey, Orlov,...) and has tremendous value for the actual player that he is

Backstrom + Carlson to Edmonton. No point in trying to get McDavid, the pick will not be traded, but I think we can can manage to snatch a Center/Winger combination of Hall, Nugent-Hopkins, Yakupov or Draisatl.

Kuz can take over 1C duty, he's really been a revelation during the Playoffs and the rest of the top 6 can be filled in by the Edmonton players whom while likely less talented than Backy still have the necessary skills to produce. But they also bring the youth and the GRIT indispensable to perform in the playoffs. With the exception of the NYI series where Backy started shooting more, he was mostly ineffective against the rangers which killed Ovi's influence on that series. The two best lines against the rangers were by far the Kuz and Beagles lines that were able to create chances with much less skill but a lot more grit and that's what our top 6 needs some more.

I can see Edmonton being interested in such deal as they are clearly lacking in the D and leadership department and would certainly have interest in acquiring guys like Carlson and Backstrom to complement their young roster with more maturity and experience.

It is a huge move but you have to change the look and feel of your team. The Rangers' roster is much more grit inclined than skill, to the point where you'd be hard pressed to find caps fans that would swap their roster for our roster....yet they win much more than we do.

 

[Carlzner]

I do agree on trading Backstrom, he should be able to fetch something very valuable.
But what if we sweetened the deal by adding Carlson into the mix. Yes I think we should keep Green, much more poised and focused, he's entering his prime defensively and his offense will be there for the foreseeable future

Carlson can be replaced by one of our upcoming D prospects Bowey, Orlov,...) and has tremendous value for the actual player that he is

Backstrom + Carlson to Edmonton. No point in trying to get McDavid, the pick will not be traded, but I think we can can manage to snatch a Center/Winger combination of Hall, Nugent-Hopkins, Yakupov or Draisatl.

Kuz can take over 1C duty, he's really been a revelation during the Playoffs and the rest of the top 6 can be filled in by the Edmonton players whom while likely less talented than Backy still have the necessary skills to produce. But they also bring the youth and the GRIT indispensable to perform in the playoffs. With the exception of the NYI series where Backy started shooting more, he was mostly ineffective against the rangers which killed Ovi's influence on that series. The two best lines against the rangers were by far the Kuz and Beagles lines that were able to create chances with much less skill but a lot more grit and that's what our top 6 needs some more.

I can see Edmonton being interested in such deal as they are clearly lacking in the D and leadership department and would certainly have interest in acquiring guys like Carlson and Backstrom to complement their young roster with more maturity and experience.

It is a huge move but you have to change the look and feel of your team. The Rangers' roster is much more grit inclined than skill, to the point where you'd be hard pressed to find caps fans that would swap their roster for our roster....yet they win much more than we do.

That is absolutely ridiculous.

 

[TheFlowerist]

let's go with the same core, we will never win anything. It's better to trade a player at its high in terms of value than waiting for him to decline
Backstrom is not a playoff performer (the facts are there) and Carlson is too sloppy.

We can go on like this for another 2-3 years, Ovi will be 33, backstrom 31. A few more years in them will be left, not having won anything and
we will once more have to start over with another rebuilding effort, lose another 5 years.....
At some point, you have to be able to recognize the problem and cut your losses or at least in this case, swap it for something whose value is more likely to bring success in the future WHILE you still can

that is unless, you never get tired of losing in similar fashion every single year

 

[Maruk moustache]

Allergies?

Do a ton of situps and stomach exercises which flushes the histamines out of your system, which is made by special cells in your stomach. There are other places in the body it is likely formed but I dont know for certain.

Few know this can work for even the worst allergy sufferers. It cured my sister. Tighten the gut as you sit at your desk at work. At worst if it fails your keg is becoming a couple cases.

This is the kind of advice that I don't think you need to scientifically verify for it to be worth trying. Better abs are good at preventing back injuries, good for playing better hockey, and good for all kinds of other things.

That Zyrtec stuff dries me out an alarming amount, and it wears me out, and it can't be good for you. I wouldn't want to do a lot of sweating, much less play a hockey game, on that or any other kind of allergy medicine. I wouldn't necessarily dismiss the idea that allergies might throw off a player at this level. Down here in Austin, with the cedar splooge all over the place at times, well, sometimes it feels just about like influenza it's so bad.

 

[CapitalsCupReality]

Ovechkin has 20 points in his last 35 playoff games. Does that also make him a bad playoff player?

Not horrible, but I want more from the best goal scorer on the planet. Just sayin....

 

[Corby78]

I do agree on trading Backstrom, he should be able to fetch something very valuable.
But what if we sweetened the deal by adding Carlson into the mix. Yes I think we should keep Green, much more poised and focused, he's entering his prime defensively and his offense will be there for the foreseeable future

Carlson can be replaced by one of our upcoming D prospects Bowey, Orlov,...) and has tremendous value for the actual player that he is

Backstrom + Carlson to Edmonton. No point in trying to get McDavid, the pick will not be traded, but I think we can can manage to snatch a Center/Winger combination of Hall, Nugent-Hopkins, Yakupov or Draisatl.

Kuz can take over 1C duty, he's really been a revelation during the Playoffs and the rest of the top 6 can be filled in by the Edmonton players whom while likely less talented than Backy still have the necessary skills to produce. But they also bring the youth and the GRIT indispensable to perform in the playoffs. With the exception of the NYI series where Backy started shooting more, he was mostly ineffective against the rangers which killed Ovi's influence on that series. The two best lines against the rangers were by far the Kuz and Beagles lines that were able to create chances with much less skill but a lot more grit and that's what our top 6 needs some more.

I can see Edmonton being interested in such deal as they are clearly lacking in the D and leadership department and would certainly have interest in acquiring guys like Carlson and Backstrom to complement their young roster with more maturity and experience.

It is a huge move but you have to change the look and feel of your team. The Rangers' roster is much more grit inclined than skill, to the point where you'd be hard pressed to find caps fans that would swap their roster for our roster....yet they win much more than we do.

You want to trade our 1D and 1C? Please don't ever apply for the GM job.

 

[Alexander the Gr8]

I do agree on trading Backstrom, he should be able to fetch something very valuable.
But what if we sweetened the deal by adding Carlson into the mix. Yes I think we should keep Green, much more poised and focused, he's entering his prime defensively and his offense will be there for the foreseeable future

Carlson can be replaced by one of our upcoming D prospects Bowey, Orlov,...) and has tremendous value for the actual player that he is

Backstrom + Carlson to Edmonton. No point in trying to get McDavid, the pick will not be traded, but I think we can can manage to snatch a Center/Winger combination of Hall, Nugent-Hopkins, Yakupov or Draisatl.

Kuz can take over 1C duty, he's really been a revelation during the Playoffs and the rest of the top 6 can be filled in by the Edmonton players whom while likely less talented than Backy still have the necessary skills to produce. But they also bring the youth and the GRIT indispensable to perform in the playoffs. With the exception of the NYI series where Backy started shooting more, he was mostly ineffective against the rangers which killed Ovi's influence on that series. The two best lines against the rangers were by far the Kuz and Beagles lines that were able to create chances with much less skill but a lot more grit and that's what our top 6 needs some more.

I can see Edmonton being interested in such deal as they are clearly lacking in the D and leadership department and would certainly have interest in acquiring guys like Carlson and Backstrom to complement their young roster with more maturity and experience.

It is a huge move but you have to change the look and feel of your team. The Rangers' roster is much more grit inclined than skill, to the point where you'd be hard pressed to find caps fans that would swap their roster for our roster....yet they win much more than we do.

Okay, there's a lot of things I disagree with here.
First, the Carlson vs Green comparison. You already know what I think about it, I told you in the other thread.
Now, we don't even know when Orlov will be ready to come back with us full time, but it won't be on the first pairing. Bowey is very young, he's at least 1 or 2 years away from the NHL.

If you want to trade Backstrom and Carlson, don't go get the busts from Edmonton. Yakupov is a huge disappointment, Draisaitl can barely skate at the NHL level, RNH is decent but a lot worse than Backstrom, Hall is decent too but would be stuck behind Ovi in the depth chart. If you want to get a player from Edmonton, go get McDavid. I don't advocate such a move, but this is the player I'd be looking for if trading Backstrom + Carlson.

Those Oilers kids have gone through the worst development in the NHL, have no experience in the playoffs and no other experience than losing in the regular season. I don't know why you want players like that.

Our top 6 doesn't need more grit. We already have grinders like Ward, Chimera or Brouwer getting top 6 minutes. If anything, it needs a true secondary scoring threat. It looks like it will be the Kuzya + Bura combo that will provide us the secondary scoring.

Now is not the time to retool. We need to keep acquiring assets to make a Cup run in the next 3 years.
We will retool when Ovi turns 35.

 

[Maruk moustache]

I had it in my head that Edmonton doesn't want to pay a lot in player salary and tries to skew younger for this reason. I had it in my head they are having financial trouble. Is any of this right?

 

[g00n]

This is the kind of advice that I don't think you need to scientifically verify for it to be worth trying. Better abs are good at preventing back injuries, good for playing better hockey, and good for all kinds of other things.

That Zyrtec stuff dries me out an alarming amount, and it wears me out, and it can't be good for you. I wouldn't want to do a lot of sweating, much less play a hockey game, on that or any other kind of allergy medicine. I wouldn't necessarily dismiss the idea that allergies might throw off a player at this level. Down here in Austin, with the cedar splooge all over the place at times, well, sometimes it feels just about like influenza it's so bad.

It doesn't pass the sniff test, no pun intended. There are plenty of fit people with 6-pack abs and incredibly active lifestyles that still suffer from allergies. This sounds like wives-tale, urban legend, pseudo-scientific clickbait crapolla.

 

[Maruk moustache]

It doesn't pass the sniff test, no pun intended. There are plenty of fit people with 6-pack abs and incredibly active lifestyles that still suffer from allergies. This sounds like wives-tale, urban legend, pseudo-scientific clickbait crapolla.

Yeah that's what my girlfriend said, but we'll still both try it anyway.

I gathered the idea was to do some serious crunches on the day of an attack. Not necessarily to just generally keep your abs in shape as a way to avoid attacks.

Last time a person older than myself told me something that sounded like an old wives' tale, it totally worked, so I'll try it if there isn't any downside.

In about 1988, I got a sore throat in a trip to Europe, and it was kind of negging my vacation, and a very old woman told me to go acquire a lemon and just suck on it. And to me that sounded crazy--if that's all it took to get rid of a sore throat, why is there all this sore throat stuff in the drug store? Anyway, I got a giant lemon and basically sucked on about four slices of it, about half of it, and my sore throat disappeared and never returned. It's worked 95% of the time I've tried it since, although normally here in the states there are usually only small lemons and it takes me more than one.

I've got nothing with which to bring this back to Backstrom topic, so now I'm off topic. I blame goon.

 

[Alexander the Gr8]

I'm sure an athlete like Backstrom works on his abs anyway. He might not have a 6 pack, but I'm sure he must have strong abs.

 

[haulinbass]

Lol at Backstrom not being good enough... We will take him in Detroit. You guy's do realize you use him as a shut down center against other teams top players and he plays the most minutes of any of your forwards... I think you guys just need another good center to take the workload off him. Backstrom is one of the best players in the world. You guys have two great players, a very solid defense, a good goalie, just a couple decent forwards away.

 

[RandyHolt]

It doesn't pass the sniff test, no pun intended. There are plenty of fit people with 6-pack abs and incredibly active lifestyles that still suffer from allergies. This sounds like wives-tale, urban legend, pseudo-scientific clickbait crapolla.

Our bodies change internally what, every 10 years? Maybe it was a coincidence that she started working out the gut muscles and a poof a lifetime of allergies are gone.

But its not really rocket science. Instead of taking antihistamine drugs, try and eliminate the excess histamines one may be carrying. Do you know where else in the body that they are easier to eliminate?

If you don't believe anything, yeah almost nothing will cure you.

Its called Positive Thinking. The power of the mind is almost completely untapped. Certainly you have heard about placebo's doing some unthinkable things.

 

[Alexander the Gr8]

Lol at Backstrom not being good enough... We will take him in Detroit. You guy's do realize you use him as a shut down center against other teams top players and he plays the most minutes of any of your forwards... I think you guys just need another good center to take the workload off him. Backstrom is one of the best players in the world. You guys have two great players, a very solid defense, a good goalie, just a couple decent forwards away.

Welcome to the Caps boards, where opinions change every 24 hours. Have fun

 

[Blades of Steel]

This thread is ridiculous