Post-Game Talk: Wild @ Capitals | 7:00 EST | CSN-DC

[arlcapsfan]

can you guarantee that the 8 seed 1 faces, is significantly weaker than the 7 or whoever 2nd place faces?

If you cannot, how you make the blanket statement that first is better?

Deciding what is best all starts in round 1 and that matchup specifically. Back in the day when there weren't 3-5 teams vying for 8th place on the last night of the season, the seedings were more concrete - who was better or worse had already shaken out.

Home ice is great but feel it creates extra pressure. That is not good for fragile teams. Running scared from pitt or columbus won't win us a cup. If we are going to win it, let's not pray for another cake walk into the finals only to get slaughtered like last time. There is nothing to fear.

Looking forward to who you might play in round 2 will make you lose round 1.

this !!

 

[Langway]

They've mentioned Schmidt at forward if need be but if the options are 7D vs. Barber, Stephenson and the like as the 12th forward I'd definitely go the 7D route. That needs to be in their back pocket as well.

I'll take any extra pressure that comes with home ice. If they blow home ice they weren't going to have the spine to upset anyone anyway. They could finish second, still have that home ice pressure but with a much tougher opponent from a season-long consistency standpoint. It's looking like the WC2 team will probably be either NYI or TBL, neither a team to overlook given what they'll have to to do make it. But there's also the possibility that those teams will have played on adrenaline for so long that they don't have extra juice in the first round. The possibility of that dynamic vs. more of a sustained opponent, particularly a more physical one like Columbus, is worth taking a chance on. You never want to pick your opponent but in addition to the advantage of home ice and season-long weaker opponent they'd also retain home ice (and perhaps home ice throughout the playoffs). Again, I'll take that extra pressure given their home ice record and ability to control match-ups more closely.

 

[HecticGlow]

Honestly I find it reassuring that Schmidt did so well coming back from a stretch of healthy scratches - we're in a position where we have a legitimate top-6 guy as our 7th D, and a guy who's fine at taking regular reps as our #7. We just didn't have that last year, with Orlov and Schmidt's confidence knocked (Schmidt especially was rusty coming back from healthy scratches and Weber finding his way into the top-6 in playoff games.

If Orpik's taking stupid penalties in playoff games, Orly's throwing pizzas, or we need better transition/speed, I think we can be confident Schmidt will be in.

My bigger concern is that Carlson and Alzner will get free passes regardless, and while Carlson outperforms in the playoffs that pairing is still troublesome, and Alzner is still inconsistent.

I'd like to see them partner Orlov with Shattenkirk for a few games as well, so that if the Orlov-Niskanen pairing has to be broken up (Carlson gets injured Niskanen will be back with Alzner, or if Nisky himself goes down) we can keep Orpik with Schmidt and not Orlov. Orpik and Schmidt have brought out the best in each other, Orpik-Orlov are problematic, and Shmittenkirk haven't had time to build chemistry yet.

 

[HecticGlow]

They've mentioned Schmidt at forward if need be but if the options are 7D vs. Barber, Stephenson and the like as the 12th forward I'd definitely go the 7D route. That needs to be in their back pocket as well.

That's only for the remainder of the regular season because of the cap. During the playoffs Vrana will be the 13th D, and behind him I'd expect to be Paul Carey and Zach Sill. None of the other rookies have enough potential to be difference makers to overcome their inexperience.