Post-Game Talk: Wild @ Caps 7PM EST | Caps Lose 2-1

[Bure]

You might be thinking of Bura.

No. Take a look at only Kuz for two or three of his shifts next game and you'll see he finishes his checks. They're kind of pointless because he usually bounces off the opposition but he's making an effort. He needs to hit the gym.

 

[Halpysback*]

Did I say that?

Although a lack of secondary scoring was the problem, and he's kind of expected to be a part of that.

Yeah, if only he factored in on the offense today, like an assist on the only goal they managed to score despite generally being on the 4th line or something.

Was every player on the end of 00s Red Wings a heavy hitter? How about the Hawks? Does Gaborik lay down the thunder for the Kings?

Hitting is what players do when they can't keep up with the other team at, you know, playing hockey with the puck and whatnot.

 

[EroCaps]

Kuznetsov does try to hit at times... he's just far too weak to do anything. Burakovsky does the same thing.

but anyways, who cares. We have enough no-talent stiffs to hit.

Oddly enough, I think Kuzya gets more favor from Trotz because he plays solid D, but Bura has more NHL potential.

Kuznetsov reminds me of a greener Nikolishin.

 

[Halpysback*]

No. Take a look at only Kuz for two or three of his shifts next game and you'll see he finishes his checks. They're kind of pointless because he usually bounces off the opposition but he's making an effort. He needs to hit the gym.

It's called the Brouwer special because it only counts for something when Brouwer does it.

 

[FloridaCap]

It's called the Brouwer special because it only counts for something when Brouwer does it.

hahahaha, ain't that the truth. King of bouncing off players to rack up hit totals.

 

[Bure]

It's called the Brouwer special because it only counts for something when Brouwer does it.

doesn't brouw have an enormous amount of hits each year?

 

[SpinningEdge]

What's scary is..... MoJO is the guy that we have slotted in at 1st line RW the rest of the season?

Yikes.

 

[Bure]

What's scary is..... MoJO is the guy that we have slotted in at 1st line RW the rest of the season?

Yikes.

Beagle

 

[Suds]

Trotz was out-Trotzed this game....Two of the same boring styles hockey but one team was slightly better then the other.

The game shines a huge spotlight on the secondary scoring. I really thought the Caps would play better and score more.

1 greasy (somewhat lucky) goal from GlenX.

 

[FloridaCap]

What's scary is..... MoJO is the guy that we have slotted in at 1st line RW the rest of the season?

Yikes.

What's even scarier is that he was clearly one of our better players tonight... and he's not even that good.

No forward depth.

 

[NobodyBeatsTheWiz]

A wrister to the top corner is lucky and greasy?

 

[troyerlaw]

I don't think I've seen Kuznetsov throw 1 hit all year.

Someone explain to me how or when he's going to be a prominent fixture within the Caps new "heavy style" of hockey?

He's soft and shoots less than Backis.

Well, even with a 'heavy' style, you need a few skill players. That's just how it works. You don't want 20 wilson and lattas.

Kuz has nice speed, fantastic hands, and passes well. His ceiling is a hell of a lot higher than MoJo anyway, at least in my book.

And as for hitting, i dont see Ward, Laich or Brouwer throwing a million hits either.

 

[KevinM]

What's even scarier is that he was clearly one of our better players tonight... and he's not even that good.

No forward depth.

Backy set him up for those shots perfectly, he was wide open with a ton of time, Ovi would have killed for those chances.

A wrister to the top corner is lucky and greasy?

+1 that was a snipe

 

[FloridaCap]

Backy set him up for those shots perfectly, he was wide open with a ton of time, Ovi would have killed for those chances.


+1 that was a snipe

Still have to be in the right spot at the right time. He was playing better hockey than 95% of our forwards tonight. Ovi would have potted them because he's clearly the better player. My point is Mojo stood out from most of our other crappy forwards tonight, and he's not even particularly good.

 

[Mothra]

.... because I'm thinking smartly about next year. We have no goal scoring offense outside of Ovi. No one is even a avg 20 goal scorer on the team besides him. With the raises Holtby, Kuzy, Johansson, etc are going to get - there isn't going to be money to get a goal scoring/upgrade at forward anyways. In fact, with Beagle/Johansson/Kuzy/Ward/Fehr all going to want to get paid even more - chances are we're actually going to LOSE offense at the forward position next year. That's what I'm worried about. I feel we need a good D or we're in trouble.

The free agents this summer are all 2nd at best or 3rd line guys. Those guys are going to get overpaid b/c there is no for sure top line guy available. We can't and shouldn't overpay for one of them. We don't want to have a David Clarkson situation on our hands... or another Brooks Laich.

I think when you rely on Ovi and Backstrom to do the scoring as much as we do (since we have no secondary consistent scorers), we NEED to have a lock down D on all our lines. It's almost a must.

We gave up 2 goals at home tonight. D overall did fine. Not an issue. That should get you a win every time.

none of this makes sense seeing how you, again, want to spend 5-6 mil on 52.

You talk about not having enough offense outside the 1st line
You talk about not having money to upgrade the forward
You say you want to re-sign 52

If you want to re-sign 52 you are essentially prioritizing 3rd paring D over 2nd line offense.

 

[artilector]

This game didn't reveal anything we didn't already know about the Caps.

Secondary scoring is crap, Green is always ready to cost a goal in a close game. Everything else is decent, shrug.

Doesn't really change playoff expectations. It will just be 6-7 games of this in every series, just with a few more Ovi hightlights/snipes.

 

[SpinningEdge]

none of this makes sense seeing how you, again, want to spend 5-6 mil on 52.

You talk about not having enough offense outside the 1st line
You talk about not having money to upgrade the forward
You say you want to re-sign 52

If you want to re-sign 52 you are essentially prioritizing 3rd paring D over 2nd line offense.

... that's because what Green provides offensively (going to get 45-50 points this season) is what a second line guy would provide anyways. Why pay a second line guy who gets 45-50 points 4-6 million/season when you can just sign Green and get that production in Green who not only does that already -but also has proven to be pretty good on the 3rd line D.

Right now our goals per game is 6th in NHL and goals against is 6th in the NHL. Our defense is 3rd in the NHL in scoring, which is also doing the job defensively. That's pretty good and we've needed it. If our D goes from Green's close to 40 points on the year to someone with 15 - that brings our goals per game to 15th in the NHL. That's a huge drop off.

Green had a terrible game changing turnover today. I'm not defending it. It was a lazy unacceptable play that late in the game. I 100% agree. However, lets not think he didn't help hold the 3rd line and be the reason the 3rd line hasn't been a liability for most of the season too.

Trust me... I'd love to find a way to get two All Star caliber players on the 2nd line, but I just don't see it out there... that's why I believe keeping Green is just the best way to have a for sure chance of contending again. If we lose Green it's not like that just means we're going to go get a superstar 1st or 2nd line guy in his place. For one, we can't afford it. Two, there's none available this summer.

 

[Jesus comma Brodin]

Hey friends,

I come in peace as a Minny fan. Wanted to ask you about your commentator... The play by play guy is IMO very good. I am currently traveling so I watched to the game on NHL Gamecenter and will always choose the non-Minnesota commentators because they're so bad. I don't know your main guys name but I enjoyed listening, the color commentary... not as much.

Just wanted to know what you all thought about the both of them.

Good game, can't wait to watch you in the playoffs!

 

[FloridaCap]

Hey friends,

I come in peace as a Minny fan. Wanted to ask you about your commentator... The play by play guy is IMO very good. I am currently traveling so I watched to the game on NHL Gamecenter and will always choose the non-Minnesota commentators because they're so bad. I don't know your main guys name but I enjoyed listening, the color commentary... not as much.

Just wanted to know what you all thought about the both of them.

Good game, can't wait to watch you in the playoffs!

PBP guy is Joe Beninati. He's really good.

Color guy is Craig Laughlin. He's fun for Caps fans, but he's a homer and can get annoying sometimes.

 

[KevinM]

The play-by-play guy is Joe Beninati and he's one of the best in the business. Craig Laughlin is the color commentator who is okay once you get accustomed to his weird voice but he does occasionally say some stupid and biased things.

 

[artilector]

... that's because what Green provides offensively (going to get 45-50 points this season) is what a second line guy would provide anyways. Why pay a second line guy who gets 45-50 points 4-6 million/season when you can just sign Green and get that production in Green who not only does that already -but also has proven to be pretty good on the 3rd line D.

Right now our goals per game is 6th in NHL and goals against is 6th in the NHL. Our defense is 3rd in the NHL in scoring, which is also doing the job defensively. That's pretty good and we've needed it. If our D goes from Green's close to 40 points on the year to someone with 15 - that brings our goals per game to 15th in the NHL. That's a huge drop off.

Green had a terrible game changing turnover today. I'm not defending it. It was a lazy unacceptable play that late in the game. I 100% agree. However, lets not think he didn't help hold the 3rd line and be the reason the 3rd line hasn't been a liability for most of the season too.

Trust me... I'd love to find a way to get two All Star caliber players on the 2nd line, but I just don't see it out there... that's why I believe keeping Green is just the best way to have a for sure chance of contending again. If we lose Green it's not like that just means we're going to go get a superstar 1st or 2nd line guy in his place. For one, we can't afford it. Two, there's none available this summer.

Because, IMO:

1. PP with Carlson is just as effective as with Green, so there's 16 (of current 36) Green points you can simply replace.
2. Without PP, Green is what, a 25 pt guy? A 30 pt guy? If you drop off to a 15-20 pt 3rd pair guy, that's only maybe a 10-15 pt difference.
3. With Green gone, you'll likely allow fewer goals, fewer dumb unnecessary goals (unlike goals that opponents would score on anybody, these are Green-special back-breaking goals), fewer goals in tight Trotz-type games, etc. Those could easily account for more than the 10-15 pt negative difference.
4. With Green gone, you'll have one less fragile player that is highly questionable to survive a full SC run.
5. Getting a solid top-6 forward would not just mean individual improvement -- it could completely change the effectiveness of the 2nd line and improve the stats of at least 2 other linemates. If you find a forward that clicks with Kuz, you can get two great players.
6. Getting a solid 2nd line would improve the whole team by tilting the ice more, putting more pressure on opponents.

Honestly, I find it incredible that you don't seem to even understand these arguments. I mean, you acknowledge them, but then the next day you come back with same stats-in-a-vacuum, as if Green's positive and negative contributions can even remotely be summarized by reading off regular season point totals.

 

[bur and 666 others]

I don't think I've seen Kuznetsov throw 1 hit all year.

Someone explain to me how or when he's going to be a prominent fixture within the Caps new "heavy style" of hockey?

He's soft and shoots less than Backis.

I get the impression the playoffs this year are some sort of lame testing ground for next year, because I fully expect them to flame out.

I saw him hitting, 2 games ago (was it Toronto?) he actually separated a guy from the puck by hit. I feel he's getting better at this department. Also I feel his timing at hitting is good: good intention, bad execution, which says he got a good hockey sense. I wouldn't call him soft (though at the beginning of the year he was), he's a poor Backstrom's man in my eyes. Hopefully we can develop him nicely. Anyway Backies doesn't hit either and he is a good hockey player.

Was it that bad game? Saw the 1st period and we were good, left and came back to find out that we lost and a fan through a shoe.

 

[artilector]

Hey friends,

I come in peace as a Minny fan. Wanted to ask you about your commentator... The play by play guy is IMO very good. I am currently traveling so I watched to the game on NHL Gamecenter and will always choose the non-Minnesota commentators because they're so bad. I don't know your main guys name but I enjoyed listening, the color commentary... not as much.

Just wanted to know what you all thought about the both of them.

Good game, can't wait to watch you in the playoffs!

Pretty spot on. The main guy is a pro and a non-homer, like those good Canadian commentators. The color guy is mostly annoying and supplies -20 to listeners' IQ, but more in a harmless clown sort of way.

 

[ALLCAPSALLTHETIME]

Tough loss. Minny plays a mind numbing, boring defensive style that sadly is quite effective for them. I'm glad the Caps don't have to play them more than twice a year.

The Wild have to have the most boring team in the history of the NHL. They have always been dull to watch.

 

[FloridaCap]

Because, IMO:

1. PP with Carlson is just as effective as with Green, so there's 16 (of current 36) Green points you can simply replace.
2. Without PP, Green is what, a 25 pt guy? A 30 pt guy? If you drop off to a 15-20 pt 3rd pair guy, that's only maybe a 10-15 pt difference.
3. With Green gone, you'll likely allow fewer goals, fewer dumb unnecessary goals (unlike goals that opponents would score on anybody, these are Green-special back-breaking goals), fewer goals in tight Trotz-type games, etc. Those could easily account for more than the 10-15 pt negative difference.
4. With Green gone, you'll have one less fragile player that is highly questionable to survive a full SC run.
5. Getting a solid top-6 forward would not just mean individual improvement -- it could completely change the effectiveness of the 2nd line and improve the stats of at least 2 other linemates. If you find a forward that clicks with Kuz, you can get two great players.
6. Getting a solid 2nd line would improve the whole team by tilting the ice more, putting more pressure on opponents.

Honestly, I find it incredible that you don't seem to even understand these arguments. I mean, you acknowledge them, but then the next day you come back with same stats-in-a-vacuum, as if Green's positive and negative contributions can even remotely be summarized by reading off regular season point totals.

Highly disagree that a Green replacement would mean less goals against. Green has the puck on his stick more than any other defenseman on our team, and in turn, looks like he gives up more goals than anyone else... but that's far from the truth. Replace Green with a real 3rd-pairing dman, and our defense is significantly worse.

Also, even if you ignore the PP altogether, Green is still among the best point-producers in the business at 5v5, as seen on his HERO chart (notice the P/60):

There's also not really any solid top-6 forwards available this summer to solidify our 2nd line with. It's pretty much trade or bust.

Bottom line is the only way Green is coming back is if we bait some team into taking Laich off our hands. Laich likely spells the end of Green, and we'll feel it when we have to replace him with a cheap defender.