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R1G6 Caps vs Panthers @ 7:30pm
Surreylily:
--- Quote from: richkrt99 on Saturday May 14, 2022, 01:24:40 PM Eastern ---Well that sucked. I think it was about what we expected going in though, no? I kind of figured we go down in 4-1 or 4-2.
I was stoked when we went up 2-1 but new it wouldn't last. Then I was shocked when we actually tied it. I didn't expect to win in OT, but you just never know with OT. Honestly we didn't really look very good in OT and it was inevitable....I was just hoping for a miracle....hoping for an Ovie sighting, but alas...
Fucking Samsonov....You could see the entire team and stadium deflate when he let in that softy WAY TOO soon after we went up. You just can't do that and expect to win. He played better for the most part than I expected in the series overall, but you can't let in a softy per game.
Mostly, the fucking old guys did pull their weight:
Ovi: 1G, 5A
Backy: 2G, 4A
Oshie: 6G, 1A
Kuzy: 2G, 3A
Eller: 1G, 2A
Carlson: 1G, 4A (and a minus 5)
Mantha: 0G, 4A
I would have liked to see more goals out of Ovi, and certainly Mantha.
We just could not quite compete with FLA. Missing Tom hurt in many ways, hitting, energy, scoring, PK, PP, and just help drives this team.
Backy is smart and skilled and he provided some points (more than I expected), but there's no hiding he has lost beyond a step in his game. Oshie; yeah he has some aging health issues, but he fucking plays. He's not very fast and not as durable as he used to but you can't complain about his compete level or his effectiveness in this series. Same for Ovi...he doesn't work as hard as Oshie, but also hasn't slowed down all that much.
Blow up the team? Never happen....well not in the Ovi era. You can hope for it and want it, but I don't see it happening. This team committed itself to Ovie and Backie and the club and we are stuck with it. I can't see them being able to move ANY of the big contract pieces out anyway. Who would take Backy at $10m? We have nothing left to give away to sweeten the pot.
I expect there will be few changes in the offseason. I can wish and dream, but....I think we are stuck with this. The biggest question is what to do about GT. Both guys are RFA's and DO YOU want to rely on either as a starter next year? Sammy does have some great talent, but also brain farts more than any GT I've ever seen. His rebound control is out of control and he loses his net now and then (way too often) Vitek is a bit steadier, but he aint great.
Not sure why everyone hates Lavy - other than he's the coach and they always take the heat. He has a mediocre team whose best parts are aged past their prime. He has no goal tending to work with whatsoever. Florida is a far better team at this point. IF we had Bobrovsky and they Sammy, we would have won the series. Florida won all the puck battles and all the foot races and the Goal tending matchups. You can put SOME of that on the coach, but most of that is on the the players. Like someone else said....Scotty Bowman could not get THIS team to the Cup.
For what it's worth....Everyone hated Trotz after his multiple playoff failures and even up thru about 90% of the season we won the Cup. Everyone was calling for his head....and then after he's gone....he's all that?
As for McMichael....he is exactly the type of player we didn't need more of in the playoffs...NOT a hitter, NOT a great back checker, NOT a great anything. Lots of potential, but not enough at this point to make a positive impact. Hell, I'll take Sheary or Hathy double shifting over McMichael in the playoffs anytime (at this point). Hopefully that changes (soon) moving forward
Florida outplayed us for most of the series. They deserved to win it. We had times when we were the better team, but not enough of them. We had our chances to steal it (ahem game 4) but we let them slip.
Bummer. (and the lifelong Cap fan was heard to say.....shortly after losing in the 1st round..."Well, there's always next year" :O=
--- End quote ---
I'm gonna have to break this down a bit, methinks....
Sammy.. Played way better than I expected in the playoffs. Agile, obviously talented, sadly has not one functioning brain cell between his ears. I think he has the mental and emotional capacity of a 5 year old.
We diefinitely missed the Willy.
You're right about Backus. NOBODY will take him. our only hope there is for him to retire. ... And yet he put up good points post season. And as you say, our "Old Farts" performed a damn sight better than our young studs.
Surreylily:
As for the Toilet............His decisions have been .... bizzarre sometimes.
Why would you put McMichael in the team and play him that few minutes? 8-0 Why would you do that? Why would you both, CRUSH him and scupper our chances in the playoffs? Totally ridiculous decision. This man's choices of who to play and where to play them have been pretty random. He does NOT have a fucking clue what he is doing.
Oh, and for the record, I was a Trotz fan from early on and still am. I think he's an outstanding human being.
waynerivers:
Regarding Oshie, he's fine as a 3rd liner on a real good team. When he's the guy pulling the cart, you have big problems. The team, to be precise, is too old, too slow, too small on the blueline and has sub-par goaltending. Oh, and the coach is a retread who's been passed around like an old dish rag from team to team. We have to be able to do better. Keeping the same tired crew also does nothing for Ovie's quest for the goal record despite what some people think. If that's all they're interested in then what's the point?
If I were running this team the first thing I'd do is unload Carlson. I don't care how many points he has because he's a defensive liability of huge proportions. There were two times in the series where he tried to play a puck on the rightwing boards and totally whiffed leading to odd man rushes and Panther goals, one around center and one at the right point. That aside, he's just awful in our own zone, I mean really bad. No doubt we could sucker somebody to pick up his contract and probably get a couple good players and/or draft picks in return.
As far as the rest of the defense, I'd keep Orlov and Fehervary. The other guys would be available in the right deal. As I said, they need size on defense which is one reason I was surprised they traded Dillon before the season started. Size and skating ability is even better.
Up front, I'd keep Ovie, Kuz, Wilson, Hathy, Dowd and Sheary. Oshie probably earned another year based on his playoffs. Everybody else can go if there are takers. Mojo won't be here anyway so we basically gave away Sprong for nothing. I'd give ALL the young guys a real thorough trial next year and see who looks like they can do it over the long haul. I gravely doubt we'll be in playoff contention so we might as well start to make the changes right away.
As for goaltending, both guys look great at times but are horribly inconsistent and let in weak goals at the worst times. If I had to take one guy, I think it would be VV. Sammy lets his head take over too much IMO once he has problems and failure becomes self fulfilling. That aside, a true #1 goalie is a must if they ever plan on making any noise in the coming years.
Mickstix:
Carlson earns 8 million bucks a year to make a nice pass to Ovi on the PP. For the life of me I can't figure out why no one else on the team could do the same. In the offseason, setup a cone and put 200 pucks on it every time you're at the arena.. Learn how to put a slapshot in the vicinity of the cage. Done. It's nice to have his offensive #'s but his D is a liability. Wish they'd find the guts to move him, but I seriously doubt they even entertain the idea.
Sounds like Nicky may be contemplating retirement? That'd be a blessing, really. He's also a liability 5v5. Maybe they doctor him up for another season but I don't see 3 more seasons from him. Not as fast as the games gotten.
If they hadn't given up picks + Vrana for Mantha, they'd probably be looking to move him as well. But that'd be a admission of a trade mistake, so I'd look for him to be here as well, next season.
Can't wait to see what they do about goal tending. If they keep the same staff/coaches, I imagine it'll be another waste of player(s) picks and money.
Beaglefan2:
Backy will not retire and walk away from the money. Best case, they would put him on LTIR, however while that might give them some salary relief, there is no way Caps ownership will eat that loss, so I think LTIR is unlikely. Historically, the Caps franchise has always spent to the max salary cap level, but they are very focused on making money - just ask the season ticketholders who see prices increase every year. So you can bet Backy will be back, unless he truly can't play at all.
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