The all inclusive boredom thread for everyone… even Rich

[Mickstix]

That was very dickish of you. 

[alta]

If there was a practice this morning it was a secret. GDT will be up in a while, need to go shoppin

[Mickstix]

https://twitter.com/SamanthaJPell/status/1613305292158009344

[alta]

Vrana was a scratch last night for the AHL Grand Rapids Griffins, I hope he can slay his demons otherwise he will be playing in Europe next season

[Mickstix]

Not sure why he got scratched in the AHL, but hopefully he didn't get hooked on/abuse his meds after shoulder surgery. Hope not, but that's a demon that's (very) hard to slay. All the best for Jakub.

[alta]

in six games he’s a -6 with one assist

[richkrt99]

Caps slid to 4th place in division, and every team has games in hand on them.  Shitsburgh has played 4 fewer games (and trail us 4 pts) so realistically the Caps are likely 5th in the division.  The way this division is, it won't really matter - it's the wildcard spot the Caps will likely be striving for.
They are currently the 1st wildcard seed wit Shitsburgh 2nd and likely leap-frogging us.  NYI are behind us by 5 pts with one game in hand.


 


I'm going to the Caps vs Philthy game tomorrow night.  (I think)
 

[alta]

yes, Saturday night vs Pilly

meanwhile, while it’s nice to have Backy and Willy back in the lineup, it will take a few games to get that chemistry back…

https://twitter.com/ByMattWeyrich/status/1613930368658186243

[alta]

I hope Oshie didn’t tweak something again..

https://twitter.com/SamanthaJPell/status/1613927377884807168

[capsfanpdx]

The return of 19 and 43 does throw everyting into chaos.  I think we need 39 playing somewhere and definitely do NOT need 17 or 20 on wing.  It is going to take a (painful) handful of games to get the boys back in rhythm.  92 must have gotten poor Vrana hooked on the good stuff, sad to see such a decline.......

[capsfanpdx]

folow up:

I listened to a good interview with Bura this year where he talked about not going out all the time like anymore (in Wsh) and partying.  Wonder if he was an anchor for Jake too...

[richkrt99]

Oof.  Strome is a total waste on 4th line.  Put him at 3c or 3L or 2L or whatever, but his skillset doesn't fit on the 4th line.


If Mantha sits again...yikes.  Dude is in the Vrana/Burka dog house.  You know what the next step is.  Kind of sucks cause he should be more productive than he is.  Doesn't utilize his skills very well...OR his size for certain.  Hope this really is a wake up for him and it kicks in.  He's a little old for this type of reset.


It's a little early to be resting guys, but I'm okay with Oshie / Backy / Ovi....shit anyone taking a game off to help nurse something.  Nice luxury to have extra skaters.  Salary cap is going to come into effect whenever JC returns...unless they wait til playoffs.  I expect if Backy and Willy both bring up their play to par level we will see some movement at the trade deadline.  With the salaries being what they are, to me that spells trouble for Mantha.

[Mickstix]

Just feels like Lavi is making this much harder then it needs to be. Bringing back Nicky and Willy in the same game was bad enough, but then swapping all 4 lines in the process put a quadruple ass fuck on em'.

Here were the lines when we played probably the best game of the year, a few games before the swaps:

Ovechkin(C) 8 - Strome 17 - Sheary 73
Milano 15 - Kuznetsov 92 - Mantha 39
Johansson 90 - Eller 20 - Aubé-Kubel 96
Protas 59 - Dowd 26 - Hathaway 21

Bring back Wilson 1st and put him in 3RW spot. Do that until it settles down. Then bring back Nicky and put him in Eller's spot and let Eller play 4LW. Once that settles down, you can start trying combos in game and see if anything sticks. Or swap Eller and Mantha. But all 4 lines with all new people, all at once, is gonna take longer to swallow than small changes at a time, imo. Tomorrow is game #3 of preseason as far as Im concerned.


edit: And now I see.. I guess you just tell Oshi to go fuck himself.  What a clusterfuck.. All the old farts are gonna doom this team, one way or another. Can't wait till Carlson comes back and they send Gustaffson off on a trade or something so we can pay 8x the $ for the same player.

[alta]

Looks like tonight’s scratches are Strome, Aubé-Kubel, Alexeyev and Lindgren.

[capsfanpdx]

 
I really think now that the whole organization expected a MUCH later return date for BAcky (~ the trading deadline or later or even not at all this year).  His early return as put us in a bit of a bind.  If it was near the  trading deadline they would  be able to move pieces better.

I really think the big ? is when are they going to swap 17 for 20.  This should be done, IMHO.  The rest I think are all easily moved pieces.  3rd line center is the big ?.

[alta]

Yep, everyone did expect Backy to out much longer. Just like Hags is, who also had a procedure done on his hip but not nearly as invasive as Backy. I do think the team needs to carry Strome and Eller for the rest of the season just to cover things in case Backy has a setback. Once Backy proves he’s good to go I think Eller is the odd man out. I wouldn’t be surprised to see Mantha traded either, and Caps don’t really need anything for him other than draft pick or two.

[Beaglefan2]

On another note, I just want to comment on how fighting has pretty much disappeared and when they do drop the gloves, they just grab each others shoulders and spin around. Its really just a joke now. John Erskin would be disgusted.

[alta]

https://twitter.com/NHL/status/1614423691923685383

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redneck alert

[Mickstix]

All I needed to hear was the first 35 seconds. Nascar owns all the good tracks that are 1.5 miles and over. No way they let any of these spin off series race there. But a good short track series is possible in the future! I'd definitely watch, but if you want to see speeds over 150 mph in a full bodied "stockcar" Nascar will remain the only game in town, unfortunately. Be very cool to see some form of stockcars back at The Rock and places like that, that Nascar sold but are still standing, though. (Hell, they may still own Rockingham for all I know?) But I did hear it was getting a face lift, similar to North Wilkes.