I get a kick out of Carbery.
He was totally dismissive of the Caps' win last night. Said they had some good moments in periods 1 and 2, but that's all he could say, and described period 3 as a train wreck - maybe the worst period the team played all season. He does not mince words or pull punches, and the organization, players and management alike, apparently respects and likes him telling it like it is. Whatever else you can say about the state of the franchise right now, he has his hands firmly in control of the rudder. It will be interesting to see if he turns out to have a limited shelf life, or if he can be one of those iconic coaches who can last for the long term.
And I'm sorry, but for me the story of this season in the NHL is not Ovechkin, as compelling as his chase toward goal 895 is. The story of this season is Protas, who out of nowhere has become arguably the best even-strength offensive force in the NHL. I was just looking at the first page of the NHL scoring leaderboard (top 50 players) and virtually every one of them has boatloads of PP points - except one. Protas doesn't play on the PP, and has a total of one assist there. It isn't just the points he scores himself. He drives even-strength offense, and on top of that I think I've seen literally dozens of goals that have been scored by others directly because of the screens he sets on opposing goalies. He is undeniably the best screener in the league. He is not only tall, he is so wide that he is like a wall out there, and yet he is deft enough to get out of the way and let the puck get through. At this point he is pulling away in the league +/- rankings, and though +/- can sometimes be a misleading stat, in his case I think it's an accurate reflection of what he is bringing to the team.
One thing I'm glad of: He waited until this season to explode onto the scene. Why? Because it allowed the Caps to draft his brother Ilya last year, under the radar, in the 3rd round. In his age 18 Junior season Ilya has exploded, putting up pinball numbers that his brother never dreamed of. Ilya is just as big and built just like his brother, but has more hockey skill than his brother at the same age. If other teams had the opportunity to assess Ilya based on Aliaksei's progression this year, the Caps would never have gotten to him in the draft.
