The ‘25-‘26 boredom thread..

[Mickstix]

It's hockey day again! 

[alta]

I saw zero news from the Caps yesterday. I know they had a practice in Tampa.

[Mickstix]

They still lack talent.    Just saw an article that said 5v5 their "analytics" are better than last year.


They just don't have the talent (consistently) to finish. Hopefully they win again sometime this year.  lol

[richkrt99]

The Caps having the opposite problem they had last year.  Last year whole team shooting % was insane despite the talent or metrics.  This year, metrics are not terrible, but nothing is going in.  So many guys had career years last year and MANY of them invisible so far this year.
They have played better than their record, but it just isn't getting winning results  (the opposite of last year)
Other than Wilson (who brings it EVERY night, makes a difference every game, AND is getting results), only maybe Chychrun, and Stromer are performing up to snuff.  Protas is doing okay, but not scoring like last year.  Everyone else is way behind where they were last year.  Leonard has 3G, 4A which I dont think is bad for his experience, age and especially ice time.  He is visible every game with scoring opportunities.  If we were hanging our hat on him to make up the scoring, shame on us, but I dont really think that is the case.
Thompson has been excellent too, but he's not our scoring problem.  (Lindgren though...oof - so much for a tandem 1A 1B)
But hey, tonight we play Canes so that will cure our scoring woes for sure, Canes are always easy to score against.  And then its Panthers and Devils, so I feel a win streak is eminent. 

[Mickstix]

McMike, Dubois and Protas are all behind. Dubois out fucks up all top 3 lines.

[richkrt99]

Looking at the box score from the Canes game...you can see who the coaches trust out there with TOI.  I know it varies and skewed by PP and PK. and there were 5 of each last night which is a lot.
Wilson 32 shifts, 22:02 TOI
McMike 29 shifts, 18:06 TOI (he must be getting Dubois load in TOI anyway)
Dowd 24 shifts, 17:27 TOI  (big for essentially 4th line C)
Duhaime 24 shifts, 16:40 TOI
Protas 29 shifts, 16:33
Strome 20 shifts, 16:12
Beuvy 19 shifts, 14:53
Ovie 22 shifts, 14.48
Frank 18 shifts, 12:37
Leonard 14 shifts, 9:19
Sourdiff 11 shifts, 7:18 TOI
Lappy 10 shifts, 6:28 TOI

Roy lead the D with 25 shifts, 25:15 TOI
Carlson 25 shifts, 22:51 TOI
Chychrun 23 shifts, 19:09 (4 PIM)
Sandin 24 shifts, 19:09
Fever 21 shifts, 17:11 (7 minutes in the box)
Chisholm 19 shifts, 14:02

Our 4th line gets way more minutes than our third, much of that is Dowd and Duhaime are PK guys, but I'd say overall thats an unusual stat for NHL team.  I looked back over 5-6 games and its a little more even in games we win or are ahead, but our 4th line consistently gets more minutes than 3rd.

[richkrt99]

I saw him on the bench last night. I guess it's official today.  (prolly took them a bit to do some background checking) 
https://www.nhl.com/capitals/news/capitals-name-patrick-wellar-assistant-coach

[Mickstix]

Looking at the box score from the Canes game...you can see who the coaches trust out there with TOI. 

It's malpractice what Carbs is doing to Leonard. Feels like Laviolette. If we had a full roster he probably wouldn't even get a sweater. Meanwhile, he's +2 had an Assist on 5 shots vs the Canes and has 2G 5A in last 11 games. And still barely gets any ice. 


https://twitter.com/FrankTheTank454/status/1988437864380518768

[richkrt99]

Leonard got 15:08 of ice time last night, and led the team with 7 shots.  He was pretty noticeable, but like Mick said...he needs to bury one. (Him and about 12 other guys).  Lenny plays much more physical than I expected out of him, he does make mistakes, but I don't mind his SHOOT mentality - we don't have enough of that going around. 3G, 5A in 17 games (with limited TOI) is not bad - 8th overall on the team in total points (which is terribly anemic compared to most teams)
Ice time distribution was more balanced last night all around.

Dowd only got 10:39, but double minor and chasing a lead probably dictated your 4th line guys not getting much ice.  Frank 9:07

[Mickstix]

Glad he finally got some ice! He's got the "it" factor, all but the goals actually going in. Hopefully he'll find his shot soon.. None of our supposed "guns" are very accurate at the moment. McMike 1g on the season.  Protas been cold for a couple weeks now too.    But we'll always have Dewey!! 

[alta]

The NHL took away Marchands goal last night, but still gave him the primary assist. He still gets his 1000th point.      Fuck him.

O fer 2 on the PP, 3 fer 5 on the PK


As long as they stay close to .500, they have a chance. They’ve overcome worse to make the playoffs so they could lose in the first round. The PP is now 8 fer 55, %14.8, 29th

[richkrt99]

Yes, I'm not giving up all hope, but this team sure doesn't look like a contender.  I expect they will improve in both PK and PP, and might make the playoffs, but team sure isn't built for deep playoff run with all the runts on this squad.  There are several guys barely on the cusp of the NHL...you are not succeeding in playoff run with 5-6 of these on your squad unless your top 4-5 are going like gangbusters and our top 4-5 don't have that in em.

[Mickstix]

Still only 3 pts out. I mean, they play hard. If they had a few weapons that could fire and LT stays sharp, they could be pretty good. But Dubois down hurts and there's a few others they can't do w/o. Any 1 injury can/will/is totally derailing them. Not much skill to begin with and zero depth. Maybe they make a trade to shake things up.. 






Why does this site get attacked by bots but none of the others do? Hopefully it clears up by tomorrow night.


You can't even make this shit up. 
https://twitter.com/GinoHard_/status/1989441230401622165

[Mickstix]

Only the Redskins could do that. Caps couldn't even lose one better than that. Not even the Fl Gators.. Just complete and utter unserious unprofessional suck. Oof.

[alta]

Carlson did practice this morning after missing the Devils game with what the team now says is an upper body injury. He is anticipated to participate in tomorrow’s morning skate, but him playing tomorrow night is still not guaranteed. Last night Chychrun had 28:22 of ice time and Roy had 24:28. It was a 65 minute game.

[alta]

Dowd will not travel with the team to Montreal and will be reevaluated when the team gets back on Friday. People who watched the Wednesday morning practice think that’s when the injury happened. The team is calling it upper body.

[Mickstix]

Well that sucks. Hate those mystery injuries.


On the flip side. He'll be 36 when his contract is up after next season. Im sure when we got Sourdif, 4th line C wasn't the hope for him. But he did a heck of a job in that position last night. Haven't paid attention to his faceoff stats, but if he could learn how to win faceoffs, he'd be a nice replacement for Dowd.


https://twitter.com/sammisilber/status/1991344805297942981

[alta]

On the flip side. He'll be 36 when his contract is up after next season. Im sure when we got Sourdif, 4th line C wasn't the hope for him. But he did a heck of a job in that position last night. Haven't paid attention to his faceoff stats, but if he could learn how to win faceoffs, he'd be a nice replacement for Dowd.

 

Sourdif is a rookie, listed as a 23yo. He has played fewer NHL games than Leonard.

[richkrt99]

 

Sourdif is a rookie, listed as a 23yo. He has played fewer NHL games than Leonard.

That Ole Redneck was referring to Dowder I think....he is getting long in the tooth (Dowd, not the ole redneck....well both are, but I was referring to Dowd)

[alta]

could be, I’m still absorbing my morning coffee