GDT#59 Capitals @ Ducks 9:00pm Sun Feb 17, 2019 NBCSWA, ESPN+, PRIME

[zerofox]

Hey Folks.
My disappointment with this team, and what’s been observed for damn near two months of Caps hockey, makes for extreme frustration!
It almost rises to an obsession, when trying to figure out the “whys”, and causes, of what I sadly observe, overall, with our play!
I want there to be reasons to have hope, that we can see coming just around the corner!
I’m looking for deeper and more meaningful reasons, as the frustration continually grows!


Ya know what!! Tonites postgame interviews helped me partially understand, that it may not be so hard to figure out!! The answer may be painfully right under our noses!  Here’s why:


It’s a simple and basic thing! And I haven’t been looking for it either!
Carlson, who is as vanilla, and mundane, as it ever gets in a post game interview, actually said something unique, and different, than his typical safe, and bland responses!


He said, when asked about the inconsistency in play, (San Jose game versus Ducks game), “We have to hold each other accountable, to continue to play at that level,(San Jose game), not just to come
out and play WHEN WE FEEL LIKE IT”!!!! (referring to the Ducks game)!


WHEN WE FEEL LIKE IT!!..............💥B O O M💥!!!!


VOILA!!  There you have it in a nutshell!! Think about it. Carlson has a rep for being well-liked on the team! I don’t care for the guy, but he does seem to have a good rapport with the guys!
This means that the locker room has an issue with guys giving half ass efforts, OFTEN!!


I know we’ve all agreed, as fans, that it often DOES appear that way! We’ve suspected it a lot!
The thing is, we also throw out a lot of other problems to mix into this ball of confusion!!
I, for one, simply don’t want to believe it WHOLEHEARTEDLY! My brain has trouble with allowing myself to believe, that our Stanley Cup winning boys, may oftentimes not give as much of a FUCK, when they’re out there!!....Ok maybe not EVERY player, but most of them have been guilty of this very thing that Carlson has confirmed!!


I truly believe that this scenario really MAKES SENSE! It’s the best reason we have that provides ANSWERS, and helps to make sense of this random-ass, crap play, ever since at least Christmas!!
It EXPLAINS A LOT!!! Things aren’t so murky to have to understand, when you put “not giving a shit”, as a backdrop to some of these baffling losses!
Are there other issues? Of course! But many of our current blunders can be either directly, or indirectly, associated with this problem!!


All hope is not lost, however! (I say this sincerely).
If our problems are due, in a large part, to players often “playing hard only when they feel
like it”, then the solution is KNOWN easily, as to what they must do!


The difficulty is in knowing whether they WILL, or NOT!!


Brooks Orpik said it best when asked about this phenomenon! He carefully didn’t offer optimism, OR pessimism, in his reply! He simply said, “We will get what we deserve”!!


As far as I’m concerned, as a Caps fan...... I just found a great frickin’ ANSWER!!!


Rush

I have an idea, let's retroactively take away the Stanley Cup championship and rings from the players who are half-assing it. Strike them from the Cup engravings and history books. Maybe that'll light a fire under their asses to earn their keep.

[KitFisto]

If they lay an egg vs the Kings and don't fire TR, then IMO you can stick a fork in the season.

[ArJunaZ]

Hey Folks.
My disappointment with this team, and what’s been observed for damn near two months of Caps hockey, makes for extreme frustration!
It almost rises to an obsession, when trying to figure out the “whys”, and causes, of what I sadly observe, overall, with our play!
I want there to be reasons to have hope, that we can see coming just around the corner!
I’m looking for deeper and more meaningful reasons, as the frustration continually grows!


Ya know what!! Tonites postgame interviews helped me partially understand, that it may not be so hard to figure out!! The answer may be painfully right under our noses!  Here’s why:


It’s a simple and basic thing! And I haven’t been looking for it either!
Carlson, who is as vanilla, and mundane, as it ever gets in a post game interview, actually said something unique, and different, than his typical safe, and bland responses!


He said, when asked about the inconsistency in play, (San Jose game versus Ducks game), “We have to hold each other accountable, to continue to play at that level,(San Jose game), not just to come
out and play WHEN WE FEEL LIKE IT”!!!! (referring to the Ducks game)!


WHEN WE FEEL LIKE IT!!..............💥B O O M💥!!!!


VOILA!!  There you have it in a nutshell!! Think about it. Carlson has a rep for being well-liked on the team! I don’t care for the guy, but he does seem to have a good rapport with the guys!
This means that the locker room has an issue with guys giving half ass efforts, OFTEN!!


I know we’ve all agreed, as fans, that it often DOES appear that way! We’ve suspected it a lot!
The thing is, we also throw out a lot of other problems to mix into this ball of confusion!!
I, for one, simply don’t want to believe it WHOLEHEARTEDLY! My brain has trouble with allowing myself to believe, that our Stanley Cup winning boys, may oftentimes not give as much of a FUCK, when they’re out there!!....Ok maybe not EVERY player, but most of them have been guilty of this very thing that Carlson has confirmed!!


I truly believe that this scenario really MAKES SENSE! It’s the best reason we have that provides ANSWERS, and helps to make sense of this random-ass, crap play, ever since at least Christmas!!
It EXPLAINS A LOT!!! Things aren’t so murky to have to understand, when you put “not giving a shit”, as a backdrop to some of these baffling losses!
Are there other issues? Of course! But many of our current blunders can be either directly, or indirectly, associated with this problem!!


All hope is not lost, however! (I say this sincerely).
If our problems are due, in a large part, to players often “playing hard only when they feel
like it”, then the solution is KNOWN easily, as to what they must do!


The difficulty is in knowing whether they WILL, or NOT!!


Brooks Orpik said it best when asked about this phenomenon! He carefully didn’t offer optimism, OR pessimism, in his reply! He simply said, “We will get what we deserve”!!


As far as I’m concerned, as a Caps fan...... I just found a great frickin’ ANSWER!!!


Rush

 
Not meaning to poop on your epiphany, but I and others have been saying this is the problem for the last 3-4 years. It has been painfully obvious. Trotz would call them out on it beginning about three seasons back by repeatedly saying they had a "Lack of Urgency".  I always called that a lack of heart, a lack of effort. 

Unfortunately, this is nothing new.  Somehow they found a way to drive themselves hard to a cup win last year, but as I said a day or two ago, I think they may be content to have won a cup.  The NHL pays these guys peanuts for playoff runs, so why bust your balls to play for an extra three months and wearing out your body to the point of reducing the number of years you have left to play and make the real bucks, which come in the regular season games.  Just a thought.  Last year I think they knew it was possibly the last chance for some of the guys like Ovie and Backy to get a cup to cap their careers, so they went balls to the wall for each other. Then they partied just as hard in the off-season. It kind of makes sense for them to rest on their laurels and have a nice long summer break and come back to make millions again next year.

I think the writing was on the wall when they let Trotz go.  Sad, but true.

[PUCKNRUSH]

I have an idea, let's retroactively take away the Stanley Cup championship and rings from the players who are half-assing it. Strike them from the Cup engravings and history books. Maybe that'll light a fire under their asses to earn their keep.

Ya know Zero....That recommendation would actually GET some of the results we want!! 👍👍No BS!
The sadly pathetic thing about it, is that it seems like the only radical measures left, that would ignite a response in some of these guys!!!
SAD, BUT TRUE, I fear!!


Rush

[PUCKNRUSH]

Not meaning to poop on your epiphany, but I and others have been saying this is the problem for the last 3-4 years. It has been painfully obvious. Trotz would call them out on it beginning about three seasons back by repeatedly saying they had a "Lack of Urgency".  I always called that a lack of heart, a lack of effort. 

Unfortunately, this is nothing new.  Somehow they found a way to drive themselves hard to a cup win last year, but as I said a day or two ago, I think they may be content to have won a cup.  The NHL pays these guys peanuts for playoff runs, so why bust your balls to play for an extra three months and wearing out your body to the point of reducing the number of years you have left to play and make the real bucks, which come in the regular season games.  Just a thought.  Last year I think they knew it was possibly the last chance for some of the guys like Ovie and Backy to get a cup to cap their careers, so they went balls to the wall for each other. Then they partied just as hard in the off-season. It kind of makes sense for them to rest on their laurels and have a nice long summer break and come back to make millions again next year.

I think the writing was on the wall when they let Trotz go.  Sad, but true.

Thanks AJ, You didn’t poop on any epiphany!!
Like I mentioned earlier in the post, we’ve all been thinking this for a long time. I think you and I, and many others here have noted this characteristic for quite some time now!!


I agree with you that this situation is a good way to see, in hindsight, how Trotz handled the same “urgency” issue, versus Rierdens inability, so far, to get on top of it!


The distinction I was trying to make, about this long-standing “effort” issue, was that Carlson actually SPOKE IT, in the locker room.  A guy who Rierden, and the team hold in high esteem!! We’ve always thought, and suspected this to be going on, (something that Caps management, and the players, realize is an extremely unattractive trait for the FANS to have to swallow), and the team tries their best to avoid talking about!!!  It was that lame-ass Carlson that said it, plain as day!!! Him being one of the LAST of the players to admit such a thing!!!


Orpiks words will be both practical and prophetic, one way or the other!!
“We will get what we deserve”!!


Amen Brooksie!!


Rush

[richkrt99]

Maybe the Caps will just put Orpik in as head coach.  I wonder if he has the fire in his belly that could get it done.  He sure seems to have the wisdom of what is actually going on.  "We'll get what we deserve"  Amen to that, brother.


Actually, I think Huntsey was about the last Caps coach we had that actually had the balls and tenacity to yell at and sit guys no matter their star power.  I really wish he had had a better team to work with.  He might have been able to do something with it.  I think of ALL the caps that never got a Cup, Hunter was probably the most deserving as far as pure effort and desire goes.  That and maybe Langway.

[alta]

......

I think of ALL the caps that never got a Cup, Hunter was probably the most deserving as far as pure effort and desire goes.  That and maybe Langway.

This

[ArJunaZ]

Thanks AJ, You didn’t poop on any epiphany!!

Sorry, when those words popped into my head I just had to write it.   

I understood your post and agree with it wholeheartedly. I just wanted to point out that this has been a longstanding issue with the Caps and Trotz spoke of it fairly bluntly for years.

Just now on the Capitals-Kings pregame show they are talking about how Reirdon should feel about the team lollygagging on the ice. They called out and focused in on Ovie last night making ZERO effort to defend on the Kings goal where Wilson was tripped in our end.

[PUCKNRUSH]

Sorry, when those words popped into my head I just had to write it.   

I understood your post and agree with it wholeheartedly. I just wanted to point out that this has been a longstanding issue with the Caps and Trotz spoke of it fairly bluntly for years.

Just now on the Capitals-Kings pregame show they are talking about how Reirdon should feel about the team lollygagging on the ice. They called out and focused in on Ovie last night making ZERO effort to defend on the Kings goal where Wilson was tripped in our end.

That is an awesome expression, “poop on your epiphany”! LOL 😆
Never heard it before, but if you don’t have it copyrighted, I may implement it, once in a while in casual conversation!


And yes, Trotz had known it was a HUGE issue, too! He referenced it often, using several different phrases. The players did not always heed his words, but Trotz did get a handle on the problem more often than not, hence, why he was so successful here!
I really do believe Rierden now to be a softer style, “players coach”, after listening to him comment throughout the season. That now famous “players coach” expression, is the last coaching style you want to have around, when the team has “lack of effort” issues. I believe we are right in the middle of witnessing just that, now!!


Rush

[DC_1908]

Not meaning to poop on your epiphany, but I and others have been saying this is the problem for the last 3-4 years. It has been painfully obvious. Trotz would call them out on it beginning about three seasons back by repeatedly saying they had a "Lack of Urgency".  I always called that a lack of heart, a lack of effort. 

Unfortunately, this is nothing new.  Somehow they found a way to drive themselves hard to a cup win last year, but as I said a day or two ago, I think they may be content to have won a cup.  The NHL pays these guys peanuts for playoff runs, so why bust your balls to play for an extra three months and wearing out your body to the point of reducing the number of years you have left to play and make the real bucks, which come in the regular season games.  Just a thought.  Last year I think they knew it was possibly the last chance for some of the guys like Ovie and Backy to get a cup to cap their careers, so they went balls to the wall for each other. Then they partied just as hard in the off-season. It kind of makes sense for them to rest on their laurels and have a nice long summer break and come back to make millions again next year.

I think the writing was on the wall when they let Trotz go.  Sad, but true.

Why I don’t intend to be a devils advocate,(though it is a bit of a natural talent for me ), if winning a Cup didn’t fix this issue, it was only gonna make it worse.


Now there’s less urgency,(I can die happy), and over confidence in thinking “well just turn it up in the playoffs, we did it once we can do it again.   


Well, the other teams see that too, and saw how it was turned around last year and will be scheming to stop that and not just waiting for The Caps to loose like they where last year.


Oh well, Ovie has 42, more than double, almost triple the next two leaders who have 15