Washington Capitals Fan Forum
Talk about Capitals hockey & more! => Washington Capitals & Other Hockey Discussion => Topic started by: alta on Tuesday February 20, 2018, 05:56:29 PM Eastern
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Feb. 20 vs. Tampa Bay Lighning at Capital One Arena
Time: 7:00 p.m. TV: NBC Sports Washington
Radio: FAN 106.7, Capitals Radio 24/7
Tampa Bay Lightning 39-17-3
Washington Capitals 34-18-7
anticipated lines:
Forwards
Alex Ovechkin 8 -Nicklas Backstrom 19 -Tom Wilson 43
Jakub Vrana 13 -Evgeny Kuznetsov 92 -T.J. Oshie 77
Brett Connolly 10 -Lars Eller 20 -Andre Burakovsky 65
Chandler Stephenson 18 -Jay Beagle 83 -Devante Smith-Pelly 25
Scratched: Alex Chiasson 39
Defensemen
Dmitry Orlov 9 -Matt Niskanen 2
Christian Djoos 29 -John Carlson 74
Brooks Orpik 44 -Madison Bowey 22
Scratched: Michal Kempny 6
Goaltenders
Braden Holtby 70 (starter)
Philipp Grubauer 31
REFEREES
Dan O’Rourke #9, Tom Chmielewski #18
LINESMEN
Ryan Daisy #81, Scott Driscoll #68
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Oops.
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great start
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Oops
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So who do we think Kempny replaces, Djoos or Madison?
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Hooks has scored more goals for the other team than he has for us
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Hooks has scored more goals for the other team than he has for us
I'm almost starting to wonder if Kempny will end up replacing Orpik honestly. Kempny mentioned he shoots left, and would prefer to play on that side and believe Orpik does play on the left side.
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This has that Chicago game feel, could be another loooong night.
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Also, we are on auto-pilot this period. Caps want some Starbucks sent to your locker room or what here? Let's get going. Where is the physical play on this Lightning team? Get the forecheck going. UGH OF COURSE THEY SCORE ANOTHER AS I'M TYPING THIS.
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Oops.
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This has that Chicago game feel, could be another loooong night.
this
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Oh also since I"m here now....I'll make sure my voice is heard regarding Carlson every time he makes a mistake like that. HE CAN'T SKATE. For a skill guy you can't have no speed and a poor defensive stick/awareness. Carlson is too slow for the role we use him in, he's a PP specialist with a good first pass but the NHL speed game has passed him by.
I'm not even one of the "the speed game is dominating the future" stuff, but let's get real. If you can't play speed you better be able to knock those fast skaters on their rear end and make sure to play defense against them.
I almost wonder DC if you were right in the first place, let's just throw Carlson on a line with Kuzy and see what happens with him at forward. :P
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Geez, wtf is with these guys lately. Trying to finish the season the way they started?
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What The fuck was that????
Dump in the middle during a line change?
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Real Caps are back.
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Absolutely awful again. Backstrom can sit his lazy ass for a couple of games. This team is just abysmal. Holtby stinks as does the rest of this team. No winners..
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I'm curious why they put Holts on the back side of this, instead of having him play last night against a weaker opponent where he might get some positive attitude back. Instead Holts will be in net for another lackadaisical slaughtering
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Real Caps are back.
Yeeeeep
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Expect less outrage from Alan May and the rest of the crew as we go on. This team is lost and without proper motivation and leadership. Our announcing crew realizes that job security is their first priority. Expect to hear the “third game in four days” excuse.
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I think the first thing to do tomorrow, is say goodbye to Trotz. He isn't mean enough. Have Riordan serve as interim and let him earn a contract, or dump all the coaches and start again with a Sutter, Keenan, or someone else with some experience that won't tolerate this optional skate club shangri-la attitude
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Ya know, I doubt Victor Hedmam or his clone would get a shot with the Caps.
Can’t skate, to big, doesn’t move the puck.
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I think the first thing to do tomorrow, is say goodbye to Trotz. He isn't mean enough. Have Riordan serve as interim and let him earn a contract, or dump all the coaches and start again with a Sutter, Keenan, or someone else with some experience that won't tolerate this optional skate club shangri-la attitude
LOL. It's Trotz that isn't mean enough, really? Do you honestly think we'd even last a season with Sutter? You guys get that it's the core team that is the problem right? It's an attitude issue with them and it always has been. Every single coach who has ever been hard on our core group of players has seen the door.
But it's okay, like most our fan base I guess is just content continuing to blame the coach even though it's what, like our 8th under Ovie and most of this group? I can't even count anymore. Their own work ethic and mental fortitude is the issue, it always has been. It can be said a million times but when the going gets tough the caps get going, and you can throw Scotty Bowman of old in there and it won't change anything. Down a goal, game 7, THE PLAYERS quit. The players get frustrated, the players give up. The coach can only do so much, this team has been due a huge identity shake up for ages. We either commit to a rebuild or commit to winning with Ovie but either way it should involve bigger names out the door, a restructuring of some our leadership and so on.
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I think the first thing to do tomorrow, is say goodbye to Trotz. He isn't mean enough. Have Riordan serve as interim and let him earn a contract, or dump all the coaches and start again with a Sutter, Keenan, or someone else with some experience that won't tolerate this optional skate club shangri-la attitude
I think it’s more than and higher up than Trotz
This group of players was given to him by the organization. He’s probably checked out like Holts and Nisky has
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LOL. It's Trotz that isn't mean enough, really? Do you honestly think we'd even last a season with Sutter? You guys get that it's the core team that is the problem right? It's an attitude issue with them and it always has been. Every single coach who has ever been hard on our core group of players has seen the door.
But it's okay, like most our fan base I guess is just content continuing to blame the coach even though it's what, like our 8th under Ovie and most of this group? I can't even count anymore. Their own work ethic and mental fortitude is the issue, it always has been. It can be said a million times but when the going gets tough the caps get going, and you can throw Scotty Bowman of old in there and it won't change anything. Down a goal, game 7, THE PLAYERS quit. The players get frustrated, the players give up. The coach can only do so much, this team has been due a huge identity shake up for ages. We either commit to a rebuild or commit to winning with Ovie but either way it should involve bigger names out the door, a restructuring of some our leadership and so on.
YOURE DAMN RIGHT!!!
Let us also not forget the a big part of this core is now locked into long term, high dollar contracts to.
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LOL. It's Trotz that isn't mean enough, really? Do you honestly think we'd even last a season with Sutter? You guys get that it's the core team that is the problem right? It's an attitude issue with them and it always has been. Every single coach who has ever been hard on our core group of players has seen the door.
But it's okay, like most our fan base I guess is just content continuing to blame the coach even though it's what, like our 8th under Ovie and most of this group? I can't even count anymore. Their own work ethic and mental fortitude is the issue, it always has been. It can be said a million times but when the going gets tough the caps get going, and you can throw Scotty Bowman of old in there and it won't change anything. Down a goal, game 7, THE PLAYERS quit. The players get frustrated, the players give up. The coach can only do so much, this team has been due a huge identity shake up for ages. We either commit to a rebuild or commit to winning with Ovie but either way it should involve bigger names out the door, a restructuring of some our leadership and so on.
Ok. So what changes do you make if you are the gm
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YOURE DAMN RIGHT!!!
Let us also not forget the a big part of this core is now locked into long term, high dollar contracts to.
Yeah it's why I'd rather just they suck it up and go for it with some of the core. Carlson is due a huge FA bump and is high trade value, he could go. Burt, Vrana, Connolly, we have players who are a bit younger that teams could be interested in. Not even just this season for the future, obviously if we rebuild you have to ask yourself what happens with Ovechkin, Backstrom etc. But I'd still rather see them get Nisky someone to play on a real top pairing and then shore up some grit/depth/leadership everywhere else.
I realize some might argue that you would be a fool to trade some of our younger players when we have no idea if we are going to win or not. But that is part and parcel to a huge problem with ours and has been. For as much as the management always says they go for it, do they really? Even the Shattenkirk deal last season, our GM's want to be lauded for being smart, and savvy, they always have. They focus so much on this long term game that micromanaging valuable prospects, making sure build valuable depth and the like that not enough focus is spent on what the team is doing now, what it's identity is now. If you were to look at our roster as a hole, what are we?
Are we competitors? I mean, I guess, Oshie, Ovie, Nicky, Kuzy, Holtby, the number of top NHL players on our roster is high, we win games, we score goals, we are a playoff team. But our farm team and depth is some of the youngest unready NHL talent your ever going to see. Those are traits not of an NHL contender. They are traits of teams like Arizona, of rebuilders. I said it before but far too often when it comes to the roster we ice we end up taking steps back everytime we take steps forward. We'll fix an issue like 2C with Kuzy coming into town, and then lose the depth pieces that helped keep us above the board with names like Ward/Chimera.
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Ok. So what changes do you make if you are the gm
First tell Dickless Patrick that he needs to resign
Replace the scouting department
Then Fire Salel
Kuzy, Bura, Orlov, Oshie, Orpik Varna gone
Then tell Trotz he has next season, and to fire his defensive coach or I will
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Ok. So what changes do you make if you are the gm
For the record I'm not implying it's easy, or trying to diminish the quality of work all our GM and players have done. Criticism at this level generally comes with a respect that I know I'm not a GM, same with players. It's not about understanding if I could do it better it's just about relative comparisons, which is ultimately what we as fans all end up critiquing on anyways.
None the less I think they should sell a few players, some of the younger ones, get a bit older/grittier depth to handle a wider array of teams. I think despite his relative youth Carlson should go, circumstance and situation dictate that for me. He's never been great for us in the playoffs on either side of the puck and the increase in pace, and physicality shows signs of overwhelming him. Add to that he is a good offensive player statistically and we live in a salary cap era and he's going to demand far more than he currently makes. Yeah, sure I'd trade him. Lots of teams would bid on him, everybody needs puck moving defenders.
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First tell Dickless Patrick that he needs to resign
Replace the scouting department
Then Fire Salel
Kuzy, Bura, Orlov, Oshie, Orpik Varna gone
Then tell Trotz he has next season, and to fire his defensive coach or I will
Kinda stunned you'd lose Oshie. Orlov to a lesser extent as well, especially if the goal is win now. Your not going to find many skill guys who work as hard as Oshie, and I know your a big fan of the physical play, and size, but I think he's still an asset for us in the playoffs. He hasn't been here long enough and I still see work ethic from him most nights. Last year during the playoffs the play of both he and Williams I thought was good, some of the rare few good play we had from forwards. I guess I'm not just convinced we'd find a skill player who happens to show up more in the playoffs than Oshie does.
Orlov is a tough case, because he has such good sparks. I also think he has improved defensively. I'd take Orlov over Carlson at this stage just because I feel Orlov has more of a mean streak too him.
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Yeah it's why I'd rather just they suck it up and go for it with some of the core. Carlson is due a huge FA bump and is high trade value, he could go. Burt, Vrana, Connolly, we have players who are a bit younger that teams could be interested in. Not even just this season for the future, obviously if we rebuild you have to ask yourself what happens with Ovechkin, Backstrom etc. But I'd still rather see them get Nisky someone to play on a real top pairing and then shore up some grit/depth/leadership everywhere else.
I realize some might argue that you would be a fool to trade some of our younger players when we have no idea if we are going to win or not. But that is part and parcel to a huge problem with ours and has been. For as much as the management always says they go for it, do they really? Even the Shattenkirk deal last season, our GM's want to be lauded for being smart, and savvy, they always have. They focus so much on this long term game that micromanaging valuable prospects, making sure build valuable depth and the like that not enough focus is spent on what the team is doing now, what it's identity is now. If you were to look at our roster as a hole, what are we?
Are we competitors? I mean, I guess, Oshie, Ovie, Nicky, Kuzy, Holtby, the number of top NHL players on our roster is high, we win games, we score goals, we are a playoff team. But our farm team and depth is some of the youngest unready NHL talent your ever going to see. Those are traits not of an NHL contender. They are traits of teams like Arizona, of rebuilders. I said it before but far too often when it comes to the roster we ice we end up taking steps back everytime we take steps forward. We'll fix an issue like 2C with Kuzy coming into town, and then lose the depth pieces that helped keep us above the board with names like Ward/Chimera.
Agree again.
This the time to adopt the Pats philosophy of “trade to early not to late”.
A good GM could turn Kuzy, Bura. and Orlov into 5 or players/picks and gain cap room.
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Ya know, I doubt Victor Hedmam or his clone would get a shot with the Caps.
Can’t skate, to big, doesn’t move the puck.
Lol Hedman might be the best dman in the league. I'd love to have him or a guy like Ristolainen. How come we dont draft guys like that?
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You guys are smoking crack if you think they will trade away anybody decent that has value. They will only trade draft picks and whatever young guys that have any upside for some overrated veteran that is all we need to win the Cup. C’mon, we are THIS close!
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Lol Hedman might be the best dman in the league. I'd love to have him or a guy like Ristolainen. How come we dont draft guys like that?
Just not in the “Caps Stanley Cup Winning Template For The New NHL” crafted by “people who know hockey”
This includes things like “can’t skate, doesn’t move the puck, to big, doesn’t have stats”
We all see how well this is working >:(
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Hedman pretty much does everything well.
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Hedman pretty much does everything well.
yeah you and I know that. .
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Our centers cannot win a faceoff.. Only Beagle, who doesn't get power play time. Bura can go. He's not strong enough to do anything in the NHL. He's a rag doll that gets knocked off the puck easily. Vrana is a young Chimera. Fast as lightning, but stone hands.
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Our centers cannot win a faceoff.. Only Beagle, who doesn't get power play time. But a can go. He's not strong enough to do anything in the NHL. He's a rag doll that gets knocked off the puck easily. Vrana is a young Chimera. Fast as lightning, but stone hands.
But hey fixed that problem by locking in Kuzy, Bura, and Ellet for 5yrs. .
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But hey fixed that problem by locking in Kuzy, Bura, and Ellet for 5yrs. .
Bura was not signed for 5 years
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Wicked shot there. We may salvage a point out of this yet.
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Our centers cannot win a faceoff.. Only Beagle, who doesn't get power play time. Bura can go. He's not strong enough to do anything in the NHL. He's a rag doll that gets knocked off the puck easily. Vrana is a young Chimera. Fast as lightning, but stone hands.
Yet Backstrom is 9 and 4 in the faceoff circle so far and Beagle us 2 and 4. Not sure what you are complaining about.
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Quick, trade Ovi!
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Bura was not signed for 5 years
Not yet >:(
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Fuck
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Ooops, spoke too soon, where was the D on that play? Oshie was the only man back trying to cover a stretch breakaways pass, did we not have a D on the ice or something or did we just got caught there?
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. . .
What the fuck?
This D system is a disgrace.
Leave one top scorers in league alone because the Da playin forward
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Too bad the puck isnt as small as a drop of water, Holtby might have been able to track it.
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Oops.
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Thanks Holtby.. Stick not between his legs and beaten 5 hole again. He is not an elite goalie. He has been figured out. We had all the momentum, and all we needed was a tough save, but Holtby can not do it.. He looks like shit.
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Ooops, spoke too soon, where was the D on that play? Oshie was the only man back trying to cover a stretch breakaways pass, did we not have a D on the ice or something or did we just got caught there?
Rewind it and watch Carlson
It may be the play, but still. . .
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Thanks Holtby.. Stick not between his legs and beaten 5 hole again. He is not an elite goalie. He has been figured out. We had all the momentum, and all we needed was a tough save, but Holtby can not do it.. He looks like shit.
Lmao you blame Holtby for giving up a goal to Kucherov on a breakaway. Come on man. I mean would have been nice if he made the save but its not his fault.
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Yet Backstrom is 9 and 4 in the faceoff circle so far and Beagle us 2 and 4. Not sure what you are complaining about.
Bullshit. Shut the fuck up
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Oops.
if you're gonna hang out here your gonna have to be a bit more talkative ;D
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Thanks to hooks I don't need to watch any more of this
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Thanks Holtby.. Stick not between his legs and beaten 5 hole again. He is not an elite goalie. He has been figured out. We had all the momentum, and all we needed was a tough save, but Holtby can not do it.. He looks like shit.
He's been one of the best goalies in the league for 3 years running. He's in a bit of a rough patch right now but he will get it sorted out. That was a breakaway against one of the elite forwards in the league.
If you want to point fingers, we have a second line centered by Kuzy with two LOSERS who can't fucking score if their life depended on it. Oshie and Vrana are making the second line worthless. That's where we need to fix things to have any hope in the post-season. 1st, 3rd and 4th lines are all just fine.
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Rewind it and watch Carlson
It may be the play, but still. . .
Carlson pinched deep and Oshie was covering for him. That is a set play, all of our dmen do it. I wouldnt really blame anyone. We have to play aggressive in the offensive zone. And we got caught. Kucherov left the zone very early. Too bad we couldn't keep it in the zone.
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Earlier in the broadcast, Joe B actually said “Oshie needs to get off the schneid this month”. This month....
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He's been one of the best goalies in the league for 3 years running. He's in a bit of a rough patch right now but he will get it sorted out. That was a breakaway against one of the elite forwards in the league.
If you want to point fingers, we have a second line centered by Kuzy with two LOSERS who can't fucking score if their life depended on it. Oshie and Vrana are making the second line worthless. That's where we need to fix things to have any hope in the post-season. 1st, 3rd and 4th lines are all just fine.
True. I'd like to see him steal a game once in a while
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Bullshit. Shut the fuck up
Lmao. It wasn't bullshit. I checked the faceoff numbers. I check them every game. Why get so upset?
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True. I'd like to see him steal a game once in a while
Holtby is definately in a funk right now. I was hoping he would start the game against Buffalo instead if this one. He needs to regain his confidence.
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Carlson pinched deep and Oshie was covering for him. That is a set play, all of our dmen do it. I wouldnt really blame anyone. We have to play aggressive in the offensive zone. And we got caught. Kucherov left the zone very early. Too bad we couldn't keep it in the zone.
That’s what I thought too . . . The ones I blame are the coaching staff for using it regularly as it’s easily exploited like it just was.
We simply don’t have the personnel to make not sucidal
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All teams do that with their defence men now. Thats why it is so important for forwards to be defensively responsible. I dont mind dmen pinching once in awhile but it happens on almost every possession in the offensive zone.
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Carlson pinched deep and Oshie was covering for him. That is a set play, all of our dmen do it. I wouldnt really blame anyone. We have to play aggressive in the offensive zone. And we got caught. Kucherov left the zone very early. Too bad we couldn't keep it in the zone.
Carlson pinched on the near wall before the play came out, Djoos attempted to keep it in (and pinched himself) which lead to the breakway that Oshie couldn't carrel as he tried to cover for Carlson. Nobody was covering for Djoos because our system doesn't call for both defenders to pinch. Technically, once Carlson pinched Djoos should of looked behind him to recognize he should be safer on the play given that he already had a D pinching and a forward attempting to get into position to cover.
But I hear you, that one isn't entirely on a single player. Not a great timed pinch by Carlson that likely would of been eroded had Djoos been able to also keep his pinch in. Had Oshie got to the recovery in time as well, would of been cleaned up.
Anyway. At least it wasn't a blowout I guess. Team needs to find it's rhythm. We'll see what happens deadline wise but even though I want to see bigger trades I don't earnestly think that will happen. Like Beaglesfan mentioned in here earlier, not much will be done other than picks sent out. I wouldn't be shocked if we do nothing else either and just run with the one player we traded for, we did give up a 3rd to get him after all.
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All teams do that with their defence men now. Thats why it is so important for forwards to be defensively responsible. I dont mind dmen pinching once in awhile but it happens on almost every possession in the offensive zone.
I’m watching the Wings now, and down by one in the third the D isn’t pinching. They’re on the blue line, hopping on loose pucks, playing down the wall and keeping the puck the zone. . . Ya know stuff our guys rarely do.
Regardless, these plays are a liabilities that are being exploited
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Anyway. At least it wasn't a blowout I guess. Team needs to find it's rhythm. We'll see what happens deadline wise but even though I want to see bigger trades I don't earnestly think that will happen. Like Beaglesfan mentioned in here earlier, not much will be done other than picks sent out. I wouldn't be shocked if we do nothing else either and just run with the one player we traded for, we did give up a 3rd to get him after all.
Us giving a third for him just means that after Chicago waxed us, they made one last call before they put him on waivers.
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Us giving a third for him just means that after Chicago waxed us, they made one last call before they put him on waivers.
We'll have to wait and see if it's a waxing. I was lurking some Chicago forums and saw a mixed reaction to the deal. A lot of fans of that team were having issues with quality players getting good ice time, and apparently they actually all thought who we traded for (Kemper, Kempf, I could google it but it's one of those names lol) was alright. He's not physical but he he isn't shy from getting hit apparently and still passes well and plays well under pressure. I'm not going to say it was a steal either, just some food for thought. Some of their fans felt it was fair value and others weren't all to happy with how he was treated and were hoping to see him succeed with us. We'll have to wait and see once he gets a sweater.
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I blame Djoos on the last goal. Last line of defense (Oshie) is on the ice sprawled out and he tries a weak backhand pass, right to the Lightning.. Should of just held the puck and made a clean pass. Lack of experience maybe? Not sure what Niskanen's excuse is a dozen times a game where he attemps a 100' cross ice pass that gets picked off or just decides to throw it in the middle of his own zone where the opposition is waiting.. Plus he looks like he's on a senior/geritol league with that goofy skating stride. There's very few of those guys aren't getting on my last nerve here lately..
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I blame Djoos on the last goal. Last line of defense (Oshie) is on the ice sprawled out and he tries a weak backhand pass, right to the Lightning.. Should of just held the puck and made a clean pass. Lack of experience maybe? Not sure what Niskanen's excuse is a dozen times a game where he attemps a 100' cross ice pass that gets picked off or just decides to throw it in the middle of his own zone where the opposition is waiting.. Plus he looks like he's on a senior/geritol league with that goofy skating stride. There's very few of those guys aren't getting on my last nerve here lately..
No argument from me