I want to beat goalies using great passing much more often. It starts with Nick. Is he an elite passer or not? .
are you seriously asking if backstrom is an elite playmaker or not? i hope not. if you are considering that he is not, it calls into question the rest of your hockey knowledge.
so far as beating goaltending with passing, the current trend in defense league wide is to pack your forwards down as low as they can go to out man the forwards and to clog up the middle of the ice to take away any cross ice passing.
they force the pass back to the defense or behind the net. the priority of most nhl teams is to take away first and foremost the exact thing you say you want to see more of.
the offensive trend to beat that defense is scoring from the defense.
What is elite. He finished 18th in the league last year. Ovi had more than him. I know he had a thumb. But he plays with Ovi. He should have more assists than Ovi all things equal.
I know we both would like to see him improve on 18th.
wow...come on rh. do you really mean this? so....with only 32 goals ovechkin may not be an elite goal scorer?
I would love to see the quote where McPhee stated adding roster players mid-season/deadline doesn't work.
go to washingtoncaps.com and watch mcphee's presser on july 1. as always mcphee is very careful about his words. his first answer in that presser were, "We wanted to complete out team. We didnt do that last summer."....."We filled all our holes"
also in there is he edits himself talking about not adding a defenseman last summer and trying to do it during the season. sounds like he was going to say that it didnt work out like he hoped which would have been taken as a shot at hannan.
the past two off seasons mcphee has said that most teams do not leave training camp with the team they plan to enter the playoffs with. that there is plenty of time during the season to add a needed piece or two. he clearly has changed his plan.
I pitched the idea in a NJ thread, and the two NJ fans that have commented so far seem supportive.
Urbom
Perreault
Thoughts?
I don't know much of anything about Urbom, but Perreault seems to be "stuck" for the Caps. Moving him could be great for his career. That said he's one of my favorite players and I wouldn't want to see him go.
Yes please. I'm not sure Urbom is expendable but they do have a lot of blueline depth organizationally. If 85 is moved a decent quality waiver-exempt prospect would be a smart idea and considering Hershey's roster & org. depth another quality D prospect like Urbom would be good to have.
I pitched the idea in a NJ thread, and the two NJ fans that have commented so far seem supportive.
Urbom
Perreault
Thoughts?
you really want to dump Perrault for a D prospect, dont you? Didn't you try and do the same thing for the Flyers best d prospect too?
Perrauly is so "meh" to me....if we can get a good youngish D prospect for him, then ok. But we arent exactly flush with NHL ready centre's either, so maybe we need him for spot duty.
I am worried that he could turn into another Andrew Brunette/Johnny Oduya/Sami Lepisto type player. We dump him for nothing, he catches on an becomes a decent NHL regular somewhere.
you really want to dump Perrault for a D prospect, dont you? Didn't you try and do the same thing for the Flyers best d prospect too?
Perrauly is so "meh" to me....if we can get a good youngish D prospect for him, then ok. But we arent exactly flush with NHL ready centre's either, so maybe we need him for spot duty.
I just think a quality prospect, especially at an area of need, would have more value to the organization than Perreault at this point. Especially given that if he doesn't crack the roster out of camp, he'll be exposed to waivers.
New Jersey has a lot of organizational depth at D, and Urbom is their #3 D prospect behind Larsson and Merrill. We don't really have many stay-at-home D prospects with NHL potential in our system. Wey is basically the only one at this point, possibly Koudys depending on his development (but he's a long way off and very well could end up being more of a puck mover). Urbom would provide a healthy boost to our prospect depth in that department and give us another option as an injury call-up. Would rather call up Urbom than Collins if we need a healthy, defensive LD.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ridley Simon
I am worried that he could turn into another Andrew Brunette/Johnny Oduya/Sami Lepisto type player. We dump him for nothing, he catches on an becomes a decent NHL regular somewhere.
Eh....
Entirely possible, but it's becoming clear that he's probably not going to blossom here. We got only a bit more than nothing right now, might as well have a chance at something with a different prospect. And equal (or better) odds that he could end up like Chris Bourque or Oskar Osala.
Also, Lepisto seems to be fading out of the league. Playing mostly as a 6/7 on teams now. Maybe he becomes a career 6/7 journeyman, or maybe he hops the ocean at some point. Still better value than the 5th we got for him, but I'm not crying over losing him. Not really any worse than Brian Sutherby.
right now, sami lepisto wouldnt find a spot in the caps top 7. he was no loss. really, johnny oduya was no loss. a little something in return might have been nice, but where does he fit in?
right now, sami lepisto wouldnt find a spot in the caps top 7. he was no loss. really, johnny oduya was no loss. a little something in return might have been nice, but where does he fit in?
Considering he was traded for Kovalchuk, I wouldnt consider his value "a little something". He was a big piece to that trade.
That said, I am certainly NOT blasting GMGM for that. All GM's waste assets at some point in time, so its really not a failing. But if we lose Perrault for nothing, it could amount to a similar situation.
LOL at Ero with the Metropolit comments. He's not Metro-- least not yet!
I am ok with trading Perrault, but I feel like we are thin at center this year. We may have a lot in the pipelines for later years, but I would only trade him this year if we knew we had another center handy (via Perrault's trade, or via Sjogren/Eakin making strides to make MP85 expendable).
I pitched the idea in a NJ thread, and the two NJ fans that have commented so far seem supportive.
Urbom
Perreault
Thoughts?
I'm completely dumbfounded that NJ haven't thoroughly thrashed it. Urbom seems like a very safe bet (as far as prospects go, anyway) to become a good #3 and has top pairing potential. Maybe they don't follow us much and confused MP with Johansson?
I'd prefer a draft pick for MP85 because I don't think he'll get a legit player in return. And as others have said, he has the skills to turn into a solid player. Would someone offer a 3rd rounder for him? He won't get a chance with Bruce, but Bruce may be gone fairly soon himself.
Than CAN in an pinch. They WON'T unless the Caps are mired in injury hell.
My recollection is that Beagle is primarily a center in Hershey. He plays RW in DC because he's still making the transition to the NHL level.
Quote:
Considering he was traded for Kovalchuk, I wouldnt consider his value "a little something". He was a big piece to that trade.
I think the 1st round pick was a bigger part of that trade package; Oduya, as a trade piece, was a needed piece as important as Niclas Bergfors (solid veteran blueliner/promising young offensive forward--two things Atlanta needed). Oduya did well in the Devils' system, but he struggled badly in Atlanta last year in his first full season with them.
Also, Lepisto signed this off-season with the Blackhawks to replace Chris Campoli. He's always been a third pairing defenseman who does sit a good deal.
I'm a Beags fan, I just haven't seen the mobility I would like from him (to be an NHL C) so far. Maybe I need to see him more. I love him at wing on the 4th line.
I'm a Beags fan, I just haven't seen the mobility I would like from him (to be an NHL C) so far. Maybe I need to see him more. I love him at wing on the 4th line.
Wasn't proposing it full time, just pointing out that Perreault is far from our only depth center we can plug in if someone gets injured. Heck, most of us routinely forget that we acquired Chris Hanson this off-season as well.
Have people forgotten that Jay Beagle and Matt Hendricks can play center?
LOL, On scoring lines? Seriously? Thats not a recipe for success. If one of Laich, Majo, or Backstrom goes down, we can possibly use Halpern for spot duty, but Perrault is a better option frankly (unless, I have said *repeatedly* Sjogren or Eakin show they are ready for that). Hendricks or Beagle centering our top 6/or 9 is not good.
LOL, On scoring lines? Seriously? Thats not a recipe for success. If one of Laich, Majo, or Backstrom goes down, we can possibly use Halpern for spot duty, but Perrault is a better option frankly (unless, I have said *repeatedly* Sjogren or Eakin show they are ready for that). Hendricks or Beagle centering our top 6/or 9 is not good.
Who said anything about them centering scoring lines? Move one of them to 4C and promote everyone else up a rank. Hendricks could probably center line 3 in a pinch as well.
Who said anything about them centering scoring lines? Move one of them to 4C and promote everyone else up a rank. Hendricks could probably center line 3 in a pinch as well.
Ugh. I'd rather "square peg round hole" Eakin or Sjogren into that 3C, and Hendricks is my favorite player. Of course, I'm a fan of Perreault too, so take that with a grain of salt.
Who said anything about them centering scoring lines? Move one of them to 4C and promote everyone else up a rank. Hendricks could probably center line 3 in a pinch as well.
You did. Halpern cant centre a scoring line (not anymore). So who would, if you trade Perrault? Hendricks? LOL, no way.
God forbid we lose 2 centre's amongst Majo, Backs, and Laich....then what? Perrault, for all of his shortcomings, can be an offensive center, and can take a 5-10 game shift on 1st or 2nd line. Halpern, Hendricks, Beagle, all can NOT.
Food for though man, before we ship Perrault out (of course, unless Eakin is close enough, then we are good to dump MP85)
yea, oduya was traded for kovalchuk. what asset traded to atlanta for kovalchuk would make the caps?
youre missing the obvious......someone using the bolded teams moves as an example of, well, anything.... needs to remember....they dont even have a team anymore, for a reason
You did. Halpern cant centre a scoring line (not anymore). So who would, if you trade Perrault? Hendricks? LOL, no way.
God forbid we lose 2 centre's amongst Majo, Backs, and Laich....then what? Perrault, for all of his shortcomings, can be an offensive center, and can take a 5-10 game shift on 1st or 2nd line. Halpern, Hendricks, Beagle, all can NOT.
Food for though man, before we ship Perrault out (of course, unless Eakin is close enough, then we are good to dump MP85)
There's always Aucoin for temporary spot. If you average it out over enough games the dropoff in production from Perreault to Aucoin probably isn't great.
Agreed, though, that Perreault's safety in the org. will depend on both Eakin's readiness and Halpern's ability to play above the 4th line (or the coaching staff's comfort with him in such a position, at least).
