Why on earth would we trade for Luongo (and his crazy contract) while we could sign somebody like Niklas Backstrom or Jimmy Howard as a UFA for a less-crazy contract while not sacrificing any assets??
This team did nothing in free agency too, except lose Wideman and Semin and add Ribeiro. We would of had a solid bunch if we had all these players together. GMGM decided to be cheap this year by adding Wolski. If Wideman costed to much we could of got Souray for 20% less, he is one of the best D in the league, would of helped Green develop. Seriously and we hire a rookie coach that had no more than 2 years of coaching experience. #FireGmGM
you do realize that 95% of caps fans here wanted wideman gone and 100% at the contract he signed. semin support to stay was 20% at best. letting those two walk and trading for ribeiro were generally considered positives.
Agree on the Wideman number 95%. But an NHL GM was in that 5% so we can excuse a poster that may want to keep him. Hell, obviously George liked him. Semin was closer to 50 50.
Ironically, I suspect GMGM is probably scouring teams looking for a RH shot turnover prone D and scoring winger as we speak; as the team appears more lost than ever.
Maybe what msrulo was saying was we had a team that was one goal away from the ECF, and didn't need a lot of change.
While it was far from the entertainment level Bruce brought, by golly Dale got things done. Only now are people starting to warm up to what Dale did, and only moving forward can we see the full mark he left on this team.
Dale took over a broken demoralized downward trending team, unified them, and was competitive for 14 playoff games. Not enough to win a cup, sure.
But it was something to build on, according to some.
I understood what Hunter was doing. It was similar to what Jacques Martin did with the, I hate to say it, 2009 - 2010 Canadiens. That was a roster that weathered through the season with a host of injuries and controversy of new players / coach / system. Can #ropeadopehockey win a Stanley Cup? Anything is possible and those Canadiens made it to the ECF.
Where I had a problem with Hunter was equal opportunity accountability. The leashes JM had on his players seemed to be more equal. But what's done is done and I truly do appreciate what Hunter was trying to instill and he almost pulled off the unthinkable.
So I can't tell where McPhee's biggest failure is really. The roster has talent. He brought in Hunter last year who in turn got this team into the playoffs despite missing Backstrom and Green during a fair chunk of the season.
The roster has not changed much and Hunter went home to the farm. Enter Oates. So how do you know what is needed personnel wise only nine game into a season? For Laich to come back there has to be a roster move(s). Maybe that will answer some questions or maybe it won't. LOL
George is the expert, he shouldn't need 24 games to see we are thin at scoring wing, and know our young D and young G will be inconsistent. If WWW keep scoring, we can survive. Hershey appears to have little to help. We have depth at D and George will roll with it.
Laich is going to help for sure but think he must be at wing after being hard sold he was a C. He can be Ribs faceoff man and keep everyone happy.
Laich Rib OV
WW Nick Ward
Chimera MJ Brouwer
Hendy Beagle Crabb
I think Chimera and MJ did well together not too long ago.
The baby elephant I see in the room is our shoddy tending.
George is the expert, he shouldn't need 24 games to see we are thin at scoring wing, and know our young D and young G will be inconsistent. If WWW keep scoring, we can survive. Hershey appears to have little to help. We have depth at D and George will roll with it.
Laich is going to help for sure but think he must be at wing after being hard sold he was a C. He can be Ribs faceoff man and keep everyone happy.
Laich Rib OV
WW Nick Ward
Chimera MJ Brouwer
Hendy Beagle Crabb
I think Chimera and MJ did well together not too long ago.
The baby elephant I see in the room is our shoddy tending.
Oates needs to settle on the lines, so some chemistry can be established. Ward and Ribs have shown some chemistry, and some one noted that Ward is the closest thing we currently have to Mike Knuble. Roll with the following:
George is the expert, he shouldn't need 24 games to see we are thin at scoring wing, and know our young D and young G will be inconsistent. If WWW keep scoring, we can survive. Hershey appears to have little to help. We have depth at D and George will roll with it.
Laich is going to help for sure but think he must be at wing after being hard sold he was a C. He can be Ribs faceoff man and keep everyone happy.
Laich Rib OV
WW Nick Ward
Chimera MJ Brouwer
Hendy Beagle Crabb
I think Chimera and MJ did well together not too long ago.
The baby elephant I see in the room is our shoddy tending.
There are lots of baby elephants in the room. Offense and defense as a whole are down from last year, without getting into individual performances. The G is just another in a line of issues.
Jacque Martin is a great example of what happens when you play that turtling, coin flip hockey. In the 2010 playoffs, he had a team perfectly designed for this type of play - a bunch of veteran, shot blocking types on the blueline, some opportunistic scorers in Plekanec, Cammalleri, and Gionta and a competent powerplay to could capitalize on mistakes, and most importantly, a goalie who had one of the most remarkable 10 game stretches I've ever seen. That team was able to eke out two 7 game series wins. Then Halak cooled down and they were shut out three times en route to a 5 game loss to Philly.
The next year, with a very similar roster, they had a slightly better regular season. They got merely elite level goaltending from Price (.934 SV%, 2.11 GAA) and lost the coin-flip game 7. Year after that, they sucked and Martin was canned 32 games in. If you want to know what kind of success we would've had with Hunter, that's as close as you're gonna get to a projection.
You simply can't win a cup without a decent level of consistent scoring in today's NHL. The Kings are the only cup winner in the last 5 years who didn't put up over 3 G/g, and even they were at 2.85. Hunter's Caps scored 2.07 last year. On the other hand, you've got teams like Chicago and Pittsburgh winning with a comparatively high GA/g of 2.82 and 2.65, respectively, because their offense could overcome it. The moral of the story is that high scoring teams can overcome average goaltending. Playing Hunter hockey necessitates that you have a goalie standing on his head in order to even force a coin flip, and that kind of goaltending almost never lasts a full post-season. It's a great strategy for a team that can't afford high level scoring or simply doesn't have high level scoring, because every once in a while a team like Phoenix last year or Montreal in 2010 can ride a hot goalie to the conference finals, but it's not a style that works if you're looking to win championships. If that's our goal, Hunter doesn't belong here.
Maybe what msrulo was saying was we had a team that was one goal away from the ECF, and didn't need a lot of change.
Yeah, that's what I mean. Maybe it was a good thing to let Wideman leave, but we could of at least kept Semin. Semin was a hero in that Bruins series, he has the best wrist shot in the league. At least we could of kept the guy until Kuznetsov comes over (if he ever does). McPhee should of offered Semin the same 7m deal for 1 year. Looks like Semin is doing well in Carolina.
Besides a new GM who isn't so attached to the current roster, this team needs a disciplinarian, ball-breaking coach. That doesn't mean I want a lunatic screaming all the time but I'd take someone like Ken Hitchcock. Think what you will of DFH but they played for him. The roster needs a talent infusion and the environment must be about hard working, top physical conditioned, professional hockey players. It's just a soft, pathetic mess right now. They're so confused and, I don't know, maybe even demoralized, they can't even execute basic skills like passing.
Besides a new GM who isn't so attached to the current roster, this team needs a disciplinarian, ball-breaking coach. That doesn't mean I want a lunatic screaming all the time but I'd take someone like Ken Hitchcock. Think what you will of DFH but they played for him. The roster needs a talent infusion and the environment must be about hard working, top physical conditioned, professional hockey players. It's just a soft, pathetic mess right now. They're so confused and, I don't know, maybe even demoralized, they can't even execute basic skills like passing.
Besides a new GM who isn't so attached to the current roster, this team needs a disciplinarian, ball-breaking coach. That doesn't mean I want a lunatic screaming all the time but I'd take someone like Ken Hitchcock. Think what you will of DFH but they played for him. The roster needs a talent infusion and the environment must be about hard working, top physical conditioned, professional hockey players. It's just a soft, pathetic mess right now. They're so confused and, I don't know, maybe even demoralized, they can't even execute basic skills like passing.
The only empty net goal during Hunter was Brouwers for his hat trick. You do realize how many 1 goal games the Capitals won and why that is so ridiculous?
this team needs a disciplinarian, ball-breaking coach. That doesn't mean I want a lunatic screaming all the time but I'd take someone like Ken Hitchcock. Think what you will of DFH but they played for him.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ridley Simon
I think the Blues are pretty happy with him
Quote:
Originally Posted by SimplySensational
The only empty net goal during Hunter was Brouwers for his hat trick. You do realize how many 1 goal games the Capitals won and why that is so ridiculous?
That's some strong reading comprehension there, fellas. I didn't say I want Hitchcock or DFH; but a strong-willed coach like them.
Which is good, because that won't give him a chance to leave the crease, allowing a dozen fantastic tic-tac-toe cross-crease opporotunities a game like our current whiz kids.
I think the caps have a good enough team but need a good sergeant to go to war with. Like the marines you need a good leader that you respect and trust. Our leader is a good player but doesn't have the respect and trust of the rest of the players
