My biggest complaint against Bruce in the playoffs and in general, he was slow to adjust.
Now George takes a lot of heat for his choices of coaches. But I think Dale is clearly showing he is a tactician. Its probably too much to implement mid season at the country club, but he got started on problems he saw. That's all I ever really wanted from Bruce in the playoffs. Maybe a shadow or shutdown line, tested and tried during the season, and one or two more goalie changes back to his number 1s, that's it.
Implementing a coach like Dale may have been best served done in the offseason, WRT the amount of change he implemented, or George wanted implemented. When a team just stops listening to a coach, the new one comes in, the problem is gone. But we had more problems than that. Ovi had been suddenly solved by the league. Green, out. Lame duck G play. We had to win games as team.
But you can't fully complain about the noob coaches and turn a blind eye to BBs overnight successes. He did damn good. Reinforcing to George perhaps, a noob can do fine.
George has done a lot of good, but with our C situation and Goalie play, I am not certain that ringer coach you wanted would have been able to do better than what we have seen the past 3 months. Those are his fault.
Well stated and very well summed up. I agree with this entirely. I think everyone can agree that saying the team is just in a funk and will snap out of it on their own is folly. Changes, fundamental ones, need to occur. The current iteration of the Washington Capitals is flawed and is not a winner.
My biggest complaint against Bruce in the playoffs and in general, he was slow to adjust.
Now George takes a lot of heat for his choices of coaches. But I think Dale is clearly showing he is a tactician. Its probably too much to implement mid season at the country club, but he got started on problems he saw. That's all I ever really wanted from Bruce in the playoffs. Maybe a shadow or shutdown line, tested and tried during the season, and one or two more goalie changes back to his number 1s, that's it.
Implementing a coach like Dale may have been best served done in the offseason, WRT the amount of change he implemented, or George wanted implemented. When a team just stops listening to a coach, the new one comes in, the problem is gone. But we had more problems than that. Ovi had been suddenly solved by the league. Green, out. Lame duck G play. We had to win games as team.
But you can't fully complain about the noob coaches and turn a blind eye to BBs overnight successes. He did damn good. Reinforcing to George perhaps, a noob can do fine.
George has done a lot of good, but with our C situation and Goalie play, I am not certain that ringer coach you wanted would have been able to do better than what we have seen the past 3 months. Those are his fault.
Just curious, but you did not mention the defense. The defense has been terrible for the last several years. Any reason you didn't mention them as well. Green is close to horrible at defending and his signings of Hannan, Hamrlik have not did much to make it better.
And reading is fundamental. I said I was starting to agree that it was time for a change. If you can't see the good the man has done for the team in the past then that's on you.
Typical of your posts...everyone who doesn't agree with your opinion is a moron and deserves to be treated with contempt and disrespect. I'm not the only one here who thinks GMGM has done some good.
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Originally Posted by XDC-RES
Well stated and very well summed up. I agree with this entirely. I think everyone can agree that saying the team is just in a funk and will snap out of it on their own is folly. Changes, fundamental ones, need to occur. The current iteration of the Washington Capitals is flawed and is not a winner.
1. I have consistently been a GMGM backer. He has made some great trades and solid drafting in general.
2. That said, he is the one that did not sufficiently address our center issues. It is his fault that his hopes that Mojo or Laich could fill the role didn't work out. It is his fault that the coaches he has chosen have not worked out. That's not debatable. That's fact.
What is NOT his fault is the goalies being up and down more than a two bit "lady" of the evening.
There is also the issue of this teams efforts. More than a few times before and after the coaching change they have looked indifferent on the ice. The one thing that GMGM has not tried is a proven NHL head coach. He's wasting some quality years of this team because he doesn't want to hire a coach who has a winning resume? Why exactly?
Just curious, but you did not mention the defense. The defense has been terrible for the last several years. Any reason you didn't mention them as well. Green is close to horrible at defending and his signings of Hannan, Hamrlik have not did much to make it better.
I focused on the bigger current problems. This is his body of work covering 14 years, too much to address in one post.
But our young defense circles right back to McPhee. The window to ride Ovi to a cup was there. We all saw it. He did not address the D to instantly up it to Cup standards. He rode the kids and the long slow development process they need over dumping the full rebuild and make a big splash. Sarge especially. Now going for Broke would only require moving one kid. Green, Sarge, Alzner, Carlson, Orlov. Contrary to popular belief and his excuses for being gun shy, it wouldn't have tanked us for years and mortgaged the future.
Yes one of McPhee's downfalls may end up being thinking Ovi would be unstoppable for the term of his contract and not seeing the window would close. He needed to move a stud young D man (the orgs depth) to parlay it into a guy ready to lead his team on the backend, to a cup. Ovi had business taken care of up front. I am thinking the window has since closed on the backend too. His commitment to a long slow rebuild focused on building his defense from within, and he will not waver.
He did try vets Wideman SMo Poti Pothier Erskine, but they were injury prone come playoff time, and even if healthy, were not what we needed to take the blueline play to the next level.
There is some pretty ridiculous hyperbole in this thread. Anyone who denies GMGM did a good job up to this year is delusional or blindly biased.
And the 'he's had 14 years to win a Cup and failed' logic for firing him is dumb. Do you think Barry Trotz and Lindy Ruff should be fired for the same reason?
He deserves to be fired for his colossal **** up of the coaching situation, and his Nero act with the roster this year.
There is some pretty ridiculous hyperbole in this thread. Anyone who denies GMGM did a good job up to this year is delusional or blindly biased.
And the 'he's had 14 years to win a Cup and failed' logic for firing him is dumb. Do you think Barry Trotz and Lindy Ruff should be fired for the same reason?
He deserves to be fired for his colossal **** up of the coaching situation, and his Nero act with the roster this year.
An important distinction between Buffalo (until this season), Nashville and Washington is that their salary cap is about 10-20% less than ours. On that kind of a budget, I don't think McPhee could do anything better than build a lottery team.
He deserves to be fired for the reasons you mentioned, but don't discount how grievous an error it was not to make a stronger push in 2009 and 2010. And it was hubris that stopped him; this guy openly said he was building a dynasty rather than taking one shot. Nice dynasty, guy.
He deserves to be fired for the reasons you mentioned, but don't discount how grievous an error it was not to make a stronger push in 2009 and 2010. And it was hubris that stopped him; this guy openly said he was building a dynasty rather than taking one shot. Nice dynasty, guy.
Meh. So did the owner, the guy that calls the shots ultimately. Yeah, he needs to go but Leonsis' influence can't be overlooked when it comes to the full embrace of mediocrity. He's equally at fault.
There is some pretty ridiculous hyperbole in this thread. Anyone who denies GMGM did a good job up to this year is delusional or blindly biased.
And the 'he's had 14 years to win a Cup and failed' logic for firing him is dumb. Do you think Barry Trotz and Lindy Ruff should be fired for the same reason?
He deserves to be fired for his colossal **** up of the coaching situation, and his Nero act with the roster this year.
The problem with that is Ruff and Trotz are coaches and not GM's. They have consistently gotten quality play out of their teams in spite of having less overall talent.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Langway
Meh. So did the owner, the guy that calls the shots ultimately. Yeah, he needs to go but Leonsis' influence can't be overlooked when it comes to the full embrace of mediocrity. He's equally at fault.
Problem there is the owners can't be fired. It's time for new blood and since TL can't be it, GMGM is the choice for replacement.
i know i am far too conservative for most here. i just wonder how many gm's are out there that are available and are even close to as good as mcphee even with his faults? i understand the desire to make him pay for his failure.
just dont discount the reality that as fans we may all pay for it too. we've watched brian burke with an unlimited budget to work with. he has a cup. he's aggressive. would he really be better than mcphee?
i know i am far too conservative for most here. i just wonder how many gm's are out there that are available and are even close to as good as mcphee even with his faults? i understand the desire to make him pay for his failure.
just dont discount the reality that as fans we may all pay for it too. we've watched brian bure with an unlimited budget to work with. he has a cup. he's aggressive. would he really be better than mcphee?
Accountability. There is none in this organization from Leonsis on down to Semin.
I'm of the opinion that instilling some would change this group dramatically. Holding McPhee accountable for his failings is a good start.
Ward and Laich will make 7.5 million for the next 4 years. This year, that's 500k per goal for Ward, and a little over 400k per goal for Laich. Ovie at a little over 350,000 per goal is a bargain by comparison.
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mrwarden is in ur threads, deleting ur posts
accountablity. i get it. fire him. ok. thats done. you feel better. whats next? if the next gm is not at least as good as mcphee, the team is taking a step backward and you won't feel better much longer.
i am simply saying that wanting someone fired or replaced(player, coach, gm or owner) doesnt mean the replacement is going to be better or even as good.
ask buffalo fans who have been wanting an owner with a competitive bank account and desire to win for a long time. they got it and their team collapsed under the weight.
It depends on your vision as Dick Patrick or Ted. If you think the team is competing now, virtually anyone will be as competent at putting together a winner. George has grade A rebuild credentials, nothing else. If you don't think the team is in a re-build, you're not too worried about losing his skill set.
i know i am far too conservative for most here. i just wonder how many gm's are out there that are available and are even close to as good as mcphee even with his faults? i understand the desire to make him pay for his failure.
just dont discount the reality that as fans we may all pay for it too. we've watched brian burke with an unlimited budget to work with. he has a cup. he's aggressive. would he really be better than mcphee?
As posted by another member earlier in the year, the best bet is promoting Ross Mahoney. He is the reason we got good draft picks.
The problem with that is Ruff and Trotz are coaches and not GM's. They have consistently gotten quality play out of their teams in spite of having less overall talent.
False. Each has had very talented teams, and not won a Cup with them.
Ted Leonsis wants to think people like him. That's what powers his motor.
Peter Angelos knows he is unlikeable. He doesn't care.
On the surface, these men appear as opposites. But they are actually opposite sides of the same coin. Both men have their focus turned away from what matters: winning championships.
We can argue about where their focus is but we know for sure where it isn't.
The 14 years thing has more to do (for me, anyway) with his failure to properly evaluate the talent he's had years to look at, coaches can only put their players in the right positions relative to the rest of the talent they've been given, but it's on the GM to evaluate whether he's got the right pieces. This year, he was a deer in headlights.
You can be a great coach and never win a championship because you've never been given the talent. You can be a great GM and never win a cup because you've never been given the salary. But you can't be a great GM if you've had an unlimited budget (relative to your peers) for a significant period of time and not won. It's your roster and your coach.
The 14 years thing is completely irrelevant, especially when you consider the fact that the moves in essentially half of that tenure were mandated by ownership.
Not really, by now he should have every piece exactly where he wants it. Every scout. Every assistant. By now, he should know which sandwiches work best in the lunch carts. He's been playing chess for 14 years and his pawns are all scattered randomly about.
Not really, by now he should have every piece exactly where he wants it. Every scout. Every assistant. By now, he should know which sandwiches work best in the lunch carts. He's been playing chess for 14 years and his pawns are all scattered randomly about.
Not buying it, at all. And the argument doesn't even make any sense. Those 14 years have spanned two drastically different eras, and drastically different organizational phases. Players/coaches/etc. are depreciating assets. They don't last. He can't plan in year one what he wants the organization to look like in year 14.
Year 14 has absolutely nothing to do with year 1. I mean, two of the members of the coaching staff were on the team in year 1 (and two other members were still playing hockey).
No, he can't plan player wise. But he should, by now, have every advantage of having his organizational structure in place. And with those advantages, he has failed.
Is there a substantial advantage of 14 years over say, 8, in that regard? No, it's probably diminishing returns. But it's not irrelevant.
If he's been through x number of pro scouts in 14 years, he should have the one he wants by now. If he's been through x number of methods for evaluating prospects, he should have the one he believes by now. That's what 14 years in one organization does for you.
If he was going to know what works, he would know by now and he clearly doesn't.
But even in these sh1tty times, I can't say I miss Boudreau. Too many playoff series where the team just looked.. outcoached (among other things). The last series against Tampa was just mind-numbingly awful.
I'd rather get in the playoffs and be outcoached than miss them all together.
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George McPhee....The Teflon GM. 15 years of failure and counting....
6 - Number of playoff series the Capitals have won since George McPhee took over as General Manager in 1997 (which makes him the third-longest-tenured GM in the League), three of which came in McPhee's first season on the job.
The 14 years thing is completely irrelevant, especially when you consider the fact that the moves in essentially half of that tenure were mandated by ownership.
Yeah not so much....14 years of failure and disappointment are only irrelevant if you're looking to let someone off the hook for what he's been responsible for. When you look at his entire resume, it's not that great, other than lucking into Ovechkin and restocking the cupboards (which is not to demean his job at rebuilding, he's brought in some fantastic talent). His biggest failure is not getting a super talented team the players it needed to round it out with leadership and heart.
McPhee has assembled a roster, not a team. They were the closest to a team they ever were the year they lost to the Pens in round 2. They rarely made the right roster moves afterwards and things started to unravel.
Last edited by CapitalsCupFantasy: 03-04-2012 at 05:11 PM.
