I can see the oncoming refrain now: "We didn't win a Cup! That's all that matters *rabble* *rabble* *rabble*."
That's such an over-simplistic and silly way to evaluate a coach. 29 of 30 coaches don't win the Cup every single season.
Cup? No. We didn't win ****. I don't give a rats ass where we are now vs then. It was a ton more fun. But like a bad night out we woke up feeling crappy.
This team's talent isn't close to those BB wasted.... Or gmgm wasted I should say. Not by a longshot.
can you honestly see a team winning games of any kind with matt hendricks and jay beagle skating 20 minutes plus?
This.
Dale hunter is not an NHL caliber coach.
"Yeahhhhhh you know we didn't forecheck. We gotta forecheck. Oh we didn't forecheck. Yeah you know X player played well he fore checked. Oh well ovi didn't forecheck. Oh well you know of you don't forecheck you don't win. Forecheck forecheck forecheck. I suck at giving interviews forecheck. Forecheck. We didn't forecheck. We gotta forecheck. Beagle deserves more ice then ovi, he forecheck. We gotta forecheck. Oh you know we just gotta forecheck eh. You know fore check."
can you honestly see a team winning games of any kind with matt hendricks and jay beagle skating 20 minutes plus?
It happened once. I would imagine Hunter is capable of adapting. People thought he forgot Schultz existed and here we are. He did play perfect playoff games against Boston and Detroit and in each case the stars weren't left to sit.
Though the way things are around here I can see today's game turning into our version of Gail Collins' Romney's dog obsession.
Still wish we had Muller, but it's not as bad as it could be.
My first post of the night. That was arguably the worst coaching job I have seen in the 30+ years I have followed hockey. Wow. I am excited to see Dale and GM go off into the sunset together. Wow, just wow.
Its the first time his shell blew a lead proper. Maybe Dale has seen a real reason to change besides fan boredom. I don't know another style that would dominate with our C's and G's right now. We are hovering around 500 in the shell game.
I wanted Holtby and want Holtby. Neuvy has had his chance. We need a f'in goalie.
Tex do you think Beagle gets 20 a game if Nick comes back? You do know he is skating, right? Give it time.
We all come around? No, we go back on ignore eventually.
hunter is like those old-time NFL coaches who still want to "run the ball and play defense."
NEWSFLASH: that **** dont work anymore. play the game like its meant to be played, dale. this is a thin defensive squad at the best of times, do we REALLY want to see them spend 20 straight minutes in their own end?
I agree with the Hunter comments for his coaching, but do you really believe this is the team he wants to coach?? Do you really think he is a fan of Aucoin, Halpy, Hammer, Schultz and a few others. Yes he was left with this team, but sometimes this is why I don't mind when a coach has some GM power. He is coaching a team McPhee gave him. I not saying I like the system, but I certainly don't like the chemistry.
It happened once. I would imagine Hunter is capable of adapting. People thought he forgot Schultz existed and here we are. He did play perfect playoff games against Boston and Detroit and in each case the stars weren't left to sit.
Though the way things are around here I can see today's game turning into our version of Gail Collins' Romney's dog obsession.
Still wish we had Muller, but it's not as bad as it could be.
except its not just once. i noticed two overtimes ago that beagle played literally every other shift of the 5 minutes with troy brouwer. semin, who had a solid game, sat the entire ot. johansson skated the last shift. ovechkin skated two shifts.
the next ot was nearly the same deal. in both cases the caps showed almost attack at all, as if hunter was playing defense to get to the shootout.
now this jets debacle where beagle hendricks and brouwer lead the forwards in ice time.
this is not a one time thing. its a growing trend.
I agree with the Hunter comments for his coaching, but do you really believe this is the team he wants to coach?? Do you really think he is a fan of Aucoin, Halpy, Hammer, Schultz and a few others. Yes he was left with this team, but sometimes this is why I don't mind when a coach has some GM power. He is coaching a team McPhee gave him. I not saying I like the system, but I certainly don't like the chemistry.
i agree. hunter must hate this roster. with a huge game on the line, he choses to put jay beagle on the ice rather than a two time league mvp.
on the other hand there things about this team that many hear hate, that he loves.
dennis wideman checked ladd and wheeler last night and played nearly 30 minutes.
judging from what ive seen hunter would build a roster around laich, brouwer, beagle, hendricks and chimera.
Tex do you think Beagle gets 20 a game if Nick comes back? You do know he is skating, right? Give it time..
denial. thats all i can say about this. maybe backstrom being out explains 20 minutes for a scrub 4th liner center, but then there's the 20 minutes for matt hendricks
backstrom being out explains why a 10 minute player like beagle or hendricks gets to play 14 minutes, but team leading minutes among forwards? more than ovechkin on a roll? no.
btw...dont direct your pro dale push back at me. the entire board is in disbelief.
denial. thats all i can say about this. maybe backstrom being out explains 20 minutes for a scrub 4th liner center, but then there's the 20 minutes for matt hendricks
backstrom being out explains why a 10 minute player like beagle or hendricks gets to play 14 minutes, but team leading minutes among forwards? more than ovechkin on a roll? no.
btw...dont direct your pro dale push back at me. the entire board is in disbelief.
I am not disagreeing with you, but this board seems to love Beagle and Hendricks, when we win because of their defensive style. There are about 4 forwards on this team that actually play a defensive style of game, if thats what Hunter wanted, that is why those 2 had so many minutes. I am not agreeing with the style, but you can't blame those 2 for their minutes because the play defensive hockey, play the man behind the bench for letting of the gas.
I am not disagreeing with you, but this board seems to love Beagle and Hendricks, when we win because of their defensive style. There are about 4 forwards on this team that actually play a defensive style of game, if thats what Hunter wanted, that is why those 2 had so many minutes. I am not agreeing with the style, but you can't blame those 2 for their minutes because the play defensive hockey, play the man behind the bench for letting of the gas.
Yeah, Hendricks is not a defensive forward. He's a grinder who doesn't score, but that doesn't make him a good defensive player by default. He's a marginal NHL player.
Quote:
Originally Posted by tycoonheart
Its funny you say this because Ovi was on the ice just floating around doing nothing when they scored the OT goal.
Yeah. My feed froze right before they scored, but leading up to that I saw Ovechkin just completely give up on the play. It's frustrating, he'll stand there in position to make a play on a guy, but he has absolutely no sense of urgency. It seems like he thinks if he goes and stands where his coach told him to stand defensively, he's doing what's technically required, and that's all that's necessary. Someone should try to actually make him understand the importance of his role in a situation like that. He should want to hound the guy with the puck, not just view it as a chore he has to do.
Anyway, the game shouldn't have gotten to that point regardless. Hunter was playing offensive players in OT, unlike against the Flyers, but the 3rd period was an absolute embarrassment. It's pretty funny actually: They aren't allowed to play offense with a one-goal lead, when a breakdown would leave the game tied, but they are allowed once the other team has inevitably broken through their very soft shell and tied it, and then a breakdown loses them the game.
As much crap as Beagle and Hendricks are getting for playing 20+ mins, neither were on the ice for a single goal against.
Ovi, though he scored 2 goals, his +/- was 0.
I love the guy, but he is just not defensively responsible. I can see why Hunter isn't giving him 20+ minutes. The coach wants his players to play a certain way and if Ovi hasn't fully bought into it, obviously he is going to be reluctant to play him.
So really Hunter's options are:
1. Play Beagle and Hendricks, two who don't score but don't let the other team score on them either
2. Play Ovi who scores but lets the other team score on him
sounds like you want a return to the no name lunchbucket hockey of the steve konowalchuk days. good teams. hard working. generally unremarkable. but sure. we can do that.
you are right beagle or hendricks were not on the ice for a goal against. neither was wideman who was out there with those guys every shift. meanwhile the caps had a 3-2 lead and not a single shot on goal and no play to speak of outside of their own end in large part because beagle and hendricks and brouwer were on the ice constantly.
i am a pretty harsh critic of ovechkin on these boards. ive suggested trading him. he is an emotional player. hunter took his energy and pinned it to the bench to double the minutes for hendricks. hendricks was getting the ice time of the two time league mvp and a guy that was dominating the game up to that point.
lets say that was not motivational to the captain.
like i said earlier. at some point you have to trust the best players on your team. to instead on home ice give the team over to two players that might likely not even make half or more of the nhl rosters in the league is embarrassing.
hunter does not trust a single one of mcphee's high end players. i think he would trade them all if he could for solid canadian farm boys who can check and play defense.
Most teams get up after a fight. This teams packs it up.
You can blame Hunter's style, but the giveaways in the defensive zone were horrendous in the 3rd period. I am pretty sure his style of play doesn't involve that.
That was a pathetic display in the third period. And it was 4th liners scoring on us, not their stars.
I hate this kind of 'analysis.' I can run blindly into traffic over and over and not get hit but that doesn't make it a smart thing to do. The Caps have been playing with fire with this sit back and try to do nothing but defend for entire 3rd periods since Hunter got here. It is stupid in general and especially so when you do not have the roster to pull it off.
And just because they didn't not walk away with 2 points before last night doesn't mean they didn't give up a few 3rd points so that stat was always a disingenuous one.
No, we go back on ignore eventually.
