McPhee's most successful playoff teams have had IMPACT vets added at the deadline or during the season. I don't see him changing that tactic.
i got it from the following:
* arnott apparantly arrived with the knee injury that required surgery and he was not fully recovered by playoff time and it showed.
* mcphee pointedly commented that he felt like adding players at the deadline was not working and that he wanted this season to fill his roster holes in the offseason and go to training camp with his playoff team. go back to the post ufa press comments where he says this. refer to his comments in previous training camps where he says that most teams DONT leave camp with their final playoff squad.
this is a direct contridiction of his previous position. he has changed it or someone above him changed it. this tells me that the team has evaluated this strategy as being flawed.
RH...i like that line, but realistically who passes the puck to semin? on the rush neither of those two guys are remotely play makers. they are both fine chasers and retriever and they can finish around the net, but none of them can pass the puck in open ice.
Semin controls the puck anyways. Semin is probably the best passer on the team. Throw the puck to Semin and let him be the playmaker. He can pass and he can shoot.
With Brow and Laich, he needs to pass a bit more than he is used to. But Laich certainly better be able to make an average NHL pass making 4.5. Slap passes towards Semin. Pass it as hard as possible, Semin can catch the high heat. Laich at C should be looking to pass more.
Semin and MJ = my fear is that no matter the LW, they will be too soft. Failed 2 combos usually had Flash and Semin. Wonder why Laich at C failed still? If they dont score on the rush, its wasnt going to happen from board work. Now we can bring it in crash the net and work the boards.
Laich at C has always had butter soft wingers. Lets see what Semin can do with them. Like Ovi, Semin doesnt need skilled linemates to pot 40.
Semin controls the puck anyways. Semin is probably the best passer on the team. Throw the puck to Semin and let him be the playmaker. He can pass and he can shoot.
With Brow and Laich, he needs to pass a bit more than he is used to..
you are essentially turning the best wrist shot on the team into a passer. are you sure thats what you want to do?
you are essentially turning the best wrist shot on the team into a passer. are you sure thats what you want to do?
Thats part of an odd backlash in sports these days. A decade or so ago in sports like basketball, hockey, and soccer we had to many ball/puck hogs, now it seems to many players are guilty of overpassing. Though between the two overpassing is the lesser of two evils.
Semin controls the puck anyways. Semin is probably the best passer on the team. Throw the puck to Semin and let him be the playmaker. He can pass and he can shoot.
With Brow and Laich, he needs to pass a bit more than he is used to. But Laich certainly better be able to make an average NHL pass making 4.5. Slap passes towards Semin. Pass it as hard as possible, Semin can catch the high heat. Laich at C should be looking to pass more.
Semin and MJ = my fear is that no matter the LW, they will be too soft. Failed 2 combos usually had Flash and Semin. Wonder why Laich at C failed still? If they dont score on the rush, its wasnt going to happen from board work. Now we can bring it in crash the net and work the boards.
Laich at C has always had butter soft wingers. Lets see what Semin can do with them. Like Ovi, Semin doesnt need skilled linemates to pot 40.
Agree with everything you said but highlighted. Backstrom is a better passer imo.
correct. if semin is the puck carrier and the puck distributor, the same applies as we know given those three players together the defense is going to force 28 to give up the puck.
"The Washington Capitals didn't extend an offer to Scott Hannan, and it doesn't like they plan to -- either that, or Hannan won't go back. Hannan's agent, Don Meehan, asked if his client would possibly play in Washington next season, and he told the Washington Times, "That won't happen."
The 32-year-old carried a $4.5 million cap hit last season but it's extremely unlikely he'll get anything close to that number this season. Still, he's among the best free agents available right now and he should have no trouble finding a job."
The 32-year-old carried a $4.5 million cap hit last season but it's extremely unlikely he'll get anything close to that number this season. Still, he's among the best free agents available right now and he should have no trouble finding a job.
I find this amusing. The dust has settled and the NHL is about a month away from the camps starting.
Vlad i dont doubt Nick is a better passer than semin, i just didnt see it last year. In shape or not, passing should be his strong suit.
Tex you stole my thunder but i have wanted to say lets re-eval all those "great" deadline pickups. I liked them but at some point we should look back. Those were moves to land a cup most years, not to make the playoffs. Outside of the Huet pickup, his moves have largely failed him.
semin may be able to throw a better pass than backstrom, but there's no chance that semin is a better playmaker than backstrom. so...backstrom uses his passing skills much better than semin. i'd much prefer backstrom to lead a 3 on 2 rush than semin.
@442 hannan is having trouble finding a job or he doesnt want one. colin white was bought out and signed with san jose the next day.
you'd think that san jose is a place hannan would have wanted. is he that much better than white? realistically, remaining free agents
get one year deals are bargain prices.
Randy, i hope last year was more of an anomaly then a norm, this year will tell a lot... The year of return of a king (to at least 50 goals) and Nicky!
Randy, i hope last year was more of an anomaly then a norm, this year will tell a lot... The year of return of a king (to at least 50 goals) and Nicky!
I have a high standard that should reflect our skill level. Our monster offensive year, I still wanted to see more Oilers 1985 grade passing and plays. We score a ton of goals on great individual efforts, beating goalies on great shots.
I want to beat goalies using great passing much more often. It starts with Nick. Is he an elite passer or not?
Our PP this year needs to show that great passing we all know between Nick Semin Green Ovi and MJ, we should see making for some tap in goals. If we wont see it on the PP, it may be a long year.
And Myst, remind me again why Laich paired with Brouwer and Ward wouldnt make a good scoring line? You yourself think Brouwer is a top 6 player. You applauded Laich's 4m+ yearly contract, and that salary should make him squarely top 9. So would you rather he play wing (even though GMGM has said repeatedly he's playing centre, and you have such insight into his feelings?) with Majo, or have Majo as 3C? Why do you think those players don't compliment each other?
Either way, we need a top 9 forward if Sjogren and Eakin arent ready.
Just because players are good doesn't mean they'll work together well.
Brouwer is a guy who can pot 20+ goals crashing the net and burying more skilled players' leftovers. He feeds of having other players to create the offenses, and then he buries it from the slot or in a crease battle. He's a guy who finds his way into high scoring density areas of the offensive zone, but needs other players to get him the puck there.
Laich is not a playmaker. His game is fairly similar to Brouwers' in set pieces. He finds the open ice or battles in front of the net for opportunities. He has a lot more transition offense than Brouwer, and can create turnovers in the neutral or defensive zone that create opportunities for the Caps (and he has enough hands to bury them). But he's not great at distributing the puck and he's not the guy I want to have carrying the puck on his stick, tasked with generating offense for the line.
Ward scores based on hard work and the opponent making mistakes. He can turn a giveaway into a goal (similar to Laich) and he has a decent shot if given space, but most of his opportunities are a result of working hard down low in the offensive zone. He's not a guy who generates his own opportunities, but instead feeds off of loose pucks or other players feeding him one-timers.
All three of those players need other guys to get them the puck to score. That line would be too dependent on the opponents' miscues and the transition game to have any sort of consistent offensive contribution. It would take, not one, but two players with the ability to pot 20+ goals as a 2nd liner and eliminate a lot of their offensive chances. Granted, Brooks Laich would still get some points from his play on special teams, but neutralizing two 20 goal scorers is not good use of talent.
Don't base your lines off of salary. Or else we should be paving a way for Joel Ward into our top 6 ahead of guys like Brouwer, Knuble, or Johansson. I supported the Laich signing because of the market for players who could replace him being equally (if not more) expensive and his flexibility to play in all situations. Even if he's just giving you 3rd line minutes at even strength, he's a guy you can plug in at multiple locations on the powerplay and count on to kill penalties. Not to mention his defensive play.
As for needing another top 9 forward, we have Jason Chimera. While I certainly wouldn't mind someone like Eakin or Sjogren pushing him down to a 4th line energy role, he's a guy that's capable of playing on a contenders' 3rd line in the right situation. In fact, I think he'd be a better partner for a Laich-Ward pairing than Brouwer would. Chimera's speed would be very useful in the dump-and-chase style that line would use, and the combination of his speed and his hard slapper can help create offense for the line. Less overlap of skills if Chimera is on that line compared to Brouwer.
I find this amusing. The dust has settled and the NHL is about a month away from the camps starting.
That is quite amusing. I'm kinda surprised he's still sitting out there though. His last contract was ridiculous but he would make a good depth guy for a contending team. Perhaps he still wants too much money.
* arnott apparantly arrived with the knee injury that required surgery and he was not fully recovered by playoff time and it showed.
* mcphee pointedly commented that he felt like adding players at the deadline was not working and that he wanted this season to fill his roster holes in the offseason and go to training camp with his playoff team. go back to the post ufa press comments where he says this. refer to his comments in previous training camps where he says that most teams DONT leave camp with their final playoff squad.
this is a direct contridiction of his previous position. he has changed it or someone above him changed it. this tells me that the team has evaluated this strategy as being flawed.
I would love to see the quote where McPhee stated adding roster players mid-season/deadline doesn't work.
__________________
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.
I believe that quote was from around draft time and in response to trading the first for a player now. Don't remember full quote and I didn't read the quote as saying he was against adding players at deadline. Just that he'd rather have the full team together from camp. Which to me makes little sense in a cap era. But with Poti LTIR. It may not matter cause you're not accumulating cap space.
I can't find a video of just that play, but that really shows his ability to feed a puck through a tiny window.
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.
I have a high standard that should reflect our skill level. Our monster offensive year, I still wanted to see more Oilers 1985 grade passing and plays. We score a ton of goals on great individual efforts, beating goalies on great shots.
I want to beat goalies using great passing much more often. It starts with Nick. Is he an elite passer or not?
Our PP this year needs to show that great passing we all know between Nick Semin Green Ovi and MJ, we should see making for some tap in goals. If we wont see it on the PP, it may be a long year.
I think we all wanted to see more of an Oilers or Wings circa mid 90's, but it’s a vicious sport; injuries, bad coaching, frustrations, etc can cripple the team, any team. Is Nick an elite passer? I'm sure you know the answer to that question. Injures or meatballs slowed him down a bit last season, at least that’s what I’m hoping for.
…and in regards to PP, If Nick, OV and MG52 come in prepared with no injuries we should be all right. The thing i worry the most about is coaching.
Just because players are good doesn't mean they'll work together well.
Brouwer is a guy who can pot 20+ goals crashing the net and burying more skilled players' leftovers. He feeds of having other players to create the offenses, and then he buries it from the slot or in a crease battle. He's a guy who finds his way into high scoring density areas of the offensive zone, but needs other players to get him the puck there.
Laich is not a playmaker. His game is fairly similar to Brouwers' in set pieces. He finds the open ice or battles in front of the net for opportunities. He has a lot more transition offense than Brouwer, and can create turnovers in the neutral or defensive zone that create opportunities for the Caps (and he has enough hands to bury them). But he's not great at distributing the puck and he's not the guy I want to have carrying the puck on his stick, tasked with generating offense for the line.
Ward scores based on hard work and the opponent making mistakes. He can turn a giveaway into a goal (similar to Laich) and he has a decent shot if given space, but most of his opportunities are a result of working hard down low in the offensive zone. He's not a guy who generates his own opportunities, but instead feeds off of loose pucks or other players feeding him one-timers.
All three of those players need other guys to get them the puck to score. That line would be too dependent on the opponents' miscues and the transition game to have any sort of consistent offensive contribution. It would take, not one, but two players with the ability to pot 20+ goals as a 2nd liner and eliminate a lot of their offensive chances. Granted, Brooks Laich would still get some points from his play on special teams, but neutralizing two 20 goal scorers is not good use of talent.
Don't base your lines off of salary. Or else we should be paving a way for Joel Ward into our top 6 ahead of guys like Brouwer, Knuble, or Johansson. I supported the Laich signing because of the market for players who could replace him being equally (if not more) expensive and his flexibility to play in all situations. Even if he's just giving you 3rd line minutes at even strength, he's a guy you can plug in at multiple locations on the powerplay and count on to kill penalties. Not to mention his defensive play.
As for needing another top 9 forward, we have Jason Chimera. While I certainly wouldn't mind someone like Eakin or Sjogren pushing him down to a 4th line energy role, he's a guy that's capable of playing on a contenders' 3rd line in the right situation. In fact, I think he'd be a better partner for a Laich-Ward pairing than Brouwer would. Chimera's speed would be very useful in the dump-and-chase style that line would use, and the combination of his speed and his hard slapper can help create offense for the line. Less overlap of skills if Chimera is on that line compared to Brouwer.
A lot here. I dont see Chimera as a regular 3rd liner on a Cup team. He may be paid like one, but his hands simply arent good enough. Maybe if he was aligned with Laich as his centre and Semin on the RW, then it's plausible (but then he's a 2nd liner based on your merits).
Brouwer and Ward could play with Majo I suppose, but I am not sure how they would work.
I would like to see a Brouwer-Laich-Ward 3rd line. I believe that their forecheck alone would create scoring chances and grind down the defense. Part of all of this is to tire out the opposing defenses so Ovy, Semin, and Green can do their thing 5-5. They also would draw a boatload of penalties together (which you didnt address), and allow for our PP to have more ice time. I dont see the limitations you do, and I see some added positives that would create a tough, grinding, offensively potent line. Any and all of them can shoot, and work rebounds.
All of that said, I still want another top 9 vet forward, as I dont believe Sjogren or Eakin are ready for that role.
