GDT: Boston at DC. 5pm EST

[usiel]

Glug glug.

Click to read more...

 

[usiel]

Boston not fielding a regular season lineup.

 

[Langway]

https://x.com/i/web/status/1842675134945186103

Edit: Protas now back on L3.

 

[usiel]

Alex Ovechkin-Dylan Strome-Andrew Mangiapane

Connor McMichael-Pierre-Luc Dubois-Tom Wilson

Andrew Cristall-Hendrix Lapierre-Aliaksei Protas

Brandon Duhaime-Nic Dowd-Taylor Raddysh

Jakob Chychrun-John Carlson

Martin Fehervary-Matt Roy

Rasmus Sandin-Trevor van Riemsdyk

Charlie Lindgren

Logan Thompson

https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/washington-capitals/washington-capitals-previews/washington-capitals-boston-bruins-preview-preseason-10524

 

[usiel]

Dowd with a tripping. Like how he went directly to the penalty box.

 

[usiel]

Protas short handed goal right off a face off..

 

[Brian23]

Good for Pro.

Wonder if maybe they're debating dropping Raddysh, playing Protas on the 4th/defensive line, and keeping Cristall and Vrana on the roster.

 

[wickedwitch]

Good for Pro.

Wonder if maybe they're debating dropping Raddysh, playing Protas on the 4th/defensive line, and keeping Cristall and Vrana on the roster.

If they want, they could keep all of them. They'd have to get down to 7 D, but that should be doable if they chose.

 

[usiel]

I'm good with C and JC pairing.

 

[tycoonheart]

They have looked great so far.

 

[tycoonheart]

Cristall needs to be on the team

 

[LesDiablesRouges]

Hot take: Cristall is going to make this team. I think the question becomes does he just get his 9 or stays up in a top-nine role the whole year. Caps really can use his creativity and playmaking.

 

[crab]

McMichael has looked solid.

 

[Dr John Carlson]

... their goalie's name is Bussi???

 

[LesDiablesRouges]

Cristall-Lapi-Pro has been such a great line. Should be our 3L going into the year. Sonny seems like the odd man out. Miro will be sent down to start the year and Vrana can be signed to a two-way and sent to Hershey as scoring insurance.

 

[Marshall]

That felt like on of the most gentle hockey games I've ever seen. And I am thankful.

Now wrap everybody up in bubble wrap until next Saturday.

 

[hockeykicker]

https://x.com/i/web/status/1842713438080159807

Sounds like he done

 

[Calicaps]

My main takeaway: JC squared are bueno.

 

[John Price]

is vrana going to make the team

 

[DWGie26]

I was at the game. So many things away from the puck Cristal has to work on. He’s not ready for the NHL. They could still keep him around for 9 games but he has some gaps.

Second and 4th lines look good. So did pro. Outside of his faceoff goal he was always in good position and makes sneaky passes.

Not impressing with Mangi. His cap hit doesn’t really matter but I don’t love him at 1LW. I’d rather see Pro there.

 

[Calicaps]

I was at the game. So many things away from the puck Cristal has to work on. He’s not ready for the NHL. They could still keep him around for 9 games but he has some gaps.

Second and 4th lines look good. So did pro. Outside of his faceoff goal he was always in good position and makes sneaky passes.

Not impressing with Mangi. His cap hit doesn’t really matter but I don’t love him at 1LW. I’d rather see Pro there.

I've liked Mango on Stromer's wing so far. Today, yeah not so much. We'll see. Short timer so no risk in any case.

 

[DWGie26]

My hot takes into final lines up:

- We look better and younger again
- There will be roster / paper moves to start the season
- I hope Cristal stays for a bit (up to 9 games) but he needs to play down and develop
- I like our defense. top 6 is strong and looks to want to bring offense
- i don’t want to sign Vrana - I’d rather have youth come up when needed at this stage
- We have two good goalies.

 

[qc14]

Good for Pro.

Wonder if maybe they're debating dropping Raddysh, playing Protas on the 4th/defensive line, and keeping Cristall and Vrana on the roster.

They gave Raddysh a guaranteed contract and not Vrana for a reason. Raddysh has also had a 20 goal season more recently than Vrana ...

Vrana's only opening was at 3LW and I think Cristall did more than enough tonight and throughout the preseason to beat him to that spot.

 

[HTFN]

https://x.com/i/web/status/1842713438080159807

Sounds like he done

This is far from the first time I've banged this drum but I simply don't understand this organization's apparent aversion to using just a few of these early games to a.) reward good camps and b.) give their young guys more time experiencing NHL game speed.

And not preseason, real games at real speed with real stats that really count. Maybe it's just me but I think it sends a more positive and encouraging message and gives them the realest understanding of where their game is.

The team has no strong season expectations, the lineup doesn't have to be optimized so early (especially since guys are going to get hurt no matter what), I wish they'd be more flexible about giving their prospects a cup of coffee over the years.

 

[Langway]

The main (at least initial) advantage to keeping Cristall around is how much they still need high level skill and creativity. If this were still a bonafide offensive powerhouse it would be a different story. They could afford to pick apart his more evident weaknesses (strength/battles) and decide he's not fully ready yet. They still may go in that direction but the lineup's overall unknown offensive quality should IMO lead to continued initial opportunity. There are a lot of new faces and their timing should only improve...but they're still probably not very dynamic offensively. They still haven't added a true headliner type talent. They should be better defensively, in theory a stronger possession team and that should lead to more sustainable success. But we'll see.

Outside of Ovechkin and Strome there are question marks all over the top nine in terms of level of play and productivity. I'm skeptical Cristall sticks the whole season but as an initial reward for his growth/determination and to fuel further competitiveness for spots it makes sense to keep him around for now. Ultimately it's still tough to figure he's up for the six month grind of playing against men. That battle level would either need to come up considerably, he'd need to pack on more strength in a hurry (while sitting initially perhaps) or he'd need to be dynamite offensively to compensate for the limitations. He does possess attributes that they're thin on...playmaking, skill and offensive sense. Minus Backstrom, Oshie and Kuznetsov they need to foster those new silky smooth attackers as best they can. Cristall and Leonard on the horizon and then Parascak perhaps a year later should at least put most everyone in the middle six on notice that mediocrity won't cut it.

The biggest positives early on I think is the back-end when healthy and PLD. Again, we'll see what it looks like against strong teams. Their schedule at the start is stiff: vNJD, vVGK, vDAL and @NJD. Some home cooking but right into the fire.