CapitalsCupReality
It’s Go Time!!
- Feb 27, 2002
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Nope…because 19 has other world class abilities…..I wouldn’t say he has a terrible slapshot either, but whatever.
Speculation: Caps Roster General Discussion (Coaching/FAs/Cap/Lines etc) - 2022-23 Season Part 1: Free Agent Edition
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twabby
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- Mar 9, 2010
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Of course the point isn't that McMichael is a world class defensive player, only that he has shown to be plenty adequate defensively. His weakness along the boards perceived or otherwise simply shouldn't register when it comes to his ice time because his strengths elsewhere far outweigh this one possible weakness. Hyperfocusing on one potential deficiency that ultimately doesn't make a dent in his overall impact as a player is no way to go about things.
Similarly, hyperfocusing on one or two potential strengths like skating and physicality shouldn't be how a guy like Martin Fehervary is judged because ultimately these strengths didn't really make a big mark on his overall impact as a player.
One of the lines I would love to see if the numbers work out is a third line of:
Snively-McMichael-Sheary
That is speed and scoring ability (Snively) speed/vet presence/defense (Sheary) With a play driving center. A (fairly) young new line.
Much of this depends on if Hags begins the season on LTIR or can play.
Snively-McMichael-Sheary
That is speed and scoring ability (Snively) speed/vet presence/defense (Sheary) With a play driving center. A (fairly) young new line.
Much of this depends on if Hags begins the season on LTIR or can play.
here are a couple of mocks. First if Hags is on LTIR AND if CMM earns a center role (I mentioned back around the draft Eller at 4LW):
Or if Hags is in (AND CMM earns center role).
So many other possiblities depending on who earns what and the chemistry that materializes in Camp. Including Strome could also move to wing. Swap Brown and Mantha And Oshie. Regardless I hope Snively and McMichael push Mojo to 13th or even to Hershey because nobody is going to claim him, but they will claim Leason and AJF. They could also likely push Hagelin to Hershey and while he may not report and stay with the team it frees up a a space And will only count 1.5M towards Cap (which doesn’t matter until Wilson comes back). By then we’ll know a lot more about Strome, CMM, Hags, and Snively, and AJF and that is when GMBM will have to work the phones for a trade partner.
Or if Hags is in (AND CMM earns center role).
So many other possiblities depending on who earns what and the chemistry that materializes in Camp. Including Strome could also move to wing. Swap Brown and Mantha And Oshie. Regardless I hope Snively and McMichael push Mojo to 13th or even to Hershey because nobody is going to claim him, but they will claim Leason and AJF. They could also likely push Hagelin to Hershey and while he may not report and stay with the team it frees up a a space And will only count 1.5M towards Cap (which doesn’t matter until Wilson comes back). By then we’ll know a lot more about Strome, CMM, Hags, and Snively, and AJF and that is when GMBM will have to work the phones for a trade partner.
CapitalsCupReality
It’s Go Time!!
- Feb 27, 2002
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Given your views on defensemen….I‘m not sure you should be questioning any aspects of player development lol….and I’m not focusing only on one weakness, that’s only what‘s been discussed so far. For Fever, those strengths are some of the foundations for a young D making the leap to the NHL to not get pushed around and overwhelmed at this level.
CMM is a year early in his normal development path and has been an unfinished product. We’ll see in camp if he has made the necessary improvements to win a full time spot.
Smallest 3rd line in the NHL?
If CMM can win a spot, I staple 77 to his wing.
Why are we interested in Virtanen? MOAR FORWARDS! Don't care about his past, just not sure we need another forward.
Forward group still looks crowded even with Backstrom and Wilson out for a bit, and Wilson looks to be ready by December perhaps. Doesn’t look like Snively or AJF are gonna be regulars, even McMichael looks dicey. Perhaps they can move someone during camp but I don’t recall a lot of early season trades
I’m thinking speed and play driving. But yeah, swap Oshie and Sheary (Which also reduces Oshie minutes). I’m good with that Too. That why i kind of chuckle with all this hyperbole. We won’t really know sh*t until Camp begins and chemistry starts to come through.Smallest 3rd line in the NHL?
Plus I’m just trying to change the conversation. We need to hurry up and get to camp! Going to be a long 2-3 weeks here Talking about CMM! Haha
Langway
In den Wolken
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Johansson would get claimed over Leason at least. I doubt Leason is much of anything ultimately. Some size/defense/PK but that's a fourth-liner. Same with AJF but a team may need a vet, in which case 90 could have some value. Maybe at the deadline he could then be flipped for a pick. I struggle to figure out where 90 fits. It's probably 3LW but then Sheary, McMichael and perhaps even Snively are probably better ideas. Keeping him around to play on the top line at times is dumb. He provides little beyond speed/entries and it's not like that elite and he seemed to struggle to improve any line really. He was retained largely for vet presence should Hagelin be out. If Hagelin is good to go I'm not sure there's a role for him that wouldn't be better given to someone else.
We'll see how it plays out but it's not a forward group that on paper screams great potential chemistry or anything. There's a lack of pop in the top half minus Wilson and a lot of the bottom half of the roster lacks a degree of versatility or much growth potential outside of one or two cases. The checking line will get a lot of trust but it's very hard to say how effective the crucial second line is capable of coming together and just how much some of their prime third liners have left in the tank. They'll have decent depth to play an alright team game with engaged shift-to-shift buy-in building momentum but the explosiveness and killer instinct potential in more challenging circumstances remains a question mark.
Virtanen is sufficiently big and dumb to be of interest I suppose. Really not the type of player they need unless Oshie is already injured or something.
We'll see how it plays out but it's not a forward group that on paper screams great potential chemistry or anything. There's a lack of pop in the top half minus Wilson and a lot of the bottom half of the roster lacks a degree of versatility or much growth potential outside of one or two cases. The checking line will get a lot of trust but it's very hard to say how effective the crucial second line is capable of coming together and just how much some of their prime third liners have left in the tank. They'll have decent depth to play an alright team game with engaged shift-to-shift buy-in building momentum but the explosiveness and killer instinct potential in more challenging circumstances remains a question mark.
Virtanen is sufficiently big and dumb to be of interest I suppose. Really not the type of player they need unless Oshie is already injured or something.
There have been some great fast/small/skilled forward lineups that can cause havoc in the offensive zone.Given your views on defensemen….I‘m not sure you should be questioning any aspects of player development lol….and I’m not focusing only on one weakness, that’s only what‘s been discussed so far. For Fever, those strengths are some of the foundations for a young D making the leap to the NHL to not get pushed around and overwhelmed at this level.
CMM is a year early in his normal development path and has been an unfinished product. We’ll see in camp if he has made the necessary improvements to win a full time spot.
Smallest 3rd line in the NHL?
HTFN
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Only because you decided to make it about that, like I keep saying. The two issues speak towards one another, or more accurately, the late game issues also play into the idea that nothing is really good enough to “earn” time when a coach will deliberately misuse his defensive veteran just to apparently prove a point about what earning it must mean.
If there’s a time to say “go out there and get some experience, kid” that’s the time, so do it. If the coach can’t even do that I really don’t know how you can say it’s as easy as coming into camp and earning it.
HTFN
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Dude he literally got benched in games he scored in, what do you want the guy to do? Even the games where he was productive he was effectively punished by not being the defense guy as soon as the production was on the board, so what has to give?
g00n
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- Nov 22, 2007
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Maybe my previous comment was too nuanced so I'll be more direct:
It's possible Lavi was SO distrustful of his goaltenders within his d-pinching system he saw no choice but to semi-turtle late in the game via defensive forward changes, REGARDLESS of the score.
We got rid of both of them.
It's possible Lavi was SO distrustful of his goaltenders within his d-pinching system he saw no choice but to semi-turtle late in the game via defensive forward changes, REGARDLESS of the score.
We got rid of both of them.
Jags
Mildly Disturbed
I'm not so sure about that anymore. You can't say in the press that you're dedicated to getting younger and then keep $6.25m worth of vets in the spots most needing turnover. We're meh at 3C and 4LW at evens. They're not glaring weak spots, but they're definitely not positions of strength for us either. And last season proved that we don't miss either guy when they're not in the lineup.
Mac could have proven his commitment to the things he said in the offseason by opening those spots up. This is a separate issue from the "earn it" philosophy. Once you've decided to keep Eller and Hags, yes, by all means the kids should have to beat them out. But deciding to keep them in the first place is an entirely different thing. It's not like we're lost without them. We have guys that can play those spots. We've seen them do it.
"What about our center depth?!?!?"
We got another center.
"What about our PK?!?!?!"
We added an elite penalty killer.
If Mac and PL were really at odds on this subject, he could easily have forced Lavi's hand in the places it matters most. Free up those spots, get a couple vets in on PTOs to compete with the kids.
And I don't buy the "It's Laviolette's last year. MacLellan is letting him do it his way this one last time" argument. If we have a GM who's willing to flush an entire season over a pissing match like that, we need a new GM. I don't think that's what's happening here. PL and Mac might not be in lockstep, but I don't think they're that far apart, either. And if they are, MacLellan is handling it horribly.
CapitalsCupReality
It’s Go Time!!
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I mean how is it not so obvious to everyone…..the Coach and the players had ZERO confidence in at least one of their keepers and minimal confidence in the other.
Like 2 times….lol. Game situations dictate strategy choices….right or wrong. Besides, who’s to say that wasn’t always the plan, to get him ice time earlier in games? Again not necessarily agreeing with it, but that dismisses any notion of “benching”…..what if the plan all along was to squeeze him in early and not put too much pressure on the kid later in games? They already believe he’s a year ahead of schedule.…kid gloves treatment seems pretty likely.
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Corby78
65 - 10 - 20
Hivemind
We're Touched
We added an elite short-handed scoring threat. We did not add someone who is elite at killing penalties without goals against.
Hivemind
We're Touched
With Hagelin possibly in contention to play again, the Johansson contract is looking more-and-more ridiculous. Where does MoJo play when Hags and Wilson are back? We know Lavi isn't going to bench Hags. Did GMBM really pay $1.1M for a guy who's going to be 13th on a "healthy" depth chart (14th if you count Backstrom), basically just to screw CMM and AJF out of any chance of playtime unless the roster is banged up?
twabby
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Snively is also on a one-way contract, which seems to conflict with the Johansson signing as well. They could certainly just pay Snively his NHL salary in the AHL but it doesn't really jive with them signing him to a one-way deal to begin with. There had to be an expectation that he'd be getting NHL time and now he seems to be the 15th? 16th forward in the depth chart? Maybe signing guys like him to one-way deals is standard but it seems at odds with the current roster.
I'm with you: the Johansson signing makes no sense. Like you I suspect it's going to block CMM/AJF/Snively to various degrees, which will do nothing but hurt the team given the extremely low ceiling of Johansson as a player and Washington's need for higher-ceiling impact top 6 players.
CapitalsCupReality
It’s Go Time!!
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I mean you can force it to make sense because he‘s stashable in Hershey if push comes to shove, and maybe that they’re expecting to deal with injury issues over the course of the year and see him as a part time player. I was surprised at the signing, but it’s cheap and you know what you can get from him. Add to that the Backstrom surplus….it’s almost a who cares signing.
Langway
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While true, the season hasn't started and competition in camp has value. Patience also allows them to have a greater sense of what Strome can offer for the overall center mix and can perhaps offer better leverage in maximizing returns. Also given that the rental center market is pretty bare it makes sense not purging an option and risking having to shift Oshie or Johansson to center. But I agree with the overall point in terms of lip service vs. past tendencies making it likely hard decisions will be avoided once again. I'd be surprised if they move Eller before the season unless McMichael has an amazing camp. Even then they could just shift him to wing just in case. To be moved he may need to play so poorly as to not be a regular. The same likely goes for Hagelin and with this staff it seems unlikely to be their preference.
It's on the GM to have a broader, more long-term focus and for it to contrast the more narrow-minded focus of the coaching staff. Instead he overwhelmingly caves and it hasn't paid off that much. It's largely only weakened them over time. It's convenient and makes the job of the staff easier but convenience isn't the name of the game. Struggle and adversity isn't the worst thing in the regular season. It can force teams to become tighter and more methodical throughout. Easy success for them rarely pays off come playoff time so it makes some sense to become much more reflective about what the regular season is even about. It's about qualifying for the playoffs but also putting in the work of getting better all the time. Too many of their core players and too much of their process isn't humble in that regard and they inevitably seem to pay for that come playoff time. Somewhere on some level there's got to be more foresight in how they operate IF playoff success is the ultimate goal.
While I don't think forcing more youth is the answer, a more detached and open-minded perspective probably is and that's more likely to find value in investing in upside and more open-minded re: risk/reward. Developmental patience isn't convenient or perhaps ideal but it has to tie into being more realistic about faults, self-improvement and how best to position them for more meaningful success. It can't just be goaltending being more capable/reliable and everything else being the same. They've got to aggressively seek improvement elsewhere and, again, it likely does have to involve a more positive association toward risk/upside.
CapitalsCupReality
It’s Go Time!!
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Of their two top stars, both are old and one is broken. Their other top talents are older, or enigmatic.
I’m not sure the longterm focus is any further than when Ovechkin retires.
They may have already accepted a rebuild then. They’re just trying to ice a playoff qualifier right now….
I’m not sure the longterm focus is any further than when Ovechkin retires.
They may have already accepted a rebuild then. They’re just trying to ice a playoff qualifier right now….
SecretaryofDefense5
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Langway
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Bob Stauffer, who covers the Oilers.
So perhaps indicating it'll be CGY or WSH, though others could well be interested. I don't know that I follow the logic here for the Caps...certainly not to the point of offering more than a PTO. Ideally he's probably a 3RW at best, not really a checker type per se, and you'd figure that's where Oshie fits best these days.
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