Speculation: Caps Roster General Discussion (Coaching/FAs/Cap/Lines/etc) | 2023-24 Regular Season Edition

[Misery74]

Curious why you think Jimi > CMM? To me, Jimi hasn't shown much of anything and seems to be overhyped. While CMM has cooled off lately, he constantly shows quite a bit whether that's takeaways, smart passing, etc. Not being argumentative, but wondering what ppl see in Lapierre that I don't...

I think Jimi has better hands and vision. When you watch him play, look how he uses the defenders at the points. He passes very well to the points, many times using the boards. I think this can lead to more point shots, and perhaps ugly goals.

That’s what I see. I’m not saying he’s a 1C, but 2C or 3C seems reasonable.

 

[hb13xchamps]

Our defense has shown zero offense because our best offensive defenseman is 34 years old and probably past his prime.

 

[CapitalsCupReality]

Zooming out a bit it's striking that Protas is third in assists with 15. That's through 48 games. Terrible. No system will adequately compensate for a complete lack of playmaking ability.

I mean you need guys who can put the puck in the net to pickup playmaking assists right? Who are all the fantastic goal scorers on this team Protas isn’t setting up?

(Poor) systems can certainly reduce offensive chances….ultimately it is poor play…but the system has impacts.

I sometimes wonder what run and gun Bruce Boudreau would do with this sad sack of a roster…

 

[Chimaera]

sell sell sell. Anything that moves.

Maybe Ovechkin can score if you keep a center, and just roll with it. But this team is toast.

 

[CapitalsCupReality]

Our defense has shown zero offense because our best offensive defenseman is 34 years old and probably past his prime.

But Sandin! lol….

Glad we didn’t sign him to the $6 mil a year longterm deal that was floated here by our resident Master of Coin….

Well "just get rid of Lavi and play CMM" didn't work.

What now?

Maybe Lavi was really holding this team together with duct tape and spit all along.

Starting to look like that…

 

[CapitalsCupReality]

I think Jimi has better hands and vision. When you watch him play, look how he uses the defenders at the points. He passes very well to the points, many times using the boards. I think this can lead to more point shots, and perhaps ugly goals.

That’s what I see. I’m not saying he’s a 1C, but 2C or 3C seems reasonable.

Yep, agree. I see a much more natural Center in Lappy.

CMM has the hockey IQ, no doubt that’s easy to see, but he often doesn’t have the physical tools to do what the play needs. I want to see a massive improvement in his skating and strength next offseason. I mean if we expect him to improve.

 

[Midnight Judges]

But Sandin! lol….

Glad we didn’t sign him to the $6 mil a year longterm deal that was floated here by our resident Master of Coin….

Eh, when the whole team sucks, it's hard to tell which individuals truly suck because they're all looking bad.

 

[hb13xchamps]

I personally don’t think Lavi was holding this team together. His system was much more offensive oriented and it was flawed defensively. The amount of odd man rushes resulting in legit scoring chances given up per game had to be the most in the league.

He got off to a hot start with New York but they’ve fallen back to earth now that Shesty has been average to below average. Lavi typically gets his teams to play well out of the gate when he’s hired.

The issue with this team is probably mostly roster construction (old and can’t skate) with a little bit of the system to blame. However I think this system stinks because the majority of our team can’t skate. They clearly need to make adjustments. Carbs had solid offensive teams in Hershey but those teams could skate.

 

[Langway]

The Caps have a few guys capable of finishing chances: Ovechkin, Mantha, Oshie and Strome mainly. Pacioretty as well. What they mostly can't do is create for themselves since their skating doesn't allow them to attack angles and create open lanes. Who is capable of routinely opening up room/lanes to set the table for anyone? Ovechkin tries to at least drag defenders and use himself as a decoy, which is more than can be said for most anyone else on the roster sadly. It's an even thinner area than raw goal-scoring ability and speaks to just how poor they are at center ice now. So, sure, they lack goal-scoring but they also lack offensive dynamism in any sense. It makes them incredibly easy to contain because it's not as if they're creating loads of chances and just struggling to finish. There's not much complimentary talent period, let alone headliner talent. The solution I suppose is to embrace a boring net drive, low-to-high grind approach but that's also not in their DNA. They don't really funnel to the net, deflect pucks and all that ugliness. So they lack the IQ in much of any sense to create a viable path for themselves.

It's a tricky thing hiring the next era's coach in the twilight of this one. Carbery seems almost eager to turn the page and coach a younger, more energetic up-tempo lineup. A Boudreau might be a bit more realistic in embracing what he's got at his disposal. But overall it's still a super mid group that's not well put together at all. Their style is...basically living in the past at this point. And letting it run its course I guess. Center ice has got to be among the worst in the league and it's hard to guess when that significantly improves.

 

[aonb]

summarizing the ongoing discussion:

• we can't attack
• we can't skate
• we can't defend (especially in recent weeks)
• our defenders don't contribute to the offense
• our young players aren't as strong as we thought and hoped
• our pp sucks
• we are old, slow and broken (80% of roster)
• we don't have any star players or even half-star players (ov is unfortunately kinda washed rn)

STOP, or i'll start thinking that this team might just not be, ya know, good or something

 

[CapitalsCupReality]

Eh, when the whole team sucks, it's hard to tell which individuals truly suck because they're all looking bad.

it isn't that hard...

 

[crab]

Well "just get rid of Lavi and play CMM" didn't work.

What now?

Maybe Lavi was really holding this team together with duct tape and spit all along.

The team is a year older where a year is a pretty big factor when the core is at the end of their careers, they downgraded the defence with Orlov leaving and Ovechkin’s play fell off significantly. With all that said, they will finish in almost the exact same position as last year. Not sure how Lavi was holding it together?

 

[twabby]

Shouldn't Tom Wilson be doing something? He's the next captain and should be leading by example. He's also not ancient like half the team and theoretically should still be in his productive years, unlike guys like Oshie, Ovechkin, and Backstrom who you could understand breaking down.

Instead Wilson is 14th on the team in 5v5 scoring per 60 (on a team that already barely scores). He's behind guys like Matthew Phillips, Beck Malenstyn, Nic Dowd, and even Evgeny Kuznetsov.

Isn't part of the reason he's getting $45.5 over the next 7 years because of leadership and injecting life into the squad when needed?

 

[g00n]

The team is a year older where a year is a pretty big factor when the core is at the end of their careers, they downgraded the defence with Orlov leaving and Ovechkin’s play fell off significantly. With all that said, they will finish in almost the exact same position as last year. Not sure how Lavi was holding it together?

A lot of people blamed Lavi for holding this team BACK, when in fact he was probably just holding them TOGETHER.

If they're the same or worse than last year then maybe it wasn't the coach, or a few decisions about lines here and there, as 90% of the bitching last year suggested.

 

[Kolzilla]

Shouldn't Tom Wilson be doing something? He's the next captain and should be leading by example. He's also not ancient like half the team and theoretically should still be in his productive years, unlike guys like Oshie, Ovechkin, and Backstrom who you could understand breaking down.

Instead Wilson is 14th on the team in 5v5 scoring per 60 (on a team that already barely scores). He's behind guys like Matthew Phillips, Beck Malenstyn, Nic Dowd, and even Evgeny Kuznetsov.

Isn't part of the reason he's getting $45.5 over the next 7 years because of leadership and injecting life into the squad when needed?

Man, what did Tom do to you?

 

[Marshall]

Fridgeman said on today's Jeff Marek show that Kuznetsov does NOT count against the cap as he is in his second enrollment in the Player Assistance Program.

Talk starts at 29:30.

 

[Ovie's Neighbor]

Shouldn't Tom Wilson be doing something? He's the next captain and should be leading by example. He's also not ancient like half the team and theoretically should still be in his productive years, unlike guys like Oshie, Ovechkin, and Backstrom who you could understand breaking down.

Instead Wilson is 14th on the team in 5v5 scoring per 60 (on a team that already barely scores). He's behind guys like Matthew Phillips, Beck Malenstyn, Nic Dowd, and even Evgeny Kuznetsov.

Isn't part of the reason he's getting $45.5 over the next 7 years because of leadership and injecting life into the squad when needed?

I didn’t like the contract when it was signed. Like so many GMBM moves. Tom is a phenomenal role player but he is not an offensive star. So when the other stars on the team that are supposed score don’t, it makes Tom’s contract look even worse.

 

[hb13xchamps]

Shouldn't Tom Wilson be doing something? He's the next captain and should be leading by example. He's also not ancient like half the team and theoretically should still be in his productive years, unlike guys like Oshie, Ovechkin, and Backstrom who you could understand breaking down.

Instead Wilson is 14th on the team in 5v5 scoring per 60 (on a team that already barely scores). He's behind guys like Matthew Phillips, Beck Malenstyn, Nic Dowd, and even Evgeny Kuznetsov.

Isn't part of the reason he's getting $45.5 over the next 7 years because of leadership and injecting life into the squad when needed?

I get this is your thing, but he’s also 5th on the team in points and 3rd on the team in goals. He’s not playing as physical because his face has been broken since early January.

 

[Misery74]

I get this is your thing, but he’s also 5th on the team in points and 3rd on the team in goals. He’s not playing as physical because his face has been broken since early January.

Tom Wilson is a deck chair on the Titanic.

On a list of problems, 43 does not currently register.

 

[Empty Goal Net]

A lot of people blamed Lavi for holding this team BACK, when in fact he was probably just holding them TOGETHER.

If they're the same or worse than last year then maybe it wasn't the coach, or a few decisions about lines here and there, as 90% of the bitching last year suggested.

Players from the 2022-2023 roster who are no longer with the team;
new team/GP/G/A/Pts this season:
Erik Gustafsson NYR 49 4 19 23
Conor Sheary TBL 32 1 8 9
Marcus Johansson MN 49 8 16 24
Dmitri Orlov Car 49 3 14 17
Garnet Hathaway Phi 51 4 2 6
Lars Eller Pgh 47 9 7 16
Craig Smith Dal 46 6 4 10
Connor Brown Edm 39 0 4 4
All veteran players seeing the ice most nights, eating minutes and generally performing at least as well as they did with the Caps last season (Brown is there because I looked it up since I had no idea how he is doing this season). In their places Carbs has had relative newbies like HHA, Jimi, and AA, a virtually full-time Beck Malenstyn, and - wait for it - Joel Edmundson.
There's plenty of explanations for the poor performances both last and this season. And the results so far this season have done nothing to change my opinion about HCPL's work last season.

 

[g00n]

Players from the 2022-2023 roster who are no longer with the team;
new team/GP/G/A/Pts this season:
Erik Gustafsson NYR 49 4 19 23
Conor Sheary TBL 32 1 8 9
Marcus Johansson MN 49 8 16 24
Dmitri Orlov Car 49 3 14 17
Garnet Hathaway Phi 51 4 2 6
Lars Eller Pgh 47 9 7 16
Craig Smith Dal 46 6 4 10
Connor Brown Edm 39 0 4 4
All veteran players seeing the ice most nights, eating minutes and generally performing at least as well as they did with the Caps last season (Brown is there because I looked it up since I had no idea how he is doing this season). In their places Carbs has had relative newbies like HHA, Jimi, and AA, a virtually full-time Beck Malenstyn, and - wait for it - Joel Edmundson.
There's plenty of explanations for the poor performances both last and this season. And the results so far this season have done nothing to change my opinion about HCPL's work last season.

The only really big loss there is Orlov.

 

[twabby]

I get this is your thing, but he’s also 5th on the team in points and 3rd on the team in goals. He’s not playing as physical because his face has been broken since early January.

He has 5 5v5 goals. If we are going to criticize guys like Ovechkin and Kuznetsov for not scoring, I think it's fair to criticize their 1RW who just inked a lucrative new deal.

Scoring is a teamwide issue to be sure, but Wilson is supposed to be the guy in his prime who continues to produce and bridge the gap between the older vets and the young guys. After all why else ink him to that 7 year contract extension? Mantha has 14 5v5 goals and it's not like he's playing with an elite center, so I don't like hearing the "Wilson has bad linemates" excuse for the lack of production.

 

[Chimaera]

Fridgeman said on today's Jeff Marek show that Kuznetsov does NOT count against the cap as he is in his second enrollment in the Player Assistance Program.

Talk starts at 29:30.

Not to be a negative Nancy, but man, the only guy this might help is Ted in not having to pay him.

I think giving away the money will be harder if the window is closed.

 

[pman25]

I’m pretty “meh” now on McMichael and Lapierre. They look like NHLers but nothing that special really. But I’m all for feeding them minutes down the stretch to see what we really have in them but not optimistic about their futures as difference makers

Probably should have cashed in on them a few years ago in a bigger trade when they still had the recent shine of 1st round prospects and had productive Junior / AHL seasons

 

[alphabetical]

I’m pretty “meh” now on McMichael and Lapierre. They look like NHLers but nothing that special really. But I’m all for feeding them minutes down the stretch to see what we really have in them but not optimistic about their futures as difference makers

Probably should have cashed in on them a few years ago in a bigger trade when they still had the recent shine of 1st round prospects and had productive Junior / AHL seasons

I'm not sure why you expected them to be difference makers. They were never touted as such. McMichael will end up as a middle 6 center, and that's what he's always projected as his upside. For Lapierre, it's the same. Neither was ever touted as a potential number 1 center.