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

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And Twabby was right. Tom Wilson plays like tits on a bull.

Anybody else watch him at the game last night. Trying to throw hits, missing badl.

His play right now is embarrassing.
 
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Corby78 said:
Three of those guys should have their numbers retired, one needs to be a part player development after he retires, and the fifth is probably our next captian. Good pic
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And they all won a cup together for the Washington Capitals. The organization has done right by them even if it cost us some pain along the way. Right thing to do by classy organization. If i had played in the NHL this is the type of franchise i would have wanted to play for!
 
g00n said:
Caps are currently -27 in goal differential. This will probably change, but since the NHL moved to the wild card format 10 years ago few teams have made the playoffs with a negative GD, nevermind -27.

The closest I could find was DET in 2015-16 at -13.

Prior to that, in the old SE Division, the Panthers won in 2011-12 with -24.

The last team I could find with a worse GD to make the playoffs was STL in 1995-96 (80pts, .488 winning%, -29 GD, 5th seed). They beat TOR in 6 games, then lost to DET in 7.
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UPDATE:


Yes, the GD did change. For the worse.

1712736712995.png


-40 for a playoff team is likely unprecedented in any era that didn't involve actual wool sweaters and goalies with throw pillows strapped to their legs.
 
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g00n said:
UPDATE:


Yes, the GD did change. For the worse.

View attachment 849246

-40 for a playoff team is likely unprecedented in any era that didn't involve actual wool sweaters and goalies with throw pillows strapped to their legs.
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Found -24 for Panthers in 11/12 and the worst since 05/06 other than that are -13. So will be pretty unprecedented.
 
g00n said:
-40 for a playoff team is likely unprecedented in any era that didn't involve actual wool sweaters and goalies with throw pillows strapped to their legs.
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Making the playoffs while being last in goals in conference must be pretty uncommon too.
 
Back to back games to end the season. Im guessing we play both goalies. I think we need to save Lindy for the last game on the road vs the flyers. That could be win and in game.
 
g00n said:
Caps are currently -27 in goal differential. This will probably change, but since the NHL moved to the wild card format 10 years ago few teams have made the playoffs with a negative GD, nevermind -27.

The closest I could find was DET in 2015-16 at -13.

Prior to that, in the old SE Division, the Panthers won in 2011-12 with -24.

The last team I could find with a worse GD to make the playoffs was STL in 1995-96 (80pts, .488 winning%, -29 GD, 5th seed). They beat TOR in 6 games, then lost to DET in 7.
Click to expand...
Blues were a tough out that year
source.gif
 
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Silky mitts said:
Blues were a tough out that year
source.gif
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Get hot on the right time and every team can go far. Last year Panthers where the 8th seeded team who just barely made it. Was a team with a lot of talent that where underperforming in the reg season so a more similar case is Montreal two years earlier who made it in and surprisingly went all the way to the finals.
 
What is your opinion on Barrett Hayton as a buy-low candidate? And what would he cost? Hit with with some fancy stuff.. erm stats.
 
MW6 said:
What is your opinion on Barrett Hayton as a buy-low candidate? And what would he cost? Hit with with some fancy stuff.. erm stats.
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He's gone backwards big time after his decent previous season, though:
1712798590536.png


Did he miss a lot of games with an injury??
 
PlushMinus said:
He's gone backwards big time after his decent previous season, though:
View attachment 849576

Did he miss a lot of games with an injury??
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Yeah, he has missed games in at least two stints this year. That's why I figured he’d be a buy-low candidate.
I haven’t seen him play a lot but know he has a draft pedigree, captained Canada in the WJC, had scout reports raving about his on-ice intelligence, great hands and two-way play. And Arizona isn’t exactly known for their developmental ability so him maybe struggling could grow even further under Carberry.

I was curious if someone has seen him play more recently to help enlighten me about his potential?
 
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Was going to post this in last night's GDT but it got long so here we go...

"Fire the coach and get someone totally new. Get Backstrom and other vets off the ice. Play CMM and the young players. etc etc."

"WHY ARE WE SO INCONSISTENT???"

What I see is a team held together by a few strands that bond them together and not enough top level talent to win as favorites, but also some missing elements in playing style.

They need to sneak up on the best teams on any given night and someone needs to go into hero mode in order to beat those squads.

When you keep losing like this and you can't score more than 2 goals, and it's not for lack of trying, there likely isn't some scheme switch that will suddenly open the floodgates unless you already have talent that's being restrained (like when Gabby came in with the Young Guns).

You're not going to turn all these 2/3 and 3/4 liners into 1/2 liners by "opening things up" or whatever. You're going to get burned and put more pressure on your goalie and d-men.

I don't watch every minute of every game, or log every shift and line combination in "My Little Caps Diary", but what I see recently is sloppy puckhandling and inability to get the puck out of the zone, which is what leads to tired players and quick transition goals-against.

The lack of shooting isn't the only culprit. The poor possession skills are showing up big time.

This includes all our star players (Wilson, Ovie, Oshie, etc) who often seem content to float and wait for a chance to intercept the puck only to quickly fumble it or fling it into space when pressured.

I don't see inability to cycle among the lower lines, I see inability to convert those into good scoring chances. And the guys with the good shots don't seem to cycle or maintain possession well. Maybe typical of the NHL division of labor, but it seems magnified with this roster.

Do we have any role players anymore, or are we turning everyone into a Swiss Army knife? Maybe that's the problem. Bangers aren't banging and scorers aren't scoring.
 
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They have been very opportunistic. Basically why they are still fighting for a Playoff spot despite -42 goal difference. When they get great goalie performance, they basically win on almost every night. Which is incredible to be honest, but it also paints a dark cloud over next season. Usually your goalie that ends up around ~.910 it's because he's consistently good. For Capitals the story has been a bit different. Charlie Lindgren sits at .908 SV% but the story of his season is that he's either been absolutely incredible or then drifted towards the 'really bad start' -territory. Which makes sense given our defense seems to fall apart when we are chasing a game. I don't think the kind of numbers he has had on his great nights are very sustainable. But we've needed those numbers, very often, given our wins have mostly been 1-goal wins.

These are our goalies stats:

Charlie Lindgren:
Caps Win (22 GP)
.953 SV %
1.44 GAA

Caps loss (18 GP):
.852 SV%
4.60 GAA

Caps Tie (I assume this is OT) (7 GP):
.897 SV%
2.83 GAA

Darcy Kuemper:
Caps Win (14 GP):
.925 SV%
2.35 GAA

Caps Loss (16 GP):
.856 SV%
4.29 GAA

Caps Tie (I assume this is OT) (3 GP):
.878 SV%
3.23 GAA

I think these numbers do suggest the biggest hope for next season is Kuemper rebounding. But it does highlight just how incredible Charlie Lindgren has been this season. Those numbers are out of this world, and to post numbers like that is quite something, even once. Repeating them would be really hard.
 
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I’m ok missing the playoffs. It would have been “fun” to do so, but it was always a long shot. Always.

This team has cleared a LOT of milestones. It’s removed almost ALL of its “headache contracts” (save maybe Oshie, but he’s worth the $$$ when he can play), and we’ve integrated a LOT of the Hershey youth.

They have a much clearer path forward, than they did even 4mo ago, and that’s huge.

The youth will grow, there is more to be added, and they have money to spend in FA (like…. A lot?).

Skies are bright! It just doesn’t feel that way as we miss the playoffs by a hair.
 
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