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GDT: GM 57: Caps to Oil the machine in B2B afternoon games

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Midnight Judges said:
Where was the back check on that play? The Caps were passing the puck unhindered across the crease for what seemed like more time than a SCF team should be giving up.
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Oilers loaded up Draisatl - McDavid - Savoie to get that goal back late and none of those guys seemed too eager to come back to play D once the puck was lost on the offensive zone.

Oilers are going to give a free pass to Drai and McDavid and chalk this up to a ''night to forget'' but that's a really bad look for Matt Savoie. Rare shot given to play with those 2 and just complete lack of effort coming back to defend. It wasn't his only lazy backcheck of the night, either.
 
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Yeah PLD's reputation prior to coming here was unfounded. This guy loves hockey, but not just scoring goals and doing nothing else, like say, Vrana or Sprong, but he relishes the challenge of shutting down the other teams top players. Apparently LA wouldn't give him those assignments, but Carbs did on day one, and look where we are now. Guys who play a complete two way game at a top level, even if his scoring isn't top of the leaderboard, are invaluable, especially in the playoffs.

For the record, PLD is +23, which is tied for 13th in the league, but only has 48 pts, tied for 52nd. But doing this against the entire league's top centers is what makes it incredible. Doing the dirty work to get wins, got to love it.

BTW Big Pro is +32, tied for 2nd overall in the league. f***ing love that dude!
 
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kicksavedave said:
Yeah PLD's reputation prior to coming here was unfounded. This guy loves hockey, but not just scoring goals and doing nothing else, like say, Vrana or Sprong, but he relishes the challenge of shutting down the other teams top players. Apparently LA wouldn't give him those assignments, but Carbs did on day one, and look where we are now.
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Just makes it all the more bewildering that LA traded a haul for him and instantly signed him in the first place. They already had Kopitar and Danault to handle whatever matchups they needed. He just wasn't needed for them.

Going from ~18 minutes per night of Kuznetsov to ~17 minutes per night of Dubois might be the biggest positive change on the roster, among many positive changes.
 
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Dr John Carlson said:
Going from ~18 minutes per night of Kuznetsov to ~17 minutes per night of Dubois might be the biggest positive change on the roster, among many positive changes.
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Yeah getting PLD for peanuts (contract we didn't want) and Strome for free really softens the blow of losing Backie and Kuzy in the same year, but man GMBM should get a medal for keeping this team rolling through some major changes. Its fair to say we held on to NB and Kuzy maybe longer than we should have, but finding their replacements that would come in and be better than them was not an easy task. Kudos to the pro scouting.
 
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kicksavedave said:
Yeah PLD's reputation prior to coming here was unfounded.
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I don’t know about that; the past is right there for review.

We may very well be getting the best version of PLD the Pro. That’s on Carbs and the culture IMO, plus a little dose of PLD probably realizing he might be running out of chances around the league.
 
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CapitalsCupReality said:
I don’t know about that; the past is right there for review.

We may very well be getting the best version of PLD the Pro. That’s on Carbs and the culture IMO, plus a little dose of PLD probably realizing he might be running out of chances around the league.
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The reputation that he was lazy or unmotivated seems less true than the fact that he was misfit and misused in LA. No one who plays defense like PLD is lazy. Sure, credit to the Caps for using him right and treating him like he's valuable. Why didn't LA do those things?

Anyway, I've loving PLD on the Caps and love his unselfish game.
 
kicksavedave said:
The reputation that he was lazy or unmotivated seems less true than the fact that he was misfit and misused in LA. No one who plays defense like PLD is lazy. Sure, credit to the Caps for using him right and treating him like he's valuable. Why didn't LA do those things?

Anyway, I've loving PLD on the Caps and love his unselfish game.
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His demeanor, body language (and play) from what I’ve read from past fan bases probably led to that lazy impression. So many personality-type issues could have been in play. Could be him maturing also. I just don’t think everyone else necessarily had it all wrong with him. I hope we/he have/has figured it out and this is the guy we get going forward.
 
CapitalsCupReality said:
His demeanor, body language (and play) from what I’ve read from past fan bases probably led to that lazy impression. So many personality-type issues could have been in play. Could be him maturing also. I just don’t think everyone else necessarily had it all wrong with him. I hope we/he have/has figured it out and this is the guy we get going forward.
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I think this is exactly what happened, first with Torts then with LA. Regardless, I'm not saying there wasn't negative evidence correctly attached to PLD in the past. I'm saying the cause for that evidence may have been more on those teams handling of him than on him entirely. That long article about his journey from CBus to the Caps details a lot of it. First, just, Torts. Then, he was never able to bond in Peg because of Covid. He was miscast and misused in LA. Maybe we are just the first ones to crack the code, but I don't think he's suddenly become a different person here. He's just been 'unlocked' if you will.
 
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CapitalsCupReality said:
I don’t know about that; the past is right there for review.

We may very well be getting the best version of PLD the Pro. That’s on Carbs and the culture IMO, plus a little dose of PLD probably realizing he might be running out of chances around the league.
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In LA the Kings had him playing 3rd line Centre and that was a waste...why bother trading for a guy giving him a hefty raise and playing there...dumb dumb Blake
 
RayMartyniukTotems said:
In LA the Kings had him playing 3rd line Centre and that was a waste...why bother trading for a guy giving him a hefty raise and playing there...dumb dumb Blake
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Isn’t that on the coach and maybe on the player in terms of his quality of play? I’m sure Blake wasn’t envisioning that play for that price.

kicksavedave said:
I think this is exactly what happened, first with Torts then with LA. Regardless, I'm not saying there wasn't negative evidence correctly attached to PLD in the past. I'm saying the cause for that evidence may have been more on those teams handling of him than on him entirely. That long article about his journey from CBus to the Caps details a lot of it. First, just, Torts. Then, he was never able to bond in Peg because of Covid. He was miscast and misused in LA. Maybe we are just the first ones to crack the code, but I don't think he's suddenly become a different person here. He's just been 'unlocked' if you will.
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In addition to this being a great place to play, with great teammates, he might be being a better pro here….hard to judge only by results.
 
CapitalsCupReality said:
Isn’t that on the coach and maybe on the player in terms of his quality of play? I’m sure Blake wasn’t envisioning that play for that price.


In addition to this being a great place to play, with great teammates, he might be being a better pro here….hard to judge only by results.
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I think Blake was thinking that PLD would be a top 6 but he found little chemistry with any top 6 players ...that and when Kopi retires or play falls off PLD would assume the mantle
 
Midnight Judges said:
Where was the back check on that play? The Caps were passing the puck unhindered across the crease for what seemed like more time than a SCF team should be giving up.
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Hungover from a late night in Georgetown?

I like when players basically give up and just lay down on the ice like their D man did.
 
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According to this, Ovechkin is now the third player in history to record multiple hat tricks at 39 years old or older. Gordie and Johnny Bucyk are the other two.

Bucyk got one of his against the Capitals back in the bad old days.

It’s stuff like this that make it easy to think he’s the greatest goal scorer in history (which I don’t think is remotely controversial at this point, and I don’t think it has been for quite a while now) and that he will continue to be that after all of the current players in the NHL have retired. Of course I’d rather have Auston Matthews if I were selecting the best scorer right now, and I see stuff about whether he is or is not better at this point in his career or whatever, but for some reason I doubt he’s going to have any hat tricks, if he’s even still playing, at age 39.

If you look back at a game from when Gordie and Bucyk were getting those hat tricks, gosh the goalies look so scrawny. There was so much room to shoot at. I wonder what Ovechkin might have been able to do if he’d started playing 50 or 60 years ago. I guess he’d have had to figure out how to do it with a wooden stick though. Wish I could put him in a time machine and find out.
 
He's the first player in history to score 200+ goals in three different decades. And he started the 2000's in 2005, while this decade is barely into 2025. That to me is the most insane stat. We all know Wayne's best seasons were the best ever, but over time, Ovechkin has actually climbed even with him in GpG. Its just the incredible consistency over 20 years that no one else can even come close to.

In fact there are only 6 players with a higher GpG than Ovi/99, but none of them played more than 915 games (Mario) and the leader, Bossy, only played 752. Metaphysical fact that none of them could sustain their higher GpG over 20 full years like Ovi did. Wayne couldn't even do that. Wayne's last 6 years GpG was .25. Ovi even has a higher GpG this year than his career average, he's at .70 right now.

Its not even comprehendible. Its insane! He's the GOAT!
 
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kicksavedave said:
He's the first player in history to score 200+ goals in three different decades. And he started the 2000's in 2005, while this decade is barely into 2025. That to me is the most insane stat. We all know Wayne's best seasons were the best ever, but over time, Ovechkin has actually climbed even with him in GpG. Its just the incredible consistency over 20 years that no one else can even come close to.

In fact there are only 6 players with a higher GpG than Ovi/99, but none of them played more than 915 games (Mario) and the leader, Bossy, only played 752. Metaphysical fact that none of them could sustain their higher GpG over 20 full years like Ovi did. Wayne couldn't even do that. Wayne's last 6 years GpG was .25. Ovi even has a higher GpG this year than his career average, he's at .70 right now.

Its not even comprehendible. Its insane! He's the GOAT!
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He’d arguably be chasing Draisaitl were it not for his first major injury (again, at 39!).
 
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