Zubrus, Sykora and Bradley out. Fleischmann, Muir and Yonkman in.
This should mean that Clymer will play as a forward, tonight (he was a defenseman, paired with Eminger, in our last two games), and that Muir or Yonkman could play on the fourth line... unless we play with 7 defensemen and 11 forwards.
Johnson is a little frisky, in net, and it's costing him- he gave up a fat rebound, dove out to try and poke it away, and the guy just popped it over him for the 2nd goal. Then he roamed out to his left, about 30 feet from the crease, and flubbed the pass for the next Flyers' chance- only Muir's penalty prevented a goal.
The Caps are a team that will only win when the other team lets them.
In other words.....the Caps must rely on their opposition going through the motions for them to win .
If Philly tries...............the caps lose.
just my opinion.
The Caps played a few good games, recently, TAK. Tonight, we miss three starters (Zubrus, Sykora and Bradley, who have scored 7 of our 25 goals -- almost one third), and we're rolling three unusual lines with 4th-liners filling the holes. Plus Johnson had a bad first period. I think we have very few chances to win this one, but it's not out of reach yet. Hopefully, a PPG will get us back on the track.
Ok, that's the 4 I spoke of- all Caps, the rest of the way.
Fleishmann got off a good shot his first shift. Laich has looked good all night. Morrisonn gets off a good one too, late in the PP. They haven't given up.
The Flyers radio announcers just said that the Caps are playing Johnson tonight because they probably think they have easier chances to win tomorrow against the Thrashers with Olie in goal.
The WHL theory(for roadtrips).
Play your weaker lineup against the teams you expect to lose to .
Play your studs against the teams that you think you can beat .
The Olie against the Thrash thingy.
PS
A WHL roadtrip would make most NHLers beg for mercy.
the bus rides are not fun .
Just after I posted, the Flyers have a man down on the ice, not moving..... no call, and wasn't on the tv screen when it occurred.
It was Desjardins, got decked by Chris Clark. He was demonstrating movements like he caught a furtive elbow under the jaw. Looks a little woozy, but he'll be back.
This message has been edited by reallycrowesnest on Nov 3, 2005 8:31 PM
It's not Hanlon's fault if Zubrus, Sykora and Bradley are injured, but he sure doesn't know when to pull a goalie. Fire his sorry ass. We need a real coach.
Well, I'll say this for the guys, it doesn't look like they've given up- still working, although nothing is working for them. Couple of good chances early 3rd, they just can't seem to put it together tonight. We should expect this once every 5 games or so, and tonight's that once.
Yonkman may be hurt again- JB notes he hasn't skated but :28 tonight.
Yes, only one shift for Yonkman. More ice time for Fleischmann in the third, less for Sutherby.
In game 11, by the way, three of our defensemen were healthy scratches (Biron, Muir and Yonkman). I believe it's time to send down a couple of blueliners and recall forwards.
Man that was an embarrassing game. Just a few thoughts:
1. Yonkman may be hurt -- Hmph...what else is new?
2. Brent "The Sieve" Johnson -- Jesus, can't this guy stay on his feet longer than two minutes? He flops around more than the snakeheads they pulled out of the Potomac. I can't recall if it was on the first or second goal (there were so damned many), he made the initial stop by bouncing it off his blocker, then, instead of settling back down in his net to await a possible rebound, as he thought about for a split second (you could see by his body movement), he changed his mind and went out after it, flopping to the ice, missing the puck and leaving the net wide open for the follow-up shot. If the Caps are willing to accept these beatings as a learning experience, then how about bringing up Maxime Ouellet and letting him learn along with the rest of the team? Johnson can do his flip-flop shuffle up in Hershey.
3. Hanlon quote -- "In the previous years, teams in our situation could do things to try to slow the game and hold people up. But now you have to stay within the rules." Hmm...so...you're saying you have to play by the rules? That really sucks, doesn't it? You don't play by the rules, you get a penalty and hurt the team because the PK is suspect. Maybe that cuts both ways though -- if the other team is down a man, won't that hurt them too? Ooops, oh no, I forgot, the Caps will just turn the puck over and let them have a short-handed goal. Consequently, no matter which team is in the box, it hurts the Caps.
4. Youth movement -- I know there will be some growing pains with a young team. You can't avoid it, but, I hope that management can eventually find an experience blueliner or two to help the kids grow back there. Eminger will definitely be a good one. Morrisson hasn't looked too bad either. But, they still need some help back there. It's one thing to see the team stay in the game and lose by a goal in a close-fought game, but, it's really deflating to see them get shellacked as they did in Philly and twice this season against the Thrashers.
5. Jagr -- Leading the league in goals -- too bad you couldn't put up half that effort while you were here, eh, you worthless piece of shit?
5. Jagr -- Leading the league in goals -- too bad you couldn't put up half that effort while you were here, eh, you worthless piece of shit?
While most don't agree with me, I think that's a little harsh. Jagr did as much offensively under the system the Caps played as possible- he led the team in scoring the entire time he was here, and in the '03-'04 season, several other Caps had career years on offense. No, it wasn't all JJ, but it was how other teams had to deal with him that freed up others. League-wide, in the '03-'04 season, Jagr was:
11th in ES goals
19th in ES assists
12th in ES points
on a team that was a bottom feeder. Imagine what he could have done with a little help. And he did a lot worse on the PP, proving in hindsight that Hanlon, indeed, is not the coach for this team if we want to see the offensive side of the game prosper- they couldn't score a goal on the PP with Jagr, and they can't score a goal on the PP with Ovechkin (I'm beginning to see the hidden sarcasm in Jagr's lament that "Glenny's the best coach I ever played for").
That's not the talent, that's the coaching. Period.
Style of play has a lot to do with it- I recall that people were dead-set against Lang, when he first came to the Caps Too much "standing around", "taking shifts off", etc., "just like Jagr", until he started putting the puck in net on a regular basis. And I think one also has to consider the "new" rules in regards to players like Jagr: do you think he might have done better then without 2-3 guys hanging on his back all night, every night, that he no longer has to worry about?
Lastly, I'm going to be among the few here to say I was extremely sorry to see Jagr go, and probably the first to say I'll be even sorrier in three years when Ovechkin hits the road- he's getting even less help than Jagr did, system-wise, even with the new rules.
What the Caps lack, even more than a defenseman at this point, is a playmaking center who can complement Ovechkin. Cassels has been generally disappointing in this regard (two assists in 12 games) and is not the long term answer. Prospect depth at center is a bit suspect -- Jakub Klepis, Jared Aulin, perhaps Chris Bourque (but his future might be on the wing). There isn't a sure-fire fisrt line center in that group.
As deep as the Caps prospect pool is with Ovechkin, Fehr, Green, Bourque, etc., they now have problems at center and (suddenly) in goal. Phil Kessel* is the knee-jerk solution for a first-line center through the draft, but there is the element of chance (the Caps are now fifth in the sweepstakes). In any case, I suspect the Caps will be targeting a first line center in the 2006 draft. From what I've read, center seems well represented at the top of the prospect list in the upcoming draft.
Goaltending, thought to be a depth position six months ago, is now problematic. Maxime Ouellet's career in DC is, for all intents and purposes, over. He's not getting any playing time behind Frederic Cassivi and Kirk Daubenspeck at Hershey, which should be a neon sign on a billboard about Ouellet's prospects. Much as folks might look to Rastislav Stana or Maxime Daigneault, it seems a stretch to me to think that any other goalie in the Caps system could grow into the role Olaf Kolzig has played over the past eight years. The thing with goalies is (and someone pointed this out to me before I did this little piece of research) that goalies often flourish with teams other than who drafted them.. For example . . .
Of the top ten goalies (GAA) of 2003-2004 that played more than half their team's games, here is where they played, and who originally signed/drafted them:
Miikka Kiprusoff: Calgary/San Jose
Dwayne Roloson: Minnesota/Calgary
Marty Turco: Dallas/Dallas
Martin Brodeur: New Jersey/New Jersey
Andrew Raycroft: Boston/Boston
David Aebischer: Colorado/Colorado
Ed Belfour: Toronto/Chicago
Evgeni Nabokov: San Jose/San Jose
Chris Osgood: St. Louis/Detroit
Dan Cloutier: Vancouver/NY Rangers
Half the group ended up somewhere else.
And, here are the first round picks among goalies, 1990-1999
Trevor Kidd
Martin Brodeur
Jocelyn Thibault
Jamie Storr
Eric Fichaud
Evgeni Ryabchikov
Dan Cloutier
Jean-Sebastien Giguere
Martin Biron
Brian Boucher
Marc Denis
Craig Hillier
Roberto Luongo
Mika Noronen
Jean-Francois Damphous
Patrick DesRochers
Mathieu Chouinard
Brian Finley
Maxime Ouellet
Ari Ahonen
How many of these goalies have played in a Stanley Cup final? . . . How many have had productive careers?
Perhaps more than at any position, picking goalies is less science than art, and you might have to see one play somewhere else before you can figure out he's the one you really want. I suspect the Caps goalie of the future is not in the system.
* Odd Kessel stat . . . he has three goals in seven games so far with the Minnesota Golden Gophers -- a power play goal, a shorthanded goal, and a penalty shot goal.
___________
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"LA needs two hockey teams like Switzerland needs two navies" -- Norman Chad (from "My 10-Point Plan to Save Gary Bettman from Himself")
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