The issue of “team toughness” – now front and center.

That’s been the strategy of every other team for the last four years. I’m just surprised it was Columbus of all clubs that it count for something.

“hunt down”? really? that seems to indicate a level of malicious intent that I’m not entirely comfortable with.

Make sure you check out Chimera’s comments at the end. Chicken shit.

In other news, water is wet.

Way to stay classy, Columbus.

So are the Caps going to run, chase, hunt down, & hit Nash on April 03? I mean if their coach thinks it’s Ok for their team to do it to Ovie he should have no problem when other teams do it to Nash, right?

Chimera said Capitals defenseman Shaone Morrisonn challenged him to a fight late in the third period.

“One guy challenged me, the Morrisonn guy,” Chimera said." I don’t know his first name. he’s a defenseman. It was going into overtime. I wasn’t going to fight then . . . I’m not the guy to turn down a fight, but we’re headed into overtime at that point. I play in overtime. I wanted to make something happen in overtime."

SMo, next time just start hitting the guy in the face repeatedly, forget about challenging him.

I think the team needs to make a statement in the next few games, blow teams out of the water, play out of their minds, win like they should have been winning with AO. They need to view this not as a handicap, but as an opportunity for each and every one of them to step out from the great 8’s shadow just a tiny bit, and maybe shut a few people up.

The guy isn’t doing anything that 29 other coaches in the league don’t tell their guys to do with AO. They tell them to get in his way, hit him hard, hit him clean. I don’t think that the coaching was out of line. What was out of line was Chimera and his hit (which was illegal, hence he got a penalty).

Don’t think Bruce isn’t telling the guys to go out there and get in the face of Malkin, Crosby, Datsyuk, Gaborik, etc. and make their lives miserable. I am sure he is.

Star hockey players get hit, they get hurt, it’s a rough game, and they are targets. They have to accept that role when they play. Sometimes the play crosses the line a little (like Chimera) or a lot (like Chris Simon).

This injury should have very little impact on the team in the long term, unless AO needs something like surgery (and there are no indications that he does need anything other than some rest and nachos in the pressbox). The Caps will be fine.

“Naw, man. You ain’t down with that. You don’t get all gangsta wild and shit. Naw. You got fuckin beef with them? This shit is on you.”

Avon may as well have been speaking to BB.

And here’s food for thought – the one of the “stars” everyone thought could take care of himself is now out. Who’s the next target? 19, 28 or 52? My money’s on 52.

I’m not quite sure what the big deal is here. Teams have been doing this for decades and the only reason it worked this time is because Ovechkin got hurt and couldn’t play any longer. I have little doubt that had he been able to stay in the game, he’d have ended up playing a major role in the outcome. Anybody remember when Montreal broke AO’s nose and what happened after? He loves being challenged which is why most teams don’t take that approach. Sleeping bears and all that.

If this is going to happen, and no one on the team is going to defend Ovechkin, then GMGM, of all people, should see the value in signing a tough guy. A cheap policy to enforce accountability, IMO.

impressed that everyone avoided the obvious “fat bleep” punchline.

Hey, he’s honest about it. I like that.

1)The coaching staff coming up with a new breakout play. Seeing them continue to run the same ones that they have been using for the past year is getting old.
2)A veteran defensemen learning how not to screen his own goalies.
3)Penalty killers aggressively taking away space, particularly when the player with the puck has his face to the boards.
4)Penalty killers being coached to understand that when killing an empty net power play the first priority is to take away the passing lanes. Taking away the shooting lanes is secondary—the burden of stopping shots falls more heavily on the goalie.
5)Boudreau evolving his strategy. He appears to have run out of ideas and has been reduced to berating the players for not trying hard enough. If he does not learn some new tricks…

(Hope I’m not breaching Rink Etiquette too badly. Posted this on Caps Clips but think it belongs better here.)

Whoop-dee-do.

Cannot wait for Don Cherry’s comments on this event, if any.

Hitch told his team exactly what I would have said: get Ovie involved in something other than shooting. Play him physically because nothing else will work, and even that might be futile. He’s a great coach, and he respects the game and its players. I’d never poo-poo him becoming Caps coach, thats for sure.

That said, all this talk about team toughness grates on me. Who exactly are we talking about being tough? Poti? Pothier? Morrisson? Fehr? Flash? Semin? Backstrom? Unless Clark and Bradley or Erskine are on the ice, who exactly is expected to get physical? Who on this team can actually win a fight? Is it enough to lose a fight? Unless you win your fights, you will intimidate NO ONE. Who here has ever been scared of a guy that can’t win a bout?

I honestly think this is the problem with how the Caps rebuilt. Look at the guys that Philly added, for example, through draft and trades. They picked guys that had size and width, not just height. Guys like Briere and Gagne keep getting injured (aside from groins, maybe) because they aren’t built to play the Flyers brand. But what is the Caps brand? Powerplay dominance? If so, no bitching when the softness comes through. I remember a lot of people around here saying the team didn’t need an enforcer. Maybe not, but they need pugilists, formidable ones, and unless they hurry up and get some, we’ll be seeing a lot more of these injuries and scrums as the season goes on. Anyone watching the tape of the CBJ game will point out to their team that you can push around 90% of the Caps roster. This is only the beginning.

But if you think you’re going to see more toughness out of these guys, think again.
There’s acting tough and there’s being tough.

By the way, Knubels slash was a retaliation for the Ovechkin incident. He bet on the game being in control and took the opp to hurt someone. That was an old school move, and most frown on that kind of thing these days.
So who was frowning?

I’d never poo-poo him becoming Caps coach, thats for sure.

Have you watched the teams he coaches? I’d be bored to tears if he ever coached the Caps. Same with Jacques Lemaires. I like my hockey to be played like it’s supposed to be fun, thank you very much.

Who here has ever been scared of a guy that can’t win a bout?

Who here would go toe to toe with Matt Bradley? Sometimes just showing up for the fight gets the message across.

Unless Clark and Bradley or Erskine are on the ice, who exactly is expected to get physical?

This is exactly the problem. I don’t buy into your pugilism stuff or your PHI stereotyping nonsense. Who exactly was the fearsome pugilist in the SCF last year? I’ll wait. What you saw in the SCF, in stark contrast to “pugilists, formidable ones,” was a group of guys that would not be pushed around. By anybody. Go ahead, hit Max Talbot. He’s getting up and he’s going to let you know he’s up and coming back for you. Hit Dan Cleary. Hit Zetterberg, and Datsyuk, and Crosby, and Staal. Damn near to a man those rosters are made up of guys that stand up for themselves, but more importantly they almost never had to stand up for themselves because their line mates were on it before they were. We have far too many guys that I question if they are prepared to do that, and that’s the problem that I, and J.P. and the others taking this position, have.

Team Toughness: It starts with yourself.

No, those are the kind of guys I think the Caps need. Lets settle on the definitions being tossed around. Pugilist is somone who fights. Enforcer is someone who can only fight.
I’m not overlooking that at all.

By formidable I mean someone who wins at least as many as he loses. PREFERABLY MORE WINS. I like Bradley, dude, I really do. But lets face it, he’s not a good fighter. He’s willing, and I give him props for that, but he doesn’t win enough to be formidable. I wouldn’t suggest that the Caps pick up Riley Cote. He can’t play. But they need guys that are intimidating and that can play. The Caps have a lot of guys in the pipes who can play (maybe not all at a consistent NHL level), but how many of them are physically imposing AND can play? Wouldn’t it be great if Carlson ended up being a tough son of a bitch that can fight? I’m not getting the impression thats part of Alzners game. Jurcina’s big but he doesn’t fight. THe only blueliner is Erskine, and thats not good enough. Clark can throw em, but he hasn’t been. Frankly, he’s the f-ing captain and should have beat the piss out of someone the other night. That would have been a message. Invitations to fight at the end of the 3rd heading into OT send a message too.

And I think its convenient that you think I dont understand but that you do.
I’m going to assume for a moment that you were around for Hunter and Stevens and Dino. The Caps were intimidating. No one wanted to fight any of those guys. No one wanted to fight Simon. Bradley Clark and Shamo are not exuding that.

I rooted for Dale Hunter. I loved nearly everything that man did, clean, dirty or otherwise. I can’t get mad at Hitchcock for saying this, and i can’t say “targeting” players is wrong. I would do what we called “Stalking” players when I played Roller hockey – the coach would assign me to who he thought was the other teams top player, and my job was to get under the guy’s skin. I would pester, bump, and do pretty much everything shy of try to hurt him. I broke sticks, and knocked gloves off. All to get under a guys skin. I think that’s more what Hitchcock means by this comment – it’s taken a little out of context here, and if there was some sort of “bounty” on it, the NHL would be stepping in. Also, I don’t think any of us would be crying foul if Malkin was taken out and the quote came down like this. And if it was Richards, we’d probably be agreeing with the coach saying it.