Thursday Caps Clips: Caps @ Bruins Game Day

Still can’t believe that puck found that hole and neither could Thomas.

They should title

I hate to say this because he’s such a good guy, but I fear for Boyd’s ability to stay healthy enough to play this game. He apparently stuck around the area this off-season specifically so he could be in top shape, and then four games in he’s injured again. It’s got to be frustrating to play the game with so much heart and constantly have your body betray you.

Unless it’s mono. Or a maintenance day.

RedBirdie, come on out and let us buy you dinner. It’s the least we can do after your work on Theo’s charity.

If there are other reasons for not coming out, that’s fine, but don’t let dinner stand in the way of a fun night with friends.

You’re such a Pens fan.

Take the metro to Bethesda. Hard Times is a 10 minute walk from the station.

Christoph, is it still possible to get one?

In other words, he’s not Joe Reekie.

But he has impressed me with his analysis and his willingness to call it how he sees it. I think his blog on the Caps offensive issues was a great read. Beyond just talking about the issues, he presents solutions as he sees it.

Very insightful and not too far from what I’ve been noticing with the Caps lately (dating back to this past playoffs/regular season). I really appreciated his perspective, breaking down key areas (e.g. On The Rush, Neutral Zone Attack & Transition, Offensive Zone Cycling, "Magnetting" re: Shots & Dumped Pucks at Net) where the effectiveness of the Cap’s offensive approach has fallen short and how they might be addressed. It helps that he cites other teams who excel at those certain areas.

Others (FB, D’ohboy, to name a couple) in this community have at various times throughout the past season brought these issues to light. Whenever the Caps, particularly OV and the first line, struggle to get into an offensive rhythm I always have FB’s fanpost in the back of my mind. Also, D’ohboy’s fanpost from the playoffs, which previously addressed Bruce Boudreau’s systematic issues. While the latter fanpost deals with BB’s system and mental lapses from a defense standpoint, I think it has some relevance to the offense.

Just a few thoughts:

The PK has been encouraging, we all know that, but hopefully we’ll see BB and the coaching staff make some adjustments that can put the Caps’ offense in a position to be more effective, deliberate, and disciplined from the moment they posses the puck in either their defensive end or the neutral zone. All too familiar are the long stretch passes (not just from the D, but also from forwards who wind up with possession of the puck deep in their D-zone) up the boards to a stationary winger. Or, OV trying to run through the gauntlet of forwards and D when carrying the puck on his own into the offensive zone when on the attack regardless of where his line mates are. Adjustments are crucial, especially at the NHL level where talent alone can only go so far — teams are no longer surprised by the Caps’ offensive tendencies and the talent allows that mode of attack to work. They’ve adjusted to deal with it. The ball is in the Caps’ hands to now make their own adjustments.

Ideally, you want a D man to carry the puck through the neutral zone when possible unless it’s a quick transition situation. It encouraged me to see Schultz carry the puck out of the DZone and at least through the neutral zone before dishing it off to a winger on Tuesday night. This is where Green is effective and missed. Hopefully Poti, and Carlson in particular, can consistently do the same with confidence eventually.

I think May has done the most difficult thing for an analyst to do: talk about the team and the game in a way that’s accessible to the casual fan while still offering insight for the hardcore fans.

Joe Reekie, he is not that’s for sure. I guess it surprises me that he’s been able to go beyond the typical ex-jock speak that fat_daddyo succinctly points out below. It’s great May is able effectively bring the experience and insight he had as a player and parlay that into what he says from a observer’s point of view both to the casual fan and hardcore fans. There’s definitely enough substance from May’s comments and observations for me to give pause and think about.

Anyways …

I enjoy May’s analysis – Cairgh Laughlin’s too mor that matter. Thought May was kind of a crackpot at one time, but that’s okay too. Melrose and the VS boys drive me bananas.

Boudreau himself said: They are relying on talent to win them games now, Not that they’re not working hard most of the time, but I do feel them fumbling for the “on” switch.

Gandler is Semin’s agent, too, right? That makes some sense.

Remind me to pack cotton balls to staunch the flow of blood from my eardrums.

He’ll get out of it by coming up with a definition of “multiple” that is greater than two. :-)

Not too much danger of this happening.

I think Stretch actually played a bunch of music from Ovie’s Ipod that day.

To each his own I guess. I enjoyed the pregame warmup music even though it wasn’t necessarily my kind of music. I like a little variety and it’s good to change up stale rituals. Plus I think Stretch is quite a character. Stretch as DJ. Why not?

Love your handle.

I’m with you, Potitang. The word that came to mind for me was cacophonous.

So you’re saying this is the gameday preview post?

Even a broken clock is right twice a day.

Personally, I think Ted should have gotten more.

Overblown? Are you referring to the Wisniewski suspension?

Isn’t there some rule that if it’s more than 5 games, there has to be an in-person hearing? My guess is they want to give him at least that, and if that’s the case, they had to do the indefinite suspension in order to keep him out of last night’s game while they set up the hearing. It’s not like all parties involved can automatically clear time from their schedule within 20 minutes of the incident or anything, you know?

$100K works out to about 15 games worth of Rypien’s salary this season. Is that the conversion to use here?

I think the fact that this was televised (and on highlight films all over the country) influenced the NHL more than anything else. Leonsis really clobbered the guy if I recall, grabbed him around the neck and threw him on the ground. I was surprised at the time he got off so light. I don’t know if Rypien even touched the guy, but he certainly didn’t hurt him.

Why is Ted’s behavior since the event in question? His suspension was handed down pretty quickly after he assaulted the fan. Both Rypien’s assault and Ted’s assault were first-time incidents (Rypien has no other suspension history, from what I can tell) and both were relatively widely publicized. Rypien’s incident is going to get more eyeballs because they’re going to stick it up on Sportscenter on a regular basis.

Ouch.

I just happened to notice that they took the infamous thug pictures off the greenlife52 website. And he hasn’t blogged in a year.

Interesting that you mention Boyd Gordon, because look, new content! Where the mysteries of Boyd’s “condition” are…not uncovered. But there’s other good stuff in there, I promise.

Thomas played the last 3? Tuukka is slated for all of the home starts?

Varly off first for the Caps.

See…I definitely am not sold on Marcus taking that 2C spot (yet, at least) but I’m kind of excited to see how he does with Semin and Laich. He’s got good speed and better hands, which might make him a good option for 28.

Plus we already know Flash can play with Fehr, and I think putting him w/ two guys who are pretty responsible defensively in Chimmer and Fehr could help cover up his own blunders.

It’s an experiment, you know? Could be good. Could suck, but then all Bruce has to do is put them back. Just don’t touch that top line, BB – they need time to mesh.

We’re all too busy being bummed our normal anthem singer (Rene Rancourt, who rules) isn’t getting the anthem because some bozo aging rockstar wants to advertise his motorcycles.

Our seat neighbors went on vacation to Montreal last weekend and took in a Habs game. Said they had a great time; wore their Caps jerseys and the crowd was great to them. I guess it reciprocated the Habs fans we had opening night.

Thanks, I will start there :)

That little temper-tantrum by Spector on Twitter made me glad that TEB wasn’t too comfortable with writing in 140 or less, else the Neuvy incident would have been all over the NHL last year.

It’s okay, looks like plenty of people are doing it for you.

What bugs me even more (and no, I haven’t been sitting here stewing over this for the last half hour…why do you ask?) is that he took the coward’s way out, the petulant baby way out by getting on Twitter and spewing his crap to anyone who would listen. Jose isn’t on Twitter; I’d bet good money Jose will never BE on Twitter.

So he’s basically bashing this guy, who has been with his new team all of 2 weeks, for doing something most goalies do on game day anyway – and is doing so in a forum where he’s assured protection from Jose actually seeing it.

As someone else said to me on Twitter, I really hope Jose talks to everyone BUT this ass after his first game.

I also love that we can all remember that one day…because it was so out of character for him to say something even mildly snarky, you know? Plus it was completely understandable for him to be frustrated at that particular point, and I frankly was surprised he didn’t snark to the media more often.

…or maybe I wasn’t surprised. He’s never really been that kind of goalie, for all the hits he took in Montreal and Colorado.

I did see that. I guess that one on one, he won’t be playing that game tonight.

I was talking to a guy who works for the NFLPA as a photographer and he said it’s amazing how few fans know about the realities of being an NFL player. League minimum is almost embarrassingly low (the NFL works of a seniority scale for league minimum; NHL rookies have a much better deal), and the average NFL career is scary short. There are no guaranteed contracts. Usually, we think of the super stars, or even just the comfortably wealthy. But most guys who come through will be lucky if they make $500,000 a year and play more than 3 season.

Moulson’s autograph is a crazy one.