Capital Ups and Downs: Week 6

You can’t replace something of which you need more. Hendricks arguably supplements Bradley to the point that the team #hasenoughbradley.

Setting up Erskine for GWG’s and scoring deal-sealing empty netters, of course.

I wasn’t saying Steckel was useless just that before Hendricks, he had more of a purpose. King had no real spot on the team to begin with and they aren’t even comparable players on paper.

And the skating speed to draw penalty shots.

Yeah, the revelation that is Matt Hendricks doesn’t help Beagle or Pinner any.

Whenever I see Erskine do something like that I keep thinking about who those 9/10 defensemen are that the Caps are likely to have to employ before the season is over.

And Selke nominations take momentum. They take years of “this guy is really good at D!” Backstrom hasn’t gotten any of that attention yet. I don’t think numbers have much to do with Selke at all, and I definitely don’t think FO% is a big deal. I could see Koivu getting the Selke nomination just because of all that “he’s great on D and plays top lines!” talk that came out after his contract extension.

I think he’s only spent half or so of his shifts missing a stick this year, a vast improvement over last year.

He’s the absolute worst on the team, just a travesty. I guess it isn’t ugly like Schultz, or like Schultz used to be. He really seems to have got rid of his knock-kneed look. Go figure the guy is playing some of the best defensive hockey in the league and making some dynamite passes to start the offense.

I think #1 and #2 are solved by just having him play here. He’s not the biggest guy, but being strong on the boards is all leverage. More practice and more games and he’ll have it sorted out. #2, just sit there and learn from Gordo, Backstrom and Steckel.

Could be injured or maybe he’s listening to all the critics and trying to show he can be more “Sidney-like” and play an all-around game.

This third periods lately have been unusually unimpressive

Agreed there is a line where at that point he needs to be shooting more. But F&B has a point that he’s already got certain media members on him they will roast him for either shooting too much or being ineffective because he isn’t shooting enough.

Remember Game 7 against Philly? Couple minutes left in the 3rd, Ovie picks up a turnover dead center just inside the blue line, Biron came out high to challenge and he winds up looking for a shot but sees Fed swinging out to one side of Biron at the last second and tries a slap pass instead. Fed (like everyone else in existence) was expecting Ovie to just shoot it there and maybe be in position for a rebound, etc. If he looks up and sees the pass he has a layup of a redirect to win the game and the series. After that I saw numerous people asking why “the most dangerous offensive player in the world” decides to not take the responsibility because the pressure got to him or whatever. If Feds taps that in Ovie gets praised as being so unselfish and making the right play to win his team the series. As it turned out, he got slightly vilified for not taking the shot himself.

Even is he is passing, his line mates don’t dominate corsi like they would in the past. Like I said above, he’s an 8.8 corsi reel, which is behind Laich, Semin, Backstrom, Green, and Schultz I think (plus MP). Not even close to how good he can be.

If I’m going to make a trade, I would go for a new 2C/3C before I went for an eight D.

I don’t see the two moves as mutually exclusive, though clearly I’d agree that an upgrade to a position on the depth chart that will play nearly every game is more important than an upgrade to one that won’t play often at all.

As for why to get an 8th/9th/10th D, history says you’ll need ’em at some point.

If I’m going to make a trade, I would go for a new 2C/3C before I went for an eight D.

That #2C is a hell of a lot harder to come by than the #5/6/7/8 D.

You don’t trade for an 8D. You trade for a 4/5D and then push everyone else down.

. . . in the playoffs when you don’t have time to gradually introduce someone new into a pairing without getting shelled and bounced out YET AGAIN. (to continue this line of thinking)

So… not an NHLer, never played an NHL game and never played an NHL game. Killer.

Still not optimal — I don’t see anyone coming up from Hershey and playing like they belong there.

They need some guy who is cheap but still dependable to eat up bottom pairing minutes and can teach Carlson how not to be undressed by Vanek. Someone like Niedermayer circa last season who has enough in his tank for another season (but obviously not with that cap hit, just someone old and not terrible that came to mind)

The future is bright with 52-55/74-27 but they definitely need a veteran presence who can keep Sloan up in the box. Just need to find someone who doesn’t cost much and is easily expendable for when they do find a more permanent solution.

And when NYI falls out then Wysniewski, Juice, and Martinek all become available. There are a lot of D that will be available as the season goes. C? Not so much.

Yeah, not commenting on availability just saying there are guys out there that fit the criteria. It’d be worth it in my mind to keep Sloan from getting a sweater in the playoffs but not costing the team any appreciable amount of money while giving the younger guys someone to learn from.