Monday Caps Clips: Home Sweep Home

Very sweet. Perfect for the morning. Holtby’s good with the press too, already commenting on where he needed to improve his game with rebound control.

Agreed, the lightbulb seems to have gone off for Green this year. While talk is cheap, his words and overall manner off the ice indicate a serious progression in terms of maturity. I see it carrying over to his game on the ice as well, for the better.

He caught a whiff of Carcillo.

They’re angels. That thread was full of LULZes and “GO FLYERS!@!” worthy comments.

Their second period thread caption:

This is Braden Holtby. He’s not that good. Remind him.

Classsssssssssy

I will absolutely defend those guys. It’s true, there’s some crap you have to ignore, but once you do there are folks there who are smart hockey fans and are actually willing to engage. In that particular thread, the moderators, j reed, and ToddTheFox all had some really good comments. Take a look at the conversation around where I posted Green’s goals allowed stats, or we talked about his penalty killing. We didn’t convince them, but we gave them something to think about. I find it much easier to have a decent conversation at BSH than any other Atlantic or Southeast division site (but then, I pine for the return of the Patrick Division, so it’s no surprise I’d rather talk hockey with Philly fans than Tampa fans).

With all that said, this one was too ridiculous not to share, coming from a Philly fan:

Outstanding article. I was glad to see Holtby rated high in techical skills and performance. Would love more links to these kinds of technical analyses by former players and coaches.

From the Goalie Guild article, I went to the Holtbyisms article on Russian Machine Never Breaks. He is a basket-case! Did anyone notice anything like that at last nights game?

Definitely. It’s no shock that Semin makes the line better, he’s the better player. But it’s about marginal gains throughout the lineup. I’d also point out that when the SOB line gets too cute BB breaks them up. I wonder what those numbers would adjust to if BB left them together when they were playing cute, and thus ineffective.

Minor Penalty – A minor penalty shall be imposed on any player, including the goalkeeper, who holds, freezes or plays the puck with his stick, skates or body in such a manner as to deliberately cause a stoppage of play. With regard to a goalkeeper, this rule applies outside of his goal crease area.

…
Play shall not be stopped nor the game delayed by reasons of adjustments to clothing, equipment, skates or sticks. For an infringement of this rule, a minor penalty shall be given. No penalty should be assessed when a water bottle is delivered to a goalkeeper, however, this should be conducted during time-outs and if, in the opinion of the Referee, it is being done to intentionally delay the game, a minor penalty may be assessed.

No delay shall be permitted for the repair or adjustment of goalkeeper’s equipment. If adjustments are required, the goalkeeper shall leave the ice and his place shall be taken by the substitute goalkeeper immediately. For an infraction of this rule by a goalkeeper, a minor penalty shall be imposed.

Like I wrote in the recap, the Flyers got away with one.

He can’t sign him until January 1. But I’m sure he’s already thinking about it.

Now that he’s doing great I don’t want to lose him.

Now, I’m a huge Sasha fan, and I hope he stays, but he’s on fire right now. At some point, he’s going to regress, even if just temporarily. We’ll get the useless stick penalties, scoring droughts, weird neuroses and all the other things he does when he’s not bringing his A game. Are you still going to want to sign him then? Or is it just NOW that you want him? You gave to consider all aspects of the player.

When Semin does it in the playoffs?

When does GMGM start thinking about contract extension talks with Semin?

Somewhere in America, Jordan is fired up.

Hahahaha. Can you be sure that’s the only mistake?

Kyle Wilson should obviously not be an “also ran.” He’s damn near keeping pace with Rick Nash. He’s also not a Cap.

Dirty. Perron had his head up, Thornton came at him from an angle. I don’t think it was particularly malicious but you have to be responsible for your actions.

I would have liked to see another angle on that one, kinda hard to see where Thornton was aiming and where he hit from the angle in the clip.

Not dirty. Classic hospital pass. That hit should stay in the game, but oh well. The NHL is basically going to an OHL style rule, instead of the predatory rules they were trying to implement. This is a fucking brutal decision by the NHL. Before the season the NHL specifically cited the Mitchell on Toews hit as a hit that would still be legal. Exactly how is that hit different from the Thornton on Perron hit? Brutal.

Two years ago, Steve Mason played in 61 regular season games, but looked like an exhausted sieve in the playoffs.

Last year, Jonathan Quick played in 72 regular season games, but also didn’t look great in the playoffs.

Two years ago, Jonas Hiller played in 46 regular season games, then went on to be unreal in the playoffs.

Last year, Tuuka Rask played in 45 regular season games and had a decent playoffs.

Last year, Jimmy Howard played in 63 regular season games and had a decent playoffs.

Over the last few years, Carey Price has played between 40 and 50 games, although it hasn’t really helped him come playoff time.

Last year, Niemi played in 39 regular season games, and we all know how that turned out.

In 2006-7, Ray Emery played in 58 games for the Sens and, although they made the Stanley Cup finals, his play trailed off noticeably in the playoffs (Reg. Season Sv%: .918, Post Season: .907).

Based on this informal (read: pulled out of my butt) survey of post-lockout keepers on playoff teams, I think the Caps should aim for Neuvy playing around 45-50 games; any more than that might risk his ability to play effectively come playoff time.

Personally, I think Holtby would benefit from a season (or two) of 50+ starts in the A. He’s really raw. That said, I wouldn’t mind a veteran backup for Neuvy here while Holtby does that.

There’s this rule:

56.3 Bench Minor Penalty – A bench minor penalty shall be imposed when an unidentifiable player on the players’ bench or penalty bench or any Coach or non-playing Club personnel who, by means of his stick or his body, interferes with the movements of the puck or any opponent on the ice during the progress of the play.

Or…

75.2 Minor Penalty – A minor penalty for unsportsmanlike conduct shall be assessed under this rule for the following infractions:

(i) Any identifiable player who uses obscene, profane or abusive language or gestures directed at any person.

I thought there was something about distraction somewhere, but I don’t have the current rulebook as a .pdf, so it’s taking longer to find.

I thought they did mention it. A few seconds after it happened, Locker (I think) said that Pronger and Knuble were “grinning” at each other as they separated.

I was really annoyed every time they shifted the video to Lacher while play was happening. I would like to watch some hockey, please.

Hahaha…

He spelled “awfulness” wrong.

Black and Orange for the team from Pennsylvania? Yeah, that’ll work.

He latest tweet is a gem:

WaPo, 1959: “There is a hard core of hockey fans in [D.C] who are always complaining their beloved sport doesn’t get enough prominence”

Oh, Bettman’s son? Heh. His wife’s a University of Maryland graduate. Local, right?

Hehehe!

But anyway, any excuse to post a shot of Bettman hoisted up in the air on a bunch of chairs… should’a unbuttoned his jacket, though… ;-)

No single statistic shows the whole picture. They can be used to show trends of past behavior, but by the statistics alone, Braden Holtby could be arguably (before last night’s game) the best goalie in the NHL as far as SV% and GAA is concerned, because his SV% was 100%, and his GAA was 0. Never mind that it was on four shots in a relief effort. He’s 1-0, stopped every shot he faced………..

That’s amazing.

Blocking a shot with your knee is probably not the smartest thing you could do. Even with a pad.