Capital Ups and Downs: Week 11

A couple of assists and a plus-two rating for the Caps’ best defenseman. There, I said it.

Oh girlfriend, you went there! Mmmmm hmmm!!!

Tyler Sloan + I’d almost forgotten he was still on the team.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Repressed_memory

I’d almost forgotten he was still on the team.

Music to my ears.

Perhaps it’s time to get him off the point, no?

The PP formation last night, with Green and Poti manning the points and OV in the left circle, is simply better suited for everyone’s game. Even though we didn’t pot one on that PP opp, it was a damned relief. Hey, didn’t I read somewhere that 3 used to QB a powerplay somewheres? (not advocatin’, just sayin’)

After last week’s sea of red, it’s nice to see some more green mixed in. Very Christmas-y.

Green’s been awful recently. If he’s injured, he desperately needs to rest. If he’’s not, then this team is in trouble.

The Caps have now had 38 consecutive power-plays without AO registering a point on one, and 84 in a row without an Ovechkin goal. Perhaps it’s time to get him off the point, no?

What’s this idea of change you speak of?! That’s not part of the plan!

Sincerely,
Bruce Boudreau

Ok, he got the green, but had to take a dig with the invisible comment. You know what, being invisible during some of that losing streak was a good thing, based on how the visible players played. ;-)

Anyone care to continue to argue that Makkan is better right now? MP contributes semi-regularly, Makkan does nothing but the occasional PK. I’m still long on Makkan, but our eggs for this year lie in MP’s basket.

Is it time to create a (or another) fanshot about WTF is wrong with Ovie?

This whole season is a big red down arrow. On pace for less than 30 and barely a point a game player? You can pull the “Life of Ovie” shit when you produce, but when you shrink from superstar to mere all-star, people are going to start questioning you..

for me, almost half-way through the season, Karl Alzner has been the one who has most impressed me. He has (quietly) elevated his game to the next level with very few “rookie moments.” A nice, pleasant surprise.

The Caps have now had 38 consecutive power-plays without AO registering a point on one, and 84 in a row without an Ovechkin goal. Perhaps it’s time to get him off the point, no?

This is just…. staggering. It’s hard to contemplate this could even be possible in a world where AO is healthy and not blindfolded.

There is quite a bit of BB chatter floating around, and really, you don’t have to go any farther than this sentence to know that something needs to change. That doesn’t necessarily mean fire BB, but the powerplay has been inefficient (if still very effective at times) for a couple years now, and he can’t seem to do anything about it.

It’s frustrating to see that much talent not know how to use each other to put the puck into the net.

Not sure if this has been posted, but I noticed that Behindthenet finally updated with some 2010-2011 GVT stats.

http://www.behindthenet.ca/2010/gvt.php?sort=14&mingp=&team=WSH&pos=

Of note:
Alexes tied at the top with 8.8
Neuvy and Varly even, but with Varly doing it in half the games.
Carlson top defender by 0.1 over Greenie
Erskine ahead of both Schultz and Alzner.
Chimera is the only negative of the regulars (and Hannan…)
Extrapolating MP’s GVT over 35 games would put him above Backstrom……

Tim Thomas has an obscene 24.2 GVT in 21.9 games

isn’t playing very hard. He’s not active enough. He used to be all over the ice, knocking
people down, scoring from different spots, racing around—a bull in a china shop. He’s not a bull anymore—not even close. The most aggressive forward in the game has become timid, or something close to it. His game seems to have got softer, slower and more predictable. Something is wrong with the guy’s head, and until Ovie gets his game back I can’t see the Caps getting on a roll again. Last night, latish in the 3rd, he comes down on the left side (where he ALWAYS is), with a clear shot on goal (no defender), and he he slides the puck out near the point, where no one was waiting. Very illustrative of the way he’s been playing.

Thanks Paul From WP:

“I think, when we were successful the last two games, in the periods we were successful, we played with urgency and that’s the only way we can play right now,” Bradley said.

“Last year we got away with playing basically on skill and winning games 5-2, 5-3. But when the offense isn’t rolling like you’d like to, you have to play urgent, tight defensive hockey and that’s the way we are going to have to play for a while – at least until we start scoring more goals.”

- at least until we start scoring more goals

They have learned nothing then

On Semin, he frankly has not been healthy all month long. I couldn’t find the specific article but recall that around the time of the Blues’ game, he missed a practice since the trainer wanted him to rest a nagging injury.

Then, there was the flu (although it didn’t cause him to miss any time).

And now the “lower body injury” since the Rangers game? Was that a new injury that game or was it related to the early nagging injury or had it happened during the Avs game. I’m sure the “less than stellar” health of Semin had contributed to his less than stellar performance for this month. (Of course that’s not only true of Semin but other people as well.)

IF Ovechkin truly does have a nagging injury as suggested above, should he sit? With a player like Green or Semin, I would say yes instantly. But is the presence Ovi brings to the ice (at least in terms of drawing defenders) worth having him suit up and play through it?