2009-10 Rink Wrap: Joe Corvo

I gave him a 4, I was definitely hoping for a lot more scoring out of him

Maybe I’m being harsh but he gets a 2 from me; probably should be a three. He didn’t do anything I had hoped he would (provide O, improved PP, eat top 4 minutes).

Corvo….sigh

Can we please just get a defensive defenseman already?

I expected more out of Brian Pothier’s replacement, and didn’t get an upgrade of any sort.

Gave what may be a generous 4. Looked lost early and didn’t really seem to seize a spot. Don’t see a point in bring him back, might as well just keep Juice around.

Gave him a 3 because we’re rating the coaches separately from this.

Guessing his contract (and perhaps the desire to keep one of the other less pricey UFAs) makes him a goner.

Quattro—somewhat disappointing return, but then, did anyone really expect Rod Langway?

2, and this reflects both our GM’s decision to bring him here, the ROLE he was expected to fill per said GM, and his inability to do so.

Didn’t like the move before, don’t like it now. He didn’t lower Green’s minutes, he looked lost, and never meshed.

Now I’ll just have a reason to watch Carolina games when he signs again down there.

I didn’t like this trade when it happened as he was not a significant upgrade over Pothier – so I had minimal expectations of him. And he met my expectations with a very pedestrian performance.

Gave him a 4. Definitely below expectations but I have to believe the lingering effects of the calf injury played a role. Without that benefit of the doubt, woulda been a 3. And surely a goner.

5- not a player i had followed much before he came on board. i remember when the trade went down, JP was trying to remember if “uh-oh” corvo was his nickname in ottawa. thus, my expectaions were low. i’d say he did about as expected, which is not good for a deadline deal guy whose going to be a UFA. those guys are supposed to exceed expectations.

he got off to a bad defensive start. chalk it up to new system and new partner. it improved but the offensive side never took off. he obviously didnt help the PP in the post season. his playoff goal was one highlight amongst a generally average performance. who knows if osala will turn out to be anything, and pots was a UFA too, but the extra second round pick tossed in makes this a bad trade in hindsight (obviously). if you include trade value in the evaluation, then i would say he’s a 4.

i see no reasonable scenario where bringing him back makes sense.

Wasn’t brokenhearted to see Pothier go. But this was not an upgrade in any regard except price.

My expectations were fairly low, as I was not a fan of the deal to begin with, and he failed to live up to even those meager expectations I had. Was brought in to be a 3/4 defenseman, and turned out to be a 5/6 D, and not even very good at that. Probably should have gotten a 2, the more I think about it. Just an absolute disappointment in every sense.

Lingering effects from the injury may have played a role in him not being able to crack our top 4 d-men, but I think more likely his skillset just wasn’t a good match for what we needed in a defenseman. There is no way he should be on this team next year.

I gave him a 3, I was thinking of giving him a 2 but he improved after he had a better D partner so it shouldn’t all be on him. I don’t see him being back next year but if he is to get a ten he would have to get second most min on PP among the D, and have 10-15 goals and 40-45 points and top-4 min.

He was solid, but needed to contribute more in every situation. Hardly any offense and not much TOI relief, as you mentioned, Pepper. But he was responsible in the minutes he did get and if nothing else kept Sloan out.

I’d give him a 3 for his performance and dumb plays early compared to the organizations hype about him, and a weak 6 for showing flashes of his offensive talents later. Gotta go with a 4 overall.

I was very unhappy with his play early on, and would have greatly preferred Pothier as I thought Pothier was a better defenseman than the avg fan.

I thought he demonstrated the ability to get off a sharp shot on net as fast as any of our defensemen – and a lot faster than Green – in a playoff series where half our shots were getting blocked, and had more lateral maneuverability on the PP. (Green being the fast-break wizard).

I said previously I thought Corvo tipped the scales for the team to too much risk, not enough reward on D. We really don’t need need both Green and Corvo, esp with Carlson and Alzner/an acquired veteran stay at home guy.

5- expected an average nhl defenseman, got an average nhl defenseman. Was a bit disappointing on D in the regular season but then became slightly above average in the playoffs.

I’m not as upset about the lack of scoring as much as I was having seen a guy that just didn’t seem to express a lot of hockey sense.

Didn’t like the initial trade and he fell quite a bit below my expectations both offensively and in terms of eating up minutes.

I gave him a 4. Overall, I think he was a bit of a disappointment, but gets the 4 since he was about average in the playoffs. Hoping to see some offense out of him and wasn’t impressed by his defensive play either.

I was bitter that Pots was traded, and expected him to suck horribly. He didn’t suck horribly, so he performed above my expectations.

didn’t produce. was not an upgrade over pothier, should have kept him. Didn’t have a good season at all and was a risky pickup because of it; when a player tells you he still isn’t 100% and won’t be till next season, it makes you wonder what sense there was in picking him up. Didn’t like the trade and it didn’t get any better.
for a ten he’d need to actually become a dominant player. He’ll be doing it in another city. Interesting that it appears BB lost faith in Corvo. Was he really used properly? He was on a failing PP far too long. He was better in the playoffs, which means nothing as it was a 1st round exit.
The one thing Corvo highlights is that the Caps are still looking for chemistry on lines 2-4 and d pairs 1-3. Is it because Its not there or because BB can’t let chemistry develop before he has to change things again? Did Corvo get a chance to develop chemistry on the team, or was he shuffled too much early on?
He’ll get 3-3.5 million. too much for us, we don’t need him, I’d keep juice over corvo.

Corvo should have been a clear upgrade over Pothier, and wasn’t. For next year: do. not. want.

Three. Based on his play in Carolina, I thought we were getting at least a top four defenseman instead of a top six guy. That aside, I thought he was a little mishandled by Boudreau who couldn’t seem to find the right place/partner for him. The Caps likely won’t resign him and, frankly, I don’t think Corvo would want to come back.

I had low expectations for him, other than the 100mph shot he has, and he failed to meet even those. He had only a few good games after the deadline. In the playoffs, he looked like someone who had never been there before (he was on Ottawa in 2007, so he went to the Finals, and last year he went to the Eastern Finals.)

I don’t think there is a contract here for him in 2010-11, unless he’s willing to take a 50-60% pay cut. I wouldn’t bet on it. Someone out there (Edmonton, Dallas, Anaheim) will toss some $$ his way and he’l be gone.

I expected good puck moving, good PP quarterbacking, and decent defense. He was a lot worse than I expected.

I would not bring him back, truthfully.

expected more offense, expected more help on the PP, just expected more in general.

On the other hand, he outscored Green in the playoffs…

He would’ve been a 2 if not for a passable playoff performance and the fact that he did improve with us over time. But for a guy who was billed to be a sure top-4 and someone who was immediately supposed to become our 2nd or 3rd best D, he was a massive disappointment. I guess it all depends on what your expectations were. Mine were pretty high.

The lack of hockey sense that Peerless pointed out was indeed the most disappointing aspect. Remember all those odd-man rushes he misplayed? Or the missed assignments?

And for as much as we talk about his improvement towards the end, he played less than Alzner or Carlson in game seven, unless I’m missing something. Weak.

I had supremely high expectations for Corvo and I was let down somewhat. He wasn’t a bust, but he wasn’t the guy to fix the defense. I’d love him back year, and I’d love to give him a 10 if here were to have a 60, 70 point season while registering a top 10% for the team +/- against quality ice time against quality opponents.

I rated Corvo a 3. I was expecting a significant upgrade on the blueline over Pothier, but I felt it was only marginal. I appreciated his touted puck handling skills in the regular season, but I did not notice Corvo making the same effective passes out of the defensive zone in the playoffs. In fact, the moment that stands out most to me in this department is in game one when he launched a half-rink pass that led to the turnover that lost the game in OT. That alone swayed me from a 4 to a 3. His puck moving ability was definitely a positive overall, but Pothier was no slouch there either.

Corvo’s offensive numbers were bad with Washington, but they were bad with Carolina as well. It looked like he was having an off year in scoring, so I was not exactly expecting him to be a huge offensive upgrade. His ATOI in Carolina was 25:13, and over the course of his career he has logged an average of 20:35 minutes per game. 19:41 in the regular season is acceptable given his place in the depth chart, but 16:53 in the playoffs is definitely a disappointment. On the positive side, Corvo only had a total of six PIMs and two giveaways in his time here, so he was significantly more disciplined than Pothier (and most of the team, for that matter).

Overall, Corvo was a pickup designed to provide defensive depth for a team on a long playoff run. It is hard to say how he would have contributed had the team progressed further. I do not expect Corvo to return next season, and I cannot think of a contract that would make him palatable given that he currently makes more money than all but Green and Poti. Also, my expectation is for both Carlson and Alzner to spend significant time in D.C. next season, so roster space will (hopefully) be limited. It would be interesting to see if Corvo could bounce back from disappointing and injury-shortened season while spending a full year in the Caps’ system; however, that $2.6 mil can be used more effectively elsewhere.

I dunno why I thought of this line when it came to voting…

I gave him a 4.. My expectations weren’t exactly high for him.. he did mostly what I expected but I was hoping for a little more offense on the PP.

GMGM could have acquired Bobby Orr and I still think Green would play the same amount of minutes if BB is the coach. If at 1 for 20 on the pp you dont cut back a guy that has a bum wrist like Green, when would you?

Had very low expectations but certainly thought he would do atleast as much as Pothier, not sure that was the case.

Bruce seems to want offensive defensemen but than doesn’t trust them enough to put them on the ice

I like Joe Corvo, and thought he was a pretty good pickup. But he didn’t really pan out in his short time in DC. Mostly, he should have been able to score on the pp, and help that be an effective unit, but he really didn’t help it at all. He’s somewhat of a liability on the D end, but it’s awful. But, overall, just really didn’t play up to either my expectations, or even nearly what he’s capable of.

I can’t see him coming back. The Caps need a defensive minded defenseman. They have enough puck movers.

I gave him a low 5 in that I felt he was basically a plan C at the trade deadline but while we may have overspent with the draft choice, I don’t think Pothier or Osala were parts that could have contributed any more than Corvo did (and I liked Potsy). Would have liked to see him score more but his skating and puck moving skills were good when carrying out of the zone. He did get himself terribly out of position at times (the Game 1 OT winner Plekanec scored comes to mind) which isn’t befitting a veteran D. Also he didn’t utilize that booming shot I was expecting.

I though he was hit and miss in the post season. He looked good at the point and actually got his shot through at times. But he made some defensive lapses (again mainly positioning) which screwed us at times.

To get a 10 next year…nahh he’s not gonna be here next year so it doesn’t matter.

One last note: Although I am not really a fan of either player I will miss teaming him with ShaMo for the “Joe ShMo” defensive pairing

I liked the trade and expected a hell of a lot more from Corvo. I expected a lot more offensively, not just in points, but in getting his shots to the net as well. His shots per game plummeted with the Caps and aside from his 10 shot game he didn’t do a great job getting shots through traffic against Montreal. He also didn’t eat up the minutes that I had hoped he would. While he wasn’t terrible defensively, he was way too indecisive at times and it really cost him and the Caps (like in OT of Game 1). Overall just a very disappointing tenure with the Caps.

I still think he is a lot better than he showed with the Caps. I wouldn’t mind him back on the team, but he’d have to take a pay cut from his current salary. I don’t see that happening though. I wish I could say it was nice knowing you, Joe.

As I spent a considerable amount of time watching him in Carolina before the trade, this is exactly what I was expecting from him.
I think that we would have been more pleased with him if we could have seen how he performed in a long playoff run…but yea.

I gave him a 6: after a shaky start here, he started to get back to where he was in Carolina once he had a steadier pairing with ShaMo. I did start to hope he would raise his game to the level of his teammates — there were moments when I remember being surprised by his ability — but this was less an expectation than a very faint wish. (Conditioned to players not being ‘there’ all the time.) If he does come back next season, which I doubt, he’ll need to work on being less skittish around others on ice and use his speed and strength to plow through the opposition.

i don’t have as much analysis in me for corvo. i expected him to be a difference maker; he wasn’t.

I gave him a 4 but it probably should have been a 3. He wasn’t as good as I expected on either end of the ice. I don’t think he was as bad defensively as he’s being made out to be, but he wasn’t as good as Alan Ryder had him in 08-09 either. I do think he was a clear upgrade on Potsy, but that isn’t enough.

I think if he took a huge pay-cut he could come back, but I don’t see it happening. Maybe he would sign a 1 year deal like BMo to rehab his post-injury reputation. I think next year he’ll be better than he was for us, and I do think the injury hindered him a little bit. We do need to sign another D for next season but it’s not our most pressing need and I’m pretty sure we can do it cheaper. Depending on the money, Juice or Shamo is probably a better option.

Loved the move at the time, because I thought he was a clear upgrade over Pothier without moving any truly valuable assets.

I really expected him to shine once he adjusted to our system and become our second best defenseman. I completely drank the Kool-Aid on that one.

And whether or not you attribute some of the failure to Bruce and company’s handling of him, if he’d been better, he would have found his way onto the ice. He just wasn’t very good.

So, Joe gets a very disappointing 2 from me.

I was going to grade him lower but remembered he had more goals in the playoffs than Green, Semin and Fleishmann combined.

John Erskine has better value than Corvo. Gave up way too much for this guy in the trade. Way too much.

Corvo’s a streaky guy who thrives only with confidence (see his disappearance last year vs. Pittsburgh in the ECF). It’s too bad, b/c he can be a great weapon when on his game.

One thing I will disagree with, from a Carolina perspective:

Not so much for what GM George McPhee dealt away to put him in a Caps’ sweater - Oskar Osala scored 2 goals and 1 assist in eight Calder Cup playoff games, for those keeping score -

Osala went 10-3-13 in 16 regular season games with Albany. Showing his playoff stats seems selective — that’s like grading Mike Green only on postseason performance.

Overall, good assessment. I’m surious to see where Joe winds up this offseason — I’m guessing a small market team, maybe Phoenix.

Was it the first post-season goal for the Caps this year?

Didn’t make much of an impression on me,
don’t see him as an upgrade over Pothier.

Gave him a 4 for an average regular season and poor postseason based on expectations and value we gave up on trade. I suppose it’s a little early to judge on a prospect, but I think giving up a 2nd rounder when GMGM drafts so well was too much.

Debated between a 3 and 4…went with the (generous) 4 because I think a lot of his lack of production/presence was due to mismanagement (as mentioned earlier). I think he did OK given the situation, although considering he was really the only D-man we got at the trade (Juice doesn’t count) I would have liked a lot more out of him. Whether those higher expectations were realistic or not for Corvo, I’m not hockey savy enough to say.

3 – He did not live up to the offensive expectations that were part of his resume. While I was not critical of the deal at the trade deadline, today I feel we overpaid for what we received in returned. I do not see any reason to pursue Corvo over the summer.