How Should Hunter Handle Ovechkin And Semin?

Brett Hull is among the four most talented players I’ve ever coached,but I was unable to convince him that he had to be a complete team player to win a Stanley Cup. Great players have needs that have to be satisfied, but the needs of the team have to be first…What do people want? Success? There’s a price you have to pay for success.

- Mike Keenan on taking away the C from his captain (1997)

Is this now going to be Hunter’s team? Or will each Alex still do what they want to do? Thats what I’m curious to see.

Nice work…you’re killing it today as well.

If you’re going to have a defensive liability on a line—and that’s what 8 is, frankly—it had better be mitigated by strong defensive players at the C and RW

I lean towards the first option. I would like to see 2 top lines of Ovie-Backs and Semin-Johansson with Knuble and Brouwer as the other two wingers, and have those lines get almost all offensive/neutral zone faceoffs. A third line of Chimera-Laich-Ward should be able to hold their own in tough defensive zone starts, and the 4th can get the majority of the other defensive zone starts.

GOD’s point about Ovechkin is actually similar to something I was thinking about earlier this afternoon. Ovie is at his best when he’s allowed to free-wheel a bit, throwing hard hits and creating scoring chances. Using the 1st line on so many defensive zone starts has been a factor in reducing his effectiveness, even though it’s just 1 of many. Maybe put him on a 1st with Backs and Knuble, who are both solid defensively, and let him play his fast, hard-hitting style?

Sasha is one weird aspect to this, because to my eye, Semin does seem to have taken to being more diligent defensively. True, he’s not selling out to block shots Laich-style and takes dumb penalties, but it did look that he bought into the change.

Next question: short term, I think we can all agree it’s A. But long term, is the best answer still A? I think it’s B.

I reluctantly vote A because, in the short term, it’s the best use of their talents.

Still, I think that Ovie and Semin (well, Ovie, since Semin won’t be with the team past this year) need to move beyond being one-dimensional players.

If there were an option C – play Ovie and Semin primarily in the offensive zone and against weak opponents, but also hold them accountable for playing defense when it’s called for, that’s how I would have voted. The Sedins might get sheltered minutes, but it’s not as though they’re a total defensive black hole when they’re on the ice.

Also, I’d point out that this kind of structure means that Ovechkin and Semin almost have to play together by default, since it’d be hard to find sheltered O-zone minutes for two lines.

Sure, truly great players should be great in all aspects of their game, but really the point isn’t to make Ovie great, it is to make the team great. The Caps don’t play the LW Lock (unless that is Hunter’s new plan). Playing to Ovie’s strengths is the best use of him and in the best interests of the team.

For him to be a great, meaning ful player at 36, he will need to be much more defensively responsible. But at 26, right now, and for the next few years, I think simplifying what you are asking him to do down to letting him focus on being a high-scoring LW is the best plan, and let other people focus on their strengths.

You know, I figure they’re pro athletes playing against other pro athletes. By this I mean they are capable of handling complexity, and can expect their opponents to consistently adapt to them. If I’m a coach of this talented group of players, I’m going to ask a lot of them. I’m going to expect they can play a style that runs and guns, springing Ovechkin free; that they can grind at times, lock in the D, trap a little bit, execute offensive zone entry by carrying it in or dumping/chasing. I’d have similar expectations of the power play set up.
Hockey is frequently compared to other games of strategy such as chess or poker, which require a participant to conceal their approach and to change it up irregularly. Maybe this is a bit naive, but I’d expect the same from this team. Keep them guessing.

Also, great use of that proverb. Thanks for the thoughtful post.

I voted the top one but I’m really in between. They shouldn’t be power v. power but they should be competent defensively. I bet a lot of the Sedins’ success comes from the fact that when the other team has the puck they are very good at taking it back, i.e. defense. I’d like to see the Studs get sheltered minutes just for comparative advantage purposes, but they need to be able to produce against any line and play D when called upon.

I voted B. I look at players like Crosby, like Yzerman, like Messier, like Neely, like Andreychuk – even like Kessler and Datsyuk. You can play a complete game and it does help the team.

Rec’d for the effort and provocative topic.

I think this offense is in dire need of confidence and nobody more so than Semin. While Semin is a popular whipping boy (for often times valid reasons) I think having him skate with MarJo and Eakin is absolutely killing him.

IMO he needs to be paired with Backstrom and Ovechkin for a while. We can live with a few overly-cute mistakes and defensive lapses if it means the offense gets back on track.

Going along with what GOD is saying, I believe that Bruce Boudreau lost his job when he changed his system (or made the change away from his system to another) that had been so successful based on a comparatively small sample of games (half the montreal series and the dozen or so games leading up to and including the 8 game losing streak) where things didn’t work out, and I think that we’ve discussed ad naseum that while there were some things the Caps could have done differently, bad puck luck had as much to do with those defeats as anything else. If anything needed to be addressed, it was the special teams play (the power play lost its mojo in the montreal series and it hasn’t really come back, and while the Caps had improved on the PK last year, it has not carried over to this season).

I agree that they haven’t played well against the trap, but I think even that could be mitigated somewhat if the power play produced at a higher level, as it had been until the Montreal series.

I don’t buy lumping Ovi and Semin together in the way this is presented. What each needs to succeed is likely different and I don’t believe reverting back to run and gun or turning them into the Sedins, at least not Semin, is the answer. I’d argue Ovi needs to develop his overall game more, at the very least his offensive moves. We all have seen how his game has stagnated. While I would argue Semin needs to be given more defensive responsibility as a way to channel his energy and focus. It’s not like he’s isn’t already a fairly decent defender.