Tuesday Caps Clips: Twice Bitten

The over/under is probably five games shifts

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Push.

Dibs on the Lupus square.

Luckily, we have Chicago.

Against the team he left. Dunno how happy he can be in that context

I think two reasons McPhee comes up short at the deadline in particular, and in the offseason generally, are: A) he’s more enamored of his prospects and pipeline than other GM’s are, and B) obsessed with ‘overpaying.’ So he won’t pull the trigger and deal quality to get quality.

Maybe the plan is for Kuz to be the 2C and he’s patching around it until that materializes. Which is shitty roster management, imo.

I think he’s fallen victim to the costs he’s sunk into Alex Semin and the fear that if he let him go, it’d come back to bite him. Frankly, I think a lot of his moves have been overly-conservative based on that fear. How many prospects has he held too long? When has he ever traded a real good asset?

I don’t disagree with the overall assessment, but I give him a small pass on the 2C issue for last season in that I thought his strategy there and on D and in goal made sense – see what you’ve got in the young guys, and if you need to, go get something at the deadline. On D, it worked – when everyone clamored for him to make a splash for a FA D, he stood pat and Carlson and Alzner emerged (at a combined cost of probably 1/3 of what a UFA D would cost), and it helped both the team and the players. Similar story in goal with Neuvy (and, to a lesser extent, Hotby). It didn’t work out as well at 2C (MoJo or Perreault), so he went and got Arnott, who was fine. They didn’t lose last year because Jason Arnott wasn’t good enough. In the context of roster management, I’m pretty fine with how last year went down.

But that was last year. Having committed to Semin early was a mistake and gave him no flexibility for this year. Having committed to Bruce was a mistake. And both seem to have been somewhat insurmountable.

(And my last point on the semantics is that I think there’s a sizable difference between “You’re not smart” and “You’re not good at your job,” even if that job requires smarts. But whatevs.)

Are we posting in Wingdings font now?

One five minute sentence…?

I think it’s a legitimate point, but he also knew he wasn’t staying longer than last night. Should have been a reason for less stress, maybe? Of course, I’m being rational from the outside.

That was the main reason I questioned using Holtby yesterday. It was understandable to call him up — we at least needed a backup. But, on this particular day, the reason for using him vis-a-vis Neuvirth did not make sense.

A more rested Hotlby would have made more sense.

Nah, I dig Rechlicz. My ire is directed at the suits that are putting him out on the ice in his current sweater.

Hey Hunter, you’re entitled to 18 skaters in a game. Why choose to play with 17 skaters and one guy who isn’t going to help the team win?

He got Rechlicz to play against the Grind Line.

What concerns me more is that playing Rechlicz makes me wonder if Dale Hunter is still trying to win the 1998 Stanley Cup.

Could explain his reasoning for benching Knuble 3 games (still holding a grudge?)

Why? Because he put the guy in the lineup for a couple of road games a few weeks ago and again last night? BB did it a few times also. He put King in the lineup against TOR I believe and a couple of other teams. Again, I wouldn’t want a goon taking up a roster spot every single night either but against certain teams, I don’t mind. Isn’t he having a positive impact on the game if he keeps Ovi and other players out of the penalty box and he is the one fighting instead of Erskine or Hendricks or other guys who can actually play and contribute? As long as he can do that when he’s in the lineup and he’s not taking stupid penalties or doing something that hurts the team, then I don’t have an issue with it.

I don’t think replacing a guy like Beagle or Aucoin or whoever with a goon for a few games during the regular season is that big of a deal.

I think it’s a big deal when the “whoever” is Mike Knuble.

Linkage

Said it was “fantasy camp” for Sestito.

I’m sure Ovi feels the same way you do.

I think you have to question whether Laich really thinks there is a lot of value in a player like that or if he’s throwing a bone to a teammate that has a hard way to make a living.

Not sure I agree. It’s still two of the three most important players. But more to the point, I don’t think the reason PIT doesn’t fall apart and the Caps do has nearly as much to do with their respective rosters as it’s about the guys behind the respective benches.

In your last few posts, you act as if GMGM had a pool of every player in the league and he hand chose the ones he thought would make this team the best to ever play the sport and that he passed on some that actually would have done so because…well, I’m not sure why you think that. He’s too prideful? Arrogant? Ignorant? I think he did a pretty good job of picking the right pieces available to him at cost, it’s the players and coaches that have to perform to their potential (or even half of that potential, which would probably significantly change results). It seems obvious that that is the case, not the roster itself.

I can’t agree here, either. Every shot at the playoffs is a shot. Take it. If they reclaim the 3rd or 8th spot, and it looks like they’re going to stay there, I say go for it.

I’d be annoyed if they give up good value for a longshot, but I don’t have any problem with them taking that longshot. If this team sucks it up enough to put themselves in playoff position, I’ve got no problem with management rewarding that effort.

I think the argument is valid. I am interested, however, in how you would think Boston would be this year if they were missing Chara and Thomas to injuries.

What is Vancouver without the Sedins?

Happy Valentine’s Day, fellow RB. Your slapshot-o-gram shall be arriving shortly.

Really, such a tease!