**AS OF TIME OF WRITING**
Bik Nizzar: Amazing what you can accomplish without having the weight of expectation on you. When they were crushing teams in the regular season 3 years ago with extraordinary offensive numbers, come playoff time they disappeared and came under extreme scrutiny. But suddenly, they fire Bruce Boudreau, scratch and claw their way to a 7th seed, and pull off a major upset in Round 1. Then low and behold they nearly upset the #1 Seed in round 2. Something for this team finally clicked and maybe it was Dale Hunter’s no nonsense mentality. But they have always had the talent, have they finally learned HOW to win?
First things first, they need a coach. Before they hired Dale Hunter, I wanted to see Marc Crawford take over here. I mentioned offensive capabilities and who better to really catapult this team back into its old ways. Not saying that what they did this past season wasn’t impressive and can’t be repeated.... but you are who you are, and this team needs to embrace what it is. Alex Ovechkin is a rare offensive BEAST... but he was relegated to playing 14-15 minutes in the playoffs. This team was built up a certain way with Nicklas Backstrom, Mike Green, Alex Semin, and AO8, and yes to revert back to that style might come with skepticism to a remedy that didn’t work in the past. But the experience they gained these playoffs and the understanding of how much you have to give to win in the playoffs. (Which was always the biggest problem for me when they lost under Boudreau – not enough of them seemed to care, led by Semin) I often compared this team to the Phoenix Suns of the NBA when they were just trying to out-score every team en route to a championship... and they NEARLY pulled it off.... Its one thing to win a championship and it’s another to be a champ doing it your own way. I’d love for this team to change up its philosophy again, go back to its entertaining brand of hockey with Marc Crawford behind the bench and start filling the net with pucks again.
A major difference between the team of old and this team now is John Carlson and Karl Alzner. They just didn’t have a pairing like this that could play responsible D and shut down other teams best lines. They were left to wonder if Mike Green could play that role and still keep up with his offensive duties. Those two young emerging talents is why I think this can work. Bring in Crow, he’ll maximize Alex Ovechkin (who despite team success had a terrible year for his standards) and Backstrom and everything will fall into place.
TJ Molland: You are just dying to see Marc Crawford behind the bench of some super offensively talented team aren't you? Don't get me wrong, it would be awesome to watch, I just don't see it being the answer for the cup. He is probably the best suited guy for the job, and will get a lot out of this team, but in the way champions are being built these days (Boston , LA Western Michigan to a CCHA Tournament Championship could be a viable option. A coach with a little more structure is what this team needs.
This team needed a year like this. One where they did not achieve everything they had hoped in the regular season but still found success in the playoffs. This team needed to take one step back to take two steps forward and I think this past year was the one step back followed by one step forward. They just need to take that second step forward now.
You can almost guarantee Semin isn't coming back so you already have a big hole to fill up front (a hole that Semin only filled when he felt like). That should be your first issue to address after finding a new coach/direction. Your top line of Ovechkin - Backstrom - Brouwer(?) can deliver, it's going to be the depth that hurts this team. Johansson has settled nicely into a second line center roll, he just needs some talented wingers so he doesn't have to be ALL the secondary scoring on this team.
Bik Nizzar: That’s kinda why I tried to frame my Marc Crawford campaign about winning a championship YOUR way. Credit to the Kings and Bruins for doing it with defense, and yeah sure it’s a tried and tested way to do things... but you can’t tell me that the way the Washington Capitals are built... with Mr. Dynamically Awesome Ovechkin as its focal point.... with offensive d-man Mike Green (whose contract is up – so they need to get that sorted as well.... more on that in a bit).... with Nik Backstrom as the perfect type of center to have for Ovechkin... they are best suited to fit that Kings or Bruins defensive mold?
If that was the only way to play hockey than 30 teams in the NHL would be doing it, and it would be BORING AS HELL. They don’t have the pieces that the Kings, Bruins have but they have the talent to put a strong contender forward. Anytime you have 1 of the best 5 players in the league, you have a window. GM George McPhee’s job is to bring in someone that can harness and extract the most out of his players’ abilities. To a degree you could say Dale Hunter did that, but also when your star player is playing 13 minutes in a playoff game... that is not a good thing. Granted, that specific game it worked... but it’s a recipe I don’t think that you want to consistently try.
Alex Semin – is done there. Close the book on him in a Capitals jersey. He looks disinterested in general, they look disinterested in having him there, enjoy your next stop Alex. What they do have, is Evgeny Kuznetsov *Cut to every Canadian World Junior Hockey Championship fan cursing at the wind* and by all accounts he’s not coming over to the NHL next season. Here’s what the Capitals need to do: GET HIM TO THE N-H-L!!!!!! I don’t care if you need to hire James Bond to go against the Russians this time. They got him 26th overall in the 2010 draft; he’s ABSOLUTELY TORCHED the WJHC twice with a combined 24 points in 13 games over the last 2 tournaments. He could be your secondary scoring that this team needs. The quicker he gets to the NHL the better off this team is.
TJ Molland: Getting Kuznetsov to come over would be HUGE for them. Any time you can get a player of his caliber on your team without having to spend a boat-load of money, or trade away assets for is huge. The guy has lots of international play under his belt including a gold medal in this year’s World Championships to go along with a gold and silver medal in three World Junior appearances. His stats have steadily improved over the years in the KHL which is good news for the Caps, just how well will it translate to the NHL game when they do get him over?
You forgot to touch on Mike Green so I will go ahead and do it. The man is a RFA so needs to make at least what he did last year ($5.25 mill). Simple answer is he probably makes that same amount. He has put up two 70+ point seasons since getting that contract 4 years ago, but for the last two, has played a combined 81 games! Not great news for any team to lose your best defenseman for half the season two years in a row.
The problem I have with Mike Green is not actually his fault. It's the way coaching utilizes him. I watched this great breakdown of him compared to Nick Lidsrom (can't find the video for the life of me) when retrieving the puck in their own end. The difference.....Nick Lidstrom doesn't get the puck in the corner. It is always his defense partner. Why you ask? So that THEY take the big hits in the corner, not your #1 defenseman. Green on the other hand is going into the corners fishing for the puck and you know as soon as that 4th line guy sees Green in the corner, it's a 'Green' light (see what I did there....puns are back baby!!) to crush him into the boards. The result has been 81 games played by Green in two years. Something the new coach should address.
Bik Nizzar: They’ve got a decent amount of cap-room on this team but a lot of that is gonna get chewed up by resigning Mike Green and John Carlson. Green you figure gets about the same amount of money (they can’t low ball him as he’s an RFA) so unless they want to move him, which is also a possibility, he’ll get around that 5.5 mark. Carlson however, is a different story. He’s in line for a big pay-raise coming off his rookie deal and could get somewhere between 3-3.75, but the tricky part is with a new Collective Bargaining Agreement coming into place, IDEALLY SOON or dare I say.... NEXT YEAR.... (if this happens, there’s a 10% chance I’m going to go on a mass killing spree at the NHL Headquarters... just saying) what is the next salary cap landscape going to look like? With $25 mill free as the cap stands NOW, they could be looking at close to 9-10 mill being chalked off for these 2 guys on the back end.
We’ve yet to mention my man Braden Holtby..... Been a big fan of this guy for years and have been EAGERLY waiting for him to make an appearance in ‘The Show’. After Varlamov had his big breakout playoff performance, and Michael Neuvrith started to emerge as a decent young prospect as well, I recall seeing an interview with GM George McPhee about having 2 young goaltenders... and he started talking up this guy nobody had heard of yet, Braden Holtby... Kept my eye out since then, and its good to see him finally show up and make a name for himself in the playoffs. He’s a keeper. Neuvrith looked shaky at times this year... It will be Holtby’s gig next year and I’m gonna be on record now to say that in 3-4 years... we might see a Jonathan Quick like rise for this guy.
Do you find that secondary scoring is going to be a problem for this team? This is another reason why I wanted an offensive coach like Marc Crawford to be brought in, to get the most offense out of this team. I’m not sure you want to rely on Jason Chimera to pop in 20 goals. Guys like Johansson and Troy Brouwer need to make that next jump to become reliable, consistent 2nd line players.
They have two 1st round picks this year thanks to dealing Varlamov to Colorado (click here to read our 30 for 30 in 30 on Colorado) – what do you think about trading a 1st this year or maybe BOTH of their picks (11th and 16th overall) to get some more offensive guns?
TJ Molland: Trading one is fine but you don't want to move both, for the reason that it's never bad to have good prospects. Moving their later pick to get some complimentary scoring would be HUGE for this team. If however the right deal comes along for their earlier first round pick, don't be afraid to move it. Especially if the player you want is likely to fall or has already been drafted. In return you can bet Washington
Their goaltending situation has gotten exciting with the emergence of Brayden Holtby. He kind of came out of nowhere and stole the job. I mean people were expecting him to be good, but did anyone see him being the go-to guy in this year’s playoffs back in October? This will be the tell-tale year for Washington
It will be real interested to see what this team learned from their brief stint with Dale Hunter. Finally it appears that they are on the right track and playing like a Stanley Cup contender should. It will be up to his replacement, not to derail the train.
Bik Nizzar: That’s what was so vexing about seeing that interview with McPhee so long ago (I think the interview was done by Katie Carrera but I couldn’t find it, btw – if you like hockey and you’re on twitter... she’s a must follow @kcarrera – very good Caps information) because here they were with 2 shiny prospect goalies and everything looking prosperous in net... and McPhee kept talking up this kid in Hershey. Almost discounting and downplaying what Varly and Neuvy were accomplishing. (Ok these 2 nicknames has triggered my “I hate hockey nicknames” rant.... This needs to stop. The “y’s” and the “er’s”- those aren’t nicknames.... that’s a slap in the face of how cool sports nicknames can be.... The NFL figured this out a while ago that’s why 3 of the coolest nicknames in sports are in the NFL..... Glad you asked: Darelle Revis – Revis Island
I feel like scoring depth HAS to be the priority. Nothing against Joel Ward, and Brooks Laich and Matt Hendriks... but if these guys are required to take on elevated roles, this team might be in that 6-9 spot in the East, when they should be challenging for the Division title. Those 3 specifically are best served as high floor 3rd liners rather than low ceiling 2nd liners. If they can find adequate wingers for Marcus Johansson, this team can be back amongst the elite contenders..... but of course they still need to find a coach. #CrawfordCapsCoach #Itsgonnabeathing
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