If you have talent you don’t care to use, you will not enjoy playing for Bruce Boudreau

From On Frozen Blog

• It pains us to say it, but Michael Nylander pulled an Esa Tikkanen late in the third. It was that kind of night for Michael Nylander. After the game, Boudreau told the press that had the Caps gotten that second goal, he felt the momentum achieved from it would have willed them to a tying goal.


• Viktor Kozlov: an enigma wrapped in a mystery. So much skill, so much size, so much sizzle accompanied by too much fizzle. His numbers this season aren’t bad at all, but you consider what’s in his toolbox, and you’re left puzzled by the frequency with which he authors impact-free shifts.

What happens next? According to Capitals Insider:

Ovechkin-Nylander-Clark (Nylander returns to the top line)
Pettinger-Kozlov-Semin (Pettinger back in the lineup)

Nylander gets promoted to the top line and Kozlov goes to the second. Why? Here's why:


From theahl.com 01/28/2007

If you have talent you don’t care to use, you will not enjoy playing for Bruce Boudreau:

“If a player brings talent but his work ethic isn’t what it should be, I will probably be harder on him, maybe harder than I should."

I am very happy that Nylander is centering Ovechkin again, I've always said this is the way it should be. They will click. Nylander is the awesomest player and he made some mistakes last night. But... "The man who makes no mistakes does not usually make anything." (William Connor Magee)

Jagr on Nylander (from HFBoards):

"You know, I lost Nylander in summer. Strcena was 15 games out. It is not fun. I don´t want to complain, but with player we bought I did not have chemistry:-(
We invested a lot of money to centers but I play in the line with kid who came from farm team."