Caps need Holmstrom

 For some reason I thought it was Bruce Boudreau who said that, but it turned out it was when Hanlon was around...
Capitals Insider, October 19, 2007:

Everyone else is on the ice, including Boyd Gordon (back spasms)...

Coach Hanlon addressed his players for about five minutes before practice. Although I couldn't make out everything that was said, the tone of his talk was serious. One thing I did hear crystal clear was when he said they needed a presence in front of the net on the power play, "Holmstrom style".



Then he stood in front of them, and said "like this", standing upright. Not "like this," as he moved over and waved his stick gingerly in front of an imaginary goal.

Fast forward to January 13, 2009...
Capitals Insider, Jan. 13, 2009:

"Until we can get somebody to the front of the net, really battle and screen the goalie we're not going to get any chances and there's no point in shooting the puck," said Mike Green, who recorded his 11th goal of the season on the power play. "That's why we're passing around the perimeter and hoping somebody else is going to do it."

"We don't have traffic," Alex Ovechkin said. "Bruce tells us if you want to get goal you have to make traffic. We don't have traffic and I think that's key for our game."

So what's going on? Everybody knows what to do, but nobody does it? All right, cheap joke: A guy asked blonde at Red Wings game if she wanted to see Holmstrom. She replied, "Let's get a room first"... What Caps need, a room?

Are they afraid of Alex slap shots? Well, Coach needs to put Alex to play Holmstrom. Something needs to be done. As soon as Caps run into a hot goalie, they stand around and shoot from outside. A recipe for disaster in playoffs.