How long till GMGM or Hunter will be gone?
When the leading scorer in the team is a role player like Chimera, something is really going wrong. Caps are becoming a simpleton team, a dump 'n' chase team, just like Chimera. You will never utilize a full potential of European players like Semin, Backstrom, Johansson, Ovechkin playing like that. Besides that you are becoming too predictable to the opponents.
What's the point of drafting Russian players like Evgeny Kuznetsov?
He'll arrive and you'll tell him, dump the puck and chase it? If you believe that Canadians are better since they won the Vancouver Olympics, that is fine, but why do you draft Kuznetsov, Orlov and other Russian players? Bowman brought 3 Stanley Cups to Detroit because he thought the opposite. He carefully assembled the Russian 5 through several trades and it paid incredible dividends to the Red Wings organization.
Ovi, Chimera, Alzner and Laich talk after 4:5 loss to Cats
Ovi had his best game tonight coming when Dale Hunter gave him more ice time. Ovi had 9 shifts in the first with 40 sec per shift(this is ridiculous!), only 6 shifts in the 2nd and 10 shifts in the 3rd.
I think Hunter started here from the wrong foot limiting Ovi's ice time, just like Bruce Boudreau before him. The ice time stats look so similar for both coaches that it sounds like it was influenced by someone above them, a.k.a. by George McPhee. The more I think about it, the more evident it sounds, Bruce had instructions to follow, as well as Dale Hunter, who has just arrived.
For years Ovi has carried this team, but once he got into slump, everything was forgotten. I know it's a tough business, but you gotta give the exception to your best ever franchise player.
You gotta give Ovi more ice time to help him to get out of slump! And there is a way to do it without hurting other players. Just play Ovi on penalty kill, like Bowman did with Fedorov in Detroit!
Ovechkin stats after the 1st (1-3):
-1, total ice time 06:07, 9 shifts, average 00:40, PP 01:19, even 04:48, 1 attempt blocked, 1 hit
After 2nd (2-5):
-2, total ice time 12:15, 15 shifts, average 00:49, PP 01:19, even 10:56, 1 shot on goal, 1 attempt blocked, 2 hits
Final (4-5):
-2, total ice time 22:05, 25 shifts, average 00:53, PP 02:42, short handed 00:08, even 19:15, 4 shots on goal, 2 attempts blocked, 4 hits, 1 giveaway
Update:

Read the comment section: "Maria was in Florida for the game tonight."
Donate to The One Fund - Boston 2013




7 comments:
Hate to say this but Ovi has been given enough time to turn this around, I think it is time to get him out of d.c. while he still has value. This whole idea of giving an innefective player more ice time is idiotic. Players earn more ice time by doing good with what they get. Ovi played half of the third period and did nothing, chimmer and laich scored the two goals and ovi generated close to nothing. Get him out of here quickly before he becomes a Dipietro situation.
Rumor circulating that the new girlfriend, Maria, was in Florida for the game tonight. He played better in the 3rd, but looked a little lost in the 1st and 2nd (again).
http://i39.tinypic.com/xdtt1y.jpg
yeah she was there. he is having good moments. just needs to find the back of the net. and soon.
I can't believe the guys in the Caps are being compared to the guys of Detroit.
In Detroit, the guys didn't cry about having to play defense. Their captain's point production drastically went down when he started playing solid defensive hockey, but his team also started winning.
Who is crying in DC? What you talking about? The best defensive player and the most points player was Fedorov, not Yzerman.
@first anonymous post
The problem is the Capitals cannot trade Ovechkin. He has a No Trade Clause (NTC) as part of his current contract until July 1, 2014. At which time Ovechkin can list up to 10 teams that he does NOT want to be traded to, which he can modify each September.
So without Ovechkin waiving his NTC, he will remain a Capital until at least the summer of 2014without fear of a trade. With that said, Coach Hunter or GM McPhee would likely go before Ovechkin would.
@Hawksfan: If Hunter won't deliver, both him and GMGM will be gone, I agree.
I don't think Ovechkin will be traded even he continue to play like now. His value exceeds his game, he is a true franchise player
Post a Comment