At the all-star break, the "p" word is still haunting the Washington Capitals. Not playoffs; potential. It seems that the Caps never play as well as they should in every game. Yes, there are great wins and amazing efforts. But, even under Coach Dale Hunter's more balanced two-way system, that's still not the rule.
A lot of this has to do with the roster. Granted, it's much more balanced and built to play the right way than in years past, but there still are holes. Alex Semin of course is the biggest problem, he of making $6.7 million and registering just 28 points. But Alex Ovechkin (20 goals, 19 assists) is underachieving along with pretty much the entire roster.
Dennis Wideman -- the team's lone all star after Ovechkin decided to skip the contest -- is having a great season and deserves a contract extension. Nicklas Backstrom, before he got hurt, was having a good year too. But it's hard to really laud anybody else.
The team is in first place in the Southeast Division, only by virtue of a tiebreaker, and therefore in third place in the Eastern Conference. But there are five conference teams who have more standings points.
In other words, this season may just be the one that breaks the proverbial camel's back. Not only may Hunter not return but neither might GM George McPhee. Yes, it's very possible -- if not likely -- that the team will win the division. But is this team built to win the Stanley Cup? Nope.
There have been many times this year that the team's potential has teased its fans and others around the NHL. But, during an all-star break that is devoid of excitement, there is no doubt that the franchise isn't in the same optimistic state it was not too long ago.
January 29, 2012
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1 stormer(s) wrote:
Look. There are just three players on that roster that I'd keep: Niklas Backstrom, Dennis Wideman and Mathieu Perrault. Everyone else on that team can go straight to hell as far as I'm concerned. I always said that as much as I hated him, Double B wasn't the only problem with the Caps. I've said all along that they lacked two-way players--players who play competently on both sides of the puck. Back when they were scoring 300 goals a year they could compensate for lackluster defense, indifferent forechecking and spotty goaltending. But now that they find themselves in a nightly death struggle (for the past year and a half, really)to score two goals per game (especially against quality clubs on the road), their deficiencies are glaringly obvious. They really miss Tomas Fleischmann and Bruce Boudreau never should have sent Braden Holtby back to Hershey after he posted a 10-2-2 record with two shutouts and a .934 save percentage last year. I also said that Dale Hunter will never be the answer for a team that takes as many dumb penalties and surrenders the puck in their own end as often as Washington does. Kusnetsov can't get here soon enough--but I understand that he won't get here before next year at the earliest. In the mean time, though, we can trade BOTH Alexes and hopefully get a pair of forwards who play well on both sides of the puck, a rock-ribbed blue-liner with size, and a goal tending prospect for Semin and Ovechkin. This way we can cut our losses before much more time goes by and begin assembling a team that has a legitimate chance of bringing home a Cup in the next three years...
Clifford
Santa Monica
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