Something's rotten in Washington! It's been discussed quite a while, but let's go on this topic too. The Washington Capitals have obviously failed big time to respond to the expectations this season. The media has quickly thrown Alex Ovechkin under the bus for not pulling the team to the level it belongs to. That's the easy way for laying the blame and to me it just seems a bit too light for a proper analysis. I'll throw in some thoughts of my own and hope to shed some more light on the matter.
The Capitals have been phenomenal the last few seasons. Taking home the Presidents' Trophy and three consecutive SE Division crowns. Ovechkin has been on top of the league in scoring, backed up by amazing numbers racked up by Mike Green on defence. However, the team has disappeared in the postseason every time and been criticized heavily on that.
Then, this season where everything seems to go wrong. Great start, but then just failures upon failures. Everyone is pointing fingers, but no one really takes the responsibility of changing the course. Horrible decisions have followed.
Bruce Boudreau got fired and replaced by Dale Hunter. That's replacing a coach with NHL-best record over last 3 seasons with a former NHL grinder with practically no experience on NHL level coaching. Just for a bad stretch in play. Well, now everyone can see that Hunter doesn't bring anything on the table for the Capitals and should not carry over for next season, no matter how this ends.
The Capitals' offense is based on three key players, Ovechkin, Semin and Bäckström. All of these guys are extremely skilled, but at the same time very much confidence-driven. On a bad streak, it seems, none of these guys will be the one to step up and carry the team. In general, these guys don't really have the flexibility to "go back to basics and grind it out". They're flashy, entertaining and lethally effective when the whole line plays on that level. If the line resorts to plain old basics, these guys will end up shaking their heads on the offensive blue line and waving their arms in frustration. Bench the millionaires and see who do you have to throw out there to play the 0-0 games.
Take another look and try to find out the guys who can score behind the big three. Laich, Chimera, Johansson, Brouwer? These are not exactly top of the league when compared to some other teams' secondary scoring. That's the biggest reason this team struggles mightily when the big guns are not blazing. It's easy to forget, but if one looks a bit back in history, the Capitals won a lot of 7-4, 6-5 games with the ultimate firepower. That doesn't promise much for the moment your gunpowder gets wet. And wet it has been this season. Especially after Rene Bourque cowardly clipped Niklas Bäckström out of the games.
So, the expectations for this team may be a bit too high and not based on their material, but rather on their regular season success of late. Washington is surprisingly fragile team. They lost one key piece in Mike Green early this season and haven't been able to recover for a balanced, entertaining style they require to be successful.
Washington's defense and goaltending have been mediocre at best through the great seasons but now they really show their vulnerability after losing the dominating puck possession up front. Tomas Vokoun has been on top of NHL for a long time, but seems to have lost the race against time. The young goalies in the lineup are as shaky as they come.
So, no wonder they're struggling to make it to the playoffs. And even if they do, it's easy to predict a first round exit against a top seed of Rangers, Boston or Pittsburgh for example. Simply no chance.
Let's turn our sights for the future and try to figure out what to do to change things around. Here's a short to-do list.
1) Fire Hunter and get a real coach, who understands that you need to adjust the team style according to the players and not vice versa. You can actually have different game plans for different lines, based on the strengths of the players on ice.
2) Trade Alexander Semin. He's a number one player-slash-diva for a team and will not rise to full potential in Ovechkin's shadow. Ovie is signed for life, so easy call here. In return the team will get almost the whole second line or top defensive pair.
3) Keep the faith on the superstars. Don't publicly scold the franchise player(s). Ovechkin is a natural force when mad, but quite the opposite when mad at the coach or ownership. There's a fine line to balance on but you just don't want to restrain this guy in any way. Just get over the envy for the alpha male and let Ovie run free and others will follow. Good things come, rock star style will prevail. And for ownership, don't sign the top players for 100M+ USD contracts if you don't plan to build and brand the team around them.
Start with that and see the light. Go Caps!
Showing posts with label washington. Show all posts
Showing posts with label washington. Show all posts
2012/02/24
2011/11/30
The short lifespan of an NHL coach
So, now it has started. The season is one quarter out and coaches are getting the boot. St. Louis Blues already got rid of their starting coach and went back to old timer Hitchcock. In retrospect that looks like a brilliant move. At the time, it seemed just a bit too trigger-happy. The Blues were doing ok, not great, but I believe what was expected from them by the general public.
Now it was time for a change in struggling Carolina. Well expected and maybe their last chance to turn this season around. I can't see them clawing back to playoffs anymore, but the ownership seems to.
On the same day the biggest bomb was dropped in Washington, where Bruce Boudreau was let go after taking the Capitals from bottom dwellers to the top of the league in just a few seasons. The modern day quarter economy equivalent in the game of hockey does not look at the past results or give much of a chance of failure. All over the media the explanations from Capitals' ownership were rather dodgy. And the sheer amount of interviews claiming that Boudreau had no bad blood with Ovechkin or vice versa, actually prove the opposite point. The team, lead by its celebrity captain, just couldn't work for this guy anymore. Some new system, huh?
It's a some sort of a miracle that Columbus Blue Jackets haven't fired their coach yet. They're actually already at the point where the ownership has given up on the season and seem to have decided to save some money instead of having to pay salaries for two coaches. If the fans start some sort of a mutiny, maybe they'll comply and claim that they're building for the next season with the move.
Anaheim Ducks have slipped down to the bottom of the league. They're running out of the seasons where they can keep their star lineup together and it must be just a matter of getting the papers out of their printer, before they have a new coach. They need to push for the Cup run now or face the return to rebuilding mode in the coming seasons.
After rather disappointing start of a season, coaching changes may arise in Tampa Bay or even Montreal. Colorado's brilliant start may have taken the expectations up a notch too to jeopardize the current leadership now that they've actually just fallen to the expected levels.
The rest of the struggling teams are either young and expected still to have growth pains, like Edmonton, Winnipeg and New York Islanders or just plain clueless like Calgary and New Jersey and cannot seem to see what good could another coaching change do.
The fun of getting fired from the NHL head coach position doesn't end in the heavy paychecks that usually follow through the original contract. It also seems to be a commonly agreed fact that failed coaches instantly regain the trust on their competence by all the teams in need of a new guy behind the bench. Fail as miserably as you can and it's still likely that you get hired before the season is over. Pick up two paychecks for the rest of the year as a bonus.
Now it's going to be very interesting to see how the chips fall with the teams with the most pressure to act. I wouldn't be surprised to see Mr. Boudreau moving down to sunny California before the end of this week..
Now it was time for a change in struggling Carolina. Well expected and maybe their last chance to turn this season around. I can't see them clawing back to playoffs anymore, but the ownership seems to.
On the same day the biggest bomb was dropped in Washington, where Bruce Boudreau was let go after taking the Capitals from bottom dwellers to the top of the league in just a few seasons. The modern day quarter economy equivalent in the game of hockey does not look at the past results or give much of a chance of failure. All over the media the explanations from Capitals' ownership were rather dodgy. And the sheer amount of interviews claiming that Boudreau had no bad blood with Ovechkin or vice versa, actually prove the opposite point. The team, lead by its celebrity captain, just couldn't work for this guy anymore. Some new system, huh?
It's a some sort of a miracle that Columbus Blue Jackets haven't fired their coach yet. They're actually already at the point where the ownership has given up on the season and seem to have decided to save some money instead of having to pay salaries for two coaches. If the fans start some sort of a mutiny, maybe they'll comply and claim that they're building for the next season with the move.
Anaheim Ducks have slipped down to the bottom of the league. They're running out of the seasons where they can keep their star lineup together and it must be just a matter of getting the papers out of their printer, before they have a new coach. They need to push for the Cup run now or face the return to rebuilding mode in the coming seasons.
After rather disappointing start of a season, coaching changes may arise in Tampa Bay or even Montreal. Colorado's brilliant start may have taken the expectations up a notch too to jeopardize the current leadership now that they've actually just fallen to the expected levels.
The rest of the struggling teams are either young and expected still to have growth pains, like Edmonton, Winnipeg and New York Islanders or just plain clueless like Calgary and New Jersey and cannot seem to see what good could another coaching change do.
The fun of getting fired from the NHL head coach position doesn't end in the heavy paychecks that usually follow through the original contract. It also seems to be a commonly agreed fact that failed coaches instantly regain the trust on their competence by all the teams in need of a new guy behind the bench. Fail as miserably as you can and it's still likely that you get hired before the season is over. Pick up two paychecks for the rest of the year as a bonus.
Now it's going to be very interesting to see how the chips fall with the teams with the most pressure to act. I wouldn't be surprised to see Mr. Boudreau moving down to sunny California before the end of this week..
2011/10/31
One month milestone
October has found its end. NHL season has been running for about one month now, teams getting somewhere around ten games under their belt. We can say that the game is on full speed. No room for excuses anymore.
And what an interesting start it has been. Some teams have really had a hard time filling the expectations, others have cruised under the radar and find themselves on the top of the league. As early as this is, in the whole season's perspective, the first month has already contributed in setting up the stage for playoff hopes. Let's point out some of the obvious in the standings and try to analyze a bit on how we got here.
The Pittsburgh Penguins are standing on top of it all. Having played most games doesn't hurt, but the results so far are extremely impressing. Considering that Crosby is still out and Malkin has only one leg, this team is playing absolutely great. The secondary weapons are stepping up and making a statement. Guys like Neal, Letang and Staal may well have what it takes to take over the leadership for a cup candidate team.
Toronto Maple Leafs have surprised everyone, themselves included, by ending up this high on the standings. Phil Kessel has found his confidence after an off year and is the most dangerous player on the game now. Look at his supporting cast and compare it to other teams' top lines. Case closed. I'm still saying that Leafs are bound to fall in the autumn and we'll see them fighting for the 8th spot at the season's half way point. They just don't have the depth.
Who doesn't love Philadelphia Flyers? They must be one of the most entertaining teams now. If they would be half as disciplined as entertaining, they'd win all the games now. It's just such a talented roster that once they finally figure it out themselves, they'll climb on top of the conference in no time. Kudos to Jaromir Jagr, he's still strong as a bull and sees the game like the best of them.
Washington Capitals have been surprisingly quiet, considering that they've scored the most per game and have most points per game in the league. They've balanced the scoring a lot so far and the superstars get great support from the blue collar lines. It's going to be interesting to see how they do when real rivalries break out with Philly and Pittsburgh for the Eastern crown.
Ottawa and Florida are the flukes of the early season. Wait a while and they'll swap positions with better teams who've slept for the first month like Boston, Tampa and NY Rangers.
Edmonton Oilers are on top of the Western conference! Take some photos or screenshots or whatever. They seem to have the best groove going on in the whole league. Bunch of teenagers from first rounds of draft complement the veteran experience of Ryan Smyth & co. As long as the management lets the kids play fancy, there will be lots of people cheering in the stands. Who knows how far it'll fly this season. I'm sure that on the following couple, the Oil will return to the fight for the cup. Until they run into the free agency and salary cap issues.
Chicago, LA and San Jose are on the expected strong track, winning roughly two thirds of their games. They'll keep up the pace all the way to the playoffs if nothing dramatic happens on the rosters.
Dallas Stars have been terrific early, largely thanks to Kari Lehtonen's heroics in goal. He's on track for a career season after being the prospect with high expectations but loads of injuries for all of his NHL career so far. Hopefully he stays healthy for the season and can take the Stars to a spoler run in the playoffs.
Colorado has had a brilliant start for the season, but I expect their downfall start soon. It will be conveniently timed to match the rise of Vancouver Canucks to the fight for pole position in the West. Anaheim Ducks are also bound to take a stand and start climbing up to the playoff picture. They just have way too much firepower to not win more games than average teams.
A big old question mark lays on top of Detroit Red Wings. Will the aging squad be able to pull together another solid campaign leading to another playoff appearance or will they finally crack under pressure and fall out of competition while desperately trying to replace past decade's brightest stars with limited pool of newcomers.
And what an interesting start it has been. Some teams have really had a hard time filling the expectations, others have cruised under the radar and find themselves on the top of the league. As early as this is, in the whole season's perspective, the first month has already contributed in setting up the stage for playoff hopes. Let's point out some of the obvious in the standings and try to analyze a bit on how we got here.
The Pittsburgh Penguins are standing on top of it all. Having played most games doesn't hurt, but the results so far are extremely impressing. Considering that Crosby is still out and Malkin has only one leg, this team is playing absolutely great. The secondary weapons are stepping up and making a statement. Guys like Neal, Letang and Staal may well have what it takes to take over the leadership for a cup candidate team.
Toronto Maple Leafs have surprised everyone, themselves included, by ending up this high on the standings. Phil Kessel has found his confidence after an off year and is the most dangerous player on the game now. Look at his supporting cast and compare it to other teams' top lines. Case closed. I'm still saying that Leafs are bound to fall in the autumn and we'll see them fighting for the 8th spot at the season's half way point. They just don't have the depth.
Who doesn't love Philadelphia Flyers? They must be one of the most entertaining teams now. If they would be half as disciplined as entertaining, they'd win all the games now. It's just such a talented roster that once they finally figure it out themselves, they'll climb on top of the conference in no time. Kudos to Jaromir Jagr, he's still strong as a bull and sees the game like the best of them.
Washington Capitals have been surprisingly quiet, considering that they've scored the most per game and have most points per game in the league. They've balanced the scoring a lot so far and the superstars get great support from the blue collar lines. It's going to be interesting to see how they do when real rivalries break out with Philly and Pittsburgh for the Eastern crown.
Ottawa and Florida are the flukes of the early season. Wait a while and they'll swap positions with better teams who've slept for the first month like Boston, Tampa and NY Rangers.
Edmonton Oilers are on top of the Western conference! Take some photos or screenshots or whatever. They seem to have the best groove going on in the whole league. Bunch of teenagers from first rounds of draft complement the veteran experience of Ryan Smyth & co. As long as the management lets the kids play fancy, there will be lots of people cheering in the stands. Who knows how far it'll fly this season. I'm sure that on the following couple, the Oil will return to the fight for the cup. Until they run into the free agency and salary cap issues.
Chicago, LA and San Jose are on the expected strong track, winning roughly two thirds of their games. They'll keep up the pace all the way to the playoffs if nothing dramatic happens on the rosters.
Dallas Stars have been terrific early, largely thanks to Kari Lehtonen's heroics in goal. He's on track for a career season after being the prospect with high expectations but loads of injuries for all of his NHL career so far. Hopefully he stays healthy for the season and can take the Stars to a spoler run in the playoffs.
Colorado has had a brilliant start for the season, but I expect their downfall start soon. It will be conveniently timed to match the rise of Vancouver Canucks to the fight for pole position in the West. Anaheim Ducks are also bound to take a stand and start climbing up to the playoff picture. They just have way too much firepower to not win more games than average teams.
A big old question mark lays on top of Detroit Red Wings. Will the aging squad be able to pull together another solid campaign leading to another playoff appearance or will they finally crack under pressure and fall out of competition while desperately trying to replace past decade's brightest stars with limited pool of newcomers.
2011/03/02
Another trade deadline
So, the end of February has passed and teams are set up for the rest of the regular season and the playoffs. Or are they? Judging by the lack of significant trades, the teams were pretty much complete already in the beginning of the regular season. Well, at least some trades made the news. I think LA's aquisition of Dustin Penner may be the best move here. Penner was great in Anaheim, got a deal way over his level in Edmonton, and ended up in the teeth of media and management. Recently he's gotten over it and actually has become an impact player in the lowly Oilers. In LA, he's bound to participate in a great cup contender. Maybe not this year, but in the ones to come.
Washington may actually have pulled off pretty good deals too to provide some secondary offence behind the obvious superstars. Arnott, Sturm and Wideman are definitely not the best of the breed, but still the top of what was available now. It'd be great to see Washington go far in the playoffs, but it seems that this season there's way better overall teams in Boston, Philly and maybe even Tampa.
Everyone has been asking why Dallas didn't deal Brad Richards. Only time will tell how committed he is in the end to this team, if and when the big offers start coming in next summer. Too bad for Dallas if they lose this guy. Richards has been the catalyst in a fantastic season for the new Stars. It would be fair for them to make the playoffs now and maybe pull an upset or two. Might even keep ol' Brad in the team for the future. It's not that he's running out of money anyway.
The biggest moves were pulled before the deadline by St. Louis and Colorado swapping some great young talent and by Boston reaching out and grabbing Tomas Kaberle to run the power play in the blueline. Biggest forwards stayed where they were, unless Alexei Kovalev drinks from the fountain of youth and carries the injury ridden Penguins far enough for Sid the Kid to take over and push for the cup. Might be a good chapter for the Crosby hockey fairytale that seems to have the ultimate momentum. Hopefully we get him back soon.
From Finnish perspective it was silent. It's good to see if Sami Lepistö gets even more role in Columbus. He seemed to start doing well in Phoenix already and there's definitely room for a offencive d-man in the Blue Jackets.
Washington may actually have pulled off pretty good deals too to provide some secondary offence behind the obvious superstars. Arnott, Sturm and Wideman are definitely not the best of the breed, but still the top of what was available now. It'd be great to see Washington go far in the playoffs, but it seems that this season there's way better overall teams in Boston, Philly and maybe even Tampa.
Everyone has been asking why Dallas didn't deal Brad Richards. Only time will tell how committed he is in the end to this team, if and when the big offers start coming in next summer. Too bad for Dallas if they lose this guy. Richards has been the catalyst in a fantastic season for the new Stars. It would be fair for them to make the playoffs now and maybe pull an upset or two. Might even keep ol' Brad in the team for the future. It's not that he's running out of money anyway.
The biggest moves were pulled before the deadline by St. Louis and Colorado swapping some great young talent and by Boston reaching out and grabbing Tomas Kaberle to run the power play in the blueline. Biggest forwards stayed where they were, unless Alexei Kovalev drinks from the fountain of youth and carries the injury ridden Penguins far enough for Sid the Kid to take over and push for the cup. Might be a good chapter for the Crosby hockey fairytale that seems to have the ultimate momentum. Hopefully we get him back soon.
From Finnish perspective it was silent. It's good to see if Sami Lepistö gets even more role in Columbus. He seemed to start doing well in Phoenix already and there's definitely room for a offencive d-man in the Blue Jackets.
2010/05/03
NHL Playoff cliches and reality
Finally, the regular season is over and the real tests are ahead in the NHL playoffs. Like always, the last few rounds of regular season have been really intensive and full of desperation for the teams on the playoff bubble. It actually took all 82 and a deciding overtime to separate finally send Flyers in and leave Rangers out. Very movie-like script, but it really doesn't get much better.
Before the playoffs it was again time for the journalists to reach to their bags of cliches. Washington Capitals were a perfect ground to create (read reuse) more columns and stories on. The classic pieces of wisdom included the "good production in regular season does not guarantee success in playoffs" and "defence and goaltending will be crucial" as well as "veteran leadership and experience may tilt the scale for underdogs". Same old, same old.
Well, Capitals' goaltending was average, not bad but not excellent either. They were in the middle of the pack on that, but lead the scoring by increduible 0.6 goals per game more than the second best team, Vancouver Canucks. Defence was solid and super productive in the attack zone, lead by Mike Green's heroics. A man, who must be seriously annoying person to be left out of Olympics and be benched in the end of regular season while being by far the best offensive d-man in the league for the second year in a row. Oh yeah, but the playoffs are a different story, right.
The series against Montreal Canadiens was scheduled to be 4-0 with Washington walking over their opponents easily. Then the Capitals went the distance to prove the analysts' cliche-filled prognosis right. How annoying, the most exiting team out on the first round. Not meeting the Penguins in the conference finals. Alex Ovechkin not raising the cup in the end. Nothing, just an early summer vacation.
Judging from the yearly upsets and surprises and drawing from the "old wisdom", it seams that a hockey team is somewhat human in nature. It has a mental state that is vulnerable under high stress and expectations. It's hard to imagine that one team would consist of only the players who choke in the tough spot, but somehow the losing mentality gets contagious and the whole team just falls apart. With this state some statistically improbable numbers start to appear, like 3 goals in 140 shots, not many goals from guys who scored almost a hundred in regular season. Team spirit indeed.
Well, maybe there's some experience behind the worn out cliches for playoff hockey. It sure will be interesting to see how Montreal now does against another young and blazing team in Pittsburgh and who will eventually take the cup. It's been very evenly matched so far, which is always good for the fans. Hard to pick one team over others at this point.
And let's see a bright side on the collapse of Capitals. We'll be seeing some Ovechkin-Semin magic in the international level on the upcoming World championships. Surprisingly high caliber players on the tournament for an Olympic year.
Before the playoffs it was again time for the journalists to reach to their bags of cliches. Washington Capitals were a perfect ground to create (read reuse) more columns and stories on. The classic pieces of wisdom included the "good production in regular season does not guarantee success in playoffs" and "defence and goaltending will be crucial" as well as "veteran leadership and experience may tilt the scale for underdogs". Same old, same old.
Well, Capitals' goaltending was average, not bad but not excellent either. They were in the middle of the pack on that, but lead the scoring by increduible 0.6 goals per game more than the second best team, Vancouver Canucks. Defence was solid and super productive in the attack zone, lead by Mike Green's heroics. A man, who must be seriously annoying person to be left out of Olympics and be benched in the end of regular season while being by far the best offensive d-man in the league for the second year in a row. Oh yeah, but the playoffs are a different story, right.
The series against Montreal Canadiens was scheduled to be 4-0 with Washington walking over their opponents easily. Then the Capitals went the distance to prove the analysts' cliche-filled prognosis right. How annoying, the most exiting team out on the first round. Not meeting the Penguins in the conference finals. Alex Ovechkin not raising the cup in the end. Nothing, just an early summer vacation.
Judging from the yearly upsets and surprises and drawing from the "old wisdom", it seams that a hockey team is somewhat human in nature. It has a mental state that is vulnerable under high stress and expectations. It's hard to imagine that one team would consist of only the players who choke in the tough spot, but somehow the losing mentality gets contagious and the whole team just falls apart. With this state some statistically improbable numbers start to appear, like 3 goals in 140 shots, not many goals from guys who scored almost a hundred in regular season. Team spirit indeed.
Well, maybe there's some experience behind the worn out cliches for playoff hockey. It sure will be interesting to see how Montreal now does against another young and blazing team in Pittsburgh and who will eventually take the cup. It's been very evenly matched so far, which is always good for the fans. Hard to pick one team over others at this point.
And let's see a bright side on the collapse of Capitals. We'll be seeing some Ovechkin-Semin magic in the international level on the upcoming World championships. Surprisingly high caliber players on the tournament for an Olympic year.
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