Caps Fans Waited For This? Brian MacLellan Promoted to GM

Really Ted? You hired the guy that worked for General Manager George McPhee, as assistant GM for the past seven years, and a guy that has been in the organization for thirteen years. Clearly neither you nor Dick Patrick want to win a Cup because if you did, MacLellan would not be your new general manager. How someone inside the organization qualifies as "fresh eyes" that can look critically at this team is beyond me. Were you turned down by other candidates? That's the only reason this decision would make sense to me.

The Caps problems start with drafting and trading for players that aren't hard workers and won't get dirty by sitting in front of the net to score, as an example. Teams that win the Cup play hard. The Caps don't. That's a culture problem that the Caps have had since the Alex Ovechkin era began. You can't fix that problem by promoting someone that's been in the organization while that culture was created. There are specific player needs, too, like stronger defense, better goal tending and depth down the middle, but the culture needs fixed, too, and that's harder to do. 

Read more here.

Let's go Caps!

GMGM Has No Place to Hide

General Manager George McPhee created this dreadful Capitals team. He arrived in Washington in 1997, the only year he sniffed a Stanley Cup. That happened on the back of Dave Poile's team and Olie Kolzig's inspired goal tending. Other than that high note, GMGM has not succeeded in the playoffs and the seven Southeast Division titles don't impress me.

GMGM's in the hot seat, but will owner Ted Leonsis fire him? Will he then turnaround and hire some ex-Capital because marketing is more important than the Cup? I miss the good old days, too, but I'm tired of nostalgia hires. I want a general manager and coaches that have Stanley Cup winning experience. Will that even make any difference if Dick Patrick is still here?

Read more here.

Let's go Caps!

Caps Mental Lapses Cost Them Too Many Games

There is nothing that frustrates me more about the Caps than their mental lapses. It's costing them a lot of games this season and a lot of regulation wins. It also points to either missing the playoffs or a quick playoff exit, something the Caps have excelled at in the George McPhee, Dick Patrick and Ted Leonsis era.

Read more here.

Let's go Caps!

Why Ted should study the Nats Lerners

The Caps played some ugly games this week including a 4-1 debacle against Pittsburgh, a 1 goal loss against Montreal and a 1-point game against Toronto. The only Cap that scored during this stretch...Alex Ovechkin.  At least, the Caps put 50 shots on goal against Toronto.  That's encouraging as the Caps attempted only 27 shots against Montreal and 18 against Pittsburgh. But, it highlights a key point about the Caps. No matter how hard Caps ownership and management may want it to be true, Ovie can't do everything.

During the Ovechkin era in Washington there have been four coaches  - Glen Hanlon, Bruce Boudreau, Dale Hunter and Adam Oates. Not one of those coaches has been a head coach of a Cup finals or a Cup winning team. The Caps organization keeps bringing in inexperienced coaches. Adam Oates is the latest.

 

Although I hope Oates can overcome that inexperience, I'm not convinced yet.  He has done a good job of connecting with and coaching the resurgent Alex Ovechkin, but that coaching hasn't extended to team play. Oates is not motivating this team to show up during the first period.  He's not inspiring them to grab two points against teams they should beat.

Keep reading at thefarmclub.net.

Let's go Caps!

"We played a very good game last night" - really Ted?

I wish you would enlighten me more on how you determined that the Caps played a good game last night Ted. Was it the absolutely atrocious passing throughout the game, the 39% faceoff win percentage, the overall team minus-4 statistic or the fact that your hockey players decided to show up and play the last twelve minutes of the game and your typical top liners all got a point? Finally showing up to play in the 3rd period is a really bad habit and the Caps do it far too often, including last night against the Flyers and Sunday night against Ottawa. If the Caps continue to play like they have lately with a ton of road games coming up on their schedule, they could miss the playoffs.

This team isn't very good right now and they are definitely the most frustrating Caps team I've watched since Alex Ovechkin has been here. I miss the early years of Ovie's career when the team worked really hard and Ovie was the most fun player to watch in the NHL. Neither situation applies today - the team doesn't work hard and Ovie hasn't figured out how to take it to the next level, maybe because there is no one to show him the way.

Besides Ovie, I don't know what is wrong with this team because I'm not a hockey expert. Is it the coach, the defensive first system the coach is trying to teach, or is it the players? All I do know is that something is dreadfully wrong when your super star sniper may not even hit 30 goals this year (his lowest total to date was 46 goals in his sophomore season), your super star playmaker, Nicklas Backstrom, is on a .89 points per game (PPG) pace (versus 1.23 and 1.073 PPG in his last two years) and your fans wish you could decline penalties because your power play is about as effective as Metro is at running the subway.

No, it's not about individual hardware anymore and I agree with Ovie on that. But, it's supposed to be about a Stanley Cup and this team seems to be going backwards in that regard. That is a travesty with the talent on this team. Something needs to change. It's a Washington sports team, though, so I'm not holding my breath.

Let's go Caps!

"We have great fans--and I love playing in this building".

From Ted's USA Today journal - We arrive at the arena and my son and I go shake hands with our coaching staff. We see Sergei Fedorov in the hallway. He stops his stretching and comes to see me, shakes my hand and says "thank you — this is so much fun." I say "No, thank you — I appreciate all you have done and will do for our team." We hug and he has a twinkle in his eye. He says, "We have great fans — and I love playing in this building".

What I want this to mean (even though reading between the lines is a pretty useless exercise)....is that Sergei Fedorov wants to come back here next year and Ted wants to find a way to keep him.

I'm all for that.

Let's go Caps!

Thank you Ted & GMGM...Ovie is here to stay

At the lowest point of this season in late November, I even thought Ovie deserved better than Washington, but Ted & GMGM finally made the necessary move firing Hanlon (and, yes, I like and respect him and am glad he's coming back to Washington as a scout) and now they've finally struck a 13-year, $124M contract, according to Tarik El Bashir's blog, contract with Alex the Great. I'm wowed by that...he's here until 2020-2021, just let that sink in. Ovie is the best player the Caps have ever had and he's only in his 3rd season. The best is yet to come (if he went from playing -19 to +6 hockey in the past year, anything's possible) and the fact that it will be here in Washington thrills me to no end. With Alex on the Cap's side, promising young stars, Mike Green and rookie, Nicklas Backstrom, and a new coach, Bruce Boudreau who has the hockey analysts wondering where's he been, the future looks bright in Washington.

I read about Ovie, before he even arrived in camp his rookie year, and then I saw him during one of the first preseason games. Like most fans, I couldn't believe this guy was a Capital. His amazing speed, great moves, hard shot, hits (a power hitting, goal scoring forward..what a combo) and sheer love and enthusiam for the game make him the most fun hockey player to watch that I've ever seen. So, thank you, too, Ovie for staying.

There was also a hockey game played last night between the Capitals and the Avs. Caps won the defensive slugfest 2-1. Much to my enjoyment at the game, two Avs fans were sitting in front of me. Since I've been subjected to Flyers and Buffalo fans when the Caps are getting their butts kicked, I admit, I enjoyed their annoyance at the Avs losing.

Hmmm...highlights from last night:

• Viktor Koslov actually played aggressive hockey. That was a change of pace.
• Olie had a good night and made some great saves.
• Sean Morrison made some spectular plays on defense last night, most definitely, saving one goal from being scored.
• Brooks Laich, one of the goal scorers and 1st star obviously continues to play good hockey this year.
• Steve Emminger, in back-to-back games for a long-time played well and was also aggressive.
• The Avs tied up Ovie pretty well all night.
• The game was a pretty boring defensive game but the third period got interesting and Verizon Center was pretty load, considering it was a Wed night game.
• The Caps got 2 points...most important.

Up next, the Flyers on Sunday.

Let's go Caps!

p.s. And thank you Caps management for the holiday ticket gift. I'm looking forward to seeing what may be an increasingly important April game in a lower level seat.

Ted's blogglings....

The NY Islanders have started a "Blog Box" where they allow bloggers to participate in the media events and sit in the press box. This has caused quite a stir in the blogosphere as one blogger, Eric McErlain from Off Wing Opinion thinks that this is the Isles way of controlling the new media and limiting negative comments from bloggers, particularly, "fan" bloggers. James Mirtle, a blogger and sports journalist, in a rebuttal to McErlain's position says the following:

"On the flip side, I also don't see why others can't enjoy the experience as hockey fans, whoop it up and pump out whatever they want on their blogs. (Besides, for all of the coverage we're seeing piped out of the Capitals' press box these days, how critical a voice are we getting? Here was a team that was a bottom feeder last season that offered plenty of opportunities to be dumped on, but did we really see that from Ted Leonsis's new legion of blogglings?)"

I commented on Mirtle's blog and told him he's free to read my fan blog and check out just how critical of this team I can be....

Let's go Caps!

The Caps are in town & hockey's coming

Finally...it's been a long summer of intense anticipation for this year's hockey season for many Caps fans, myself included. I can't wait to see how the lines shake out with the new additions to the Caps, Nylander, Kozlov and, of course, the rookie center, Niklas Backstrom. The final defensive pairings are going to be just as interesting with some strong candidates fighting for a spot on the team. I'm hoping that rookie blueliner Karl Alzner wins one of those spots.

Alzner played fantastic hockey during the recent Canadian-Russian Super Series and so did Josh Godfrey who is another Capitals prospect. That series was a recreation of an earlier series in the 1970s between the best junior players from Canada & Russia. During this year's series, Alzner was the MVP of Game 1 and became the leader of the team for the rest of the series which Canada won 7 games to 0. In this NHL blog for the series, writer Brad Holland talks about Alzner's diving save in game 1 and also mentions how Godfrey's 100 mph slap shot had the Russians ducking for cover. In his wrapup blog, Holland says, "Imagine both Godfrey and Ovechkin set up for one-timers with Karl Alzner and Nicklas Backstrom sending them passes? Washington has a bright future, indeed." I can happily imagine that.

Simeon Varlamov, the goalie prospect who impressed me so much during the Caps rookie camp in July, struggled in goal during the Super Series although he kept the Russians in the game during Game 6. The Russian defense didn't help Varlamov out either during this series so I still have high hopes for him. As expected, he's playing in Russia this season.

And in Alex Ovechkin news, he's also back in town after intensive training in Russia this summer and feels better prepared this year than last to get back on the ice. In fact, Ovie stopped in Montreal on his way back to Washington and declared in this Montreal Gazette article that he wants to be the best player in the NHL this year. Go Ovie!

Caps' owner Ted Leonsis has declared the "rebuild over" and expects the team to make the playoffs this year. Good, so do I. Here's a link to the article.

Tomorrow is Fan Fest day at Kettler, featuring practices, player autographs and a town hall session with Ted Leonsis and Captain Chris Clark. I plan to be there so I'll keep you posted.

The puck drops in 22 days. Let's go Caps!

Ovie Struggles and the Caps Continue to Lose

The only good news out of a 3-2 shootout loss to Tampa Bay on Thursday and a 3-2 loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins on Sunday afternoon is that the Caps are actually playing better, at least, defensively. I've never been happier to see Erskine & Pothier back in the lineup because it's clear that the Caps play better when they're on the ice. Brent Johnson has also looked solid in goal except for his penalty when he went too far behind the net in the Tampa Bay game.

So with 24 games left this season, where are the Capitals? From where I sit, not any further along than last year. Earlier in the season they played better and beat some good teams. They've played slightly better these last two games, but Ovie is in a scoring slump and that just shows how much the Caps depend on him for offense. I don't know why Ovie is in a scoring slump, but I fear that he's trying to carry this team on his shoulders and that's too much pressure for any young NHL player.

The "plan" to rebuild the Caps after the lockout fire sale year that Ted Leonsis & GMGM always talk about doesn't seem to be panning out because the team isn't getting any better. So, what's plan B? And how long can we keep Ovie here without making the playoffs? My intense fear is that the Caps will somehow lose the most talented player they've ever had.

I'll guess all of us fans will have to continue to wait and see if the "plan" that Ted Leonsis and GMGM constantly talk about actually happens in the next couple of years. Sigh. In the meantime, I hope Ovie gets his scoring mojo back.

The Caps are at the Montreal Canadiens tomorrow night.

Let's go Caps!

My House Survives the Latest Caps Implosion

My brother Dennis, who reads my blog, asked me if my boyfriend, dogs and household appliances survived the latest streak of lousy playing and losses that the Caps have had. They did, although I must admit, when I start screaming at the TV for some bone-headed move the Caps make, the dogs run downstairs cowering. I've had lots of reasons to scream lately.

Being a Caps fan feels like an exercise in futility at times and now is one of those times. I attended my first Caps game as a child in 1974 and became hooked on hockey. I was still an avid Redskins fan at the time and for many years afterwards, but Dan Snyder ruined my passion for the Redskins and I barely watch them. Now, my sports passion is focused solely on hockey and the Capitals which sucks right now (not that I'm missing anything by ignoring the Redskins).

For years, Abe Pollin, the Caps owner, could care less about hockey or the Caps (the Wizards are his baby) so it was a given the Caps were going nowhere fast although they had one Stanley Cup championship appearance against Detroit in 1998. It took me about 2 minutes into the first game of that championship series to realize the Caps were going to get destroyed by Detroit and they did, 4-0. Today, Caps fans have an owner who cares about hockey in Ted Leonsis and it's fun to watch them play when they win, but will they ever go deep into the playoffs again? Certainly not with the players or prospects they have now, especially on defense.

There's been a lot of debate in my house about the whole "rebuilding" versus "buying players" strategy to get the Caps deep into the playoffs. Getting Jagr was a disaster that the Caps are still playing for and Dan Snyder's "buy a Super Bowl team" strategy was a complete disaster for the Redskins. I don't know the answer to the right strategy, but I do know the Caps will never contend with a defense that isn't NHL caliber. And, young defensive prospects and players take a long time to mature so I'm wondering if the rebuilding plan is a 10-year plan. Sigh...

Thanks for letting me rant....

And, thankfully, it's the All Star week so I don't have to watch any Caps hockey. Let's hope they come back with the same enthusiasm they played with after the Olympic break last year and win a lot of games.

Let's go Caps!

p.s. The Caps did squeeze in a nice win at Carolina before losing again to the Florida Panthers, but I didn't get a blog post up. The 1:00 Saturday game against the Panthers threw me off schedule.