Marcus Johansson’s success at playing center

Playing with line mates Jason Chimera and Tom Wilson, Marcus Johansson’s success at playing center on the third line is a sign of a good fit. The player fans love to hate is turning in a tremendous season, particularly, after finding his stride in between the 35-year old speedster, Chimera, and the aggressive style of Tom Wilson. That line is producing. Chimera has speed and toughness, Wilson has grit, they both win board battles, and Johansson has speed to set up plays and make his own.

The interesting part of Johansson’s season happened in November after the New York Rangers game. He got suspended for two games for an illegal hit on defenseman Thomas Hickey. It was not intentional on his part, but the suspension still surprised for a player not known for toughness.

Johansson never seemed like the right fit playing opposite of Alex Ovechkin with Nicklas Backstrom. The two of them needed someone like T.J. Oshie to be the battler and energy guy on their line and that is not the type of player Johansson is. He, on the other hand, needed some board battlers and speed players so he could make plays instead of killing scoring chances when Ovie dished to him. Coach Barry Trotz continues to mix up the lines when they get stale, so these lines change.

Johansson moved to third line center when Jay Beagle went on long-term injured reserve to have wrist surgery at the end of December. The third line gelled, giving Trotz lots of offensive power in the top 9 forward and the ability to easily roll four lines.

Johansson’s played with more energy all season. He gets Trotz’s system now and is flourishing in it more. He is playing the game the right way, too, by hustling, forechecking, going to the net, setting up screens, and getting garbage goals, too. It will be great for the Caps if he keeps it up during the playoffs. Johansson’s 4 points in 14 games or 2 points in 7 games during 2012-2013 is not enough. Maybe keeping him as the third line center with Chimera and Wilson will fix that.

Let’s go Caps!

A worker on every line

Coach Barry Trotz’s stated strategy to beat the Florida Panthers on Saturday night, after a sluggish start by the Caps, was to “put a worker on every line.” The Caps looked like they were skating in quicksand after playing the Columbus Blue Jackets the prior night.

To create a spark, Trotz broke up his hardest working trio of Jay Beagle, Tom Wilson and Jason Chimera and spread them among the top three lines. Those are not the only line changes he made as that spark happened early in the 3^rd period when Beagle tied the game assisted by Alex Ovechkin and Justin Williams. The Caps won that game in overtime, thanks to the continued magic and hard work of Evgeny Kuznetsov’s offense, assisted by his fellow Russians Ovie and Dmitry Orlov. The Caps responded to their coach and won the game. That is encouraging.

Trotz is all about accountability and effort and that has been evident since he arrived in Washington last summer. He increases ice time when players play well and sends them to the press box when they are not playing the game the right way. That is polar opposite of the Coach Bruce Boudreau country club atmosphere days when the Caps players were more concerned about their activities off the ice.

The additions of T.J. Oshie and Williams this season and Brooks Orpik and Matt Niskanen last season show how serious General Manager Brian MacLellan is about fixing the problems the Caps have had getting past the 2^nd round of the playoffs in the Ovechkin era. He has brought players to Washington that understand how team effort and team play are the most important qualities for winning championships in any professional sport. This group did not bring just their offensive and defensive skill to the Caps, which was also sorely needed, but they brought the leadership intangibles that teams need.

These recently acquired Caps, along with homegrown prospects like Tom Wilson, who is already exhibiting leadership qualities in his play and the words he says, and Kuznetsov, who is so humble in his interviews bodes well for the Caps. It take all of these parts, in addition to the highly skilled players, to make it work. With a couple of exceptions, it has also made the Caps fun to watch.

Let's go Caps!

Caps 5-on-5 Play is Pathetic

Power plays are much rarer in the playoffs versus the regular season so strong 5-on-5 play is a prerequisite to playoff success in today's NHL. The Caps 5-on-5 play is pathetic even in the Coach Barry Trotz era. He is working on this by directing his team to shoot pucks at the net and get dirty in front of the net for deflections because those opportunities turn into 5-on-5 goals. And, those types of goals win playoff games, not perimeter shots. This is an area where the Caps have struggled throughout the Alex Ovechkin era. They've never had enough players willing to sacrifice their body in front of the net night after night. Trotz knows this is a huge problem for this team.

Does Trotz have the players he needs to make a difference in this area? Right now, his second line center is a 19-year old rookie that's hitting a typical wall. Andre Burakovsky is going to be a very good hockey player, but he's learning the NHL game and the center position. Evgeny Kuznetsov is improving and starting to contribute more ,but he's learning the North American game and that adjustment takes time. Tom Wilson is quickly turning into a fan favorite, but he's got to realize he's more useful out of the box. Although it's great that he's willing to stick up for his teammates, he needs to contribute on offense and develop chemistry with Ovie and Nicklas Backstrom. Wilson will probably turn out to be the grittiest of the young guys, but none of them are old enough to realize how much they have to sacrifice to win the shiny silver Cup.

Read more here.

Let's go Caps!

Caps Need More Kuznetsov and Wilson

It's far too early to get overly excited about center Evgeny Kuznetsov, but he's been fun to watch in his last two games as a Cap. The sick passing skills and the ability to put the puck on the tape of his line mates were on display during his first star, three assist performance against the Vancouver Canucks. That first star came on 9:58 of ice time. He notched his fourth assist in his fourth game against the Toronto Maple Leafs.

Read more here at Two Pad Stack.

Let's go Caps!