I know y’all are covering all of the teams but I do think you’ve missed what the caps are doing. Steve was closest, but they have already picked a direction. They traded out Orlov, for one, as well as 4-5 other players in the past deadline while they were still in the wildcard hunt. They aren’t aggressively tearing everything down since they need to be competitive enough to get Ovi goals, but they are selling off guys who they can (if they can get more out of Kuzy and Mantha I’m sure they’re on the table, just can’t even think of trading them now since their value is so low). They’ve got a bunch of middle six prospects, and now with Leonard and Miroshnichenko they’re getting into some of the higher picks as well. They are letting themselves linger for a bit with a decline so they can get top-15 picks while letting Ovi get his goals. If you look at the contract structure of the team, the second Ovi retires everyone else (sans Wilson) is on an expiring deal, and will be sold in a fire sale. Doing this, it’s looking like maybe only a year or two of true bottom of the barrel stuff before the other picks that took longer to develop are able to enter the league and take the team
Caps will be back in a wild card spot. Last year they had bad coaching that didn't use their younger players, had tons of injuries, sold off a lot at the deadline then tanked AND STILL ONLY MISSED THE PLAYOFFS BY 6 WINS. Now they've gotten younger, healthier and faster. New PP coach for first time in a decade. Their oldest player is still their best player. Backstrom looks great and is playing better than he has in years. For the first time in years Washington looks ready to outwork opponents. 6 wins should be pretty easy when you're not tanking for a draft pick.
I'm still shocked at how off Adam is on the whole, "Caps are missing Sammy and Vanny" talk. Kuemper's stats were right with Sammy's up until the team started falling off when everyone got hurt (january?). And there were a lot of off ice issues with Sammy too that the caps didn't want to deal with. I think he had a really good year last year but I think he benefitted off of an underrated D. I'm glad he's doing well but I'm happy the caps moved on .
During their best phase last year(11-01), it was Charlie Lindgren a.k.a Charlie Sideburns, a.k.a Charlie Whiskers who was steaming hot fire in goal. Kuemper didn't do so well behind a mediocre at best defense, unlike the d-core of the Avalanche he won the cup with.
@@LearnedAstroGnome true. But in regards to kuemper and sam they both had pretty similar save % up until the caps sold off everything. Adam, I hate to say it, is pretty lazy in his analysis that the Caps would've been better off keeping sam.
Kuemper was the best part of the Capitals last year and was definitely the least of the Capitals issues last season. The issue with the Capitals last season was they couldn't stay healthy and even when the players come back "healthy." they didn't look 100%. Healthy they won't be as bad as last year, but they still are a wild card team even if healthy. Steve is right on the Capitals doing an impressive retool though it's just not finished this year like the Blue's retool will be. The Caps still have an amazing young core looking to make noise like Leonard, Cristall, Iorio, Lapierre, McMichael, Protas, Miroshnichenko, and a young Sandin that's looking to take a big step. I think people think the Caps are going to be stuck in a rebuild forever because their prospect pool doesn't get much attention, but they are going to surprise people with the players they have been developing.
backstrom and wilson were not ready when they returned, helped kill a caps team on an 11-0-1 run when they returned, wilson got season ready by the end and he looked great. hoping nick is good now for this season,if so were in.
speaking to the idea of picking a lane, the capitals did pull the chute pretty early on last season when it was clear they were going nowhere. i don't think they're afraid to make big changes and sell at the deadline again this year. as a fan I just want ovi to get at least 40-45 goals, any additional accomplishments for the team would just be icing.
Laviolette never gave our young guys a chance. I honestly would not mind if this season ended up very similar to last season. As long as our young guys take a step and Ovie gets closer to that record, that’s all I’m looking for at this point 😂
Steve is right on the money with how the Caps have deceptively drafted really well over the last few years. McMichael, Protas, Miroshnichenko, Lapierre, Leonard, Cristall, Iorio, Hofer, Suzdalev, Allen, Chesley and Clark. If they turn the rebuild switch, they wouldn't need 4-5 years to restock their prospect pool, it's already pretty decent. All they would need is a high-end talent at the forward position and a couple of top-4 calibre d-men.
The people who don't realise Spencer Carbery is taking over, he'll be bringing in the kids on rotation maybe more than the likes of what laviolette did. Plus kuzy requested a trade, because he wasn't allowed to play the hockey he's good at under laviolette. This team whilst getting older for sure. I think has gems on each line and I hope keeps being woefully under appreciated by everyone. Tom Wilson is being groomed to be the future C in my eyes. Backstrom looks back to his healthy best. Oshie If he can stay healthy is always a menace, milano is criminally underrated. D if they turn up will be absolutely solid. I just worry slightly about the goal tending. Even though they've done great last year. They do tend to leak a lot of goals. 🤞 For the wild card spot this year.
I'm actually inclined to agree with this take. Osh is a heart and soul guy for the team, and when he's healthy he's a downright pain to play against. When Wilson isn't getting into trouble, he's a skill guy. Sonny is criminally underrated. I'm not entirely sold on our goalie tandem. But given how goaltenders here tend to struggle a bit I'm honestly curious to know if that particular onus is on the goalie coach.
Charlie is a good goalie and I think could be better as number 1 then Darcy. The D is getting older as well andI think this year the caps might surprise alot of people.
This just shows how little you watched the caps last season. The biggest reason they sucked was a thing called Laviolette. And Backy, Oshie looks better than they have in years. Lavi just fucked everything up. Left the goaltenders alone because he wants the d-men pinching and attacking like they are forwards leading to MANY odd man rushes against. Last season they were in the race for a wildcard spot until march but Carlsons injury and just players hating the coach made that impossible. I think they will be back in the playoffs this year. And no they are not just playing for ovis record. Ovi want them to focus on winning because otherwise he will stop playing. However i think Kuzy will be gone this season because Strome and backy has just been way better than him and we have some young promising centers just waiting for their shot at that regular center spot.
glad rangers got him. i like caps chances, 3 guys over 35 who are still productive and were an old slow ancient team, pittsburgh and caps make playoffs, i would be worried about toronto goaltending, disrractions and a coach according to experts is out manuevered in every playoff series,
They're a year older, but last season they were trying to break the Capitals' IR record of the 90s. If they spend less time on the IR they're in the mix for one of the wildcard spots or possibly even 3rd in the division if things go well and the Rangers have serious problems. Every goalie knows where Ovechkin is and that the puck is going to him and he still scores with that one-timer.
new PP coach is the most exciting part, really. been awful watching other teams PP adapt over the years and caps is just the same show. Looking forward to seeing some changes (they will obviously still keep Ovi in the same spot and try to feed him shots when possible).
Yeah you guys seem to be sleeping (snoring) on my Caps. I can’t disagree on many comments, but what are your thoughts on the younger guys, McMicheal, Protas, Sandin, Ferevhary?
The Caps is a team that's trying to freeze time in hopes their old goat players can continue to play like they're a decade younger. They might be able to do it, but it's an uphill battle. Not everyone's Joe Pavelski...Lol
It is kind of funny when listening these and Adam don't trust Kuemper but he trust Bob having a good regular season😂😂 I am a Caps fan and imo Kuemper was better than i thought he would be and i believe he can stay at that level at least. They traded Orlov and pretty much replaced him with a younger version in Sandin they play pretty much the same way but Sandin needs to be consistent and improve his all around play. They did not trade Kuzy because his season was not that great and i would think if they would have traded him in the summer it would have been like Ryan Johansen trade where they keep 50% of his salary and get nothing on return and if Kuzy has a great season and the Caps fall away from playoff spot they could make a PLD type of trade. I can see Caps being in 7 different spots in the division and those are between 2-8. If they are in the playoffs they stayed healthy and had a good season and if they are 6-8 they again had injuries everywhere. 😅
Everyone in Canadian hockey media is so high on the penguins all the time because they have Crosby. People outside of DC just do not pay any attention to the team, To the point that you say that Columbus will finish above them lol.
@@insertgenericusernamehere2402 well I was right last year and they got older and worse on paper so yeah its not good. They were shocking after the deadline they finished below Detroit by the end.
samsonof will doom totonto inconsistant injury prone, best wishes to you, take it from a caps fan, thank you for sandin btw. caps in playoffs, what a surprise in mathew phillips for caps, molano,strome,mathews will be an exciting line. like every team some players have to step up be healthy. kuzy looking good in preseason. took step back last year with trades and got sandin ,ryan leonard #8 and mayochenko will be called up., two years away from being nj 2.0. playoffs this year no problem.
Sammy was great for 40 minutes then fell asleep for us remember. Think we conceded so many 3rd period goals when he was in net and dunno what happened to vitek he seemed unstoppable one game then an absolute sieve the next
This roster doesn’t excite them because they didn’t do their homework. This is once again a superficial analysis to cover all 32 teams. We have a young roster with guys that were never given an opportunity thanks to Lavi’s archaic system. The Kuzy trade rumours were put to bed months ago.
