The Deuce speaks

In response to Tarik's post on the Caps today (as well as some of the over 60 comments) the Deuce weighs in:

I too am very disappointed following last night's loss to the lowly Panthers. And I agree that it would have been very difficult to make the playoffs with the current defensive corps (although I tried to convince myself otherwise at the beginning of the season). Green, Morrison, and Eminger are talented YOUNG defensemen (well, at least I know Green and Morrison are. Eminger I'm not so sure of). Schultz is still growing into his body and should not be in the NHL this year (probably not next year, either). But I'm still having more fun watching this Caps team than ever. Ovechkin and Semin alone are worth the price of admission. EVERY GAME.

I respectfully disagree with the post by Dossier claimin Olie "lets in too many softies and is overpaid." Without Olie, we would be losing games 10 or 11 to 3 instead of 4-3 or 5-3. He's worth every penny. And some. And I disagree that GMGM and Hanlon need to be fired. The Caps have drafted some excellent young prospects in the last few years: Backstrom (an easy choice), Green, Schultz, Fehr, Eminger, Varlamov . They've also picked up some nice young talent in trades: Fleischman, Klepis, Morrison, Giroux, etc. The main problem with this team is youth and inexperience. The ups and downs we're witnessing are exactly what you expect from a young team.

Next year, with Backstrom, Fehr, and maybe Fleischman in the lineup, a lot of the "placeholders" will be relegated to relief duty (BEECH, Clymer, Sutherby, Bradley, Laich, maybe Gordon). With one or two veteran defensemen, and possibly a solid free agent center (see Gomez, Scott, or Drury, Chris), this team could be dangerous as early as next year. I truly believe that. But who knows. Maybe I'm dreaming and we should just fire everyone, trade everyone, bench everyone and sign every old, slow, big free agent available this summer.