Hanlon let go

Per the Caps, Glen Hanlon has been relieved of his coaching duties and replaced on an interim basis by former Hershey Bears head coach Bruce Boudreau. The move was not unexpected considering the Capitals are off to their worst start in over 25 years. However, Hanlon's tenure in Washington should not be judged based solely on this year's merits.

Glen Hanlon lead a team with a pittance of NHL caliber talent for two seasons, and for the entirety of those two seasons we almost never saw a team that gave less than everything it had. I don't think it's overreaching to say that the Capitals overachieved for those two seasons, and their coach's optimism, patience and understanding were all major reasons for that.

Unfortunately, most coaches in the NHL are not measured on what they do for young teams or how they teach young players to grow into NHL regulars, but on their records. As the team matured and new talent was added, Coach Hanlon eventually had to be measured by the standards of other coaches: wins and losses. But let us not forget that Glen Hanlon was the right coach for the Washington Capitals for two seasons. He should be commended for the job he did with the organization during that time.

Now it's time to move in another direction. So thank you Coach Hanlon for the job that you did in the previous two years. Caps fans will not forget you for it.

Now a new era begins. While it's far too early to say whether the Boudreau experiment will last past this season, it's clear that it was time for a change. Welcome Coach Boudreau.

And lets go Caps.

More on the offensive production woes

Unfortunately, the offense isn't as bad as it looks on paper. It's worse. Lets break down the list of goaltenders the Caps have faced this year and the result:

Opponent - Result - Goals sc0red - goals against - goaltender - (b) = backup
atl - w 3-1 goaltender: Lehtonen
car - w 2-0 Grahame (b)
nyi - w 2-1 Dipietro
nyr - l 1-8 Lundqvist
buf - l 3-7 Miller
nyi - l 2-5 DiPietro
pit - l 1-2 Fleury
tam - w 5-3 Denis (b)
van - l 2-3 Luongo
stl - l 3-4 Legace
tor - w 7-1 Toskala/Raycroft
nyr - l 0-2 Lundqvist (SO)
phi - l 2-3 Nittymaki (b)
car - l 0-5 Ward (SO)
atl - otl 1-2 Pavelec (b)
ott - w 4-1 Emery (b)
tam - l 2-5 Holmqvist
fla - l 1-2 Vokoun
tam - l 2-5 Holmqvist
fla - l 3-4 Vokoun

Of the Caps 6 wins, a full half have come against goaltenders that are not currently considered starters for their respective teams. At this point, the "we ran into a hot goaltender" excuse is getting as played out as it was in the mid 80s. The Caps barely hold a winning percentage against the league's second tier goaltenders (3-2). It has to be said... it's not the goaltenders, it's the offensive system (or lack thereof).

Tonight, the Caps have a chance to start turning things around against the Thrashers. If the team can't claw out a win on home ice tonight, there may be some folks who get much longer than expected stays at home after the holiday.

Welcome to Lottery City

Ladies and gentlemen, the Deuce:

Early this morning, J.P. of Japers had his post-game offering. Just one mistake, he had the score 3-2. Wishful thinking, J.P. You're giving the Caps' offense WAY more credit than they deserve. TWO whole goals in one game?! Come on, that's expecting an awful lot. Last night, like this whole season, was atrocious. I wanted to throw up, in part because I knew I'd be reading the same ridiculous, "we're getting our chances, the puck's just not bouncing our way" quotes again today. Good teams make their own bounces. Of course, we are nowhere NEAR a good team right now. In fact, we're bad. Really bad. Has the Peerless Prognosticator upped the Playoff Threat Advisory to RED yet? If not, he should.

There are so many bad qualities about this team right now that it would take me all morning to focus on all of them. Bad line combinations, bad matchups, bad in-game adjustments, poor effort, bad giveaways, atrocious power play, bad penalty killing, bad offense -- just BAD. And of course, the most frustrating part of it all is that we as Caps fans just KNOW this team is better than this, much better (of course, we're the only ones who think this right now). Anyway, before I go through the litany of woes, I'll just look at one of the worst aspects of the Caps offense this year (there will be time to go through another after tonight's thrashing at the hands of the white-hot Lightning): The "Power" Play:

First, let's look at the personnel we could throw out there together (and no Glen Hanlon, I will not include Donald Brashear or Joe Motzko as possibilities):

Ovechkin, Clark, Nylander, Backstrom, Poti, Green. There are six guys to choose from who could legitimately play on the first power play for most teams. I won't include fringe PP-types like Pettinger and/or Flash, because they haven't proven themselves yet in that capacity. Now with those six players to choose from (and you can take out Clark if you want because of all the games he missed with injuries), shouldn't the Caps really be better on the PP than 15.0%? I think so. The Caps have scored 12 PPGs in 18 games so far -- pretty bad. It's even worse when you consider that five of those tallies have come from Ovechkin -- and at least 3 of them were individual efforts that in no way reflected a nicely set up passing play resulting in a PPG (if I remember correctly, two have come on rapid fire wristers off the faceoff, and one came where he dangled his way down the left side, cut into the middle around the defenseman, and scored on the rush). So that reduces the true PPGs from 12 to 9. So basically, without OV's great individual efforts, our PP would be second worst in the league, second only to the woeful Edmonton Oilers power play which has tallied only SEVEN times this season. But I can undertstand EDM's woes: Souray is injured, and the rest of their PP consists of Shawn Horcoff, Rafi Torres, Dustin Penner, Joni Pitkanen, and Dick Tarnstrom. Yikes. So as you can see, there is absolutely NO excuse for the Caps' players listed above to be producing at the level of EDM's PP, which is essentially what they are doing.

So what's the problem? Well, as I've detailed before, the first problem is that Hanlon got way too cute at the beginning of the season, and tried to have TWO good PP units when he really should have been focusing on just one. The exact same mistake he made last year. The result -- you had the evil Victor Kozlov playing with OV and Clark, and Poti and heaven-only-knows who else manning the point. The problem -- those guys couldn't maintain possession of the puck down low. The second unit was Backstrom, Nylander, and Pettinger playing with, gasp, Pothier and Green up top. Not surprisingly, Nylander, a puck possession and passing specialist, leads the team with 8 power play points (3 PPGs, 5 PPAs). In other words, if Nylander and OV ain't on the ice, don't even bother watching! After a few games of this two-headed monster, I was begging Hanlon to put OV and Nylander together. But he steadfastly refused until just three games ago -- against Carolina. Just before that game, I asked Mike Vogel why Hanlon wouldn't put OV and Nyls together. Here was his response:

"Deuce,
Well, they tried it last night. I am one who believes if it’s going to work and work well in the long run that 8 and 92 are going to need some practice time together. Anyone who has watched Nylander play has to know that he is not the easiest guy in the world to play with. As to why they hadn’t tried it before, two reasons. One, they truly believe that the best chemistry combos are with 8 and 25 and 92 and 28. And second, I think they believe the resulting line combos make the team a bit weaker defensively."

Fair enough. But when Semin went down, it should have been obvious to Hanlon that he needed to play his best players together. That has only just started to happen. And I, for one, don't think Nylander would be that hard to play with. Just go to the net and put your stick on the ice -- he'll get the puck to you in great scoring position.

Back to the PP. So the two PP idea didn't work out. The first line didn't work the puck well down low -- in part because of the Caps' D-men's total inability to put a puck anywhere in the vicinity of the net (Pothier). Because nobody feared a big blast nice and low and on net from the point, they cheated down on Ovechkin, knowing he was the only real threat on the "first" power play (I know, you're saying "What? They weren't afraid of Kozlov?) So, about eight games too late, Hanlon adjusted by putting OV on the point. Not a terrible decision -- now teams have to cheat out high, opening space for the other guys to work down low. He also moved Nylander to the first PP. The only problem -- now there's no finisher to bury Nylander's nice thread-the-needle passes.

The Deuces's solution -- Nylander, Clark, and Ovechkin down low -- this allows Clark and OV to win loose pucks, and Nylander to control the play and look for any opening to split the box and hit OV for a one-timer. Poti and Green up high. And Tom, for crying-out-loud, shoot the frikkin' puck every once in a while. Don't get cute -- just crush it. You're supposed to have a bomb from up there, make teams fear it. If not, we'll just call up Godfrey. At least three times last night I watched Poti pass up a good shot opportunity from the point because it wasn't perfect. Who cares? Put it on net, and Clark and OV will do the rest.

So there you have it, the solution to all our power play woes, and the ticket out of Lottery City. Maybe.

And, oh yeah, here are Original Six's words of wisdom on last night's game: "The season is not over however I think that it may be time to look at hiring a new coach that will light a fire under some player’s butts. I love Glen Hanlon but it is now obvious that he cannot motivate these players. Is Mike Keenan still alive?"

Ouch.

The Deuce: Lineups and Special teams

Ladies and gentlemen, the Deuce:

As I watched with helplessness the Caps embarrass themselves in front of a lukewarm home crowd filled (yet again) with Pittsburgh idiots, I got angrier and angrier. And Glen Hanlon is now the focus of my rage. I like Glen. I really do. I think he has shown a great ability (up until now) to get the most out of minimal talent, get his guys to play hard every game, and stay positive in the face of mounting losses. But now he has a real NHL team to work with, and the results are not good.

I know we're only 7 games into the season, but the Caps are going to need all the points they can now get to make the playoffs this year. So, I ask you, what are the signs of a good coach in the NHL? How about these, for starters: Good matchups, good special teams, good effort. Glen's one for three. Let's take those first two in turn, shall we? Matchups/Line combinations: First, let's look at the Caps lineup on Saturday:

Ovechkin-Kozlov-Motzko
Backstrom-Nylander-Fleischmann
Pettinger-Gordon-Clark
Brashear-Steckel-Laich

Not exactly Heatley-Spezza-Alfredsson, are they? Or Lecavalier-St. Louis-Prospal? Zetterberg-Datsyuk-Holmstrom? Not even close. Now why is it that most of the guys on those lines are always near the top of the NHL in scoring? Maybe because they are playing with other WORLD CLASS players!

Now I like Joe Motzko, and it's nice that Kozlov and OV can talk Russian together on the bench -- but if I hear any more about their great "chemistry" I'm going to puke. Chemistry is important, but great talent often creates great chemistry. And Kozlov is not a great talent. He is a pretty good player, and, as tsn.ca stated in last year's scouting report: "does not look good playing the pivot." Does that sound like a center you want to pair with your franchise, all-world left wing? NO! In fact, it sounds a lot like Zubrus II.

Know who IS a world-class talent at center? Michael Nylander. I don't know how many times during Saturday's game I turned to Grumpy One and Original Six and said, "Look at Nylander. He's UNBELIEVABLE with the puck on his stick. He's playing keep away with NHL defensemen, and they can't get the puck away from him." And I actually had time to say all that while he was still holding the biscuit. Then he made two beautiful passes to a breaking Backstrom (whom I like), who promptly flubbed both of them. Think OV's going to miss those? Neither do I. If OV and Kozlov have such great chemistry, let them play together: How about OV-Nylander-Kozlov. Then Kozlov can take advantage of that huge frame to park it in front of the net or dig pucks out of the corners while Nyls and OV play keep away together.

I don't know why Caps coaches always insist on having two average lines instead of one great one. Anyone remember when Oates came to DC, and everyone said, "watch out. Bondra's going to score 60 goals now!" Well, guess what? Oates and Bondra played on separate lines, so we could have a "deeper" lineup. Great.

As for the second line, I'd be perfectly happy with Backstrom centering Semin and Clark. Or Flash, if you still want to give him a chance to show what he can do. In fact, while Semin is out Flash could have the perfect opportunity, playing with Backstrom and Clark! Now, I know, Glen doesn't want to "rush" Backstrom to center. I can only assume that's because of either 1) faceoffs and/or 2) defensive responsibilities. OK Glen, that's fine. Put Steckel or Gordon up with those guys until he's ready. They'll still be potent, but more importantly, WE'LL STILL BE STACKED ON THE FIRST LINE! I'll take the above stated first line against any checking line in the league. Let it ride! And we still have a shut down line of Pettinger-Gordon/Steckel-Laich. So there it is. Stop converting wingers to center to play with OV, and give him the setup man he deserves. Did we really pay all these millions to Nylander to play him with two rookies?!

Next - special teams:

Well, really this is just a repetition of the previous rant. Last year (to start off the year), Glen tried to have two good power plays by breaking up Semin and Ovechkin, his only all-star caliber players. The results were so atrocious that (thankfully) he scrapped the idea three games in and just "stacked" the first PP. What's the quote about those who forget history are doomed to repeat it? Well, see all Glen's quotes this year about all the best teams having two great PP units. Um, Glen, at this point, I'd settle for one average PP unit!

Once again, we're throwing out JOE MOTZKO, Kozlov, OV, Poti, and Clark. Please see previous paragraph about Michael Nylander. If you're not going to match him with OV on a line, at least, for the love of GOD do it on the PP Glen! The only goal Saturday night was set up by a nice patented Nylander curl around, followed by a pass to the point, a shot on net (no, really!), and a real honest to goodness screen! So please, move Nyls up where he belongs. How about putting Ovechkin on the point, where penalty killers would be forced to respect his cannon and stay up high, thus opening up space down low for Nylander to operate (not that he needs that much space). It has to be better then putting a career minor leaguer out there, doesn't it?

So, there you have it. My expert analysis from the cheap seats (actually, they're not so cheap this year!) The effort is still there, now we need the smarts to go with them. And that starts with the coaching staff. The players are saying all the right things. They buy into Hanlon's systems and strategy. But they'll also buy into any changes he makes right now. Four losses in a row will do that to you. Please Glen. Do the right thing. Save The Russian Machine. And my two-year old from another thirty-three years of suffering and losing to those G-D Penguins.

A note to Glen and Ted

We like you Glen. Really, we do. But if you don't stop playing the trap, we're going to riot.

Seriously.

You have possibly the most gifted offensive player in the league, and one of the best dangler/snipers to boot. If you insist on hammering them into a system that 1) completely denigrates their talent and 2) makes the best offensive players in franchise history boring as hell to watch, we're going to have a problem. A big problem.

Now, if you don't mind, we have a few words for your boss, too.

Ted,

We LOVE you. Really, we do. But if you support a coach, ANY coach who consistently plays the trap, you might as well lose our (credit card) numbers right now. You want to see what the trap does to to ticket sales? Take a look at the empty cavern they have over in New Jersey. And don't talk about the Cups the Devils have won. Look at the fans they've lost, and way their style of play has forced multiple "rule enforcement" changes to keep the league afloat and exciting.

See, Ted, we're hard core hockey fans here, born and raised. And even we won't come see a team that consistently plays the trap.

We're also hockey players here at Grumpy Caps Fans, Ted. We've played the trap. It stinks. We've played against the trap. It stinks. If you think you're going to attract top quality offensive free agents to a team playing the trap, you're sorely mistaken. NOBODY likes playing the trap. And given two contracts of equal value, only an idiot is going to choose to go to a team that plays it. The Capitals have historically had trouble signing marquee players. Do you really want to make it even harder for the team?

Yes, it can be necessary to fall into a shell to win a game when you have the lead late in the third period. But playing it for 3 periods will alienate players and, more important for an owner, new and old fans alike.

Thanks for your time.

What's defense got to do with it?

Okay, so Coach Hanlon (and apparently Tarik) want the Russian Machine to work harder in the defensive end of the rink. Fair enough. But lets not get ahead of ourselves here.

Yes, Alex needs to develop into a better two way player. That's fine. But he also harbors the burden of carrying nearly the entirety of the Caps offense. Until Backstrom comes over to work with Semin, it's still going to be the Alex and Alex show, with Ovechkin asked to carry most of that workload.

Lets not try to turn him into Steve Konowalchuk just yet (although turning Sutherby into a Kono type... but I digress). Simply put, the Caps need Ovie to be free to create in the offensive end. If that means he's late backchecking that's an exchange the team needs to be willing to make... THIS year. A bit of a tug on the reins is fine, but any more than that before the rest of the team is ready to step up and take more of the offensive load off him would be a mistake.

Now next year, when we'll have two legitimate scoring lines (Clark, Ovie, Zubrus* to go with Semin, Backstrom, Pettinger/Fehr), more can and should be asked of the Russian Machine. Until then, we need Alex's offense more than his defense. Again, I'm not suggesting that we have him dangle at the red line (yes, I'm looking at you Maxim Afinogenov), but just reminding folks that the offense without OV doing his thing would be, well, sparse.

*assumes we re-sign Zubie. If not, bump Fehr to line 1 with Pettinger at line 2)

Caps sleep through alarms, miss game against Florida

The ice was littered with garbage today. The fans threw some on it at the end of the game, too.

The Capitals showed absolutely ZERO interest in playing a hockey game against Florida. The Panthers took advantage, and won the game easily, 4-1. The score makes the game seem much closer than it actually was. The Caps were thoroughly outworked, and nobody on the team seemed to care. Olie Kolzig was spectacular, but could not overcome the criminally neglectful play of his teammates. From goal line to goal line, the Caps absolutely stunk the joint up. Any fan that paid money for a ticket to the game should be given a full refund. They paid to see a hockey game. There wasn't one played, at least not by the home side.

It's hard to single out any one player or line that gave the game away, because the ENTIRE TEAM was absolutely atrocious.

If I were Hanlon, I'd do whatever it took to make sure the Caps skated the first three days of the All-Star break. Notice I said skated, NOT practiced. An effort like that deserves nothing short of three straight days of power skating. No pucks, no fun, just a thorough breaking down of the entire roster. If the Caps don't have ice slotted at Ballston, he needs to either get Leonsis to pay for the ice or spring for it himself. But a turd like the Caps dropped on the fans tonight demands a response from the coaching staff.

I haven't seen a stinkbomb like that in years. And against one of the worst teams in the league. After an absolute pasting from that team not even a month ago.

Today was a disgrace to the players, the organization, and to the fans.

After some time to reflect (and lick the wounds)

I've written several times before on how the Capitals are a young, inexperienced team and that fans need to adjust their expectations accordingly. As I said in my January 1st post,

"What lies ahead for the Capitals this year seems apparent. They will work their butts off to win a lot of games they wouldn't take on talent alone. They will lose some heartbreaking games they should win."

At the same time, what happened against Florida was nothing short of a disgrace. I'm willing to give the team the benefit of the doubt, but getting absolutely crushed by a team that's near last in the league is completely and totally unacceptable. Not showing up for a game is completely and totally unacceptable. If I were Coach Hanlon, there would be no pucks in practice for the next few days. Just lots and lots of hard skating, a la Herb Brooks after Team USA's pre-Olympic tie with Norway.

There are two trends the Caps absolutely need to buck if they want to make a serious run at the playoffs. The first is their current inability to bring home points on the road. 0-5 on the last road trip (I know it was a murderous schedule, but is an OT loss too much to ask for?). 0-2 to start this one, with both losses coming against Southeast Division opponents that were below us in the standings. If they continue to throw points away like this, they'll be able to make tee time reservations well before the end of the season.

Maybe Hanlon needs to pack some Teddy Bears for these guys to make them feel like they're at home. On second thought, probably not. They've been playing soft enough on the road as it is.

The second issue that needs to be addressed is their constantly being outshot by other teams. In the past few games they've been outshot by a large margin by two of the worst teams in the league (Florida and Philly). They need to pressure forwards in their own zone more, and make more plays at goal in their opponents territory. Now I know Caps teams have forever been known for their cycling down low in the attacking zone, but at some point they need to get pucks at the net. Even weak shots on goal can yield rebounds, deflections, and other scoring chances.

Next game is Tuesday against the Ottawa Roman lookalikes. At least we know the boys won't be spending too much of their time at the beach before that one.

The Gas Tank Reads E... Is That Bad?

Thank goodness the Caps have today off. You could plainly see last night the effects of so many games in such a short stretch. Generally simple tasks such as taking a line change on time or moving the center in position to deflect 2 line pass attempts looked achingly difficult, and often resulted in strong scoring chances for the Habs. The defense looked spread too wide, another result of the legs not keeping up with the mind. And you know Ovechkin is exhausted when he only manages one shot through two periods of play. The result: a 4-1 loss to Montreal.

The Caps get a well-deserved day off before the bus ride up to hell, er... New Jersey to face the Devils, then board the bus for a quick 15 minute hop to MSG against the Rangers. We're all clear on what not to do tomorrow, right? Good.

And Glen, if you can hear me out there, take it easy on the boys today. Maybe even a voluntary practice? Before someone's legs fall off?