It is an amazing schedule. Some teams have played 22 games to date. Some teams have played 17 games to date. That five game spread is huge, a possible ten points in the standings.
We have played 20 games to date.
It is amazing to think that we are essentially a quarter of the way through our season already. Time is flying by. The schedule seems compressed as we sprint to the Olympic break in February.
At the quarter mark, we are pretty well situated. We are gaining points efficiently. We are selling out all of our games.
We have a lead in the division but the division is better than pundits think. Tampa and Atlanta both have very good young teams and are making progress and gaining points.
The East is very competitive right now. There are a lot of good teams and qualifying for the playoffs this season will be a challenge for everyone. My bet is that 92 plus points will be the cut off for the playoff qualification this season.
We are tied for first place in the East right now but it is way too early in the season to draw any conclusions.
We have many concerns right now as a team. First and foremost is our health. We are nicked up, banged up and we need to heal up. We have survived a worst case scenario for our team. We lost the MVP to injury and we have a winning record playing without him.
We have depth and we are playing short-handed. It is a bonus that so many young players are gaining even more experience.
We can score a lot of goals. With or without Alex Ovechkin.
We have work to do on playing better team-oriented defense.
We do need to be more efficient on our power play. We need to be better on the penalty kill.
We have actually been pretty consistent as a team. We have lost many one goal games or in OT or shootouts and we have only been behind by three goals one time all season long.
We have played a pretty tough schedule to date playing the Bruins; Flyers (2x); Rangers; Sharks; Devils (3x); and the Red Wings early in the season.
I think we are pretty much where we thought we would be right now. You are what your record says you are. We are a pretty good team. We have upside still. We haven’t played our best over a long period of time. We have work to do. We know it. We aren’t satisfied but we aren’t panicked either.
Thank you for coming out to see us play. Thank you for watching the games on TV in record numbers; for listening to the games on radio; for buying merchandise; and for expressing yourself to me in emails, on blogs and on Twitter and Facebook.
We now head to Madison Square Garden for a tough Tuesday night game against the New York Rangers then come home to play Montreal. Let us hope the next quarter of the season is as productive for us as the first quarter of the season. Pray for good health. Be of good cheer. Go Caps!
Tags: Hockey, NHL, Ted Leonsis, Ted's Take, Washington Capitals
Good health and good cheer to everyone. Don’t be Debbie Downers about this year so far… every year is going to have setbacks and problems. The microscope we seem to have put the Caps under is unnecessary; their team will be run the way it is run, and it’s worked pretty well so far these last three years. I have put my faith in Ted, GMGM, Bruce and the rest. They and the team have provided many memorable and wonderful moments for us, and that’s what they are here to do.
LET’S GO CAPS!!
eds
What? No mention of the Islanders and Scott Gordon’s gritty team? I’m crushed!!!
Hey Ted,
Love to hate the caps! As a pens’ fan, I’m glad to see the flames of hatred from the old patrick division rekindled between the pens, caps, flyers, etc. It makes for great hockey! While the chances of injury go up with a compressed schedule like this years’, I think it really does a lot for rivialries.
I was curious though about what your thoughts are on the NHL experimenting with “alternative views” for the tv broadcasts. Do you think the NHL could maybe offer a chance to view the game on a website or a rebroadcast using the North-South view from the hockey videogames? The reason why I ask you is because I saw it used quite a bit in the games the NHL network televised that featured the caps. It seems like it captures the speed, makes the x’s and o’s of the game more apparent, and lastly, helps make the puck a little more visiable. The only thing that makes this view tough is the netting behind the cage. I think experimenting with this view is a descent idea. Many people are introduced to hockey via EA sports/2k sports’ games and a chance to view the game this way may bring in more fans.
Thanks!
John
TED SAID: “You are what your record says you are. ”
Jose Theodore’s record back-stopping a 12-4-4 team: 5-3-4
7 LOSSES in 12 games. “You are what your record says you are. “
Ted, they need to change the NHL ad that has Clark, Backstrom, Green, Ovie, etc. It says at the end “Is this the year?”
It should read “This is the year!”
I have never been so upbeat about a Caps team this early in the season, mostly because the team hasn’t played at their best yet, but is still 12-4-4 (playing at a .700 points percentage), they’ve lost the best player in the world for 6 games and went 4-2-0 over that span (and 0-0-1 in the game he was injured in.)
The team is deep, strong, has lost only once by more than a goal. There is every indication this team hasn’t peaked yet… that will come in April, May and June…
This *is* the year.