Daily Archives: March 31, 2010

Not As Bad As it All Seems

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I am not happy with the loss last night in OT. I know you all aren’t either. I apologize. I empathize.

The players aren’t happy and the coaches aren’t happy. We are short handed. We aren’t playing at 110 percent intensity and we aren’t as motivated as we should be since we clinched the Eastern Conference crown. It is human nature and it is a challenge to stay “up” these last six games.

But… We did get a point. We now have 110 points with 6 games left to play.

In our last 10 games with 20 points on the line we have garnered 13 points. OT losses and shoot out loses aren’t fun but we do gain points in the standings. We are 5-2 and 3 in our last 10 games. We haven’t collapsed. We aren’t playing playoff like hockey. On that I agree but last I checked the playoffs don’t start until April 15th.

If we play just 500 hockey here on out we will end the season with 116 points. San Jose is right behind us in points they have 104 points. They have 6 games left to play as well. If they win out all 6 games they would get to 116 points.

The world isn’t ending.

We need to get healthy. We need a bit better goal tending. We need to amp up our intensity level without getting crazy before the playoffs.

We all want the season to end. We all want the playoffs to start. We all want to get healthy and get refocused.

It isn’t the best of times but it certainly isn’t the worst of times either. Keep it in perspective… Go Caps.

Blind Luck?

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I received a very interesting email from a local sports fan today. It snarled that the Caps were good just because we were lucky that we got to draft Alex Ovechkin. I disagreed on the overall sentiment of the email but I do agree that luck has a lot to do with success. Not as much as having a plan, a strategy, a culture, and an infrastructure focused on excellence but luck is a key component. We did also draft Semin, Green, Backstrom, Carlson, Schultz, Varlamov, Nuervirth, Fehr, and Alzner too. Lucky bastards that we are :-) . Malkin was the second pick in that draft that Ovechkin went number 1 too. Penguins got lucky too, I guess.

So if we are just lucky then I guess the Penguins were just lucky that they drafted Sidney Crosby first the next year or Tampa Bay in that they drafted Vinny Lecavalier and won a Stanley Cup. Or the San Antonio Spurs, they got lucky twice with David Robinson and Tim Duncan (championships followed). The Chicago Bulls so lucky they drafted Michael Jordan and won 6 rings. Cleveland Cavaliers… Yep Lebron James was number 1 pick. Orlando Magic got Dwight Howard. I mean how lucky was that? He was top 3 pick. Miami Heat? Dwyane Wade was drafted .They got a ring. Kobe Bryant and the Lakers… So lucky to be drafted via a trade of players for a first round pick.

My point: We may all be lucky. Maybe drafting well creates luck or luck is in drafting high. But at some point the results of drafting and developing great players becomes more than blind luck don’t you think? In the NBA or the NHL drafting high makes you really lucky! And eventually good. Call me lucky. Lucky Leonsis.