I don’t like to read about hot goaltenders being the reason for our loss. Never have. If you are a good team, it is more about you than them.
Our best players didn’t play as well as their best players. Period.
Our best players are not in form right now. It shows on our power play. It shows 5 on 5.
Our team is getting opportunities to score and we aren’t finishing.
We had many good chances last night. We didn’t finish.
And we can’t expect our penalty kill to be perfect every night. We had a bad night on special teams last night and the results show it. The best way to have a great penalty kill? Don’t get penalized. Don’t be in the box at the end of a very good first period. That hurt.
We aren’t a very good team right now. We have a lot of work to do in practice. We have to heal up as we seem to lose a player in every game to injury that jumbles up the lines.
We are what our record says we are and right now, we are just an average NHL team.
I hope it serves as a wake up call as we play a young and hungry team on Saturday at home.
Effort really matters in professional sports. Focus really matters.
The goals will come.
I can’t believe everyone, or nearly everyone agrees with this post by the owner, Ted. Regardless of the million reasons why leaders (owners) should not talk of employees this way, think of future players who might not want an owner spouting off like this after a bad game about them. They are your talent and this is a great way to turn them off. You may not like it, but you may have to nurture young players, not throw them under the bus. This will be easy to measure, let’s see how your team reacts to such public comments..in the near future, you’ll likely see results…longer term..near the playoffs, you’ll see the true effects.
Very risky.
I am not a fan of this post Ted, but then, I don’t own the team. I don’t like how this is being interpreted as an indictment of the coach (and or GM). What happened to patience? There is a new chemistry at play this season that will hopefully take about six months to solve. There is a significant number of new, young players that are working through the game right now – for you to come out with a statement like this is unreasonable. If they play like this in March then we have a problem. To early to be calling people out because I think they do care about the results. Is their a Cup awarded in October that I am not aware of?
dont worry the
Ovechkin Laich Semin
line is awesome and will score a thousand goals
Exactly right.
Well put Ted. Our Veterans are not setting a good example for the young talented guys who came up this year.These excuses and lackluster play will become permanent if it isn’t turned around now. Leadership on the ice is greatly lacking.
I thought you guys had arrived. Guess not.
Kind of egocentric to give no credit to the other goalie who just stonewalled your team twice. However, based on past performances in the postseason, yes your team is average.
If you are what your record says you are, then it is them, not you. This entire post is just a conceited way of saying the other teams didn’t beat us, we beat ourselves. If you accept that we’re not very good right now, it means the other teams are better. Stop demeaning the competition.
Well said, hope the Caps will adjust and improve, better sooner then later. It appears that all this idiotic talks and comments that regular season mean nothing have affecting Caps more then others. As a fan who watching almost every game live in Verizon this kind of talk is ridiculous. If Caps indeed non-average team, they should start proving it and not taking last year Flyers as an example.
So when do you make some moves to shake things up? Seems like there was more subtraction this off season than addition. And we now have this lovely gold/red/white/blue ticket debacle. I’d rather watch for free on tv that pay for what they’ve done on the ice this week.
we have arrived!
Ted – I liked the honesty ……… until I got to the “we’re just so injured … blah, blah ” part. Stop the whining and excuses and get them to go to work.
Thank you.
Teddy, Bruceeeee will figure it out. The Team will find their rhythm, we will move in sync and the goals will come. Everybody will see the BIG picture. It’s just the beginning. Lets Go Caps!
Love the post and love to see some accountability flowing from the top.
Seems that Bruins just copied the game plan of Montreal and suddenly they have a “hot” goalie as well.
Thank You for your honest feelings! I hope this lights a fire under their rear ends. Not just the players but the coaches as well. I can recall the time my dad told me how disappointed he was with me. That was the worst feeling!! I made a point never to let that happen again. Thanks Dad!
HOT GOALIE! Why doesn’t the CAPS go out andget ourselves one of them HOT GOALIES, then the cup is YOURS!
Go, Ted. We often seem to face “hot” goaltenders when we play without patience, structure or discipline and make them a little better than they are — and they’re already very good in this league. Give them that inch, and…..
You never will, because they are not that stupid. Isn’t it great that the caps have ARRIVED? Or was that just last season?
Ok Ted. Hope you’ve had a talk with you GM and BB about this!
This owner and this team have arrived. No other owner or coach would ever admit to their players not playing up to par. Bravo to saying things that no one else Owner, GM, coach, or player has ever said or would ever have the gumption to say.
Hi Ted, we met over the phone in 09 when we discussed my Keep It Fun concept. We share Darren Thompson as a mutual friend.
Since I dont have your email address, this was the best way I could come up to contact you.
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Ted,
I have to agree with your view on the team, there is a lot to work on. Where I disagree is that to say that it is only on us as to why we are failing. That is discrediting the fact that the Bruins and other teams that beat us are actually good teams with the ability to do so, and that possess skills/attributes we do not, like saying they just got lucky. Now I’ve never owned/managed/played anything professional but I have to believe at this level of competition its more than that.
Andrew
Two players that are not on top of their game – Backstrom and Carlson, since the start of the season. The good thing, is it’s early in the season.
I agree and am glad the owner called out the team. Simply put, the Caps haven’t played well since after the Olympics last year and it’s carried over to this year. Has BB’s coaching style grown stale on this team? As much as I hate to say this, the Caps young players may be at the point where they need a veteran coach who will hold them accountable and won’t be in awe of his star players. That’s a big issue with the lack of discipline on the ice and being outworked.
Perhaps the team should forgo the “Stay Angry” motto, and change to “stay focused” or “be determined” or “play the game and enjoy it!” Anger brings blame, feeling wronged, not taking responsibility, and makes it hard to attend to the task at hand. Hard to play like a team when you are busy being angry. Caps don’t need to seek revenge for the playoffs — they weren’t robbed, they played poorly! Caps need to be a team that plays like a team from top to bottom and deserves to win.
Ted,
Great post and we all appreciate your honesty. Now only if Ovi will listen and show some leadership and talk to his teammates and take practice more seriously and lead by example, it might help. BB needs to show more leadership of the team and discipline players thar don’t play to their fullest or sit them for a game.
GMGM needs to provide more defensive depth than what we have now. Granted the salary cap applies but having better defensive help available when injuries occur would be great.
Thanks Ted and Go CAPS!!
Appreciate the refreshingly honest assessment…but not sure that our primary problem is effort and focus. I think it’s having too many young players making mistakes, poor positioning and line changes, chemistry problems on some lines, and frankly coaching that may not be able to reach the players. Injuries are problematic but not a sufficient explanation as the same problems were there when we were healthy. We need a shut down D man; we need more physical forwards (this is NOT DJ King – he’s not working out so we should cut him now); we probably should trade Semin — we can do a lot better and he’s not living up to his $6 million salary (dating back to the playoffs). It’s early and I’m confident this can turn around – but it is going to take intervention and personnel moves – it’ beyond just working harder.
You seem peeved. Yes, the Caps aren’t playing as they should. I didn’t catch the game last night. Though signs of this have been going on for the past two years. They seem a little sluggish. I feel they play in a setup that is emotionally based without enough strategy. It seems that other teams have really studied us, and we go in playing without a war-game specifically tailored to the team we are up against.
The Caps need more strategy. And more than just keeping their legs, as a team, moving. More of a technically based understanding of the opponents and overselves.
Also, I feel the team needs more positive reinforcement. For example they say John Carlson, was sluggish in one game, and I read a quote from coach Bruce B. about how they were showing him what he was doing wrong. Which of course should be part of training, but the way it was worded, I just pictured them getting jealous of the rookie and showing him tapes of everything he could possibly have done wrong. Yeah, that’s really going to help.
Just some thoughts. They are a great team and their play should reflect this more. It’ll come : )
Mr. Leonsis,
thank you for posting what most of us have been thinking/feeling. I’ll always be a caps fan, but to see them not play to their potential, and play mediocre hockey at best is quite frustrating.
Go Caps!
Buck – don’t see how Ovechkin is responsible. Boudreau’s the one putting him out there for 5 minutes straight at a time. The fact that he didn’t collapse in the last 5 minutes of last game from a heart attack is a testament to how ridiculously fit and focused he is.
Easiest way to zone in on the current problems with the team is to look at the ice time distribution. No forward should be playing over 22 minutes/game 6 game into the season, let alone 26. Give him reasonable TOI and then ride him in the playoffs. And in no universe should Alzner be taking a back seat to Sloan.
Best post by any owner in any pro sports that I have ever read. Mega-kudos!!!
We are an average (read: not elite) hockey team and we have been this way since that crazy streak ended with JT in net towards the end of the last season.
Last season ended with up and down games: against Calgary, against the Thrashers, against the Bruins to close out. AND, we were all oh so surprised that MTL beat us in 7. I for one was not. WE HAVE NOT BEEN GOOD FOR A WHILE!
Surrendering leads and then running and gunning to makeup is not the hallmark of any Stanley Cup winner that I have ever known.
When top talent underperforms, it is usually coaching. Give this team to Mike Keenan (c. 1990 version) or that type of a coach — and we got a shot at a Cup sometime in the near future. It is time we stop giving a free pass to Bruce Boudreau and call a spade a spade, just as you did in this piece Ted — wow!!!
Well said, Ted. No coaching adaptation to take advantage of multiple players on Ovie is inexcusable. Its not Ovie’s problem alone.
Thanks for that honest take I fear there is still some playoffs effects still happening here. and won’t go away until they win in the playoffs, This regular season might be a struggle time to start cracking the whip now. to get there minds right
Teams have figured out how to stop our cutesy European style of play. Hockey teams that stick to their gameplan will win these games everytime – see Playoffs and Olympics. It doesn’t help that we shoot pucks at the glass and defender’s shinpads. I will not cry when you trade Semin later this year.
THANK YOU TED! I am so tired of hearing the “hot goalie” excuse. I love the Caps dearly (and I always will), but they need to understand that they have to adjust their game…stop doing the same thing expecting different results!
Thanks for being so forthright. To date, the Caps have been underwhelming, from the season opener in Atlanta (which I attended) and to last night’s disappointment in Boston. The worst part is we know that they are a better team.
Please make your blog required reading in the locker room and coaches’s office.
First, let’s not be unreasonable and disregard the fact that Tim Thomas played unbelievably (as he has thus far this year). It’s perfectly ok to point this out, BUT shouldn’t be used as justification or excuse why the Capitals lost.
If we’re clicking on all cylendars, we put some of those pucks in the net. That doesn’t necessarily mean that we win against what might be one of the best teams in the East, in their building. But it certainly means that we’re competitive, and if we lose, we don’t do so without putting up a ferocious fight.
That being said, I don’t think anybody needs to “inform” Bruce or the boys that this shouldn’t be used as an excuse. They know it, feel it and will work to get things right. Annoyed and disappointed by efforts like Thursday night’s but not “worried” or overly concerned, so long as it doesn’t become a multi-game or extended trend.
Ted:
Excellent synopsis – and it’s good seeing blame recognition coming from the top.
I am not trying to spread venom, but as a life-long, rabid Caps fan, I can’t help but think there are more problems here. Yes, I do appreciate the way the Caps have rebuilt and they are fun and exciting, but given the state of the defense, to include the complete absence of any type of defensive systems play, can we really expect the Caps to make a legitimate run at the cup? With this being a salary cap era it is imperative to build on the draft; however, with such a small window of opportunity, I cannot image the Caps (other than OV and Backs) being able to retain any type of core and do not realistically see a “contender for years” materializing. If one looks at BB’s record, it’s difficult to suggest he is anything less than stellar. However, as the past three playoffs have pointed out, the Caps’ lack of a defensive system, to include the many bad penalties and defensive lapses (i.e. breakways against in every game), is a coaching matter that opponents seems to exploit time and again. Yes, it sells tickets, but as a hockey purist, I have trouble seeing how this will ever translate into the championship we so very much covet. Please prove me otherwise.
Ted is the best owner in professional sports. I said it before I read this post. This only confirms my opinion. Thank you.
Thanks for the honesty Ted. Please tell this to George McPhee. He did not pick up a shutdown defenseman and a strong second line center in the offseason because he believes that the Caps simply ran into a hot goaltender in the playoffs called Jaroslav Halak. That is pure B.S. A great team looks within at their system, their leadership and yes their personel on the ice.
Hot goalie or not. The Caps need to find a way to win against the elite teams.
Sir,
That took some serious guts. I would love to see another owner of a professional franchise say what you just did, and then commit it to the public record. Bravo!
I agree. I get so mad everytime I hear the “hot goaltender” argument. Especially in our playoff history. How is it that every year we run into a hot goaltender?
And Halak was so “unbeatable” last year he got yanked three times in the playoffs.
Very very well said.
LOVE…THIS…POST!!!
Thank you for the forthright posting as many of us fans are concerned that the lackluster performance, no sense of urgency, blame the hot goalie excuse of the post-season is now festering early in the season. Yes, we’ve faced hot goalies, but they can be beat.
I really also hope that the coaching staff is trying to find creative ways to beat the trap that is always so successful against us.
The staff needs to find a way to motivate these players beyond the “Stay Angry” motto because right now it seems more like “Fleeting Anger.”
I agree with your assessment that the Caps aren’t focused and appear average at this point…Their passing is weak; they are often stuck in our end as they try to get the puck up the ice; and they take too many stupid penalties! This is not only a wake up call for the players but a big one for Coach Boudreau…This team has way too much talent to fizzle out before Christmas.He has his work cut out for him!
~Signed “Disappointed”
Thanks for your candor. Hope you said this to Bruce Boudreau’s and Alex Ovechkin’s faces. As the teams’s leaders, they are largely responsible for the lack of discipline and work ethics on the ice, whether stupid bench minors and an unwillingness to work hard down low where average teams can become good teams (see: Flyers).
Best post on your blog yet Ted. Won’t be the last time the Caps face a goaltender that can play hot. You got to beat them because you can guarantee you see one in the post-season.
I love your honesty, Ted. GO CAPS!!!