A rare occurrence this year. Tampa out worked us and outplayed us. They are in the playoff race and they deserved the win. Even with all of that, we lost 3 to 2 on a goal that was reviewed and ” iffy”. But a loss is a loss. It should serve as motivation for us.
We are still playing lots of players in lots of different lineups. We now go on the road for four straight games which is good for the team. We can bond on the road as players and staff and focus on nothing but systems and hockey.
Here is NBC’s segment on Wounded Warriors and a local ice rink in Laurel. Very powerful stuff. Check it out by clicking here.
Was there more risk in standing pat or trying to add depth to the team?
That is the question.
But I do not believe we will disrupt chemistry on our team. We are all in pursuit of a higher calling of trying to win a Stanley Cup as a collective for our fans and for each other. Every player on our team knows the power of winning a championship. To be blunt, there is nothing that will help the careers of any and all of our players more than the clarification presented by winning a Cup. Nothing.
John Carlson is playing a lot for us of late too. He is also additive to the lineup.
We believe that great teams give coaches lots of options as to match ups against many different teams.
Match ups are a key consideration.
We are so honored and pleased to help in our small way. Military Night is always a huge success for us at the Washington Capitals. To make men and woman who serve our country smile makes our day’s work worthwhile. Read this article from the Department of Defense. Thanks to you all for all you do to keep us safe and free.
Si.com ranks the Caps #1 in power rankings post Olympics. We have 20 games left to play.
I sure hope we don’t read any of our press clippings.
These last 20 games are crucial for us to position ourselves well for the playoffs and to stay healthy as well.
We play back to back games starting tonight in Buffalo. After that, we play 12 of 19 games at home to finish out the campaign. I would like us to keep a pace in home wins and prove to the league that Verizon is a tough place for opponents to play against us as we head into the playoffs.
I would also hope we can have home ice advantage in the playoffs deep into the playoffs. Go Caps!
There were huge ratings for Canada vs. USA in the gold medal game. Wow - off the chart viewer ship. Really fantastic numbers across the board in the US and in Canada. Astounding. Wonderful. Well-deserved. We are all happy and I am hopeful than NBC is happy as well. See this New York Times blog post for a great perspective of the numbers.
This is a fun time for bloggers, for pundits and for fans. Everyone can speculate and think through what they think we need to add to our team; discuss who we should trade; and demand how much or how little we should change up our team. Every pundit always believes a team is just one additional player away from winning a Stanley Cup, guaranteed. That is what is so exciting.
That is all healthy that is all good. There are no issues with speculation and there are no ramifications to the pundits at all with voicing opinions. Even if it hurts someone’s state of play this week or makes a player nervous about trade speculation or if the pundit is just dead wrong. That is the beauty of self expression. Throw it out there and see what sticks.
But there is a human element to all of this, isn’t there? I can’t name a player on our team who would like to be traded. THAT is an amazing comment. We have a happy group. I believe happy teams win.
We have constructed a pretty good team to date by adhering to a plan and by having sound cap management. We have generated good results to date. We have good team chemistry. Our best players are our young players. We are well positioned to compete for a Cup this year but also for many out years as well. And for that I am grateful. A “generationally” great team was one of our promised deliverables to our fan base.
We do have a plan. I see no reason to deviate dramatically from the plan this coming week. We need to keep our core group of young players together.We need to reward young players for their hard work and loyalty.
I don’t see us doing anything dramatic this week. I want to temper folk’s expectations.
We want to improve the team but NOT take risk of trading young assets now for older players with big ongoing contracts that would hinder us from keeping our core together. That would take us off our plan. It is ironic that many players being offered around the NHL in trades are older vet players who recently signed huge contracts. Many deals being discussed around the league are what I call “sucker’s bets” - trade a very good young player in the lineup today, a prospect and a first round pick for an aging veteran. In essence, do to us what we did to teams during our rebuild before the lockout.
We do have a lot of depth. We do have a lot of picks. We do have great young prospects still waiting to make our team. We have lots of optionality.
I would be hopeful we can add to our team without hurting our team chemistry and without crushing our salary cap management. That will be a tall order.
Plan for the best, play to win but manage expectations. We want to improve NOW. We want to win in the short term and the medium term and the long term.
We won’t do anything dumb. We won’t get too far off our plan.
Get excited. No one knows what will happen by Wednesday but I threw out our “stupid pills” a couple of years ago. :-) I believe in George and our scouts. We will do the right thing the right way. Go Caps!
Here is a story I just stumbled upon in the Wall Street Journal. It is highly complimentary to Alex and his skill set. I thought you would all enjoy reading it…well, maybe not all of you.
Who knew?
Check this one out. Live and learn.
Go Bears! Join lots of Capitals fans in Hershey at a Bears game.
They are the best hockey has to offer in the AHL and the defending Calder Cup winners. We are so proud to be associated with the Hershey Bears.
Here is a link to their website and schedule. Go Bears!
