Through the lockout, all the
Washington Capitals wanted to do was to play hockey. All they want now is to go
back to the lockout.
The young season has not been kind
to the Caps who, after Sunday’s loss to Pittsburgh, have stumbled to a 2-6-1
record. With a very short camp and a new coach, the Caps were likely to
struggle to start the season, but the transition has been harder than many
expected and have left the team searching for answers.
So what’s gone wrong so far? A
little bit of everything.
The Caps thought they were set in
goal with both Braden Holtby and Michal Neuvirth, but at its best the
goaltending has been inconsistent. Holtby, last season’s clutch performer has
so far looked anything but. In four games, he has a whopping 4.52 GAA. He has
shown none of the poise and focus of last season and his play has reflected
that. Neuvirth has been the stronger of the two by far, but his mostly-solid performance
has been marred by soft goals.
It is hard to put too much blame on
the goalies, however, because neither is getting a lot of help. Defensively,
the Caps have been a mess. Bad turnovers, bad penalties, and miscommunications
have been prevalent especially from John Carlson. Carlson has been on the ice for the vast
majority of goals the team has allowed.
He has looked sluggish and out of sync with the rest of the team. While the Caps have several bodies on
defense, they have few top four defensemen.
So while Carlson has been terrible, he keeps getting top minutes; 22:52
per game, second highest on the team behind only Mike Green.
Offensively, the Caps just are not
scoring. They rank 25th in goals per game. They are creating good
chances and great pressure, but that just has not translated into more scoring.
Alexander Ovechkin, Nicklas Backstrom, and Mike Green have five goals combined. Alexander Semin may have become a punchline at the end of his tenure in DC, but he did provide the Caps with another weapon other teams had to account for. He was a skilled winger capable of producing pionts and taking pressure off the other stars. The Caps are missing his presence more than they expected. They are getting secondary scoring from
players like Joel Ward and Mike Ribeiro, but they need their stars to start
producing.
More than anything else, it has been
the mental mistakes that have hurt this team. The Caps are ranked 21stin
penalty minutes and 26th in penalty kills. They have gotten off to
poor starts and have collapsed at the end of games. When a team transitions to
a new coach, these mental mistakes can happen because the players are thinking
too hard. Rather than instinctively knowing what to do, players have to stop
and think and that split second can mean everything.
When the Capitals have managed to
put together a solid effort, you can see the makings of a good team. When they
finally figure things out, this team will be much better. It is not time yet to
panic in DC.
While things may not be as dire as
the record may suggest that’s not to say Oates has done everything right; he’s
made his share of mistakes.
Knowing what a burden the transition
was going to be for the team with the abbreviated training camp, it was Oates’ responsibility
to try and make that transition as seamless as possible. Moving Ovechkin from
the left, where he has played his entire life, to the right while teaching him
a new system in a 6-day training camp was overly-ambitious. I like the idea of
trying him on the right, but that will be something to try next season after
Ovechkin has a summer to get used to it.
The Caps thought they may have an
advantage coming out of the lockout because Backstrom and Ovechkin had been playing
with each other in Russia, but Ovechkin was playing left wing in Russia. By switching Ovechkin to the right, you have
negated whatever chemistry and familiarity the pair had built with one another.
Now Backstrom and Ovechkin are not
even on the same line and Oates has struggled to find a combination that produces.
In his tinkering, Oates tried for a time to match Ovechkin with Jay Beagle and
Joey Crabb. This was a disaster from the start.
The season has been condensed in
order to get as many games as possible in between now and April, making
conditioning a major factor. It is important therefore for the team to be able
to roll four lines to prevent fatigue. Spreading the grinders and energy
players with the stars can bring a new energy to some of the stars and keep
each line fresh. Matching Ovechkin with Beagle and Crabb, however, puts far too
much pressure on Ovechkin’s shoulders. For a player who has been struggling to
produce and has been criticized for trying to do too much at times, why would
you put him on a line with no other offensive playmakers? With all due respect
to Beagle and Crabb, this line forces Ovechkin to try and do everything himself.
The biggest problem facing the Caps
now is time. If and when they finally adapt to Oates’ system, will they have
dug themselves a hole they cannot get out of? Of all the seasons to have new
coach, this is about as unfortunate as you can get.
When Dale Hunter took over
mid-season for the Caps last year, the team lost six of their first 11 games
and that was after losing 10 of their previous 15. The difference was that the
Caps still had half a season left to turn things around.
It may not be time to panic, but the
clock is ticking. The Caps need points and they need them now.
For the latest DC sports news, follow me on Twitter @TheDC_Sportsguy
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