Monday, December 03, 2007

Monday Roundup

The Caps are off until Friday night when they'll visit the Devils at their new home, The Prudential Center in Newark (which, by the way, looks pretty badass, the icing on the cake being the Devs' logo on the bolt heads atop the urinals).

The time off between now and then is a godsend to Bruce Boudreau and the Caps because it will allow some players time to get healthy and, perhaps more importantly, it will allow the team the chance to continue to work on implementing Gabby's system.

But some things are working well already since the regime change in D.C. Here are a handful of them:
It's an admittedly small sample, and it certainly remains to be seen whether the season can be salvaged, but encouraging stats are encouraging stats. Now, if these days off could only get someone other than Alex Ovechkin scoring - AO has 37.5% of the team's 16 goals since the coaching change - the Caps could really be in business.

Elsewhere 'Round the Rinks:

The Caps have sent Quintin Laing back to Hershey (though I'd imagine he's back for Friday's game if Chris Clark isn't ready to go), Josef Boumedienne has been sent to the IR and Jakub Klepis has sent himself back to Europe (where he'll play in the Euro Hockey Tour Tourney in Moscow - h/t to Vakfan on that link).... Brian Sutherby didn't know why he wasn't playing early in the season. Two words, Suts: David Steckel.... Bruce Garrioch says that "[i]f George McPhee remains as GM of the Caps -- and that's a big if -- there's a chance he could hire London Knights coach Dale Hunter to take over behind the Washington bench." Isn't there a limit on how many qualifiers a reporter can use in a sentence and still maintain a shred of credibility? Oh, wait. Garrioch also notes former Stars GM Doug Armstrong as a potential replacement for GMGM, but it isn't just an idea that Garrioch dreamt up over his morning latte - Doug's is "a name being mentioned." Of course it is. Good stuff, as always, Bruce.

Daily Awards
  • Hart: Aaron Voros (Game-winning goal, 3 SOG, 2 hits, 1 fight)
  • Ross: Sergei Brylin, John Madden, Shawn Horcoff, Jarret Stoll (2 points each)
  • Norris: Joni Pitkanen (G, +1, 3 SOG)
  • Vezina: Mathieu Garon (25-save shutout win)
  • Richard: 11 players tied with 1G apiece
  • Calder: Aaron Voros (Game-winning goal, 3 SOG, 2 hits, 1 fight)
  • Aiken: J.-S. Giguere (L, 4 goals allowed on 21 shots against)

13 comments:

Anonymous said...

The stats under BB are encouraging. Agreed on the need to see someone besides Ovie scoring more often. I expect Semin will jump in if he can heal that ankle and get his legs under him.

Better ice at VC would be cool, too.

Bruce Garrioch=Eklund.

Anonymous said...

This headline from mlive.com caught my eye last night, "Sundin nixes Garrioch/Matheson's trade rumours."

Anonymous said...

The Caps Fan Club is going to the Devils games on Friday still have a few tickets left. Cost is $125 if anyone is interested check out the website www.capsfanclub.org for more details.

Anonymous said...

I know it's heresy to be positive about the Caps but there's a very noticeable difference in the team's play under Boudreau. Unlike Hanlon, Bruce has some very set ideas on how his system should be played, he knows what works and what doesn't and I think the players are just a lot more confident now in what they're doing. If it lasts, maybe the season isn't done.

FAUX RUMORS said...

1) Note JP: Bruce Garrioch and the word credibility should NEVER be used in the same sentence!
2) Here's a question to cap fans: JP mentions in this post "can the season be salvaged"? What does that mean to you guys?
a) Getting back to .500 on the year
b) Making a playoff run(missing by less than 5 pts)
c) Making the playoffs.
d) Development of the youngsters to get ready for next year
e) Fill in the blank

DMG said...

Faux,

Can't speak for anyone else but to me the minimum requirement for salvaging the season at this point would be to have a team that looks like they can compete for a playoff spot next year.

I'd consider it a successful season if they were legitimately in the playoff hunt.

Anonymous said...

faux,

A salvaged season, to me, would be a record above .500 with possible contention for a playoff spot. Based on his record as a coach I'd expect Gabby to push his team to get there. I don't think he'd settle for a poor finish.

Anonymous said...

these 6 day lay offs suck...but at least it gives them some time to implement new systems

FAUX RUMORS said...

1) DMG: Interesting/good distinction of a salvaged verses a 'successful' season. One would hope the Caps could 'salvage' things. Contention, though not impossible with so many games left, would be more difficult.
2) Focality: If the last few seasons are a guide, even the 8th spot team will need to be at least 10 games over .500 to get in. If the Caps can start winning regularly at home and continue a similar road % they should be OK at finishing at least .500

Anonymous said...

http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/us/2007/12/03/sotvo.zamboni.fire.cnn

I think the Verizon Center ice is still worse than the ice at this place after they put the zamboni out

Anonymous said...

success=playoffs.
just because things havent gone well doesnt mean my expectations are different from six weeks ago

Anonymous said...

http://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=pkFOYwtpESlmlDRsjSaX-Og

feel free to spread it around like a wildfire

Anonymous said...

Can we win a frickin home game? Our road record isn't that bad. But we are atrocious at the phone booth.