Saturday, March 01, 2008

Saturday Open Thread

Photo: AP

11 comments:

Unknown said...

Despite being the local grumbler, not sure I can find much to moan about last night. BB, who sometimes loses track of who is on the ice when and so on (down a goal with six minutes left? let's put 87-39-53 out for an offensive zone faceoff!), even managed to keep 52 under 24 minutes. (And he kept the ice time down for other key players.)

Anonymous said...

NJD did not look like they were on the ball (puck) last night and the Caps took full advantage. Fedorov was awesome on face-offs - makes the Nylander loss less painful.

or...

Bettman asked the Devils to layoff for a game so the Southeast could tighten up a bit more.

Unknown said...

Nice ass kicking by the boys last night!

Anonymous said...

If the caps play like that every night i'll stop worrying about whats wrong with OV

Chris said...

Sign Huet now and put an end to the questions.

Hazardous said...

What's the news on Federov? I heard somewhere that he's considering retiring at the end of the year, but is that actually true?

I suppose either way it doesn't matter, he's basically there to replace Nylander, no?

Agreed, sign Huet. I mean, really, why not? He and Olie can rotate #1 goalie position, so long as both guys keep working for it. Johnson can sit on the sidelines until Olie retires or ask to be traded, either way, who cares? Huet would last us a while, definitely long enough to bring up Varlamov or some other goalie in our system.

Anonymous said...

Haz--

Federov himself said he's thinking about retiring after this year. He's not sure what he's doing yet.

The current goalie situation is tough on all three guys, especially Johnson, and it's not something you want to linger beyond the rest of this season. The Caps getting Huet was awesome for two reasons--it gives them the rights to the only UFA true starting goalie, so they'll have time to negotiation a good deal; and it allows them to see how he meshes with this team. Olie also has time to see how he works with him and how he likes being a rotation guy or a back-up. But it's something that has to have an end, otherwise you risk destroying a goalie's confidence, especially Johnson's (and he's got a bad history of that).

Unknown said...

I have an idea: Let's sign Huet to a long-term deal -- and Brash too. After all, based on last night Huet should get about 55 shutouts per year for years to come, and Brash will score 82 goals per annum.

Or we could dial it down a bit and wait and see how Huet works out, how Olie and Huet end up feeling about the situation, whether Huet wants to stay here if Olie is back as a backup, etc.

Anonymous said...

If the caps play like that every night, they'll win the cup. Just an awesome, dominant effort. Huet erased all doubts for me in a hurry. Hopefully we can get a case of dueling hot #1 goalies alternating starts the rest of the way.

meep_42 said...

Best game of the year, by far. Great efforts across the board.

-d

Anonymous said...

OK, the Caps had 3 lines ROLLING against the Devils last night. The 4th held their own and even got the 4th goal. Other teams would shut down Ovi's line and the Caps were with little offense. Last night, the Caps showed what they can do with a little depth. Huet only had to make 18 saves because the puck remained in the NJ end most of the night. It was only a matter of time before the Devils defense worse down.

I was pretty impressed by the Fleischmann, Laich, Fehr line last night. I thought they played a pretty good cycle game. The Power Play was very fun to watch, also. The Caps moved the puck around well and lit the lamp, too.

I'd hate to see Johnson go, I think he is great for the team. Unfortunately, 3 goalies for the NHL is a little much. The Caps should sign Huet to a 3-4 year deal and sign Olie to a 1-2 year deal, if Olie does not retire. That should bridge the gap until Neuvirth, Varlamov, etc. are developed.