I'm just saying here, if the Pens hadn't had 1,235,684 man-games lost due to injury, the President's Trophy would not be with the Caps this year.
Decimated, the Pens ended up less than 10 points behind Washington and still one of the top 3 teams in the league.
Just saying.
I'm also pretty certain the Pens weren't sacked by injuries all season long. I mean they could have beaten any combination of LA (either time), BUF, Islanders, Minnesota, Rangers, Columbus, or hell even Washington by January and finished ahead of the Caps. What I'm saying here is I'm really not certain what you are saying. So I will just chalk it up sandbagging the warm bodies of the Caps in a very shallow grave because they clearly aren't the better team in the playoffs but were in the regular season ::).
I'm eager to see the injury lists for the Caps. I'm guessing Ovi was hurt that affected his shooting.
That much is true:
https://sports.yahoo.com/news/alex-ovechkin-reveals-injuries-slowed-vs-penguins-153156945.htmlHonestly I was surprised to see that he reentered the game later on. I've never had a serious knee or leg injury so I have no experience in what he went through. But I'm surprised he wasn't out for a game or more after that hit.
So regarding the guide above, I take it in stride. No more or less than any Blues or San Jose fan does. But I feel just a quick need to address these items.
1) I'm a fan of Washington sports teams and by the fact of my age at least one team from Baltimore. I don't have a great passion for football and I don't watch basket ball, but I will at least check in on the score and hope the locals did well. I grew up playing and watching baseball until my vision went to pot. I picked up a love of hockey midway through high school from pick up street games that some dude from hosted them after classes. I didn't attend my first game until 1992 or 1993. Had I known I wasn't going to see a meaningful game with a positive outcome since 1983 perhaps I would have done something else meaningful with the spare time of my life.
The point of the matter is that except for one team everyone else has to go through that same damn depression each year. I've got it down to a 2 to 3 day mourning period. Anyone can call it pessimistic or realistic, I don't care, never will. So anyone can post their memes it just doesn't matter to me. I'll root for my teams next season and be happy enough to call any dumb **** who burned burned their Ovechkin jersey in some angst a few choice and colorful words. Because really if you can't handle a loss, don't watch sports! Especially not one that plays in Washington!
2) team signs new players- hot damn everyone does this! If not for bettering themselves for warm bodies for rebuilding (hi Vancouver!).
3) peak in December or January- not this year apparently as they had to chase down the overachieving CBJ.
4) sign depth defenseman- that is kinda what one does when you have a reasonably good defense or get buried in injuries like any team, yes.
5) remember this is our year- Please refer to your guide to being a fan of any team in the Red Plight District (Washington DC). Until the clock reads 0 or the final pitch is thrown and you have the lead, shelve this whole idea. Lock it away in a cage in the back of your mind and open it up when we win. It makes for a much smaller recovery cycle.
6) End the season with President's cup- well, you know, Pittsburgh, if you stopped losing to crummy teams in the regular season everyone would pick you to win and you'd have the blessing/curse of a meaningless cup. Because, you know, the fact you won last year and had a stellar season is no reason for professional pundits to pick you to win this year's Stanley Cup.
7) Take longer to win in the first round- Can't really disagree with that.
8) get eliminated by a lower seed- kinda of happens, yes when you are better in the regular season than everyone else. Matters very little to me when the main reason is almost always the same reason(s) from year to year.
https://sports.vice.com/en_us/article/washington-capitals-fans-dont-deserve-this-much-agony
Leaving this here, because wow.
I generally am entertained by Dave Lozo. I will be happy to share a pint with him should I ever meet him. I shall toast with him and in that moment, while he is caught off guard, I shall smash it upon his noggin.
One thing, I don't think Ovie will be wearing a Caps jersey next season. Trade him and get some salary relief and perhaps a new attitude for the team.
A few things. Arguing the semantics of he is a bad captain are somewhat pointless at this point. If they believe he is ineffective or it is distracted, give someone else the C. Getting anything near fair value for him is next to impossible. He also has some control over where he would go.
Except... how? Who's going to take on that gigantic contract for a guy on the wrong side of 30 who has a well-established penchant for fading in the playoffs (deserved or not)? And what return value would you get that would be worth it?
Arizona. If they'll take on LTIR contracts to get to the salary floor, they could be willing to pick up Ovi.
$9.5m in cap relief until 2021-22. That's before you talk about whatever Arizona would send back.
Wrong side of 30, yes. Fading in the playoffs, I'd have to disagree. While his stock trended downward because of a less than Ovi's standard off season, he still has 46 goals and 90 points in 97 playoff games. The return would be Jagr like underwhelming. As for going to Arizona, Ovi's list probably would block that and Arizona would extort picks or prospects. The Caps are running out of picks to give and prospects are exactly what they are going to need to fill the player gaps between the expansion draft and free agency.
