All I'm seeing are excuses. Injuries definitely aren't ever a concern for non-Capitals players, and all the Caps players will definitely not ever be bothered again by injuries in the future, right? And it's just a wonderful thing for this team that they mailed in the bubble playoffs. After all, none of the other teams in the league had to deal with that bubble situation, right? It's an absolutely positive sign from one of the team's Alternate Captains to be leading that vacation mentality charge!Good. Quality. Fair.
You're talking about a year he apparently finished hurt and a bubble playoff. Maybe we should also include the games he played at LD, that was the Carolina series wasn't it? I'm sure he looked just awful, add the stats in there.
Yet the same critique does not appear to go for Quinn Hughes, who faces weaker competition and doesn't kill penalties. Is it better to put up some stronger underlying stats in a more protected role or be a player trusted in all situations with weaker underlying performance in some ways? I'd still most often go with the most trusted all-around player. One can make the argument that he's young and will continue to improve but that's not necessarily true in all facets.Not at all. Carlson deserves credit for his contributions offensively, it's just not enough to have him definitively as a top 30 defenseman in the NHL when combined with his poor defensive efforts. He could be top 30, it's probably murky, but I can't take issue with JFresh leaving him out of the top 30.
Of course you are, only joke I know with no punchline.All I'm seeing are excuses. Injuries definitely aren't ever a concern for non-Capitals players, and all the Caps players will definitely not ever be bothered again by injuries in the future, right? And it's just a wonderful thing for this team that they mailed in the bubble playoffs. After all, none of the other teams in the league had to deal with that bubble situation, right? It's an absolutely positive sign from one of the team's Alternate Captains to be leading that vacation mentality charge!
Yet the same critique does not appear to go for Quinn Hughes, who faces weaker competition and doesn't kill penalties. Is it better to put up some stronger underlying stats in a more protected role or be a player trusted in all situations with weaker underlying performance in some ways? I'd still most often go with the most trusted all-around player. One can make the argument that he's young and will continue to improve but that's not necessarily true in all facets.
I'd still have a guy like Drew Doughty in the top 30 regardless of the numbers. Team effects and coaching can greatly influence part of the context that is indicated in underlying stats. Guys like Girard, Hughes and Krug would be a lot closer to top 50 at best for me mostly because they're insulated talents and that's the case for a good reason. Put them in a similar role as a much more criticized player and you're very likely looking at a very different picture.
I like you bringing up Schmidt, because he briefly became what a lot of us thought he could be... and then fell off that level. Sometimes these things come and go in waves like with goaltenders. You're not worth studying until you give them a reason to study you, but then there's a book on you and now you need to prove capable of evolving again to stay ahead. Orlov stays ahead because he's got a ton of tools and the limiting factor has generally been his own brain, other guys have shorter peaks as they're broken down quicker by coaches and players.
Sheltering can go beyond zone starts and the like, being sheltered from the focus of the other team is also an important part of that growth period.
Of course you are, only joke I know with no punchline.
You're out here arguing why it's fine for a "star" to look completely overwhelmed by playoff hockey because statistically Carlson looks no better and then ignoring some pretty good reasons for that aren't "the player is small and gets pushed around easily". One is likely to improve because he's 23 and his potential rating's got to still be a solid B at least, the other guy was just, you know, injured.
But now it's all plus minus because you were informed Carlson's got something like 13 points in the last 17 games, I think it was? Sure looks to me like the guy who was producing during the Islanders series was trying to do something, or does it not count as effort on the powerplay? You have literally excused one of the guys just because you feel he'll get better at it and called some pretty valid considerations "excuses". It's Rierden and Holtby's last combined ride and you expected what from the team's minute munching defensemen? A team called in from vacation just to know they're about to go back on vacation because of their head coach's ability to be a head coach and you want them to do... what?
But coaching does stand out as influential, as do teammates. I don't buy usage being immaterial. It may be less influential but in the case of Orlov it could also have a lot to do with experience and development aiding his ability rather than the earlier play proving he had the capacity all along. There are situations like Schmidt when he was in DC where he deserved many more minutes but in large part coaches get it right. Insulating a player and not putting them on the PK happens for good reasons. With more experience maybe they take on a larger role but it's different over time than believing the same player years ago having already been capable of it. Maybe but it's the chief logical loophole I find in such conclusions.
I don't extend the same belief to Jones & Ristolainen but we'll see this season how they fare in new environments. Ristolainen isn't close to top 30 but maybe Jones finds confidence in Chicago with more skill alongside some explosive offensive firepower. I tend to think he'll continue to struggle just as much, if not more, defensively on that team and that's he's not really close to that level. With Doughty it's about the resume in part but recently teammates have been problematic. I take a far less analytical take in would I want a certain player on my team than this other one. For me D like Hughes, Girard and Krug fall a good bit down because of their limitations. Say what you want theoretically, I don't think they've got what it takes to be truly dominant all-around. Doughty maybe isn't that these days but it's also a bit hard to fully judge on a rebuilding team.
Sure but he at least has it on his resume, although he's getting older, and were I starting a team I'd largely trend toward defense over offense. Not to the detriment of offense but with that bent rather than the opposite. It takes a special talent to err the other way around and for me those three fall short of that to consider them basically #1 defensemen. I'm not sure they're really even #2's, at least not ideally. The younger two may improve further but I'd largely still steer clear of that sort of defenseman in building a team. The game would need to get considerably smaller and softer to put a premium on them. Either that or they'd need to progress offensively even further or in their all-around hockey IQ to become more along the lines of a prime Karlsson. Their physical limitations are too pronounced to consider them that high IMO.But when it comes to just ranking or tiering these players there's the same reason to be skeptical of Drew Doughty as some sort of all-around dynamo.
I only care about results in the playoffs. Rookies get better with time, you gotta play them.Oh, those were the days of mega defense with 4 guys of National Team level (Orpik, Niskanen, Carlson, Orlov). Now we have only two and it shows. Also better Holtby was helping a lot too.
Its just another stage for Caps right now. Nothing to do here. Im all for letting young potentially top-4 guys learn (AA and MF). Results will suffer now obviously.
What do Caps fans expect the goalie splits to be like this year?
Which of Samsonov/Vanecek have looked better in the preseason
Vanecek has had the edge. I would say 45 starts for Vanecek and 37 for Samsonov. Vanecek has already proven he can give the Caps a long stretch of solid starts. Samsonov doesn't seem to be there yet in that regard.What do Caps fans expect the goalie splits to be like this year?
Which of Samsonov/Vanecek have looked better in the preseason
Laviolette and GMBM said they wanted to get younger this season, and there aren’t currently many opportunities for that:
Chara > Fever
Backstrom > CMM/Jimi (temporarily)
Dillon = TVR/Kempny
Vanecek = Vanecek (former Seattle goaltender)
For a team that didn’t make any NHL acquisitions this off season, you do wonder if putting Malenstyn in the lineup over a vet might be in their ‘get younger’ plans? Especially if he’s good 5v5, fast and a good PKer.
Between Fehervary, McMichael/Lapierre, Malenstyn, Sprong, Mantha and Samsonov/Vanecek, we don't seem so old anymore. At least not as oldish