The Washington Times reported that the Caps top 3 lines are pretty much set and that with the young guys impressing they may well have a none traditional 4th line of talent rather than grinders.
Miller-Nylander-Jagr
Grier-Lang-Zubrus
Konowalchuk-Halpern-Bondra
Semin-Sutherby-Gordon
It also reported the defensive pairs as
Gonchar-Boumedienne
Witt-Eminger
those were the only two reported I think the 3rd appears to be....
Doig-Kwiatkowski
Yonkman and Fortin are still not playing and will likely now not make the team.
I am now just speculating, but I think its becoming clearer what the roster will look like.
Gruden, Cutta, Yonkman and Fortin will go to the AHL.
Berry will stay as the 7th defenseman.
The Caps will probably keep Whitfield and either Peat or Henry as the extra forwards.
Koltsov71
09-24-2003, 06:57 AM
What's the deal with Yonkman?
Marshall
09-24-2003, 08:44 AM
What's the deal with Yonkman?
He's hurt again, ribs, I think. Really disappointing, he seemed like he was going to stick this year.
Biscuit Bullet
09-24-2003, 10:21 AM
Can't management see that after a bad season, things need to change? The MNJ line that got pushed around last year isn't suddenly going to be beefed up and physical this year. This is quite disappointing. Hopefully Semin will get some decent ice time on scoring lines.
Can't management see that after a bad season, things need to change? The MNJ line that got pushed around last year isn't suddenly going to be beefed up and physical this year. This is quite disappointing. Hopefully Semin will get some decent ice time on scoring lines.
You sort of contradict yourself with the Semin comment. Semin may be preferrable to Miller on the first line but he does not bring physical play to that line. Moving Grier to the Lang line does had some of that there.
I am dubious about Bondra with Halpern and Konowalchuk, but it appears that Cassidy wants to see Halpern and Kono back in the 20 goal range and think adding a strike player like Bondra will do that.
I think the bottom line is that Jagr wants to play with Miller more than he wants to play with a physical force. Miller's first option at all times is to pass the puck to Jagr. Miller has a great sense of where Jagr is and his passes regularly do get to Jagr. He doesn't want Sutherby or Grier
because they don't pass well enough. He doesn't want Zubrus, Bondra or Semin because if they get the puck they will shoot it. That leaves Miller. I think your comments are inline with what the team has said. They want more grit throughout the lineup and want to be more physical.
They seem to do that with the mentioned lineup with the exception of Jagr's line. I think that shows that there are still two sets of rules. One for Jagr and one for the rest of the team. Does anyone disagree?
Biscuit Bullet
09-24-2003, 01:08 PM
I don't think Jagr knows what's best for himself at this point. One of the reasons he isn't producing as much is because teams know that his linmates (Miller and Nylander) are ALWAYS going to give the puck to Jagr. Thus they put all their attention towards Jagr. If there was a scoring threat on the line (like Semin), although he is not physical, it would force the other team to take some attention off of Jagr. It would also make the opposing defense second guess more. "Is Nylander going to pass to Jagr? Probably, but he might pass to Semin as well." This would open up ice for everyone.