Weekend of embarrassment

Decent 30 minutes against Dallas. Olie let us down.

Pathetic against the Blues. Defensive lapses were horrible. Should have been 6-1 if not for strong play by Olie.

Decent 30 minutes against Dallas. Olie let us down.

Pathetic against the Blues. Defensive lapses were horrible. Should have been 6-1 if not for strong play by Olie.


the only game they should have been closer in, was the one against Montreal, that games was just sad.

but if you do a road trip, covering that distance in 4 days, and playing two of the top teams in the west, you can't expect a whole lot.

St. Louis is gonna suprise alot of people this year (even w/o Al)

Nah I don't really think it's because we're playing good teams or being completely outmatched..we're just a bad team this year. I don't expect much from us and I knew before the season started I was in for a long year. But the one thing that does and will make this year at least acceptable for me is to know the fact that we do have a future with guys like Eminger, Semin, Sutherby, Gordon, Pettinger and Yonkman playing. It's been a long time since youth has been put in our lineup and for me to see that makes me feel good about our future even if we have to struggle through a few years.

Nah I don't really think it's because we're playing good teams or being completely outmatched..we're just a bad team this year. I don't expect much from us and I knew before the season started I was in for a long year. But the one thing that does and will make this year at least acceptable for me is to know the fact that we do have a future with guys like Eminger, Semin, Sutherby, Gordon, Pettinger and Yonkman playing. It's been a long time since youth has been put in our lineup and for me to see that makes me feel good about our future even if we have to struggle through a few years.

Its just a thought, but frankly I don't think this franchise can survive a "struggle through a few years." if they are out of it by december this year, nobody will be paying to see them. If there is a season next year, it will be with a serious hit in season tickets sales. the capitals have struggled to compete for the sports dollar as a consistant playoff top half of the draw team over the last twenty years. as a loser like the wizards for 2 to 4 years they would be financially buried. Ted knows that.

Its just a thought, but frankly I don't think this franchise can survive a "struggle through a few years." if they are out of it by december this year, nobody will be paying to see them. If there is a season next year, it will be with a serious hit in season tickets sales. the capitals have struggled to compete for the sports dollar as a consistant playoff top half of the draw team over the last twenty years. as a loser like the wizards for 2 to 4 years they would be financially buried. Ted knows that.

If we crash and go broke oh well. We failed, ownership failed and the people they hired did as well(meaning McPhee, Leonsis/Shareholders). I'm tired of seeing a team do average every year, I'd rather completely suck and run to the brink of being the worst team in the league rather than knowing we'll finish 4 games above 500 and lose in the first round of the playoffs. When your average for so many years you never get good enough draft picks to build a powerhouse franchise around. You get average picks in the 15-25 range and you get quaility players but your just don't get the future franchise players. I'm tired of this team being built around money anyways, I was this team built around drafting and player development. Frmo the looks of it this year McPhee seems to be headed in the right directed. Now all he needs to do is unload our coach and some of our "stars" and continue to build.

how many home grown drafted players did the devils have last year?
how many are recent? the caps currently have 11 players that they drafted and developed on their roster. that is a large number. That includes everything from rookies to allstars to franchise record holders.
Take Jagr and Lang off the table and most of the rest of those money players are home grown players that have never played for any other franchise. Kolzig, Bondra, Gonchar, Witt, C Kono. You say that you don't like that the team is "built around money", but Eminger and Semin have allstar potential and sure as hell will be expensive money players when that happens. Sutherby has captain written all over him. He won't be cheap either. If Max is as good as Kolzig, when he is as established as Kolzig, he will make money like Kolzig. Is your problem with Jagr and Lang or is it with any player that has produced enough to earn a big check?

I think the Devils track record of developing players is pretty good.

The Caps on the other hand only recently started this trend of good development. Poile wasn't the greatest judge of talent IMO. He constantly took SAFE players who rarely developed at the pro level. Not to say he didn't find some good players, well...I mean he did get a really really long time to dig some up. How many years was he GM? Even a blind squirrel finds some nuts.

I agree with the rest of what you wrote.

I think the $100k question is will Mcphee and Leonsis continue to watch this team disintegrate, or do they make a move for a veteran d-man?

I think they make a trade. Unfortunately, there are many teams looking for defensive help.

there are also a record number of players on the last year of contracts or one year deals that will be dealt off during the season at a record rate. the caps will grab one of those at some point. the question is can they stay close enough in the meantime

there are also a record number of players on the last year of contracts or one year deals that will be dealt off during the season at a record rate. the caps will grab one of those at some point. the question is can they stay close enough in the meantime

Interesting take. What makes you think that they will be dealt? If the salary structure is overhauled in the owners favor, which I think will happen, why not keep those players at the cheaper price? If it goes in the players favor, yes I think you'll see some significant movement.

I think we can all endure a bad season, but not 2-4 as you mentioned previously.