capcrunch98

They were pretty close, considering Ovi probably only has a couple years left. 16 years together is remarkable. Having grown up a Caps fan in the 80s and 90s, and watching every good player who made more than $15/hour get shipped out of town by a cheap owner who only cared about his basketball team, it's amazing that we had 2 superstars play that long together, each spending their entire career here.

I don't think this team is at a point where they should be making splashes in free agency. Ideally, they hold on to cap space and use it to take advantage of cap-strapped teams (via taking on bad contracts along with sweeteners like draft picks or prospects, or acquiring solid players without giving up anything). However, we all know that management won't initiate a rebuild as long as Ovi is here. So considering that, William Nylander, Jonathan Marchessault, or Sebastian Aho would help Ovi get to the record. Signing Auston Matthews would've been better than a weekend on a desert island with Bella Hadid, Margot Robbie, and Cindy Crawford (1995 edition), but the Leafs got him on an extension a few months ago so he's not going anywhere next summer.

Thanks for the "fan" jab. After conversing with you for many years on this board and enjoying all of your takes on the Caps and Orioles threads, I thought you were above that. I'm not happy at all that Backstrom's career is practically over. I've been cheering for Backstrom since we drafted him. He was a huge part of the Young Guns/Rock the Red era which put the Caps on the map, and converted people who barely knew we had a hockey team into hardcore fans and season ticketholders. This "fan" has been a loyal planholder for over 40 years, and I'll be the first to admit that no group of players will ever match what Ovi/Backstrom/Green/Semin/Laich etc. did for this club by increasing our fanbase ten-fold beginning with their first playoff appearance in 2008 and over the course of the next several years. But his career is over, and he really doesn't add anything to this club at this point except support for the guys in the locker room and nostalgia for the fans in the stands. The fact that he agreed on his own terms to step away proves that he more or less agrees with that. My angst about him not contributing despite taking up so much cap space was probably worded too harshly, but it's been a frustrating past year as a Caps fan (sorry, "fan") so cut me some f'ing slack.

Congrats to Hunter Shepard. He would've been haunted forever if he had lost his debut after being staked to a 3 goal lead. And he was rocking the Don Beaupre mask! Love it.

Believe me, most of my anger at this ridiculous situation of paying so much money, for such long term, to a aging guy whose best years were behind him and was already starting to break down (even before the hip injury) is directed at the idiots in management who completely went overboard on the loyalty angle. Regarding Nick's obligations, you're correct that he has every right to continue to show up and collect the paycheck he negotiated in good faith. We had the same discussion a few years ago on the Orioles thread regarding Chris Davis. Similarly, I have every right as a fan to be upset that he's nothing more than a 3rd line player at this point (at best), who is taking up a roster spot and a ton of cap space, and it's so obvious he's lost it. I'll never boo him (in 40+ years of following this team, I've never booed any current or ex-Cap except Jagr), but I'm definitely disappointed. He's made over $100 mil as a player. He'll have his #19 hanging in the rafters a few years after he retires. He'll never have to pay for a steak dinner in this town as long as he lives. For fukks sake, just realize you're done and stop embarrassing yourself out there.

I've seen seasons where the Caps are at the bottom of the standings in January, and they catch fire and win their division. This will not be one of those seasons. This team is old and crappy. Not much in the way of immediate help in terms of prospects (which is kinda understandable considering we've been so good in the regular season for so long, hence not great draft position). Caps management has absolutely no concept of selling high on players, poor ability to evaluate and elevate young talent, and to make matters worse they hand out awful loyalty contracts that prove crippling just a few years down the road. There's really nothing to look forward to this year: *Our best prospects are still a year or two away from making the club. *Management has made it clear their top priority is Ovi's chase for the record. They think it's going to keep fans completely locked in for the next couple years. They're wrong; most fans aren't really going to get excited until he's about 20 goals away, which will be next year at the earliest. *Backstrom is absolutely dog crap, I get sick thinking we're paying him close to $10 mil for a couple more seasons. I don't know why so many great athletes refuse to acknowledge they're past their expiration date. It's a disservice to the team, to the fans, and to their legacy. The only thing it's good for is their wallet. I didn't think Nicky was like that. *Our pie in the sky hopes of Kuzy and Mantha having big bounce back years to either propel this team forward, or bring in a nice haul at the trade deadline if we're sellers, is off to a horrible start. Yup, it's going to be an awful season. Our window with this current team is completely closed.

Agreed. Normally I'd say Carlson has some value, but at $8 mil for 3 more seasons, we'd be lucky to get a 2nd round pick from a desperate contender unless we ate salary or took on a bloated contract in return. I could see a team taking a chance on Oshie or Kuzy at the deadline in the hopes they could catch fire for a playoff run, but the return would be minimal. Nicky's not worth squirrel poop right now. 2 more years of $9.5 mil for his 4th line-esque services??? We'd be lucky to get a ham sandwich in return.

I hear you; unbelievably, there are some fans who have called for trading him, and they'll probably only get louder the more we lose and the less he scores.

No reason to ever trade Ovi. He's the franchise icon and we'll never have another player like him in terms of what he's done for this team (both on the ice, and building the fanbase). But while Ovi is here, they need to focus on what's best for the team, not necessarily what's best for him. The deal that Ted apparently made with him in which the Caps won't rebuild while he is here is ridiculous. This club isn't going anywhere, and by sticking with this lackluster team we're going to continue to miss the playoffs, but at the same time we won't finish low enough to get great draft position (top 5), which is really the only way to rebuild in the NHL. And the Backstrom deal is a joke. Unbelievable we're committed to him at almost $10 mil for 2 more seasons.

I'm thinking it's the guys who put this team together, and were hoping they could squeeze a little more juice out of an old lemon that dried up years ago??? Unlike a lot of other fans, I accept why they didn't launch a rebuild before last season. They were winning their division, playing exciting hockey for the better part of 6 months each year, selling out the building, and they had their all-time legend who still had some good hockey left in him. But the writing is on the wall now - this team sucks, and there's no fix short of a rebuild. I'm sorry if Ovie won't like it, but those are facts. The only question is whether ownership will have the balls to follow through. As with so many other things, it'll come down to money. Their sellout streak officially ended on Monday night (I was there, and there were A LOT of empty seats), and this will only get worse if we continue to lose. Oh, and Backstrom is crap from here on out. I know we all love the guy, but signing him to a long-term deal when he was already starting to break down and is on the wrong side of 30 is sheer incompetence on the part of ownership. If you wanna show appreciation for what he's done for this club, fine; offer him a plum gig as a highly paid scout to the Caribbean and South Pacific hockey leagues or something like that. But don't waste $9.5 million of cap space for the next few years to a guy who is now nothing more than a 3rd liner (at best).

Can't blame McPhee for that one. Chicago was in a full-on rebuild that season, and their management must've watched 'Slapshot' one too many times and decided to sign every washed up goon from the 90s and play rough and dirty in their preseason games. According to McPhee, he spoke with Blackhawks management before the game, and they told him they weren't going to dress certain guys, so the Caps in turn sat out their heavies (Simon, Witt, Tinordi). Chicago did end up sending out an MMA lineup, and a Caps prospect (Trevor Halverson) had to fight 3 times that night. Got a concussion, and never played again. If I were McPhee, I would've done something too.

Good win last night. I'm sure we all expected them to fold like a tent after a 1st period in which they were thoroughly outplayed. Showed some good fight in coming back.

Good point, but even a lame duck GM should be trusted to not make such a ridiculously selfish and shortsighred move. McPhee ran this team for over 15 years. You would think he would've had the honor and integrity (and regard for his legacy) to not do what he did. Then again, I noticed over the years that he was always quick to cover his ass after every early playoff exit and after every failed personnel move. Even after he left DC, he made sure to get the word out publicly that the Jagr mess was Ted's doing, not his. I've met him on a few occasions, and he's always been a very nice guy. But he should be ashamed of himself for the Forsberg f up.

Not willing to concede that just yet, but yeah you're probably right. Looking at the big picture, the best course for this team is sucking for the next 2 years, hitting on the high draft picks they'll get, and getting free from the awful contracts of the likes of Backstrom, Kuzy, and Mantha.

Just got home from the game, tough one but it's the first of 82, over the course of 6 months. Not going to read too much into it; we've seen plenty of season openers where the Caps dominate, and then they're sent packing early the following spring. I thought they looked really good in the 1st.

Not that this will make any of us feel better, but just to show the unpredictability of MLB playoffs - 4 of the top 5 teams this year (O's, LA, Rays, and Brewers) are already out, and none of them won even a single game. And the other top team - Atlanta - is one more loss away from joining them.

Okay, you know you're going down hard when the broadcast team starts throwing out forced commentary about how bright the Orioles future is and how much they look forward to calling games at beautiful Camden Yards. All true, of course. But it's the equivalent of being told "you're gonna be fine, it's not you it's me" when a hot girl is dumping you on your ass.

Yup. They were great through the better part of 162 games, spread out over 6 months. And then 3 bad games in 4 days, and they're done. Doesn't seem fair.

Yup. The decision not to add pitching at the deadline (are we really going to count Jack Flaherty?), when we have a stocked farm system to deal from, is coming back to bite them in the ass. Still a great season, and this is a terrific team. You can't fluke your way to 100+ wins in MLB. We've got some good years ahead of us.

Well, if it was the Caps they would've won the first 2 games by a combined score of like 15 - 2, only to rip our hearts out by dropping the next 3, including losing one game on a grand slam while up by 3 runs with 2 outs in the 9th. But I get your point.

A great season just got better - the Yankees and Red Sox are sitting at home scratching their cooters, and just 2 days into the postseason the Blow Jays and Rays are already joining them. 🤤

And of course he runs back on the field to try to save face. Even after getting beat, a guy like him always has to have the last word.

Really not sure what a Trump thread has to do with any of this, but hey do your thing. At least you're consistent.

Completely agree, and I could've worded my initial response better. I've never done anything like that before, but I've hung around a lot of good, decent guys do dumb stupid things at bars when they're drunk to try to be funny, not necessarily with any bad intent. Maybe I'm being way too lenient, but it's entirely possible someone under the influence would view the unattended wheelchair as property of the bar, not necessarily property of a handicap person. Junior definitely owes the victim an apology and payment for a new wheelchair, but in todays society there's a very real chance he'll have to hire a PR firm to apologize 100x on his behalf and perhaps gets kicked off his hockey team. I don't agree with that (based on what I saw in the video), hence my response. Yeah, it's scary that guy reproduced. And a 23 year old son makes me feel really old; it seems like just yesterday I was booing him as a player.

Okay, thanks. Hopefully they do it again. I wanted to watch it with my daughters, but a school event ran late, and when we got home I couldn't justify keeping them up late for a game that was 4-2 bad guys (at that point).