OT: Caps May Need New Coach

[bulldog]

early season injuries and ignoring the age factor on the blueline may have cost the team a legitimate chance to challenge in the Eastern Conference, but the comments of Ron Wilson and some of the players on the heels of a 5-2 loss at home to a team playing at their level on the season is somewhat surprising:<br /><br />Wilson: "Overall, I'm very happy with the way we played," Coach Ron Wilson said. "The puck went in for them while we kept banging along."<br /><br />The moment you are happy with the effort of your team in a 5-2 loss with a playoff berth on the line it indicates that either your team is very young and not yet ready to take that next step or it is very old and just doesn't have the energy or willpower to bring the effort home.<br /><br />You go down the roster and look at the age of many of the players and you have to question whether with only a #8 seed left to play the vets are looking to finish out the season and regroup either here or somewhere else in 2003.<br /><br />The Caps were on a nice 7-2-2 run since before the Olympic break, but many of those games were against second-tier competition, the first few against fellow Southeast division rivals.<br /><br />The Southeast has 3 of the 4 worst teams in the Conference.<br /><br />A troubling statistic you won't want to note is the percentage of the Caps victories that have come against Atlanta, Florida, Tampa and Carolina this season.<br /><br />It is indeed a pretty high percentage.<br /><br />Meanwhile with games against other teams jockeying for a playoff berth, teams like the Stars and Canadiens, the Caps have laid an egg in those contests.<br /><br />I think it is clear that Jaromir Jagr is a talented player who at times can dominate a game. But he has to be motivated, he is not one others go to for motivation.<br /><br />In that regard he is completely a different animal from the player that the Czechs depended on to score goals and play 30 minutes of intense hockey each night to win the Gold Medal in 1998.<br /><br />Oates is 39 and while still an effective offensive player lacks the requisite size to help out much in the defensive zone. The fact the Caps overshift him the first two periods of each game certainly doesn't help his tailing off in the third period frequently either.<br /><br />Of the Caps players the ones that seem to play with intensity each night are Bondra, Witt, Konowalchuk, Zubrus, and recent call-up Jean Francois Fortin.<br /><br />Note I did not include Dahlen, Jagr, Oates, Simon, Gonchar, Kolzig or Kristich on that list.<br /><br />In fact you take away the first 25 games and only Jagr among the players on that second list appears to have raised his level of play while the team has been fighting back into the picture in the East.<br /><br />Gonchar scores goals, but has been off on the power play lately and suffers critical lapses in concentration when carrying the puck out of his own zone at times.<br /><br />Dahlen was hovering around 35-40 points 20 or 30 games ago. What has he done lately?<br /><br />Khristich has been a major bust. A player whose contract is worth almost $3 million has a grand total of 7 goals and he was scratched from many of the team's past 30-40 games even though healthy.<br /><br />Simon is just not the same player he was before his multiple surgeries. He doesn't make as many hits on the ice and doesn't energize his teammates the way he did a couple of years ago.<br /><br />He is on pace to score perhaps 15 goals while he had 29 or 30 just a couple of years ago.<br /><br />Finally, Kolzig. He has been spectacular at times, often in games where it merely means keeping the score close to earn a respectable 3-2 or 4-3 loss. <img border="0" title="" alt="[Frown]" src="frown.gif" /> <br /><br />The troubling thing for Kolzig is that he started off the year and has continued to play inconsistently.<br /><br />He can shut down a team like the Oilers or Senators and then turn around give up cheap goals in a key contest against the inferior teams such as the Hurricanes or Canadiens.<br /><br />Make no mistake. I think Kolzig is playing too many games for the Caps and after several years that has started to take a toll.<br /><br />The Caps spent good money to acquire Craig Billington as the backup goalie a couple of years ago and he was considered one of the better #2's in the NHL.<br /><br />But they have failed to use him much, even when Kolzig has been hurting.<br /><br />Part of that has been the defense or lack thereof no doubt.<br /><br />That is where the front office really let the team and the fans down.<br /><br />Going into camp the Caps had a corps of defenders that with the exception of Witt and Gonchar were all over 30.<br /><br />And by that I don't mean just 30 or 31 but 35, 36, 37.<br /><br />In the NHL players that age don't often play 80 games or if they do are like Yzerman and Hull and get spotted along the way.<br /><br />But the Caps were depending on Calle Johansson (35), Joe Reekie (37), Sylvain Cote (37) to make up 3 of the top 5 slots on the blueline in 2002.<br /><br />There was precious little depth in the organization to backup these older players.<br /><br />McPhee and the front office needed to make some moves to acquire capable if not superior defensemen before the Johansson injury and before the league discovered that the Caps were desperate for help in November with the obvious decline of Joe Reekie and his eventual trade.

[Brave]

I went to the Canes/Caps game Friday night. It was my first chance to see Jagr play and I can only assume he was not motivated. My eye is untrained as I am a relatively new hockey fan, but I've been to enough games and seen enough "stars" to note what sets them apart on the ice.<br /><br />Jagr did nothing to stand out from any other player that night. I watched him in particular during his shifts. He wasn't fast, physical or nimble. He was just there.<br /><br />In fact, the Caps scored two goals within one minute of the second period to manage a tie but were otherwise outplayed. You are right, bulldog, they did not have the look of a team fighting for the playoffs.<br /><br />Of the players I'e seen so far, by far the most impressive was Pavel Bure. He did not score a goal or assist the night I was there but every time he was on the ice it eemed he was playing a different game at a different speed. "Russian Rocket" indeed. I have never seen such handling of a puck.

[NavyDave]

We probably need a more offensive minded guy.<br /><br />I'm tuning out the Caps because they seem to be laying down right now.

[bulldog]

I think you are right, that the veterans on this team have used every excuse from injuries to the difficult early road schedule to alibi their failure to perform at a high level.<br /><br />With Jagr, Bondra, Oates, Dahlen and Gonchar on the ice there is no reason this team is held to 1 goal through 45 minutes of play at home against a .500 team like Dallas.<br /><br />If the Capitals were playing at even 80% they would have won that game.<br /><br />And to see Wilson alibi the entire thing by saying they were out there working so hard, made me want to puke the same way when Norv said the Skins had gone out there and competed and left it all on the field. <img border="0" alt="[puke]" title="" src="graemlins/pukeface.gif" />

[RySkins]

Over the last few seasons the Capitals were successful because they were willing to outwork and outhustle their opponents. <br /><br />The offseason addition of Jagr seemed to have made the players believe that the move turned them into a flashy team that did not have to work as hard to win games. They were dead wrong, and as a result this team is going to be hard pressed to earn a playoff birth.<br /><br />Still, hockey is one sport where the #8 seed can and in fact has, in the past, proven capable of winning a series. Unlike the NBA, where the bottom seeds not have much of a chance, the lower seeds in hockey can go a long way in the playoffs.<br /><br />You would think that would be enough motivation to snap this team out of its funk and give them enough sense of optimism to pick their game up, but that has yet to happen. Perhaps a chance in coaching is neccessary.

[shamaran]

I thought the same thing when I heard Wilson's smug comments--a.k.a. Norvaless, "we really tried hard and the effort was there" type crap. <br /><br />I think this team made a conscience marketing move by opting for Jagr and fannies-in-the- seats vs. good sound defensive depth.<br /><br />It did AND didn't work. Season ticket sales soared; goals for didn't; goals against did.<br /><br />Wilson's usual laugh-it-off demeanor is getting very old (to me). <br /><br />And, while the coach can't be blamed for it all, it will probably be him to go when the team fails to reach the playoffs vs. cleaning house with the roster.<br /><br />They could still make a run and get in, but with the current lack of defense and the lack of fire from the likes of Jagr and Oates, I don't see it happening. Bondra can carry the team on his back for a few games--not them all. <img border="0" title="" alt="[Mad]" src="mad.gif" />

[@DCGoldPants]

I'm a Ron Wilson fan. I think if the team sticks with him and they have a injury free year in the next 4 or 5. They will win it all.

[bulldog]

Jagr is an odd personality. He gets emotionally charged to play in the Olympics for the Czech Republic and in certain NHL games where opponents challenge him or take cheap shots at him and get him angry.<br /><br />But in a ho-hum 2-1 type game this season, he is often nowhere to be found.<br /><br />I think it was possible to add Jagr to the offense and still provide decent depth on the blueline.<br /><br />With Gonchar and Witt aboard, what we needed were a couple of stay at home defensemen who could lay out the body.<br /><br />Usually, those types of players do become available.<br /><br />What happened is the Caps gambled that players such as Cote, Reekie, Zettler and Johansson could make it through another season at age 35 or 36 before the team needed to bring up Nolan Yonkman or make a series of trades to solidify the defense.<br /><br />Then once Johansson got injured the Caps were unable to complete a deal for a veteran without having to give up the farm.<br /><br />But it was poor judgment. As I mentioned, you look around the league and while there are 40 year old guys like Chris Chelios out there logging 30 minutes, most of the over 35 crowd get spotted minutes.<br /><br />The Caps were expecting Johansson, Cote, Reekie to play extended minutes and at their ages that was just unrealistic.

[Ernie5]

I agree w/Bandit -- I think Wilson's a fantastic coach. He wants to run a more aggressive offensive system (see Anaheim when he coached Selanne & Kariya), but until they're able to get more speed on the edges, we'll be defensive club.<br />Also: injuries killed us this year. I also DO NOT think this team has called it quits.

[bulldog]

5 times the Caps have played a game with the opportunity to reach or exceed .500 and have lost all 5 including the last home game against Dallas.<br /><br />That indicates a lack of killer instinct that could easily prevent this team from making the postseason even though on paper Washington is one of the top 8 teams in the Conference.