The Washington Capitals should be a much improved team this year The burning question is, can Alexander Ovechkin lead his team to the promised land of the playoffs?
The Capitals have added a lot of veteran experience, with the likes of Michael Nylander, Viktor Kozlov and Tom Poti entering the fold. They also have added arguably best player outside of the NHL, 2006 draft pick Nicklas Backstrom.
The Capitals need to improve on every area of their game, if they are to make the playoffs. Their powerplay, penalty kill and goals against were all in the bottom third of the NHL last season.
The addition of Nylander and Poti should help their powerplay immensely. Poti gives the Capitals a legitimate NHL caliber powerplay quarterback and Nylander will give them another go to option other than Ovechkin.
The arrival of Nylander and Backstrom give the Capitals two legitimate top line centers. This should only help Ovechkin and Alexander Semin, to continue to improve on their impressive play from last year.
The capitals were a one line team last year, but that should not be the case this year. Semin, Backstrom and Kozlov should provide a potent second line and take some of the pressure off the top line. No longer can teams focus all their top defensive players on the top line alone.
Despite all the moves the Capitals have made to improve their offense, they have done nothing to improve their defense. Although they signed Tom Poti, he is a powerplay quarterback and his defensive play is sorely lacking. However, there is hope on the horizon, with the minute crunching machine Karl Alzner not far away.
Alexander Ovechkin has to learn to use his teammates more. Too many times last year, did he leave an open man whistling in the wind, while he tried to take an impossible shot. However, in Ovechkin's defense the caliber of linemates were sorely lacking and that might have had a lot to do with his decision making.
If the Capitals are to make the playoffs, they have to hope everything goes right. Their powerplay has to improve and they have to somehow find a way to solve their penalty killing issues from within and they also have to hope that Semin doesn't suffer from the dreaded sophomore slump, although it's not technically his sophomore year.
There are so many good teams in the Eastern Conference and the Capitals have too many glaring holes, that their chances of making the playoffs are slim to none.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
5 comments:
the capitals chances are slim to make the playoffs for a number of reasons.
olaf kolzig is not 25 anymore and while he has been a work horse for the caps he has to be nearing the end of that road for them at age 37.
the additons of poti and nylander will help but the caps defense is rather porous to be kind and alzner may not be ready this season. even if alzner does make the team he is a rookie and very few rookies have an impact like a dion phaneuf did or a scott stevens did.
one of the biggest things that will affect the caps is not on the ice. the fan support in the capital is not that great. fan support was poor even after the trade to get jagr so its no surprise that fan support is still lacking even with ovechkin. owner ted leonsis broke the bank to get and sign jagr once and it will not be an approach i see him taking again with this team unless they are winning and drawing fans.
Not very accurate posting.
1) Semin can't have a sophmore jinx, because he is in his 3rd season.
2) How can you say ovechkin doesn't use his linemates, when he leads the team in assists and goals back to back years? Not to mention he also leads his team the past 2 seasons in hits. An article was posted last year, showing his assists are not secondary assists, and not rebound assists as a lot of people try to claim.
Panthers have a great chance of finishing first in their division, especially with Ovechkin coming back to his old form, in his first year. He will likely win the heart this season, as his team ends up doing what pittsburg did last season.
It technically isn't his sophomore year, however, the lockout and the year plus away from the team, makes it his first two consecutive full years with the team.
As for Ovechkin, he may have lead the team in assists, he still didn't use his teammates enough and if you read most honest reviews on his play, they will say the same.
Ovechkin also plays for the Capitals not the Panthers and the likelihood of them repeating what the Pens did last year is highly unlikely, as they don't have the caliber of talent as the Pens had and the Conference and Division is going to be a lot tougher this year.
agree with the previous anonymous poster about ovechkin, but ovechkin will have a hard time winning the heart trophy.
Hanlon is going to use kozlov as his center, and clark as the right wing, and put semin and backstrom on the wings of Nylander.(this is based on the scrimages and games so far for the caps).
This means, that hanlon is hoping that semin and nylander will light it up playing against 2nd line players.
So I find it hard to believe that kozlov and clark are what ovechkin needs to get into a race with crosby for the heart trophy.
I would like to take a look at this, now that the Capitals have played 27 games.
At this point, even with games in hand, they are the worst team in the league.
Ovechkin is the only player on the team with more than a point a game and more than 10 goals. He is also +3 making him one of a few players on the team with a plus rating.
Ovechkin is either leading the team or near the top of all the important statistical categories for the team.
As to the question about whether OV using his linemates enough... As a long time hockey fan living in Washington DC and season ticket holder, I would have to say he doesn't.
Ovechkin can shoot, skate, hit, stick handle and pass great. Yes, I did say pass great. But having the talent to pass, doesn't mean you have the vision and confidence in your team mates to make that pass at the right time. I have watched over and over again, OV trying to beat one more guy or taking a shot from a bad angle rather than pass to open team mates. Sometimes, he will hesitate and by the time he makes the pass, the lane is no longer open.
In 27 games, Ovechkin has 161 shots. If you take the combined total of shots for the next three on the team list, you only get 189 shots. The whole team has taken 790 shots at this point, giving OV more that 20% of the teams shots. That being said, he does account for nearly 30% of the Capitals goals.
If OV was willing to make more passes and didn't hold the puck so long, other skilled players would have more chances to shoot and score. This in the long run would open the ice more for Ovechkin and the team as a whole improve greatly.
The only way that the off season moves will turn into gains, is if the leader of the team includes the new pieces in his game. As long as OV is playing like he has to do it all, the results will be the same as in the past, when he did have to do it all.
Post a Comment