The Fan Blog : Captials thoughts

I believe part of the problem was force feeding Ovechkin to help him chase the 700-goal mark. Lets hope the team is more collective in their effort moving forward now that Ovi hit 700.

Serious question: I can understand to a certain extent Ovi's teammates trying to get him to 700... there are lots of stories involving pretty much every team of teammates trying extra hard to get a teammate to a milestone, even at the expense of their own [personal] numbers.

That being said - if the Caps' desire to get Ovi to 700 was materially affecting the team's play to the point that they were scoring less, and maybe even losing games they would have won otherwise - where was the coaching staff in all of this? Shouldn't they have stepped in and said, "Ok guys, we all want Ovi to get to 700, but we need to win some games here?"

I guess what I'm saying is... Since I don't really believe an NHL coaching staff would allow such a mindset to cost their team wins, I'm having a bit of a hard time believing this as a reason the team hasn't been playing as well lately.

Next Move: Boudreau for some guy named Todd.

Never trusted a Todd...never will.

#BringBrucieBack


I think Kovy is also there to mentor Kuzy (like OV had Federov / Kozlov).
I was hoping we picked him up when LA let him go, but maybe it was good for him to find a bit of mojo in Montreal first.

Either way, I'm stoked.

Dillon is our 3rd best D (and probably our best defensive Dman already).

I'd like to see Jensen or Kempny moved, but it would have to be for a better Dman somehow. Possible? Maybe.

I wanted Green back, but the dollars probably didn't work. He should be happy to be an Oiler!

Serious question: I can understand to a certain extent Ovi's teammates trying to get him to 700... there are lots of stories involving pretty much every team of teammates trying extra hard to get a teammate to a milestone, even at the expense of their own
- copelal[personal] numbers.

That being said - if the Caps' desire to get Ovi to 700 was materially affecting the team's play to the point that they were scoring less, and maybe even losing games they would have won otherwise - where was the coaching staff in all of this? Shouldn't they have stepped in and said, "Ok guys, we all want Ovi to get to 700, but we need to win some games here?"

I guess what I'm saying is... Since I don't really believe an NHL coaching staff would allow such a mindset to cost their team wins, I'm having a bit of a hard time believing this as a reason the team hasn't been playing as well lately.

There are a million reasons as to why the team hasnt played well lately. Defense defense defense for starters. I did not mean to make it seem like Ovi's 700 was the reason the team has been struggling cause it has not at all. The Capitals did not change their game too much but yes Ovi was ripping more shots than his usual league leading SOG. The man had just scored 14 goals in 7 games so I dont blame them for feeding the hot hand.

I also believe the team is just looking forward to moving on from that 700 storyline. Being constantly asked questions about it in interviews pre and post game, having six out of their last 8 games be on national television. These are just little things are not exactly routine for most teams. I believe the team will embrace things going back to normal if that makes sense.

How much (frank)ing extra help does Alex need to get to 700. Guy's been killing it to 699. I'm pretty sure everyone could have just kept doing what they were doing.

Good Luck with the Kovy & Ovi Party. Should be fun for a few months!

Less then 100 goals away? Try again buds...

Less then 100 goals away? Try again buds...
- Rioghan

No, when he gets to less than 100 goals in a couple years (which he will)

How do you think his mindset will be when he is less than 100 away?

No, when he gets to less than 100 goals in a couple years (which he will)

How do you think his mindset will be when he is less than 100 away?
- BrenosBagels

Not so sure it will be only 2y. At some point he'll slow down, probably sooner rather than later

yikes.