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- Mar 13, 2004
Let's see....Originally Posted by Never Seen B4
@ putting me on suicide watch
@ the way we were dominated
I am not going to get into the whole Crosby thing because I don't have the energy. DoubleJs, what realistic changes do we make in the off season?
As far as changes, Caps are lucky they have a DEEP farm system. A lot of the changes can happen from within. For one thing, Bruce Boudreu needs to cut ties with dead weight just because he coached them in the AHL (Sloan/Flieshmann)
I'll just run through the roster...tell me what you think:
Ovechkin - Stay (obviously)
Backstrom - Stay (RE-UP, George!)
Knuble - Stay (awesome vet...you need him in front of the net too)
Laich - Stay (great leadership)
Belanger - Stay (...but bump him down to 3rd line...good defensively and weith faceoffs)
Semin - GO (he's been MIA from the past two playoffs. Makes way more gaffe's than Green...because he has one year left on his deal, I say try to package him to Calgary for Iginla)
Chimera - Stay (love the chippyness and speed....)
Morrison - GO (he produced at times...real streaky, but was ineffective....see what a youngster like Mathieu Perrault can do in his place)
Fehr -Stay (played a great series vs. the Habs...awesome on the forecheck, and really used his size....I think he could hit 30-35 goals next year if he stays healthy)
Gordon - Stay (nice 4th liner...great on the PK)
Steckel - Stay/Go (I'm on the fence w. him....Bleanger can do the same things he does, and he's the better player....however Steckel is a beast on the faceoffs, so I dunno...)
Bradley - Stay (need someone who can drop the mitts every once in a while and he does some nice things in limited minutes...good 4th liner)
Walker - Go (don't understand why we brought him in to play ONE game in the playoffs...)
Laing - Go (just not good enough)
Fleischmann - Go (too soft and disappears)
Forwards I'd target....Iginla and Chris Neil
Green - Stay (we're stuck with him no matter how much he's hated)
Schultz - Stay (played well in the regular season, and was OK in the playoffs...needs to throw his weight around a little more)
Corvo - Go (don't understand what he brought to the table...oh yeah, he's one of BB's old AHL players....I'll help pack his bags)
Poti - Stay (played well in series before breaking his eye)
Carlson - Stay (he's gonna be a STAR)
Morrisson - Go (Alzner is ready. I forgot where I read the quote, but another coach said he's the best d-man in the AHL right now)
Erskine - Stay (he's worthless in the playoffs...but he'll be the 7th/8th D-man for depth purposes)
Jurcina - Stay (he's a big body who uses his size relatively well....6th/7th D-Man)
Sloan - Go (no explanation needed)
Target: Volchenkov
Theodore - Not just go, but GONE (it's the last year of his contract, I can't see them keeping him around)
Varlamov -Stay (if healthy, he'll be our undisputed #1)
Neuvirth - Stay (played really well in both Varly's and Theo's absences this past year....)
on top of it all, we got Braden Holtby in the AHL who put up SICK #'s this past year. We've got a trio of good/young goalies all 22 and under. They don't bring much to the table as far as experience, but the skill/athleticism is there....if there's any sort of up/down play, I'd expect McPhee to bring in a vet by the deadline next year
My lines (in a perfect world would look like this
1st:
Ovechkin-Backstrom-Knuble
2nd:
Laich-Belanger-Iginla
3rd:
Chimera-Perrault-Fehr
4th:
Steckel/Neil-Gordon-Bradley
D1:
Green-Volchenkov/Poti
D2:
Carlson-Schultz
D3:
Alzner-Jurcina/Poti
*If Volchenkov isn't brought in, have Poti play w. Green...if Volchenkov is brought in, have Poti play w. Alzner and bump Jurcina to 7th defenseman (not dressed)
PP1:
Iginla-Backstrom-Knuble
Ovechkin-Green
PP2:
Laich-Perrault-Fehr
Carlson-Poti
I dunno.....it's wishful thinking, but if those tweaks are made and BB makes some SERIOUS adjustments to his coaching philosophy...maybe...just maybe, the Caps will be able to advance through the playoffs without having to always go to a game 7.
