The Washington Capitals Thread

[turtle28]

@Woz Agreed that we could set up individual threads for each of the DC Sports teams instead of having to go to those individual forums, which most of us don’t do on a regular basis. This should create more activity in the forum because we’ll talk about things other than the Redskins but in each thread, rather than in a scattered thread like the TOTR thread.

Anyways, the Capitals shocked some people with their record this year. The sure lost a lot in freee agency with a few good defenders leaving and then on offense, Mojo leaving. 

Ovy and Backstrom has quite possibly the most impressive years of their careers considering how much change went on and their age but they’re pros pros and delivered like the always do. TJ Oshie battled some injuries and has been very ineffective this season as compared to last, which has really hurt the offense and consistency. Trotz has been giving him more rest the past two weeks, hoping thay helps him out, I hope it does because we need him to be a scoring machine in the playoffs.

 

T.J. Oshie - W -  Capitals

T.J. Oshie has only one goal in his last 32 games.

After scoring 33 times last season, the 2017-18 campaign has been a huge disappointment for Oshie who has only four even strength goals this season. "When T.J. is on top of his game, you notice him a lot around the puck," Coach Barry Trotz said. "He has that dogged mentality when he’s getting to the net. He’s keeping plays alive, he’s putting pucks in those tough areas, he’s just quite noticeable. He’s gotten away from some of that a little bit, and we need more five-on-five [production]. ... I know T.J. knows his five-on-five goals are [among] the lowest on our team, but he does so many other things that are good for us and is so productive. That will come, and I hope it comes from now into the playoffs. T.J. is one of those guys that, when he gets hot, he’ll score quite a few goals." Poolies are waiting for this to happen.

 

 

Source: Washington Post 

Kuzy and Orlov are two young players with a lot of talent and ability but they need to to be more consistent if the team is going to go anywhere, especially Kuzy. A lot is needed and expected of him and he hasn’t exactly delivered like everyone had hoped so far.

The most intriguing part of the second half of this season is the battle going on in net. Naturally, Holtby played most of the season as the starter but he really started to struggle about mid season. So, Trotz started to play Gruby and ever since Trotz made that switch the team has played better, especially on defense. Gruby has been one of the best goalies in the entire NHL this season. 

Gruby will start game 1 of the playoffs so it will be interesting to see what he does inbetween the pipes. If he continues to play at a high level, it should mean big things for the Caps chances in this series against Columbus and beyond in these playoffs.