by Rob Yunich
Storming the Crease
May 5, 2011 in Uncategorized by Rob Yunich
By Guest Blogger Rob Yunich:
The last postseason meeting between the Washington Capitals and Tampa Bay Lightning (in 2003) caused owner Ted Leonsis to launch The Plan — the one that saw he and GM George McPhee tear down the team, draft much of the team’s current roster (starting with Alex Ovechkin) and turn the franchise into what it is today.
But this year’s loss to the Lightning is yet another “aha” moment: one that shows that the current team isn’t built to win a Stanley Cup, the same assessment doled upon the squad eight years ago. They’ve had a ton of regular-season success and Coach Bruce Boudreau has shown that he’s a brilliant tactician. But when it comes to the playoffs, he’s a pedestrian 17-20 — and eight of those wins have come against the New York Rangers.
The team still doesn’t compete for 60 minutes every night, and the phrase “taking the foot off the gas” has been mentioned way too frequently. Championship teams do not stop playing or rest on their laurels with a third-period lead. Look at the Detroit Red Wings, Pittsburgh Penguins, Chicago Blackhawks, Anaheim Ducks, Montreal Canadiens, and other recent champions and perennial contenders. They fight tooth and nail no matter what. It was no coincidence that the Pens earned the No. 4 seed in the Eastern Conference despite playing without Evgeni Malkin and Sidney Crosby for half of the season. That attitude comes from head coach Dan Bylsma, whose all-business approach is reflected in the players that take the ice every night (and was shown vividly on HBO’s “24/7” series).
Against the Lightning, who have become a serious contender for this year’s Cup, the Caps had too many sloppy line changes and didn’t crash the net enough. You make your own luck in the playoffs by constantly being in the right place at the right time. (My blog isn’t named Storming the Crease by accident.) The shortest distance between two points is a straight line, and the best way to score in any sport is by being close to the goal (or basket or end zone).
Many Caps simply are unwilling to make the right sacrifices to accomplish this mission on a nightly basis. The problem is that those same Caps are the ones that are the most talented. The poster boy for this argument is Alex Semin, who continually gets salary increases despite repeated playoff disappearances (against everybody except the Rangers, against whom he’s scored eight of his 12 career playoff goals). The term “passenger” has been thrown his way on numerous occasions.
The team’s power play is an utter mess and it’s cost them dearly in the playoffs over the last two years. Against the Canadiens last year and the Lightning this time around, the Caps scored a total of three power play goals (in 52 chances), a 5.7 percent success rate.
The blame for all of this falls on Boudreau and McPhee — who, since joining the franchise in 1997, has seen the Caps win five playoff series — three during the run to the Stanley Cup finals in 1998 (his first season as GM) and two against the Rangers in 2009 and this year). In other series, he’s lost eight times.
The ball is back in Leonsis’ court. He can choose to fire both McPhee and Boudreau — and strongly urge their replacements to rid the roster of certain players (starting with Semin). He can task McPhee to pick a new coach, who can hopefully get the team to play to its insanely high talent level. Or he can keep both in town, and ask them to bring in players who will do anything to win the Cup (and not just say they will).
If the Caps need any inspiration for a smart way to tweak a roster, all they need to do is look at the Lightning. Last summer, the franchise’s ownership hired GM Steve Yzerman and Coach Guy Boucher. The duo promptly traded for or signed players who dedicated themselves to a very selfless approach — and got the team’s top three players (Vincent Lacavalier, Martin St. Louis, and Steven Stamkos) to go full-throttle towards that plan, which includes the 1-3-1 trap that stifled the Caps and Penguins so far this postseason.
Captain Ovechkin is most definitely a team-first guy and there are plenty of others on the roster — including Nicklas Backstrom, John Carlson, Marcus Johannson, Karl Alzner, Brooks Laich, and Mike Green — who will be back next season and will lead the charge. Semin is signed for next season, but must be moved as he’s become the epitome of what’s ailing the Caps. Others should be on that train out of town, too.
Who is here for the beginning of training camp in September will go a long way towards determining whether the Caps will be in a better position at this time next year. And, if Leonsis heeds the call, then a brighter recap of the 2012 postseason will follow.
You can find more of Rob’s work at Storming the Crease!
I don’t know about McPhee, but as much as I’ve supported Boudreau, I think its time he goes. He’s had his chance and while his team plays good in regular season and its nice to win the Southeast division (and beat the Pens in Winter Classic)…he can’t get them to win playoff series (except the Rangers).
So its time…time to find a coach who can make this incredibly talented roster win playoff hockey!!
Although I expect Boudreau to be fired, I still don’t think that he is the main problem. Rob is right – they just don’t have enough players who are willing to put it all on the line for a full 60 minutes. I agree with the point about Semin, but I would add Backstrom to the list. He was non-existent in these playoffs. The inability to keep their “foot on the gas” for a whole game is troublesome and I suppose Boudreau can be faulted some for that. The Caps seem to lack that killer instinct when they have the lead. Perhaps the players believed that because they are such an incredibly talented team, operating on cruise control would be enough. I agree that some big changes are needed. Unfortunately, I’m afraid that the focus will be on changing management and coaches and not on players. If so, we may be in for more of the same next year. But whether you are a Boudreau fan or not, won’t you just miss those carpet cleaning and car dealership commercials??
@ WIllypops:
But that is kinda Rob’s point Boudreau doesn’t help nurture that out of his players and is far to complacent in just letting his stars win him games. That doesn’t work in playoff hockey, especially deeper into the postseason. The Caps might have beat the Rangers, but really was that a secure 5 game series?? The 8th seeded team took them to Overtime twice and played them tough in 4 out of the 5 games. New York doesn’t even come close to matching up with the Capitals yet they gave them cause for concern. It’s a good thing that the Caps did win the top seed b/c that was probably the only playoff team the Caps were capable of beating. Even Montreal and Buffalo might have been too good for Washington and that simply can’t be acceptable. Not when you have the talent that they have built.
I think there needs to be some roster changes and I agree I think Semin is gone. But the biggest change probably needs to come up top.
They have to make some BIG moves this offseason. First off, I think we can all agree Boudreau’s worn out his welcome. Secondly, either Semin or Backstrom must be traded. These guys are the epitome of the current Washington Capitals, they have all the skill in the world but can’t compete when it really counts. I think if they unloaded one of those two and most of their contract, they could go after a big name free agent like Brad Richards. Can you imagine replacing the playoff ghost Backstrom with former Con Smythe winner Richards. It would be a totally different team. A team built to win.
Mike, thanks for commenting! I agree with you — sorta. Firstly, they’re not trading Backstrom and, quite frankly, he’s not the problem. Semin is a completely different story and deserves to be traded. Backstrom’s got the skills and playing style to do well in this system. Semin simply doesn’t care — or at least it appears that way.
And Richards isn’t the answer. He’s overpaid and isn’t a two-way player. If you want to dream, think Pavel Datsyuk. He’s obviously not leaving Detroit, but that’s who you want.
As for Boudreau, his system is solid. But if he can’t get the players to execute, well, then he should be shown the door. Don’t hold your breath for that one unless McPhee is right next to him.
I’m surprised some Caps fans are so down on Backstrom, as before this season’s disappearance he was arguably just as important as Ovechkin to the Caps success. I think without a doubt he has a bounce back year, and I def. wouldn’t want to deal him when his value is at it’s lowest.
Admittedly, I’m not real knowledgeable about the NHL and the Caps. I do know that Backstrom was very frustrating during the Lightning series. Presumably, a new coach would get him to perform and produce in a playoff series where the opponent is some team other than the Rangers?? Are there many solid coaching candidates out there? Sometimes the devil you know is better than the devil you don’t know!!
Steve, Backstrom is a two-way player (and I still think he was hurt this postseason, as do others) who had a bad series (probably because of the wrist injury). What worries me most about Nicky is his poor performance on the face-off. They just signed a Swedish center, which means they might be trying to get some depth (although they have some really good prospects too).
Willy, the knock on Boudreau is whether players will play his system. I still think that he and McPhee are a packed deal and one more year of failure might doom them both. That being said, if they do go elsewhere, the only established name that jumps out at me is Ken Hitchock, but his system might not be a good fit here (and that different than Boudreau’s). Here’s one of many stories on possible coaches: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2010/writers/allan_muir/06/01/coach.search/index.html
So it might be one more year of McPhee/Boudreau and some new players (and there will be some turnover, including hopefully a significant trade or two) and we’ll see how that goes. A better answer to this issue will be available in about a month, at some point after free agency has started and the draft (where many trades are made) has passed.
@Rob yeah I’m guessing you are right and it was probably an undisclosed injury for Backstrom, overall i didn’t think it was a worry, but a lot of Caps fans really seem to be getting on him. While maybe Washington doesn’t get swept if Backstrom is at 100%, I don’t think you can blame that series loss on him alone.