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2019-2020 NHL season thread

Discussion in 'Sports and News' started by Sea Bass, Jun 16, 2019.

  1. canucklehead

    canucklehead Active Member

    Count me among those who believe Ovechkin will beat Gretzky's goal total. He doesn't look he's slowing down any time soon.
     
    OscarMadison likes this.
  2. Cosmo

    Cosmo Well-Known Member

    Fun stat: Gretzky's last 50-goal season was at age 28 in the 1988-89 season. Ovechkin is 34 now and is almost certain to reach 50 again, needing just 10 in his last 28 games. Sixty goals, while not easy to attain, is in play. Oldest ever to score 60 in a season was Phil Esposito at 32 in 1974-75. What Ovechkin is doing right now is just stunning.
     
    OscarMadison likes this.
  3. JC

    JC Well-Known Member

    He’s a machine. Defying the aging process.
     
    OscarMadison likes this.
  4. Moderator1

    Moderator1 Moderator Staff Member

    I hope he gets 700 in one of the next two because then they're on the road a while. The home reaction to that goal will be incredible.
    I may try to go Saturday. Be cool if he got it against Trotz, who rejuvenated him after the disaster that was Adam Oates.
     
    OscarMadison likes this.
  5. Sea Bass

    Sea Bass Well-Known Member

    Oates coached for two years. Ovechkin had 32 in a lockout shortened season in 2012-13 (55 goals in a full season). He had 51 in 2013-14. How was that disastrous and how did he need rejuvenating?
     
  6. Cosmo

    Cosmo Well-Known Member

    Not to speak for Moddy, but he may be referencing the Dale Hunter interim year after Gabby was sacked, when Hunter tried to turn Ovechkin into a defensive player and severely cut his minutes, especially in the playoffs. That shit didn't work.
     
    OscarMadison and JC like this.
  7. The Big Ragu

    The Big Ragu Moderator Staff Member

    It was my understanding -- and I didn't follow the Caps like you guys do -- that Ovechkin felt that both Hunter and Oates tried to put handcuffs on him. Am I wrong about that?

    One thing that told me what a good coach Trotz is, is that I remember stories from a few years ago about how happy Ovechkin was under Trotz and how he felt like Trotz was putting him in situations to help him succeed, with the implication that Oates and Hunter hadn't. For his part, I also remember Trotz saying something about how from afar he had the perception that Ovechkin was going to be difficult to coach and Trotz said he was wrong about that.

    I have no idea if Ovechkin is difficult to coach or not, but it seemed like Trotz was able to manage him in a way the two previous coaches weren't able to, and you'd think that should have been priority number one for any Caps coach.

    That said, as a fan from afar, my perceptions of Ovechkin were always about 1) how he would do things in the offensive zone every so often that you were never going to see again and how dominant he can be, but 2) how he sometimes disappeared on the defensive end or came across like he was playing like he didn't care. Maybe perception isn't reality with him, and maybe my perceptions were tainted by reading a lot of things that described Ovechkin that way, but it's why I always preferred Crosby in any debate about who was better. Crosby plays center obviously, but he always looks like he is working his butt off in both ends to where you can't ever miss him when he is on the ice. Ovechkin sometimes looks like he is just interested in playing offense.
     
    OscarMadison likes this.
  8. Cosmo

    Cosmo Well-Known Member

    Oates did stifle him to a certain extent, but the Hunter experience was a total disaster. Hunter basically benched him in the playoffs if he didn't play defense. I think in one game, he was limited to 14 minutes. The Caps had struggled so much to get past the Penguins with the Gabby identity that Hunter decided to go to the extreme on the other end and turn every game into 1-0 or 2-1 street fights. That team wasn't built for that. The organization so wildly overreacted to the 2010 upset to Montreal that it screwed the Caps up for a good five years.

    Oates definitely lost that team. I went to a game in Carolina at the end of the one season since like 07-08 that Washington missed the playoffs, and they had so checked out on him. I guess any team with expectations that misses the playoffs will do that to a coach, but it was just dull, lifeless hockey.

    So it was definitely a combination of the two coaches that sucked the life out of Ovechkin.
     
    OscarMadison likes this.
  9. Moderator1

    Moderator1 Moderator Staff Member

    Well, they missed the playoffs in 13-14 and Oates got shitcanned along with McPhee. Ovie scored a lot of goals, yes. But he also gave about zero shits about doing anything else. That was when Milbury started getting all over him, correctly I must admit. Can't be lazy on one end of the ice. He was in a bit of an "I'll get mine" mode. Trotz flew to Moscow and spent time with him after getting the job. They connected pretty well and Ovechkin started playing the whole ice again. Milbury raved about his transformation into a much more complete player. His numbers may be about the same but Ovechkin made the team a hell of a lot better.

    I've watched that team a lot over the years. It goes beyond just the numbers. He's been a much much better player under Trotz/Reirden than he was under Oates (and yes, Hunter).
     
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  10. The Big Ragu

    The Big Ragu Moderator Staff Member

    So with the Leafs trading for Jack Campbell, it sounds like the Rangers' ask for Alex Georgiev was too high -- I keep reading they want a top 9 forward, preferably a center, who has the upside of being a top 6. A lot of the rumor stuff I read was that they wanted Kasperi Kapanen from the Leafs. If that is true, the Leafs held tight and went with a cheaper option. I can't blame them on that one. Kapanen is locked in for three years at a relatively reasonable salary.

    Maybe Carolina for Georgiev now? I respect that the Rangers have their price, even if it is a bit too steep, and they are holding to it, but the three-goalie situation isn't great. They seem to be banking that there is a desperate enough team out there to meet their price. In the mean time, Hank must be pissed and Georgiev who has done everything they could have asked of him is sitting in street clothes a lot.

    The Rangers beat the Leafs last night and even though Shestyorkin let a few through, he made some great saves. I am hoping he is the real deal as the heir apparent to Hank. He's looked very good so far.
     
  11. ChrisLong

    ChrisLong Well-Known Member

    Blues player collapses on the bench with 7:50 to go in 1st at Anaheim. Couldn’t tell who. Paramedics were doing CPR. Players ripped the bench out to give them more room. Everybody sent to locker rooms. Info is sparse in the upstairs seats where I am.
     
    Liut likes this.
  12. Regan MacNeil

    Regan MacNeil Well-Known Member

    It was Bouwmeester.

     
    Liut likes this.
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