GMRwings1983

The Capitals came into the NHL in 1974. If I'm not mistaken, they've only been to the Conference Finals one time in their 40+ year history. Pathetic.

Where did the Capitals get all these right handed shots? Holland has been looking for these guys for years.

So much parity now in the playoffs, that being up 3-0 or 3-1 in a series doesn't mean anything anymore.

A poll on this forum, maybe. How about a poll of forums around the league? That would be more unbiased.

The Capitals have a terrible playoff history. That has to be on their fans' minds right now.

If you want to play this game, you have to learn how to spell his name right.

So do 30 teams have a #1 center? Is Abdelkader a #1 winger?

He needs to play like he's a top defenseman. Especially in the playoffs. And we didn't really need another thread on this, imo.

Any chance we can get Domi's son?

How would Hitchcock fare in Detroit? Or is Blashill definitely the coach if Babcock leaves?

In all fairness, in 2004 and 2006, we lost to teams that came very, very close to winning the Cup that season. So it's not like we were the only ones that got beat by that team. Same thing in 2003, although we fell just short of the Presidents' Trophy. You're not guaranteed a Cup by winning the Presidents' Trophy, but being a one seed is more likely to result in a Cup win than any other seed.

You mean playing your 4th line over your top lines in key moments isn't a good idea?

It all depends on how "he" views our kids. Whether you're excited about them or I'm not is irrelevant. Babcock will have to decide whether he wants to coach young established stars or guys who may/may not become stars. Somehow, I don't think our roster fits this description. Besides, a coach of his caliber likes challenges. The challenge will likely be to win elsewhere than to attempt to bring this team back to prominence.

Yeah right. It's like banging the same girl. You get tired after a while and want a new one. Not sure why he'd want to stay.

Not just that. You could make an argument he's a top 5 winger if he retires tomorrow. 1. Howe 2. Richard/Hull 3. Hull/Richard 4. Jagr 5. ???????????? I can see Lafleur, Bossy or Ovechkin being in that 5 spot. Some would put Bill Cook or Sergei Makarov in that spot as well.

Are any teams allowed to talk to him or just those with vacancies? If it's the latter, it's not a very long list.

That's a scary thought, but that's likely the correct answer.

Problem is, Chicago has that in spades. The way the new playoff format works, Minnesota, Nashville and St. Louis will need to figure out how to get past Chicago if they even want to make it to the WCF. Aren't there usually twice as many people in such photographs in real life? EA Sports

The NHL is stupid enough to flirt with an Anaheim vs. Tampa Bay final. A league that truly could care less about ratings.

As I said in previous pages, how do you know Montreal would have been an easy way out? We don't score goals like Tampa Bay can. And we didn't own Montreal and Price the way Tampa Bay did in the regular season. Other way around, in fact. I just wanted to watch two more weeks of playoff hockey and witness an original 6 matchup. That's what I'm most butt hurt about.

I'd love to see Brian McGrattan do unpleasant things to that punk in a closet.

Does Philly still want Dan Cleary or has that ship sailed?

Weiss and Kindl for Backes? Wishful thinking, right?

The right hand doesn't talk to the left hand. Ilitch appears to be more interested in the Tigers. As long as the Wings are selling out every game (whether the corporate seats are empty or not), his sons are satisfied with us making a profit and losing in the playoffs early. Holland has immunity and will step down when he wants to step down. It does hurt that Yzerman is on the cusp of making two Conference Finals since he left Detroit, while we haven't been to even one. Yet there's still people on LGW who think Yzerman hasn't been all that impressive as GM. This organization has problems letting go of old timers and letting the new blood move forward. Whether it's Holland over Yzerman, Babcock over Blashill, or Cleary, Sammy and Bert over Jurco, Tatar and Nyquist. We seem afraid of change. Everything has to overripe. Yzerman didn't want to overripe. Blashill is overripe right now, so maybe it's time to move him up before he decides to go elsewhere.

Good point. 15 years ago, you needed a great goalie to win the Cup. A Brodeur, Hasek, Roy or Belfour. Nowadays, every team seems to have at least one goalie who is good enough to win the Cup. That's why Lundqvist, Luongo and Price haven't won a Cup. They're easily the best goalies of this generation, but they play in an era where good goaltending isn't hard to find. That's one way to answer the question. A coach with a different approach to this roster would be nice. A fresh start a fresh mind. Babcock doesn't have anything new to add. He's already peaked here. He doesn't have any new ideas on how to improve the team. I don't think the players respond to him they way they once did. How many coaches in sports history peak, then don't win anything with that same team for a long time, and then peak again with the same team? I can't think of many. We've hit our zenith with Babcock. Another way to answer the question would be getting a legit top winger who can score. Not an Abdelkader or Helm. We tried that with Cole but it turned out poorly. Need to try again and hope Holland can have better intuition with the move that he makes. It will likely involve trading a prospect again.