bulldog
March-14th-2004, 01:31 AM
after a long business trip this was my first game back since the deadline moves made to clear the books with the Caps.
truthfully, the team's effort for the game was per se better than what it has been most of the season.
the Caps are missing offensive threats other than 18 year old Alexander Semin who is still quite green, but in terms of focus and consistency the team showed both for the first 50 minutes.
The Caps rebounded from a 2-0 deficit to tie the score at 2-2 before the Thrashers scored twice in the final period to win at home.
Amazingly, you can go back to the early games with Gonchar, Jagr and Lang still on the club and point to results quite similar to the one tonight, ie a close loss and failing to make plays in crunch time.
What an indictment of a squad of current and former all-stars that a ragtag group of younger draft picks, waiver wire acquisitions and a few remaining recognizable figures like Witt and Kolzig could do as well.
One telling point was Jagr saying in the NYT that the Caps overall just 'didn't want to make the investment necessary to win'....... :laugh:
What a joke. The Caps had the sixth highest payroll in the NHL beginning the season and certain players like Lang and Miller were brought in specifically to make Jagr more comfortable.
What hurt this club as much as anything was renegotiating Jagr's original deal which still had TWO full seasons remaining on it when he was acquired and BEFORE the club saw what impact he would have on the team as constituted.
They could have saved themselves a lot of money.
As far as the youngsters go, I think Semin has a nice future in the NHL if he ever learns that defense is part of the game, even for a talented forward :)
The Caps better hope that Oullet is ready to play after the lockout because Charpentier to me is a borderline NHL netminder. He isn't the answer behind the 34 year old Kolzig.
truthfully, the team's effort for the game was per se better than what it has been most of the season.
the Caps are missing offensive threats other than 18 year old Alexander Semin who is still quite green, but in terms of focus and consistency the team showed both for the first 50 minutes.
The Caps rebounded from a 2-0 deficit to tie the score at 2-2 before the Thrashers scored twice in the final period to win at home.
Amazingly, you can go back to the early games with Gonchar, Jagr and Lang still on the club and point to results quite similar to the one tonight, ie a close loss and failing to make plays in crunch time.
What an indictment of a squad of current and former all-stars that a ragtag group of younger draft picks, waiver wire acquisitions and a few remaining recognizable figures like Witt and Kolzig could do as well.
One telling point was Jagr saying in the NYT that the Caps overall just 'didn't want to make the investment necessary to win'....... :laugh:
What a joke. The Caps had the sixth highest payroll in the NHL beginning the season and certain players like Lang and Miller were brought in specifically to make Jagr more comfortable.
What hurt this club as much as anything was renegotiating Jagr's original deal which still had TWO full seasons remaining on it when he was acquired and BEFORE the club saw what impact he would have on the team as constituted.
They could have saved themselves a lot of money.
As far as the youngsters go, I think Semin has a nice future in the NHL if he ever learns that defense is part of the game, even for a talented forward :)
The Caps better hope that Oullet is ready to play after the lockout because Charpentier to me is a borderline NHL netminder. He isn't the answer behind the 34 year old Kolzig.