Even with the Backstrom signing, you could call what the Caps have done to date, “housekeeping” (quite literally, as all the signings are of the “in house” variety). But for all the grief being heaped on the Caps for retaining the services of Boyd Gordon, for showering Jeff Schultz with $11 million over the next four years, for failing to sign any (let alone any “good”) free agents to play in Washington, you would think that the team was going to start the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs next week. Well, to that, I say this…
“Three months.”
Three months from today – 92 days, to be precise – the Caps will raise the curtain on their 2010-2011 season. At the moment the Caps have 17 players that I would consider locks to be on the opening night roster signed and ready to go. You, dear reader, might argue that Mathieu Perreault will be on that roster, or Marcus Johansson. I won’t go that far just yet. But the point is that the Caps (and a lot of other teams) still have work to do and 92 days in which to do it. They have 92 days to complete their “to-do” list…
- Deal with the remaining restricted free agents on their own team: Eric Fehr, Tomas Fleischmann, Andrew Gordon, among them.
- Find a sixth defenseman to complement Mike Green, Jeff Schultz, Tom Poti, John Carlson, and Karl Alzner. Hopefully, that defenseman will: a) be a respected veteran, b) with Stanley Cup playoff experience, and c) who has more than a little attitude to his game.
- Find (or settle on) a second line center. At the moment, the thought of Tomas Fleischmann, Mathieu Perreault, or Brooks Laich assuming that role does not fill our heart with a warm and glowing feeling. More like acid reflux. But the Caps have people being paid handsome sums to evaluate the performance and the promise of their own players, as well as cast about for talent from other organizations to fill that role. They might need all 92 days to arrive at this decision.
- We are going to put “come to a decision about Alexander Semin” on this list, too, because we – and this is the “fan” in us speaking (as opposed to someone who actually knows what they are talking about) – don’t get that warm and glowing feeling about a player as mercurial as Semin slogging through a contract year with the attendant uncertainty about what will happen at the end of it. He could be really, really good… or he could be really, really bad. Perhaps worse, he could be really, really inconsistent, and given the attitude of Caps Nation toward Semin at the end of last year, that could take an ugly turn. Commit to him, or don’t.
Having once upon a time been a teacher, we are not inclined to give the Caps a grade for the off-season, not even a “mid-term” grade (the “mid-term” of the off season does not come until later this month). That’s not to say they should get a pass, either. A team that disappoints so spectacularly at the end of the season can’t stand pat and expect the fan base to squeal with glee. And that seems especially true given the uniformity of opinion with respect to what the Caps need, both among fans and pundits.
So here it is… It’s still early in the off-season. There are free agents available, there are arbitrations to be heard and judged, there are teams with cap problems who might make for suitable trading partners, and there might be other tricks up the sleeves of management to fill out the rest of the roster. There are three months to work with. But perhaps as important as that, there will then be almost five more months to evaluate that product and make additional changes on the roster in advance of the trading deadline early next year. So fans… lighten up. And you there, the ones in the suits… the fans are watching. Don’t waste this time, because in the end, with respect to the roster – you built it, you bought it, you own it – its successes and its failures. And having lost three of the last four playoff series you’ve played in, the words “benefit” and “doubt” don’t occupy the same sentence.
6 comments:
Peerless, I respect you a lot, but watch who you lump in with "Caps Nation" and feelings about Semin. There are MANY fans who do not share the thoughts and snide remarks of too many of the people who get to write about hockey. They need a scapegoat, a dog to kick, and Semin seems to suit that purpose for them. The postseason cannot be laid just at his feet; it was a team loss and many others, in fact, most others, on the team did not play to expectations. I know all of the arguments "against" Semin and worries about what we get back, yada, yada, yada, but the dumping on him constantly has gone too far. When and if the Caps trade him, I bet they will regret it for one reason or another eventually.
@Jasper--By your own admission, there's been a ton of dumping on Semin for his lack of production in the playoffs, and that's Peerless's point. The majority of the fanbase is running out of patience with Semin, who's a couple of years older and been around a bit longer than the other Capital stars. He's always been a frustrating player for many people, and now he's followed up two strong playoff series with two silent ones--that the Caps lost.
No, the failure this year isn't entirely Semin's fault, and he has his supporters, but they are outnumbered. Don't fool yourself.
@exwhaler -- No, the ones who are fooling themselves are those who think the Caps will be just as good with whatever they can get to "replace" him. If he had any different personality and was friendly with the egomaniacal press folks who cover him, the reaction would be less severe. He may be a year or two older, but, first, people mature and develop at different rates, and second, he has not been here as long continuously as Ovechkin. Regardless, your claim that his supporters are outnumbered is just that -- a claim. I claim you are wrong. His detractors are just more vocal, as is usually the case with negative viewpoints, and they are are ugly and nasty to supporters, so, who wants to bother with it?
Excellent piece, Peerless.
- EmptyMaybe
All I'm saying about Semin is that I think the team will be better served by either committing to him or not at this point in time. I don't think the prospect of going into free agency is going to help his performance in 2010-2011. I'm ambivalent on what course to take. Trading a 40-goal scorer isn't something one does lightly, and I can see lots of reasons to keep him. But there are just about as many reasons to trade a player whose skill set adds to strengths the Caps already have.
As for the reasons the Caps lost in the playoffs, hockey is a team sport, and you could find a shortcoming with every player on the roster -- from the Captain to Scott Walker (one game played) -- not to mention the coaches. But the power play was 1-for-33 -- the single most surprising statistic of the series that affected the result -- and Alexander Semin went 0-for-the series in goal scoring. Among the players, his share of that blame is bigger than most, although by no means all of it.
"If he had any different personality and was friendly with the egomaniacal press folks who cover him, the reaction would be less severe."
Uh...no. The discontent I'm hearing and reading from fans and friends (not media, new or otherwise) online, at games, and just hanging out has everything to do with Semin's performance. And there are many valued points they're making. Semin is an incredibly talented player who is entering the prime age for a forward, but he is also one of the most frustrating players in the NHL because of his lack of consistancy, health, focus, and discipline, which is why he's never joined the elite players of the league like Crosby and Ovechkin, despite having more than enough potential to be there.
As I said, he isn't completely at fault for the choke job, and I haven't met anybody who is blaming solely him (Green, for instance, shares a large portion of that), but he wasn't part of the solution, as Peerless pointed out. And when you're paying a player $6 million a year in a salary cap world, he better be part of the solution.
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