Capitals @ Leafs - Feb. 21st, 7:00pm - TSN4, Fan 590

[CarltonTheBear]

@

33-20-7, 73 points | 36-19-4, 76 points

Projected Lines

Ovechkin-Kuznetsov-Wilson Vrana-Backstrom-Oshie Burakovsky-Eller-Connolly Stephenson-Dowd-Boyd Kempny-Carlson Orlov-Niskanen Orpik-Djoos Holtby ​

Hyman-Tavares-Marner Marleau-Matthews-Kapanen Johnsson-Nylander-Brown Lindholm-Gauthier-Ennis Rielly-Hainsey Muzzin-Zaitsev Gardiner-Dermott Andersen​

Scratches

Devante Smith-Pelly Dmitrij Jaskin Madison Bowey ​

Igor Ozhiganov Justin Holl Nazem Kadri​

Game Notes

WSH
?Holtby (20-15-4, 3.04 GAA, .907 Sv%) will likely start for the Capitals
?Holtby is putting up nearly identical numbers to last season where he lost the starters net for parts of the season. This year the Caps don't have a Philipp Grubauer to pick up the slack though. In his last 16 games he has a .893 Sv%
?Ovi is still Ovi. He leads the league in goals with 42 in 59 games. That puts him on pace to score 57 on the season. He has 9 goals and 17 points in his last 11 games
?Washington recently had a 7 game losing streak (0-5-2), but are 6-3-1 since then
?The Caps are expected to make a transaction today, possibly involving a depth forward from LA like Carl Hagelin, Kyle Clifford, or Trevor Lewis

TOR
?Andersen (27-12-3, 2.57 GAA, .923 Sv%) will likely start for the Leafs
?Haven't heard any update on Kadri, who left the St. Louis game with a concussion. Given the nature of the injury I'd expect him to miss this one

Injuries

​

?Nazem Kadri - Concussion - Questionable Thursday​

Stream Options

https://www.reddit.com/r/NHLstreams
​

 

[Zee]

I don't wanna see no bird flapping tonight

 

[cabber24]

I don't wanna see no bird flapping tonight

The Don would say Karma's a fickle B but he soared his way to Cup Don!

 

[CarltonTheBear]

https://twitter.com/kristen_shilton/status/1098606410278027264

Muzzin with Dermott. He'll have played on every pairing now.

 

[herman]

Muzzin with Dermott. He'll have played on every pairing now.

I wonder if that is by design.

Johnsson-Nylander-Brown should be fun.

 

[Coco-puffs]

Muzzin with Dermott. He'll have played on every pairing now.

I wonder if that is by design.

Johnsson-Nylander-Brown should be fun.

Hyman-Nylander-Brown was once very fun (in the AHL), and Mango is an upgrade on the left.  My long-winded way of saying, hell ya it should be fun.

 

[herman]

Muzzin with Dermott. He'll have played on every pairing now.

I wonder if that is by design.

Johnsson-Nylander-Brown should be fun.

Hyman-Nylander-Brown was once very fun (in the AHL), and Mango is an upgrade on the left.  My long-winded way of saying, hell ya it should be fun.

Johnsson-Nylander-Hyman is the one I?d like us to run.

Kadri-Tavares-Marner
Moore-Matthews-Kapanen
Johnsson-Nylander-Hyman
Who cares

 

[L K]

Muzzin with Dermott. He'll have played on every pairing now.

I wonder if that is by design.

Johnsson-Nylander-Brown should be fun.

I'm certainly not opposed to it.  Hypothetically if Nylander gets a nice run at center do we look at trading Kadri in the offseason?  It might be the one decent argument for keeping Nylander and Matthews apart.

I know that's jumping the gun but it would be an interesting alternative to the "try and find someone to swallow the poison pill of Zaitsev" approach.

 

[ZBBM]

Woo woo CTB

>> ?The Caps are expected to make a transaction today, possibly involving a depth forward from LA like Carl Hagelin, Kyle Clifford, or Trevor Lewis

https://www.tsn.ca/capitals-acquire-hagelin-from-kings-1.1261346

I mean that's pretty impressive and so forth, but you were wrong about Clifford and Lewis.  8) 8) 8)

 

[Highlander]

Muzzin with Dermott. He'll have played on every pairing now.

I wonder if that is by design.

Johnsson-Nylander-Brown should be fun.

Hyman-Nylander-Brown was once very fun (in the AHL), and Mango is an upgrade on the left.  My long-winded way of saying, hell ya it should be fun.

I would rather see Ennis than Brown on that line and put Downtown on Line 4

 

[Strangelove]

Muzzin with Dermott. He'll have played on every pairing now.

I wonder if that is by design.

You sure like to attribute a lot of Babcock's crazy line-up decisions to some kind of grand design.

To me it appears less like rational design and more like Babcock playing favourites with veteran gud pros rather than holding players accountable for their actual performance.

 

[Strangelove]

Muzzin with Dermott. He'll have played on every pairing now.

I wonder if that is by design.

Johnsson-Nylander-Brown should be fun.

Hyman-Nylander-Brown was once very fun (in the AHL), and Mango is an upgrade on the left.  My long-winded way of saying, hell ya it should be fun.

Johnsson-Nylander-Hyman is the one I?d like us to run.

Kadri-Tavares-Marner
Moore-Matthews-Kapanen
Johnsson-Nylander-Hyman
Who cares

I can get on board with this.

There's no way Hyman ever drops to the third line (or Marleau ever drops out of the top 9) during Babcock's tenure though.

 

[herman]

Hypothetically if Nylander gets a nice run at center do we look at trading Kadri in the offseason?  It might be the one decent argument for keeping Nylander and Matthews apart.

I'd probably still hold onto Kadri for the next two years at least given the general lack of centre depth in our prospect pool and the desire I share with the coach to have basically two centres per line.

 

[Guilt Trip]

Hypothetically if Nylander gets a nice run at center do we look at trading Kadri in the offseason?  It might be the one decent argument for keeping Nylander and Matthews apart.

I'd probably still hold onto Kadri for the next two years at least given the general lack of centre depth in our prospect pool and the desire I share with the coach to have basically two centres per line.

Exactly. We really don't have depth at centre.

 

[Kin]

I'm certainly not opposed to it.  Hypothetically if Nylander gets a nice run at center do we look at trading Kadri in the offseason?  It might be the one decent argument for keeping Nylander and Matthews apart.

Feels unlikely that you could get someone who'd help the team more without taking them closer to the cap.

 

[Guilt Trip]

I'm certainly not opposed to it.  Hypothetically if Nylander gets a nice run at center do we look at trading Kadri in the offseason?  It might be the one decent argument for keeping Nylander and Matthews apart.

Feels unlikely that you could get someone who'd help the team more without taking them closer to the cap.

Unless you swap Kadri for a Pesce type deal?

 

[herman]

You sure like to attribute a lot of Babcock's crazy line-up decisions to some kind of grand design.

That's because there is a process and a logic to it, even if it doesn't make sense to us on the outside without a complete set of data. Are they always good reasons? Nope. Is it completely out of stubborn adherence to some hockey lineup feng shui astrological alignment? Nope.

A lineup that is tweeted out generally is built with multiple competing requirements, contextual caveats, and short-term/long-term compromises. By and large, I find Babcock's decision-making on the lineups pretty easy to understand considering the preferences he has developed in his coaching experience and the assets on hand and the priorities the front office might be pushing. Everything kind of operates within those policy guidelines until a circumstance becomes priority (injury).

So yeah, the lineup tends to look sub-optimal all the time because there's a lot to account for and certain compromises are going to be made for what they believe to be an overall gain. Hainsey with Rielly means we can roll out at least a Gardiner or Muzzin at all times, for example.

 

[Kin]

Unless you swap Kadri for a Pesce type deal?

I think that would be a very marginal improvement at best that we may not be seeing clearly because of Kadri's slightly down year.

 

[Guilt Trip]

Unless you swap Kadri for a Pesce type deal?

I think that would be a very marginal improvement at best that we may not be seeing clearly because of Kadri's slightly down year.

Salary wise and team needs it could fit the bill for both teams but I think you're right. Kadri is better then his numbers and I think Carolina would have to give more. Having said that, I'm just not sure we have the depth at centre to be trading him away anyway.

 

[L K]

Hypothetically if Nylander gets a nice run at center do we look at trading Kadri in the offseason?  It might be the one decent argument for keeping Nylander and Matthews apart.

I'd probably still hold onto Kadri for the next two years at least given the general lack of centre depth in our prospect pool and the desire I share with the coach to have basically two centres per line.

I don't disagree.  Just spitballing for discussion. 

Kadri for a top 4 defenseman in a package seems like more fun to talk about than Zaitsev + a 2nd for table scraps.