A not-so-funny thing happened on the way to the Caps dressing a productive and seriously puck-possessing top 6 set of forwards this season. Some of the machine parts have fallen off. A cranky ankle has shelved sublime sniper Alexander Semin for all but one game thus far. Worse, one third of the top line has imploded. Has ever a young top-line winger’s fortunes soured as swiftly and as thoroughly as have Tomas Fleischmann’s early this autumn? A light switch seemingly shut down Flash’s fission. The boys up front are a bit unsettled right now.
That right side of the Capitals’ forward ranks has to unnerve management and Coach Hanlon. In addition to the flickering out of Flash there is Eric Fehr’s perpetually uncertain status. He’s not even skating these days. Joe Motzko, acquired in the offseason with the Hershey Bears in mind, has suddenly taken a turn on the top right flank. Where is the front-line right wing in this organization this October? The answer is, he may not exist — the moreso if Viktor Kozlov becomes entrenched as AO’s pivot.
Semin will eventually heal, but can the Caps plausibly vie for the postseason without the services of a scoring wing opposite Alex? I wonder.
In my darker moments, I fret about a new position leak springing — in this case, right wing — just as the blueline swiftly became old and immobile at the start of this decade.
Anyway, the Caps are tasked with gutting it out for the foreseeable future.
The beauty of hockey is that a beleaguered lineup can get its collective nose dirty and steal points even from much prettier clubs when their hearts swell for the work.
Monday brought about a two-hour practice. That’s long by NHL standards. When a rut is driven by low shot and goal totals, the most common prescription is hard work. This is a hockey club that for a few years now has been characterized by its hard work.
Not all is gloom and doom this mid-October. It appears that in net, the most important position on the ice, the Caps will regularly get quality, even game-stealing efforts from its tandem. The larger perspective up to the present is this: three weeks ago, knowing that the Caps faced four of the first five on the road, and all of the road games without Semin, had you been offered a record of 3-2 through them, you’d have grabbed it.
More good news: Pittsburgh is losing plenty.
5 Comments
I think flash will work out in the long run, but he still needs more development time at this level. Flash is getting too many minutes, I’m thinking 3rd or 4th line for the near future.
I have been surprised with Steckel spending some time on the 1st line. He bringings size and a second set of face off hands to the 1st.
My 2 cents.
Flash too many minutes? MM have you ever looked at the newly so called “event summary”? Flash is skating 9 minutes a night, Brashear and Bradley are the only Caps to get fewer ice time. IMO it isn’t nearly enough to bring along a young promising forward. It definitely isn’t easy to produce when you’re sitting on the bench 85% of the game no matter who you’re playing with.
I have to say it - anybody on the top two lines at RW is an improvement over Flash. The experiment is over. He has not the requisite skill, quick decision making, size, or grit. The puck rolls off his stick, he gets bumped off the play, and spends most of his shifts gliding and chasing the puck carrier. He is neither a finisher, nor set-up guy, nor aggressive forechecker. His game is AHL all-star quality, i.e., all around good but just a hair below what it takes to survive in the show.
End of rant.
Believe it or not, you can give rookies too many minutes and it will hurt their development. In flash’s case, he was seeing first line minutes until he caused give aways (listed in the scoresheets), then his ice time was shortened.
I like the way he looks, I just think a line of all stars is where he will be over his head. He looked good this evening with Backstrom. I hope they keep it that way for next game. Also, Motzko seened to work out well on the first.
You can hurt a rookie’s development also by not giving him enough minutes. You’re sending a message that you don’t believe in him, you don’t trust him. By that you’re hurting his confidence and his ability to make plays, try risky things out of the ordinary which in Flash’s case is one of his strenghts.
And Flash never got first line minutes. Look it up. The game last night was the first time this season he had so much as 13. At the end of last season he’d get about 11 minutes on a team playing out the string. Same holds true for preseason and the start of this season.
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