Post by edinburger (CAPS_GM) on Apr 20, 2014 15:35:50 GMT
A quarter of the way through the 2015-2016 NHL season and Sean Edinburger finds his Washington Capitals sitting 12th in the Eastern Conference, six points out of a playoff position. The general manager can't be happy with his team's work so far.
"No, I am certainly not," said Edinburger, "Do I think we're one of the league's elite teams? No, but I look at our roster and can't believe we're not in a position to make the playoffs."
The Capitals, who have been led for most of this season by their top line, need to find secondary scoring. With the exception of Jordan Staal, the Capitals do not have much scoring outside of Sergei Kostitsyn, Alexander Ovechkin and Nicklas Backstrom.
The Capitals, who began the season with two strong penalty killing units, has suddenly allowed a lot of power play goals and their play at even strength has been undisciplined at times.
To make matters worse, the team's goaltending and defense have shown glaring holes this season. Braden Holtby, fresh off signing a five year extension this past summer, has a 3.18 goals against average along with a 89.1% save percentage in 16 games. Keith Kinkaid, the rookie backup who is one year older than Holtby, has similar numbers having only played in 8 starts this season. Defensemen Christian Ehrhoff and John Carlsson are the only pairing with a positive plus/minus rating so far this season, this due to playing with the team's top line of forwards who provide most of the scoring on a nightly basis.
For a team who just one year ago squeaked into the post-season, the wheels seem to have come off their bandwagon and the Capitals look close to a hockey club in turmoil.
"I'm not ready to throw in the towel," said Edinburger, "there's still plenty of hockey to be played and I do believe we can make the playoffs. I'm going to stick with the group I've got and we are going to get through this struggle together as a team."
While Edinburger seems loyal and diplomatic towards his current squad, the fact of the matter is that the Capitals have many players with expiring contracts who may draw some interest on the trade market. Center Tomas Plekanec, who has 12 points in 24 games, will be turning 34 next year and maybe of great value to some other NHL teams. His linemate, Mikhail Grabovski, is also an unrestricted free agent at season's end along with Jason Chimera, John Erskine, Raphael Diaz, Brandon Segal, Sergei Kostitsyn and Troy Brouwer.
Time will tell whether or not the Capitals will make significant changes to their team or hope their play the rest of this season dramatically improves their chances of making the playoffs.
"No, I am certainly not," said Edinburger, "Do I think we're one of the league's elite teams? No, but I look at our roster and can't believe we're not in a position to make the playoffs."
The Capitals, who have been led for most of this season by their top line, need to find secondary scoring. With the exception of Jordan Staal, the Capitals do not have much scoring outside of Sergei Kostitsyn, Alexander Ovechkin and Nicklas Backstrom.
The Capitals, who began the season with two strong penalty killing units, has suddenly allowed a lot of power play goals and their play at even strength has been undisciplined at times.
To make matters worse, the team's goaltending and defense have shown glaring holes this season. Braden Holtby, fresh off signing a five year extension this past summer, has a 3.18 goals against average along with a 89.1% save percentage in 16 games. Keith Kinkaid, the rookie backup who is one year older than Holtby, has similar numbers having only played in 8 starts this season. Defensemen Christian Ehrhoff and John Carlsson are the only pairing with a positive plus/minus rating so far this season, this due to playing with the team's top line of forwards who provide most of the scoring on a nightly basis.
For a team who just one year ago squeaked into the post-season, the wheels seem to have come off their bandwagon and the Capitals look close to a hockey club in turmoil.
"I'm not ready to throw in the towel," said Edinburger, "there's still plenty of hockey to be played and I do believe we can make the playoffs. I'm going to stick with the group I've got and we are going to get through this struggle together as a team."
While Edinburger seems loyal and diplomatic towards his current squad, the fact of the matter is that the Capitals have many players with expiring contracts who may draw some interest on the trade market. Center Tomas Plekanec, who has 12 points in 24 games, will be turning 34 next year and maybe of great value to some other NHL teams. His linemate, Mikhail Grabovski, is also an unrestricted free agent at season's end along with Jason Chimera, John Erskine, Raphael Diaz, Brandon Segal, Sergei Kostitsyn and Troy Brouwer.
Time will tell whether or not the Capitals will make significant changes to their team or hope their play the rest of this season dramatically improves their chances of making the playoffs.