For the first time since 2007, the Washington Capitals failed to make the National Hockey League’s Stanley Cup Playoffs. In not exactly a surprise move, the owners of the Capitals, the Leonsis family, moved quickly, dismissing coach Adam Oates and declaring that they would not renew the contract of long-time General Manager George McPhee.
About time, too, for the long-time GM, who has been around the organisation since the Caps made a run at the Stanley Cup in 1998 – he has been the one constant figure during an era of great change in Washington; including the team’s fresh branding, the hiring of Jaromir Jagr, the drafting of Alexander Ovechkin and Nicklas Backstrom – has had plenty of chances for success with very good Capitals teams lately, and has come up dry.
A run of five Southeast Division titles from 2007 through 2012 did not catapault the team to bigger and better things. Despite having Ovechkin and Backstrom, two ridiculously talented players, supported by the likes of Alexander Semin, Mike Green, Brooks Laich, Mike Knuble and John Carlson, the Capitals could not get out of the first round of the playoffs, year after year.
In some ways, it’s a wonder McPhee lasted as long as he did. When former head coach Bruce Boudreau – yeah, the same guy who is doing wonders in Anaheim, and poised to take the Ducks out of the first round – was fired because he couldn’t make the team play defence, which is what you need to win playoff series, let alone a Stanley Cup, Dale Hunter was brought in.
Hunter turned the Caps into an ultra-defensive unit, and their best player, Ovechkin, suffered as a result. He is not the world’s most defensively minded player. Look at this year’s stats: Ovechkin led the NHL in goals scored, with 51 goals, whilst registering a -35, plus-minus, which was amongst the League’s worst.
When things got rough in Washington – you know, when that stockpile of pretty damn good talent failed to net the Capitals a Stanley Cup, it wasn’t the people in upper management who were shown the door. No, because McPhee was loyal to a fault, even when, arguably, he shouldn’t be. Instead, Alexander Semin was traded, and that moved screamed then as it screams now, scapegoat.
So, when Hunter, who took over midseason the year Boudreau was fired, declined to coach a full year in the American capital, in came Adam Oates – more a choice made by upper management than McPhee, if the swirling rumours are to be believed – and the Capitals tried to blend a bit of both. They wanted Oates to employ Hunter’s defensive schemes and Boudreau’s defensive flair.
Somehow, Oates managed to work with Ovechkin, to get the superstar’s game on track, at least in the scoring department, but little else worked. Some hires – Martin Erat, Troy Brouwer, Jason Arnott, Joel Ward – made the rest of the hockey world scratch their heads, and it’s true that McPhee couldn’t settle upon a franchise goalie after Olaf Kolzig retired. He has seen guys come and go, like Cristobal Huet, Semyon Varlarmov and Michel Neuvirth. Yes, the same Varlarmov who’s tearing it up in Colorado.
Cruically, McPhee never hired a coach with previous NHL experience, which takes out of the equation the ability to hire a guy with a Stanley Cup ring. In the end, that appears to be his downfall. Or, did Ted Leonsis finally lose hope that McPhee, no doubt a loyal servant, could be the one to ice a team that would win the Stanley Cup.
If there’s one phrase to describe the McPhee tenure in Washington, at least in it’s later years, it would be missed opportunities. They’ve been tossed about the Capitals complex like confetti after a New Year’s Eve celebration. So many chances, so little return.
As for Oates, you can assume he was fired partly because he didn’t make the playoffs this year, but also because the passages of NHL time and history are littered with controversial moments brought about by new general managers having a coach in place. That would be the last guy’s coach, and that causes problems. For a new GM to work, he should be able to choose his own coach, someone he can work with well.
Leonsis is opening the way for that to eventuate, but there are other issues in Washington, where whoever comes in as coach and GM is going to have to deal with Ovechkin, who was as brilliant offensively as he was woeful defensively this season. The man who wears #8 is the centrepiece of the franchise, so whoever is installed in Washington needs to be able to work with and around Ovechkin. The relationship between Ovi and the front office is key.
To me, the Capitals have seemed listless for a lot of years. Oates’ tenure was, like I said, a mishmash of Hunter and Boudreau’s reigns, and it didn’t work. There’s a chance now to look at talent on the roster, with an open, critical and unbiased mind, and blow up what needs to be blown up, in order to get the Capitals to the next level.
Are the Capitals beyond quick repair? I don’t believe so. They need to work on their identity, and decide what it is. They can’t ride the fence. Either they play defensively, or they play like Boudreau had them playing, where the scorers were hard at work night after night.
The nucleus, as I mentioned, is pretty good. Obviously Ovechkin is blue-chip talent, and if the new GM is smart and the right talent gets built around their main franchise man, which almost means, you’d think, that they go back to the Boudreau style, where Ovechkin really became a superstar. The problem with going down that road is that it’s been well proven by recent Capitals teams, that it isn’t the way to have sustained playoff success.
Washington needs to make a choice. Go one way or the other. Don’t sit on the fence. Make a decision, decide on a style of play and push forward. Only then can you start building a roster.
Whatever transpires, it’s going to be an interesting summer in Washington D.C.
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