Caps4ever,
Patience. How long has the Penguins’ rebuild taken? The Blackhawks? How’s that Panthers rebuild coming along? Things don’t always go in a direct upward arc. There are going to be peaks and valleys. It’s coming along. The organization is much more talent-laden now than it was three years ago, just let the players grow and mature a bit more and I think you’ll be happy with what you see.

Opus,
In the time GM has been in Washington, here are the GMs who have won Cups: Burke, Rutherford, Feaster, Lamoriello, Holland, Lacroix, Gainey. Only seven, and many others have not won. Two others, Larry Pleau in STL and Darcy Regier in BUF were hired at the same time as GM. They haven’t won anything, either, and they’re still employed. So yeah, I can give you some examples.

It’s about progress and learning from mistakes. GM has done that. The drafting record has improved greatly in recent years, and the organization has been able to stockpile talent. To me, McPhee is a better GM now than he was four or five years ago. I know he has his detractors, but I’m not one of them.

Bryan,
Bryzgalov will be a UFA at season’s end. He will almost certainly command a salary of around $3 mil next year. The Caps have Clark and Semin already getting big raises next year. Figure Ovechkin will too, and Kolzig also has to be re-signed. Morrisonn and Gordon and some others are also due contract extenstions. And the team mway want/need to spend some in the free agent market as well. Picking up Bryzgalov now could lead to a bit of a logjam over the summer, and there is no guarantee he’d even re-sign here or want to re-sign here. To me, it didn’t make any sense to have three goalies (remember, Johnson is signed through next season).

Mike L,
You’re right, not Hanlon’s fault, but always easiest to fire the coach. And you’re also right that the playoffs are not out of reach. Many 1-3 NFL teams have gone on to make the playoffs, and that’s basically the situation the Caps are in.

Roose,
You’re exactly right. Try to win as many games as possible and see what happens. And goaltending has not been the problem most nights this season. Kolzig has been among the Caps best players the last two games, and if he keeps it up — and the team keeps scoring — the wins will come.

Alan,
I’m sure Hartley is being considered for many coaching positions and I’m well aware of what he’s done in ATL on and off the ice, and what he did in juniors and his hockey schools up in York. I’d also be willing to bet that he won’t be coaching here in Washington anytime soon.

Last year Hartley led the Thrash to the playoffs (and in the process the SE Divisional championship) after only 5 years! The Thrash had horribly bad goal tending each the past two years when they just failed to qualify for the playoffs (by 1 point) and when they failed to show up against the Rangers in the first round last year — and this year, Kovalchuk had one lousy goal in the first 6 games (but that’s what streaky goal scorers have a tendency of doing). Firing Hartley was a huge mistake, especially when it was Donnie Waddell’s decision not to retain several guys from last year’s run. Good Luck to Brad McKrimmon (who deserves the job) dealing with this kind of meddling from your GM.

But Waddell’s error could be a great opportunity for the Caps! According to Laughlin Hartley is being considered for several coaching positions, including one of the Russian Premier league clubs. Hartley belongs back in the NHL and will get the chance sooner than later. No knock on Bruce , but I can’t see how he is going to salvage this season, even after back-to-back wins this weekend (and recognizing that 7 guys have played for him in Hershey). The hole this team has dug for themselves is too deep; the playoffs this year are almost an impossibility. Boudreau has done a great job in Hershey, which the Caps need to continue considering the extended youth movement, but taking him away for the entirety of this season before figuring out that we need more than an “interim” head coach means all the strides the Caps have made in Hershey may well be lost. Bring in a proven commodity like Hartley and get the learning process out of the way this year so the Caps can actually get back to the playoffs next year.

Also I think it’s fair to say the Capitals are in year 3 of a 5 year plan. I also think McPhee has done a good job in trades and free agency and a pretty good job in the draft, although I dislike his handling of extensions and think he waited to long to let Hanlon go.

I’m not so sure that 95 points are what’s needed to get to the playoffs. It may be that the southeast can be won with 92 points (like it was last year by Atlanta). The winner of the division makes the playoffs regardless of their standing within the conference. I thought at the beginning of the year the Caps would be 44-28-10. To get there from now, they would have to go 38-14-9. I don’t think that this is likely. To get to 92 points, the Caps have to pick up 79 points in 61 games. 34-16-11? How about 33-15-13? In reality a 33-15-13 is 33 wins and 28 losses, certainly do-able. Right now the Caps are a bit of an anomaly in terms of OT games in that they’ve been in only one (and lost) after 21 games. If there were still ties in the NHL, that would mean the Caps would end up with about 4 of them, which would be close to being a record for an 82 game season. I suspect there will be more OT games (and with that, points for the losses).

Well done. Wadell did the math and made the move as needed. I’m sure Buffalo is looking at their formula as well. It is not rocket science but there is a method to the standings math.

@Livingston,
We were at a 55 point pace before Hanlon’s firing!!!!

I am endeared to all Caps Fans but all the Tryptophan in me right now cannot keep me from asking you to re-read CP’s post!!!

Maybe you should re-read what I wrote. Never said is completely out of the question. However, this team needs to win 41 of 61 games to earn a playoff spot. I don’t think you really understand what it takes to get that done. Last year and the year before, the 8th spot teams in the east both had 92 points, so it’s very safe to say 95 is close to what wil be needed, which is 82 more points than what we currently have. 82 points is equivalent to 41 wins. And we have 61 games left.

I think you can do the rest of the math on that.

Thanks,
CP