Nick Backstrom’s future. Blue line questions. What to expect in the fall

Nick Backstrom’s future. Blue line questions. What to expect in the fall

questions about Alex oetkin and what is TJ oshi’s future on the capitals I’ll discuss next on this edition of locked on [Music] capitals your locked on capitals your daily podcast on the Washington Capitals part of the locked on podcast Network your team every day well hello and welcome into this edition of lockdown capitals I’m so glad you decided to join me today as always this podcast is free and available on all the major platforms including the Sirius XM app and on YouTube and I want to thank you for making this your first listen each and every day my name is Dan Hol you can find me on Twitter it’s danc caps 218 you can find the show on Twitter it’s lockon caps and the best way that you can help grow the show is to subscribe to lockon capitals on YouTube and comment anything down below today’s episode is brought to you by Game Time download the game time app create an account and use code locked on NHL for $20 off your first purchase turn terms apply so in this edition of lockdown capitals Michael marzo of stars and sticks joins me once again as we talk about questions on the capitals Blue Line later we’ll talk about Alex oetkin and his future with the capitals what to expect from him in the fall and then we’ll talk about did TJ OSI play his last game with the capitals my conversation with Michael marzo is next talking about the defense and the blue line in particular that is something I think that needs to be addressed as well uh you saw situations where John Carlson was playing up to 30 minutes per game um he never complains but that’s not optimal for him that’s just asking for some sort of injury from him we saw how the capital struggled the season before when he took the puck off the head there uh in Winnipeg so what kind of um how should they address the blue line I mean we have Trevor van Rees Dy we have Rasmus sandine uh those kind of players Nick Jensen if I’m going to have a knee-jerk reaction I would say that Jensen and TVR uh would be two players I guess if they moved them out I wouldn’t be super bummed about and we saw how Alex Alexia played a bigger role as well and that’s just considering that we have Vinnie iorio those kind of players in the wings um how do you think the capitals and Brian mlen should address the Blue Line I’d say trade one or the other but don’t trade both of them because we saw how not having Nick Jensen impacted the capitals against the Rangers yeah that was a big thing wasn’t it there in the playoffs and sometimes you take these uh players for granted and uh Rasmus sandine if we remember he was the guy that they got the season before he is a part of the future along with Martin farari and we thought for a while Ethan bear even though we don’t really know that kind of uh evaporated there I guess we haven’t seen a bigger sample size so uh you don’t think that there’s any other big um pieces that need to move on the blue line I’m all things considered I’m pretty happy with it I think that uh goal scoring is the thing that needs to be addressed more than anything but for you the Blue Line maybe a tinker with it a little bit here or do you think it’s pretty good I’d say Tinker with it just just a tad Tinker with it just a tad because like you said there’s a lot of guys like vny iorio coming up in the wings and several other bears that I think can Shore it up yeah and that’s that’s the difficult position and you take a look at the capitals this past season at the trade deadline it was minus Anthony mantha and Joel Edmonson Joel Edmonson I guess I was a little upset about he was that rugged defenseman who also had the physicality and Anthony mantha yes that an anony mantha who was deplorable for this team for pretty much the entire duration except for this last season really stepped up and played a huge role uh you know and some people will say well I’m glad to have Anthony mantha’s contract off the books and all that kind of thing but he was he contributed on goals and if you take a look at it the capitals offensive lineup requires additional fire Firepower throughout the season DC only averaged 2.53 goals per game placing them fifth from the bottom in the NHL uh so you take a look at it your minus backr your minus ketov your minus uh Anthony mantha in particular where is this goal scoring going to come from I think it’s gonna come from Dylan stro who we just graded not too long ago CJ wrote about him it was a great piece definitely check it out stars and six.com it was good and he’s he hit it spot on by saying that he was the most consistent caps player I could see a 30 goal season from strome yeah it was kind of for the summer yeah and it was kind of surprising I think that the Chicago Blackhawks have to kind of be kicking themsel as they didn’t give him a qualifying offer and to start the season when Alex oetkin wasn’t involved in goal scoring uh Dylan stro was the guy who led the team in goals for a good chunk of the season all right so coming up here after the break we will talk about the future of TJ oosi did he in fact play his last game with the capitals all discuss Straight Ahead game time makes getting NBA Finals tickets even faster and easier prices on the game time app actually go down closer it gets to tip off with killer last minute deals all in prices and views from your seat and their lowest price guarantee game time takes the guest work out of buying tickets and it’s not just NBA tickets it’s also Nationals tickets so say you waited too long during the day to get Nationals tickets fear not as Nationals tickets and NBA tickets actually get cheaper close to game time so take the guest work out of buying NBA Finals tickets with Game Time download the game time app create an account and use code locked on NHL for $20 off your first purchase terms apply again create an account and redeem code LK d o n NHL for $20 off your first purchase download game time today last minute tickets lowest prices guaranteed are you watching Fox Sports or ESPN on your TV all day have to turn down the volume with all the shouting make the switch to lockon sports today a free 247 sports streaming Channel program for you every day to bring you the biggest stories without all the screaming lock on sports today brings you the can’t miss analysis opinions and news streaming 247 on YouTube or the free Amazon Fire TV channels app part of the locked on podcast Network your team every day uh talking here to Michael marzo of stars and sticks let’s talk about net minding that is something that gets a little bit more intriguing we have keer we have lingren Shephard and Stephenson uh taking a look at keer I know that he posted his worst num statistically this past season uh Charlie lingren the guy that kind of came out of left field you know a relatively unknown net minder before he came to the capitals and then you have Hunter Shephard and clay Stevenson two net minders that vacillated between number one and number two in the AHL there is a glut of talent not to mention gearen Borland and Mitchell Gibson and Antoine Keller we on the pipeline that the pipeline is full what tactic if you were are the GM if you were the GM of the team would you take with Darcy keer I knew this one was coming I knew this one was coming but I think what I would do with keer is similar to what Carberry did with mantha just try to tap into his potential and see if they can get value because with the KE keer numbers right now that’s bad trade value and I don’t see a single team wanting to take on that over five million cap pit but I would lingren slam dunk starting goalie opening night yeah and it’s a called position for keer I really feel for the guy because he said I actually work on breakdown day he said I worked on my game I just never had an opportunity to show how much I improved he had that one game that he got inserted back in there and played really well and we’re like wow keer played pretty well but I think they wanted to go for the sure thing uh with Charlie lingren because the capitals were kind of on the outside looking in I think at the end of the day if they could find a way to move him they would move him uh but let’s not forget who he is he is guy a couple of years ago won a Stanley Cup with the Avalanche and I think that when you look at Darcy camper in a vacuum this last season if you’re going to isolate everything else in his entire career he looks pretty bad but how about if you widen the leads a little bit and take a look at his career in total uh I just think that capitals fans got a bit carried away with Charlie lingren I know that he is a really great net minder but you know if we want to take a look at how people can change from year to year year take a look at Charlie lingren the year before was really big in the month of December and then faded away so are we all just drinking the Chucky Kool-Aid and was Darcy keer that bad um so what are your thoughts there I know that you said that Charlie lingren should be the number one is there any you know potential that they should try move him given the fact that he could yield a really huge return I would say no just because lingren was and I’m still drinking the Kool-Aid of lingren yeah I mean he was killer at at the World Championships I know they lost today but all things considered played pretty well yeah so I wouldn’t move Lind grin but I would potentially try to get value for keer depending on the way he plays kind of similar to mantha but definitely keep Shephard and Hershey because the Bears need him yeah it’s an interesting position for me I take a look at it so say Darcy got moved say Charlie moved and and you know a lot of people don’t want Charlie lingren out of here but I just keep thinking you know this guy is making like 1.2 million he’s got a year left uh that could go a long ways with obtaining that top six forward given the fact that they have Hunter shepher and Clay Stevenson down there that even if Charlie left they would have Hunter Shepard could pop up um it’s an interesting position but I think that the capitals fan or capitals and Brian mlen need to explore all options because it’s interesting we want we want this team to improve but what players are going to move out to facilitate uh something like that interesting questions for sure um this past season was a season of change as well uh for uh the capitals and Nick backr as he stepped away from hockey indefinitely a tough thing for capitals fans myself included uh he was instrumental on Alex oetkin and I think it’s a pretty safe thing to say that Alex oetkin would not be the player that he is right now if it wasn’t for a guy like Nick Backstrom he had the hippers surfacing procedure done um last summer he played in Sweden it seemed like everything was G you know going well and then the fall came started strong and then fell apart and then there was comments out there from Spencer carbury with his discontent with him and I think that he felt Conor McMichael kind of breathing down his back a little bit there and decided to step away from hockey in your estimation do you think we ever see Nick Backstrom play hockey for the capitals again sadly I don’t see it happening but I think Backstrom did say something in a Swedish interview that he was going to try and give it one more go and credit to him for trying to keep going because Backstrom is a fighter and that’s that’s pretty pretty cool and pretty powerful and I wish him the best in that and even if he steps away sorry I keep having contact lens issues but um it would be sad if that was his last game because he was barely noticeable in those eight games he only or might have been six games whichever the amount was he only had one assist and you know it just and seeing ketov on the ice after the comments he made it just it was just an awkward start to the season if to put it at best so I mean would you agree with that assessment that Alex oetkin would not be the player he is today without a player like Nick Backstrom serving up serving him up them sweet saucer passes uh no I think if stro can develop into that type of player on the top line then oetkin should be a okay yeah that is the Hope anyway that uh you know honestly that would be a really great thing that if backr uh could come back but I would be most surprised if he did uh one of the things I think I saw it in rmnb they were talking about an article there that they had said initially that there was some sort of Rift between Nicholas Backstrom and Spencer carber and he was pretty quick to point out that he has no bad blood with Spencer Carberry it was ultimately just about um not not playing well and his hip not responding as well as it should all right so coming up here after the break we will talk about the future of Nick Backstrom is there any possibility we see him play on the ice again and what to expect from the capitals in the fall I’ll discuss Straight Ahead um talking about the injuries and you know players that are getting older I think that uh you know they tried to hang on to this 2018 roster for as long as they can and the hard part is now they’re going to get nothing in return for Backstrom I mean nothing you’re not going to take an injured player with maybe if they traded him years ago they would have got a return and just okay we’ll talk about TJ Oshi next another guy that potentially may have played his last game uh we know he has back issues um being that you cover the capitals as well what are your thoughts on TJ oosi do you think he in fact played his last game of hockey or do you think he’ll try to take another goal at it in the fall so following Oshi for you know even Beyond when he was on the Caps he was on USA and he was really just lights out in the shootout I’ll never forget that moment just waking up early and seeing that seeing that game and seeing that happen and then the Caps getting him it was like magic thinking they were going to win the cup I do think the Oshi extension was important at the time because they don’t win that Cup in 2018 without him but I do think Oshi did play his last game but I hope I hope I’m wrong yeah I mean I hope so as well I mean I he’s an interesting player for me because I don’t think in any situation that I’ve ever seen that more people have come out and said such great things about a guy I mean rarely does that happen do you hear something where someone’s just like you know Tom Wilson and you know all the players the coaches are really saying his Praises so I I don’t think it’s necessarily just about what Oshi does on the ice I think it’s about what kind of person he is and kind of the leader so I do think that if he did in fact play his last game of hockey the capitals would miss him uh sorely so talking about the Hershey Bears here now uh we do know that they’re killing it in The Calder Cup and I think well on their way to winning another one I know it’s still a bit early but I think it’s possible what players in Hershey do you think are due for a promotion in the fall I think Ethan Frank is due and I recently wrote about him and there’s quickness to his game the way he passes the way he sets sets up the teammates I think Frank is the one that gets the big jump as far as forwards go and then on defense I’m excited to see Vinnie iorio develop yeah and I think like pick dubet is another one he was led the team uh in goals for a good chunk there and just all things considered you know the thing I love about the Bears is they get scoring up and down the lineup it’s from you know the upper aelon players to like the lower players on the team that I think the capitals could take a page from the Hershey Bears uh and and try to get uh more production from some of the other players and that team is being led by Todd Nelson and the hard part about this for me is I love what Todd does for the Hershey Bears and what he did last season and this season but I got a pretty good feeling that if he takes this team to all the way to the very end and even if he doesn’t he’s going to end up getting scooped up by another NHL team uh do you think that Todd Nelson gets scooped up by an NHL team here um or do you think he will continue the ride down in Hershey you know that’s a very interesting question because I think it hinges on what the Bears do because obviously everybody in Hershey and a lot of people outside of Hershey think the Bears are going to win the cder cup again and with the way the coaching Carell has worked out for the last several weeks and month mon as we all know following hockey I think Nelson does get an NHL shot somewhere I mean to repeat as CER Cup champions yeah and he’s no stranger he’s had experience coaching uh in the NHL but you know big shoes to fill we know Spencer Carberry we’ll talk about him here next uh he played or excuse me coached uh for the Hershey Bears also the Stingrays the Providence Bruins of course was an assistant coach up in Toronto as we take a look back on this past season I think that Spencer Carberry did a fine job I think that it took a while for his systems to be fully implemented and for the team to be buying in as we reflect back on the first season with Spencer Carberry behind the bench were you pleased or do you think there’s something that needs to change thumbs up I was riding the carber wagon from the very beginning I just felt like the way he cared about the players you know we all give couple of you know silly names to coaches like like nicknames Bruce Buro with Gabby I called Carberry carebear Carberry with the way he invests in the players and that’s the weirdest thing I will ever say on a podcast well I mean you take a look at him I think that he was the the right coach at the right time when Peter lvet was here when Barry trotz was here there was a mandate to win a Stanley Cup that was it and we want to go with the sure thing we want to go with the veterans well I think that Brian mlen and I think that you know Ted leonis and the team’s Brain Trust there they saw the direction that the NHL is going in it’s a league that’s getting younger and it’s getting faster and as the roster was getting older and older I think they finally said hey we went as far as we could possibly go with this roster let’s try to bring along some of the younger guys so I think that the Mandate this season had changed from winning a cup of course but let’s finally make good on that and bring along uh Conor McMichael and hendrik slop here uh do you think that that was the Mandate given to to Spencer carbury I think the Mandate was just to develop and to get back to the playoffs after missing the playoffs and it was an awkward breakup with Lavette because you had the drama with ketov and maybe other players that we didn’t even know about behind the the scenes but who knows but the whole Mandate of winning the cup that was the pressure that rean had to face after trots had to walk out the door yeah and so you know you take a look at it I talked about the transition from being an older team to slowly getting younger some of that was by Design and some of it was based on necessity uh after ketoff got dealt out to Carolina that opened up a door for laier uh and those kind of players and also scar Bosa as well he goty had a cup of coffee on the team this year so I think that sometimes things in life happen uh that open up doors or present opportunities uh so in a lot of ways it was kind of a rough thing that these some of these players stepped away but in a lot of ways I don’t know if scarb Bosa would have had an opportunity and perhaps L here may not have had as much of an opportunity do you agree I agree 100% so yeah it’s a difficult uh thing going forward to to know exactly how the capitals uh should handle this we do know that uh that uh the free agency is going to be coming up here on July 1st as it usually is here are there any players that uh you think that Brian mlen is going to circle or do you think that he should try to Target I got stuff in the works I’m still trying to figure that out on cap friendly but um I think what they got to go with is stamp Co baby they gotta go with stamp Co or someone someone they gotta go for the Home Run yeah that’s what I’m hoping for I’m hoping for some change listen Mich Michael I want to thank you for joining me on this edition of locked on capitals Why don’t you tell everyone where we can find your work yeah you can find my work on Stars uncore and sticks that’s our Twitter SLX handle and my personal handle is mar swago where I don’t just talk about the Caps I talk about DC Sports in general I had a good run you know writing about the Wizards for about eight seasons Denny I’d be a number of Seasons so definitely blessed and thankful for everything and definitely thankful to be on this and everything I appreciate for for having you come on the show and hopefully we’ll chat again this summer because it is a long summer and uh it’s fun to talk some capitals hockey even in these summer months all right once again I want to thank you for joining me on this edition of lock on capitals all right I want to thank Michael marzak one time of stars and sticks for joining me on this edition of lockon capitals and I want to thank all of you for joining me on this Edition as well your only daily yearr podcast covering the Washington Capitals and I want to thank all of you that listen on the audio side and watch this on YouTube you are ultimately what makes this show successful when you’re done here head on over to lockton’s 247 streaming channel available on the free Amazon Fire TV channels app and on YouTube all right once again I want to thank you for joining me on this edition of lockon capital part the locked on podcast Network your team every day my name is Dan homy and I’ll talk to you again next time

With: Michael Marzacco

Will Smith is reportedly set to sign with the Sharks, and that could likely lead to Ryan Leonard reevaluating his decision and choosing to go pro sooner rather than later.

Throughout this season, D.C. only averaged 2.53 goals per game, placing them fifth from the bottom in the NHL

Mac saying this team needs a top 6 forward

Unrestricted free agents: Max Pacioretty, Nicolas Aubé-Kubel

Restricted free agents: Connor McMichael, Beck Malenstyn, Mitchell Gibson

Defense/Blue line

Minus Anthony Mantha and Joel Edmundson

Kuemper/Lindgren/Shepard/Stevenson

Caps doing the unthinkable and making it to the playoffs and then getting eliminated in 4 games

-What went Wrong

Alex Ovechkin getting off to his slowest start Through the first 43 games of the season finishing with 31

That brought him up to 853 career goals, 41 shy of tying Wayne Gretzky’s record of 894.

Ovi catching Gretzky

Line shake ups led to a lack of chemistry with his centers

Promises made to Ovi about playing on a competitive team

Is this team competitive

Backstrom

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