Category: Capitals

Offseason Review – Washington Capitals

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It’s been an eventful two weeks for the Washington Capitals. If you’re like us here at DTC, you are just now getting over the sting of that upsetting loss. The Capitals appear to have moved on faster than us fans. Thankfully. Onwards and Forwards to next year. Critics claim the window is closing. They say our chance to hoist up the Stanley Cup is quickly fading. Try telling that to GM Brian MacLellan.

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First things first we have to discuss the resigning of T.J Oshie. The last two seasons were reason alone to offer up an 8yr/46mil contract. Thankfully the Capitals front office signed and secured him before he hit Free Agency. I’m sure another DC team wished they had done something similar….cough-Redskins-cough…Anyways, locking up Oshie right after losing Nate Schmidt was just what this fan base needed to see. Its evident that the front office is focused on keeping this team as competitors and fighting while we still can.

Speaking of Nate Schmidt, losing a defenseman is never easy. Especially when you think back to this year’s playoffs and how much help was needed. Currently we have 4 defensemen. Niskanen, Carlson, Orpik and Chorney. Orlov is also expected to resign, making the grand total 5. That leaves the Caps one defenseman short of three full pairs. A quality 7th is also a big need. If you don’t really know what any of that means, all you need to know is this — We need more defenseman on our damn team!

Enter the NHL draft. Once again, the Capitals front office is addressing needs and making fans everywhere take a deep breath. Within the span of 60 minutes, the Caps drafted 3 young defensemen. Tobias Geisser (4th round), Sebastian Walfridsson (5th round) and Benton Maass (6th round). The biggest pickup naturally being Geisser. Big frame, great 2-way defenseman, impressive mobility and owns a hard shot. Great for power plays. The only knock would be that he plays soft for how big his frame is. Hey, maybe he and Matt Jones can get together and discuss other similarities.

Without forgetting the final pick of the draft, the Caps drafted another winger. Kristian Roykas-Mathinsen from Norway. Good young player that shows plenty of offensive prowess. Overall the Caps have done enough to keep this fan satisfied. Now all that’s left is to figure out where Ovechkin disappears to during the playoffs.

Harper Fights Back, NHL & NBA Finals + Tiger Saga Continues…

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Harper gets hit and hits back while the NHL finals are underway (min13) with catfish on the ice. The NBA finals are finally here (min20) and Tiger continues to spiral downward (min45)… plus the guys discuss the BigBallerBrand getting crushed by a rival AAU team and multiple unintended references to the Wizards and Capitals… lots of topics, lots of banter, lots of information!

The Curse defeats D.C.

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This is not going to be a positive post. I will not look for any silver linings or say it was a good run. Washington D.C. sports has broken my spirit yet again. TWO game 7 losses in less than a week. If you ever doubted we are cursed as a city or that this blog/podcast was a joke, I assure it’s not. The better teams did not win their respective series. The Washington Capitals and Washington Wizards lost and I have no words of encouragement for anyone.

The Washington Wizards, who literally just lost game 7 in Boston, apparently did know that a bench presence or defense was going to be needed. Letting a 7ft pony tail wearing Kelly Olynyk take over the 4th quarter makes no sense. How Morris or Gortat couldn’t figure out their rotations or what to do boggles the mind. Isiah Thomas is trash. It was proven tonight. The lack of defense that allows consecutive three pointers from KELLY EFFING OLYNYK is not proof of the curse, it’s the definition of it.   John Wall going cold in a game 7 in the second half is the definition of the curse. The bench being outscored by again…KELLY EFFING OLYNYK is the definition of the curse. This team started the season with a trash defense and ended their season the same way.

Then you have the Caps. God I hate the Capitals. Easily the most disappointing franchise in Washington DC. Yes, that includes the Redskins. To have the best regular season record two years in a row and to lose to a lower seed team has become the norm. I don’t want to hear about how Ovechkin is the best scorer in all of hockey. He forgets it come important playoff games. When the season is on the line. Guess what, the Capitals forget how to play defense too. The window of opportunity is closing for this team. Maybe next year, if we suck during the regular season just enough, we can excel in the playoffs. (That was Sarcasm…it’ll never happen)

So where does that leave us? Where does that leave our City? Exactly where all of us subconsciously knew we’d be. Depressed. Thankfully we have the Nationals…with the second best record in the MLB. Sound familiar? It should. All that means is we’ll find a way to end the year with the best record and get disappointed in October. That disappointment will probably happen the same week that the Redskins find a way to lose a divisional matchup to a subpar team. It’s the DC way.

Like I said, this post isn’t going to find silver lining. I’ve thrown in the towel. Maybe the Redskins can restore a little faith in our city by locking up Kirk Cousins to a long term deal before the deadline in July. (Again, that was sarcasm.). Good night DC fans. We’ll open up a support group in October and December when the other two teams let us down.

Until then, screw the D.C. curse….and Kelly effing Olynyk.

DTC: Capitals Eliminated; Wiz Lose; DC Trifecta Fail

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The Capitals dropped game seven at Verizon Center while the Wizards went on the road to Boston but failed to get off the plane losing game five to the Celtics. The Nationals were able to come from behind to beat the O’s but like most DC sports fans, the Capitals season ending paired with the Wizards losing badly is just absolutely soul-crushing. Special guest Andrew joins Steve and Joe to discuss the rollercoaster of emotion fans are feeling in DC tonight.

C-A-P-S Charmed After Poor Start…

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Thursday nights hockey game was a big game. Not only for our local NHL team, but for the city as a whole. Up until puck drop, local media, fans, and haters were all talking about the Caps inability to show up in the playoffs. The Curse was being brought up every day it seemed.

Less than 10 minutes into game 1, the Caps were down 2-0. The phone booth was silent. A calm sea of red surrounded the ice. Nerves at an all time high. Lopsided this was not. The Caps came out sloppy. Poor puck handling on defense led to a team riddled with youth and inexperience outshoot the caps 10-3 in the second period.

This rang all too familiar to the loyalists. To see a team sit atop the league all year only to come out flat in the playoffs and drag us all through another upsetting series. But luck decided to sneak into the Verizon Center. Earlier in the week, LP, one of the DTC four, said on our podcast that he hoped for a slow start. We all attacked him right away. Why would ANYONE wish that on their team? The answer is simple. Nothing comes easy and don’t be cocky.

The Caps needed to have their backs against the wall. Even coach Trotz felt the same way. That bad start was important. Our team and our fans need to understand in the playoffs, no game is guaranteed. Thankfully we came out victorious. Thankfully Tom Wilson had THE SHOT OF THE YEAR to seal the game and send us to game two hyped and ready for another battle. Thankfully Mike Babcock had swallow his word about who is or is not of concern to his team.

Tonight’s game will be another challenge. The top line needs to perform and be more impactful. Ovechkin, Backstrom and Oshie need to settle into a groove. It’s too early in the series to question how the top line performs. These are big time players, and there is no better time to shine than in game two.