2/27, 1:42 AM - Capitals top Wild, 4-1
Capitals 4, Wild 1
One of the worst fears a general manager has when he bring in new players at the trade deadline is that it’s going to have an adverse effect of his team’s chemistry. Well none of the Capitals new additions have arrived yet, but the team ce
rtainly seemed enthused as they came out and played one of their most focused and crisp games in recent memory, picking up a 4-1 behind a four point effort from Brooks Laich.
The addition of the several new players was not entirely without controversy however, as the issue of where the acquisition of Cristobal Huet puts current Capitals goalies Olaf Kolzig and Brent Johnson. Despite what Versus commentators Keith Jones and John Vanbiesbrouck seem to think, I doubt Olie is still the number one in Washington as I just can’t see a team trading for a goalie who’s tied for 11th in the league in save percentage and going to become a free agent with the intention of having him back up the goalie with the worst save percentage in the entire league (rank: 43rd).
I also doubt Jones’ assessment that Kolzig would be a given a chance to show he’s the number one and that Kolzig would step up his game under competition and pressure. Kolzig has had the chance to prove he’s still a number one all season, and has even seen the bulk of the playing time although his save percentage has languished at or near the bottom of ranked goalie for much of the season. I doubt he will turn things around with the acquisition of Huet - if Kolzig were going to elevate his game at a crucial time, he most likely would have already done it as the team fig
hts for a playoff spot. And again, despite what Jones seemed to think, I don’t think Olie is going to get a ton more chances for what he has done for the team over the years. And that’s not a problem
If Cal Ripken still wanted to play baseball, would the Orioles put him in the lineup every day based on his past achievements? If Darrell Green wanted to play football would the Redskins still send him out to cover the opposing teams number one receiver? If Peter Bondra still wanted to play in the NHL would the Capitals play him on the first line and ask him to quarterback the powerplay? Of course not. No matter how great a player is in their prime, their comes a point at which they’re no longer good enough to be their team’s go-to guy, or even to earn a place in the starting lineup. I believe Kolzig has reached that point and while the Capitals should still treat him with class, retire his number and offer him a front office job when he officially hangs them up, it doesn’t make sense, nor is it fair to the fans or the other players, to put the team in a position where it’s more likely to lose just to pay back one man for what he has done for the team. It makes sense to admire, respect and have sympathy for Olaf Kolzig as a man, but it should affect hockey personnel decision to a small degree. George McPhee knows this, and I’m willing to bet Bruce Boudreau does too.
DMG’s 3 Stars
(1) Brooks Laich - 2 goals, 2 assists, +4
(2) Olaf Kolzig - 34 saves on 35 shots (.971 save percentage)
(3) Eric Fehr - 1 goal, +4
Quotable
“I was shocked, because I didn’t think it was broken, the goaltending here”
-Brent Johnson on the trade for Cristobal Huet. The Capitals are ranked 29th of 30 NHL teams in the save percentage this season.
Quick Hits
- In addition to Laich and Fehr, Tomas Fleischmann was a +4.
- What was with Vanbiesbrouck’s weird obsession with trying to convince everyone that Alex Semin and Alex Ovechkin look a whole lot alike?
- I’ll never understand how the NHL keeps track of hits, because the scoresheet says the Caps only had 10 (led by Milan Jurcina’s three).
- The Capitals were very crisp, rebounds didn’t seem to pose the same threat, there weren’t a lot of good chances for the Wild right in the front of the Caps net…and John Erskine was a healthy scratch. Somehow I don’t think this is a coincidence.
- Each team had as many fighting penalties as all other penalties.
1) The VBK Semin-AO look alike mentions were very odd! To say it once was silly. To say it over and over showed that he perhaps isn’t all that bright/observant?
2) The caps now have a quandry. No matter how they try to dress it, the 3 goalie situation is going to be awkward. Huet we agree will have to play the lions share of remaining games. Can Ollie be effective as the #2 guy? He looked like a #1 last night!
3) Johnson, barring injury, probably won’t see much action and bide his time until next year when he’ll again be backup to Huet. In the mean time, its going to be interesting how this goalie dynamic unfolds.
4) Else GMGM did a great job yesterday. Cooke for Pettinger is a great move. The Caps needed a guy like that. Feds should help solidify the team with 2 solid scoring lines. Too bad the Devils didn’t help you guys out last night!
(1) Yeah, I don’t know was up with that…it’s not like if you just keep saying it it’s going to somehow become true!
(2/3) The Caps have 19 games left; my guess would be that Huet will play 11 or 12, Kolzig 5 or 6 and Johnson 1 or 2 to stay fresh. I agree - Huet is the starter now (or should be at least), Kolzig is the #2 and Johnson is a reserve.
(4) McPhee really impressed me - he was able to address 2 of the team’s 3 biggest holes and did so without giving up all that much. I am thrilled about Cooke because although the Caps have some tough guys (Bradley, Laing, Brashear), they don’t have someone who will run around and drive the opposition nuts all game. It’s going to be good for Pettinger too - he just couldn’t get going here this year and going back home to Western Canada should help him
DMG - a little ironic that you post: “I doubt he will turn things around with the acquisition of Huet - if Kolzig were going to elevate his game at a crucial time, he most likely would have already done it ” and “DMG’s 3 Stars
(1) Brooks Laich - 2 goals, 2 assists, +4
(2) Olaf Kolzig - 34 saves on 35 shots (.971 save percentage)” in the same blog don’t you think?
I do think it’s ironic, but I still stand by it because
(1) It’s just one game and to assume Kolzig will be lights-out because Huet arrived doesn’t make any more sense than expecting Brooks Laich to become a point-per-game player based on his performance last night because he’s inspired by the trades. It’s such a small sample size and I don’t think the fact that Olie had a good night against a poor offensive team means he’s necessarily back and
(2) since January 1, when the Caps beat Ottawa to sweep the season series, Kolzig has a .892 save percentage which, if extrapolated for the whole season, would put him at 41st among NHL goalies. If Kolzig were going to step things up under pressure, shouldn’t he have put better than a .863 save percentage in January?
(3) In February, Kolzig has played well but he’s also had at least two games off between appearances; when Boudreau was riding him hard Kolzig’s save percentage was around .860; one he went to 60/40 or so with Johnson, it’s gone back up. Thus, if Kolzig plays well down the stretch it’s my opinion that it’s because of the additional rest he’s getting, not his competitive drive bringing him to a higher level. Kolzig can still play in the NHL, just not as often, or as consistently well, as a number one goalie should.
I think he’s referring to the consistency which has been the issue for Kolzig. We have seen several great performances, some terrible ones, then many ones where he played fine and then left a softy in ( I.E NYI game last week).
He was def a star last night though…
The issues with Kolzig are consistency and age, and the two are related.
The NHL median for save percentage is .910. Prior to going to the 60/40 split with Johnson, Kolzig only once this year had two game in a row with a save percentage of .900 or higher - the first three games of the season. Since his reduction in playing time Kolzig has performed better.
As I noted a while back I still Kolzig is a decent goalie, but whether it’s fatigue or a diminished skill set, I don’t think he’s good enough night in and night out to be an ideal goalie for a playoff team and is really rather best served in a backup or platoon role. I’d rather have Olie play in 40% of the Caps games and play well (especially is the other option is Huet) than have him play in 80% of their games and be one of the worst goalies in the league. To return to my analogy with other sports: once he got older Darrell Green was no longer a shutdown corner but he was a very useful nickel back who could spell the starting corners if need be - I think that’s about the point Olie’s at in his career.