The Caps will focus on puck control under Spencer Carbury
...and other quotes from training camp that have caught my eye
Caps training camp is about a week old so you know what that means: time to overanalyze the little bit of info we have. While it’s still too early to have meaty discussions about the team’s performance or a player’s usage, there are a few quotes from training camp that have been particularly interesting.
The Caps will play a system that emphasizes puck control
This probably isn’t much of a surprise to those who have followed the hiring of Spencer Carbery as head coach. The Caps are expected to play a much more “modern” brand of hockey than they played under the previous regime. Still, it was interesting to hear Carbery talk about this in more concrete details after the first preseason game.
We had some really, really tough touches for long stretches of time where we just couldn’t get any rhythm to our game because it was constantly, we have it, here we go, give it back. Have it, give it back. Hit a guys’ skates, bounce everywhere. So that’s an area that we’ll look at. Hopefully that will clean itself up execution-wise as guys get more comfortable playing more games
Okay, obviously no team wants to give the puck to the other team. But the way Carbery spoke about this caught my eye. The context around Carbery citing the Caps giving the puck up reads to me as if he’s not a fan of plays such as chipping the puck off the glass to exit the defensive zone or dumping the puck into the offensive zone. Perhaps I’m reading too much into this, but I expect to see more controlled zone entries and exits this season.
Connor McMichael will play center, eventually…
One player that needs to take advantage of his opportunities this season is Connor McMichael. There’s no more excuses for his supporters (like me) to fall back on, such as the head coach didn’t play him enough. If McMichael fails to play big minutes under a second head coach, especially a coach who really seems to like him, the problem probably isn’t with the coach.
But, whatever minutes McMichael gets won’t be at center, his preferred position—at least initially. And this makes sense. After all, he’s not going to supplant any of the team’s top four centers as long as they are healthy. MacLellan spoke about this early in camp:
He might be playing wing to start but eventually we’re going to get him to center at some point. I don’t know the timeframe on it.
When will McMichael get his chance at center? Probably if Evgeny Kuznetsov, Dylan Strome, or Nick Backstrom miss time (I’d guess Protas would get the call if a fourth line center is needed). But my guess is McMichael doesn’t become a full time center until next season, as I’d bet either Backstrom or Kuznetsov is not back next season.
Brian MacLellan is singing a more positive tune about Nick Backstrom
Brian MacLellan is a pretty blunt guy, particularly for a GM. At the end of last season, he spoke openly about not being convinced that Backstrom can continue his career. I’m normally a fan of MacLellan’s communication style, but I didn’t think his approach was necessary here given what Backstrom has meant to this franchise.
In training camp, MacLellan was more diplomatic when talking about Backstrom:
He had a really good offseason. It’s all positive right now
Is this just GM speak? Probably! Even though Backstrom was really bad last season, I didn’t think there was any reason for the way MacLellan spoke publicly about him. I’d much prefer positive GM speak from MacLellan when it comes to his public comments on Backstrom.
It’s still early! And we’re still learning what the Caps may look like under their new head coach. But these are a few of the quotes that have caught my eye so far.