A few Empty thoughts on what's not right with the Washington Capitals

(It is important to note that this post was inspired by one 30-second commercial. Which is, of course, ridiculous and I fully own up to that.)

A seven game losing-streak. An anemic offense. Inconsistent goaltending. Things are...less than wonderful with the Capitals organization. What's wrong? Below are a few uneducated guesses.


With the gift of hindsight, Washington Capitals owner Ted Leonsis likely should have let General Manager George McPhee go at the end of the Dale Hunter experiment. Leonsis seems to be change-adverse, so no real surprise there. (See: Grunfeld, Ernie.) Caps head coach Adam Oates' preoccupation with playing skaters on their natural side also opened the door for the Fillip Forsberg/Martin Erat + Michael Latta trade, which really isn't looking so hot, to put it mildly.

Re: the defense, Mike Green is being paid like a #1 defenseman, but playing well below that level. His decisions are made just a beat too late, resulting in turnovers, and his shot, once a feared weapon, doesn't seem to be getting though traffic very much. And again, Oates' wanting natural side puck-moves has guys like the likely-too young Connor Carrick playing significant minutes - Jack Hillen's injury necessitates this. And while I prefer to let kids get experience in the A, the root of the problem is that when Hillen goes down with an injury and impacts your D corps this hard, you have a fundamental flaw in your strategy.

The forwards? Brooks Laich and Troy Brouwer - both counted on for scoring, and paid accordingly - instead have become anchors to Mikhail Grabovski, who has been one of the best two or three players on the team this season. I actually like the 3rd line, whomever is centering it, as Jason Chimera and Joel Ward have also played well. The 4th line's been fun - and I love me some Tom Wilson.

Oates' endless tinkering with the lines hasn't done much for cohesion of the forward group as a whole, it seems. Erat particularly looks lost and I see his request for a trade as reasonable, honestly.

The goaltending? Erratic. Don't know that the team trusts any of their young, talented-but-inconsistent netminders. Relying on three goaltenders who are all under the age of 26 hasn't routinely been a harbinger of success, though there are obvious exceptions.

So, Oates' lack of flexibility, three under-performing veteran forwards (Laich, Brouwer, Erat), rollercoaster goalie play, Green's regression and an injury to a 5'10" puck-moving defenseman are all large contributors to the mess in DC.

If the Caps make a change, I think they need to clean house in the front office all the way down to the coaching staff, though I'm pleased with the amateur scouting staff.

Now, how likely is that change to happen? That's where the commercial comes in.

Leonsis only seems to measure success by how full the building is now, and last night was the first time in years that I'd seen the Caps advertising individual and three game ticket plans during the game. It's possible I missed a few before, but I can't recall Wes Johnson's booming voice advising me of the fantastic deals I was passing up.

That seems to suggest for the first time in a long time that the Caps aren't a guaranteed sell-out any more. THAT, more than anything else may get Leonsis' attention. A leap of logic to be sure, but the bottom line certainly gets the owner's scrutiny - and if the Caps continue on this decline to the point where ticket sales are hurt substantially, that may be the true catalyst of change.