March 22, 2007
What Washington Capitals Team Do You See?
I know I'm a day late when it comes to reacting to this Dave Fay column from the Washington Times that takes the entire Washington Capitals organization to task for the way the team has played this season. I could go into details, but both Japers' Rink and OFB have rebutted his charges point by agonizing point.
There are really only two ways to see this team. If you're like Fay, it's a hopeless train wreck, with mistake being piled atop of mistake with no hope of rescue.
For others, and I count myself among them, there was no easy way out of the situation the Caps found themselves in back in 2004. A salary purge and a commitment to developing the talent in the system was really the only choice that they had going into the lockout.
Last I looked, that was just three years ago. And last I looked, I'm having a hard time remembering any team that went through a similar salary purge in the NHL being able to turn things around any faster. Toss in the travesty of the 2005 NHL Entry Draft, and the Caps are about as far along in the development process as can reasonably be expected.
So what the process needs now, and granted some folks don't have much of it to spare these days, is patience. Want to see what I mean? Check out this post from Mike Vogel that looks at winger Tomas Fleischmann.
If you want to find out if a young kid can play, you have to let them play. That means giving them ice time, and tolerating failure and frustration in the short run in the hopes a player who can take a regular shift in the NHL comes out the other side.
Like it or not, the process can't be rushed, painful as it may be.
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05:47 AM