Courtesy: Zimbio.com
ARLINGTON, Va. — Before the Washington Capitals take on the Columbus Blue Jackets Saturday Night, their lineup will be shaken up a bit.
After a 2-5-0 start through the first seven games of the 82-game NHL marathon — 2-0-0 against teams from Canada; 0-5-0 against United States opponents — Caps head coach Adam Oates realizes that changes needed to be made.
“I know we talk a lot about chemistry and that’s important,” Oates told reporters at the Kettler Capitals Iceplex. “I just felt a couple guys weren’t playing good enough for the minutes they are getting and they need to know that. It could be a short-term change but we had to make a couple changes.”
The guys he was addressing were Mikhail Grabovski, Eric Fehr and Martin Erat.
In regards to Grabovski, he will be removed from the second line and placed on the third line as he will be replaced by Martin Erat. Erat’s replacement on the fourth line will be a partial role for forward Eric Fehr. With the move to the third line for the 29-year-old Grabovski, Laich will be the center man for the second unit.
The only move that comes as a bit of a surprise was Grabovski as he has shown in the first seven games not only an ability to contribute on the offensive end, especially on the power play, but he has demonstrated great effort to forecheck, backcheck and create high-energy plays for the Capitals. That being said, Erat has been wasted on the fourth line and Oates may be receiving some heckling from Washington’s general manager George McPhee for not giving Martin his due diligence for ice time. After all, the Capitals did trade former first-round pick Filip Forsberg for the winger and he has battled injuries and made a minimal impact thus far since his arrival in D.C. He has the talent, just has to put it all together and stay healthy.
Wilson will remain in D.C. for the rest of the Washington Capitals 2013-14 season
One move that was made and could be a step in the right direction was the decision to keep forward Tom Wilson with the club for the rest of the 2013-14 season.
Oates has said that the 19-year-old has certainly impressed and isn’t playing like a teenager. Given his position on the fourth line, he is asked to be a grinder, provide physicality when necessary and give 200% each and every shift.
I asked Oates about Wilson’s role on this team following Washington’s last win over the Edmonton Oilers Monday night.
“That’s one of his strengths,” Oates in response to a question of physicality with Wilson. “It’s one of his elements that he brings to the table. He’s not getting as many minutes as we would like him to get, but he’s a force out there when he gets out. That’s kind of their line’s job.”
Tom has done his job quite well and has sparked some energy in this club with various fighting efforts already this season. Oates has said that he’d rather see Wilson go through the growing pains of an NHL season as a rookie, than development bad habits at Hershey with the Bears, where he might score more goals, but against less polished defenders.
When Wilson received the news that he would remain with the club for the year, needless to say, he was ecstatic.
“I was just called in and spoke to Adam and George,” Wilson said. “It really could have gone one of two ways… it was good news for me for sure.”
You have to wonder what goes through the mind of a young player when they have to have a meeting with a coach. Immediate thoughts are probably that they’ve screwed up somehow, but the confidence that Oates instills in this team leaves guys like Wilson to follow his leadership successfully.
“At first, I was like ‘Maybe, [Oates] wants to talk about tomorrow night, a system or something,'” Wilson told reporters. “Then, George joined him and I was like ‘Uh oh, this might not be good.’ Then, fortunately for me, it was good news and they’re going to keep me around every day. But, [I] never want to get too comfortable.”
Washington could use the physical play and high-energy from a young gun like Wilson to keep the guy energized on the bench and when the Capitals play at home, the crowd. The Capitals will take on the Columbus Blue Jackets Saturday night. Columbus is winless in their last three meetings against the boys in red as Washington was victorious in their last meeting dating back to Dec. 31, 2011. Since Columbus’ inception into the NHL in 2000, the Caps boast a 9-3-1-1 record against the new Eastern Conference and Metropolitan Division opponent.
