HockeyReluctant Boudreau preaching trap, plus 30 thoughts

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Washington coach Bruce Boudreau is implementing the trap for the first time in his coaching career. (Justin K. Aller/Getty Images)

It was their first meeting after a gruesome 7-0 loss to the Rangers on Dec. 12.

"We had a day off after that game," said Brooks Laich, after the Capitals won the Winter Classic.

"I remember thinking we were going to get a visit from the GM when we got back."
Instead, they got a message from head coach Bruce Boudreau. Something along the lines of: "Guys, we're going to play the trap." It is the first time in his coaching career Boudreau's used it.

The trap is hockey's Kardashian sister: annoying, dull, something you wish would go away quickly. However, it's very difficult to win without using some variation of it in the new speed-kills NHL. You need a perfect roster and, after that New York skunking, good on Boudreau for realizing he didn't have one.

Prior to that defeat, the Capitals played a "man-to-man" type of defence in the neutral zone. The problem came when one of them was beaten on a defensive assignment. Actually, it didn't have to be a mistake, it could be even be something accidental, like a player falling.

One mishap meant the entire system was blown.

It becomes a bigger issue when quickness is a problem. With Scott Hannan, Jeff Schultz and John Erskine on the blue-line, they just weren't able to lessen the gap between them and the forwards.

If the guys up front were beaten, the opposition attack had plenty of room to gather speed before hitting the defenceman. It was a recipe for defeat.

The Capitals lost two more after the New York blowout, but saw a change. Since then, it's been nine points out of a possible 10, including their Winter Classic clampdown of the Penguins.

Boudreau made one other change - on the weakside of defensive coverage - but wouldn't discuss that one. Give him credit, though. To win, you have to be flexible and adaptable. By embracing the trap, Boudreau gives Washington a better chance when it matters.

Even if he hates it.

30 THOUGHTS

1. What a group of young men, the Cole Harbour Wings. Their coach, Paul Mason, who had Sidney Crosby as a peewee, is a heckuva guy, too.

2. Would love to know what Jose Theodore thinks of Washington's new system. Remember asking him once what it was like playing goal for the run-and-gun Capitals. He looked up and said, "I've never been on a team that gives up as many chances as this one."

3. Jim Rutherford - a huge fan of Alexander Ovechkin's - believes Ovechkin is making a conscious effort to save himself for the playoffs. The Great 8 denies it, but Rutherford isn't the only one who feels that way. One of the reasons I think the Hurricane GM may be right: when asked about his lower goal totals, the Russian forward said, "It can change like that" and snapped his fingers. It would be foolish to write him off.

4. Ovechkin did say one of the reasons for his lower goal total is that he's still getting used to a newer way of defending him: defencemen backing up to cut off his move to the middle, with hard back pressure from forwards. It's the style Team Canada devised for him at the Vancouver Olympics and everyone's doing it now.

5. Couldn't help but think Sidney Crosby was hurt much more than he let on from that hit by David Steckel. The reason? Pittsburgh's monumental screw up at the end of the game when Marc-Andre Fleury went to the bench and no one jumped on the ice. Craig Simpson made the key point: if Crosby is not on the ice (and he wasn't) he's got to be the extra man. I'd bet none of the coaches noticed the problem because they figured Crosby would've gone on himself. That guy never misses anything, which is why I think he was woozy.

6. Crosby changed his skate sharpening for the outdoor game. He normally had a 7/16th hollow, which is very deep. But, with the ice so soft, he went to 11/16th. Teams were really worried about groin injuries, but it is extremely unusual for him to tamper with anything.

7. The respect level for Crosby is growing so much that even the Flyers grudgingly admit how good he's become. When Philly beat Pittsburgh 3-2 on Dec. 14, Peter Laviolette put together a line that never played together previously - Mike Richards, Claude Giroux, Andreas Nodl. Why? They are his three most competitive forwards. As another Flyer said, "The shift you take off against him is the one that beats you."

8. Both Boudreau and Mike Knuble said it was an out-of-body experience watching their big moments on HBO. Boudreau was thrown by how much he swore and is making a conscious effort to cut down. Knuble's speech came on the night the Capitals ended their losing streak. "It's not scripted," he said. "You really have no idea what you're saying. It just comes out." Knuble said the ugly scores of some of their recent games were written on the dry-erase board behind the camera.

9. Larry Brooks of The New York Post wrote about Central Park being a possible site for a Winter Classic in NYC. It's been discussed, and would really be something else. The costs would be enormous, the profits less than the NHL is used to receiving from this event, but the exposure would be incredible. I'd love to see it.

10. The league does a really good job with the event now, but the players deserve credit, too. In Edmonton, it was freezing and the ice was brittle. The Oilers/Canadiens agreed it was important, and went out there. Saturday, the rain was coming in sideways during the third period, but the Penguins/Capitals just played through.

11. Dan Craig's ice crew removed more than 4,000 gallons of water from the ice from 6 am-6 pm ET Saturday. A few of you asked via twitter, why no tarp? Ice gets too hot underneath it and melts.

12. Next year, Jan. 1 is a Sunday. Will the NHL want to go head-to-head with the NFL, even if the final weekend games are as bad as they were Sunday?

13. Cassie Campbell-Pascall, watching the game from Calgary, made an interesting point. By switching sides at the 10-minute mark of the third period, the goalies have a longer skate to get to the bench for the extra man. Wonder if the coaches would want the long change in the first half of the period, rather than the second.

14. Okay, let's do some non-Winter Classic stuff: The aftermath in Calgary is really ugly. Sounds like Darryl Sutter wanted to fire brother Brent as head coach, but ownership decided to remove him instead. Scott Oake reported that, as of Saturday, Darryl had refused to talk to Brent or replacement Jay Feaster. Jarome Iginla did have a brief conversation with the former GM.

15. Seen a few articles indicating the Dion Phaneuf deal really hurt Sutter's standing. Disagree. Sutter needed to make a bold move to clean up the Flames' contract mess, and that trade gave him the chance to do it. But signing Matt Stajan and trading for Ales Kotalik ruined the opportunity. That's where it really went off the rails.

16. Quietly, the NHL cleared Paul Devorski of any wrongdoing in last week's weird Columbus incident. From what I understand, there was an acknowledgement that he did laugh at the taunting, but no errant finger. "He'd get fired if he did that," I was told.

17. If, and I stress IF, Ottawa decides to make a change, there are rumblings about Dave Cameron. There is logic to it, as Eugene Melnyk owns Mississauga St. Michael's, where Cameron coaches. But, Melnyk badly wants to win the Memorial Cup (which the Majors will host) and moving Cameron before the off-season hurts that.

18. Can't help but look at Ottawa and wonder about The Trades That Weren't: Dany Heatley for Dustin Penner/Ladislav Smid/Andrew Cogliano and Wade Redden for Matt Carle/Steve Bernier/another prospect.

19. Four games in a row for PK Subban, all with more than 21 minutes played. The Canadiens should decide to keep this up, or just send him to Hamilton. If the AHL is the choice, the organization should make it very clear: this is what we want to you to learn. Otherwise, it's a wasted exercise.

20. On that topic, one thing that must change: the belief that any player sent to the minors early in their careers is somehow a failure. That goes especially for Nazem Kadri and Bobby Butler. It's way too early.

21. Apparently, Steve Yzerman's goaltending choice was either Dwayne Roloson or Evgeni Nabokov. He chose Roloson partially because - after Nashville claimed Marek Svatos - he wasn't sure he would get Nabokov through waivers.

22. I'd love to tell you the Capitals' general reaction, because it was pretty funny. But the one word is somewhat unprintable on a family website. Let's just say they have a healthy respect for Roloson.

23. Pierre LeBrun reported on Hotstove that the Maple Leafs are shopping Kris Versteeg. That was quick. The issue? Next summer, he'll have to be qualified at $3.1 million US. That's a high number for someone who might best be suited for the third-line role he had in Chicago.

24. Senators prospect Brad Peltz scored a goal last week as Yale University beat a young Russian all-star team, 5-3. Peltz's father, Nelson, is interested in buying the New York Islanders. Word is that Charles Wang will decide his own future after the season.

25. Garth Snow got annoyed when reporters asked him about the Islanders tanking the season following the Wisniewski/Roloson trades. Snow didn't do too badly for the Islanders' future, but you can't blame fans for getting annoyed at the present.

26. Won't be too long before the Sabres announce Terry Pegula as their new owner, with approval to come at the Board of Governors meeting during the all-star weekend. Will he make a definitive statement of the futures of Darcy Regier and Lindy Ruff? A few GMs are wondering if Ruff will be available this summer.

27. The Chris Osgood Hall Of Fame debate is kind of silly, primarily because of the way hockey's voting works. The only opinions that matter are those of The Mysterious 18, the guys who vote in secret. If Osgood has a champion in there, he's got a shot.

28. Guy Carbonneau thought Maxim Lapierre could be a 21st century version of himself. Clearly, Jacques Martin disagreed. Will the Western Conference hate him as much as the East does?

29. That's a brutal injury for Ryan Whitney, one of the NHL's really good guys, who was re-discovering his game. In Pittsburgh, he was victim to a tremendous practical joke. At the team's year-end party following the 2007 season, players tried to stuff a fish in Ryan Malone's car. He found out, and moved it into Whitney's. Of course, Whitney didn't find it for days. Can you imagine that stink? I think he'd take another fish over the injury, though.

30. Don't know how many of you are Howard Stern fans, but my wife has the audiobook of producer Gary Dell'Abate's They Call Me Baba Booey. There are a couple of pretty good Wayne Gretzky stories from when Dell'Abate was an intern on Islanders broadcasts. Nothing too crazy, though.

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