Premeditated Blame
Last night was the Washington Capitals first game, out of an unknown string of games, without Alex Ovechkin. Without their highest scorer, and facing Marty Brodeur, putting the puck in the back of the net was bound to be a challenge. As many sports analysts were saying and writing before the game, defense would be key. Like my mom used to say, “It doesn’t matter how many goals your team scores, if the other team scores one more.” I was playing as a goalie at the time. It was not particularly comforting advice. Given that, I assumed that Coach Bruce Boudreau would start veteran goalie Jose Theodore. He’s been playing well and while Semyon Varlamov has also been playing well in his starts, I would say that Theo has been exhibiting a little more poise and confidence.
I was a bit surprised then, when I read that Varly was the first goalie off the ice at morning skate–an indication that he would start in net against the Jersey Devils. I thought about this for a few minutes; wondering what Boudreau’s logic was behind that call. Maybe it was because Theo was in goal against the Devils at the last game, in which Washington fell to New Jersey in a shoot-out. Maybe he wanted to put Varly in what would certainly be a harsh environment–an away game, against a good team, minus a forward who does an excellent job of keeping the puck near (and many times in) the opposing crease–to toughen him up. But I think Coach Boudreau implements strategy more deeply than that; because it may not be about simply winning a hockey game. Of course the ideal outcome would have been for the Caps to come out strong and soundly defeat the Devils without the help of Ovechkin, but that’s nowhere near a sure bet. Even with him in the lineup, cracking Brodeur is no guarantee. I don’t think it’s unreasonable to come up with a best-case, worst-case scenario.
What I mean by that is, if the worst happens and the Caps lose, it would be preferable to lose in the best way possible–a way that minimizes how much other teams, as well as the Capitals team themselves, can use the lack of Ovechkin as a reason why they lost. The goal is to disprove the notion that Ovechkin carries the team. It’s obviously important for the team to know this in order to stay confident, but it’s also obviously important for other teams to know this. They can’t come out on the ice worried just about playing against Ovechkin, they need to worry about playing the Washington Capitals. So it’s necessary then, to shift as much blame away from the team as a whole as possible. It’s difficult when players who are expected to come out strong are not performing as well as they should. Green, Semin, and Backstrom don’t seem to be picking up the slack as much as last season and so something needs to distract from that. Hence, my theory as to why Boudreau chose to start Varly.
Protecting Theo.
For a game that requires as much defense as this one, the goalie is the very last line. I feel as if the goalie needs to be one of the most frightening figures on the ice. Theo is the older, more experienced, veteran goalie who the opposing team needs to be afraid of. If he is put out in the first Ovechkin-less game of the season and suffers a loss, you don’t want your opponent to feel good about beating your big guy. If Varly suffers the loss, the mindset is somewhat different: they think, okay, we beat the kid playing an away game. They have to think about what that ultimately means to their team and how much weight that carries in terms of confidence building. Varlamov is a good goalie and everyone knows how well he looked during the play-offs last season, but he’s still the #2 guy for right now.
Making Theo shine.
On top of that, starting Varly on Wednesday means that Theo may likely start on Friday against the Panthers. This is an away game as well, but against a much weaker team. Florida is 4th down from the Caps in their division and over 20th down in the league. That game, which ought to be easier, will put another win under Theo’s belt and make his stats look that much better–especially when looking at his numbers with regard to away games. Again, the point is to keep the #1 goaltender on top.
Returning to Varly.
The Caps are playing Florida back-to-back and the second night is a home game. Put Varly in net in a more familiar home game, ideally against a team that lost the night before, and end the mini-series 2-0, it just makes the Capitals look good. Which is the point–to look good without Ovechkin.
Yeah, it seems a little mean to try and pin a potential loss on Varlamov. But the most important thing right now is to keep the team’s head above water. Sometimes it makes the team look a little better if all the shortcomings can be blamed on the most expendable player. Unfortunately for him, I suspect that to be Varly right now. It’s even apparent when Boudreau vocally places blame on him for letting in “soft” goals when all the analysts I watched last night had nothing but praise for him and disdain for the rest of the team.
None of this is to try and diminish Ovechkin’s importance to the team. He is most certainly the anchor and the motor of the ship; he can do things that nobody else on that team, or any other team in the league, can do. But to further a bad metaphor, the ship needs to raise it’s sails. The Caps are a good team and while they may not be able to replace Ovechkin, they are most definitely talented enough to compensate for his absence. What has to happen now is to prove this to the league and to themselves any was possible. This way, when Ovi comes back (hopefully sooner than later), the rest of the NHL will really have something to be worried about.