breaking down the caps’ 10-point plan

(photo by Clyde Caplan)

Three years ago, Washington Capitals owner Ted Leonsis was kind enough to articulate his 10-point plan to rebuilding a franchise to my buddies over at Hogs Haven.

This plan was the blueprint used by the Caps in their quest to raise Lord Stanley’s Cup for the first time in franchise history, and if nothing else, elevated the local hockey team from doormat to one of the league’s most exciting teams.

Unfortunately, as any D.C. sports fan can see, all is not well with Ted’s hockey team.

During what players openly acknowledged as a “make or break” four-game road stretch, the Caps went 1-3 while being outscored 13-5.

In fact, the Capitals have just five wins in their last 16 games, which is clearly not the way a team fighting to make it into the postseason should be playing down the stretch.

Through 60 games, Washington has 29 wins and 31 losses on the year and currently sits in 10th place in the Eastern Conference, so it’s tough to believe that even if everyone got healthy overnight this season is going to end in anything other than disappointment.

Not only that, but seemingly every player on the roster is going through a season-long slump and questions surround each of the supposed pillars the franchise is built on.

And let’s not forget the Capitals have already fired one coach – canning the most successful coach in franchise history, Bruce Boudreau, back in November – and the new coach, Dale Hunter, doesn’t have a contract for next season.

Clearly, this team is at a crossroad.

With that in mind, I wanted to take a look back at the owner’s 10-point plan to see just how concerned Caps fans should be about the state of the franchise.

Is it truly time to panic or is this just an unfortunate bump in the road? Here’s what the blueprint says:

1. Ask yourself the big question: “Can this team — as constructed — ever win a championship?” If the answer is yes — stay the course and try to find the right formula — if the answer is no, then plan to rebuild. Don’t fake it — really do the analytics and be brutally honest. Once you have your answer, develop the game plan to try to REALLY win a championship. Always run away from experts that say, “We are just one player away.” Recognize there is no easy and fast systemic fix. It will be a bumpy ride — have confidence in the plan – “trust and verify: the progress — but don’t deviate from the plan.”

From a production standpoint, captain Alex Ovechkin is a shell of his former self. He’s also widely believed to have quit on Boudreau, which is why a coaching change was made. His best friend, Alexander Semin, is a head case who enjoys long walks on the beach and taking dumb penalties at the worst-possible time. Mike Green is never healthy for more than 10 minutes at a time and Nicklas Backstrom, the team’s best player this season, has no clue when he’ll rejoin the team thanks to a concussion.

These are your four highest-paid players and yet, none of this inspires confidence. If management really does decide to be brutally honest as Leonsis said, then can they really believe this team can win a Stanley Cup with these four players as the cornerstones?

I think we all know the depressing answer.

2. Once you make the decision to rebuild — be transparent. Articulate the plan and sell it loudly and proudly to all constituencies, the media, the organization, the fans, your partners, family and anyone who will listen. Agree to what makes for a successful rebuild — in our case it is “a great young team with upside that can make the playoffs for a decade and win a Stanley Cup or two.”

Again, does the team that has underachieved for 60 games this season seem capable of making the playoffs for the next decade? Do these players seem ready and able to win a Stanley Cup or two?

Not looking good for the home team.

3. Once you decide to rebuild — bring the house down to the foundation — be consistent with your plan — and with your asks — we always sought to get “a pick and a prospect” in all of our trades. We believed that volume would yield better results than precision. We decided to trade multiple stars at their prime or peak to get a large volume of young players. Young players will get better as they age, so you have built in upside. Youngsters push vets to play better to keep their jobs, and they stay healthier, and they are more fun — less jaded by pro sports.

General manager George McPhee continues to believe this team has the pieces to compete with the NHL’s elite. He’s on record as saying the Caps are undefeated this season when healthy. While it’s great to cling to that 8-0 record, I find it more than a little troubling that this team’s architect is essentially asking everyone involved to ignore 52 games worth of evidence suggesting the Caps are mediocre at best.

If I’m being “brutally honest,” I think that’s bullshit.

4. Commit to building around the draft. Invest in scouting, development, and a system. Articulate that system and stay with it so that all players feel comfortable — know the language — know what is expected of them — read the Oriole Way. It worked and it is a great tutorial. Draft players that fit the system, not the best player. Draft the best player for the system. Don’t deviate or get seduced by agents, media demands, or by just stats or hype. Envision how this player will slide into your system.

Man, everything sounded great … right up until that point about making sure you acquire players who fit the system. I think it’s safe to say these players are best suited to play run-and-gun hockey. Many of them thrived in Boudreau’s aggressive offense and none of them look comfortable in Hunter’s more defensively-minded system.

Either the Caps have an entire roster of players who don’t fit the current system or they picked the wrong coach. Your choice. But one way or the other, there’s clearly a disconnect between the players and the system.

5. Be patient with young players — throw them in the pool to see if they can swim. Believe in them. Show them loyalty. Re-sign the best young players to long term high priced deals. Show the players you are very loyal to them as compared to free agents who achieved highly for another team. Teach them. Celebrate their successes. Use failures as a way to teach and improve. Coaches must be tough but kind to build confidence.

Youngsters such as Marcus Johansson, Mathieu Perreault, Dmitri Orlov, John Carlson, Karl Alzner, Michal Neuvirth have gotten plenty of ice time this season. Can’t be upset with this one.

6. Make sure the GM, coach, owner and business folks are on the EXACT same page as to deliverables, metrics of success, ultimate goal, process and measured outcomes. Always meet to discuss analytics and don’t be afraid of the truth that the numbers reveal. Manage the outcomes. Manage to let the GM and coach NOT be afraid of taking risks, and make sure there are no surprises. Over communicate. Act like an ethnic family — battle around the dinner table — never in public. Be tight as a team. Protect and enhance each other. Let the right people do their jobs.

There’s no real way of knowing what kind of relationship Leonsis and McPhee have. It’s safe to assume they’re close and speak often and by all accounts the owner has definitely stayed out of the way and let him general manager do his job.

When the day comes for a fall guy to be held responsible, we all know who is going to be looking for employment elsewhere.

7. No jerks allowed. Implement a no jerk policy. Draft and develop and keep high character people. Team chemistry is vital to success. Make sure the best and highest paid players are coachable, show respect to the system, want to be in the city, love to welcome new, young players to the team, have respect for the fan base, show joy in their occupation, get the system, believe in the coaches, have fun in practice, and want to be gym rats. Dump distractions quickly. Life is too short to drink bad wine.

For some reason I keep thinking of the name “Alexander Semin.” Not sure why. Hmmm.

8. Add veterans to the team via shorter term deals as free agents. Signing long-term, expensive deals for vets is very risky. We try to add vets to the mix for two year or three year deals. They fill in around our young core. They are very important for leadership, but they must complement the young core (NOT try to overtake them or be paid more than them). Identify and protect the core. Add veterans to complement them, not visa versa.

Only Ovechkin, Backstrom and Brooks Laich are signed to long-term deals (all are signed for at least the next five seasons). Although, to be fair, the signing of underachieving forward Joel Ward comes to mind as a move that might not exactly follow this point.

9. Measure and improve. Have shared metrics — know what the progress is — and where it ranks on the timeline — be honest in all appraisals; don’t be afraid to trade young assets for other draft picks to build back end backlog — know the aging of contracts — protect “optionality” to make trades at deadlines or in off season; never get in cap jail. Having dry powder is very important to make needed moves.

The Caps have not improved. That’s the entire reason for this exercise. Now, they have the ability to make moves and everyone agrees that GMGM wants to be aggressive at the trade deadline. But will he try to slap a band-aid on the problem or is he actually willing to address the team’s problems? That’s the million dollar question.

10. Never settle — never rest — keep on improving. Around the edges to the plan, have monthly, quarterly and annual checkups. Refresh the plan when needed but for the right reasons – “how are we doing against our metrics of success and where are we on our path to a championship.” Never listen to bloggers, media, so called experts — to thine own self be true. Enjoy the ride.

Well shit.

It appears that even though I’ve pointed out that the Caps are failing in nearly all 10 points of their plan, Leonsis has made it clear he’s not open to listening to bloggers.

In that case, I sure hope Caps fans are enjoying the ride.

11 comments

  1. Eric
    February 23, 2012 at 9:47 am

    That is quite the recipe for success there. I see two fatal flaws here. 1) The ingredients do not seem to be of the highest quality. 2) Leonsis didn’t PREHEAT THE OVEN. Dick. Now we are stuck with the Raw reality that the Caps suck yet again. Maybe we could talk the Bears into playing for us the rest of the season? MMMMM, chocolate.

  2. Randall
    February 23, 2012 at 10:08 am

    Ted’s 10 point plan was just as much a slight to the Redskins as it was an actual blue-print. His constant harping on young players over old, not signing high priced free agents from other teams, etc. was his way of saying we do it right and that team in Landover is clueless.

    The fact of the matter is that he hasn’t followed this plan with the Wizards, and they basically cut bait after they got knocked out by Montreal. They listened to the media and outsiders who said they played the ‘wrong’ kind of hockey to ever win a cup. They changed the system to appease the critics without realizing they didn’t have the pieces to successfully achieve that transition.

    This has become painfully evident in watching all the young prospects struggle this year. While the focus is on OV, Semin, etc. Other prospects that they drafted to fit the run&gun system are clearly not cut out for grinding, defensive hockey. Namely, Perrault, Eakin, and Carlson have all struggled in a less wide open offense/defense.

    The shelf is pretty bare beyond them. If they can’t get Kuznetsov to come over next year, they will be in for another long rebuild.

  3. luke
    February 23, 2012 at 10:27 am

    You know there is an episode of West Wing (Everything comes back to West Wing with me…) where things aren’t going well and Leo decides the new policy is “Let Bartlett be Bartlett”… well it’s time to “Let Team Ovechkin be Team Ovechkin”

    Hunter goes, Offense is back. Fuck Defense. I’d rather lost 8-6 than 4-0, and I’m not afraid to say it anymore.

    Also, I have to admit that I’m coming around to certain other people’s point of view on Semin. I don’t think he is a lockroom cancer. I actually think he is one of these hyper-sensitive guys that takes everything deeply to heart, but like all those guys, they soar on the highs and plummet on the lows… I guess it doesnt matter cause his bags are packed anyway you look at it, but still I’d be willing to bet he cares more deeply than most of the team…

    “Act like an ethnic family”? did he really fucking say that??? Whats acting like “a non-ethnic family?” Ribs and beers for dinner while watching reruns of HOME IMPROVEMENT??

  4. luke
    February 23, 2012 at 10:30 am

    Also props to Homer. Honestly, after a game where you could have copy-and-pasted the copy from like 12 other games (with a quick search/replace on the team beating the capitals) He did find a new and interesting focus.

  5. ExKiwi Krol
    February 23, 2012 at 10:44 am

    I can’t say anything inane and useless on this topic.

    poop pie.

  6. Rick
    February 23, 2012 at 3:32 pm

    I have to agree with the Luke’s comment on Semin. First of all he seems to have solved the penalty problem. OK so he seems to be a bit of loner and introvert. What evidence does anyone have of him being a locker room problem. Fine, he isn’t an ordinary jock but he is an extraordinary talent. For their own good, the entire organization (Owner, GM, Coach, Teammates and yes, Fans) are idiots if we don’t try to find a way to maximize his effectiveness. We have confused the hell out of these guys by demanding that they be what they are not and Semin may be the best “canary in the coal mine” example of that. You won’t win with 17 Semin’s but you won’t win with 17 Laich’s either.

    We (Mgt and Fans) need to accept what each player brings to the ice. Sure we should expect them to minimize their weaknesses but not at the expense of their strengths. One example: Green isn’t a great defender? Who cares, a few years ago he was helping cause twice as many goals for us as he was partly to blame for giving up. He has focused on improving his D, how’s that working out for us? Do we miss Larry Murphy yet or does anyone still want to tell me that he was holding back the Caps of the late 80’s. Good thing we got rid of him, those cup rings just get in the way when you are playing tough in the corner.

    Turn the boys loose and let’s score some goals, win or lose.

  7. Eric
    February 23, 2012 at 4:26 pm

    Lets lighten the mood here people. I am voting to turn this post in to a Caption This. Here is my submission.
    “Murray gets in a fighting stance and Rechlicz is knocked out cold as Ovie lifts one cheek and says, “Russian machine strong!” No more pregame Chipotle!”

  8. luke
    February 24, 2012 at 11:46 am

    Why does the phrase “lighten the mood” in this case remind me of those guys playing music while the Titanic sank?

  9. Chris
    February 24, 2012 at 11:58 am

    I don’t think you trade either Semin or Green. The problem with Semin is he hasn’t been surrounded by character players. He’s not the type to be a leader but he is an extremely gifted player. I see an improvement in his play under Hunter and I think if he’d consistently had people around him with leadership skills he’d be a vastly different player. I don’t care if he’s not vocal or he’s an introvert – that has no bearing on passion or being a good teammate. I think Semin has passion and is a good teammate – he just hasn’t developed in the right environment.

    Green is a unique talent. He is extremely gifted offensively and is underrated on defense and any team would want him. I also think he has a high compete level. The problem is he is surrounded by other defensemen that are all similar. If this team had even two mean and tough D that could play shutdown defense Green would be an extremely important piece to the puzzle but he’s being asked to be not only the offensive catalyst but also a shutdown d-man. A quality GM should be able to find others to do the dirty work in front of the goal.

    I see the problem with the Captial’s coming from the GM. He has not built a complete team.

    The last thing is that OV should not be captain. It’s not a knock on him as a player. He’s just not cut out to be the captain. Unfortunately, because of mismanagement, it is near impossible to strip him of the C.

  10. Bob
    February 24, 2012 at 1:32 pm

    Your comments on point 4 are dead on! Coach and players are mismatched. The problem can be traced to an over-reaction to the 2010 losing streak when they switched to a defensive system. It appeared to work for a short while, but it should have been clear that it could never work long term with an offensively talented group. So now the question is, dump all the core players for a defensive core, or replace an inexperienced defensive coach with an experienced offensive one? If the choice isn’t obvious then I’m living on the wrong planet! Question is, how long will Ted make us wait until he is willing to say “mia culpa” and get this team back on track? It has to be Ted because for GMGM to do it would be an admission that he wasted two seasons (at least) by employing a tragically bad defense-first shift.

  11. ned
    February 26, 2012 at 2:21 pm

    You’ve all abandoned ship already? Shame!

    Take a little hope from this Pens fan. For two of the three Cup runs, the Pens were out of the playoff picture at one point in February. No one expected anything other than an early round flame-out once they snuck in.

    But the goalie and the stars got hot at the right time, the role players played their roles perfectly, the goalie got hot…and 8 weeks later there was a parade.

    Not saying I’m rooting for this to happen, of course, but creeping in to the playoffs as a low-seeded team might be just what this Caps group needs. Being the favorite hasn’t been good for them. Seems every other year some team catches fire and pulls off one upset after another.

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