ESPN's Pierre LeBrun joined TSN Insiders Darren Dreger and Bob McKenzie on a recent edition of TSN's Insider Trading and had some pretty interesting things to say about the future of the Washington Capitals organization.
"Brian MacLellan in Washington, I think, is ready to move a number of parts. Now, we're not talking Alex Ovechkin or Nicklas Backstrom. Those guys are safe. But certainly a lot of secondary parts, I believe, are in play in Washington because the sense is, 'We've made all these coaching changes year after year, where we get the same results. It's time to change the culture.'" LeBrun said.
Altering the culture of an organization is easier said than done, and doing so via the reconfiguration of the rear-guard doesn't exactly seem like the best course of action. In fact, attempting to change the entire culture of a franchise by shipping out secondary parts seems like a half-measure.
This team, the same of which is true of any team in the league, takes on the personality of its coach and its best players. Alexander Ovechkin is ultra-talented and one of the best, if not the best, pound-for-pound players in the league - but he's also selfish and very much a one-dimensional player.
He'll shoot first, shoot second, try to do everything himself and then entirely avoid blame as the season advances in a moderately positive manner before ending in ultimate failure.
The Caps, currently 11-10-4 under head coach Barry Trotz, have been searching for consistency all year - they have yet to win more than three games in a row. They're not a poorly constructed team by any stretch, but neither are they real Stanley Cup contenders at this point.
So, who does LeBrun see as possibly heading out to make room for some exciting new pieces?
"Mike Green, obviously, UFA at the end of the year, he would be a prime candidate to move. But a number of other players because I think they just want to get some moving parts and change the feel of that dressing room."
Ah. Change for the sake of change. When hasn't that worked?
It's entirely possible Mike Green may be a personality they no longer see as a fit in the locker room, but he's not the reason this team is failing. It's the big guys, the top dogs who are letting this team down year after year.
Here's to hoping the Caps make the changes necessary to fix their leaky, if not sinking, ship. But that doesn't mean trading away some quality depth for different quality depth.
