Photo: Drew Hallowell

The Caps haven’t won a game since January 19 when they beat the Columbus Blue Jackets 6-3. There’s a lot of talk about the Caps as the favorite to win the East this season, but I’m not really sure how a team can be considered good, let alone a contender, when they’ve gone 15 days without a win.

The Caps need to end this prolonged slump and prove they actually have the skills it takes to win a hockey game. After all, I bet most of us on a beer league team have had more wins than the Caps over the past 15 days. To end the drought, the Caps will need to beat the Florida Panthers. The Panthers sit atop the Atlantic Division with 62 points and a 6-3-1 record in their last 10 contests.

Projected Lineup

The lines look a little different today because Ovechkin is suspended and Johansson is hurt. Per Katie Brown:

Galiev – Backstrom – Oshie
Burakovsky – Kuznetsov – Williams
Chimera – Richards – Wilson
Laich – Sill  – Latta

Alzner – Niskanen
Schmidt – Carlson
Orlov – Chorney

Grubauer

TSN Top Player List

Over the break, TSN updated their top 50 player list. Even the most well-done and carefully thought out list is going to be criticized. Even reasonable opinions differ enough that two very good lists are going to have a large amount of disagreement.

But oh my gosh, this list is silly at times. This thing is drenched in far too much recency bias. How does a player, in this case Ryan Getzlaf, go from being ranked the eighth best player to not being ranked in the top 50 in just half a season? Regardless of whether ranking Getzlaf at eighth before the season was too high or how disappointing his first half was, there’s no way I can be convinced a player’s ranking can change that much over just one half of a season.

Sidney Crosby at 14? Come on, there are not 13 players in the league better than Crosby.

Leon Draisaitl was an AHL afterthought before the season, but 40 games later he’s ranked as the 47th best player in the league? Ehhhhh.

Here are a few thoughts on the Caps who are ranked:

• Alex Ovechkin at number three seems fair. Like I said above, consensus on a list like this is hard, but Ovechkin is in a group of five or ten players that are the best in the game.
• Braden Holtby has been arguably the best goalie in the league this season. He’s the top ranked goalie and number five overall on this list. Holtby is undoubtedly one of the best netminders in the game, but man this list sure did forget Carey Price’s historic 2014-15 season rather quickly.
• Having been ranked 22nd in the preseason ranking, Nick Backstrom climbed to number ten. He’s one of the best playmakers in the game, but I think calling him the tenth best player in the league is a little generous.
• Speaking of recency bias, Evgeny Kuznetsov went from being unranked before the season to number 13 in this poll. Kuznetsov has been one of the most dynamic scorers in the league this season, but should a superb 47 games really have him ranked ahead of a player like Crosby?
• John Carlson is not the 43rd best player in the NHL. This is not a knock on Carlson. I repeat: saying that someone is not the 43rd best hockey player on the planet is not a knock on that player. Carlson is a really good player and is unquestionably important to the best team in the NHL, but he wouldn’t be in my top 50.

Lists are a fun exercise that are made to be disagreed with. Let’s hear from all of you in the comments on what you think of the list.

Storylines

• While most NHL players were enjoying a vacation, Ian was over here on RMNB straight up killing it. Check out all of his All-Star Game coverage.
• How Ovechkin’s car donation from last year’s All-Star game transformed special hockey.
• A few Caps mentions in 30 Thoughts this week, including some trade deadline talk.
• Before the break, Andre Burakovsky seemed to start playing up to his ability. During the break, he high-fived dolphins. [Ed. note: Here’s the 2010 declaration for Cetacean Rights. Thanks – Peter]
• The guy whose last name is Kuznetsov was the NHL’s first star in January.
• Do you think the Capitals are good? Again you are right in your analysis.
• Welcome to the world, Braden Alexander.
• Barry Trotz was greeted warmly in his return to Nashville.
• Checking in on goalie prospect Ilya Samsonov.

Orpik Update

The first significant Orpik update we’ve had since the Carter administration.

Brooks Orpik said he was told he had to rest 8 weeks so a bone could heal. Conditioning is now the main issue.

— Katie Brown (@katiebhockey) February 2, 2016

Florida Music

Here’s Florida’s own Against Me! with “Don’t Lose Touch” from their 2005 album Searching for a Former Clarity. The audio on this one isn’t top notch but this is exactly what it feels like to be in the front at one of their shows. This band kills it live.

Full RMNB Coverage of Caps vs Panthers