Although there is still a little more than three-quarters of the regular season yet to come, the Washington Capitals are plainly underachieving with a 2-8-1 record for last place in the NHL’s Eastern Conference.
This is coming after the franchise’s second coaching change in less than a year and its second straight dismissal from the second round of the Stanley Cup playoffs. However, at the time of last spring’s loss to the New York Rangers, there was more cause for solace than usual, in that it appeared Dale Hunter had sharply pivoted the Caps back in the right direction.
But Hunter’s desire to return to major junior left George McPhee to start anew once more and hire Adam Oates as the sixth new head coach in his 16 seasons as general manager.
The McPhee era began in 1997-98 with a relatively surprising run to the Stanley Cup finals. The Caps rapidly retracted to irrelevance for nearly a decade thereafter but replenished expectations as Bruce Boudreau arrived amid the rise of Alexander Ovechkin.
But in four years behind the bench, Boudreau mustered only three playoff series wins and no trips beyond the halfway ...
Read Full Article at Bleacher Report - NHL
Article written by Al Daniel
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February 8th, 2013 by Al Daniel Leave a reply »
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