Keeping an eye on the Washington: The Caps re-call a forward from minor league
by Hooks Orpik on May 8, 2009 11:12 AM EDT
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PrintVia Capitals beat writer Tarik El-Bashir's blog "Capitals Insider":
Forward Jay Beagle has been recalled from Hershey, Coach Bruce Boudreau said moments ago. When asked why Beagle was recalled, Boudreau said, "I have my reasons".
Those reasons figure to be replacing Michael Nylander in the lineup. Eric Fehr has been ailing with an unknown minor injury (serious enough to keep him out of the lineup) so the Caps need to fill a 3rd/4th line winger role. They attempted to use Nylander in that slot, but the veteran playmaker who's a natural center obviously wasn't cast properly and didn't do that well in Game 3.
Also remember that enforcer/winger Donald Brashear still has two games remaining on his NHL suspension and will be eligible to play in Game 6, if the series gets that far and if the Caps decide to use him.
The promotion of Beagle is curious. While the 23 year old Beagle does play the simple, gritty, physical style that Boudreau is surely looking for on his 4th line, Beagle only has 3 games NHL experience (all this season, pointless every game). The Caps have other prospects in Hershey that have more experience and could fill the same role like Chris Bourque, Keith Aucoin and Graham Mink to name a few.
Like Boudreau said, he has his reasons though. Maybe some of that includes not pulling up a guy like Aucoin who's a very important player for Hershey. Obviously the fate of the NHL series is more important to the franchise than the AHL, but you don't want to gut the lower level of your organization. It's more likely Beagle's just playing well and more compatible with an open role in Washington.
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Beagle is up to provide energy and to hit, plain and simple. He steps into a line up that really has only one line that plays the body. Beagle’s job is to get the 4th line back into the game and hitting the Penguins defense. He has no points in his 3 NHL games, but in the three games, he was a physical presence. He certainly will hit more than Nylander (my grandmother would play the game more physical than Nylander). The Caps aren’t going to win only by trying to out finesse the Pens, they need to be more physical. In Game 3, the Pens were the more physical team and by the time the 3rd and OT came around, it showed…
Let's go Caps!
Good job offering perspective….I’ve seen Beagle listed mainly as a center. Do you think he would slide over to wing or would Boyd Gordon?
I guess we’ll have a better idea once El-Bashir posts the line combinations and setups from the morning skate.
Dunno… Gordon is good at taking draws (most Caps centers are pretty good at it, except for Nylander, no surprise there…). I suspect Beagle may line up at wing and allow Gordon to be more aggressive before the draws, since if he gets tossed, there’s another center on the line. That may be part of the reason for Steckel’s success in face-offs in that he knows that if he gets tossed, Laich is also good on the dot.
Still, as a loooooooooooong time Caps fan (season tickets since 1985-86), I’m spoiled. In 1998, the Caps had three of the top 20 all-time face-off guys on their roster: Dale Hunter, Adam Oates and Andrei Nikolishin….they led the league in face off percentage that year with something like 57-58% percent, and where it really paid off was the penalty kill, where they had a PK percentage over 90% for the season (they allowed only 39 PP goals that year and also scored 14 shorties on top of that!)
Let's go Caps!
by MikeL-Pivonka on May 8, 2009 11:56 AM EDT up reply actions
hunter
the sole reason why i hated the caps. that guy was the 80’s version of sean avery. however i woulda loved to have him on pittsburghs team back then.
by oldtimehockey09 on May 8, 2009 3:21 PM EDT up reply actions
I guess if he is an energy/hitter sort of guy that would explain why Boudreau responded with such a covert, “I have my reasons.”
Follow the Penguins on SBN @ Pensburgh.com and twitter.
It might also have something to do with the back to back games coming up. Maybe this guy is better equipped to take the rigors of back to back playoff games (bigger, less minutes in AHL playoffs, whatever). Just a thought.
by CarlWeathersMustache on May 8, 2009 12:01 PM EDT reply actions
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