The same day Adam Oates was elected to the Hall of Fame, he was on his way to Washington DC to be named the 16th coach of the Washington Capitals. What a day! In his introductory press conference, George McPhee began by saying "I don't know of a player with a higher hockey IQ then Adam Oates." The first question Adam received in the press conference was, "Adam when George McPhee offered you the job, how long did it take you to respond?" Adam responded with "uhhhhh...lets see...5 seconds". Shows how fired up he was to be back in Washington, where he spent the majority of his playing career and to be a head coach in the NHL. It was frustrating for him with the lockout beginning, and only being aloud to introduce himself to his players and not talk anything hockey. I bet on the first day of training camp the guys thought he was crazy because it was probably like an explosion of information that he had been thinking up. He never stops thinking about his team and his players. He said himself, “My wife is sick of it,” Oates said. “I’ve got more journals than you can shake a stick at.” Even in his playing days the guy was always paying attention to details. It could be a new position, who your locker is next to, or even the curvature of a stick. “He always comes up with something. He always sees those little details that maybe you as a player don’t always think about,” center Nicklas Backstrom said. “How you can get a shot off quicker, how to catch the puck — it’s always something that, when he tells you, you try it and it really works.” Hearing comments like this just make you feel good about the respect the players and Oates have for each other. They're professionals but since Oates was one of the best ever to play the game, it's just not the same as if a coach like Bruce Boudreau were to make a suggestion.“They work with the minor league guys, they work with all of us. They care about everyone,” veteran defensemen John Erskine said. “They’ll teach Ovi something, but move on down the line with all of us. Even in the NHL, guys are willing to learn, and we’ve got a Hall of Famer in Oatesy and [assistant coach] Calle [Johansson] who want to teach us. We’ll listen.”
In his first year of head coach, he only had one week of training camp to introduce the system and himself to all of his players. It took the team awhile to get used to it but they actually snuck into the playoffs after winning the Southeast division (I couldn't believe fans were throwing Oates on the hot seat due to the slow start last season.) That's a pretty good accomplishment for a first time head coach who had a lockout shortened season and a week of training camp to prepare. Don't you think? This guy came in and turned Alex Ovechkin's career around and as of today, (9 games into his second season as coach) the great 8 has scored 65 points in his last 50 regular season games! Those are ridiculous numbers!
In the 2011-12 season (under Boudreau and Hunter) the Caps power play operated at 16.7%. Good for 18th in the league. Last season the Caps boasted the #1 power play and it was a deadly 26.8%. Through 9 games this season we are operating at a 31.4%, good for 1st in the league. That's pretty good...thanks Oates.
Check out the power play charts here http://espn.go.com/nhl/statistics/team/_/stat/special-teams/sort/powerPlayPct
The defense is the next order of business for Oates and Calle Johansson. It has been shaky and the breakdowns in our own zone have to stop. You can tell it has their attention. They're shifting pairings around, and trying to play more aggressive (You could really tell they were playing more aggressive in the Columbus Blue Jackets game) but it's going to take some time for the new style to become effective. In my opinion, they could really benefit from some size and physicality on the back end. Could Alexander Urbom show up in the mix soon? We definitely have talent, now it needs to blend. It's still early in the season so I think we should give it some more time before we start pulling out the pitchforks (Us DC fans are known for that you know.)
Although the defense has been shaky, I think the Caps will get back on track soon. I'm excited to get the win on the 1st game of this 5 game road trip and hopefully we can get some more wins away from home.
Thanks for reading, Zach
Here's a link to Adam Oates Introductory press conference and Hall of Fame induction speech. CHECK IT!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2O1U-j3OI4s
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3V4pmABjU2g
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