When Bruce Boudreau took over from Glen Hanlon as bench boss he unleashed the Caps offensive potential. It seemed to be exactly what the Caps needed as they took off up the standings and never looked back. Bruce’s system (as I understand it) boils down to a simple philosophy that the best defense is a puck control, high pressure offense.  Judging by what I’ve seen during Boudreau’s entire tenure including our two early playoff exits the Caps issues appear to be pretty clear.

• Sloppy play and decision making in their own zone – This appears to be more of a personnel problem than anything else. The Caps would say that they are 8 men deep with people in the minors ready to play at this level. I see a different picture entirely. I see some guys who consistently foul up and should not be relied upon at this level.  The Caps either need to upgrade dramatically via free agency/trade or they need to give some other guys a chance to play at this level. The results are pretty clear with the current cast of characters.

• The same forwards making poor decisions/turning over the puck – Yes we have some terrific and talented forwards, but if they are giving our opponents as many opportunities to score via turnovers/poor decisions as they produce then this is a zero sum game that in the end produces no benefit.  Boudreau might wake the team up out of their funk if he scratched a prominent player or two whenever they cost the team. Discipline means nothing if you don’t dish it out equally even to your star players.

• A tendency to favor “cute hockey” over “solid hockey” – The Caps have the wonderful problem of having an overload of talent. Talent is great but you need some grit to get you through as well. The Caps brought in Mike Knuble for this reason but the top line of Backstrom, Ovechkin and Semin still has a tendency to try and make that extra pass instead of taking the solid shot and popping in a rebound. The top line could set the example as well as the tone of games if they placed someone on that line willing to pay the price for grit-goals. Right now the Caps are a 1-line team for the most part.

• Lacking of an overall commitment to team defense – I thought the Caps brought Bob Woods in to tighten up the defense but so far they actually look worse than they did last year. It is early but my eyes do not lie and neither does the video tape. If the goal is the Stanley Cup this issue has got to be addressed.

• Inability to play 60 minutes of high quality hockey – This is a coaching and motivation issue. When people get comfortable they produce less. The Caps are a comfortable team and they know they have the talent to beat everyone in the NHL. The problem is they have gotten away with wins by only playing 20-50 minutes of hockey. You can see it in their play and it does not bode well for a Stanley Cup run when your team takes periods off. Coach Ken Hitchcock said if the Caps ever learn how to play with a lead they will be dangerous. Apparently that quest continues.

We have heard from the Caps talking heads say that it is too early to panic but this is the same hockey we’ve seen over the past two years.  Insanity by definition is doing something repeatedly even when you know the results are not favorable. So at what point will Boudreau be held accountable for these issues? I want to believe that at every meeting/practice Coaches Boudreau, Evason and Woods are stressing more emphasis on defense, better decision making and playing 60 minutes of two-way hockey.  The real question here is have the players tuned Boudreau out? If Boudreau has become white noise the Caps will continue to play this lesser brand of hockey and get away with it until they get into the playoffs and they get dismissed again.

Boudreau is a great guy and everyone loves him including me, but I would cross check my mother to win a Stanley Cup and I'm starting to wonder if he is the guy that can get the Caps over the hump. I'm sure the players love him to but they appear to be too comfortable to change their sloppy and inconsistent play. It is up to Boudreau to make them uncomfortable. If he can't do it then McPhee may need to either change the locker room or the Coaches.