George Mcphee's Short Memory

Ok, I know the trade deadline has been a pretty frequent topic of mine in this blog, but Capitals' general manager George McPhee is not putting my mind at ease. ESPN analyst Pierre LeBrun asked McPhee about the trade deadline and he responded saying "Well, at this point, I really don't know why we'd change anything. The team is performing about as well as it can. Why change the mix? Certainly if there's something there that would make us better, we would consider it. But there's a lot to be said about chemistry and the intangibles, and we certainly have all that right now. Why give away good young players or picks...we want to be a good team for a long time, not just one season."

McPhee is half right. We absolutely want the Caps to be a good team for a long time, but the top priority is winning the Stanley Cup. The lesson of last season must be learned. Last season the Caps went into March as the number two team in the conference. They looked good, a playoff berth was not in question, and everyone thought they were going to be one of the major competitors for the conference championship. McPhee decided to err on the side of caution and made no moves, presumably for the same reasons he listed above. It looked like sound reasoning, but EVERYONE around the Caps in the standings got better. The result? The Caps struggled in an opening round matchup against a much weaker team and were eventually beaten by the hated Penguins; a Pittsburgh team that DID make deadline moves and ended up winning the Stanley Cup.

This season it is even more important to make a move. Yes, the Caps are red hot, but eventually this streak will end and with it will most likely come the inevitable let down. A good way to relight the fire is with a trade to mix things up. This alone, however, isn't reason enough to make a move. The importance is that the Caps have the bullseye. They are the team to beat in the east. The road to the Stanley Cup in the east runs through Washington. When teams head into March, they will be thinking about the Caps. Teams will be building up for a matchup against the Capitals. Why yield the advantage? Why allow other teams to close the gap? Especially with question marks regarding the defense and goaltending. There is room for improvement despite how good they have been playing and there are moves to be made.

When it comes to winning there is always a limited window of opportunity. I'm not saying that the Caps won't be good for very long, but success like we have seen this season should be a sign that now is the time to make a run. McPhee has always been thinking about the future success of this team, but at some point he has to think about the present. If a winning streak of 11 games and counting plus a 10 point lead in the conference aren't enough to convince McPhee that it's time to start chasing Lord Stanley, what will?