Blaine Forsythe Should be Fired

Bob the Builder could fix it, but Blaine Forsythe clearly cannot. The Washington Capitals power play has been terrible all season long. We talked about it back in October and then again in December. But after another embarrassing 0-for-4 outing in a one-goal loss to the Boston Bruins on Thursday night, Forsythe, who is the unit’s architect is either unwilling or unable to fix it.

It’s no secret that the Washington Capitals have been hammered by injuries, by the flu and by COVID-19 this season. Alex Ovechkin is the only player on the roster to suit up for all 41 games this season. With that said, they’ve had John Carlson, Alex Ovechkin, and Evgeny Kuznetsov healthy for the majority of the year. That’s plenty of talent on the ice to operate at league-average on the man-advantage, at least. The Capitals have not done that. Their power play is currently third-worst in the entire NHL percentage-wise. Ahead of only the Arizona Coyotes and Montreal Canadiens. Combined, the Coyotes and Canadiens have 46 standings points. The Capitals currently have 53. That company, is, not great.

One of the few things stopping the Capitals from winning the Metropolitan is the abysmal power play. They are throwing away standings points by not fixing it. Analysts, both regionally and nationally, defend the unit by saying that when it’s fully healthy it’ll return to it’s typical place near the top of the NHL. I’m not convinced that’s the case, but even if it is, the coaching staff needs to adjust to the unit they have right now. We’re halfway through the regular season, this is not a 10-game stretch where you’re without T.J. Oshie and John Carlson. This power play is simply not the Capitals power play of the last decade-plus.

Head coach, Peter Laviolette, has done most things incredibly well. He is a serious candidate for the Jack Adams award but whether it’s him or Blaine Forsythe making personnel decisions on the power play, it’s a problem. The personnel decisions have been questionable at best, Conor Sheary and Garnet Hathaway are getting power play time over guys like Connor McMichael and Daniel Sprong who are undoubtedly more talented offensively. Forsythe, who has long been credited with the unit’s success, now has to bear the consequences of it’s failures. He needs to make this unit effective with the personnel Laviolette gives him (if it is in-fact Laviolette dictating who plays on the power play) or he needs to force Laviolette to let him make personnel decisions for the power play. I have very little confidence that either will happen.

The fact of the matter is that the 2021-2022 Capitals’ power play sucks and at this point, it ought to cost Blaine Forsythe his job.