The Washington Capitals are gearing up for a new season and one pundit has gone great lengths saying the team will miss the playoffs completely this season. The culprit is former NHL player John Scott, a player who spent a majority of his career in the minors before getting voted into the 2016 NHL All Star Game as a joke.
If you were a fan of him from that story, Caps fans certainly don’t think too highly of him now. In the past, he’s made comments about Tom Wilson’s antics and ridiculed the NHL for the lack of a punishment after a controversial game against the New York Rangers. Over the weekend, he basically said the Caps were going to be garbage this season.
Here’s the exact quotes from his Dropping the Gloves podcast:
"“The Washington Capitals will miss the playoffs this year. They’ve made the playoffs for the last 10-some years. They’ve made the playoffs since 2013-14. I think they’re going to be garbage. All their players are older. They’ve lost the last two years. I don’t see it happening this year. Ovechkin’s done. They’re just going to shut it right down. I don’t think any of those guys are going to have a good season. I don’t think Ovi’s going to even come close to Gretzky’s number. I don’t think he’s going to touch 30 goals this year. I think the Capitals are just going to be a hot mess. They didn’t sign anybody. They brought back the goaltender. That was about it. They didn’t make any offseason tinkerings. They made the massive mistake of trading for Anthony Mantha the last year. I think that’s going to make the team worse.”"
If I were the Caps, I’d simply take this quote and put it on wall inside the locker room. To be quite honest, call me crazy, I’m kind of excited some people are picking the Caps to miss the playoffs. The last time we’ve heard these things was prior to the 2017-18 season and we all know what happened.
He does have a point that the team is getting older. There’s no denying or avoiding that. However, to say that Alex Ovechkin is done is outrageous. He has proven the last few seasons that he can defy age and he will certainly do it again. Not only can Ovechkin touch 30 goals, he could score 40 if he really wanted to.
No #ALLCAPS in the playoffs.
— hockeyfights (@hockeyfights) October 9, 2021
Is @johnscott_32 on the money? @dropping_gloves is must subscribe content. pic.twitter.com/ivTDjPGoqp
Lack of youth concerning you? Meet Connor McMichael and Hendrix Lapierre. Didn’t have to get those guys in a trade, their talents were noticed by the scouts. Anthony Mantha does have a prove it season coming up, but it’s still too early to tell if the Caps won or lost that trade. Oh yeah and there’s that Tom Wilson guy who isn’t afraid of any enforcer.
Scott played in 286 NHL games scoring five goals. He did however win MVP during that 2016 All Star Game.