The Caps, The Red Sox and The "Crappy Feeling Index"

Okay, here we go. Inhale, exhale, inhale, exhale. Alright, we are now ready to discuss the Washington Capitals first round elimination by the storied Montreal Canadiens - one of the biggest upsets in the history of the National Hockey League.

Prior to diagnosis of the Caps, it is somewhat therapeutic to put this upset in context. By context I mean how this loss compares to other sports upsets I have witnessed over the years. To do this, I gauge how crappy I feel after the loss and how long the crappy feeling lingers with me. Below I have compiled my "Crappy Feeling Index". It's really straightforward, a 10 is really crappy, a 5 is somewhat crappy and a 1 is not crappy at all, perhaps diffident. So here we go:

1. 1987 - Marvin Hagler split-decision loss to Sugar Ray Leonard (9.5)
2. 1971 - Bruins playoff elimination to Canadiens, Ken Dryden in goal (9.0)
3. 1974 - Bruins Stanley Cup Final loss to Flyers (8.5)
   
4. 1986 - World Series Red Sox loss to Mets, Game 6 (8.5)
   
5. 1986 - World Series Red Sox loss to Mets, Game 7 (8.5)
6. 1978 - AL Playoff Red Sox loss to Yankees, Buck F&&%#ing Dent (8.0)
7. 1975 - World Series Red Sox loss to Reds, Game 7 (8.0)
8. 2010 - Capitals playoff elimination to Canadiens (7.5)
9. 2008 - Super Bowl XLIV Patriots loss to Giants (7.0)
10. 1976 - Mass State HS Hockey Championship Braintree loss to Winthrop (6.5)

I'm getting a bit fired up just assembling this list. You can also see how much the Red Sox help one deal with upsets. On the scale of relativity using the "Crappy Feeling Index" as a barometer, the Caps loss is not too bad.

Now that we are done rationalizing, what happened to the Caps? I hear all this blather that the power play was terrible and they could not penetrate the perimeter, perhaps true, but you should still win games when you have 53 and 41 shots respectively. The Caps problem is not offense. The Canadiens had a hot goalie who stood on his head for two games. Frankly, Team Canada would not have done any better job scoring against the Canadiens than the Caps did. Team Canada would have won, however, because they would have allowed fewer goals; therein lies the issue with the Caps - defensive talent.

They got beat by a mediocre Canadiens team that will not get by the Pittsburgh Penguins in the next round of the playoffs. The Caps need no overhaul though, instead they need a couple of defensemen. Here's the good news, they have John Carlson who will get even better next year and Karl Alzner who will be more than ready for the NHL. To complement them, they need to go out and get one really imposing defensive defenseman, someone like a Zdeno Chara, Chris Pronger (in his prime), Hal Gill or Tyler Myers type. More good news, to get this defensive stalwart they have some good players to offer in a trade: Mike Green, Shaone Morrisonn, John Erskine, Jose Theodore, Milan Jurcina and Brendan Morrison. It will be tricky from a salary cap perspective to bring in this big D-man because Nick Backstrom's contract is up and I expect him to sign for between $7 and $7.5m per year.

Don't mess with this Caps team, get some defensemen, not too much else needs to be done here.