Washington Capitals have become a disaster

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Maybe its best that Washington general manager George McPhee did nothing on trade deadline day.

Because really, this club is going to require a refacing over the summer and may have to confront the question of whether they will ever win with Alex Ovechkin.

Perhaps its best to do what the Flyers did and trade their franchises face to start over.

I think our fan base, McPhee told the Washington Post, then pausing, I think weve been doing this long enough that they understand that if there was something to do we wouldve done it, because we always have, but were not going to make mistakes.

The Flyers face the Caps Sunday night at Verizon Center.

A coaching change from Bruce Boudreau to Dale Hunter hasnt guaranteed the Caps will qualify for the playoffs.

Nicklas Backstrom's concussion, which has sidelined him since early January, has hurt them and his teammates will likely have to claw for a playoff berth without him.

Did we mention Ovechkins horrid season, coupled with serious injuries to Mike Green, and Tom Poti? Or that there was a surprising lack of chemistry within the club itself?

And what the hell happened to Mike Knuble?

Yep, its a mess in D.C.

The Caps arent going to win the East and McPhee realized there was nothing he could do that would change that. The eighth seed remains their only shot.

I just didnt see any earth-shattering deals out there that tipped the balance of where teams are, McPhee told the Washington Times.

He told the Washington Examiner that the worst thing he could have done was make a deal for deals sake.

Make a mistake that I would regret in the summer. And a lot of that happens at the trading deadline, McPhee said. There are more mistakes made at the trading deadline than at any time in our business because everybody thinks this is the move that puts them over the top.

And then in the summertime you have a lot of managers sitting there, 'Geez, I wish I still had that young player or I wish I had that first-round pick.' So we weren't going to make a mistake. We weren't going to chase a bad deal.

I certainly think we're capable of making the playoffs with this team right now. If Nicky Backstrom came back, it certainly would improve our chances of being able to win a Stanley Cup. We can make the playoffs with this team, and if he comes back we can beat anybody in this conference.

E-mail Tim Panaccio at tpanotch@comcast.net

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