Mark's Musings

Caps Edge To The Positive Side Of The Bubble While FlaCats Continue to Stumble

2012-01-14T15:38:00.007-05:00

When I last posted a blog post two weeks ago I mentioned the Capitals needed to rev things up and drive towards at least a 95 point season to be confident of making the playoffs. So how's that looking for us Caps fans now two weeks later? Let's take a look in at the Caps record since the New Year, that would be 3-2-0 (0.600), how about their last 10 games, that would be 6-3-1 (0.650). So far so good though they didn't put anything in the bank and we all had high hopes they would win at least one of two during their last swing out west and they did not do so.

So while things are looking better for the Capitals and they are at times looking like the team we all thought they could be at the beginning of this season (congratulations to Troy Brouwer on the hat trick and to Alexander Ovechkin for "getting his mojo back" and scoring 6 goals in the past 10 games), they aren't "out of the woods" yet. That said when you look at the Capitals recent record as well as comparing them to their opponents for the remaining schedule you can see a clear path to 95+ points, that really wasn't the way things were just 3 weeks ago. So here's another take on things and some musings.

Since Thanksgiving the Caps and their Southeast Division rivals have records as follow:

Overall Last 10 Games Last 5 Games
Florida: 9-8-5 (0.523) 3-5-2 (0.400) 2-2-1 (0.550) Caps play 4 more times (2 Home, 2 Away)
Washington: 11-10-1 (0.500) 6-3-1 (0.650) 3-2-0 (0.600) 48 pts in 42 Games Played (0.571)
Winnipeg: 13-9-1 (0.587) 5-5-0 (0.500) 2-3-0 (0.400) Caps play 3 more times (1 Home, 2 Away)
Tampa Bay: 8-13-2 (0.391) 3-5-2 (0.400) 0-4-1 (0.050) Caps play 4 more times (1 Home, 3 Away)
Carolina: 7-12-3 (0.386) 5-4-1 (0.550) 2-2-1 (0.550) Caps play 4 more times (2 Home, 2 Away).

The other Eastern Conference "Bubble Teams" records since Thanksgiving:
Overall Last 10 Games Last 5 Games
New Jersey: 13-9-1 (0.587) 6-3-1 (0.650) 3-2-0 (0.600) Caps play 1 more time at home
Toronto: 10-8-3 (0.548) 6-3-1 (0.650) 4-1-0 (0.800) Caps play 2 more times (1 Home, 1 Away)
Pittsburgh: 10-11-0 (0.476) 4-6-0 (0.400) 1-4-0 (0.200) Caps play 1 more time at Pittsburgh
Buffalo: 7-11-4 (0.409) 3-5-2 (0.400) 2-2-1 (0.500) Caps play 1 more time at home.

Other eastern conference foes on the Caps remaining schedule:
Montreal 4 games (2 home, 2 away)
Boston 4 games (2 home, 2 away)
Islanders 3 games (2 home, 1 away)
Rangers 2 games (2 away)
Flyers 2 games (1 home, 1 away)
Islanders 3 games (2 home, 1 away)
Ottawa 1 game (away)

Western conference foes the Caps will play in their last 40 games of the season:
San Jose 1 game (home)
Chicago 1 game (away)
Detroit 1 game (away)
Minnesota 1 game (home)

The Caps have 48 points as of today and 40 games remaining. To finish with 95 points they need to play 0.588 hockey the rest of the way and win 47 of 80 available points. Of their remaining 40 games they have an even split of 20 home games and 20 away games and they only have 4 games against Western Conference teams. So after reviewing the Caps recent results as well as the remaining schedule I'm now projecting the Caps to finish with a total of between 94 and 98 points, and they should make the playoffs. If Winnipeg and Florida continue on their recent trajectories, then it could be a three way battle for the Southeast Division Championship until the end of the season. It would also mean the Caps would indeed need 95+ points to make the playoffs and they could still fall off the backside of the "bubble" if they don't win at least a couple of "tough" road games as well finding a way to grab at least 8 points in their 8 games against the Bruins, Flyers and Rangers. It also means their remaining 7 games against the Jets and Panthers have added importance.

Just thinking it sure would be nice to start that quest for those 47+ points with an eight game winning streak and a win against the Bruins who are on a different level from the rest of the league right now.

LETS GO CAPS!!!!

Capitals 4 - Blue Jackets 2 after Capitals 3 - Sabres 1; Nice Weekend Signaling The Return of the Caps To NHL Relevance

2012-01-01T15:35:00.004-05:00

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Okay, here we go C-A-P-S! I've never made any pretense that my hockey musings are anything but a fan blogging about his own thoughts and passions here at Mark's Musings on Blogger. So it's probably no wonder to other #Caps fans as to why my blog posts have fallen off markedly this season. Between a busier "day to day" life and the fact there really hasn't been a lot of Caps hockey thoughts that have been pleasurable to muse about for a while, I just haven't felt too enthusiastic about blogging much. That is until recently, lie the past week. However, I decided to as they say "keep my powder dry" until there was more evidence to point to the start of a recovery to where they should be.

Over their last 10 games the Capitals have been playing 0.650 hockey with a 6-3-1 record; over the past 5 games the Capitals are 3-1-1 and are also 0.650. Maybe more importantly during the month of December the Capitals are 3-3-1 or 0.550 on the road, as opposed to their road record this season through November of 4-6-0 (0.400). For the Capitals to definitely make the playoffs regardless of whether or not they win the Southeast Division, I believe they need to finish the season with 95 points and that means they need to win 53 more points in their remaining 45 games, that's 0.589 hockey. Given they have 23 more road games and 22 more home games this season, it's very important the Caps continue to play 0.500 or better on the road while also keeping Verizon Center one of the toughest buildings in the NHL to get a point on the road for their opponents. So far this season the Caps are 0.710 at Verizon Center so it's not unreasonable to continue to believe they will be at least 0.650 at home. Playing at least 0.650 hockey at home the rest of the way gets the Caps 29 of the needed 53 points. To get those additional need 24 points, the Caps need to play 0.522 hockey or better in their remaining 23 road games. The past two weeks the Capitals have proven themselves more than able to "make the grade" the rest of the season. They and the Winnipeg Jets also got the best records in their Division (6-3-1) over the last 10 games., and they are showing themselves as capable of confident play, resilience and being willing to work hard to win. This is the team we Caps fans have been looking for since the beginning of November, and I for one am quite glad we are seeing them now, before it's too late to make the playoffs.

More evidence that this is the Caps team I've been looking for and was expecting this season can be seen in the performances of Alex Ovechkin, Nicklas Backstrom, Alexander Semin, and Roman Hamrlik these past two weeks. While Backstrom, Dennis Wideman, John Carlson, Jason Chimera, Brooks Laich and Karl Alzner have all generally been playing at levels most of us Caps fans expected to see throughout the majority of the season, the productivity and effectiveness of Ovi, Semin and Hammer has until these past two weeks been less than justifiably expected. However in these last two weeks we've seen our Captain return to form and score 6 goals and 3 assists while going +5 in the 6 games played since December 18th. Alexander Semin has also had a run that fantasy hockey players with him on their rosters are happy about with 4 goals, 3 assists and +5 over the same six game stretch; while "the Hammer" has notched 3 assists, gone +6 and over the past three games been one of, if not the best, Caps penalty killer. Additionally he's shown that when necessary he can still find a way to find 1/4 to 1/2 of the step he may have lost over his 18 NHL season career when it comes time to join the rush. So while the Caps aren't "out of the woods yet" - this morning they arose to the New Year finding themselves in 9th place in the Eastern Conference and still just barely on the "back side" of the bubble - they are showing real signs of life and they seem to now be starting to perform with more comfort and ease after having adjusted to the changes made by Coach Dale Hunter. There have been two unanticipated bright spots so far this season too that should continue to help the Capitals the rest of the way: Marcus Johannson and Dmitri Orlov and it is nice to see Jay Beagle back on the ice as well.

All this means I am once again looking forward to attending home games at Verizon Center and watching road games on CSN HD. It also means I'll be there when the Caps faceoff on Tuesday evening when the Caps take on the Calgary Flames.

LETS GO CAPS!!!

Establishing A Baseline For The Start Of The Dale Hunter Era Which Is Tomorrow Night

2011-12-12T22:10:00.004-05:00

Tomorrow night is when I think we'll see the real start of the "Dale Hunter Era" for the Washington Capitals. Tomorrow's game against the Philadelphia Flyers comes as the first game since Dale Hunter took over as coach of the Capitals that they have had a couple of good practices in a row between home games. It will be the first time we'll get to see a Hunter coached Capitals team that may have had adjustments made that take more than an hour to practice. It also will be a game that is against a team that was a rival to the Capitals teams that Hunter played on. So we have an important game against a big rival at home after the Caps have had time to practice a few things and should be well rest. Thus the beginning of the "Dale Hunter Era" says me. mark it on the hockey calendars everywhere December 12, 2011.

So let's take a look and baseline the NHL on this day, the day before the Hunter era begins - December 11, 2011. The Washington Capitals are in second place in the Southeast Division; eighth place in the Eastern Conference; and seventeenth place in the league as we await the dawn of the Dale Hunter Era. How did the Capitals get here you might ask, we could debate the points and issues leading up to Bruce Boudreau's replacement till the cows come home and nothing we'd say really matters. We don't need to talk about or debate those things the only thing we need to do is to baseline where the Capitals are and where the teams that matter to them are around them as regards the NHL standings as of today. That way come April 7, 2012 the last day of the Caps' 2011-2012 regular season we'll be able to judge how far they've come from where they sunk to on November 28, 2011. In this week's NHL power rankings the Capitals rank a lowly 16th - the lowest you can be and still be in the rankings but hey at least over the last 10 games the Capitals are now 5-5-0 and playing 0.500 hockey, the comment in the rankings voices the question all of Cap probably shares with me - "Have they turned the corner?" We'll see, we'll see as we measure the progress against the current baseline.

So where do things stand today with the teams that matter to the Capitals?

The first team that matters to the Capitals this season is the Florida Panthers. Formerly the lowly Florida Panthers and now the Southeast Division leading Florida Panthers. The Panthers had been historically one of, if not the worst, teams in the NHL for the past decade. They haven't reached the playoffs since 2000, and haven't won a playoff game since 1997. They haven't even finished higher than third in the Southeast Division since the 2000-01 season. But thanks to a drastic overhaul by GM Dale Tallon, the Panthers have quickly emerged as one of the better and more exciting teams to watch in the League. Today they sit atop the Southeast Division with 37 points, third in the Eastern Conference and tenth in the League. In this week's power ranking the Panthers also rank tenth despite having a record in their last ten outings of just 5-3-2 (0.600 hockey). So far this season the Panthers have proven to me they are real, they have a respectable positive goal differential of +5 and they've played 0.616 hockey over 30 games; 0.667 over 12 home games and 0.556 over 18 away games. These guys are for real. That's really all that matters to us Capitals fans, that and the fact the Capitals really, really should work really hard to NOT loose any more "four point games" to the Panthers. Right now the Capitals are two games ahead of the Capitals and have played 0.554 over the 28 games the Caps have played this season. The Panthers are on track to finish the season with between 94 and 105 points. To catch and pass the Panthers I estimate the Capitals will need to ratchet up their own "game" ~20% and play 0.657 hockey to finish with 102 points; that's a pretty big delta but it could be achievable if the Capitals find their stride now and have a good "run/streak" between now and February 28th. It's also interesting to note that while the Caps and Panthers will face each other three times between now and March 1st, all three of those meetings occur in the month of February and with any luck for we Caps fans will be the most epic and important meetings between the two teams in at least a decade.

The next team that matters to the Capitals is the Eastern Conference lading Philadelphia Flyers - the same Flyers who the Capitals will face off against tomorrow night. If the season ended today, the Capitals would find themselves in the first round of the playoffs facing the Flyers. Over 28 games the Flyers have been playing 0.696 hockey and are on track to finish the season with between 108 and 120 points this regular season. The Flyers are 7-3-0 in their last ten outings and on a 5 game winning streak and they are doing it in spite of average goaltending from their net-minders (2.9 GAA last ten games), and a final and yet is they have a positive goal differential of +20 over 28 games to date (101 GF - 3.607 GF/Game and 81 GA - 2.893 GA/Game). Making up any of the four (4) full games the Flyers are ahead of the Capitals even over the 54 games remaining between now and April looks to be a daunting task. However tomorrow's match up is a four point game in that challenge and all the more reason to look at the game and increase it's importance in the Capitals minds.

The Boston Bruins who are now in first place in the Northeast Division and second place in the Eastern Conference are important to the Capitals. Between now and the end of the season the Caps still have all four of their match ups with the Bruins remaining and if they can manage to pass Florida, they will likely be battling the Bruins for the second seed in the opening round of the playoffs. The Bruins have played 0.661 hockey so far this season and have a whopping and league leading +35 goal differential. The Bruins are on pace to finish the regular season with between 102 and 111 points so it's very likely the Caps will need the Bruins to filter some in order to pass them in the standings even if the Caps can finish with 102 or 103 points. The Bruins are currently ranked atop this week's NHL power rankings.

The fourth place New York Rangers are another team, that even if the Caps have turned things around will still matter and come into play for the Caps this season. the Rangers have played 0.704 hockey over 27 games this season. They are as strong or stronger a team as either the Bruins or the Flyers and have a team goal differential of +23 and a 7-3-0 record in their last 10 games including a 6-1 blowout win over the Florida Panthers in their last outing. The "Rags" are on track to finish the regular season with between 106 and 118 points. They are currently ranked third in the NHL's power rankings.

The fifth place Pittsburgh Penguins are the next team that are highly relevant to the Capitals this season. The Penguins have played 0.633 hockey over thirty games this season despite Sidney Crosby's injury issues which unfortunately for hockey fans everywhere continue with no foreseeable end in sight. The Penguins have a +19 differential and 96 and 106 points. If the Caps have indeed turned things around and can finish with 102 points when they head into the playoffs there is a fair chance their road to Lord Stanley's Promised Land for the Capitals could well once again be through Pittsburgh.

What about the other guys in the East who could make the playoffs you might ask: Toronto, Buffalo, New Jersey, Montreal and Winnipeg.

Well Toronto at 5-4-1 in their last ten games and 13th in this week's NHL Power Rankings looks to be the real deal and could very easily finish the season as high as in 5th place and as low as 7th place with between 88 and 98 points for the season. In other words the Maple Leafs could very easily be the Capitals opponent in the first round of the playoffs, if the Capitals turn things around find a way to either win the Southeast or finish in fourth in the Conference.

The Buffalo Sabres are ranked 15th in this week's NHL Power Rankings, have played 0.552 hockey through 29 games, and have an even team goal differential to date. The Sabres are 3-5-2 in their last ten games and have a less than 0.500 record at home so far this season, while playing 0.727 hockey on the road. This team is an enigma to me but will likely remain battling Toronto, Montreal, Winnipeg, and Ottawa "on the bubble" assuming the Capitals can move forward on their current path and get off the bubble themselves. If that happens the Capitals likely won't be seeing anyone who finishes seventh or eighth in the Eastern Conference before the Conference finals, if at all.

So the as far as turning things around in the "Dale Hunter Era" the Florida Panthers may well have caught the spirit of things when they were billing the game between the Panthers and the Capitals as a battle for first place in the division and an important bout between the two.

So next up the Flyers at Verizon Center Tuesday Night - Be There or Be Square.

LETS GO CAPS!!!!

Are THE Capitals "Back"? and Does Realignment Pave The Way For NHL Expansion?

2011-12-10T11:13:00.003-05:00

Well I missed the last two Capitals games - check updates, blogs and recaps of all after getting score alerts while driving northbound on the I-95 and the New Jersey Turnpike during the Senators game and southbound back that same route during the Maple Leafs game. So it's hard for me to make any sort of conclusive statements about the Capitals other than "I hope so and I'm an eternal optimist." From going through the statistics and reflecting on the couple of games I did actually watch first hand so far during the "Hunter Era" so far, I will say I like what I see and yes, I am optimistic. I think the Capital's core also does and is responding as well. So are THE Capitals back? Well with a 5-5-0 record in their last ten games it's a little too early to tell, but there is definitely reason for hope again in the neighborhood around 7th and F Streets. Now if the Caps can make up at least 1 of the 2 1/2 games they trail the Florida Panthers for the Southeast Division lead before the end of December, a period when they have 9 games remaining this month and Florida has 10 games remaining and the Caps can finish the month with a 8-4-2 record or better for the month overall (18 or more points), then I'll be convinced they are back on track. So that's pretty much the bottom line, but there are a bunch of promising signs that the Caps are off to a good start at moving back from "bubble team hell" to clear playoff team.

Now about the NHL realignment - first let's get this out of the way - I can't wait for next season, I love the new alignment and the the way it's worked out for the Capitals. The Division games next season will clearly be far more exciting, load and fun than the Southeast Division games this season and the 2013 playoffs assuming the Capitals make them - Whooaa. As @ovi8 would say, SICK. That said I've gotta believe that in a couple of years, no more, there will be two more teams in the NHL, my guess is Quebec and a team out west in the US and that would be either Seattle or Houston, IMO. I also think that would/could work out very well and there is enough talent available world-wide to support 32 great NHL teams. Now if they could have gotten rid of the shootout, or at least made every game a three point game and a win in regulation worth more than one in OT or the shootout .... That too is my bottom line.

Next up for the Capitals- the Flyers at Verizon Center on Tuesday.

LETS GO CAPS!!!!

Tomorrow, Looking Ahead to the Caps - Panthers Matchup In Sunrise, Well Sort Of ...

2011-12-04T21:37:00.005-05:00

So tomorrow evening in Sunrise, FL the Washington Capitals who have been struggling mightily of late to regain their confidence and swagger and their "game" play the Florida Panthers who have basically been doing the exact opposite, the Panthers are about 4/10th's of the way into their best NHL season in several years. It'll be the second of six meetings this season between Florida and Washington. The Capitals won the first meeting 3-0, that game was in a different universe, while it was on the same sheet of ice that tomorrow's game will be played on, it was apparently in a different time-space continuim, on October 18th while the Capitals were on a 7-0 tear at the start of the season. That was before the Capitals started looking even less than human while they were still super-heros who it seemed could do whatever they want and still win hockey games. it was before Bruce Boudreau was replaced by Dale Hunter and it was well before the Panthers amassed anything like their current 14-8-4 record and 32 points to take over the Southeast Division lead for the first time in more than a couple years. It was before the Panthers went 7-3-3 during the month of November.

The difference in current mindset and attitude of these two teams might be best ascertained by comparing their records over the past 10 games - Florida: 6-3-1; Washington: 3-7-0. That said, my thoughts might be going in a different direction than you think though. For Florida, their website is building the game up as the "Fight for First Place" as in the fight for the first place in the Southeast Division. That shouldn't even be a fight of course and it is but it's a meaningless one as we Cap's fans well know. Winning the division without winning the conference has gotten the Capitals little to nothing these past few post seasons. In that regard, it's about having home ice advantage and it's about being in position to "go deep" in the playoffs. So from that regard for Panthers it is indeed important. It's also about making sure they don't get shutout 3-0 again like they did last meeting; its about making sure they make Sunrise, FL a hard place for division rivals play against the Panthers.

For the Capitals the game is even more important and it is so for at least three really big, good reasons:

1) It could be the difference between knowing they might still have a season because they can win games against their Division foes on the road, heck right now it's important they beat anybody on the road. The worst loss of the recent face-plant in my book was in some ways, probably when they went up to Uniondale on November 5th and lost 5-3. The Capitals road record is 4-7-0 so far this season, for the Capitals to get their season back on track they need to start playing at least 0.500 hockey on the road and 0.600 hockey at Verizon Center. The time for that to get started is sooner rather than later, so what better time for Dale Hunter to get his second win and first win on the road as coach of the Capitals than tomorrow night at Sunrise, FL?

2) The Capitals need the two points a win against Florida will give them more that the Panthers need them. Right now the Caps are actually "the bubble team"in the Eastern Conference. They sit with a precarious hold on the eighth and final playoff spot with 27 points. the same point total as ninth place Ottawa and tenth place Montreal.

3) A win, especially a win in regulation would be put new Coach Dale Hunter's record at a respectable 2-2-0 and would also be the first win in regulation for the Capitals under Hunter. it would also be another brick in the rebuilding of a wall of confidence in the Capital Team's collective psyche' as regards the "Hunter Era". It could get even better if the Capitals top six forwards hit on all eight cylinders and get their offense as well as the defense in gear.

The other interesting battle that will likely play out tomorrow at Sunrise, FL will be Jose Theodore vs. Tomas Vokoun. Theo wasn't in the net the last time the two teams met, Jacob Markstrom was, as was the Vokoun who stopped 20 shots and was the first star of that game. During the Panthers last ten games Theodore has played in eight games posted a 5-2-1 record and a 0.933 SV%. The recent performances by both Theodore and Vokoun and the importance of the game for both teams make a showdown by the two against their former teams very likely tomorrow night... I'm looking forward to it, I hope you are two. I'm also looking very forward to seeing the Capitals forwards continue their return to the scene and to the job of scoring goals too.

LETS GO CAPS!!!!!

Penguins 2 - Caps 1; Another No Point Night But ...

2011-12-01T23:48:00.002-05:00

Okay let's get this out of the way early, the Caps and the Penguins met tonight at Verizon Center and the Penguins beat the Capitals 2-1. The Caps are now 2-7-1 in their last 10 games. That's not good and not what the Caps organization or we Caps fans want or expect from them this season. There's no ifs ands or buts about it things need to get fixed and the sooner the better.

Okay that out of the way, lets admit even though the Caps got outshot 35-17 and out attempted 69 - 42, the game could just as easily, and some (self included) would argue, should have finished regulation in a 3-3 tie. The Caps basically "missed" two wide open nets and penguins missed one. Had those plays been "properly" finished when the third period ends the score is 3-3 instead of 2-1. That said it's hockey, you know that game of inches stuff, and instead you have a no point night for Washington. Also on the bright side, the Caps have found their defense again and in the last two games Tomas Vokoun has delivered a SV% that we expect from a top tier number one goaltender in the NHL. Tonight his SV% was 0.943 - he stopped everything he should have and a few that might have gotten by a lesser goaltender, so you can't blame the Caps goalie for this lack of points. The two missed open nets, well Aex Ovechkin might have only had one SOG tonight but he was part of setting those two plays up. With 19:22 TOI, Ovechkin also led all Caps forwards in TOI and did so with an average shift length of 00:55 but didn't have any really long shifts except for one in third period that I saw. Ovie also led the Caps in hits with 10, all but one of which were good, solid hits that were appropriately timed and without putting him out of position, on one hit Evgeni Malkin got the better of the exchange, but let's all understand that that battle/competition has been going on for at least half of Ovie and Geno's lives.

The defense looked pretty solid, except for the second Pittsburgh goal, Chris Kunitz's game winner, where John Erskine tripped and fell and that sort of stuff can happen. Brooks Laich was a beast in the faceoff circle tonight with a win % against 67% (14 wins 7 losses) many of which came against Sidney Crosby. Laich has had some good games so far this season, but this might have been his best yet. Alexander Semin drew one penalty and got none. His feet were moving all night from what I saw and he was working hard. Had he not missed on a wide open net (one of two by the Caps) he'd have a goal to go with his 1 takeaway and 2 blocked shots.

Of the blue liners I felt Dennis Wideman, John Carlson, Dmitri Orlov and Karl Alzner all had solid outings. John Erskine, everyone trips now and then and even though it resulted in a goal, I'll gladly overlook that misstep to have a guy in the lineup who within the traditions of the game, holds Arron Asham accountable for his "go to sleep" celebration from the last time these two teams met when he knocked out Jay Beagle. Jeff Schultz what can I say, 21 shifts, 16:14 TOI, -1, 1 attempt blocked, 1 miss shot, 1 takeaways, 1 blocked shot, 2 takeaways saw them all including the one of the two takeaways that might have saved a goal. The two hits Schultz is credited with, I truly didn't see them and if I did they didn't seem like hits to me and certainly are not memorable. Let's give credit where credit is due, Schultz is one of the most positionally sound defensemen I've seen play ove rthe past three seasons in the NHL and he has a heckuva "active stick". Further, I know any guy who is at the NHL level, is 6'6" 230#, played his major junior hockey in the Western Hockey League for a team named "The Calgary Hitmen" and who represented his nation in the World juniors has to know how to execute a killer body check and "blow somebody up." he just has to. However in Schultz's five NHL seasons I don't know of one time during his 340 NHL games played that he's done it. Finally it seems to me that he's not being properly respected and he's certainly not in any way feared by opposing forwards these days. Maybe just maybe just a couple of times, he ought to risk not being exactly in position and "blow somebody up", not so we Caps fans know he can do it, but just so the guys who matter in his world - forwards on opposing teams - think twice before tring to skate through him. Now of course if somebody out there can show me a youtube clip of "Sarge" doing that i guess I'll be the one eating some crow around here.

Forwards, the forecheck was going, the Caps won 69% of the faceoffs Laich 67% and pretty solid as the guy required to shutdown Crosby; Backstrom won 88% of his faceoffs; even Marcus Johanson won 4 of the 9 draws he took. The problem pretty straightforward, the Caps only attempted 42 shots on goal and only 17 got through. Against a solid, actually very good, goaltender like Marc-Andre Fleury, unless he's having an anomalously bad night he's stopping 0.900+ of the shots he sees and unless your team's goaltender pitches a shutout, your probably not going to win. The story tonight is pretty much just that.

So it looks like Tomas Vokoun has found his goaltending Mojo again and has his groove back. It seems to me like the Caps re-found their "team defense" allowing just 2 goals in each of the last two games. Now they just need to get their offensive mojo back, a task clearly easier said then done, and we all will likely be happier with the results of the hockey games.

Next up the Ottawa Senators here at Verizon Center.

LETS GO CAPS!!!!

Capitals 3 - Panthers 0, 10/18/2011 Brief Retrospective

2011-10-19T20:59:00.002-04:00

Last night the Capitals hosted the Florida Panthers at Verizon Center and they beat them 3 - 0.

...

...

...

Okay maybe that retrospective was a bit too brief ... but first let's review our top questions before the game:

1) "Will Tomas Fleischmann show up for the game or continue to be nearly invisible?"
"Flash" wasn't totally "invisible" but it wasn't a performance that made it self evident why he is the second highest paid member of the team.

2) "Will Ovi come alive and electrify us with something like a hat trick"
Captain Ovechkin had one assist and 4 hits and turned in an overall solid but unremarkable (for him) performance.

and 3) "Will Vokoun shut out his former team just one game after they put up big numbers?"
Yep, Tomas Vokoun got his first shutout of the season and his first shutout as a Washington Capital at the expense of his former team last night making 20 saves and earning the games first star.

Other quick hits -

* As slow as Ovi's start has been, Sasha Semin, Dennis Wideman, Nicklas Backstrom, Marcus Johansson and Jason Chimera have been pretty darn quick. Backstrom has 1 goal and 5 assists for 6 points in 5 games; Semin and Wideman each have 2 goals and 3 assists for 5 points MoJo has 3 goals and an assist and Chimera has 4 goals. Putting in into perspective both MoJo and Chimera are on a 60+ goal pace for the 82 game season. While obviously it's highly unlikely for them to maintain that pace, my point is we wanted/needed secondary scoring and with the three scoring lines the Capitals now have "we've" got it.

* So far this season, ice time is much more equitably managed and in the end that should mean the entire team is likely to stay healthier. Right now the ATOI leader is Mike Green but his ATOI is only 22:31 down from over 25:00 two years ago and 49th in the league so far this season, and "Game Over" is the only Capital in the top 60 in this statistical category. That means the Capitals are a much more "balanced" team and to me that means they are a tougher team to prepare for and play against than they were even just last season.

* This year's Capitals are a much, much more physical team than the Capitals of the last three seasons. Team hit leader Troy Brouwer is second in the league in "hits" with 24, as a team in five games so far this season the Capitals have "dished out" a total of 140 hits that's an average of 28 hits per game vice an average of 24 hits per game last season, that's a 16.7% increase. Also that increase in "toughness" is pretty evenly distributed throughout the entire Capitals' roster - for example, Jeff Schultz had a total of 53 hits in 72 games played last season, an average of 0.73 hits per game, so far this season he's credited with 4 hits in 5 games or .8 hits per game, a ~10% increase. Also anecdotally I think he's hitting people harder - I say that because you notice his hits more, this season I'm surprised he "only" has 4 hits and looking at last season's stats I'm surprised he had more than 40 hits. I think this also says the Capitals are a tougher team to play this season in this regard as well.

* Alexander Semin is indeed one of the biggest and best TWO WAY talents in the NHL today. That's all I'm sayin' and I'm just sayin' He's also really fun to watch play this game they call Ice Hockey. Last night his stat line was 1 goal, 1 assist, +2, 16:03 TOI in 18 shifts, 4 shots, 1 giveaway, and two take aways. He's really good; that's especially obvious when you compare his stat line to a less talented, but clearly NHL caliber player in a similar game. Take for example, oh say, somebody like Matt Bradley. Last night's stat line for Matt Bradley reads: 0 goals. 0 assists, 0 points, -1, 13:04 in 18 shifts, 1 attempt blocked, 1 hit and 1 takeaway. Both players earned their salaries last night but Semin clearly played with "heart" and was a far more impactful (is that a word) player on his 18 shifts. Again "just sayin'".

* Marcus Johansson clearly wants to make sure he gets a sweater EVERY night. He also has really shown that the wrap around "stuff" goal is not dead. Watching him score his third goal last night gave me flashbacks to how the Flyers' Bobby Clarke would often score "back in the day." While I'm talking number 90, the 28-90-22 line is "pretty fun" to watch and really good so far this season.

* This Vokoun guy the Caps picked up in the off season - I think he's going to be pretty good for them... actually i think he's a "beast" in a really, really good way.

Next up, the Philadelphia Flyers in Philly, tomorrow night.

LETS GO CAPS!!! Make it "6" okay?

Heading Out to Verizon Center

2011-10-18T16:38:00.002-04:00

Well in just a few short minutes I'll be off to Verizon Center to see the Caps vs. Panthers in their first of six contests this season. In their last game the Panther's offense came alive beating Tampa Bay 7-4. The Caps are now 4-0-0 and looking for "one for the thumb" and to take a franchise record for the start of the season. I am intrigued by the sub-plots - yes the rehash of the will Brads really apologize to Sasha or is he just saying that? etc. are NOT what I'm talking about.

I'm talking about Florida has 12 new/different players from last year and the Caps have Dennis Wideman and Tomas Vokoun who last year were Caps. The big question for me on the Florida side of things is "Will Tomas Fleischmann show up for the game or continue to be nearly invisible?" For the Caps I wonder "Will Ovi come alive and electrify us with something like a hat trick and will Vokoun shut out his former team just one game after they put up big numbers?

Tune in later tonight for the answers - same "bat time" same "bat channel"

LETS GO CAPS!!!!!

Preseason Game 4: Caps 3 - Blue Jackets 1: "Quick Hits"

2011-09-26T23:52:00.004-04:00

Well tonight the Capitals and the Blue Jackets faced off at Verizon Center for the first game of the Preseason at Verizon Center. The Capitals won the game 3-1 and really controlled the game pretty much all night long. Quick hits/notes from the game:

- The three stars of the game announced were: 1) Mathieu Perreault (1 goal, 1 assist); 2) Chris Bourque (3 Assists) and 3) Cody Eakin (1 goal) but I'd put Michal Neuvirth down for "honorble mention" if for nothing else but a set of four - not, 1, 2, or 3 but 4 consecutive saves during the one flurry he faced.

- The only puck that got by Neuvy was in the third period when Patrick McNeill got out of position and Troy Brouwer gave Vinny Prospel too much time and space with a very "soft" back-check and ended up screening Neuvirth.

- Chris Bourque - sweet game, he showed his skillz in participating in all three goals. It wasn't quite last year's three goal preseason game performance by Matt Hendricks but it's probably enough to keep him around these parts a while longer.

- Both Bourque and Mathieu Perreault really played hard and showed they are both determined to make it hard for the coaching staff to send them "down to the A". They also are setting a great example for Cody Eakin and nipping at the heels of a couple of guys if I had to guess.

- The Capitals' second line of Semin-Johannson-Knuble played well during the first 15:00 or so of the first period but not so much the rest of the game. However if they could stay on track and pace like they were in the first period, they'll score some goals and put up some number.

- The first line of Ovechkin-Backstom-Brouwer looked pretty solid and played well.

- Jeff Schultz has had better games and one begins to wonder "what if........"

It's good to have hockey back, even if it was preseason.

LETS GO CAPS!!!!

Two Hockey Musings On This Sunday In August ...

2011-08-14T09:52:00.003-04:00

It's not all that easy for me to "muse" about hockey on a rainy, humid 80 degree August day in the Washington, DC Metro but hey that's sort of what I do. So today I have two hockey related musings - one about Scott Hannan signing a one year, one million dollar contract with the Calgary Flames and the other about the NHL and the Olympics.

First, I'd expect most readers of this blog know that earlier this week, the Calgary Flames signed Scott Hannan to a one year contract, for a mere $1M salary cap hit. So this got me to "a thinking" if the Capitals had done that, this season Hannan would be the second lowest paid member of their blue-line corps; that's right of the Capitals projected defense corps, only John Carlson with his entry level salary of $845.8K, makes less than Hannan will this coming season. So what do you think? Not that any of these are or would have been viable choices but hey Caps fans, would you rather have Scott Hannan for $1M even Cap Hit or: a) Tom Poti for $2.875M, b)Jeff Schultz for $2.75M, or even c)John Erskine for $1.5M? I'm going to "zero in" on the debate of Hannan vs. Schultz for three reasons:
i)Given Tom Poti is fighting to resume any career whatsoever after his season ending injuries last year, I just don't think debating about him vs. anyone is "good form." My only hope relative to Tom Poti and the 2011-2012 season is that he is well enough to return to play this season and then we can have this debate in October.
ii) John Erskine is well John Erskine and he brings so much more in the way of total grit to the Capitals that contrasting him to either Hannan or Schultz just doesn't seem fair or wise. If it were only about skating or sick-handling abilities, there's no doubt in my mind John Erskine would likely be making about 1/2 what he currently does. That said I'm a convert, to me, John Erskine is worth the $1.5M he makes, or at least he was last season.
iii) Contrasting Jeff Schultz with Scott Hannan just seems to make sense to me.

Sure there's a huge age difference but in terms of roles and styles, they are both stay at home D-Men who aren't out on the ice for hat they bring to the offensive end of the game. However, Schultz is 25 years old, will make $2.5M and have a Cap Hit of $2.75M this year. Last year "Sarge" had a reasonably unremarkable season finishing the regular season at +6 with just 1 goal, 9 assists, 12 PIM, 34 SOG, and just 53 hits in 72 games. In the playoffs, the 25 year old Calgary native played 9 games was +1, had NO offensive contributions, 6 PIM and 9 SOG. On the other hand, Hannan is 32 years old, has 12 NHL seasons under his belt and will make $1M and have a Cap Hit of $1M this year. Last year Hannan played a total of 78 games joining the Washington Capitals at the end of November from the Colorado Avalanche; over the course of the season he had a +4, 1 goal, 11 assists, 34 PIM, 56 SOG, and 84 hits. In the playoffs, he too appeared in all 9 games the Capitals had, was +1, had an assist, 2 PIM and 6 SOG. So when you compare Schultz and Hannan's performances last season, there's just not a lot of difference; and last season Schultz made $2.5M while Hannan made $4.5M. So looking at last season, Jeff Schultz was no doubt "a better buy" than Scott Hannan. Now looking forward to next season, Schultz will make 2.5X what Hannan will make.

One logically asks will Schultz be worth 2.5X what Hannan is this coming season? The simple truth is none of us know the answer to that question, so "ask me in June 2012"; however I will say it's possible. If Jeff Schultz, now age 25 has the same sort of season he had in 2009-2010, and continues that high level of play into and through the 2012 playoff's he will have fully earned his pay and will be worth a $2.75M Cap Hit. I have little doubt that Scott Hannan will be worth the $1M that Calgary will pay him this season, but he's hoping to do a lot more. That said, the bottom line in this debate is at 25 Schultz still has a lot of upside and at 32 Hannan is much more likely to have just a few more years of his playing career and they are likely to look a lot like last season. Schultz's real value lies in his potential. Potential that will be realized if "Mr. Nasty" can and does become a real no-kidding "shut down" defenseman; something that, in my opinion, can and will only happen if he gets more physical. Schultz is 6' 6" and 230#, he's a big guy, with huge reach, Right now he over-relies on his reach and doesn't use his large body enough. If Schultz would do two things: a) muscle up a little (5-12 more pounds of muscle) and b) improve his skating just a wee bit so he wouldn't worry about being out of position after he makes a hit so much; I'm pretty sure he could increase his number of hits by 50-100% (last season 53, 2009-2010: 66, 2008-2009: 53). If Schultz does those things, the $3M he'll make in the 2012-2013 and 2013-2014 seasons under his current contract a real deal. If he doesn't then it's likely that Caps GMGM will likely regret giving him such a nice, long term deal. So in the end even though it wasn't an option anyway, I'm saying I'd pick Schultz over Hannan.

Second, over at Red Light District, they brought up the debate "Should the NHL Continue to Participate in the Olympics" again just yesterday. So I'm flabbergasted. Everyone whose been reading this blog for a while pretty much knows, I CANNOT even understand how this is even a debate. My view is simple and straightforward, Garry Bettman and the NHL Board of Governors are idiots if they decide to not allow the players to participate in the Olympics. Further while, I question Bettman's intelligence, often, I think the BOG has some smart guys on it and they are just positioning for a bargaining chip and to get some needed concessions, especially during Olympic Year scheduling. All that said, my bottom line on the matter is this, participation in the Olympics, is something the NHL shouldn't "play politics with." End of story, end of rant.

My countdown shows just 53 days until the Capitals season opener; I'm waiting for my season ticket package delivery of which is just around the corner. I really can't wait.

LETS GO CAPS!!!!

Shea Weber Gets $7.5M What Does It Mean For Other Arbitrations?

2011-08-06T19:55:00.002-04:00

So Shea Weber was awarded $7.5M in arbitration this year and the Nashville predators accepted the award last week. What does it all mean? Well I'm with Puckdaddy and for the rest of this years UFA and RFA class I don't think it means anything much.

Now next year will it matter? Well for Weber who will be UFA eligable it should mean something and it could also mean something for one member of the Washington Capitals - Mike Green. Simply put like Weber and Drew Doughty, Mike Green is one of those elite young defensemen. He's been nominated for two Norris Trophies and has many years and more potential to get even better left in his career. What happens with Weber and Doughty this year could potnetially affect what happens with Mike Green next year. However, what exactly that means is still anybody's guess.

Okay, now talk amoungst yourselves.

Time to Catch Up On Hockey After Another Busy Week At Work...

2011-07-23T13:22:00.003-04:00

Well I spent two days in Charleston, SC for work - they were productive for me and the company and I was there when the South Carolina Stingrays announced they need to find a new head coach as theirs is off to the AHL (Abbotsford, surprise,) to become an assistant there. Not much news on the free agent market last week, not much news about the Capitals this week so I really didn't miss much immersing myself in the new job - which is a necessary task at this point, and frankly one I'm enjoying.

Here's an interesting listing of the NHL's top salaried players and whether they are worth it or not - I found it interesting because i agree with all their evaluations. Trade rumors, stupid trade rumors, IMO, apparently persist involving Alexander Semin and this post elsewhere earlier this week on the web, captures my thoughts a bunch better than I likely could ever succinctly many of the reasons I am such a big proponent and fan of "the other Alex." In other Capitals news, it appears the Caps are thinking Tom Poti will likely start the season on Long Term Injured Reserve (LTIR), while Poti and his agent say he is working towards being ready and fit at the start of training camp. In other Capitals related news, the Caps freed up another of their 50 available contract slots when former first-round draft pick Anton Gustafsson (aka "Baby Gus") cleared unconditional waivers Thursday and his contract has been terminated by the Capitals. According to agent J.P. Barry, Gustafsson intends to play in Switzerland this coming season.

My favorite Capitals player quote of the week comes from off-season, veteran pick-up Roman Hamrlik in this blog post over at WaPo by Katie Carrera:

“I think when you’re young, you just play — you don’t think about it, you just work hard,” Hamrlik said when asked about when he became more active as a leader. “Four, five years ago when I signed with Calgary and Montreal you’re at that age when you kind of figure it out and you try to win as a team.”

I like some many things included in what Hamrlik had to say, I could have picked several other quotes from him in the post, but this one - the "you try to win as a team." part just struck a chord with me, even more than a few other statements that he said and I liked.

The time ... the time you ask, Caps Fans. I'm with Peerless - the time is NOW... yep, I too think it's time to "come out of the closet" and declare what I really think. I really think this team is ready now. Will it happen? Well if I knew that, I'd be a rich guy and I'm not so I'm a just saying...

I don't know about y'all but it's been hard for me to think about ice hockey this past week given the heat, and all - ice cube in a nice gin and tonic maybe, but ice hockey has been a stretch... In any case I am still rally pleased where where my favorite team - the Capitals - are right now and I'm sure I'll be really "jazzed" when the start of training camp rolls around.

LETS GO CAPS!!!!

Week of 7/9 Through 7/15 Recap and Capital Thoughts Going Forward

2011-07-16T10:35:00.002-04:00

Wow another busy week for me at my new job and another busy week for Capitals GM George McPhee (GMGM). At the end of this past week though I'd say, I expect GMGM is likely ready for and capable of taking a bit of a summer break whilst I now have an ever growing "to do" list. Looking at the Capitals the reason I say GMGM is capable of taking a bit of a "summer break" now is he has navigated through the UFA frenzy and also the somewhat (this year at least) less frenetic but all the more interesting RFA signing period brilliantly, IMO. When I got back home from my business travels last week and looked to find what had gone on in and around the NHL, the signing of Karl Alzner to a two year, exceptionally "Cap Friendly" (double meaning fully intended) deal brought a smile to my face and a twinkle to my eyes. I confess that right now from what I see the only "better bargain" in the NHL is the one year UFA deal GMGM was able to ink with seasoned Veznia quality goaltender Tomas Vokoun, IMO. So folks here's where I see things being/are with a 22 man roster at the start of the season:

Forward Lines:

Ovechkin - Backstrom - Knuble (Combined Cap Hit: $18.2M)
Semin - Johansson - Brouwer (Combined Cap Hit: $10M)
Chimera - Laich - Ward (Combined Cap Hit: $9.4M)
Beagle - Halpren - Hendricks (Combined Cap Hit: $2.2M)

Defense Pairings:
Green - Hamrlik (Combined Cap Hit: $8.75M)
Alzner - Carlson (Combined Cap Hit: $2.1M)
Wideman - Erskine (Combined Cap Hit: $5.4M)

Goaltenders (Cap Hit: $2.65M)
Vokoun
Neuvirth

Bench:
D.J. King ($0.637M)
Jeff Schultz ($2.75M)

Injured Reserve:
Tom Poti ($2.875M)

That's a line-up. There are a few bargains in the Capitals line-up in my opinion and they speak volumes to a few others in my book. First let's give credit where credit is due, few outside of Washington Capitals "fan-dom", felt the Capitals would have been able to preserve the entire core and improve the team given all the threats and opportunities there were for them to loose key pieces to free-agency and their salary cap situation.

The first coup of the off-season to my mind's eye by GMGM is probably the biggest and that's the way the Capitals "goaltender controversy" was resolved, moving Semyon Varlomov to Colorado and getting something for a guy who could have just as easily ended up in Russia in the KHL "for nothing" was a great move. Then in the "I'd rather be lucky than good" category comes the signing of Tomas Vokoun for a mere $1.5M has to be, arguably, to my thinking the biggest, best signing of this year's UFA period; unarguably it's the best bargain for a team. Prior to the UFA period, many both inside and outside of hockey felt that Vokoun could/would easily have ended up with a "Cup contender" for $5M/year. Yet here he is in DC for $1.5, again I say - Wow. There's no doubt in my mind that the Capitals with Vokoun and Michael Neuvirth is a pretty awesome situation. In addition to having two great goalies, we'll no doubt see even more Czech Republic flags in and around Verizon Center this season. Also I can't think of a better coach to help Braden Holtby develop further and faster than "Olie the Goalie" or to demonstrate to Neuvirth the benefits of being patient with your own development curve. There's no doubt in my mind and no bigger surprise from this off-season to me than how much better I feel about the Capital's goaltending situation with Tomas Vokoun on the team and without the young goalies being #1 and #1A... Kudos to GMGM on the moves that resulted in the line-up in goal the Capitals now have.

In a set of moves that also surprised pretty much everyone in the hockey world, GMGM next turned his sights to re-tooling the Capitals front lines. I mean the Capitals forwards were already formidable, how was GMGM going to make them much better? Well he did and here's how... Signing UFA Joel Ward for $3M/season and trading Eric Fehr ($2.2M) to make Cap room was a good move. Yes, Fehr is/was a fan favorite and will likely be even better in Winnipeg. However, the Capitals needed someone like Ward in their line-up more than they needed another sniper and that's what and where Fehr will really help Winnipeg. Ward is and will continue to be a stalwart 2 way right wing who can and does help shut down the many left wing and centers in the league who are "snipers" that's why he played 80 games last season and averaged 17:01 TOI during the regular season but hey, then in the playoffs he not only continued to shutdown opponents and play 20:25 TOI a game through 12 playoff games but he also led the Predators in offense last post-season with 7 goals and 6 assists. So we trade Fehr who was getting about 12-13:00 TOI and not really fitting in where you'd expect on the roster which I believe is on the second line where he'll probably play in Winnipeg. Great upgrade for the Capitals #1. Next we have the "swap-out" of fourth line center Boyd Gordon for Jeff Halpren saving another $0.5M/year of salary Cap and it didn't really cost the Capitals much of anything. Yes "Gordo" is younger than Halpren (27 vs. 35) but if nothing else Halpren showed he was/is at least as durable, if not more-so than Gordon last season and there's no doubt that the return of the 35-year old Potomac, MD native to the team he once Captained fills some of the leadership that Jason Arnott brought to the Caps at the end of last season. Also in terms of defensive and face-off skills, while Gordon might have slightly better numbers, Halpren is also excellent and he has more offensive skills (11 goals last season vs. 3) and can and does use his body better (42 vs. 33 hits). To me, the fourth line with Halpren as pivot is an upgrade from the fourth line the Capitals put on the ice last season. Next we have the pickup of RFA Troy Brouwer really helps, it give us a great second line right wing to compliment Alexander Semin who can play his natural Left Wing position there and gives a great second finishing piece to young center Marcus Johansson should opposing teams choose to concentrate on Semin. Brouwer had 17 goals and 19 assists in the regular season last year along with 262 hits he's a stud and knows how to dig a puck out of a corner like nobody's business. I think a second line of Semin, MoJo, and Brouwer will be an awesome upgrade for the Capitals and adding Brouwer into the mix of potential Right Wings with Semin and Knuble to finish off the first line pair of Ovie and Backy gives the Capitals another really interesting set of options when it comes to mixing and matching their so called "top six" forwards of which the Capitals now have nine (9) legitimate "top six" forwards IMO: Ovechkin, Backstrom, Semin, Laich, Ward, Johannson, Knuble, Chimera and Brouwer, along with a fourth or energy line that can either shake things up or shut opponents down. And that's how GMGM managed to upgrade the Capitals' forward lines.

On the blueline thanks to the young duo of Karl Alzner and John Carlson the Capitals have the salary cap room to upgrade their front-lines without sacrificing anything on defense. Right now the Caps are carrying eight NHL D-Men on their roster, that's because no one know how things will end up with Tom Poti. I'm showing Poti on IR at the start of the season, if he's not, then the Capitals will need to do something to clear Cap space for him but a healthy Poti means an even better blue line corps than what I'm showing right now. Jeff Schultz has to take his game up a notch this season or it's likely the Capitals will look to move him because of his $2.75M salary Cap Hit, however right now having Schultz as an option until the Capitals know at least one of the two guys who finished the playoffs injured - Poti and/or Wideman - are healthy and ready to play a full season is a very sound and fortunate position to be in. The smoothness that Wideman displayed in fitting in the line-up as a trade deadline pick-up was a very pleasant surprise to me and i consider the swap-out of Hannan for Wideman to be an upgrade and a good move as well. Re-signing Alzner for just $1.285M/season is another huge coup for the Capitals to me as well. I really can't believe he didn't get an offer sheet that raised his overall price to at least the $2.75M that jeff Schultz is making this season. Well there you have it, all of the above are why I think the Capitals are an even better team this season than they were last season.

LETS GO CAPS!!!

How Much is Karl Alzner Really Worth?

2011-07-04T14:08:00.000-04:00

So now that the Washington Capitals are pushing up against the salary cap, at least according to those who look at Capgeek.com and do not factor in the idea that Tom Poti is likely to start the season on Long Term Injured Reserve (LTIR) or retire; we Capitals fans turn our attention to the two unsigned Restricted Free Agents (RFAs) who might get offer sheets: Karl Alzner and Troy Brouwer.

There is certainly a lot of speculation about just what sort of offer sheets they might get; here's an interesting blog post from a Montreal Canadiens blog; I hope it's not right, I like Karl Alzner but $4.7M per year, I just can't see another team offering him that much and also being willing to forfeit the draft picks that would cost them. That said if some other GM wants to target the Capitals and make the sort of offers that "Eyes on the Prize" suggests (Alzner 1-4 years for $4.7M/year and Brouwer 1-3 years for $3.1M/year), I'd take them up on it and let both players go to those teams. The Capitals have the bench strength to let that happen without nearly the negative impacts that matching such offers would create in their current plans/roster. Also the draft picks they'd pick up would no doubt only further strengthen the talent pipeline they already have in their system. That's why I think we DON'T see many GMs using the "screw your neighbor" tactic too often. This isn't a parlor game or a card game after all, well maybe it is but it's real high stakes and for real. It's one thing to go target a young, promising talent like Alzner or Brouwer with offer sheets that provide them a 10-15% premium in terms of cap hit or a contract term with a year or two of extra length but quite another to "overpay" by any more given the compensation the acquiring team must also put up to close the deal. So we are back to really trying to gauge what these two players are really worth. Recognize, they both already have qualifying offers in hand from the Capitals so there's really no risk on there part to wait and see if the market offers them something more, especially in Brouwer's case, it's not like he has any reason to have any allegiance to Washington. So let's look at the 22 Year Old British Columbian and locate a few "comparables."

Karl Alzner:
Position: Defense
Age: 22
Height: 6'-2"; Weight: 210 pounds; Shoots: Left

Last season Alzner had a salary cap hit of $1.675M ($875K salary, up to $750K of performance bonuses and then the prorated $87.5K portion of his signing bonus) on the final year of his entry level deal. He was drafted in 2007 by the Capitals in the first round with the fifth pick of the draft. He was a blue chip prospect and his development to this point in his career has tracked and delivered on those expectations. Alzner didn't miss a game for the Capitals last season - he played 82 regular season games and 9 playoff games. He was usually paired with rookie John Carlson and they were, in many games, the Capitals "stoppers." As Alzner generally played the role of "stay at home" defenseman of the two, he is generally seen as the soundest young defender in the Capitals organization when it comes to hockey fundamentals. His ATOI last season was 19:00 minutes and he was a regular on a penalty killing unit that was very good. Because of his partner John Carlson and "young gun" Mike Green's scoring prowess, many often overlook Alzner's excellent abilities when it comes to his slapshoots from the point. In short Karl Alzner is the total package and he had 98 hits during the 82 game regular season and his Corsi On was 3.45 and Corsi Off was 2.45 during 5 on 5 play. In short, he had a solid season and he is definitely a top four defenseman at the NHL level by just about any measure. Is he worth more than a basic qualifying offer for sure and I'd bet he has one in hand. If I were Montreal would I offer Alzner anything like "Eye on the Prize" suggests - No, that price is too high for him, especially when you consider the draft picks you'd have to forfeit. That said if I were Vancouver, Alzner's "hometown team", who have a little bit of Cap Space and who could make more room, I'd offer him $3.5M/year and a four year contract to see if he'd like to "come home." Alzner would be a great fit for Vancouver and they could use another "Steady Eddy" top 4 D-Man to replace the loss of Christian Ehrhoff to Buffalo in free agency. Now that would be decision time for Caps GM George McPhee as I'd expect $3.5M would be on the order of $500K more than the Capitals would prefer to pay Alzner but not so much so that I wouldn't consider strongly matching the offer. What do I think Karl Alzner is worth, based on what I've seen to date I'd say he's a $3+M player...and after giving Roman Hamrlik a two year $3.5M/year deal, I'd say that the Caps Organization wouldn't argue with that. Also looking around the league, there aren't many clearly top four blueliners who have finished their entry level contracts that aren't making $3+M and maybe as much as $4M/year though I think the likely number starts with a "3". The best comparable I think out there for Alzner is the NY Rangers' Marc Staal, though Alzner's body of work isn't quite yet up at the same level of the 24 year old Staal brother.

There are actually quite a few teams who I think could be and should be interested in Alzner. Another team besides Vancouver, that could present Alzner an offer sheet might be Saint Louis, they could really, really use a guy like him and they have a TON of salary cap space, as does Ottawa who like Saint Louis could use another top four defenseman and Alzner would make a great pairing for Sergei Gonchar, IMO. Of course as mentioned there is Montreal, also Minnesota, Florida, Dallas ..and the list could go on, but the one thing that might actually help the Capitals avoid seeing any ridiculous offers made for Karl Alzner, is if you were an NHL GM who was willing to make a run at and possibly overpay for a young RFA D-man, why not "swing for the fences" and take a run at Shea Weber of the Nashville Predators or Drew Doughty of the LA Kings?

Rating This Year Free Agent Moves So Far ...

2011-07-03T16:22:00.002-04:00

So of this year's Unrestricted Free Agent (UFA) signings so far (and as I write this it is Sunday July 3rd at 16:30 EDT) who do you think are the best signings/moves around the NHL so far (from the acquiring/gaining team's perspective)?

Color me surprised to write this but I'd say it's probably Capital's General Manager George McPhee's signing of 35 year old Czech goalie Tomas Vokoun to a one year $1.5M deal. A confluence of factors seem to have fortuitously come together to enable the Capitals and this world-class talent to come together with what can only be extolled as the most Salary Cap friendly deal around for a proven, durable net-minder with a career save percentage of 0.917 and GAA of 2.56 who has played a total of 120 games over the past two seasons and has delivered a GAA of 2.55 and a save percentage of 0.923 and 13 shutouts for a salary of just $1.5M. Vokoun must have a) wanted out of Florida to a team that he felt could go ... A-L-L ... THE - W-A-A-Y-Y as :Boomer" on ESPN says; b) wanted a short term deal so he could be a UFA again after next CBA is in place and he goes to negotiate the last contract of his NHL career; and c) believes the Capitals have the real potential to be the team that delivers him back to the playoffs so he can show everyone what he can do in the Playoffs - a place he has not been since leaving Nashville. The one year, $1.5M deal he signed is truly of note when compared to what Bryzgalov signing by Philadelphia (9 years $51M) or even the 1 year, $3M deal Dwayne Roloson signed with Tampa Bay, the three year deal that Semyon Varlamov just inked with Colorado or even the 2 year $3M deal that Jose Theodore signed back with the Florida club Vokoun is leaving behind.

A good second place deal to McPhee's signing of Vokoun is probably the LA Kings signing of Simon Gagne to a two year $7M deal after they "lost out" on the "Brad Richard's Sweepstakes" to the New York Rangers. Sure Gagne is no Richards but then I'd say the Kings need Richards a lot less than the Rangers and Gagne has proven over the past two seasons he know has and when to "raise his game." Even including his signing the Kings have an average of over $2.5M available for each of their remaining openings and I'd venture a guess they "aren't done yet" when it comes to improving their already formidable line-up.

For third place best moves in free agency I'd give a slight edge to San Jose on the re-signing of Devin Stetoguchi for 3 years at an average salary cap hit of $3M per year.

My fourth place good move goes to Vancouver on their re-signing of Kevin Bieksa for an average salary cap hit of $4.5M for 5 years, that's probably a year more term than I'd have wanted to give him but he was a total stud in this year's playoffs and that's got to be worth something.

Rounding out the top five "good" moves is Dallas' signing of Michael Ryder to a two year $7M deal.

For teams I'd have to think about it some but I've liked all of Caps GMGM's moves so far and not just because I'm a Capitals fan. I've been surprised at how inactive Toronto GM Brian Burke has been this off-season and I think despite giving Brad Richards a big payday these latest moves by the NY Rangers might well work out for them. However i haven't really gone team by team to analyze who I think the "winners" and who I think are the "losers" this off season to date. Also while I wouldn't have given Ilya Bryzgalov the contract he got from the Flyers the last time teams didn't want to pay him and he moved from LA to Phoenix, he proved he could deliver, so I wouldn't make a judgement on that deal until next June. I will say this, as a Caps fan, all these moves by "my team" has gotten my head back "into the game" and that's something I didn't expect to have happen until Rookie Camp opened.

Back to Woman's Beach Volleyball - hey don't laugh, it is an Olympic Sport and well .... you know ... exciting to watch.

I Can Live With This Line-Up For Next Season How About Youse Guys?

2011-07-02T22:14:00.004-04:00

Here's the way I now see the Caps Line-up for the start of the 2011-2012 season and I'm liking it a lot.

Ovechkin – Backstrom - Knuble
Semin – Johansson – Brouwer
Chimera – Laich – Fehr
King/Beagle – Halpren – Hendricks

Green – Hamrlik
Wideman – Erskine
Alzner – Carlson
Schultz
Poti (IR?)

Vokoun
Neuvirth

I am totally pleased and shocked or maybe that's shocked but pleased to see the Capitals able to pick up Tomas Vokoun. I've been pleased with Michal Neuvirth's progress and more than a little frustrated with Semyon Varlamov's well with Varly''s whatever it is he had been doing. Now that the situation is resolved, and the organization has two good young goalies in the system and an experienced proven world-class hand in net as well, we can really look at the rest of GM George McPhee's off-season moves so far.

Up front he's preserved the core, avoided having to spend an addition 500K of Cap space for a defensive fourth line center by swapping out Boyd Gordon for Jeff Halpren and may have also picked up some more leadership in the locker room by creating a situation where the Potomac native may be able to finish his NHL Career with the team he grew up rooting for. RFA Troy Brouwer was a good pickup as well. The twenty-five year old Brouwer has a qualifying offer to go with his 2010 Stanley Cup Ring and while he along with Karl Alzner are apparently looking to see if anyone will give them an offer sheet, should the Caps end up with Brouwer he would make a good complimentary wing on a second line with Semin and Johansson. Brouwer's arrival allows the movement of Eric Fehr down to the third line and construction of a third line of Jason Chimera Brooks Laich and Eric Fehr which means the Capitals would have three lines capable of playing and scoring with both speed and power. The presence of Jeff Halpren as the pivot on a fourth line with Matt Hendricks and any number of possible left wings ranging from D. J. King to Jay Beagle or Chris Bourque or Dmitry Kugryshev. So while I'll be said to see the team loose the feistiness and leadership of Matt Bradley and Jason Arnott, I think this team's forward lines have the potential to be even better than the great forward line play we've seen over the past three seasons.

On the blueline I confess at first I looked at the pickup of veteran defenseman Roman Hamrlik as perplexing but with Karl Alzner apparently shopping for offer sheets, Jeff Schultz coming off a disappointing season, Tom Poti fighting for his career, and Scott Hannan either looking for more than the Caps want to afford or wanting to leave the Capitals to return to the Western Conference, it all seems to make sense. When you look at these pairings you can't be anything but pleased. Sure Hamrlik is 37 and will be 39 at the end of his contract but last season he averaged over 22 minutes a game and played 79 games. He finished the season with 34 points (5 goals and 29 assists) and was +6; thirty two year old Scott Hannan he played 78 games, had an ATOI of 19:47, 11 points (1 goal and 10 assists) and was +4. Hamrlik's signed for two years with a salary cap hit of $3.5M per while Hannan's cap hit last season was $4.5M. Bottom line is wort case the Hamrlik for Hannan swap out looks like at least an even move on talent and skill and should save $1M against the Cap - money the Capitals needed to pay for Alzner's qualifying offer. Am I ready to throw in the towel on Jeff Schultz - no; but last season was not a good one for the twenty five year old, and hopefully he learned in the second round of the playoffs that sometimes you need to play more physically and use his 6' 6" frame and his 230 pounds instead of trying to stick check a driving forward. Schultz will need to step up his game this coming season, even if someone presents an offer sheet to Alzner the Caps choose not to match; there are more than a couple of guys down in Hershey who I expect will be invited to Camp that could make a statement that they are ready to join the NHL, further should Tom Poti be able to return to play vice retiring, it wouldn't surprise me if GMGM moves Schultz should he find a willing trade partner.

You gotta wonder...

2011-06-11T10:34:00.001-04:00

You have to wonder if the stats aren't a little biased in last night's game - Did Vancouver really outhit Boston 47 - 27 last night? Might be a little bias there ... maybe, no?

Well Two Weeks Since My Last Musings Blog And What A Lot Has/Is Happening

2011-04-17T13:10:00.002-04:00

First off what a lovely spring we are having excepting of course all these tornadoes - wow - it's clear "weather watchers" that Jim Cantore, you remember him, well it's clear to me that he must be walking around with a constant case of, well no other "politic" way to say it, a case of serious wood for the last three or more days. Me, my heart and prayers go out to all who are being or have been affected by these natural disasters/severe weather events of the recent few days. Some of these statistics that Cantore and others in the meteorological related media are talking about, are nothing but truly scary. This whole 2011/2012 thing just has to simmer on down - that's all I'd like to see.

Now on to mindless diversions for a few minutes before I actually get some work done and then take a break to watch the #Caps - #Rangers game three (3) from Madison Square Garden (#MSG). Yes it's official, in addition to being very busy lately, another reason for fewer blog posts of late is I've become "one of those" - you know I'm a #tweep - someone who #tweets on #twitter. It's really a lazy man's way to "put yourself" and "your views out there", IMHO. I say this because you really don't have to completely decompose your ideas and thoughts because you can always fall back onto the reason you are limited to 140 characters for each idea/thought you put up on line. It's a good excuse for why your ideas might not be fully distilled or backed up in some cases. However, when you do get a great thought or idea (aka: musing) fully distilled into something totally cogent down into 140 characters or less it's pretty darn powerful. That's why the #twitter form of social media is so seductive to me, well actually that's the biggest of several reasons, another is it's really easy to access and get - sort of like, no not sort of, it is, IMO, the "crack" of social media. It's also very fast and furious, if Blogging is the Baseball game of social media; then Twitter is an Ice Hockey game where the Ref's and Linesmen decided they were putting the whistles away.

So the regular season of the NHL ended on schedule last week and the playoffs started. A few teams, well the New York Rangers and the Chicago Blackhawks, pretty much had to hold their breadth and hope they made it in to the post-season. Others like the Capitals, the Flyers, the Sharks and the Canucks, and actually the rest of the Western Conference playoff teams, didn't know who they'd be playing in the first round until the season's final games were played and over. All in all that made for some interesting things to follow and track the last week of the season. To me that's all good since it kept fan interest up throughout the league pretty much until either the 81st or 82nd game of the season for all thirty teams. Now the playoffs are underway and that's the focus of most of my hockey related musings but I've got one hockey related musing to put out there before I turn to the playoff series in process around North America.

Here it is, another NHL season ends and we once again have a controversy involving should the Phoenix Coyotes stay in Phoenix next season or do they get moved so Winnipeg gets their team back? I say why not do both? You see I agree. I agree with everyone about every aspect of the debate between the NHL, the City of Glendale, the Goldwater Institute, the fans in Phoenix (yes there are NHL fans in Phoenix), the fans in Winnipeg, and even Matthew Hulsizer and Darcy Olsen. Now that I've got you scratching your head, if you care about this issue at all try on these ideas and tell me what you think. Here's the dots I've fashioned and I'll connect: a) Government should NOT take on debt "for the public interest" that doesn't serve truly broad, deeply rooted public need OR doesn't make straight business sense any more lightly than "businessmen" do it in the private sector. b) The basic business deal that surrounds the Coyotes and the Arena in Glendale today has a lot of hair on it - not because it can't be made to work, but because the original deal was poorly thought out and those original numbers probably "never worked." In other words in business terms it's a "turn-around" and/or "work out" situation. To think or say otherwise is in business parlance - doing nothing other than "putting lipstick on a pig". c) Any NHL expansion right now ought to be centered in and around Canada - those are the markets screaming most for teams and with the strength of the Canadian Dollar, and the presence of NAFTA likely to keep the Canadian Dollar strong well PAST the foreseeable future that makes business sense for the NHL in all aspects, except for a National TV Deal here in the US. d) A national TV deal for the NHL here in the US isn't likely to be much better than what the NHL has until all this sort of chaos about team locations, etc. settles down. Further a team in Phoenix is a good thing for such a deal and a league without a team there is even further away from such a deal. So think about this "solution" to make everyone involved with this deal "happy".

1) Expand the NHL by two teams. Locations: Winnipeg and either: Quebec City or Hamilton. Use the proceeds from the sale of the new franchises for the NHL to provide the relief and/or guarantees that Mathew Hulsizer feels he needs to live with the risk of the turn-around of the Coyotes financially, other than the rework of the lease with the City of Glendale. Bottom line for/to the Goldwater Institute (GWI) and the City of Glendale on the lease terms is simple - the real estate market and the economy has cratered in case you haven't heard and all landlords who are over-extended (and you guys in Glendale are) are being compelled to rework your leases, etc and extend the payback of your investments, adversely affecting your Returns On Investment. That's why Darcy Olsen and the GWI are right when they don't want to sink more public monies into that investment and they are wrong if they resist the rework of the lease to the point of driving away a team. It's also why the City of Glendale is willing to rework the lease, they know a property without a marquee tenant is an asset worth even less than the current value of the asset they own. It's simple business. However, the NHL and the ownership old, current (the NHL) and new (Hulsizer) all need to a) bear some responsibility for the current situation, and even more importantly need to have as much if not more "skin in the game" for this deal, "turn-around" to work. Turn-around deals that don't ensure the principles have more skin in the game then the financial institutions/resource sources backing the deals, all too easily, fail with the new principles walking away after the "can has been kicked down the road a while longer." It's pretty simple. So for the NHL and some of the folks who wanted the deal to happen to be pissed about the GWI raising the questions they are just doesn't make sense to me. Surely on both sides of the debate, the people who were backing the deal - basically the public taxpayers - had advocates and foes. If the GWI as a watchdog organization didn't raise questions, there would have been other organizations asking these questions. Here's the situation, in business terms as I see them: a)The NHL doesn't want to own the Coyotes any longer than it has to, makes sense but b) the NHL does own the team, if they didn't want to further participate in this turn-around they've have numerous chances and still do not to continue to do so. c) The City of Glendale was greedy in the original lease, either knowingly or unwittingly setting up part of the reasons for issues. d) The incoming prospective owners (Hulsizer, and others before him) have all looked at the conditions and business side of the situation and felt compelled to either plan on exiting Glendale or getting lease concessions - i don't think that's an idle threat or bad business on their parts.)

The answer is some level of "owner (e.g. NHL) financing" for the deal. Where better to get the monies to back the NHL's part of the deal than from the ready pool of buyers who want to put a team in other viable markets. Also bottom line is a 32 team league works as well or better from a scheduling perspective than a 30 team league. Further whether we American Hockey fans want to admit it or not, Ice Hockey IS the Canadian National Sport for all intents and purposes, so one more team each in Western and Eastern Canada isn't going to do anything but strengthen the league. Further, the reason I personally like Quebec more than Hamilton is the jurisdictional/market area issues with Hamilton's overlap with both Toronto and Buffalo are legally problematic AND the idea of reviving the inherent French-Canadian rivalry between Montreal and Quebec is great from a marketing perspective IMO. Okay now to my musings on the 2011 playoffs.

Well first off on this years Conference Quarter Final match-ups, all I really have to say is: WOW! Great hockey is getting played, eh? The match-ups in both conferences all have drama, rivalries, and feature teams playing well. Starting in the West:

1) Vancouver vs. 8) Chicago:
The President's Trophy winning Canucks against the reigning Stanley Cup Champs who have had their way with Vancouver in recent playoff history. No drama or undercurrents there. Seriously these two teams bring it all to the table, and now two games into the series with the Canucks leading 2-0 heading to Chicago, the stage is set for even more exciting hockey. The games or parts of games/highlights I've seen clearly showcase the Sedin Twins are playing "lights out hockey." For those not familiar with my use of the term - lights out anything - means FLAWLESS execution that is done in a manner that exhibits such flow and confidence you just shake your head in disbelief as you watch but you know the executor of the "lights out" performance has skill and can do what they are doing in their sleep. It's just a total joy to watch. That's what's going on from what I see and that's why I just can't see this series going more than five (5) games right now.

2) San Jose vs. 7) Los Angeles:
"The Battle of California" or at least one of them and the only one being played this round. That's drama in and of itself. Further after last night the series is tied 1-1 as it heads to Los Angeles, so the Kings have done what they needed to do to obviate the Sharks' home ice advantage. Can they hold on? Will the Sharks finally break through and deliver on the promise they seem to show ever regular season of late but fail to deliver on in the post season? Will the Kings break through and ascend to the the throne of West Coast Hockey Excellence and reach the end of the path they have now been on for the past three seasons? Will Batman finally put the Riddler away for good? Will going to Kings games became as much a celebrity spotting event as Laker games? Well only the shadow really knows so tune in to this one folks since in the first two games each of the teams playing has looked very, very different in each of the first two games. After last night's game though and with the Kings having taken one from the Sharks in San Jose, I'm calling this one - Kings in six games.

3) Detroit vs. 6) Phoenix:
Well unfortunately for the Desert Dogs so far this series has almost been entirely the Red Wings. Fortunately for Coyote fans their team did manage to get things together and make a run at game two after falling behind so all isn't lost yet. However, the Red Wings head to Phoenix with a 2-0 series lead, inspiration watching Johan Franzen play through face bashing injuries, and a wealth of playoff experience up and down the lineup, as well as at least a few guys thinking: "It sure would be nice to hoist the Cup one more time before I retire." So I expect that this series will be split 2-2 when it comes back the Joe Louis Arena just in time for the Red Wings to win it in 5 games; of course if for some reason the Coyote's play of the last two periods of game 2 are how they choose to play the rest of the series, I'd say all bets are off.

4) Anaheim vs. 5) Nashville:
This series heads to Nashville for game 3 at 5:00 PM today with the Ducks needing to win at least one in "Smashville" to recoup their home ice advantage as it's now tied 1-1. Full disclosure here - for some reason that I really don't consciously understand for the past three seasons, I really like the Predators and I root for them. I think it's because I feel like they are "the little engine that could." With that said, the Predators won game one of the series in Anaheim 4-1, even though they didn't really play their game that well because Pekka Rinne turned in a 0.964 SV% on the 28 shots he faced. The Predators lost game 2 by a score of 5-3 because a) they continued to be drawn in to playing undisciplined hockey by the Ducks thus took too many penalties and Rinne turned in a lackluster 0.852 SV% on the 27 shots he faced while the Ducks netted 4 goals - two of which came in the first six minutes of the game while the Ducks were on the power play; oh and Ray Emery turned in a 0.912 SV% in his first playoff game "in a while." This series is now too hard to call in my opinion. While the Ducks are the higher seed, I'd like to think that if the Predators play their game they should win it in 6 but I wouldn't bet on this series at all. The only thing I will say is the likely physicality of it makes every one of these games worth watching.

In the East:

1) Caps vs. 8) Rangers:
So I'm superstitious so no predictions here on either today's game or the series. We all know what I want to see and who I'm rooting for. The Caps play today at MSG at 3:00, they left for New York leading the series 2-0; they know they have a lot of hockey and work left to do to win the series. The sooner they do that, the better - I'm sure in their view and in all of we Caps fans views. MSG hasn't been a hospitable place for the Capitals this season so far, but the Caps are playing differently than they were the last time they were in NYC so here it goes:

LETS GO CAPS!!!! How about y'all kick some Ranger Butt today, please.

2) Philadelphia vs. 7) Buffalo:
This series heads to sunny Buffalo for game 3 on Monday evening, tied 1-1 by virtue of a Ryan Miller shutout in game 1 in Philly. Game 2 was to Game 1 as Dr. Jekyll is to Mr. Hyde. Game one was a tightly played, disciplined hockey game, decided by just one missed save by Flyers rookie goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky at 5:56 of the third period. the Flyers played excellent disciplined hockey the entire game taking only 2 minor penalties to the Sabres 6 but they still ended up loosing 1-0 nothing. it was truly a game that Miller stole from them - he can do that, and will probably do it at least once more before this series is over. Game 2 was a melee - all around. The Sabres got out to a 3-2 lead before Flyers coach Peter Laviolette pulled the rookie they call "Bob" in favor of the vetran they call "Boosh" in Philly. That seemed to wake up the Flyers and they decided they needed to return to form and show why, for much of this season, they've been "Beasts of the East." The Flyers in front of Brian Boucher for the next 47:30 played like what they were - a very talented, very determined hockey team and the came back to win the game 5-4 in regulation, evening the series up as they go to Buffalo for games 3 and 4. Based on what i saw during the last 47:30 of game two, the Flyers should win this series, they can and will likely just overpower Buffalo. The wild card is discipline. As wilds as game 2 was - 9 goals and a total of 24 penalties, once again Buffalo took more penalties than Philly. If Philly's power play ever sorts things out and gets more effective this series will be even shorter than my prediction. of course given the Flyers took 11 penalties in game two - if the Sabres get a little more disciplined and also get a little more effective with the man advantage then this is a different series too. I'd take the Flyers in six (6) games in this series right now. regardless of who ends up playing goal for the Orange and Black.

3) Boston vs. 6) Montreal
Well this is nothing but a storied rivalry where right now the "underdogs" are on top two games to zip as they return to their home ice where so far this season, they've been twice as hard to beat as when they are on the road. What is there to say, lots of drama this series the whole Chara hit on Pacioretty controversy from the regular season between these two Original Six Division rivals, then the fact the Habs basically took the Bruins by storm the first two games in Beantown with stellar performances by their Captain Brian Gionta and their own star goaltender Carey Price has only made for even more drama, yet. Now the series goes to Montreal where, from what I saw in game 2, unless Zdeno Chara can come back into the line-up AND the Bruins get more offense from ALL their forwards, it's hard to see this series seeing another game played in Beantown. Since it's the playoffs and "anything can happen" I'll predict this series Montreal in five (5) games.

4) Pittsburgh vs. 5) Tampa Bay
This series is tied 1-1 and in game 2 Pittsburgh finally looked like most have been expecting them to look in light of the injuries they've had to play through the entire second half of the season. Right now, (i.e. following game 2) it's clear that as Marc-Andre Fleury goes this series goes for the Penguins. It also clear from where I sit, that in many ways, the Tampa Bay Lightning could well be the scariest team in the Playoffs in the East, at least when they are "on" like they were in game 2 in Pittsburgh, a 5-1 victory for the Bolts. I'm thinking that after Game 2 Lecavalier, St. Louis, Gagne, Malone, Stamkos, and the rest of Tampa Bay have the depleted lineup of Pittsburgh skaters figured out and should win this series. I'm thinking it will be the Lightning in no more than 6 games.

So now we head on over mentally to the Caps - Rangers game three; again all I have to say is two (2) down - fourteen (14) to go.

LETS GO CAPS!!!!

Beginning of the Week "Quick Hits" & Other Musings (Hockey & NCAA Final Four)

2011-04-04T09:49:00.001-04:00

Well last week was another busy week for me though I did manage to get to the Caps - Blue Jackets game on Thursday Evening at Verizon Center. Other than that brief diversion though I've just been working pretty hard and catching up on Hockey (both NHL and NCAA) and the NCAA Final Four by reading things on line until last evening when I got to watch the Caps - Sabres game and the two NCAA Men's Basketball Semi-Finals on TV from my "usual seat" here in Bristow. So here's my catch-up quick hit musings on the diversion that following sports, especially NHL hockey create for me.

1) Last week I said I wanted to make sure I got to see the Devils - Sabres on 3/26; the Senators - Lightning on 3/29; the Islanders - Rangers on 3/31 and the Senators - Maple Leafs last night because they were going to be good and likely from a standings perspective important games. Well I didn't get to see any of them - am I sorry about that? only a little - I mean hey real life should take precedence and priorities are priorities. In any case though they were basically all pretty good games and important from a standings perspective. Last Saturday, the Sabres shutout the Devils 2-0 continuing a late season run that this morning finds them in 7th place in the Eastern Conference and on track though fighting for a playoff spot with the Canadiens, Rangers, Hurricanes and Maple Leafs. For the Devils, the game was basically "the beginning of the end" of their season. That said the game in Buffalo was a tightly played one with a playoff feel and according to the score sheet the difference was Ryan Miller who won the goalies duel against Martin Brodeaur.

While looking at the scoresheet, the Lightning - Senators game on the 29th wasn't anything to write home about, it was important in that until the last week of the month, the Lightning were not having a good March at all. The Bolts beat the Sens 5-2 that night in Tampa and it was the second win of their current 4 game streak; as I said for the month of March, I don't think the Lightning or their fans were all that thrilled with their 5-6-4 record for March. In Ottawa, between their loss to the Lightning on the 29th and their lost last evening to the Maple Leafs, while they continue to play better hockey than their place in the standings might lead one to expect, they just don't seem to be relishing their role as spoiler nearly as much as they were earlier in the month of March when they beat the Lightning twice, the Devils twice, and the Capitals and Rangers once each.

Speaking of the Rangers, on the 29th they played the Islanders on "The Island" and lost 6-2 in a game that in addition to eight goals including 4 against Henrik Lundqvist, also featured a total of 28 penalties called (17 against the Islanders and 11 against the Rangers) of which eight were fighting majors, four were 10 minute misconducts and the Islanders Zenon Konopka who leads the NHL in PIM managed to in addition to a 5:00 major for fighting, not get a misconduct but still get three (3) minors for Roughing- for a total of 11:00 in the sin bin while only playing 5:50 TOI on 15 shifts. So relative to this game, I'm sorry I missed it since it had to have been "Olde Tyme Hockey" that stirred up memories of Ranger - Islander games at "the Vet", I don't think it won't be re-shown on NHL Network as a classic anytime soon, eh? For the Rangers, the game on the Island ended what has otherwise been a pretty good month of March (8-5-1) on a low note as it was their second loss in a row and it opened the door for Buffalo to pass them in the standings and place them squarely "on the bubble."

Last night for the Senators - Maple Leafs game, the Leafs won 4-2 winning their third game in a row and keeping pace with Carolina so that in the Eastern Conference the real battle is between four teams Buffalo, the Rangers, Carolina and Toronto for two (2) playoff spots though Montreal rally does need to start playing better hockey else they maybe could end up in the melee as well. The Leafs have three games left in their season while the Sabres, Rangers, and Hurricanes all have four; the 7th place Sabres have 88 points and 34 ROW while the 10th place Maple Leafs have 84 points and 32 ROW. For those four teams fans, the next two weeks should feature a few fits of "nail biting."

2) What's going on here in DC? I mean I thought the most dangerous job ever was fishing for crab in the Gulf of Alaska, but so far based on this NHL season, I'd say it might be playing defense for the Washington Capitals. Seriously, the Caps defense is seriously depleted right now. Tom Poti - on injured reserve and out indefinitely with a groin injury; Dennis Wideman out indefinately with a hematoma in his right leg; Mike Green on injured reserve and out indefinitely with a concussion; John Erskine out last game; and Tyler Sloan now also questionable after the last game, the Washington Capitals blue-line certainly isn't an OSHA safe workplace of the year award winner. Even though the Caps aren't the only team heading into the playoffs dealing with injuries in key places and to key players, I have to admit, I'm worried and it's got to be frustrating for all given the great promise things seemed to have after the great deadline pickups by GMGM of Wideman and Arnott. Oh well, we just have to hope somebody (or two) gets healthy and makes it aback and/or everybody else on the blue line plays at or even better above their talent levels and delivers great team defense. All that said, this is the thing I'll be most worried about and watching most closely between now and the end of the season (e.g. playoffs) for the Capitals and I suspect many of the folks who read this blog will be doing the same.

3) RE: NCAA March Madness - I'm in a win-win in the office pool. So even though I was hoping to see the VCU Rams in the championship game - Great Run Rams! - I now have a situation where if UCONN wins, I win the office pool and if Butler wins, well I'll be very happy that they did. Two years in a row in the final game is a great accomplishment for a school that isn't in one of the really "big" basketball conferences like the Big 10 or the Big East. So tonight's game should be a good one to watch, don'tcha think?

4) This past weekend's game really tightened up the races in both NHL Conferences for the playoffs, eh? In the East there's really four teams battling for two spots; though the way Montreal has been playing has also dropped them down "into the fray" and they could end up as low as ninth place and out of things, I don't see that happening. So it's 6th: Montreal - 91 points, 3 games remaining; 7th: Buffalo - 90 points, 3 games remaining; 8th: NY Rangers - 89 points, 3 games remaining; 9th: Carolina - 87 points, 3 games remaining; 10th: Toronto - 84 points, 3 games remaining. In the West it's even tighter only 7 points separate 4th place from 10th place so understanding the likely playoff seedings is pretty impossible; additionally the fact that 9th and 10th place Calgary and Dallas are playing well and winning after struggling the prior two weeks is making for some interesting times as well. In the West it's 4th: Los Angeles - 96 points, 4 games remaining; 5th: Phoenix - 96 points, 3 games remaining; 6th: Nashville - 95 points, 3 games remaining; 7th: Anaheim - 93 points, 3 games remaining; 8th: Chicago - 92 points, 4 games remaining; 9th: Calgary - 91 points, 2 games remaining; 10th: Dallas - 89 points, 4 games remaining.

At the top of each conference theres also a lot of "jockeying for positions" that are possible. The only thing locked up is that Vancouver is the top seed in the West and the President's Trophy winner. In the West second and third place Detroit and San Jose have locked up their Divisions but are separated by only 1 point so the second seeding in that Conference is open to further battle during each of those team's remaining games. In the East third place Boston is the only team to have locked up their division so far with 99 points, 4 games remaining and 42 ROW. The now second place Washington Capitals have 103 points, 3 games remaining and 42 ROW. The Caps next game is tomorrow evening in Toronto; if the Caps win, they will clinch their 4th Southeast Division Title in a row. That win will not likely come easily as it would also eliminate the Maple Leafs from contention for a post-season berth. The first place Philadelphia Flyers are in first place with 103 points, 3 games remaining and 43 ROW. In other words, they are in first only by virtue of their 1 additional ROW. The Caps - Flyers 4 game series this season has been evenly split: 2-2; every one of the four games has been decided in "extra time" with each team winning once in overtime and once in the shootout. If this regular season series results mean anything and both the Flyers and the Capitals get past their earlier round opponents and end up facing each other in the Eastern Conference finals; that series could be a "Battle Royale." Of course hopefully there will be ALOTTA hockey between now and then for both teams. If the season ended today it's likely the Capitals would have to get by both the Sabres and either the Bruins or the winner of the Pittsburgh - Tampa Bay Series; while the Flyers would need to get past the Rangers and either the Canadiens or the winner of the Pittsburgh - Tampa Bay Series. I'm getting "goosebumps" just thinking about how cool any and all of those games/series will likely be.

However, lets not get ahead of ourselves the Caps have three games left to play this regular season: Tuesday in Toronto; the Wednesday night home finale' against the Florida Panthers, and their last game of the regular season in Sunrise Florida on Saturday evening. The first round of the playoffs will start for the league on Wednesday 4/13 and hopefully by then a couple of the currently injured Capitals will be back in the game and no more of their teammates will have "fallen" off the roster.

LETS GO CAPS!!!!!!

Saturday Is A Great Day to Muse 'Bout Spoilers & "Headshots" In the NHL

2011-03-26T09:16:00.005-04:00

Wow, it's Saturday March 26th already, and in some ways it doesn't seem like we are already almost one quarter of the way through with 2011. I mean, hey here I am in Bristow, VA ten days into the season of spring and The Weather Channel is telling me it's going to snow tomorrow so in that respect it seems more like January or February. However, if you're an NHL player you know that's not the case since the All-Star break is well in the rear-view mirror and the end of the regular season are now no more than nine (9) games away for any team. So of course that means when you think about the NHL you can look at the remaining few games and really understand the impact or potential impact of a few simple things: a) three point games; b) "hot" teams at the bottom of the standings aka "spoilers"; c)injuries to teams who are fighting for playoff spots aka "bubble teams" key/star players; and d) injuries to "playoff" team's key/star players. So because I don't want this post to ramble on infinitely I'll only be musing "aloud" about two of those items this morning, "don'tch ya know."

So at the bottom of the standings, teams who are either mathematically eliminated or nearly so from the playoffs sit teams who are to my thinking eight or more points behind the eighth place team in their conference. That means that in the Eastern Conference I consider: Atlanta, New Jersey, the Islanders, Florida, and Ottawa, and in the Western Conference: Minnesota, Columbus, Saint Louis, Colorado, and Edmonton all teams that may as well be cleaning their golf equipment in preparation for late April vacations. Of course between now and then there is a little matter of the basic traits of competitiveness and personal pride that all professional athletes share for those ten (10) teams. That's what can, and often does, make them the biggest threats to the "bubble" teams or anyone else fighting for points these next two weeks in order to get better playoff seeding. So when you look at those ten teams who's shaping up to be the biggest, most consistent spoilers? To answer that question, you need to look at the play of each of them during the past four (4) weeks or so - basically their performance in games since March 1. Based on looking at the results of those ten (10) teams for the month of March to date, there are three teams I'd now classify as "spoilers" - teams who will not make the playoffs, but who will have affected already and will likely continue affect who makes the playoffs and how they are seeded, unfortunately for the Eastern Conference "bubble teams" they are all the East:

1) Islanders 6-2-4, or 0.667 hockey, basically if the Isles played this way all season, they'd be on track for 109 points.
2) Ottawa: 9-5-0, or 0.643 hockey, a 105+ point season pace.
3) New Jersey: 7-4-1 or 0.625 hockey, a 102+ point season pace.

The other seven (7) are all playing 0.500 hockey or worse so facing them is no different, IMO, then playing any other team in the League, in that they meet the criteria of "On any given night ..." Of course, if you are a Caps fan and watched last night''s 2-0 loss to the Ottawa Senators, you knew they were playing very well of late; and if you're a hockey fan of any type who isn't completely/totally "dead" (not nearly dead) then you know the Devils have been pretty much "on fire" since mid-January; however, the late-season play of the Islanders may have escaped your attention. By the way, that's part of the reason why I think Michael Grabner is likely, and should be this season's NHL Rookie of the Year.

So who do the "spoilers" play that matter in particular (i.e. "bubble teams") over the remainder of the season:

a) The Islanders have eight (8) games remaining, six of which are against "bubble" or playoff teams. "Bubble Team" opponents include: the Rangers on 3/31 and the Carolina Hurricanes on April 2nd, both are home games for the Islanders.

b) Ottawa has seven (7) games remaining, five of which are against "bubble" or playoff teams. "Bubble Team" or opponents whose play could affect their seeding include: Tampa Bay on 3/29, Toronto on 4/2, and Montreal on 4/7. The Tampa Bay game is on the road but the games against Senator rivals Leafs and Habs are in Ottawa.

c) New Jersey has eight (8) games remaining, seven (7) of which are against "bubble" or playoff teams. "Bubble Team" opponents include: Buffalo tonight in Buffalo, Montreal on 4/2, Toronto on 4/6 (both in New Jersey at "The Rock), and the Rangers at MSG on 4/9.

So as long as I can I plan on watching or at least channel flipping between the Caps game and the following, as they should be really good games and I have the NHL Center Ice Package:

Tonight: Devils - Sabres
March 29th: Ottawa - Tampa Bay
March 31st: Islanders - Rangers
April 2nd: Senators - Maple Leafs
April 7th: Senators - Canadiens
April 9th: Devils - Rangers.

Now about "headshots." First there's no question in my mind they are an issue that needs to be addressed by the NHL, there's also no question that it took the injury to Crosby to get the league to do something about it - and that's a bad thing that also should be a subject to ponder by both the NHLPA and the Board of Governors as the CBA approaches. I say this because Mike Green is a star no doubt, at 25 he's been a Norris Trophy finalist twice already; he's been out for a month already with a concussion and outside of the DC blogsphere and MSM there has been little mention of it. Simply put the only other player getting a concussion that might have gotten the NHL's attention to the degree of the Crosby injury has generated would be Ovechkin. I say might because with Ovie's style of play I'm not even sure it would have done so. The issue to me isn't that the Crosby injury is overblown, it's that with 70+ concussions this season, that number alone without an injury to a star or multiple star players should have been enough to get the level of debate going. It wasn't and anyone who says it was, please explain to me the basis for that statement. As for the Matt Cooke suspension, it's a start but frankly, I don't think it was harsh enough - he should have been suspended for the remainder of the season and the entire playoffs, in my opinion. Do I think Cooke can change the way he plays the game as he has indicated he knows he needs to do - I don't have an answer to that other than I think he has the talent and skills to play in the NHL effectively without playing the way he has been these past few seasons that has gotten hi four (4) suspensions since he's joined Pittsburgh. That said, I think two other places the game needs to change to address this and lower the risk to the players, besides stiffer penalties and suspensions are a) The equipment - specifically the shoulder pads, bottom line they are allowed to be too big and too hard; and b) The pace of play - the changes to the rules that have increased the number of interference calls have also increased the speed of the game. The goal was to make the game more exciting and also likely higher scoring. It's more exciting for sure - the increased risk of injury does that; as for higher scoring, the fact that at some point everyone knows defense wins Stanley Cups means that everything is regressing to a norm here and that's not so much the case anyway. The rules re: interference need to be looked at again so when someone does make a hit they have more options that don't result in an interference penalty than hitting them at full speed since the difference between hitting someone who is and isn't able to defend themselves can often be literally a split second. That's just my view but I think the general point that the rules other than just the hit to the head rule need to be considered here. I'm going to end these musings with a final thought - here's hoping both Mike Green and Sidney Crosby a) are out on the ice again soon and b) after the season is over get involved in these discussions and help the NHL come up with some changes that make their workplace a little safer in this regard.

So I'm not doing a recap of the Ottawa game there's several good ones out here in the blogsphere but I will make sure everyone who reads my blog sees that my favorite quote of the evening came from Matt Hendricks when asked about a another particularly bad call by another NHL official - one of the latest of many this season. In this case a blatant 4:00 high sticking call that was waved off was the subject in question. Hendricks response: "My view?” he said. “It was an Easton Synergy in my face.” As for tonight's game in Montreal, as usual I'll be rooting for the Caps from my den here in Bristow and happy that I'll see the game in HD tonight - for some reason my CSN-HD Channel had a poker game on last night, what was that about?

LETS GO CAPS!!!

"It's Called Respect..."

2011-03-20T11:46:00.006-04:00

A couple of games ago when the Caps were in Montreal and the Habs fans boo'ed Alexander Ovechkin for no apparent reason other than he was carrying the puck up the ice, Capitals TV Announcer Joe B. stated: "Its called respect." I found that an odd take but not an unreasonable one on the whole situation. However, this past week, an article was published in The Hockey News that really says RESPECT back to the Capitals about their play and prospects this season. It's titled: "Ovechkin, Capitals crushing NHL with new responsible, winning system" - basically it says what most of us in the Capitals blogsphere have been saying for a while but to be said in The Hockey News well that's RESPECT.

Also interesting information and reading this morning for Caps fan is this post over at "Capitals News Network" about the NHL Team who that leads the league in minutes played by rookies so far this season. So if you've been enjoying the play and/or having a man crush on Marcus Johansson, John Carlson, Karl Alzner, Michal Neuvirth, Jay Beagle, or Braden Holtby, and wondering why, this blog post might help you understand the roots of those feelings. Or perhaps the way these guys have been playing the second half of the season you forgot they were all at least technically rookies, and lest not forget Semyon Varlamov, who is just past rookie status himself.

In case you missed the Selection Show for the NCAA Division I Hockey Tournament this morning on ESPN 2 the 16 teams in this year's tourney are:
The five (5) automatic bids - Hockey East Champions and defending 2010 Champions Boston College, WCHA Champions North Dakota, ECAC Champion Yale, CCHA Champion Miami of Ohio, and Atlantic Hockey Champ Air Force.
and at large selections: Minnesota - Duluth, Union, University of Denver, Western Michigan University, Michigan, Nebraska-Omaha, Colorado College, Merrimack, Notre Dame, and New Hampshire.

Regions for the Tourney are:
In the East Regional in Bridgeport, the # 1 Seed is Yale who play #4 Air Force, while #3 Minnesota - Duluth plays #2 Union.
In the Midwest Regional its the #1 seed North Dakota Fighting Sioux vs #4 RPI and #2 Denver vs #3 Western Michigan Broncos.
In the West Regional its #1 Boston College vs # 4 Colorado College and #2 Michigan vs. #3 Nebraska - Omaha.
In the Northeast Regional in New Hampshire its #1 Miami of Ohio vs. #4 New Hampshire and #2 Merrimack vs #3 Notre Dame.

If you're wondering why/how an at large selection/#4 seed basically gets to play a home game against a number 1 seed who is being force to travel out of area (i.e. Miami of Ohio vs. New Hampshire) then you are sharing the feeling I have right now as I listened to the selection show. If you know the answer then please enlighten me, I cannot understand why the Selection Committee isn't making New Hampshire travel say to the Midwest region and sending RPI to play Miami of Ohio in New Hampshire, but hey that's just me and just one of numerous possibilities that would likely be "more fair" than what they've done here. Of course if you're Miami of Ohio, you'll probably just tear through the region as a way of demanding RESPECT...

Finally as noted over at Japer's Rink today - Happy 28h Birthday to Dennis Wideman.

LETS GO CAPS!!!!

Capitals 3 - Devils 0; Has The Bell Tolled In New Jersey?

2011-03-19T10:07:00.004-04:00

Well last night at Prudential Center in Newark, the Capitals "out-deviled" the New Jersey Devils, winning a game that was likely more important for the Devils that the Capitals by a score of 3 - 0. It wasn't a pretty win. It wasn't even all that fun to watch, However it was two important standings points and an important win at an important time of year. The game was the Capitals 73rd and the Devils 71st of the season; at the start of the game, the Caps were in first place in their Division and 2nd place in the Eastern Conference and the Devils were in 4th place in their Division and 12th place in the Conference - at game's end the standings hadn't changed. In fact, the only difference in the standings at the end of the night was the Caps are now six (6) points ahead of Tampa Bay in the Southeast Division and the same distance ahead of Boston who sits in Third Place in the Conference. So what was so important about last night's game? Two things: a) "runway" - as in something New Jersey, which has been on a tear since changing back to their old coach, is likely to run out of now before the season's end before they leap over the four teams they need to pass to make the playoffs in their remaining 11 games; and b) pride - something the Capitals needed to ensure they continued to demonstrate and grow in the game they are playing leading up to this years post season. The Caps needed to demonstrate pride as mush or more than the Devils last night for two reasons. Firstly, they needed to "bounce back" from their prior game loss to Detroit in order to make sure they stay out of the habit of loosing two games in a row between now and when they are forced to hang up their skates at the end of this season's playoffs. Secondly, the last time these two teams met in New Jersey, things looked a lot differently for both of them and the Caps left "The Rock" on the wrong end of a 5-0 beating.

So how'd the Caps do? Thanks to smart, disciplined play by the entire team, and some EXCELLENT goaltending by Michal Neuvirth, the Caps did very well last night, thank you very much. In a game that was well played by both teams, the Capitals showed they could be as disciplined and patient as any team coached by a guy named Jacques. In a game that was important to win, and was just two night's after loosing to the perennial NHL benchmark that is known as Detroit, "Neuvy" out played "Maarty" - as in future Hall of Famer Martin Brodeur - stopping 33 shots and turning in a perfect SV% of 1.000 on the evening to Brodeur's 9 of 12/0.750 performance. The three stars of the game chosen by the local New Jersey media were: 1) Neuvirth (no arguments there); Mike Knuble (2 goals - no arguments there); and 3) Alex Ovechkin (2 assists and all over the ice - deserving for sure but hey NJ MSM didn't you get the memo?). The memo I'm talking about is the John Carlson memo of course. "Captain America" went all out for last night's game apparently. First he had Mama Carlson cook a really good New Jersey Italian meal at his boyhood home in Colonna for a bunch of the guys on Thursday night, then he bought 45 tickets for friends and family to the game, and then he played a superb game both defensively never being out of position, and offensively notching two assists of his own last night. I guess in order to edge out Ovechkin in that voting he should have given them some home cookin' too. Well even though according to the twtter "tweets" of the teammates who attended the dinner at the Carlson's no one left hungry, I'm okay with John Carlson still being hungry or at least a little so, the next time the Caps go to the "Rock" or the "Garden" to play either the Devils or the Rangers.

To be fair I'd guess the media picked Ovechkin over Carlson because Ovie was +3 on the night while Carlson was "merely" +2; and the Cap's first line was the best set of players when they were on the ice all evening long. Ovie was Ovie, MoJo90 was very good, and I don't know who was wearing the 22 sweater last evening, but if it was Mike Knuble he certainly didn't play like a 38 year old man. In fact, Knuble has been playing very well, even better than usual, and with a lot of energy the last couple of games. Is he making the case/trying to determine if he wants another year before he hangs up his skates? or is he playing harder to make sure he goes out with the best year possible sometime after the end of April this year? Stay tuned, hopefully it won't be until sometime in June we bring this discussion up again; and hopefully we all get a lot more chances to see just how awesome he can be between now and then. In any case Knuble scored his 18th and 19th goals of the season last night and is looking like he will probably put up the eighth (8th) 20+ goal season of his 15 year/14 season NHL career. The old man of the Capital's team certainly isn't looking like he is slowing down anytime soon and that's a great thing for we Caps fans to get to see/watch, especially this time of the year. It's yet another one of those things that is making me relish this spring even more than last. Michal Neuvirth, last night's game, one word - AWESOME. That performance, as I think back to the game, I have those silly, long drawn out movie lines going through my head like: "heeee'ssss baaaaaccccckkkkk". etc. Pretty cool. The Capitals do indeed have three young goaltenders, who are all playing very well when they are healthy. But based on Neuvy's last two outings - Detroit and New Jersey - I'm more than happy to say right now and for the rest of the season, the 22 year old Czech with the 23-11-4 record, 4 shutouts, and funny look on his face on his team headshot is the #1 goaltender. Neuvy's season long SV% is 0.916 and his GAA is 2.42 and he looked great last evening against New Jersey - especially when they were "swarming."

Did the Capitals really "out devil" the Devils last night? Hard to say when you look at every aspect of the scoresheet, except one - "the bottom line" - Caps 3 - Devils 0. Oh and the fact that Ovechkin, the third star of the game had ZERO shots on goal, yet had two assists and was +3. Against the Devils that's something. Usually when the Devils shutdown an opposing team's star they do it more effectively than that. If there is just one game we can all point to that demonstrates just how much more important team results are to Ovie this season then ever before, and just how much more mature a player he is now than say two seasons ago, last night's game should likely be "that game." When it comes to the question of out-deviling the Devils - sure the Capitals were out shoot by the Devils 33 -12 and still won the game 3-0. However it's the other aspects of the score sheet that show the Caps out mastered the Devils "at their own game" or perhaps more accurately "at Jacques Lemaire's game": a) faceoff wins: Caps 31 - Devils 28 (even with Jason Arnott out, nice to have you back Nicklas Backstrom!, oh and Knuble was a perfect 1-0 here too); b) Capitals PK unit - perfect - killed 8:00 of Devils power play; c) Capitals: 4 takeaways and 2 giveaways, New Jersey 7 takeaways and 15 giveaways; d) Caps 21 shots attempted 57% on goal. Every other place on the scoresheet the Caps are very close to the Devils as well, so yeah to me it looks like the Caps "out-deviled" the Devils last night. It wasn't all that fun to watch but hey, I liked the results and I love the looks on the faces of the hockey pundits on TV when they talk about this team. I don't really care that the Caps may be scaring other teams when they think about having to play against the Capitals in the playoffs. Nope, what I care about is I truly believe this team is constructed to and ready to make a run deep into those same playoffs.

Speaking of which next up for the Caps 72nd game of the season are the Flyers in Philadelphia on Tuesday evening. That should be a good game and it's nice to see the Caps now have three days to sort some things and/or get healthier.

LETS GO CAPS!!!

Two Days and Two Capitals Games Since My Last Post ...

2011-03-17T10:29:00.002-04:00

Well since my last post on Monday the Capitals have played two games of their current six game road trip. On Tuesday they played in Montreal and delivered a solid game and win against the Canadiens: 4-2 in regulation. Then last night they took on the Red Wings at "The Joe" in Detroit, a place they haven't been able to win a game at for a long time. Unfortunately, once again, despite playing a decent hockey game, and getting pretty good goaltending from Michal Neuvirth (in the net for the first time since leaving the game against Tampa Bay on 3/7 with some metal in his eye after the first period), the Capitals were unable to leave Detroit with two points, or even a single point, loosing to the Wings 3-2 in regulation.

To some degree the two games were polar opposites as far as the play, tenor and tone of the two opposing teams the Caps faced in them. In Tuesday night's game the Canadiens seemed to have a way of making the Cps look even better than the lopsided scoresheet - lopsided in favor of the Capitals in almost every measure - makes the game appear in retrospect. In Montreal, every one on the Capitals team looked very good, and in fact, IMO played a very good game. Notables: Boyd Gordon - 12 of 16 (75%) in the faceoff circle; Marcus Johansson - 2 goals and buzzing around the ice like "nobody's business the entire game; John Carlson and Karl Alzner - each of them +2 and each of them with an assist; Alexander Ovechkin - basically playing like Alexander Ovechkin always seems to play in Montreal: 1 point (an assist) +1 and led the team with 4 hits; Brooks Laich with a goal off a move that demonstrated to all just "What A Boss" he can be - just ask Hal Gill; Braden Holtby - a slightly off night at least at the start but gets an Assist and his fifth straight W; and the list could go on. On the other side of the ice, as I mentioned Laich undressed Gill and for all his "chirping" Tuesday evening P.K. Suban, who will be a star in the NHL someday, was definitely not looking like one in that game. In fact were it not for Cary Price's excellent goaltending, the game could have been even more lopsided.

Last night, while Neuvy kept the Capitals close, and no one on the Capitals team had an exceptionally bad game, as has often been said, the Detroit Red Wings have a system and way about them that just can "suck the life" out of an opposing team and smother them. That's what they did last night. When you look at tthis stat sheet you can and do see it in every aspect of the game. The first thing you notice about it when you look is just how much of a "puck control" game the Red Wings play and just how well they execute it: a) Faceoffs 35-21 in favor of the Red Wings; b) SOG 35-28 in favor of the Red Wings; c) shots attempted 64 - 42 in favor of the Red Wings. Don't get me wrong elsewhere in the stats the Capitals didn't do badly and as I say other than one goal that Neuvy let in that is in the "you just have to stop those" category, the Capitals stayed in the game all night long. They even had two chances to tie the game late in the third, but alas "the hockey gods" deigned not to smile on the Capitals last evening. All that said, throughout the game, they generally looked worse than the scoresheet might lead you to believe. Also, unlike Monday in Montreal, the Capitals special teams were not their brightest light; the PK unit let Detroit score on one of their two (2) power plays; and the power play units failed to score in any of their four (4) power play chances against the Wings. Best Caps on the ice last night (IMO): Dennis Wideman, Alexander Ovechkin, and Michal Neuvirth. Alexander Semin was about 1 1/2 inches and 40 seconds away from being a hero with a game tying goal in the last minute, but alas he hit the post and ends up with a very unremarkable line on the score sheet instead. Best Red Wing on the ice last night: Henrik Zetterberg - "Z" had quite a night 2 goals, 7 SOG, 2 takeaways and was 7 for 11 (64%) in the faceoff circle. Notably, the Capitals were able to keep Pavel Datsyuk somewhat in check last evening - it seemed to me to be the one thing that Alexander Semin absolutely was determined to do when they were out on the ice together and when that matchup was there Semin won it last night. However, the following other Red Wings all also played very well and made sure their team won the game: the ageless Nicklas Lidstrom (24:10 TOI, +1); Brian Rafelski (3 assists, +2, 1 BS); Kris Draper (6 for 6 in faceoffs); Justin Abdelkader (often in Ovechkin's grill) and the list is probably missing someone. BTW speaking of Abdelkader often being in Ovechkin's grill in the first period when it looked like those two might actually do more than just push and shove each other I had two notable thoughts: a) wow that's a trade I'd love if I was Babcock Abdelkader in the box for 5:00 to put Ovechkin in the box for 5:00 but Ovechkin showed he understands the score and isn't an inexperienced kid if he ever was one; and b) that's called smart line matching when you have the last change, wonder if the Capitals coaching staff should be taking notes. Well like I said, the Caps didn't play horribly, they just succumbed to the smothering play of the Red Wings in Detroit once again. With any luck, we'll all get a chance to see them try and figure out how to overcome that situation twice more this Hockey season (think about it if you don't understand what I'm saying). Now it's on to Newark, NJ for a game against the resurgent and well playing New Jersey Devils tomorrow night at "The Rock."

LETS GO CAPS!!!

After a 4-3 OT Home Win It's Off to Montreal for the Capitals ...

2011-03-14T06:05:00.001-04:00

Well the Capitals rose to the occasion yesterday and notched a two point overtime win over the defending Stanley Cup Champion Chicago Blackhawks. In doing so they stayed on track as the hottest team in the NHL and they remained a perfect 7-0-0 for the month of March. Now they will be heading on to the road for the next six (6) games. First stop Montreal to take on the Canadiens at Le Centre Bell. But before we figuratively shuffle off to ... Montreal, Sunday's win against the Blackhawks deserves one last look and discussion.

Well since the Caps won and we can finish up with the good, let's start with the, well, not so good. The biggest "not so good" item I have and really the only one of note is that the Caps started the game a little too slowly and also a little too "discombobulated". They once again allowed an opposing team to come "into their building" and start a game with a lead. The Blackhawks got on the scoreboard first with a nice counter-punch to a Capitals rush down the ice that missed coverage/slow back-checking by what I've come to call a "frankenstein line" of forwards 21-26-16 gave too much time time and space to, resulted in the Blackhawks scoring on a shot that a) they should have never been given and b0 Braden Holtby probably wants back. In any case, the result was that after 4:46 of the first period, the Capitals trailed the Blackhawks 1-0. The first period was the Capitals worse but as the period progressed they seemed to come alive and get things going, even though as I watched the game I noticed that during the first period Dennis Wideman wasn't totally in synch with his partners or game and didn't really get so until the second period. He was not alone in this even though a couple of guys stepped up and made sure that by the end of the first period the Caps had "righted the ship" and had a 2-1 lead. Also throughout the game, the Capitals just took too many penalties compared to the Blackhawks. The Caps gave the Blackhawks 4 power-plays while they only had two of their own. The good news there was the Caps penalty kill unit was once again excellent allowing the Blackhawks only one power play goal while also scoring one shorthanded goal themselves.

The good news for the Caps and Capitals fans: well first off there was a lot to like about this game and I won't cover it all here. My favorite items to mention were/are:
a) the Capitals power play was 1 for 2 yesterday and their puck movement in the offensive zone was excellent.
b) Boyd Gordon, Eric Fehr, Matt Bradley and Matt Hendricks' play was excellent and that meant that Chicago couldn't just focus on the top two lines, by the end of regulation this meant Chicago was more worn-out than they would otherwise have been.
c) 21-44-28 is an awesome second line and that looks like something that will continue to be huge the rest of the way until the Capitals are forced to hang up their skates at the end of the post-season.
d) Marcus Johansson continues to mature rapidly and generally play excellently. What do I mean, take this game. It was MoJo90 who took a penalty at the 18:10 mark putting Chicago on the power play and enabling them to overload the Caps 6 on 4 and score the tying goal to send the game into overtime. Then it was MoJo90, who shook that off and came back at ~3:30 into overtime and did excellent work with John Carlson and then Dennis Wideman and Scott Hannan to put the puck on Mike Knuble's stick on the doorstep for the game winner. That's maturity and that's "redemption."
e) Finally, what's to like - ninety (90) points in 70 games played - on pace for a 105 point season. The Capitals now sit in second place in the Eastern Conference with 90 points while the Flyers are in first with 91 points - of course the Flyers have two games in hand and appear to be back to playing 0.500+ hockey, so while the Caps are in the race for the Conference, we still have a way to go to attaining that mantle, but it is nice that we have a viable chance to do so.

Final comment on the Chicago game - yesterday, the two hottest teams in the NHL met on national TV. The Capitals were 9-1-0 in their last 10 games before yesterday and the Blackhawks were 8-1-1in their last 10 games coming into the match-up. At the end of the game, the Capitals were still the hottest team in the NHL with a 9-1-0 record in their last ten games while the defending Stanley Cup Champion Chicago Blackhawks were 7-1-2. I'm happy and if you're a Capitals fan, I think you should be too.

Now about tomorrow night's game in Montreal. Montreal is a hot team playing well right now, they are 7-3-0 in their last ten games. They've played their last two game son the road, loosing to Saint Louis on Thursday 3/10 4-1 in regulation and beating Pittsburgh 3-0 on Saturday. They will be coming into the game well rested and it will be very important for the Capitals to come out ready to play and skating hard and fast. Another thing EVERYONE on the Capitals team - both coaches and players - need to to is forget about the so-called winning streak. In fact forget about any sort of streaks including "hot goaltenders" etc. too. Just set up a game plan that all can believe will win and go execute. Oh and don't get too cute.

LETS GO CAPS!!!

Today's Numbers: 0.639 and 1.29; A Half Hour Till The Puck Drops In DC

2011-03-13T12:00:00.003-04:00

Good Morning! And a lovely morning it is today here on the East Coast of the United States. That said, I'd be remiss if I failed to mention how solemn the images I cannot help but watch and that we all are likely seeing coming out of Japan, as well as the news that as of this minute six nuclear reactors are in a state of emergency in that country. The amount of tragedy in the world of late is truly, truly saddening and are the focus of my larger thoughts and prayers this morning. Of course, now ironically, I will turn my thoughts to the lighter side of life and that which often serves as a diversion from the worries of "normal life" - NHL Hockey in general and Washington Capitals NHL Hockey in particular.

So class, today's numbers are 0.639 and 1.29; when you looked at them did they ring a bell to you? Well they may or may not have but it doesn't matter because I, of course, will now tell you what the are. 0.639 is the number of goals per game, one Alexander Ovechkin has scored so far during his 465 game, 5 3/4+ regular season NHL career; while 1.29 is the number of points per game Ovechkin has amassed over that same period. I generally believe that over time most things like that seek to return to their statistical norm and recent game performances would also seem to indicate that "The Great 8" is also a believer and a "makerer" of that happening. As of this season, Ovechkin has played in 69 games, during which he's averaged 0.406 goals and 1.06 points per game, solid statistics and accomplishments, but somewhat below his overall career numbers. However over the past ten (10) games, the Captain of the Washington Capitals has scored 5 goals, 8 assists, and a shootout goal that won a game for the Capitals. Numbers that are starting to drive this seasons G/G and P/G numbers back up towards the prolific left wing's career statistical norms, even though everyone looking at his play this season is also seeing a more mature, defensively responsible team leader who is clearly more focused on his team's performance and achievements than his personal statistics.

Everyone who reads this blog likely already knows that over the last 10 games the Capitals have amassed a record of 9-1-0 and are basically "the hottest team" in the NHL coming in to today's game against last season's Stanley Cup Champions - the Chicago Blackhawks. The Blackhawks are 8-1-1 and the second hottest team in the NHL in their last ten (10) games. The Blackhawks are one of eight (8) teams separated by a spread of five (5) points fighting for one of five (5) playoff spots, for them this game is probably even more important than it is for the Capitals. Speaking of importance, how important is this game for the Capitals. Well it's their last home game before a six game road swing; a six game swing where they will be facing teams who are either in the thick of the battle for the post season, or in the case of Ottawa a team that seems to be relishing it's current role of spoiler. So this is an important game to get that stretch off to a good start. Well it's time for the puck drop, so...

LETS GO CAPS!!!

Capitals 2 - Hurricanes 1; A Great Game and a Good Win

2011-03-12T08:53:00.006-05:00

Last night the Washington Capitals hosted one of their division rivals the Carolina Hurricanes at Verizon Center; it was the fifth game of the 2010-2011 NHL season between the two and it ended with Washington beating Carolina for the fifth time this year. It was also the Capitals seventh win in a row and the sixth in their now so far perfect month of March. All of those were things that made the win a good one for the Capitals, as were the facts that Braden Holtby had "a helluva night" and the win came as the result of a comeback by the Capitals who trailed 1-0 after two periods to a team that prior to last night was a perfect 21-0-0 when leading after two this season before last evening. No what made it a great game is the fact that despite loosing last night, the Carolina Hurricanes played an excellent game. Yes I said the Hurricanes played an excellent game. They had a total of 81 shot attempts, of which the Capitals blocked 26 (more on that later), 41 that ended up on goal, of which Braden Holtby stopped 40. As you might expect with numbers like that on both sides of the ice, the 96th straight sell-out crowd at Verizon Center was "into it", all night long. So while giving your opponents that much offensive zone time and time and space to make 81 shot attempts isn't all that much "playoff-like" hockey; beating them 2-1 in a game that was closely played for it's entire sixty minutes, and the atmosphere in the arena definitely were. That's what made it a great game, or at least that's one fan's opinion.

A little more "about last night":

A) It's been noted by others that last night's game while a good seventh win and one the Capitals should have won, that there were a few chinks in the armour that were displayed last night. For those excellent discussions the recaps of the game by both Japer and Peerless are linked to here. As usual, they are, again, in this fan's opinion, their usual very well written and good articles.

B) Braden Holtby. I could probably just link you to the event summary and point you to the Carolina shot attempts and "leave it at those two words" - the young goaltender's name. However, to do so would be to fail to call attention to the at least three quality scoring chances by the Hurricanes that he stopped stone cold in this tight game.

C) Alexander Ovechkin. There's lots and lots of times after a hockey game that you could sum up it's most amazing aspects with just those two words. This game wasn't one of them - that's not to say that Ovechkin didn't play great last night - he definitely did. It's just two things that keep me from talking about how great he played last night: 1) several other players on both teams also played great, and the most important thing to talk about Ovechkin's performance last night, IMO, is 2) how great he LED his team last night as well as how great he's been LEADING his team this season. Last night from my perspective Ovie's leadership was most apparent that it seemed almost every time things got "gritty" he got into the face of his foil on Carolina, Eric Staal, their best player and team Captain. That and the 28 hits he's had during the last 10 games while the Capitals have amassed a 9-1-0 record tell me that Alexander Ovechkin is absolutely ready to lead this team into the playoffs this season.

D) Matt Hendricks. Last night "Hendy" scored his 8th goal of the season and his third game winner. That in and of itself is worth noting and talking about, however how that happened is even more worth reviewing. The play that led to Hendrickss goal started when he was on the penalty kill and blocked a shot that bounced to Jason Arnott as Arnott had just gotten back on the ice after serving 2:00 for hooking in the third period. That sprung Arnott on a breakaway that Cam Ward stopped, however Hendricks' hustle and work ethic meant he was where he needed to be to get the rebound and put it into the net for the Capitals to take a 2-1 lead. The effect that goal had in a game that had until less than 1:00 left in the second period been a scoreless tie was huge, and it rightfully earned Hendricks the first star of the game last night. He's another guy that well if you're a hockey fan, "ya just gotta love" - isn't he?

E) Elsewhere in the Eastern Conference of the NHL last night, the Tampa Bay Lightning lost to Ottawa in regulation; the Boston Bruins lost to the New York Islanders in regulation; and the New Jersey Devils beat the Atlanta Thrashers in overtime. That means that as of this morning the Caps are in second place in the East with 88 points and 69 games played 1 game ahead of Boston (who have a game in hand) and in first place in the Southeast Division 1 1/2 games ahead of Tampa Bay who also have a game in hand on the Capitals. The Caps are also just two points back of the Philadelphia Flyers who have two games in hand but appear to have "righted their ship" as they have now won their last two games. In any case, all this means that Matt Hendricks' post game interview comments to "Smokin' Al Koken" are definitely where the Capitals heads need to be right now: "We're more concerned with just gettin' two points." With the top six teams in the East so close and the 7th through the 13th teams all conceivably "still in it" and battling for the last two playoff spots in the Conference, basically over these last 12 - 15 games of the season - anything could happen.

Looking ahead:

Next up are the Stanley Cup Champion Chicago Blackhawks at Verizon Center for a Sunday Matinee game on the NHL Game of the Week on national TV. What are the chances that a certain resident of the district, who hosted the Blackhawks and Mike Green at his place on Friday of showing up at the game? Since he seems to agree with Mike Green's hair style preferences maybe he's like to check the game out himself. After all since he's been to basketball games there, we know that he knows it's only a couple of blocks away from his pad. In any case Sunday's game marks the last home game for the Capitals for two plus weeks until they face Carolina again for their sixth and final meeting of the regular season on March 29th. In the interim, the Caps have two weeks on the road when the travel to play six games and face: 1) Montreal on 3/15, the Habs are one of the six teams they are battling for position with in the East; 2) Detroit on 3/16, the Red Wings are, as usual one of the toughest teams to beat in the NHL; 3) New Jersey on Friday 3/18, the Devils have just been on fire since the New Year and are amazingly making a run to get fully engaged in the battle for the last two playoff spots in the East; 4) Philadelphia on Tuesday 3/22, the Flyers are "back on track" having won their last two games and currently lead the Eastern Conference and "control their own destiny". 5) Ottawa on Friday 3/25, the Senators are 7-3-0 in their last ten games and seem to be relishing their current role of "spoilers." and 6) Montreal on Saturday 3/26 for their fourth and final regular season meeting this year in a game likely to be on HNIC. All of these next seven games are games that the Capitals will be challenged in and they are also games they could win. That said, it's unlikely the Caps will be able to stay on their current pace/trajectory of 9-1-0 over the last ten games, however the way they are playing, chinks in their armor and all, they are very likely to win more than their share of those next seven games.

LETS GO CAPS!!!

Lucky Number of the Night Last Night?

2011-03-10T18:10:00.002-05:00

So if you were at the Caps Game last night or watched it "on the telly" and you are a Capitals fan, you're probably pretty smug and content this morning. I know I am. However I do one question on my mind - what was the lucky number last night? Was it 900, 600, 200, 6, 5, or 1? I've contemplated the preponderance of evidence on hand and concluded it was definitely 5. Sure some people are picking 6 because last night was the Capitals 6th straight win and the Caps clearly now have the longest in process winning streak in the NHL, and while last night Alexander Ovechkin notched the Sixth (6th) hundredth point of his short NHL career, there's nowhere near the preponderance of sixes occurring last night as there were fives. As for the other choices one (1) also had two occurrences - Braden Holtby's first NHL shutout and Marco Sturm's first point as a Washington Capital. There was only one occurrence of the number 900 BUT 900 points in an NHL career, the plateau that "new guy" Jason Arnott attained last evening - that's a big deal for sure. Same with 200 points, for a defenseman, as "new guy" Denis Wideman attained last evening as well. Make no bones about it all those other numbers denote notable accomplishments and are worthy of mention and even discussion to some degree. BUT last night the number 5 reigned supreme here's where it popped up:

A) Caps scored more than goals scored 5 or more goals for the first time in 10 games and have now scored five (5) or more goals a luck 13th time last night - okay I'm stretching - they scored 5 goals.

B) Five (5) Washington Capitals had notable nights and achieved career milestones last night: Alex Ovechkin (600+ points); Jason Arnott (900 points), Dennis Wideman (200 points), Marco Sturm (fist point as a Capital), and Braden Holtby (first career NHL shutout).

C) At the end of the game Braden Holtby completed his fifth straight perfect (scoreless) period since coming into the Tampa Bay game in relief of Michal Neuvirth.

D) Last night's win meant that for the month of March, the Capitals are now 5-0, it was the fifth win of the month.

E) During ongoing six (6) game winning this was the fifth (5th) game that both Alex Ovechkin and Alexander Semin each had at least one point. It was actually the sixth (6th) straight game that Ovechkin had a least one point - he's gotten 11 points (4 goals and 7 assists) during the past six games while Semin has 6 points (4 G, 2A) in those six (6) games - so on this particular point of fact, I'd say both the number 5 and the number 6 resonate equally, IMO. However if your counting, the number 5 has 5 instances of note while the number six only has three ...

A couple other final comment about last night's game: It seemed to me while I was watching the game from my usual seat in Section 103 and was confirmed today looking at the stats that pretty much every one of the Capitals had a good game. That said I was particularly impressed by the performances last evening of both Marcus Johansson and Brooks Laich. MoJo had a great game in 21 shifts he logged 18:44 TOI, 1 SOG, 1 Hit, 2 Takeaway, was +1, was 4 for 7 (57%) in the faceoff circle and had 1 point - an absolutely beautiful assist on one of Ovechkin's two goals during a 2 on 0 breakaway. Laich played Center last evening, and logged 16:44 TOI on 25 shifts, usually between Chimera and Fehr. During those 16:44, "Brooksie" put up a gaudy 15 for 21 (71%) win rate in the face-off circle, led the Capitals in hits with 5, had one blocked shot, 1 SOG, an assist and was +1 on the evening. Among defensemen, they all had good games. Jeff Schultz was the only defensemen that played less than 15:00 (he logged 13:33 on 19 shifts and finished the evening +2. Dennis Wideman, what can you say - led the team with 23:34 TOI on 24 shifts, finished the evening with an assist - his 200th point, was +1 and had three (3) hits and seven (7) blocked shots, the Caps had a total of 14 blocked shots, so if you are counting Wideman had 50% of them.

I'm actually not into numerology, though I do tend to track a team to that "100 point season, threshold this time of year, especially if they are "my team." As far as that particular number goes, the Caps are now on pace for a 103+ point season. That would be the Capitals third 100+ point season in a row. That's a good thing since it looks like unlike last season when for the first time since the "lock-out" it took 88 points to make the playoffs in the Eastern Conference, it will take at least 92, and even as many as 94 points to make the playoffs in the NHL's Eastern Conference and it wouldn't surprise me to see it take 96 points to make the playoffs in the Western Conference.

Okay so next up are the Carolina Hurricanes, tomorrow night here at home at Verizon Center. LETS GO CAPS!!!

Spring Appears To Be In The Air And ...

2011-03-06T07:40:00.000-05:00

It sure seems like spring is in the air - yesterday's weather was such that I felt compelled to straighten up the flower beds and hedges in the border gardens around the house here in bucolic Bristow. I also noted this past week that it sure seems like the "better" teams in the NHL are now buckling down for a drive to and through the playoffs. You see even though life's been a bit hectic lately - my real life not this fantasy life where I can do nothing but follow, talk about and blog about the NHL and the Washington Capitals, such it is. I'm not complaining, it (life that is) has been very good, it's just kept me focused on what I really do that matters, you know making a living to put food on the table so to speak. In fact, if you follow this blog you shouldn't be offended it isn't personal - the other night at the Blues game Bill and Marie the folks with the seats next to mine at Verizon Center asked me where I'd been since it's been a while since I actually sat in "my" seats. Well anyway - you probably don't care about those specifics or generalities since most of what I've ever blogged about is hockey and/or the Washington Capitals. On that front there is a lot to talk about that's happend since my last blog post on 2/13.

I'll try and be brief for the major items since I'm in many case "late to the game" ...

First the trade deadline pickups by Caps General Manager George McPhee (aka GMGM). I LOVE THEM ALL! Seriously, this season has and continues to be another interesting one in the evolution of the hockey team known as the Washington Capitals. I am indeed very happy with all three of the deadline weekend pickups: Marco Sturm, Jason Arnott, and Dennis Wideman. I'd also point out two things about them compared to last season's trade deadline pickups: a) I think that player for player they are more talented and/or at better places in their career than the guys GMGM picked up at the deadline last season; and b) the slight changes to their system of play by the Capitals this season has enabled guys like Sturm, Arnott, Wideman and Hannan to all fit in and contribute more quickly and meaningfully than the system that the Caps were playing last season at this point. Both of those things are good news given that right now on defense both Tom Poti and Mike Green, last season's "minute munchers" are out with injuries. As far as Sturm goes, I think his pickup was totally a smart move by GMGM and might at some point be looked at as even better than the others since claiming him off waivers meant by and large the phrase "it don't cost nothing" pretty much applies. Arnott - well I've coveted him since about January when I looked at how things were shaping up heading to the trade deadline. He's the total package; sure he's 36 and might be 1/4 to a 1/2 step slower than he was when he was 25 or 27 years old; but like another 37 year old on the team, he's just so experienced and savvy with such exceptional puck sense he often is mentally at least a 1/2 step ahead of most of the other guys on the ice. To be sure, watching the Blues game it certainly didn't look like Sasha Semin or Brooks Laich had to "slow anything" down to keep in synch with their new pivot; and Arnott looked giddy when those two, especially Semin set him up for what was, even in his long career, one of his prettiest and sweetest goals ever. The fact it was the game winner and it put the Caps ahead for the final time didn't in any way modulate his beaming smile either. So yeah, I think all four of the guys I consider "new guys" this season are looking very good as the Capitals begin their push to and hopefully through at least a couple of rounds of the Playoffs.

Oh yeah, David Steckel and the trade to New Jersey. I'm sorry to see him go, he's a good guy and a very good hockey player, in my opinion. I think he's the kind of guy you want on your team, and there may indeed be times when we'll all be sorry GMGM had to trade him. However, I believe as I assume GMGM did (have to trade him, that is) from his comments on this matter, that if he wanted Jason Arnott, he HAD to trade Steckel. I have said repeatedly that for the Capitals to make a Cup run this season they needed to pick up a bonafide second line center - while I think that in the long run that could well be MOJO90, he's not ready for that role just yet. So Arnott for Steckel was required since in general you don't get something for nothing in the world of professional sports management. I have no doubt Steckel will do and LOOK even better as a New Jersey Devil than he has over the past two years as a Washington Capital, their system of play is even more mutually supportive of his talents and personal strengths and weaknesses as a player than the revised system the Capitals have been playing this year. The scary thought is that right now, actually since the second week of January, the New Jersey Devils have been the hottest team in the NHL BY FAR. If they are to make the playoffs, they have to continue to be, and I still think that's a long shot, but unlike where my head was 2 weeks ago, I wouldn't rule them out. If they do make the playoffs I'll wish them and David Steckel well right up to the time the Devils have to face the Capitals on each team's way to a Stanley Cup finals appearance.

So where does that all leave us? Well let me say that the last three games, all wins, by the Capitals, have been well played and well coached. So I think that leaves us (Capitals Fans) in a pretty exciting place. The Capitals are pretty solid top to bottom right now, or at least as solid as any NHL team can be after playing 65 games. The fact is the probability of the Capitals finishing between 2nd and 6th place in the Eastern Conference is very high. Further, the Capitals are once again on track for a 100+ point season - that's not too shabby. The rest of the season features a schedule and set of opponents that while "not easy pickings" or in general "easy" is indeed "reasonable". This weekend they are on a trip to Florida and today they play the Florida Panthers in a game they should win - as long as they play their system and game, and they do NOT look ahead to tomorrow's "show down" in Tampa for first place in the Southeast Division. A regulation win in both of those games could propel them into second or third in the Conference and 1/2 game ahead of Tampa for the Southeast Division lead. As tight as the Eastern Conference race is right now I really don't know what to tell myself or you as to whom I think you should have rooted for in last night's Pittsburgh - Boston or Tampa Bay - Montreal games. All I can say and know right now is that in the next two days the Capitals have two games and the thing to be rooting for, if you are a Caps fan, is a regulation win by your team in both. In the short and long run, that outcome has the best results no matter what any other team that they are battling for position with does. I will make a couple of comments about last night's games in Boston and Montreal though. Pittsburgh - WOW - think about it, 84 points, playing 0.500 hockey without Crosby, Malkin and then getting an OT win with basically 5 defensemen. These guys may be "my team's" biggest rivals but you have to be impressed when a team figures out a way to "do it" with less than 75% of their salary cap space available to them, let alone against the Bruins with Tim Thomas in the net. Over in Montreal, they are doing their best to keep up with the Northeast Division leading Bruins while the Bruins are trying to close the gap and win the Conference from the Flyers so discounting games with either the Bruins or the Canadiens at this juncture would be a mistake. I don't think that's what Tampa Bay did last evening but from what I saw of the game, the Habs had the Bolts under control from early in the first period when Hal Gill put them in front 1-0 and never really looked back. Last night's win put some distance between Montreal in 6th in the East and the next five teams Rangers, Hurricanes, Sabres, Maple Leafs, and Thrashers; however, the Eastern Conference, like the Western is now a battle royale' and nobody can afford to be complacent over the remaining 15-18 games that teams have left in this season.

For Caps fans who track former Caps and prospects a couple of interesting things to note these past few weeks about "those guys". Milan Jurcina, who has had a pretty good season up on Long Island when he's not out hurt was injured again in a game with Toronto on February 21st, but when's he's been in the Islander's lineup he's often played on the order of 20:00 per game; I always liked "Juice" and hope he recovers in time to play some more this month before the end of the Islander's season. Former Hershey Bear and occasional Capital Sami Lepisto was part of a trade deadline deal between Phoenix and Columbus and is now a Columbus Blue Jacket along with Scottie Upshall. Lepisto has been having a pretty good season and IMO has developed into a steady, solid NHL level blue liner. The Lepisto/Upshall pickup should help the 12th place Blue Jackets make a run in their attempt to capture the final playoff spot in the West however Columbus has managed to capture just one point - a shoot out loss to vancouver - in the three games they've played since the trade deadline. Well the Edmonton Oilers again called up former Hershey Bear, and perineal AHL scoring machine, Alexandre Giroux - hopefully for the 29 year old Left Wing this time he'll stick and get a good shot at proving he should be on the NHL team's roster at the start of next season. Giroux got off to a good start in doing just that last evening where he scored his first goal of this NHL season in a 5-1 win over the Colorado Avalanche.

What else is there to talk about if you are a Washington Capitals fan? Well how about this - the Capitals are now a very multi-dimensional team and that's a really good thing. In their 3-2 win over the Blues, eight (8) different Capitals posted "points" on the stat sheet; in their 2-1 OT win over the Islanders, four (4) different Capitals posted "points" on the scoresheet; in the 3-2 regulation win over the Islanders before that, six (6) different Caps posted "points". So what I'm saying is that the old rap of "stop Ovechkin and/or Semin and you stop the Capitals" just isn't anywhere near true anymore. Or how about this, speaking of Ovechkin, since I'm a big proponent of statisically over time, most things regress to their norm, unless there is something about the environment that has changed, Alexander Ovechkin has 5 points (1 goal and 4 assists) in the last three games. Also the first line has been the first line and it's not just because of Ovechkin, so I'd postulate that Backstrom is coming to terms with his broken thumb for now.

Or how about this - if the Capitals win today they will skate into Tampa Bay tomorrow leading the Southeast Division for the first time in "a while." That event is notable to me since it seems like it had been years since the Capitals weren't leading the Division before Tampa Bay's and Carolina's resurgence and Atlanta's rise this year took the Southeast Division from one where it seemed only one team was allowed to be competitive at a time to a Division which could have 3 or even, at least mathematically 4 teams in this season's playoffs.

Now about today's game. To me the biggest risk the Capitals have is taking it too lightly. It's the annual Father-Son trip and while some might worry that is yet another possible distraction, I'm thinking it's a good thing and a motivating factor. I don't care how old you are, you always want to make your father proud. I've got to believe if you are an ultra-competative guy, as I believe virtually ALL professional athletes are, that goes double. Add to that fact the Panthers played yesterday in Atlanta and lost in overtime - that was Atlanta's third win since the All-Star race. It was Florida's first standings point in four (4) games. The Florida roster was depleted somewhat on trade deadline day but like I always say or at least allude - this is the NHL and on any given night any team has the potential to beat the other and - that's why they play the games on the ice. Florida still has a "few" great players and they have the pride that professional athletes use to drive themselves to achieve sometimes great things, even when their team is over-matched. Florida hasn't been an easy opponent this season so far for the Capitals but the Caps should make a "point" of working hard to get the six possible points they can obtain in the final three meetings they have this season with the Florida Cats.

I'd like to make some comments and put some thoughts down about the upcoming Caps-Lightning game as well. However, I don't want to jinx the Caps so I won't do that, even though given my blogging habits lately that means I probably won't do another post before that game. However i can and will say this about both games in the Sunshine State this week:

LETS GO CAPS!!!!

Yesterday Around The NHL: Musings re: Kings 4 - Caps 1 and "Olde Tyme Hockey" & NHL Justice (Pens/Islanders)

2011-02-13T14:42:00.001-05:00

Well I can't let this morning pass without a brief, very brief comment relative to yesterday's Caps - Kings game. There are several very good recaps around, of course my favorite two are from The Peerless Prognosticator and Red Line Station. They have good recaps and also post game analyses after what was, at the end of the day, one of the worst performances of the season by the Capitals, especially the second period. So Peerless started his recap by asking "Didn't that just ... suck?" - short answer: Yes, it did. That's really all I want to say on this other than if you do read Peerless' recap and today's post, don't do it on an empty stomach, I've been hankering donuts ever since reading them this morning.

Well last night Colin Campbell conducted a couple of in person hearings and rendered his decisions relative to the melee that was sort of a hockey game on Long Island Friday night between the Penguins and the Islanders. I won't even begin to try and approach the decision in the context of any sort of comparative thing as some are trying to do by bringing up the recent Canadeans-Bruins game in which Mr. Campbell's son was a participant. I won't for a couple of reasons which I think are valid: a) I didn't see any of the Bruins-Canadeans game so even if I thought there was value in a comparison, and I do not, I couldn't make one. b) Mr. Cambell recuses himself from review and discipline of games in which his son is involved. Whether you or I truly believe that is also really immaterial. c) The real heart of the matter and our feelings about the incident should be considered i) on it's own merits, ii) in the context of this one game, and iii) in the context of the rules on the books today and what is going on around them - not for example on what made sense or was felt to make sense 5, 10, 15, 20 or even 30 years ago, despite any resemblance one might think there was between the game and the movie "Slapshot."

So here's what I think - basically I'm good with all of Colin Campbell's decisions and judgements, save and only in a minor way, one "non-call/penalty" if you will. Please keep in mind I am not one of those people that Don Cherry reviles as being for the "wussification" of the game of hockey, and while I grew up playing the sport in those same 1970's everybody seems to talk about when they talk "Olde Tyme Hockey", by and large I think the game is generally better now both to play and to watch then it was then. So let's go down the list of the calls and "non-calls" I think Colin Campbell made or didn't make and why in general I think they are right:

1) The 10 game suspension of Eric Goddard - easiest call of all to make, like a delay of game call, and rightfully so - unless you are one who wants to routinely see the return of bench clearing brawls to the sport - automatic by the rules. BTW Eric should get some of the ~41K he now is forfeiting returned to him in the form of free meals, etc. by his teammates, especially Brent Johnson, for the rest of the season.

2) The 9 game suspension of Trevor Gilles for his hit and follow-up punches on Eric Tangradi. So again this is easy to me, any defense Gilles might have wanted to try and say was totally pre-empted by the follow-up punches, it was out of line. Islander fans might point to the prior game hit by Talbot on Comeau, but I say two things - missed calls happen all the time and so do inadvertent hockey hits that cause unitended injuries, and second there is no place in the game for targeting someone or even possibly (I say possibly because I'm not omnipotent so I don't know what was in Gilles head when he hit Tangradi - though Colin Campbell does have to make an educated general guess to do his job) intending to hurt someone intentionally.

3) The 4 game suspension of Matt Martin. Martin's "move" was bush league, punching a guy when they aren't looking is like hitting them below the belt - real men don't do it and hockey is qame for and played by real men. Seriously no place for it. If Martin had confronted Talbot, I'm pretty sure Talbot would have gladly fought him like Talbot indicated in post game comments. In fact I'll bet Talbot was pretty much ready to be confronted by anybody, even Zenon Konopka, on the Islanders - and challenged to a fair up front direct hockey fight. I'll also suggest he was likely prepared to be the object of a few extra, legal checks every time he went into the corner, etc. You know - normal up-front "Olde Tyme Hockey" sort of stuff. Martin targeted Talbot and did it in a way that was, I thought, over the line. The suspension is fair from my perspective.

4) The $100K fine to the Islanders for as Colin Campbell stated - "The Islanders also must bear some responsibility for their failure to control their players" You might argue the amount, trust me it's a lot of money but to Mr. Wang it's not a check he cannot write nor as some in the blogsphere have alluded is it anything that might bankrupt the Islanders as a going business concern. I think a fine is certainly fair and I do feel that the NY Islanders should be penalized disproportionately compared to the Penguins because after getting out to a 6-0 lead in the first ~26:30 of regulation play, they used the freedom that lead gave them to target some of the Penguins they clearly felt did not respect them or their organization. The Islanders did that with apparently no effective effort, if one was made at all, by the Islanders coaching staff to "reign things in" or keep them under control throughout the majority of the game. Is $100K fair - certainly doesn't seem to bad or too much considering the fines that were basically levied on the suspended players in the form of forfeited salaries: Goddard - $40.3K; Martin - $41.6K, and Gilles - $24.2K.

5) So the first known non-call/suspension has to do with Zenon Konopka who was summoned to the hearing apparently because there were some questions concerning his involvement in one of the "scrums" after he came onto the ice during a legal line change and joined an ongoing altercation. During the game he received a roughing penalty and a misconduct during the third period. After the hearing he did not receive any further discipline. From what I saw of Konopka's conduct during the game, this was absolutely the right call by Mr. Campbell and the NHL. In fact, after watching the game, I have respect for Konopka, the most penalized player on the Islanders so far this season, that I certainly did not have for him last season when I watched him as a member of the Tampa Bay Lightning. Konopka played a total of 20 shifts for 13:41 TOI and the only two penalties he took all night were the roughing penalty and the 10 minute misconduct that were reviewed. He was 15 for 23 in the face-off circle and did a fair amount of penalty killing for the Islanders, in short, he wasn't anywhere near the goon I thought he'd be in a game like this. I agree with Mr. Campbell, Konopka's conduct warranted no further discipline, in fact I was surprised Campbell felt the need to include him in these proceedings but I guess that's to some degree because he is the team leader in PIM, or at least was before Friday evening's game.

6) No fine to the Penguins as a team, at all. I already indicated that I felt the Islanders deserved a disproportionate amount of blame and attention relative to the supplemental discipline meted out, but will reiterate that before making my point on this one. Mr. Campbell apparently did not feel the Penguins as a team deserved a fine and that his review indicated they did not fail to control their players in a manner similar to how the Islanders failed to control their team. I just cannot reach the same conclusion given the fact the Islanders were given 183 PIM including 5 Game Misconducts and 6 Misconduct penalties, while the Penguins received a total of 5 Game Misconduct and 5 misconduct penalties. Further watching the game's third period it did not seem to me that Penguins head coach Bylsma and Assistant Coach Granato had any more or less control of their players than their Islanders' counterparts had. In short I grew up in a household where we were always taught, and punished on the grounds that "it takes two to Tango" and, while I will agree much of the chaos on Friday evening was rooted in or started by the actions of the Islanders; I just think strongly the NHL missed an opportunity to tell ALL coaches and teams everywhere that participating in things like Friday evening's strange excuse for a hockey game will not be tolerated or allowed to stand when they failed to also issue a fine to the Penguins as a team. If it were me I would have sent that signal with a $50,000 fine to Penguins.

At the end of the day what I lament most about the decisions and the statements made by Mr. Campbell is I look at the whole story in it's entirety and conclude that the instigator penalty is alive and well in the NHL. To some reading this that statement will seem out of "left field" on several fronts so let me explain. I think these sorts of things wouldn't happen so much if players could police the game themselves without the fear of putting their team at a man disadvantage just by attempting to start a hockey fight to send a message to an opponent that they will not tolerate things like, even unintentional, blind-side hits. I also feel the message sent by the $100K fine to the Islanders and no similar penalty to the Penguins says the NHL in general and Colin Campbell in particular feel the instigator should indeed suffer significantly more than anyone else involved in a "hockey fight" or similar activities. To me that's not a good thing. I've said it before and I'll say it again - I'd like to see the instigator penalty abolished altogether. I'd also like to see the embellishment penalty be something that a referee cannot call if someone has been actually fouled. Please explain the logic to me of punishing someone for what you think is embellishment in the way they fall to the ice, after you agree they have been tripped, etc.? But I digress, I only think that if say in the first period, before the Islanders got up 6-0, the Islanders felt an appropriate player could go out on the ice and accost Talbot, have a really solid, knock down drag out Hockey Fight and not worry about an instigator penalty, perhaps and just perhaps, this entire game, especially the second and third periods might have been different and NOT have been such a chaotic "Cage Match/Rumble". Either that or maybe the league should forbid ANY player on an NHL roster from watching Ultimate Fighting.

In the meantime, the Caps are in action in Phoenix tomorrow night - LETS GO CAPS!!!!

One Day Shy of Two Weeks Since My Last Post...

2011-02-12T15:20:00.000-05:00

Well if you follow this blog you know my "real life" must have been busy lately and it has, so that's meant I haven't had time to be nearly as hockey obsessed as I have in the recent past. I've debated discontinuing blogging altogether and decided not to do that, instead what I will do is return this blog to the roots I planted for it originally. Those roots are embedded in the title - my musings, especially my musings about hockey. As such I want to warn folks that the intermittent nature/periodicity of recent postings will continue for the foreseeable future - sorry, I'm just a guy who blogs as an outlet and fun thing to do - it's nowhere near related to my "day job." With that out of the way as an explanation what about my Musings, especially my hockey musings of late...

So it's been 12 days and 5 Caps games since my last blog post, in that time the Caps have continued to, well I guess the right word for it is, sputter along and have gone 2-2-1 so far in the month of February. The issue is that while the Caps are still barely on pace to get between 99 - 101 points, are they playing well enough and consistently enough - offensively - to go deeper than the first round of the playoffs? Bottom line is either "who the heck knows?" or "well we'll see won't we?" depending whether you are more or less of an optimist. Me I'm an optimist, but I'd sure like to see more games and efforts like the Caps 5-2 win over the Lightning on 2/4 or the 3-0 win over the Penguins on 2/6 and a LOT less of the basic malaise they played with against San Jose on Tuesday evening or the second and third period this afternoon's 4-1 loss to the the Kings. My take is that the more responsible defensive play and system the Caps have been playing is the way to go, the issues it creates and that affect the offense are many, varied and subtle. That said there are two things that are clear - for now it means that when Mike Green is out of the game, the Caps really need John Carlson to play beyond his years and step up and into the offensive play more. I think that's something that so far opposing teams have been able to at worst anticipate and at best take advantage of. One wonders what happens to the situation when Tom Poti comes off Injured Reserve - does he play much? Does the situation get better - does Poti become the "puck mover" on the third defensive pair, etc.? Finally if that's true does that take some pressure of 21 year old "Captain America; as well as a little attention off of Mike Green so he can generally play ~25:00 TOI or LESS a night going into the playoffs so he's well rested and healthy in April? The other big thing it clearly does is it makes it even more important for the Caps to have two solid top lines, each anchored by a very good top six centerman. This post over at Red Line Station today makes that point better than I likely ever could - you can read it here. I firmly believe that one of either Mathieu Perreault or Marcus Johannson is that guy in the future but as the statistics the prior blog post illustrates, they probably aren't ready to be that guy this April. Of course I also agree that right now if you're an NHL GM with a great, accomplished center you are willing to deal, your phone is ringing off the hook. What can be done right now by GM George McPhee and what it might cost to do so, are likely two of the top things on his mind right now.

So what are/will the Capitals likely do, if anything, over the next two weeks before the trade deadline? Their needs right now are, IMO: #1 a good, solid second line center; #2 another solid, puck moving defenseman; #3 maybe an experienced goaltender - emphasis on maybe. Looking at the teams around the league who currently might, and I emphasize the word might, be "sellers" who is possibly available. Well I'd think any GM of a team with less than 50 standings points, regardless of their recent record is likely willing to listen to offers on any but his team's "core" 3-5 "franchise players." Also I'd think any team with 55 or less points who are not currently playing 0.550 or better hockey over the last 10 - 15 games might be willing to consider "selling" at this point. So to me that means the following teams are potential sellers: Edmonton, the New York Islanders, the New Jersey Devils, Ottawa, and I'd also think possibly Colorado, Saint Louis, Toronto, and Florida could be in that group. Looking at those eight rosters and who might be either available for trade or "rent" the list for each of the three needs the Capitals have could include the following players.

Second line center: 1) Jason Arnott - New Jersey Devils. The 36 year old Arnott is in the last year of his current contract with a salary of $4.5M salary. Will the Devils move him, they are on a tear and are at least outwardly saying they are trying for the final playoff spot in the East. They still need to likely make some Cap space to resign RFA Zach Parise this summer and to me that means Arnott may well be lost to Free Agency anyway. Arnott would bring a lot of good things to the Caps both on the ice and off it - in the locker room any guy with 2 All Star game appearances and a Stanley Cup ring has to help in the leadership department. 2) Tim Connolly - Buffalo. I just don't see Buffalo trading the 29 year old Connolly so I'm not analyzing whether that would be a good thing or not. I see Buffalo who is 7-3-0 in their last 10 games with 57 points fighting the whole way for the final two Eastern Conference playoff spots and likely being "buyers" or "traders" much more than sellers and I don't know what the Capitals might have they'd like but I'm pretty sure I wouldn't like the price a rental of Connolly would "cost." 3) Alexander Steen - Saint Louis. The 26 year old Blues LW/C is unlikely to be dealt but he is one of the few guys on the rosters of potential "sellers/traders" that might be worth looking at, though my gut says he'd merely be another Tomas Fleischmann - not a bad thing, but not the real answer for that needed second line center and given he'd come with a 4 year contract with a $3.362M salary cap hit is that something GMGM would/should even consider? I haven't the foggiest idea, but I thought Steen was worth putting on the list as we might see Blues GM John Davidson move him for something else he needs/wants if he feels the deal is a good one - even if it's not with the Capitals. 4) Mikael Grabovski - Toronto. The 27 year old German has another year left on his current contract but for the right trade one thinks Toronto GM Brian Burke would deal pretty much anybody. Grabovski's current contract has a $2.9M salary cap hit and he doesn't have any sort of NMC or NTC so it's a pretty "friendly" contract. He's been having a good year and he would basically be in the role that the Capitals had looked at Eric Belanger playing for them last season. 5) Steve Reinprecht - Florida. The 34 year old veteran is really more of a defensive forward at this point of his career and likely not of interest to the Capitals as they have a few of those in Boyd Gordon, David Steckel and Matt Hendricks.

Puck Moving defenseman: 1) Ed Jovanovski - Phoenix. Given this 34 year old's play and value over the past two seasons and his current $6.5M Cap hit, this would be nothing more than a rental for the Capitals and as such I don't see them spending what would be necessary to make it happen. I know I wouldn't. 2) Roman Hamrlik - Montreal. The 36 year old Czech is an UFA following this season, his current salary cap hit is $5.5M though I don't see his next contract being that rich looking at his recent past and the upcoming market. However, is he worth more or less than Tom Poti and if the Caps picked him up they would likely not resign either he or Scott Hannan, or they'd be looking to trade Poti. Personally that's why I don't see GMGM going to the rental market for anther D-Man, though I'm not sure the Hannan rental/trade this season works any better than the Corvo deal did last season for the Capitals. 3) Tomas Kaberle - Toronto. As it seems every one of the last three seasons, the question is will the 36 year old Czech waive his NTC to go to one of the team's interested in talking to him? Second it's also would the Capitals want to give Brian Burke something he wants for what basically will be the rights to talk to Kaberle and his agent first this spring/summer? My feeling? If I could pick him up and he was willing to come, I'd do the deal and look to move Poti and/or even Schultz or maybe Eric Fehr as long as I could resign Kaberle and Hannan at numbers that work for the Caps, but I don't see that happening. 4) Eric Brewer - Saint Louis. The 31 year old 11 year veteran brings a solid shot, good puck handling skills and could be a reasonable pickup, but for the Capitals given his $4.25M cap hit, would he be anything else but a rental and what would John Davidson be looking for from GMGM to do a deal? 5) There's others out there but none are better than having a roster spot for a healthy Tom Poti, IMO.

Experienced Goaltenders: 1) Tomas Vokoun - Florida. I don't see the 34 year old waiving his NTC to come to DC as a rental given the talent pipeline here. 2) JS Giguire - Toronto. Well if for personal reasons 36 year old "Giggy" might be persuaded to waive his NMC to come to Washington - if the Caps guaranteed him, he would "be the man" for the rest of the season and through the playoffs. Do you see GMGM and Boudreau doing that for anybody? Yeah, me neither. 3) Craig Anderson - Colorado. I don't see the Avs tossing the towel in on the season so much they deal the 29 year old Anderson and go with Peter Budaj solo. If the did I don't think the Caps are willing to give them something they's want given the Caps and the Avs have already done one trade this season. I wouldn't be willing to trade someone like say Eric Fehr to rent Craig Anderson would you? 4) Pascal Leclaire - Ottawa. If it were me I'd stick with Varly and Neuvirth and I think the Caps will too. 5) Ilya Bryzgalaov - Phoenix. Me, I'd pick up Bryz, I thought the Caps should have picked him up when the Coyotes claimed him off waivers in 2007, now the 30 year old seems like an even smarter pick-up though I don't consider him available.

So I think it's obvious that I'm thinking it will be a hard road to hoe for GMGM to better the Capitals team before the trade deadline. I also think I'm pretty transparent in showing, I think the only place they might be able to even think about doing so is finding/renting a second line center. Of course I'm not overly optimistic that can or will happen before February 28th. I have to admit that after these past two home losses to LA and San Jose, the Crystal Ball is pretty cloudy. I'll just have to muse on it more.

LETS GO CAPS!!!!

The Last Nine Days: Caps Go 1-1-1 Before the All Star Break & Re-Sign Alexander Semin

2011-01-30T14:17:00.002-05:00

Well it's been a busy week and a half at work for me so I haven't had time until now to really look at and reflect on anything to do with the enjoyable diversion that following NHL Hockey is for me. In that time the Caps played three games and now we're in the All Star Game Break. My last blog post recapped a 2-1 win by the Caps over the 29th place New York Islanders on Thursday January 20th, in Uniondale, NY in front of 9,119 fans - that's right under 10,000 were at the game. The next game the Caps faced off against the Maple Leafs in Toronto on Saturday January 22nd and came away with a 4-1 win in front of 19,554 fans. Then on Monday January 24th, the Caps hosted the New York Rangers at Verizon Center and lost 2-1 in Overtime, though that game was their fifth in a row where they captured at least one point. The Caps last game before the All-Star break was against the Thashers in Atlanta where they lost 1-0 in regulation, despite throwing 36 shots on goal at Thrashers' goaltender Ondrej Pavelec and getting a 0.958 SV% (23 of 24 SOG) performance from Semyon Varlamov.

All in all the Capitals closed out the month of January with a 5-3-4 record (0.583), and went into the All Star Break with 63 points in 51 games played (0.618) and on track for between 99 and 105 points depending on how you choose to base your extrapolations. That's all good, of course there's plenty to worry about the biggest worry has to be where has the Capital's prolific offense gone - in the 12 games they played in January they've averaged only 2.00 GF/Game. Two ways to make winning points in the NHL hard are to score 2.00 goals or less per game and giving up the first goal to your opponents. I've already covered the fact the Caps have averaged only 2.00 goals/game in the 12 games in January; they've also given up the first goal and had to play "catch-up" in 7 of their 12 games in the month. In many ways and for many reasons I think the root cause for both issues, at least during the first half of the month were the same - just not skating hard enough to the net at the start of the game. Fortunately, since the 15th of the month the Caps have played hard and during the last six games of the month have scored first 50% of the time, now if they could just score one more goal at least half the time. The truth is the Caps are on track to make the playoffs but they really do need to get some more offense going and of course there's the power-play or lack there of to worry about. It really makes one wonder how the Caps managed to grab 14 points this past month.

In off ice news, the Caps signed left wing Alexander Semin to a 1 year contract extension for a reported $6.7M for the 2011-2012 season. Now we can only hope that when play resumes after the All Star Game break, #28 is healthy and re-finds his scoring touch. I am very happy to see Semin's contract extended.

Next up will be the Montreal Canadiens at Verizon Center on Tuesday, February 1st. I'll be there and am quite excited looking forward to the game.

LETS GO CAPS!!!

Last Night Roundup: Caps 2 - Islanders 1; Fight - Fest in Philly; Marty Gets SO #114

2011-01-21T05:27:00.002-05:00

So last night it was a 2 point night for the Capitals in Uniondale, NY in front of an announced crowd of only 9,119. That's a two point win that takes the Capitals road record this year to 10-9-3 or 0.523 hockey (vs. a home record of 16-5-5 or 0.716).

I must say I'm far less reserved in my thoughts about the Caps then many other blogger's this morning in the wake of the 2-1 victory over the injury riddled struggling Islanders. That's in large part that I've accepted that over the past 5 years or so regardless of where either team is when they meet each other, the Islanders play the Caps close, tight and very hard. So it just seems to me that no matter what Caps - Islanders games are usually close. I really think the Islanders "get up" for the Caps and I'll point to the fact that Rick DiPietro started and played the full game well last night against the Caps, despite the fact that he and the Islanders then indicated he was too sick (flu) and wouldn't even be getting on the plane for their trip to ---- after the game. Don't get me wrong I understand where folks like DMG over at Japer's Rink are coming from and can't even argue with this particular statement in his recap of the game:

An Islander defenseman breaks his stick on a shot from the point and lets the Caps get the puck out of the New York zone, his partner losing his footing and falls down on the backcheck, Rick DiPietro's forced to come and play the puck, shanking it to the most dangerous goal scorer of the past five years...and the end result is a penalty against the Capitals? Has any sequences summed up this season better than that one?

That said, the Caps are clearly once again on the road to a 100+ point season, and they are playing very responsible, sound defensive hockey. In fact of the 7 teams who woke up this AM with 60 or more points, the Capitals 125 GA/2.60 per game is fifth best and nearly tied with 3rd best Dallas (122, 2.596) and fourth best Philadelphia (124, 2.64). As some examples of the Caps defensive responsibility as Garret over at Puckhead's Thoughts noted after last night's game:

The Caps blocked 20 shots, including a whopping 7 shots stopped by Mike Green. They also had more take-aways than the Islanders 17-11. Carlson lead the Caps in that category with 4 TKs. The Caps PK was also top notch as they denied the Islanders a power play goal in six chances.

So my own bottom line on last evening's game is I thought it was a solidly played game by the Capitals for a couple of reasons:

1) They never trailed in the game.

2) The Caps played their game and played it well for all sixty minutes. After going out to a 2-0 lead the Islanders did get a quick goal to keep the game tight, but the Caps never looked like they were even considering leaving their game plan.

3) Call up Braden Holtby played very, very well in net for the Capitals. His 24 for 25 SOG, 0.960 SV% performance was a nice way for the 21 year old to get his third NHL win of the season.

4) The first line for the Caps was the first line, all night long. I'll admit that I wasn't sure if Jason Chimera would have the right chemistry with Ovechkin and Backstrom but at least so far his speed, skating ability, size and willingness to mix it up right in opposing goaltender's faces is bringing an even more "Knuble-esque" dimension to the duo then Knuble does. Also while we're at it, I know it was against an injury ridden Islander's team but the second line with Knuble on it is working better now too, when whichever young center (Perreault or Johannson) is on it, doesn't make rookie mistakes and take bad penalties.

5) Taking two points - on the road; and giving none to a Conference opponent. I could go on, I could qualify it with another "I know it's the Islanders and lots of them are hurt" etc. BUT that wouldn't change the fact that the game ended with two points for the Capitals and they earned them by playing solid, smart hockey.

Final item I'd like to note from last night is that John Erskine is clearly having the best season he's ever had as a Capital last night Erskine was questionable all the way up through the pre-game skate. When you look at the results at the end of the night on the stat sheet: 15 minutes and four blocked shots for the game. He did have a holding penalty.But last season he often didn't play 15 minutes on his better nights, yes I know Poti is out but right now I'd consider Poti #5 on the blue line depth chart anyway and even on nights like this in prior season's Erskine would rarely get 15 minutes if he was 100%. The caliber of his play has been raised and the confidence everyone especially himself and the coaching staff have in him is probably best shown by how he was used last night while he wasn't even 100% and everyone - including the opposing team knew that. Just sayin' that's all.

Lots of other good items noted and stats from the game in the recap by the master - Peerless over here.

Next up for the Caps will be the Maple Leafs in Toronto, tomorrow night at Air Canada Centre.

Elsewhere around the NHL last night:

The Flyers pasted a 6-2 beat down on the Ottawa Senators in a game where the Senators tried to keep things interesting and salvage some pride by getting physical with the Flyers. Umm really? seriously? You go into another team's building, get your butts kicked and then try and salvage some self respect by getting physical with against a team whose heritage includes the name Broad Street Bullies and you think this is going to play out well for you. I'd be guessing probably not and I think in retrospect, I'd be right. So from PuckDaddy here's the links to a couple of videos of fisticuffs in the so called "line brawl" in the third period. I'd argue the initial Giroux - Foglino bout wasn't as "clear" a win for Foglino as might be inferred from Wysh's choice of words and the Rutuu - Hartnell fight was no contest, Hartnell got a lot more licks in than he took; and the Shelly - Neil bout ends with Shelly clearly in total control and more than making up for the scant few punches Neil got in at first. A few other videos and descriptions of the fights are here at "The 700 Level" apparently none of the eight (8) goals scored in the game were near as interesting as the any of the five fights or the fact that combined both teams racked up 126 penalty minutes since the only place you see video around of those goals are the combined game highlights and there are numerous links to any one or more of the five fights. Yeah sure the league and others "wish" fighting would just go away and the only thing fans find interesting in hockey is goals being scored ... sure that's the way things are, just ask Gary...

In LA the Coyotes beat the Kings 2-0 and the Kings are still complaining about the first Phoenix goal. So here's my thoughts - I agree with the statement by Mike Murphy, the NHL's senior vice president of hockey operations, told FSN's Jim Fox that there was no conclusive replay that would have overturned the goal based on the replays posted on the interwebs. To me it's a call like the one where MAF robbed Mike Green of the OT winner against the Penguins here in DC. Was the call on the ice wrong, yeah probably. However, the video available for review wasn't adequate to overturn the call on the ice. That's hockey. Anyway did it matter? The Kings failed to score so the most accurate conjecture although you never know is that given how the rest of the game played out LA still would have lost 1-0 and taken their record in the last 12 games to 2-10-0. Bottom line really is when your team is going through a stretch like that you just have to make sure you don't grab onto any excuses and you take ownership of just making things happen to turn it around. Sure doesn't seem like that's a thought currently shared by King's GM Dean Lombardi who is being quoted on the call last night as saying:

Lombardi said, speaking of Murphy, "When the guy in Toronto making the decisions on the goals, in Ottawa and the one tonight, wanted the G.M.'s job in L.A. and was not happy about not getting it, you have to assume you are going to get those type of calls. However, we have put ourselves in a position where these calls have a monumental effect on our season, and we're going to have to find a way out of it ourselves."

Way to be the bigger man and lead, I thought "California Guys" were supposed to be all laid back and stuff even when they are being intense.

Final score in Pittsburgh last evening Devils 2 - Penguins 0. Sure the Pens were without the services of Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin but hey 114 is a lot of shutouts and Marty is the current active leader in the category. Last night's SO was his fourth (4th) of the season - considering he has 9 wins the fact that 44.44% of his wins this season are by shutout would sort of say that even at age 38, this guy can and does still play the game at the NHL level and he's pretty darn good, wouldn't you be forced to agree. Especially given the way the team in front of him has had to play with what is basically a short bench while changing their system in front of him all season.

The Detroit Red Wings are working towards having Evgeni Nabakov back in the NHL and in front of the pipes for the remainder of the season. As soon as he clears waivers. Lots of speculation last night about that on Twitter but I agree with TSN's Bob McKenzie, odds are that Nabakov will in fact make it through and be guarding the net for Detroit. That's probably not great news for other teams who have their eye on the ultimate prize in Hockey and playing into late May and early June. However, as they say, that's why they play the games on the ice....

In other news my thoughts and my wish for a sound and speedy recovery go out to former Capital Tomas Fleischmann who had been on fire since joining the Avalanche in the trade that brought the Capitals Scott Hannan. Fleischmann's season has ended when two blood clots were found, one in his lungs. Flash had found new life in the Avalanche line up and the injury is yet another blow to Colorado who has been riddled with injuries all season. As many reading will recall, "Flash" missed Capitals' training camp a few years ago when he developed a blood clot when flying home after the Caps were defeated by the Penguins.

Finally before I close this post if you haven't seen what happened when news of the Winter Classic results reached "The Fuhrer" here's a glimpse from inside the brain trust sort of 24/7 like.... Wonder how he reacted when he saw Marty got his 114th SO at the expense of the Penguins, Bylsma is probably toast and already on his way to Stalingrad.....

LETS GO CAPS!!!

Checking In On The NHL With Just 10 Days Before the All Star Game

2011-01-20T12:50:00.000-05:00

Well fellow Cap fans here we are on the precipice of the event which generally is used to mark the middle of each NHL Regular Season - the All Star break, even though in the Washington Capital's case they are now six (6) games past that actual point as are most other teams in the league as well. Today, Thursday, January 20th, 2011, the Caps are in the middle of a three game Eastern Conference road trip/swing before returning to Verizon Center to face the New York Rangers on Monday evening. Tonight the Capitals will face the New York Islanders in Uniondale and then they travel to Toronto to face the Maple Leafs on Saturday evening.

There's a great interview with Semyon Varlamov over at Japer's Rink and if you haven't read it you should. There were three of his answer's that really impressed me, they aren't fancy or wildly expressive, that's not the reason they impressed me. Here's the excerpts:

How did you get beat in overtime?

"Their defenseman rolled up to me and shot under my glove. I didn't have time to react."

In the last game against Ottawa the team started out down 0-1 but scored two goals in 45 seconds. Tonight you were down 0-2 and scored two goals in 40 seconds. What's going on with Washington?

"The fact that we are playing badly the first two periods. We aren't scoring. Only then do we start saving ourselves. We need to give it our all for the entire sixty minutes. We are constantly allowing the first goal. But this is a very powerful league. To fight back, you have to break through the other guy's defense-you have to put forth a lot of effort. It isn't always successful. So we need to score first and carry the game. Then everything will be okay."

What do you think of Sergei Bobrovsky and his debut season in the NHL?

"I know Sergei well, we ran into each other on the national team. Bobrovsky is having a great season. He's a great guy! If you make it to the NHL in your very first season you've already played 28 games, then that shows that the guy is talented and he works a lot on himself and his mistakes. And you can achieve a lot of success if you don't stop."

To a fair degree the answers to these three questions reflect a couple of things about Varlamov that make me like him even more and make me continue you think he could very well end up really being "The Guy" here in Washington. Those three things are: 1) mature intensity, no excuses about why he got beat on an OT goal, just a direct factual answer - but underneath I sense he's been looking at that goal in his mind and thinking about what he'd do differently next time so he would have enough time to react, 2) clear understanding that even as talented as he and the rest of the Caps are, they need to work ev ery minute of every game like they can be beaten, and 3) he doesn't measure himself against others, that's why he can be both brutally frank and still be happy to see another peer like Sergei Bobrovsky do well. Anyway tonight's goaltender match up is probably Varlamov vs. DiPietro though it is possible that the Capitals might start Braden Holtby who was just called up from Hershey, and the Isles may also be without "DP" as he didn't skate today and was listed as "sick" and I don't think that's in the good way like when Alexander Ovechkin often uses the word as slang, so Nathan Lawson may be in net for them. Tonight should mark the return of Kyle Okposo and Frans Neilsen to the Islander's lineup while it looks like former Capital Milan Jurcina will not be available. For whatever reason, it always seems like the Islanders play well and hard against the Capitals regardless of how the rest of their season is going, so let's hope that tonight is one of those night's where as Varlamov said, the Caps play solid hockey for all sixty minutes.

More on the current health situation and development of Neuvy and Varly from Katie Carrera of the WaPo here - it's an article worth the read IMHO.

So with four more games before the All-Star break, the Capitals find themselves with two goaltenders who could and hopefully will make good use of the break and in the thick of a tightening contest for superiority in the Eastern Conference - right now the only team of the top nine in the Conference with any "breathing room" are the Philadelphia Flyers who the Caps battled back against before ultimately succumbing in OT on Tuesday evening with a league leading 30 wins and 65 points. There are only nine (9) points separating the second place team in the Conference (really Pittsburgh with 62 points) and the 9th place Carolina Hurricanes with 50 points, additionally the 10th place Florida Panthers (46 points) and the 11th place Buffalo Sabres (45 points) also can't really be counted out since they have three games in hands (while the Hurricanes have two in hand) on the eighth place Atlanta Thrashers (53 points). The Capitals (58 points) are battling for first place in the Southeast Division with the Tampa Bay Lightning (59 points); while the Penguins (62 points) and the Flyers (65 points) are battling for first place in the Atlantic Division, though the third place New York Rangers (57 points) also aren't out of that hunt either. Rounding out the top nine teams in the Eastern Conference are the defensively stingy Boston Bruins atop the Northeast Division with 59 points in 46 games played and the 7th place Montreal Canadeans with 56 points in 47 games played. All in all the remainder of the season, as well as the few weeks remaining before the trading deadline should be very interesting to follow when it comes to the NHL's Eastern Conference - welcome to parity.

For the Capitals it all continues tonight in Uniondale ...

LETS GO CAPS!!!

Despite a 3-1 Win Over The Senators, Caps Still Need Minor Work ...

2011-01-17T05:57:00.000-05:00

Yesterday afternoon's 3-1 win over Ottawa was the highlight of the last week for the Capitals. Yesterday's game was a good one by the Capitals, they played patient hockey, they stuck to their game plan - if you can say such a thing about a game where for the life of most people you can's discern who was playing with who on what line if they were wearing a red jersey - and in the end they prevailed convincingly. However yesterday's win meant the Capitals were 1-2-1 or 0.375 on the week when it comes to points captured vs. points possible, hardly their best week of the season. Perhaps the disturbing thing looking ahead for the rest of the season is the fact the Capitals have a schedule that is at least as tough as last week for the rest of the season, and it's not like things get any easier in the playoffs. The one team the Caps managed to beat cleanly last week is a struggling team, who arguably to a large degree beat themselves yesterday. Don't get me wrong, I'm not screaming like a crazy man for major rebuilds, etc. of the Capitals, I am just saying that playing like they've been playing doesn't give me a lot of confidence that they are on track this season for a deep run into the playoffs. They haven't been playing like that sort of team for going on eight weeks and that's a pretty long stretch of time. In fact as we all painfully remember for the month of December the Capitals went 5-6-3 and played 0.464 hockey; now so far this month they are 3-2-2 (0.571). Even more disconcerting is their play against likely "playoff teams" over that time span: 3-6-3; not exactly fear inducing to those potential playoff opponents.

So despite having 57 points in 46 games and being well on track for a 100+ point season, there's plenty of work the Capitals still need to do, if they want to achieve their goals this season. Earlier this month there was some speculation, locally here in the Washington DC metro, as to whether the Capitals might be "pacing themselves" - sure they're pacing themselves, just like I really worry about how winning a big Powerball Jackpot would mess with my life. Seriously, this is a team searching to identify what little tweaks it must do to win the tougher games and put away opponents consistently when they start a third period in control of the game. They aren't pacing themselves, the reason Bruce Boudreau and his mates on the coaching staff are constantly juggling the lines is not to make sure the team "paces itself" or their opponents can't get to fine "a bead" on them before the playoffs or anything silly like that. This team is looking for answers and because of the salary cap as well as the fact that of the 30 teams in the league AT LEAST 22 of them still have some reasonable possibility and hopes of making the playoffs so are NOT looking to give up anybody of "value" without getting something SIGNIFICANT in return. So making a deal that makes sense for a team is harder than ever right now for any NHL GM; and if you're George McPhee and the Capitals it might be even harder than for many others. Like many teams, the Capitals don't have much cap room; they have a very solid talent pipeline but to pick up what they need most right now, which in my and many others estimation is a solid second line center. That likely means they also need to trade away someone with a bit of a Cap hit to make room for the incoming player who will likely have a Cap hit of ~$4-5M for a full season. That won't be easy. The one place many worried about - goal tending - doesn't look to be all that much of an issue right now. Through 46 games, the Capitals young goal tending crew has had a combined GAA of 2.63, that's well within statistical norms to be considered "on par" with the other 20 or so likely and/or valid potential playoff teams. On defense while the Capitals continue to have a less "physical" defense than one might like (John Erskine is #2 on the team in hits (#1 is Ovechkin) with 97 is #44 in the league to date compared to Brent Seabrook of Chicago who is #9 with 140), the Capitals defense hasn't been the root of their issues these past eight weeks. The issue for the Capitals has been they've been weak offensively. Their previously high powered offense hasn't been putting the puck into the net, or even getting nearly as many high quality scoring chances per game as they've conditioned us all to expect. In the last eight weeks they've scored more than three (3) goals only three times in twenty-one (21) games and in those games they've been 2-0-1.

So the issue is that it's that time of year when the Capitals top six forwards need to start playing like their top six forwards - consistently. Here's a list of names for you: Scott Stevens, Patrick Roy, Nicklas Lidstrom, JS Giguire, Brad Richards, Cam Ward, Scott Niedermayer, Henrick Zetterberg, Evgeni Malkin, and Jonathan Toews. That list has three goaltenders, three defensemen, and four forwards - all centers on it; it's the list of Conn Smyth (playoff MVP) Trophy winners since 2000. My point here is, as importantly as secondary scoring, excellent team play, and great role players are to a deep Stanley Cup playoff run - this list would suggest that to win the Stanley Cup - your best players have to a) be your best players and b) be on their game, playing great hockey for the entire playoffs. The only way that usually happens is for those guys to be "on their best games" going into the playoffs, for the Capitals the only guys who are even close to fitting that are: Mike Green, Semyon Varlamov, and/or Michal Neuvirth. Given that in the post "lock-out" era, three of the five Conn Smyth Winners have been forwards, that's also not an especially comforting thought. It's time guys - its time - time for the best players to start consistently playing like the best players so the coaching staff can stop CONSTANTLY juggling the lines and this team can return to being a team with offensive flow as well as one that plays responsible hockey and defense. It's time to do that if this team is going to be ready for the 16 - 28 game second season that starts in the third week of April. To do that it's probably time for GM George McPhee to locate and obtain a solid, veteran second line or even "rental" first line center to enable that all to happen. That probably means it's going to cost the Capitals something. If the move works and a trip to the Stanley Cup Finals results, everyone is likely to be happy. If it doesn't everyone will be looking at the move that gets made in the next couple of weeks in hindsight come June and thinking if not saying, well that wasn't all that smart. And like many other aspects of the game - that's hockey and that's why McPhee gets the big bucks. One things for certain the current status quo, especially against other playoff quality teams, isn't good enough to get there.

In the meantime, thanks for a solid game and two points yesterday Caps; next up the Flyers in Philadelphia on tomorrow evening.

LETS GO CAPS!!!!

At Just Past The Halfway Mark of the 2010-2011 NHL Season

2011-01-10T06:00:00.001-05:00

Well here we are, as of tonight - January 9, 2011 - every one of the 30 teams in the NHL have played 40 or more games with most having played 41 or more, so I think it's fair to say the NHL current 82 game season is halfway complete. So what can we say about the NHL this year? Here's my thoughts and conclusions:

#1) The Salary Cap/Post "Lockout" Era is a mature concept and the result appears to be parity. Right now, halfway through the season out of 30 teams in the league I look at the standings and to me it seems we can only point to two, possibly three teams who have virtually no hope of a playoff spot. Only two teams in the Eastern Conference and one team in the Western Conference are more than 5 games out of a playoff spot when the games in hand are accounted for. Those teams are New Jersey with a league worst 24 points; the 29th place New York Islanders who have just 32 points, despite having a 7-3-0 record in the last 10 of their 40 games played to date; and the Edmonton Oilers whose 33 points in 40 games has them in last place in the Western Conference. Right now the eighth place team in the Eastern Conference is the Montreal Canadiens with 49 points in 42 games played, while the eighth place in the Western Conference is the Los Angeles Kings with 47 points in 41 games played. So here we are with every team having about a half of a season to play and the battle for every point mattering to 13 teams in the Eastern Conference and 14 teams in the Western Conference.

In the Eastern Conference the are six teams battling for position in a band separated by eleven (11) points while at the top of the Conference there are six teams battling for Conference supremacy in a band separated by six (6) points. Here's what the Eastern Conference Standings look like this morning:

In the Western Conference it's even tighter. Only ten (10) points separate the 4th place Nashville Predators with 50 points and 14th place Calgary Flames with 40 points. The Western Conference standings this morning are:

#2) There's no doubt that that Winter Classic should be played in prime time from this point forward in anybody's mind, save possibly Gary Bettman's. Of course yet another reason why the NHL needs a new Commissioner that will likely be ignored by the Board of Governors.

#3) In addition to the three teams at the very bottom of the standings, the following seven additional teams should probably step back now or no later than the middle of January and consider this a "rebuilding year": Calgary, Columbus and Saint Louis in the West and Toronto, Ottawa, Florida and Buffalo in the East.

#4) Until the Capitals win a Stanley Cup, Hockey Pundits will continue to question everything about them and talk about how they aren't built right and/or don't play right - even when they play like everyone else in the league.

#5) This could be the year when in June, Hockey Pundits stop questioning everything about the Washington Capitals.

Next up the Florida panthers in Sunrise FL on Tuesday.

LETS GO CAPS!!!

Capitals 3 - Panthers 2, A Two Point Night at Verizon Center ... But Does Any Of It Matter?

2011-01-08T22:30:00.005-05:00

Well tonight I didn't go to the game, I wasn't feeling all that great and then this afternoon that horrible event in Arizona just took what little bit of possible enthusiasm I might have been able to muster for the game and sapped it all from me. So before I blog about the hockey game I watched here from my comfortable family room in bucolic Bristow, VA, i'd just like to say my prayers and thoughts are with the families of all those killed and injured this afternoon in Tucson, Arizona. From the family of a young 10 year girl, to the family of a Federal Judge both of whom lost their lives today to the family of Rep Gabrielle Giffords, whose husband Mark Kelly is a 1986 graduate of my own Alma Mater. I won't pretend to understand any of it, I do not. I can only say I will pray for you all and I wish you the best thoughts I can in getting through these trying times.

So in the midst of all that real life stuff, the Capitals played another NHL regular season game at Verizon Center tonight and beat the Florida Panthers 3 - 2 in regulation. Overall it was neither the prettiest nor the ugliest Caps game this season. The Caps started slow allowing the Panthers to score first early at the 3:49 mark of the first period and that's how the first period ended Panthers 1 - Caps 0. The first period was some kid of boring hockey to watch, neither team played very well or with any real energy. The Panthers managed to out shoot the Caps in the first stanza by a margin of 6-5 and outscore them by a margin of 1-0. Fortunately for us Caps fans, our heroes came out to play the second period with visibly more energy than they played the first period with, and the hero of the Winter Classic - Eric Fehr - knotted the score one all at the 5:32 mark of the period. The Caps kept the pressure on the Panthers pretty much the entire period but Panthers backup goalie Scott Clemmensen kept his team in the game. The Caps out shot the Panthers in the second period 12-9 and outscored them 1-0; the second period ended with the game tied 1-1. The Caps came out in the third and I just had a feeling they were going to win, despite Clemmensen continuing to play well. My positive thinking and the Capitals continued good play were rewarded at the 13:07 mark of the third when Mike Green and Eric Fehr teamed up again, this time with Green getting his 8th goal of the season on the power play to put the Caps ahead for the first time in the evening. Then at the 16:05 mark, Alexander Ovechkin, broke through both figuratively and literally scoring an "Ovechkin-esque" goal to put the Capitals up by a score of 3-1. It turned out the Caps needed the insurance goal because at the Panthers' Evgeny Dadonov scored his third of the season to pull the panthers within one goal at the 18:23 mark. Then just to make things really interesting, Nicklas Backstrom was sent to the penalty box for a 2:00 minor for cross-checking just 32 seconds later at 18:55 and we got to watch a 6 - 4 power play by the Panthers when they pulled Clemmensen. The Caps held on and got their 24th win of the season and pocket the two points.

The Caps outstanding players tonight were, IMO: Mike Green - another great game, he was all over the ice , playing for 24:10 @GreenLife52 had a goal, an assist, was +1, and had 5 SOG, 3 hits and 2 blocked shots; @EricFehr16 who also had a goal and an assist, was +1 and 2 SOG in 13:29 TOI - of late Fehr has been on fire and now has 6 points in his last 6 games; Alexander Ovechkin - a goal, an assist, 20:39 TOI, 6 SOG, 1 hit, 1 blocked shot - simply put tonight "Ovie was Ovie"; and Semyon Varlamov who stopped 25 of 27 Panther SOG for a 0.926 save percentage and had another great outing to earn his 8th win of the season.

Alexander Semin left the game in the second period after a "hip on thigh" hit that caused an unspecified injury and did not play in the third period. No more details than that on Semin's condition at this time.

The Caps are now 6-1-3 in their last 10 games; that's 15 out of 20 possible points or 0.750 hockey. That's pretty solid especially considering they are coming off what was their worst streak/stretch since Bruce Boudreau took the helm. The Caps have now played 42 games this season and they have amassed 54 points. They are on track to break 100 points for the third straight regular season and defense isn't the problem of late, a little more offense from their star forwards would be nice though when they are getting the kind of goaltending they've been getting it's not too much of a problem. Right now Varlamov has a SV% of 0.928 and a GAA of 2.08 for the season 3rd and 2nd respectively in the league; and Michal Neuvirth has a SV% of 0.911 and a GAA of 2.56.

Next up ... deja vu' the Caps and Panthers meet again on Tuesday evening in Sunrise, FL. Hopefully by then all the surviving shooting victims out in Arizona will be in stable condition and on the mend.

LETS GO CAPS!!!

Sorry Caps It's All My Fault; Lightning 1 - Caps 0 (OT)

2011-01-04T23:13:00.004-05:00

So tonight was a one (1) point night for the Washington Capitals and in retrospect it's probably all my fault they didn't get two points. You see being superstitious, they won the last two games I've been to those being the 3-0 victory over Montreal and the 3-1 win against the Pittsburgh Penguins in the Winter Classic. So I should have kept everything the same, but noooooo, I couldn't leave well enough alone. You see for the last two games I wore my brand new shiny John Carlson, Winter Classic Sweater, but tonight thinking that I should return to my "Rock The Red" Federov Red Sweater, that's what I wore to the game. What I failed to realize was that at some point early in December, that d@m* Federov Sweater had become evil, yep downright evil, so evil that it angers the hockey gods. In fact the hockey gods were so angry tonight that after looking down and bestowing three (3) goals on the Capitals in each of their last two games, those same hockey gods looked down and "smote" the Capitals on three occasions making pucks miss relatively empty nets on the three occasions during regulation play where Dwayne Roloson cracked the door open for the Capitals.

So the game ended a 0-0 tie in regulation. Both Washington and Tampa Bay come into the game with an average goals for per game of 3+ with rosters that boast some of the best scoring forwards in the league and at the end of regulation we have a 0-0 goaltender's battle in process. Not at all what I expected to be watching at Verizon Center tonight. But you know it was a very good game to watch. The Capitals have been playing some good defensive hockey of late in fact in their last 7 games they are while they have gone 5-0-2 they have allowed just 11 goals against (an average of 1.57) while scoring 19 goals (an average of 2.71). the problem is that other than the 5-1 victory over the New jersey Devils, they have not scored more than 3 goals in any of those seven games, and the biggest reason for the drop of in production seems to me to be the power play. In those seven games the Capitals have scored just 3 power play goals despite having 54:47 of power play time on 32 power plays during that span - that's a power play that is just 9.375% effective as opposed to their usual 25% since Bruce Boudreau took over behind the bench. Had they scored an average of 25% on the man advantage they would have scored 5 more goals and their average GF/G would be 3.43. While that might sound like a lot the reality is the games would have all likely been much more comfortable wins, including the two overtime losses. Do I think the answer is to "blow up the power play" as I've started to hear some folks discuss - not but I do think that some adjustments and changes need to be made. The Caps need "more" on the power play. More shots on goal, more traffic in front of the net, and more of a sense urgency to start with.

The penalty killing units were great tonight and have been over the last seven games as has the defense, the 5 on 5 scoring could ratchet it up a little but if the power play could only get back on track a huge portion of the current issues would be over come.

Congratulations to 41 year old Dwayne Roloson who got his 26th NHL shutout tonight; the man gets a shutout before he's even able to get his mask repainted after being traded earlier this week to Tampa Bay by the Islanders.

Well next up is the Florida Panthers here in DC on Saturday Evening.

LETS GO CAPS!!!!

More Later But Winter Classic Was Awesome!

2011-01-01T23:59:00.002-05:00

The Winter Classic - as far as the NHL Season goes it's just like any other two point game and in the end that's probably the bottom line. That said - it's an awesome fan experience as far as Wingman and I are concerned or at least the Winter Classic 2011 was.

I'm late posting and as far as tweeting goes I couldn't get AT&T Data Service while I was at the game so you know the score of the game ended 3-1 Capitals and the Caps came away with two points. You also know the Caps-Pens Series for 2010-2011 is now 1-0-1 Caps. That's nice but as I was reminded by many Penguins fans it's not about this time of year and the Penguins already have 3 Stanley Cups - and the core of this team has one of them. Okay, I get that and so do the Capitals. I'll also say my experience here in Pittsburgh has been great - even when I wasn't with my relatives and was with just ordinary Pittsburghers. However, like any exceptionally large group there''s always going to be some really out of control folks. In our section early in the game a Capitals fan who was out of control needed to be removed and left peaceably when security came over (he was using A lot of profane language and was very loud.) Of course that's nothing compared to the jerks in the section above us who threw beer on us from above after the Caps scored their third goal. I won't say "You Stay Classy - Pittsburgh" because I found the majority of the place to be excellent and the vast majority of people to be Classy. In fact until the beer throwing incident the only guy I felt didn't have good judgement or was a little misguided was the guy in front me in the restroom between the first and second period with a Jagr Sweater. So I'll say to the guys who tossed beer on us - "Real Classy Schmucks - you don't deserve such a good team."

I felt the game was played by both teams - excellently, except Marc-Andre Fluery. Fluery made three really poor decisions tonight, he got away with two of them but one cost the Penguins a goal; a second one should have, IMO as well. I felt the washout of the Ovechkin goal was not a good call - it sure looks like in the replay that Fluery skated into Ovechkin and not vice versa and it all happened because Fluery was out of position. Of course by the time it happened it really didn't matter. Once again the Caps played excellent defensive hockey the last five minutes of the third period.

Anyway, I'll have more tomorrow with some pictures, etc. But let me say as hockey experiences go, this one is absolutely right up there. The last time I had this sort of experience was at the Frozen Four in DC and this was actually better, and the fact it was a two point night made it even better.

LETS GO CAPS!!!!

Caps 3 - Canadeans 0: If Bruce Boudreau Could ...

2010-12-29T21:40:00.000-05:00

Caps 3 - Canadiens 0: If Bruce Boudreau could bottle this game and replicate it as an elixir, I bet he would be doing so this morning. First let me say despite the final score, and despite the fact that for Caps fans this was, by and large, a fun game to watch; there was one glaring short-coming ALL night long: the officiating was awful, and worse yet the officials were involved in things that affected the outcome and flow of the game even when they didn't have to be so. I'm not saying all the calls went one way or the other, they did not - both teams "got screwed", in my view evenly so or close to it. I just think that a professional sports league, especially one which is the highest level of it's sport, or at least purports to be so, can and should, do better. More on that, maybe, later in this post. For now let's get to the good, the exciting and even probably a little of the bad from last night.

Coaching and Preparation: Grade A. First let me say I saw two things from the Capitals Coach and his staff I haven't noticed all that much before (doesn't mean they weren't there, I just really never noticed them much before) that were really good and really worked out. First thing was the basic relatively calm and reasoned reaction to what was likely the worst call all night if not one of the worst so far this year - the wash out of the goal by David Steckel in the first period. Trust me when I say I certainly didn't think this was the right move by Gabby when he did it and I was going apoplectic because it was such a bad call. Apparently though the ref whistled the play dead because he lost sight of the puck and that's not a reviewable call or certainly the hardest one to get a reversal on anyway. That said: the whistle was way too fast, and if that was how the NHL Officials usually handled this situation, there would be A LOT FEWER goals through goaltender's 5-holes by guys right on the doorstep. In any case, Boudreau and the Caps merely and rightly requested an explanation and when they got it they didn't unduly delay the game, get flustered, or distracted bay it. Instead they quickly went back to work and in short order got their second goal of the night when Mike Green joined the rush and nailed a beautiful laser fast wrister past Carey Price at the 19:22 mark of the first period. The second thing that Boudreau did that frankly shocked and totally delighted me was when with about 2:00 left in the game he called a timeout. I'm sitting there, probably like most of the crowd wondering why with just 2:00 left in the game, a 2 goal lead, and the Caps playing well, their coach called a timeout. Then after the timeout, the Caps come out on the ice and immediately start playing a 1-4 trap, regardless of who they have out on the ice. That was beautiful to see, to see this ultra-talented team full of offensive powerhouses, play a 1-4 trap in a manner that would make Claude Lemiuex and/or Claude Julian happy. They were playing for the shutout for their goaltender who had played very well all night. They were just making sure they were ready for the inevitable offensive push from the Canadiens which came less than 20 seconds later when they pulled Carey Price. Best of all both coach and team were rewarded for this solid, smart play when at the 19:28 mark of the period, Team Captain Alex Ovechkin, got the empty net goal to put the Caps up by the final score of 3-0. Folks, if anybody tells you at any point between now and whenever this season ends that this Coaching staff has lost this team, pull out a video of the last three minutes of this game to show them just how absolutely wrong they probably are no matter what happens between now and then.

Offensive Game Plan & Execution: Grade B+. Bottom lines here are: i) everyone was part of the offensive game both 1st and 2nd lines as well as 3rd & 4th lines and the Blueliners. Despite the relatively low score and the fact the Caps only scored the single empty netter after the first period, they kept the pressure up all night long. The forechecking was relentless well over 55 of the 60 minutes of play. Were it not for a quick whistle in addition to call-up Jay Beagle's excellent goal to start out the night's scoring that was the result of simple, straight forward play and hard work the first period would have included two goals that are the kind of goals you really want to see if you think you are trying to get ready for the playoffs. Beagle's goal and Steckel's disallowed tally were the result of players going where they need to go and being willing to pay the price to score, plain and simple. I guess in addition to feeling the washout of Steckel's goal was a horrible call, another reason I was so upset with the call, is because it would have been Steckel's second goal in as many games - I haven't looked but has he scored in back to back games as a Cap anytime before that? The first and second lines played very well, Mike Green's goal was the result of a blue liner activating and joining the rush the way he should and when he should. As far as putting real pressure on the opposing goaltender and getting solid offensive zone time, this was one of the best games I've seen, especially five on five. Top 2 Lines: Ovechkin, Semin, Knuble, Laich, and Backstrom all had very good nights - Backstrom was 83% in the faceoff circle. Call-up Kieth Aucoin did well filling in for the injured MP85 and MoJo90 as the second line pivot. From the third and fourth lines, the performance and contributions were great from where I sat and now post-game looking over the statistics. Jay Beagle was a truly noticeable presence in the game, in a good way - all night long. David Steckel also solid all night long - in every facet of his game. Eric Fehr +2 on the night and involved in the game in every way on every shift. Matt Hendricks didn't let a weak call against him just 0:23 into the game affect his game one negative iota and was his usual solid self. Jason Chimera was +2 on the night and chased down two pucks to nullify icing calls that helped keep pressure on the Habs and give the Caps more offensive zone time. Andrew Gordon played a solid all be it relatively unremarkable game last night after being much more noticeable in the last game, that combined with the fact that if he played two more games here in DC he'd have to pass through waivers were probably while he was sent back down to Hershey. That said A. Gordon and Jay Beagle's play of late has to be keeping everyone on the Caps roster on their toes.

Defensive Game: Grade A (it was a shutout) : So ice time leaders among the Caps Blue liners last night were: Mike Green - 28:19 TOI (4:56 SH and 11:49 PP); and John Carlson 22:13 (14:32 EV). Carlson was usually on the ice with Karl Alzner (18:13 TOI, 14:01 EV). Last night was Jeff Schultz' return to the ice from injury. #55 played 13:16 TOI (2:07 SH) and was generally paired with John Erskine. Schultz was the only defenseman who wasn't in the + column, finishing the night +/- even. Green was +2 and all the rest of the blue liners were +1 on the night. Any night you are playing the "Flying Frenchmen" and you only see Brian Gionta and/or Mike Cammelari get free and skate in on your goaltender unencumbered a few times and with either a blueliner or backchecking forward in close enough pursuit there isn't any real threat from a follow-up on the initial shot is a good night defensively in my book. Also it seemed to me that Mike Green had more than the one blocked shot and had at least one hit last night but apparently not so per the score sheet. By the way, I don't think you should penalize or reduce your opinion of a guy's defensive abilities just because he also happens to be a great skater and have a great shot too. Green had an excellent night last evening and his pairing with Scott Hannan during the shifts when Hannan joined him were really, really solid - Nice to see.

Goaltending: Grade A (it was a shutout). Semyon Varlomov was 25 for 25 and "pitched a perfect game". He seemed a lot calmer and more comfortable in the net than he did against Carolina the other night as well. The Canadiens had enough real scoring chances that you can't say Varly didn't earn the shutout, he did. By comparison, Carey Price was 27 for 29 and had a solid night as well, though not well enough to steal his 20th win of the season off the Caps at home.

Special Teams - Penalty Kill: Grade B+. The Canadiens had 8:30 TOI with a man advantage during five power play opportunities. Despite that large amount of time, from my perspective their best scoring chances came 5 on 5. At no time did they really threaten to score for extended periods and during really extended zone time. In fact there was only one of the five power pays where they seemed to get any extended zone time. During these time periods it's hard to say who in addition to Varly was the best penalty killer. Not because there weren't any others but rather because pretty much everybody did a very good job on the penalty kill.

Special Teams - Power Play: Grade F. The only special team on the ice last night worse than the Canadiens' power play was the Capitals' power play. It was the only aspect of last night's game that the Capitals didn't execute well. To be fair there is no doubt in my mind that Carey Price was his team's best penalty killer but the Capitals 7 times including a 4:00 double minor for a total of 14:27 of ice time. That's 24% of the game. To have that much power play time and not get at least one goal is just not good enough so you can't really even give the power play anything but an F. I don't know what the answer is to get the Capitals power play back on track but I do have faith in this coaching staff and team to figure it out or die trying and when they do, these guys will work their butts off to effectively change things and start scoring more power play goals again. That said until they do that, there's always a risk they won't win games without every other aspect of their game being as good as they were last night.

Next up is the Penguins in the Winter Classic. I'll be there with Wingman and we'll both be very psych'ed.

LETS GO CAPS!!!!

Jaded? ... I'd Say Yes We Caps Fans Have Become Jaded and That Might Not Be All Bad ...

2010-12-28T07:50:00.003-05:00

On Sunday evening the Capitals bested the Carolina Hurricanes in Raleigh by a score of 3-2 in regulation. It was an excellent game, the goaltending at both ends was very good. Capitals superstar Alexander Ovechkin had a multi-point game, a goal (his first in 9 games) and an assist and was a visible presence and team leader all night long. Mathieu Perrault had a goal and got his nose broken in spectacular fashion in just 5 shifts and 3:19 TOI. David Steckel, "the defensive forward", scored a goal, went 11 for 16 in the face off circle and was another force to be reckoned, probably reminding the Hurricanes of their former Captain Rod BrinD'amor during his 25 shifts on the ice. Both Karl Alzner and Scott Hannan looked like the "stopper defenseman" we Caps fans have been looking for in prior games this season - Alzner had four hits tied with John Erskine for the team lead this game in that statistic. The Caps came away with two points and for the first time in over 12 seasons, they have swept the Carolina Hurricanes at home - 3 games, 3 Caps victories. Yesterday's Washington Post, despite a Redskins Win the same day, had the Caps coverage above the fold - on a Monday during football season. All that and yet the follow-up to the game around town and the blogsphere is very muted. Probably because despite all those things, we Caps fans know it is only December and their's no huge reason to get overly excited about any one game or event during the long NHL regular season, as long as your team is on track to make the playoffs and this Washington Capitals Team is that. Or it could be that despite all that we know, the Washington Capitals will close out this month with an under 0.500 record for the month for the first time in 21 months and that means our expectations are basically as close to out of control when it comes to expecting a lot from the team we root for and it's stars as one can get without being ridiculous. In that I think the fan base is no better or worse than this young team is when it comes to what they expect of themselves. More on that thought later.

Tonight, the Montreal Canadeans come to town and the two teams meet for the first time since last spring when the Canadeans beat the Capitals in the playoffs. The Caps come into the game with a 3-4-3 record in their last 10 outings, not having won a game in regulation at home in their last six opportunities, and finding themselves not holding onto the top spot in their Division for a period of over a couple of days for the first time in a long time. The Canadeans come into the game with a4-6-0 record in their last 10 games and coming off a loss immediately after a blizzard in front of a sparsely populated building on Long Island; and having just dropped out of first place in the Northeast Division for the first time in a while this season. In short, both teams are good teams, who find themselves in less than entirely familiar or comfortable situations - in other words, last season aside, both these teams are motivated and should come out firing on all cylinders tonight.

Unfortunately to some degree, for both teams, no matter what happens we fans, and likely the teams themselves, won't be all that happy. In the case of both teams, the expectations are high - and that's okay. Both teams are talented and want to take the next step in their development, and in both cases that is at least a trip to the Stanley Cup Finals this year, so don't be surprised if you see a lot of grit and determination on both sides of the face off circles tonight. That said, in order to make it through an 82 game regular season and the four rounds of playoffs required to attain the ultimate prize in hockey, it's also not wrong or ill advised to find and take at least a little joy in the intermediate goal accomplishments and individual game victories along the way; and it helps to maintain both perspective and sanity for my two cents worth. It's okay to be happy as long as we don't get satisfied. It's okay to be pleased with a good play, check, or game as long as it in no way modulates the "fire in the belly" needed to stay the course and drive to the final - ultimate goal.

Tonight's game is the Capital's chance to finish the month of December with a 5-6-3 record for the month, that would feel a lot better than either a 4-6-4 or 4-7-3 record and it would also mean the Caps are well on their way to regaining the form they had during the months of October and November. In any case, they are now in a three way battle for their division and they are battling an in Conference opponent who is battling for their division lead as well. This is a game that could well matter on a multitude of levels when April rolls around and we all look at the playoff teams and seeding. I'll be there and I''l be psych'ed as always - how about y'all?

LETS GO CAPS!!!

Well It's Time For Hockey To Resume After the Christmas Break And ...

2010-12-26T14:32:00.004-05:00

Good afternoon to all who are reading this blog, and if you are reading this blog you too are probably itching for the NHL to resume play tonight. Thankfully, there will be eleven (11) games played around the NHL tonight and two of them are Southeast Division match-ups: Caps - 'Canes in Raleigh, NC and Tampa Bay at Atlanta. The only Southeast Division team not in action tonight is the Florida Panthers who don't return to action until tomorrow when they host the Boston Bruins. Of course tonight's games mean the Capitals can recapture first place in the Division from Tampa Bay assuming the Caps win and the Thrashers manage to provide inhospitable environs to the Lightning and send them home with less than two points.

The two Southeast Division contests tonight might also provide a benchmark as to whether the Division can truly become a viable, exciting Division to watch in the NHL. Only two points separate the first place Lightning from the third place Thrashers as we approach the mid-point of the season; and while the "streaky" fourth place Carolina Hurricanes are nine (7) points behind the third place Atlanta Thrashers, they continue to demonstrate the ability to play with any other team in the league. As such it's not beyond the realm of possibility that the Hurricanes could put together a good streak over the next six weeks and also find themselves in the hunt for the playoffs. Finally, to a lesser degree, the same can be said of the fifth place Florida Panthers who are but two points behind the Hurricanes. Also worth noting is that the both the Hurricanes and the Panthers have four (4) games in hand on both Washington and Atlanta and two (2) games in hand on Tampa Bay. It's all just further evidence that the Southeast Division is no longer the weakest division in the league. It also means that the hockey being played between so called "division rivals" is now an excellent sports entertainment product and with two games that have implications in the current standings on a holiday weekend, league watchers will no doubt be looking at the paid attendance at both these games to gauge the current health and longer term viability of the sport in the Atlanta and Raleigh-Durham markets. Of course that thought/statement also doesn't take into account an uncooperative Mother Nature.

Personally, I think this season is one that will begin to validate the efforts of the NHL to expand the appeal of the sport to the broader US markets in general and the Southeast, in particular. So I'm looking forward to seeing two well subscribed games tonight. I'm also hopefully optimistic that the Capitals will come off their Christmas "break" and capture two points tonight playing a grittier style of hockey than the Hurricanes have seen them play for quite some time. That said there continue to be some challenges for the Capitals coming in to tonight's game. On the sick and injured front, Matt Hendricks and Tom Poti are listed as questionable and Tyler Sloan (groin), DJ King (undisclosed), Jeff Schultz (thumb), Boyd Gordon (lower body), and Matt Bradley (finger) are all on Inured Reserve. Reports are that Michal Neuvirth was the first goaltender off the ice at this morning's practice skate so it appears he will be in net at the start of tonight's game. No reports as to what the lineup will look like relative to lines and defensive pairings but I'm going to guess the pairings will be: 52 - 23; 27 - 74; 4 - 21. Yep you got that right, I'm thinking with Poti and Sloan out and no word of Brian Fahey being called up, Brooks Laich will be on the blue line for the Capitals. If he's not, well somebody else you and I don't normally see line up there will be. That likely means the second and third lines will also be jumbled and the Capitals will need a solid. smart game from all the forwards but from Ovechkin, Semin, Backstrom, Knuble, Johansson and Perreault in particular. Welcome to the future MP85 and MoJo90 - now it's your time.

With the injuries and other recent challenges that the Capitals have been having, in particular the drop in offensive production from their stars: Ovechkin, Backstrom, Semin and Green, tonight might be the best chance the Hurricanes have at turning around this season's results when they face the Capitals. Tonight's meeting is the fourth between the two teams this season and so far Washington is 3-0 to Carolina's 0-2-1 record. If the Capitals win tonight it will be the first time since the 1997-98 season that the Capitals have swept their road games with Carolina. Given the Hurricanes' last tilt with the Capitals ended in a 3-2 shootout victory by Washington at DC's Verizon Center, I'm not expecting tonight's game to be an easy one for the Capitals to win. In addition to the fact that the Capitals are a little more banged up than the Hurricanes, forward Jiri Tlusty (arm) is the only Canes player out with an injury; is that fact that today's pre-game routine is different than most road games. Teams can’t travel on Christmas Day, so the standard practice of arriving in a road city the night before a game is out the window. That means the Caps flew out to Raleigh-Durham from Dulles this morning and into the unusual wintry conditions - see the picture out the window from Sergey Kocharov's twitter post when they landed here. They then bused directly to their morning practice and are in a city that is pretty paralyzed by the current conditions so actual attendance might be affected (the same goes for Atlanta too I suspect, though less so).

The last variable to whether the game will go as planned is this item - seems the officials are having difficulty getting there too according to Kukula's Korner. You can also see the anticipated line combinations for the Hurricanes recently juggled lines in the post as well. Somehow I think the NHL will find a way to get officials to RBC Center in time for the game, and if they don't I say who cares with the way some of the calls and officiating has been this year in the NHL, if the planned officials don't get there in time, there has to be a good set of officials from a "beer league" in and around the North Carolina State Capital who could give it a shot.

Well I'm thinking that this might be the game where Backstrom and Ovechkin get their scoring touch back. It's also going to have to happen for the Caps to control the game and win - Nicklas Backstrom has scored four of the eight goals the Caps have scored against the Canes this season. I also expect the Hurricanes to play Mike Green in a similar fashion to the way Pittsburgh did - very physically. However, I think Green is ready for it after the 34+ minutes of ice time against a Penguins team who never, ever missed an opportunity to hit him all night long on last Thursday night. The Caps also need another solid game from recent pickup Scott Hannan and I expect they will get it. So you can see, assuming this game is played tonight, it should be a battle and a good one to watch. The Capitals are working to get back on track, knowing that this month - December 2010 - will be the first sub 0.500 month after 21 months of playing over 0.500 hockey, so they will be working hard to close out their remaining two games this month with four standings points. The Hurricanes are in ninth (9th) place in the Eastern Conference and looking to start the after Christmas, pre-All Star Game portion of the season with their first win of the season over the Capitals. The desire and drive to win will therefore likely be there for both teams. So even if the crowd is small, the building and environs are cooler and snowy than usual in North Carolina, and the officials a little off their usual top form due to late arrival, this should be a good game to watch and with a few bonces going their way a Capitals victory.

LETS GO CAPS!!!!

Wow - That Was A Game Worth Watching ... Penguins 3 - Capitals 2 (SO)

2010-12-24T06:19:00.000-05:00

Well last night the red hot Pittsburgh Penguins came to DC to take on the rejuvenated Washington Capitals for their first of four regular season games this NHL Season. The game was well anticipated by fans of both teams, as just next week these two teams will meet outdoors in the NHL's Winter Classic, at Heinz Field, in Pittsburgh on New Year's Day. I wasn't at the game as I had donated the tickets to our seats to a raffle that was part of a charity golf event earlier this past summer. Wingman and I also id an act of kindness last night and took a donated Christmas Tree to a family in need who didn't have one and stopped for dinner on the way home so I watched the first period at a restaurant in the area from a less than excellent vantage point. I was home in my usual seat in front of CSN HD to watch the full 2nd, 3rd, OT, and all 7 rounds of the shoot out it took to decide last night's game though.

So let me say this at least as far as the Washington Capitals 37 games played so far this season, last night's was probably the best game to have watched and one of the most, if not the most exciting to have watched. Sure it was and will be extremely heavily "hyp'ed" as a lead up to the Winter Classic, which is actually nothing more or less than another regular season game for two points, that just happens to be played outside on New Year's Day. However here's what it also was:

1) The first of four regular season games between two teams, at least one of which - if not both, who will likely be very well entrenched right in the middle of the road to the Stanley Cup this summer.

2) A game that had implications for the current standings in two Eastern Conference Divisions. The result of last night's game along with the results of the Lightning - Rangers and the Thrashers - Bruins Games mean the Penguins are the first team in the NHL to reach the 50 point mark and they have taken over first place in the NHL, Eastern Conference and the Atlantic DIvision from the Philadelphia Flyers who have "just" 49 points in 35 games played. It also means that the Capitals, who as a result of their less than desired December so far are in a battle for the Southeast Division with Tampa Bay and Atlanta, dropped from first in the Southeast to second and Tampa Bay who has the same 45 regular season points as the Capitals in two less games played is now in 2nd place in the Eastern Conference and 1st place in the Southeast Division Standings. The Capitals drop to 5th in the Conference and 2nd in the Division. The truth is none of that is all that much worth getting excited about just yet, the Salary Cap is now mature in the NHL and parity is being achieved. That means the regular season battles, at least in both Conference will matter for the foreseeable future. It also means the position the teams are in the standings will jostle regularly for at least the next month because in the case of the Eastern Conference the distance between first place and eighth place is just 10 points and in the case of the teams currently in 9th through 12th if any of them get hot and put together say a 6 game winning streak, between now and mid-February, they too would be in the hunt for a playoff spot. In the Western Conference things are even tighter, as we approach mid-season the distance between 1st and 13th is just 10 points and the distance between 5th and 13th is just six (6) points or three games - with over half a season to play. So yeah, every game counts, and I'm pretty sure that's what the goal was with the salary cap - parity. So why doesn't every game count the same amount of points in the standings, again. Hold onto that thought please, I'll be revisiting it. In the mean just take a look at these standings after last night's game:

If you are looking for a great game recap then stop reading this blogpost and go over to read The Peerless' here - it has it all and I'm not going to rehash it here. The fact is I've come to terms long ago knowing that there are folks who are just plain better writers in the world then me. Here in the Blogsphere in general and in the community of bloggers that discuss the Washington Capitals my favorite is The Peerless, to me he's aptly named, and his post after the last game is one of his best. A close second for best recap, at least in my estimation, of last night's game goes to Becca over at Japer's Rink for this effort. Of note, Garret over at Puckhead's Thoughts points out in his recap that Jay Beagle also had a good outing even though he's not overly prominent on the score sheet - I just want to say I agree. If you really like to see a guy like Matt Cooke, or more specifically the actual Matt Cooke, have a bad night and get a strange, but mandatory delay of game penalty at a most inopportune time, then go here and watch his 185 foot clearing attempt out of the rink and into the stands from last evening. Thanks Matt, it couldn't have happened to a nicer guy, I wonder how many people have copied this link and sent it to Marc Savard...

So no I'm not doing a gamer but I will add a few musings about last night's game, that I don't think have been included in other folks thoughts and bloggings this morning.

1) This was a great hockey game and as I noted it had implications in the standings. As will many other games the rest of the way between now and the end of the season. So two questions occur to me. a) Why doesn't every game count for the same number of points. Last night alone there were 13 games played in the NHL, this being one of them; in four of the thirteen or 30.7% of those games a total of three (3) points were awarded to the participants, while in the remaining majority of them only two (2) points were awarded. I've posted numerous musings on how illogical this is to me. After last night I feel even stronger on the subject. Here's my suggested BETTER, MORE LOGICAL alternatives to the current way of doing things in the NHL.

First of all, no matter what, I think the skills competition/shoot out needs to be done away with. Just watch the shootouts that decided last night's Capitals-Penguins and/or Lightning-Rangers Games and tell me that you feel one or the other team really bested the other in the game based on that shoot out, I mean why don't they just roll out some nets and play a game of HORSE on skates with the Captain of each team being the shooter to see who gets "the gimmick point"?

Second, fine if you don't like my feeling that EVERY game should be worth three points such that the team who wins in regulation gets all three points, then leave the game be worth two points - every game. Then go to this option, during the regular season if a game ends tied in regulation, then go to a 10 minute overtime and play 4 on 4 hockey, with no touch icing and the OT winner, if their is one gets two points, while the looser gets zero points. if the game ends tied after one OT period in the regular season it ends tied and each team gets one point. The truth is the extra point in some of the games messes up the standings more and more as parity gets more real in the NHL. At the actual mid season I will recompute and look at the playoff implications of what "every game is a three point game would mean, but I'm pretty positive it would have some impact to who makes and doesn't make the playoffs. I'll also take a look at what things would look like if the SO was done away with and every game was two with ties after OT resulting in one point per team.

2) The hardest thing I think for anyone to do after last night was pick the three Stars of the Game - I love it when that happens and I bet the coaching staff's of both teams do too. That's it nothing more profound when it comes to to that thought.

3) Mike Knuble and Brooks Laich - thank you, for that short handed goal.

4) Mike Green, great game in every respect, thanks for making hockey so fun to watch and thanks for making Matt Cooke pay for his faux paux last evening.

5) Alex Ovechkin, thanks, just thanks for being you and playing your game last evening.

6) Sidney Crosby and, now you too after last evening, Marc-Andre Fleury we Capitals fans "hockey hate" you but have to admit you played great last night and you usually do. If instead of you two guys, the Penguins had mere mortals who were a just real good first line center and starting goaltender, our favorite team's record against you most hated flightless birds would be much, much better.

7) Evgeni Malkin, if you are wondering why Ovechkin and the Capitals all try and hit you and knock you off the puck, or slow you down when you play them, it's probably the same reason your teammates do so to Mike Green - you're both really good too. You should expect more of the same next Saturday in Pittsburgh, only then it will likely be really cold and hurt more too. On second thought Evgeni, maybe you don't want to play in those cold conditions next Saturday, perhaps you, Sidney, and Marc-Andre should stay in and instead of going to Heinz Field in the cold, play WII and watch the big screen in Mario's "man-cave" right next to the basement guest room that Sid still likes to stay in. ... Seriously ...

Next up for the Capitals - Carolina on Boxing Day in Raleigh, NC. In the meantime, I wish everyone who might read this today a happy and healthy holiday season. Merry Christmas and I hope that in some way, shape or form, the joy of what this season can be finds its way into your life and home. I probably won't post another blog until before the Montreal game on Tuesday because of all that generally goes on elsewhere in my life this time of year.

Remember kids, put out the milk and cookies for Santa and ... LETS GO CAPS!!!

Three Games Since My Last Blog Post and a 2-1-0 Record

2010-12-23T12:53:00.000-05:00

Well last Saturday when I posted my last blog post I like virtually all Capitals fans was wondering how in the world, or more specifically when in the world, the Capitals loosing streak would end. Of course I was hoping, as all Caps fans were that it would end that evening in Boston. Alas that wasn't to be, try as they might last Saturday, the Capitals efforts to resume their winning ways wasn't to happen in beantown. First the Capitals decided to spot what will likely at the end of this season be listed as the NHL's "stingiest/best defensive team" a two goal lead during the first period. Then a guy named Tim Thomas was determined to send the Capitals off to Ottawa with their eighth straight loss. the Caps played well enough to deserve to win but all Thomas and his Bruins teammates would give the Capitals was two goals while they managed to send three pucks past Capitals goaltender Michal Neuvirth.

So off to Ottawa the Capitals went to take on the Senators the following evening. Once again we Caps fans were no doubt hoping the skid would end and once again the Caps decided to "spot their opponents" a two goal lead. However, the Senators are not the Bruins and Brian Elliott is not Tim Thomas, at least not this season and certainly not last Sunday evening. So the Capitals came out at the start of the second period with the score Senators 2 - Capitals 0, and they quickly (in the first 1:20 of the second period) tied the game up 2-2. At the 6:40 mark of the second period Matheiu Perreault scored his second goal of the game to put the Capitals up by a score of 3-2 and from that point forward, the Capitals played with enough abandon that they pretty much didn't have to look back. Despite not scoring again during the remaining 33:40 of the game, the Capitals played smart, dominant hockey and while the third period saw each team get three power play opportunities each, the Capitals were the more dominant team. The Caps made sure they closed out this game and ended their loosing streak and as they say "Joyous Noel". I'm not sure if the Capitals sang Christmas Carols on their flight back from Ottawa but according to what everyone is saying and was seen on 24/7 they were at least relieved to have ended the loosing streak.

Next came Tuesday evening's game against the New Jersey Devils. who have been having their own struggles so far this season. This was the third meeting of the season between the Capitals and the Devils in the first two meetings the Capitals were schitzo. The first meeting was the Capitals season home opener on October 9 and they throttled the Devils 7-2. Then the two teams met in New Jersey at "The Rock" on November 22 and the Capitals for all intents and purposes had one of their worst games in the past 3 seasons so the Devils won 5-0. This past Tuesday evening the Capitals pretty much owned New Jersey during the second and third periods after both teams played well in the first period - final result: Caps 5 - Devils 1. The fans at Verizon Center were chanting "We Want The Pens" during the third period on Tuesday and that's what we'll all get tonight.Also I guess it looks like the Caps game was John MacLean's last behind the bench as the Devils Coach at least according to the twitter feed tweets I've been seeing this morning. That's a real shame because from my vantage point the problem likely hasn't been MacLean as since the they basically got "screwed" (there I said it) by the NHL in this summer's arbitration ruling they've been a team that was going to have to deal with a very challenging transition period all year. Then the injuries they've had just made it all a tough year in Newark. I don't know what anybody could do with the current state of affairs in NJ and of course you have to try and change up what you can to turn things around but in the long run MacLean will probably end up being seen as a good NHL coach 10 years from now after he gets a fair chance at his next stop in his career.

Now onto looking ahead to tonight's normal, regular season two point game between the Capitals and the Penguins at Verizon Center. This is the first meeting between the two teams this season. The Penguins come into the game with 48 points and a 23-10-2 record while the Caps come into it with 44 points and a 20-12-4 record. Both teams have won their last two games. In their last 10 outings Pittsburgh is the hottest team in the NHL with an 8-2-0 record while the Capitals are 2-6-2 and working real hard for the remainder of this month to avoid having the first sub 0.500 month since Bruce Boudreau took over from Glen Hanlon behind the bench. During those last 10 games the Penguins top stars have been on fire and have generally figured prominently in each game's results. In short while Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin generally figure prominently in virtually every game they play, it has been even more so the case so far this December. make no mistake, the other members of the team have also played well and that's why the Pen's are currently the hottest team in the league. For the Capitals, there was a similar story during the month of November but so far this month the Capital's names that were on the NHL leader board at the end of December have not lit up the scoreboard in December. That's not to say that over the past several games they haven't made their presence felt it's just to ay that unless things change tonight, don't be surprised if you see the Capitals continue to distribute the puck and the scoring more widely throughout the roster - if they continue to play well as they have for the past couple of games. I won't make any predictions other than to point out the obvious, as always, this will be a good game to watch tonight unless something totally bizarre happens. I expect both teams to play even harder than they usually do when they play others around the league - that's just based on recent past history. I also expect to see some sort of twist thrown in to the Caps lineup by Coach Boudreau - again that's based on recent past experience.

So as they used to say on the old WWF broadcasts; LLLLLLLEEEEEEEETTTTTTTSSSSS GGGGGEEEETTTTT RRRRREEEEAAAADDDDDYYYYY TTTTTOOOOO RRRRUUUUMMMBBBLLLLE!!!!!!!!!

LETS GO CAPS!!!!

Looking Ahead to Today's Bruins - Caps Game in Boston

2010-12-18T11:01:00.003-05:00

Well two struggling teams go to Boston's TDNorth Garden to try and end their current slides. The Eastern Conference eighth place Boston Bruins who are 0-2-1 in their last three games host the struggling third place Washington Capitals who will be looking to end their current loosing streak at - "Lucky #7" and avoid dropping their eighth in a row. Oh how the mighty have fallen - of course maybe not if you listen to Vicktor Federov's interview over at Japer's Rink, or read pucksandbooks over at "On Frozen Blog".

Of course while reading both I didn't find either as interesting or as useful to read as Peerless' preview of the game. Thanks Peerless for a "Fair & Balanced" blog post and set of thoughts in, from a Caps Fan's perspective, "these troubled times." In that vein I'll try and add to the intelligent, non-xenophobic, discussion about today's game - just one of 82 games the Capitals will play this regular season. First let's take a look at the games within the games we'll be seeing or at least what will probably be the top five games within games:

1) Ovechkin vs. Chara: This game with a game always seems to be a good one to watch when these two teams meet. It's always amazing to me that despite what these sort of match-ups look like when the Caps play other teams, Chara is one guy who can and does at times make Ovechkin look small. In reality its always a great thing to watch - two big, or maybe that should be BIG, men with awesome skating skills and great physical presence on the ice, basically beating the he!! out of each other, for the most part well within the rules, for 33% or more of an entire hockey game. Today assuming Alex Semin doesn't play - and at this time he's listed as questionable, things will only be harder than usual for Ovechkin as with Semin out, Knuble slowed the full guard around his jaw, and the Bruins having the final line change since they are the home team, are all things that will make this key match-up even harder for Ovechkin to "win." - Go Ovie - as Bella Karolyi has been quoted saying "You can do it..." but it won't be easy.

2) Neuvirth vs. Thomas: A more classic match up given their styles might be either Neuvy vs. Rask or Varly vs. Thomas but in any case whenever you play the very defensively stingy Bruins, the goaltender match-up is one of the games within the game to watch. There's not much question that the Bruin's goaltenders will come up with one, two or three awesome saves that can and sometimes do change the direction of the momentum of the game. That always puts pressure on the opposing goalie to do the same. Today, I'm thinking Neuvy is up to that challenge but even if he does, there's no guarantee that will be enough to win this game. In fact it's almost guaranteed that it won't be.

I'm thinking that for the Capitals to win the game it will all come down to the next three "battles" so long as the top two end in what I think they will end in - draws or even if the Ovechkin and Neuvirth only win their battles by small margins. I'm not saying that Alex Ovechkin can't dictate the play of a hockey game and drive the team to victory - he can but against Boston with the match-ups they will put on him, the rice would be very high and the outcome still no more likely than 50/50. Nor am I saying that any NHL caliber goaltender cannot have an awesome game and "steal a victory" - and with 12 wins so far this season, I'd be willing to state I feel Neuvirth has demonstrated he is an NHL caliber goaltender. That said I don't think that will happen today precisely because both teams will come out ready to play and play committed ice hockey for the entire game. So that will mean that no single player will win or lose this game for either team. That leaves the next three games within a game to decide things.

3) Blue Line Corps vs. Blue Line Corps: This might be the hardest battle for the Caps to win today given their sick and injured report. Jeff Schultz is on IR. Both Scott Hannan and Tyler Sloan have been ailing and are questionable for today's game. That leaves the Caps with: Mike Green, Tom Poti, Karl Alzner, John Carlson, John Erskine, and ????. Personally I'd love to see the ???? filled by Hannan and see him have the type of game we are all hoping for him to have since arriving here in DC from Colorado. That said even though they will both play Green still looks a little banged up and off pace and Poti still hasn't had his best game on since returning from his last injury. To compare well against the Bruins blue-liners, everyone will need to have their best game on and be ready for the inevitable physical battles with the rough and tumble Bruins forward lines the likes of which include the ever ready to battle Milan Lucic and Nathan Horton.

4) Second Line vs. Second Line: Another tough match-up for the Capitals today, given that Alexander Semin didn't make the trip and is apparently injured. The Capitals second line in practice yesterday was Laich-Perreault-Fehr/A.Gordon. This would be a really good game for Laich and Fehr to shake their recent ups and downs and have "up shifts" - preferably 17 or more "up shifts" throughout the game. It will also be a game where MP85 will need to skate full speed for every minute he is on the ice less the bigger Boston players latch onto him and use their size and physicality to neutralize his "Energize Bunny" style of play. Finally, my hope is that the second line that starts the game is Laich-Perreault-Fehr and not A. Gordon, nothing against A. Gordon, in fact I like him and the grit he brings to the game I just think the mix is better if Fehr is in the RW position as "the trigger man". I'd rather see Gordon get a Jersey on the third or fourth line for this game. Of course their opponents on the Boston side of the ledger don't care whether it's Fehr or A. Gordon, they will be working hard to play their game, their way either way and it's up to the Caps second line to not let that happen. I think this one (battle) will be determined by the answer to the question: "Who wants it more?"

5) Third & Fourth Lines vs. Each Other: What can we say about this match-up, the battle of the so called grinders will likely matter a lot in this game. In a game that is likely to be tightly played and low scoring, every goal is even more important than usual. Which of these seven guys play: Chimera, Johansson, Beagle, A. Gordon, Hendricks, Steckel, Bradley is almost a "don't care" to me. I like them all and I think they all have drive, grit and heart. Johansson is listed as questionable at this time so that might make the decision as to who doesn't play today straight-forward for Coach Boudreau. That said this could be the toughest game within a game for the Caps to win, Boston plays solid team hockey and now having gone 0-2-1 in their last three games, their depth players will be more determined than ever to not be outplayed by their opponents. However as we've seen so far this season, at least before this current bad karma streak started one thing that Jason Chimera, Matt Bradley, Matt Hendricks and David Steckel do NOT lack is heart and the other is grit. I expect these guys as much as anybody will be battling in the tough areas in front of and around the net and that means they could indeed be: "the guys who put the puck into the net for the goal that wins the game that breaks the streak that has been putting a damper onto the season as the Capitals get ready to play their most hated rivals in the biggest (at least most heavily attended) of the 2010-2011 regular season..." or however HBO will spin/hype this if the GWG is the result of secondary scoring. Personally after his last post game quote that was basically "Loosing sucks." I'm rooting fro David Steckel, even though in the back of my mind I'm thinking it could be any of the others and if it were Beagle or A. Gordon that would be a nice story too.

So there you have it what did I tell you above? Summary: This will be a hard fought game and even at the game within a game level each battle is at best a toss-up. This should be a good one.

LETS GO CAPS!!!

Don't Look Now But Atlanta Is Only 1 Point Back of the Capitals

2010-12-17T19:40:00.002-05:00

If you looked at the NHL standings this morning you might have noticed that due to the recent trials and tribulations by the Capitals the Atlanta Thrashers who are 6-2-2 in their last 10 games played are only one game behind the Caps in the NHL standings with 39 points, while Tampa Bay is just 2 points behind with 38 points having gone 5-3-2 in their last 10 games. Both Atlanta and Washington have played 33 games so far this season while Tampa Bay has played only 31. Even more interesting is the fact that if the regular season ended today there would be three Southeast Division teams in the playoffs. So why am I bringing this up, well as you know if you read my last couple of blogs I am an eternal optimist and have hope for the Caps going forward; that said it won't be a cakewalk this year. The Caps have been alone with distance between themselves and their Division rivals for the Southeast Division championship the last couple of years - that doesn't look like it will be the case the this season. However here's good news - the Caps only have one more meeting with Atlanta who has seemed to have the Caps numbers often this season - in Atlanta on January 26th. They have four more games with Tampa Bay - which I think is a more fun game to watch and a better match-up for the we fans and the team. Of course the crowding of the standings both in the Southeast Division and the Eastern Conference means the distance between the Caps and the other teams in the Eastern Conference working to make the playoffs that Washington had created during their good run in November has basically now been "spent" during this current loosing streak. So it's now time for the Capitals to go out and "Just Do It."

With a little cooperation from the hockey gods that could start tomorrow evening in Boston - please hockey gods? ...please....

LETS GO CAPS!!!

Well Two Games Since Last Post, Two Losses But - Hopefully - Two Different Stories

2010-12-16T10:37:00.002-05:00

Well since my last post about being hopeful, the Capitals have played two games and lost both. Last night, try as they may the ended up with a 2-1 Overtime loss to Anaheim here at Verizon Center. On Sunday night in New York, they lost 7-0 to the New York Rangers. So the optimist could/would AND since I'm an optimist will say "The trend is our friend - Sunday night: 0 points, Wednesday night: 1 point ..." Hopefully that means that come Saturday in Boston - well I think you get the idea. The other thing that we are all hopeful of is that the team that shows up to play every game the rest of the season is the team that played against Colorado and Anaheim on Saturday 12/11 and Anaheim last night - that team will win it's fair share of games - in my opinion. On the other hand the team that showed up for the rest of the last home stand against Conference foes Toronto, Atlanta and Florida as well as the Rangers wasn't the same team, sure they were the same physical players but their attitude and approach to the game. They were impatient, and immature.

The team that showed up and played against Saint Louis - the only win so far this month - on 12/1 and Dallas, Colorado, and Anaheim was mature, patient and focused on playing as a team and executing their game plan for a full sixty minutes. They also were willing to do the things necessary to give themselves a chance to win and not get discouraged and pull back or start to play like individuals, when the hockey gods choose not to smile upon them and give them "instant gratification." So I remain hopeful that the end of this streak is just around the corner, if not in Boston on Saturday - remember they too have two goaltenders either of whom - can steal a game and the way things are going let's be honest, it sure seems like either the coaches, the Capitals players, or we Caps fans, or all three of us, must have pissed off those elusive beings - the hockey gods. That's right - lets not get down on any individual, etc. after looking back over the Colorado game and last night's game against Anaheim, I'm sick of looking for something that caused the Caps not to win. I'm even sicker of talking about accountability and what the key players or coaching staff did or didn't do and whether this means they should be moved out of DC and/or off the roster/team. I'm especially out of time, patience and words for people who want to blame the GM and point to any particular player personnel decision over the past three years, as the problem. It's been 7 games, 7 out of the 82 the Caps need to play this season and when you look at this team's record over the past three seasons, those sorts of discussions are just without merit. Sure there need to be answers for why the skid and changes need to be made - but those changes need to be adjustments and hopefully also some additional returns to the roster of certain key players, especially on the blue line corps.

Look as David Steckel was quoted after last night's game: "Loosing sucks." However, the Caps are still sitting in the standings as one of the top teams in the Conference and the League overall standings - with 40 points - so all is not lost and its not too late. It's been said, to the point of also getting old - if you're a Caps fan, you'd rather this happen now and get sorted out now than in April. Things I hope and think will come out of this "rough patch":
1) A team dedicated to playing like a team and executing a game plan.
2) A team with mental toughness second to none other in the NHL.
3) A team whose coaching staff understands how to coach and get the most out of this extremely talented roster top to bottom.
4) A team whose roster top to bottom is dedicated to helping each other be the absolute best athlete they can be every game - the entire game.
5) A team that remains focused on the above four (4) items and goes out has fun, plays hard, plays tough and of course wins as a team.

Where are the Caps right now when you look at the NHL. Well that's why I say don't panic. Counting last nights hard won point, the Capitals are one of just four (4) of the thirty-two (32) teams in the NHL with forty (40) points after having played 33 games. In baseball terms they are playing 0.606 hockey so far this season and on pace for a 99 point season. That's no where near the pace they were on if that extrapolation was done November 30th and that's why we are all concerned - no argument there. However, if the Caps right the ship, as we all know they have the talent to do, it's not hard to see them finishing the season with the 100 points that usually is used as a benchmark of a top tier team in the NHL. All that though doesn't matter, the issue and he pressure comes from the fact that anything short of being highly competitive, and hopefully winning, this season's Stanley Cup finals will be less than everyone - Ownership, Coaching Staff, Players and Fans are looking for from this team. I've said it before and I'll say it again - we all get it - but to obtain the goal, that goal everyone needs to take a deep breath, make the necessary adjustments and just do it. The guys who really have to do it - the players - need to do it AS A TEAM. Despite loosing the last 7 games, the games against Colorado and Anaheim show me, they have the ability to do that, and they get it, even on a night when things don't all go their way. Hang in there folks, the team that played those games and the games against Saint Louis and Dallas - that's the team we all know of as "Our Washington Capitals". They're going to come through this even stronger than they went into it. We fans will all survive this - its really not a life changing thing for us - we're fans.

To the team: all of whom I'm relatively positive share David Steckel's sentiment, I say stay the course. The team that played last night is a team that could very easily be 5-5-2 for the month of December come Christmas Day. Loosen up the grip on your sticks, play the hockey with sound fundamentals and active sticks you've had drilled into your brains since you were five years old, and you'll all start enjoying being at the rink again AND getting the results you've gotten and spoiled us fans with over the last thee seasons.

LETS GO CAPS!!!

Hope - I Have Hope - Despite The Final Score Tonight

2010-12-11T23:55:00.002-05:00

So it was a "No Point Night" tonight for the Capitals at Verizon Center. They lost 3-2 in regulation to the Colorado Avalanche. Sure at the end of the season, whenever that occurs this coming spring we aren't likely to remember much about tonight's game. However, it was a good game. The Capitals fought hard - ALL 60 MINUTES. They also played their game plan and for the most part did it well - all four lines. They never got away from the game plan from what I could see, even when they had a few shifts where Colorado made the necessary adjustments and got a little more zone time than we might have liked. So like I saw Matt Hendricks say in his post-game comments: "If we play this way every game we'll win more than we lose." I watched tonight's game and I agree. In fact there were at least two instances where were it not for an amazing save by Craig Anderson the Caps would have won tonight's contest.

So let's start off by saying this - the Capitals lost and that isn't something any of us like to see. However, there was plenty to enjoy and celebrate about tonight's game.

Driving the net. Lot's of Net Presence and driving the net by the Capitals. Lots of solid forechecking AND back-checking. Sure the Caps made a few mistakes and the Avalanche made them pay for it. Finally when you look at the shot chart of the Captials shots on goal tonight you can see they were indeed on the doorstep a lot. So now it's time for some sleep before tomorrow evening rolls around and we get to see if the Caps will play this well against the Rangers.

LETS GO CAPS!!!

How About Those Capitals?

2010-12-10T17:29:00.000-05:00

Yes how about our/your/my Washington Capitals. This is what I just saw posted over at Japer's Rink ...

The Noon Number
3.8 - Caps' shooting percentage during their current four-game losing streak, down from 10.7% over the previous 26 games.

Well that says something for sure, especially when you understand that's just the number based on actual shots on goal that got through and the number looks even worse when you consider the attempts that were blocked or missed the net. There is no doubt the Capitals are slumping right now and as a fan watching a slump is nothing but painful anguish. However, I've gotta believe living through it as a coach or player has to be a lot, lot harder. The crazy thing here is that when you look at the comments, etc. on various message boards, etc. there is just so, so much total drivel in response to this. From statements that amount to crazy conclusions that these sorts of numbers and the past four games mean that Alex Ovechkin will never win a Stanley Cup to things like this all is total, unequivocal proof that Bruce Boudreau is a lousy coach, Mike Green isn't a good defenseman, etc. To me all of it - and I mean all of, also actually including this blog post - my own thoughts and words should totally be ignored by the coaches and players as they and they alone are the ones who can and must change and "fix" whatever it is that really needs fixing.

What am I talking about you justifiably ask. I'm saying that a group of professional athletes and coaches - the ones on the Washington Capitals - are a talented, driven team. They are all getting paid hundreds of thousands to millions of dollars to play and WIN ice hockey games. I'm not sure of much but I'd bet and bet A LOT that these guys might not have the answers this second, and they really didn't seem to have the answers last night while they were playing the Florida Panthers. So what can and should be done about this? I really do not know as far as what can and should be changed, I do know that whatever changes do need to get done, they seem to me to be about being a team - using this reaction to the current issues and adversity as a reason to bond together and be a team. It's needs to be a lot, lot more about things like Ovechkin's stick salute to DJ King while King was in the box serving his five minute fighting major after Ovechkin scored in the third period of the game against Toronto on Monday night and a LOT LOT less about looking for things to blame or quick fixes and heroics by single players to "fix this". It's clear every and I mean EVERY one of these guys, including Coach Boudreau is frustrated and looking for answers. I am absolutely not going to sit here and say that people should be dodging the tough questions or not stepping up and identifying issues. I am going to say that for a team to be a team when things are going like this, everyone has to shoulder a portion of "the blame" because in the end everyone is as much a part of the problem as they are the solution. We need to recognize this is an excellent hockey team, they are playing below the level they are possible of, no issue and they need to make some adjustments to fix that.

That being said, they are not going to win all their remaining regular season games nor will they make it through all four playoff rounds without a loss or even a bad game. We fans and the management are expecting a lot from this team - rightfully, it's a very, very talented team. However that does create a pressure cooker for them at times. So here is a change that I don't think you need to be a world class athlete to make since it's really about leadership and dealing with adversity, etc. The first thing I would do if I were Bruce Boudreau is I'd stop calling out players - ANY players to the media in his post game pressers. I'd also tell the players I wasn't going to do it, but that doesn't mean I have any issue with them taking exception to their OWN performance on any given night. I'd also encourage players - win or loose - to point out and to teammates who had good games and did good things. I know, you're hearing "kumbayah" being sung in the background. I'm not saying be ridiculous or practice denial, I'm just saying at this point the emphasis needs to be you win or loose AS A TEAM. So here's some not so bland comments all of which are okay in my book and some that would be way out of bounds as well in this regard.

Fine post game comments after a loss like last nights to Atlanta:

1A: "We got frustrated after the first period and didn't stick to the game plan like we should have in the second and third periods."

2A: "Vokoun played well, we didn't make it as hard on him as we should have and the Panthers picked up on our frustrations and were able to bait us into shooting from the perimeter too much in the second and third periods."

3A: "Well, I really wouldn't fault Varley for any of the goals, I'm sure like just about every goaltender that ever lived he'd like them "all back" but tonight on at least two of the three he made the first two stops, we just didn't give him enough help and allowed the Panthers to get even more chances than the first two."

Post comments that I don't think help the situations at all - and seem to be the type of comments we are hearing these days (all be it with a lot of exaggeration and satire laced in) in reverse order:

3A: "Well we didn't loose tonight because of having a young goaltender. We just sure didn't backcheck or play defense well a lot of the times. I mean go back and look at Bernier goal, I mean, jeez, Carlson takes out Alzner who is sprawled in Varley's way and the guy gets the third whack at the puck that's right on the doorstep. I know Carlson's a rookie and he and Alzner get better every game but we just gotta do better. The forwards could have been back checking deeper and maybe ..."

2A: "Okay so we come into the locker room at the first intermission and I see them down after that late score by Florida. It's my job to build them up and I give them my usual good words on that that should work. However, they don't go do it. I mean hey Ovechkin isn't scoring much lately, even Semin hasn't scored in a while, Backstrom where'd he go? Knuble almost nothing all year. Heck you'd think Green would take advantage of things lately - heck he loves to score and instead he goes out there and throws his body around. Don't look at me on this one guys, talk to those guys, why they can't find the back of the net and don't keep driving it and revert to perimeter shots on a guy like Vokoun is beyond me."

1A: "So last game we get that great "I'm back in the bigs effort from MattyP and you know we don't win. This game we let these guys put one in on a third whack at the puck with seconds left in the first period, then we let them put one in on a third whack at the puck about halfway through the second period, then we give them a power play with just under 2:30 left in the game to kill any momentum we might have AND we let them score the third goal of the game. First period was fine, Vokoun frustrated us but we stuck with the game plan. Last two periods - you know that scene from that "Replacements" movie that Keneau Reeves is in and that speech about "quicksand" well s#&t next time we have an intermission right after a late goal forget about the whole coach is happy pep talk, forget about showing video and you know maybe actually coaching, forget about talking to Ovechkin about maybe trying moving things around and giving him some time on the off wing, forget about pointing out that the real issue is we didn't score when we had man advantages and people got to get in a guy like Vokouns face, forget about admitting to the team that putting MP85 on the first power play unit might not have been my best idea of the season and taking my share of the heat/blame - I'm gonna talk about freakin' BEES AND SPIDERS - yep you heard me right. It's all the best players faults because they weren't the best players tonight and they are making me and my Mercedes Benz "cup holder" commercial look really bad. I'm so pissed right now I could be Joh Tortorella..."

What changes should they make - I don't know but the coaching staff and the team need to do three things to fix this:
1) Communicate;
2) Get On the Same Page are: the issues and changes that need to be made;
3) Make the changes, stick to the revised game plan and "Just Do It>"

To do that if it were me in charge here's what I'd do if it were my call though relative to a process to address this:
1) Spend a bunch of time together looking at the video;
2) Have the Coaches tell them what they think the problems and mistakes have been - but not the changes ... yet..
3) Let the players have a players only meeting to discuss it and come up with some suggestions and hold themselves accountable for some of this.
4) Concurrently brainstorm with ALL the coaching staff and make some changes - also setup a lineup that we will stick with for at least the next 5 games no matter what except if somebody goes sick or injured.
5) Get back together with the Team present the plan and then if we agree with any of their comments/suggestions tweak the plan and lineup that will be used for the next five games.

Put in place two inviolate rules for the next five games and post-game comments to the press and fans:
1) Stick to the Plan - Keep executing the plan and approach the coach's call for whether it's relative to shift length, distance from the net for shots, etc. - Just Do It.
2) Stick Together - everyone, - No more negative waves, just like oddball says in Kelly's Heroes. No more calling anybody out before or after or between games. Do whatever it takes to bring this team together both on the ice and off it so they play more team focused hockey - every minute of every game.

Then, I'm pretty sure when we say "How about those Capitals?" I think we'll be doing so "in a good way."

LETS GO CAPS!!! AND Don't forget to post at least five write in votes every day for Alexander Semin on your All Star Ballots.

So, I've Been Thinking About a Hockey Road Trip to the Southeast (Florida & Tampa Bay) Later This Season But...

2010-12-08T11:43:00.002-05:00

So, I've been thinking about taking a hockey road trip to/through the Southeast Division (Florida, Atlanta & Tampa Bay) later this season but I'm now wondering if going to the UK might be more fun. If you haven't watched this little bit of "Olde Tyme Hockey" from the recent UK's Elite Ice Hockey League game between Coventry & Nottingham you should. It'll explain why I'm thinking of taking in a little culture on London's Strand and then heading to see the next meeting between these two teams as an alternative. When was the last time in the NHL there was something as crazy "mad" as this game/clip. Simply brilliant as the Brits say.

Hockey Musings After A Brief Hiatus...

2010-12-05T20:55:00.000-05:00

Well it's been a while since I last made a blogpost a week and a half ago and since then the Capitals played six games and made a relatively major trade - and one many Caps watchers have been looking for. I haven't been away though I have been fairly busy, but I've also watched or attended all 6 of the Caps games that have occurred during the past 10 days. They've been pretty good games, IMO, and the Capitals have gone 4-2 in that stretch. In fact there's really not much I haven't liked about how things have been going on the ice or off the ice with the Capitals over these last 10 games. In reverse chronological order here are my musings about the games and events from my perspective since November 23rd.

Last night's game, a 3-1 loss at Verizon Center to the Atlanta Thrashers. So there's not a lot to like about going 3-2 against the Thrashers so far this season. However, the one thing I can and do enjoy is this basic musing: "SouthLeast No More." Look this past summer Atlanta made a bunch of good moves and they are paying off. I think the best move they made was picking up Andrew Ladd, sure many will argue going with Ondrej Pavlec as their number one goaltender was an even better move but I believe I can defend my belief that the pickup of Ladd was an even better move that that. Last night I was at the game with an old friend and colleague, and I must admit the atmosphere in Verizon Center just wasn't that energetic. The game was a good one and the crowd should have, IMHO, been into the game better. Of course as Coach Boudreau noted, the forwards needed to make Pavlec's night a bit tougher and should have created more traffic and drove the net more. The Caps failure to do so can be seen in many areas of the stat sheet and though it pains me to say it, right now and especially last night, Atlanta has our number. Bottom line we face these guys one last time this regular season in Atlanta next month and if we want to win that one, and we should want that as it's not inconceivable that we'll end up seeing them again in the playoffs, the Caps need to simplify their approach, and get in the Atlanta goaltender's face A LOT more. Bottom line we need to be ready and willing to work for the greasy goals and to play harder then the Thrashers in every aspect of the game if we are going to finish out the last game we'll play against them this regular season with a solid victory.

The Caps faced off against the Dallas Stars in Dallas on Thursday, December 2nd and also came away with no points for their efforts after a 2-1 loss in regulation. I watched that game on Comcast HD and enjoyed it except for the basically royal hosing the Caps got from the wrong call by the on ice officials that resulted in the waiving off of what should have been the Caps tying goal with just 7.6 remaining in regulation. Alas that apparently was also a non-reviewable call - the goal was waived off as the on-ice official felt that Alex Ovechkin interfered with Stars goaltender Andrew Raycroft. Oh well, win some, loose some; yadi, yadi yada ... Okay so if you read my blog regularly, you know that's BS - I hate loosing and I'm sure the Capitals do too. Michal Neuvirth played well enough to deserve the victory, heck, I thought the entire Caps team did too. I thought this game was great in that it was a nice tight game; that said i thought it was horribly officiated and that didn't start with the call at the end of the third period. It started with a set of poorly thought out calls in the second period that resulted in a disparity between the Caps and the Stars extra man advantages, that no Caps fan, and many other disinterested folks are likely to agree with. That said, the official(s) could have made all that mater not, if they had just made the right call with less than 10 seconds left in the game. Well you have to shake those sorts of nights off and move on. I mean it's just a game, it's not like it resulted in a life or death situation going "the wrong way." But you know it does, you know, kinda, ya know - suck when things like this go against the team you root for. Makes me wonder what it's like when you have Gregory Campbell on your team and something like this happens. I mean I guess if that's the case you just have him call his dad and get Colin to pop off an expletive laced email concerning the botched calls to the Director of Officiating. Even though we all know that would only be Colin joking with his other buddies in the NHL Hockey operations office, so if you don't get it or see it that way, it's probably because you just really aren't an educated "hockey kinda guy." [editor's note - several expletive laced thoughts here were removed because, well I'm not a classless idiot, like some folks, especially when I'm so drunk that I forget to tip the cab driver and instead get into a fight with him.

On Wednesday, December 1st the Caps played their first of back to back road games against Western Conference foes when they traveled to Saint Louis to take on the Blues. I watched this game on ComcastHD and like the others around the "blogsphere" and the MSM I was almost giddy about the performance the Capitals turned in against the Blues. Things to have loved about that night's game:
1) Varlamov's stopping 37 of 38 shots on goal.
2) Backstrom's two goals/1 assist night and Ovechkin's assist of Backy's second goal - an empty netter.
3) DJ King getting his first point as a Capital on his assist of a Boyd Gordon goal against his former team.
Bottom line it was an excellent two point night for the Capitals and one of their best games played either at home or on the road so far this season.

On Tuesday, November 30, the Capitals acquired defenseman Scott Hannan from the Colorado Avalanche in exchange for forward Tomas Fleischmann. Hannan, 31, is an 11-year NHL veteran who has played for Colorado and the San Jose Sharks. The 6’1”, 225-pound defensive defenseman has played 775 career games, recording 30 goals, 150 assists, 456 penalty minutes and a +22 rating. As regular readers of this blog would expect I'm very bullish about this move. Flash, though a solid citizen and basically worth his current salary to the right team, is someone I felt, no longer really fit into the Capitals roster in a way that let them get fair value for his salary. To me for Flash to be worth his current $2.6M cap hit; to be worth that I think you have to be using Fleischmann as a top six forward consistently and that wasn't happening nor was it likely to happen the rest of this season. As we've seen so far this season, especially with the amount of games being missed by Tom Poti so far this season, the Caps can definitely use another clearly experienced, Top four (4) blue-liner. From my perspective Scott Hannan gives them that, and with a cap hit of $4.5M he is affordable and still leaves them some salary cap room for either another move or to close a deal to extend Alexander Semin's and/or Brooks Laich's current contracts. Further Hannan's 73 playoff appearances should come in handy in April, and his arrival to Washington now, as opposed to at the trade deadline, should give him more than enough time to build some chemistry with the rest of the blue line corps here in DC - something that was spotty when it came to the Capitals late season pickup - Joe Corvo - last year. So the only real open question about the Caps and their upcoming quest for the 2011 Stanley Cup is the 2nd line center and whether 20 year old Marcus Johansson is ready for that role and/or ready to play through the res of the season and the 16 - 28 games required to get through the post season and win a Championship. For my part, I'll say I just don't know and as such wish we had an option that wouldn't force us to find out. However, the ability to make a worthwhile pickup for that position to make finding out unnecessary is a subject that is worthy of a full blown post all to itself. We'll see if I can get to do that sometime soon. For now I'm just glad the Caps picked up a solid, stay at home blue-liner with a lot of experience to add to the current group.

On Sunday, November 28th, the Capitals hosted the Carolina Hurricanes at Verizon Center and beat them 3-2 in a shootout to gain two points. I was at the game, along with my wingman, who also had with him three of his friends from college - one from Southern California, one from Singapore, and one from South Korea. We were fortunate to get three additional seats in our usual row in Section 103 so they all got to experience our "usual, excellent Capitals game experience." I was a little disappointed that the Capitals didn't win in regulation, but to be fair the goaltending, at both ends, was excellent and I agreed with the selection of Cam Ward as the number 1 star of the game. Ward came up with several excellent saves to keep his team in the game. Bottom line though is this was another solid game and another game which made me keenly aware that the Southeast Division is no longer the weak sister of the NHL.

On Friday, November 26th the Capitals hosted the Tampa Bay Lightning, in a pretty highly anticipated game of two teams on a roll with a lot of offensive firepower. I wasn't at the game though I did watch it in it's entirety. For us Caps fans, it was a good game - the Capitals dominated the game and came away with a 6-0 shutout victory and two points. The game was basically all about a 4 goal second period by the Capitals and these two post game quotes basically sum things up.

"I don’t know if it was perfect,” says Caps coach Bruce Boudreau, “but it’s as good as we’ve played all year. When you score a couple on the power play and you kill a 5-on-3, I thought it was a good game by us.”

"We just got outworked today, plain and simple.” says Tampa’s Steven Stamkos, the NHL’s leading scorer. “There’s nothing more to say.

”

The 17 save shutout was Semyon Varlamov's first "perfect game" this season and the third in his NHL career. The game also featured a rare "natural" hat trick by Alexander Semin who scored all three of his goals in the second period - at the 6:52, 8:56, and 11:21 marks of the stanza. Any night the Caps get two points and the fans in attendance get free wings the following week from "Glory Days" is a good night of hockey at 7th and F Streets. That's pretty much all I have to say about that.

On Wednesday, November 24th, the Caps traveled to Raleigh, NC to take on the Hurricanes at RBC Center and came away with a 3-2 two point, win in regulation time. The game was Semyon Varlamov's first win of the season and he had to work for it turning in a 30 save effort. I also liked seeing Alex Ovechkin on the right wing and think the Caps should ply him there more often. Putting Ovechkin on the right wing seems to require defenders to make a much bigger set of adjustments then it seems to require of The Great Eight.

So with those recaps and highlights in mind here's some other musings or expansion of musings I've made above, all hockey related:

A) The Southeast Division is definitely not currently anywhere near the weakest division in the NHL, for my two cents that distinction currently goes the Northwest Division whose teams are: Vancouver (3rd in the Western Conference with 31 points), Colorado (9th in the Western Conference with 29 points), Minnesota (13th in the Western Conference with 26 points), Edmonton (14th in the Western Conference with 24 points), and Edmonton (15th in the Western Conference with 24 points). In a bizarre twist the weakest division in the Eastern Conference is the Atlantic Division whose teams are: Philadelphia (one of the best in the league this season and currently 2nd in the Conference with 38 points), Pittsburgh (also battling for the league and conference lead with 38 points, though currently 4th in the conference despite being 9-0-1 in their last 10 games), the NY Rangers (currently 6th in the Conference with 33 points), the New Jersey Devils (currently 14th in the conference with 18 points), and the New York Islanders (currently 15th in the conference with a mere 15 points). Of course the thing dragging down the quality of the Atlantic Division this season is the current state of affairs in both New Jersey and on Long Island, so even though it is conceivable that the Atlantic Division will send three teams to the playoffs and either the Southeast of Northeast Division will send two to the post seasons, the truth is by any summary statistical analysis the Atlantic Division is likely to be determined to be the weakest division in the East. Further right now, on an overall basis you'd have to rank the Southeast Division as stronger than the Northeast Division as well. If the season ended tomorrow, the Northeast Division would have only two teams in the playoffs - Montreal & Boston. Maybe the bigger issue is the growing parity in either conference.

B) The salary cap is working - parity is maturity and it is making games over the course of the regular season both more important, and IMO more interesting/exciting. The situation is a bit different in the two conferences but it's still making the regular season meaningful enough in both Conferences that fans aren't likely to get sanguine about the games too soon.

In the East there's basically looking like three tiers in the division this season: 1) The Breasts of the East - really the top four teams: the Capitals, the Flyers, the Penguins and the Canadeans - all four teams currently have pretty much the same winning percentages so far this season. 2) The Middle Seven Teams - starting currently with Tampa Bay in 5th with 33 points and going through arguably Ottawa in 11th with 24 points and the five in between: the Rangers, Bruins, Thrashers, Hurricanes and Sabres. I expect that over the next four months and 40 or so games of the regular season, each of these these seven teams will be of a mind that they have a realistic possibility of being one of the other four teams besides "the Beasts" that makes the playoffs. 3) Looking for their Game - the bottom four of the Eastern Conference right now are seriously approaching or have reached a point when it's about rebuilding and positioning for the long haul starting next season. Earlier this season I wrote about how I view the need and importance of the concept of "balance" over the long haul of the regular season and throughout the playoffs. The four teams currently at the bottom of the Eastern Conference standings, for differing reasons, are inherently unbalanced in some manner or form. Perhaps the most unbalanced and he one that could be fixed the most easily is the 12th place Florida Panthers, despite have 64 GA and 66 GA in 26 games played I believe the Panthers are unbalanced. The issue is up front, the Panthers just don't score enough, really from anywhere but in particular from their secondary scoring - through 25 games, the guys up front who are not among the Panthers top six goal scorers have scored just 18 goals between all of themselves. Of course as I said the Panthers have scored only 64 goals in those 24 games and they've scored 3 or more goals in only 9 games this season, notably they've won 8 of those 9 games. So that's why I say they just aren't scoring enough period they've only won a total of 11 games and in the 9 of the 25 games they've played to date when they could score 3 or more goals they've won 8 of 9. So looking at Florida, they are only a couple of players away from being a consistent winner, but I can't tell if what they need are two more top six forwards or 3 or 4 different #7-#13 forwards who can score as well as "grind", hopefully for South Florida fans, Dale Tallon can figure that out. Looking at the 13th place Maple Leafs is probably not all that useful an exercise at this minute. Despite public protestations to the contrary, I believe this year is clearly a re-tooling and rebuilding year in Toronto. I also think it's clear that this year's Maple Leafs are significantly better than last years though long suffering Toronto fans may really be wondering if the only way they'll see a consistently winning NHL team in their area is if by some miracle Jim Balsillie is allowed to start a team in Hamilton - I think real fear of such an underlying sentiment in the fan base is really why the Toronto ownership will NEVER let that happen. In the case of 14th place New Jersey, balance was made impossible at the beginning of this season by the arbitration rulings related to the Ilya Kovalchuck signing. New Jersey essentially been playing with a short bench since the start of the season, and the injury situation there have made putting a consistent group of skaters capable of playing balanced hockey consistently less than fully possible. The Devils foray into this unfamiliar area of the standings is understandable. As for the last place New York Islanders, well it was going to be a tough year on the Island no matter what but the injury situation with this squad has only exacerbated things. Balance? well after Matt Moulson and Jonathan Tavares anybody who scores looks a little surprised, in addition to being very happy; and 25 GP, 53 GF and 83 GA doesn't make for much chance of seeing any balance.

Out in Western Conference as far as the parity discussion goes, the season is slightly more that 1/4 complete and as of today no team is more than 3 full games out of a playoff spot - that's where you see the real effect of parity.

C) Whether we like it or not; and regardless of the fact he may well be a bit of a "cry baby" - there's no denying Sidney Crosby is one of the best ice hockey players in the world today. Crosby's play so far this season in general, and over the past two weeks in particular has been nothing but notable and awesome. I still wouldn't trade Ovechkin for him, I enjoy watching Ovie's style of play better and always will; but right now Sidney is really just pretty much making the rest of the league his "B". I am truly wondering what the Capitals and Flyers will have to do to stop him. I say this because over the past 10 games the Penguins are 9-0-1 and Crosby is the driving reason. In those last 10 game, Crosby has scored 11 goals, had 7 assists (18 points) and been +6 - those are pretty awesome numbers and they are merely the statistics that are resultant of his dominance over his opposition. Best of all for his supporters and sponsors, he didn't even once feel the need to protect himself by "sack tapping" any of the opposition, I guess when you are making everyone your "B" on the scoreboard, you're too busy to do it any other way.

D) Last Friday I watched the last ~10 minutes of the Sabres - Blue Jackets game on NHL Center Ice and for those of you who continue to follow and/or root for old Capitals fan favorites as I occasionally do - let me just say I really don't know how ShaMo's (Shoane Morrisonn) season is going up in Buffalo overall, however his performance during the last 5-10 minutes of that game (Buffalo shut out Columbus 5-0) was something that even a taskmaster like Lindy Ruff had to be happy with.

E) Speaking of the above let's check in on our comparison between favorite former Cap goaltenders - Christobel Huet and Jose Theodore. The 34 year Theodore is playing in the NHL this year - he's the backup for the Minnesota Wild. Theo has now played in 9 games, his record is 3-4-1 and his GAA is 2.89 and his SV% is 0.914 against what most would say is the best competition in the world. Huet is assigned to the Fribourg-Gotte'ron SCL Tigers of the Swiss Elite League, so far this season he's played in 21 games and he has a GAA of 2.34, a SV% of 0.935 and has logged 3 shutouts against the best professional players who ply their trade in Switzerland, a group that also includes former Capital Brian Pothier who plays for a different team than Huet.

Well that's about all I have to say today on hockey. Next up the Maple Leafs come to Verizon Center tomarrow evening.

LETS GO CAPS!!!

Sometimes You Try To Change Things And It Just Doesn't Work - Other Times as Freud Said A Dream Is Just A Dream ...

2010-11-23T15:08:00.002-05:00

Last night the Washington Capitals lost their third straight game in Newark to a New Jersey team that had hereto for been, to put it mildly, struggling. Further the Capitals did so in monumental fashion.

Let me say this though - Caps Nation, fret not, all is not lost. Let's review. By the end of the game the Capitals were playing without either of their top two defensemen and had only four blue-liners on the bench. There goal tending consisted of two young players one of whom had awakened that morning in Hershey, PA on what was to that point an extended post-injury conditioning stint. Even their vaunted forward line corps had been affected by recent injuries in that veteran top six forward Mike Knuble was also not dressed for the game - out with an injury. Welcome to November in the NHL regular season. A month where there always seems to be a few more games on the schedule than a team would like. Even if that team isn't affected by injuries by the end of November, the lack of any time to practice often becomes an issue. Often both things factor into how a team "finishes out" the month. Now I'm not making excuses and I'm certainly not going to suggest that being shutout and outplayed to 5-0 shutout losses in 2 out of 3 games isn't something that you should just shrug off. Further I'm not going to expect that it's something that can just be shrugged off. By that I mean, don't expect tonight's game in Carolina to be played in a manner that would suggest there were/are no reasons at all for those two 5-0 shutout losses.

Tonight's line-up though will no doubt look somewhat different from last night's starting line-up. According to Katie Carrera's twitter feed, the forward Capitals lines in practice today were:

Ovechkin - Backstrom - Hendricks
Fleischman - Johannson - Semin
Chimera - Gordon - Fehr
King - Steckel - Bradley

No news on who of the defense will and won't play other than that at this afternoon's practice, Brooks Laich played defense, and that Mike Green skated this afternoon while Tyler Sloan did not after both left last night's game with injuries. So my guess on the defensive parings:
Laich - Alzner
Green - Schultz
Carlson - Erskine.

I also wouldn't be totally shocked to see Holtby in net though if he's not, I'd expect to see Varlomov, vice Neuvirth between the pipes.

Was I as a fan happy with last night's play by virtually anybody on the Capitals team? No. Do I understand that after watching the Caps and Devils play each other every game over the past 5 seasons, how New Jersey, as much as anybody knows how to disrupt the rhythm of the Caps style of play? Heck, yes. Did the Devils do that as well as ever last night? Heck, yes. Did the Capitals make any meaningful adjustments to effectively counteract hat New Jersey was doing last night? Heck, no; and that includes the coaching staff from what I could see. Coach Boudreau is being quoted today as saying that Boudreau said his decision to play Ovechkin, who said he expects change when the team is playing poorly, elsewhere wasn't a demotion but an attempt to spark some offense.

"I just didn't like the way that first line was going at all," Boudreau said. "So I mean, I had to break them up. They were not working. Outside of sitting all three of them....What you're hoping for is that if they get a goal all of the sudden it might turn it around for those guys because they're struggling."

The problem I have with this statement is that it indicates that Boudreau would even consider sitting anyone, let alone all three of his team's top offensive threats. I don't really think he would or did, that said I do think the statement indicates a lack of ideas on the coaching staff's part of what they might do between periods, other than juggle the lines up a bit. My problem with that whole thought process really wasn't what happened with the Ovechkin - Johansson - Bradley line last night but rather how out of synch the Semin - Backstrom - Hendricks line looked and played from what I saw. Further I found the failure of the coaching staff to quickly notice that and make some additional adjustments, both a little baffling and frustrating. I understand why you'd try to put Hendricks up there - he was one of the few Caps who seemed to want to play hockey all out last night and kept his head in the game. However, it also looked to me like there was no chemistry between Backstrom - Ovechkin and Hendricks and that the three were frequently out of synch and out of position when they were on the ice together. Further, I know so far this season, Eric Fehr hasn't been on the same page he was last season, but if there is anyone on the Capitals roster today I think can someday grow into Mike Knuble's skates and play his style of game, it's Fehr. So why on a night when nothing was working you wouldn't try that, I don't know.

Finally, let's be honest the only 5 guys on this team who can skate with Ovechkin when he decides to skate full speed are probably: Backstron, Semin, Green, Laich, and Chimera. Johansson might get there and soon, but he's not quite there yet. Especially if you might have also been telling the whole team to simplify the game, play north-south hockey, and put as much rubber with as much traffic towards the New Jersey net as possible to break out of the shutout. No it's not time to panic or make any rash changes, neither was last night. That said I think this immensely talented Capitals team - all of them, including the coaching staff - needs to step back and buy into the idea of that when things aren't going the way they want them too, they need to simplify the game. One aspect of simplification that this coaching staff doesn't often seem to buy in to, is playing with familiar linemates, linemates who play a similar and complimentary speed. To me that generally means that the top two lines need to consist primarily of the top six forwards and the third and fourth line should consist of the remaining six (6) forwards, even when say one or two of the top six guys aren't having great nights or when one of the next six guys are having a great night. This is still a very young team and they all need to work through some bad games and figure out how to adjust things during a game to turn things around for themselves and their team. Sure these are all great athletes but this (the NHL) is Ice Hockey at the highest level it's played in the world. Anyway, nobody pays me to coach a team and it's a good thing I don't have to try and get paid enough to feed our clan by doing that. I'm just a fan who is disappointed in the quality of the play I've seen over the past three games - a fan who wonders if some, not all, not most, but some, of the blame for that isn't a bit of impatience and frustration on the part of the coaching staff.

I do know this though. All the silliness I read around the blogsphere today about how this is a referendum on whether Ovechkin is the right guy to be Captain of the Capitals or if he's a good Captain/Team Player/Team Leader is just that total silliness. Everyone needs to take a breadth and just settle in because as we saw last season - it ain't over till it's over.

Now we're on to tonight's game in Raleigh, NC. It will be interesting to see what DJ King makes of his first chance to play in a couple of weeks and what the entire Capitals line-up does tonight against a recently not totally consistent Cam Ward in goal.

LETS GO CAPS!!!

First to 30 But ...

2010-11-21T15:57:00.003-05:00

Well the 2010 - 2011 NHL Regular Season is basically 25% completed and the Washington Capitals are the first NHL Team to reach 30 points, an interesting thing to note immediately after the Capitals lost their second game in a row last night. A rare home loss to the Philadelphia Flyers in a shootout, it was an exciting game to watch and just about everything I don't like to see in a hockey game but more on that later. First a few other notes and thoughts since this is my first blog post since last Monday.

As I opened with the NHL season is now 25% complete and with 25% of the games played one can do some reasonable analysis and forecasting based on that analysis. I haven't done that yet but I will shortly. The simplest extrapolation to do though is that the Capitals are now on pace for a 117 point regular season. Given the magic number for the Eastern Conference is now between currently looking to be around 85 points, it's likely that the Capitals are on pace for another playoff appearance. As such I will officially stop worrying that they might take the fact that not everyone makes the playoffs seriously enough, to bed. Right now the Capitals are 2 1/2 games ahead of the second place Tampa Bay Lightning in the Southeast Division and 1 game ahead of the second place Flyers and a half (4 1/2) games ahead of the eighth place Carolina Hurricanes in the Eastern Conference. Overall the Capitals have been playing at least as good this regular season as they did last season when they won the President's Trophy - a true Hockey Non-Event - in the the regular season. Throughout the league what my gut says is that the hockey is better this season than last - I attribute this to the growing parity around the league driven by the maturity of the salary cap; while the quality of the officiating has just gone downhill and there's multiple reasons for that IMO.

Sine my last blog post, the Capitals played three games and went 1-1-1. On Wednesday evening they beat Buffalo here in DC by a score of 4-2 in a hard fought game that was one of their best yet so far this year. On Friday they lost to the Thrashers in Atlanta getting shutout by a score of 5-0 in what could well be their worst game in a long time. Then last evening we had the 5-4 Shootout loss to the Flyers here at Verizon Center. Throughout last night's loos though the Capitals played hard the full sixty five minutes. At times clearly the referees felt the Caps were playing a little too hard and that's probably why they called a total of nine (9) minor penalties and gave the Flyers nine (9) power play opportunities last night. To be clear the referees also called affair number of penalties on the Flyers - seven (7) to be exact. The result was the Capitals tallied three (3) power play goals while the Flyers also put a (one - 1) goal on the scoreboard while they had the man advantage. So let m e make a note - there's the first thing I hated about last night's game - the referees and linesman figured too prominently in the outcome. Exacerbating my dismay in this area is the fact that on at least three occasions the officials got in the way of the play and affected who got the puck and where they got it on the ice. Further many of the penalties were IMO - weak calls - and on at least four occasions the official calling the play didn't appear to have anywhere near a good line of sight to the infraction that he called. Those calls were:
a) Ville Lieno - Hooking 2:00 at 2:02 of the second period;
b) Eric Fehr - Boarding 2:00 at 15:43 of the second;
c) Matt Bradley - Interference 2:00 at 14:31 of the third;
d) Nicklas Backstrom - Interference 2:00 at 3:12 of overtime.

Other "weak calls" IMO:
i) Scott Hartnell - Slashing 2:00 at 7:39 of the second - to me it looked like Hartnell just got a penalty for being a bonehead and mouthing off.
ii) Brooks Laich - Goaltender Interference 2:00 at 12:50 of the second period, watch that replay and try and fine the interference .... should be fun for you, especially if you haven't had a chance to play where's Waldo lately...

Then in addition to those calls driving parts of the game, there's the whole matter of just how much I do NOT like shootouts. Of course if someone can show me a shot by someone that comes anywhere or anyway closer to being a goal and then doesn't go in the net than Alexander Semin's shootout attempt last night, I will be totally surprised.

Good things to take away from last night's game:
1) We got a point;
2) We never gave up;
3) The Capitals really are a better team than the Flyers, the fact they were able to get a point last night while not one puck seemed to bounce their way and they kept hammering at it, well that's just a good thing.
4) The next time the Caps and Flyers play each other, we really ought to have DJ King on the ice just so he can stomp on Scott Hartnell when he needs to be stomped on. Trust me that would be at least two shifts.
5) Eric Fehr 2:00 for boarding - watch that one on youtube and find something wrong with that check ... seriously...

Next up, the Devils, away at "The Rock" in Newark tomorrow evening.

LETS GO CAPS!!!

Balance ...

2010-11-15T12:50:00.001-05:00

Balance is something that when a talented team like the Washington Capitals exhibit it, makes them almost unstoppable. Unfortunately balance is something that is often fleeting, at least so far this season. A lot of folks have talked about the search for the 60 minute game, something that a lot of Caps fans feel we may have seen once so far this season during the 18 games the Capitals have played. To be sure a consistent solid effort by an entire hockey team is a significant part in achieving that thing I am calling balance. Another thing is that the entire team is playing and executing their roles, such that no one or two players need to be on the ice an inordinate amount of time. When a team is balanced and executing a balanced game plan, there's no need for a couple of players to "carry the team." If you are now asking yourself: "What's this guy talking about?" Don't worry I'm ready to make my point and here it is. The Washington Capitals, the team I root for in the NHL, is dangerously close to being a balanced hockey team and in fact often during this season so far they have been a balanced hockey team hitting on all cylinders for 20 or more minutes a game.

What only 20 minutes a game? you say. Yes, I reply, take last evening, clearly during the second period the Capitals were not executing well and were unbalanced. Last night I'd say the Capitals played about 25 minutes of balanced hockey and that was more than enough to beat the Thrashers. Though parity is starting to be achieved throughout the league and the Thrashers are much improved over last season, not all their off season moves this summer are paying off well. Though the pick-up of Andrew Ladd was by far the best move the Thrashers made this summer, at least so far this season. The pickup and transition of Dustin Byfuglien hasn't always been smooth and last evening was one of those times it wasn't pretty for Atlanta when big Buff was on the ice. I say this in spite of his statistics as if you watched the game he was routinely "preyed" upon by the faster and better skaters on the Capitals team.

One of the positives and why I say the Capitals are getting close to achieving balance throughout an entire game is exhibited in their ice time report from last evening. Ovechkin total TOI: 17:52 avg/shift: 0:56; Green total TOI: avg/shift ; those are the numbers you want to see these two guys around every game; they are of course the top forward and top blue-liner on the team. But look at these numbers and also look at the per period numbers of these guys Matt Hendricks total TOI: 14:48 avg/shift: 0:52; Karl Alzner total TOI: 19:53, avg/shift: 0:51; David Steckel total TOI: 15:39, Avg/shift: 0:44; John Erskine total TOI: 12:29 avg/shift: 0:49 (and don't forget Erskine spent 5 minutes in the penalty box for what at least so far this season was the best hockey fight by a Capital. That's a pretty balanced line-up and play, certainly there wasn't a lot of line matching going on by the Capitals coaching staff or if there was it's not all that obvious.

Of course all those good thoughts and things aside. The second period last evening was the worst period of NHL hockey I've watched live in a pretty long time. In fact given last night was the Capitals 70th consecutive sellout and I've been there for around 53 of them, I'd say the second period in last night's game was the most painful period of hockey for me to watch live in at least 52 games. Seriously, from right after Matt Hendricks responded to Andrew Ladds' first tally of the evening at the 2:23 mark of the period until about the 15:00 mark of the period the Capitals had no chemistry let alone balance. At one point or another just about every one of the Capitals looked like they were skating in quicksand for at least one shift. Then the last five minutes of the period, well just when I thought I couldn't get more disgusted at the on ice officiating in the NHL this season, well it got worse in my opinion. There were multiple non-calls of totally obvious penalties and this is going on while the score is tied 4-4. Seriously, if you can trip a guy in the corner so bad that I'm thinking it's a marginal slew-foot, then what's the point of even having a rule? There were nights in the past when I've complained about Kerry Fraser and made fun of his hair; and Stephane Auger - don't get me started; but Dave Jackson, congratulations, you sir are why the NHL must now continue to prohibit the organists around the league from playing "Three Blind Mice..."

Thankfully, the Capitals team that returned to play the third period was much more like the team that played during the first period than the second. The truth is that the first 10 minutes of the third period was probably the best hockey that either team played last evening.

So the guys who had good games last evening, I mean good games for the entire sixty minutes:
- Matt Hendricks (+3, 3 hits, 1 goal)
- David Steckel (+3, 83% FW (19 of 23), 3 hits, 1 takeaway, 1 blocked shot, 1 goal, 1 assist)
- John Erskine (+2, 2 hits, 3 blocked shots, 1 goal (the game winner) and 1 takeaway)
- Mike Green (+2, 6 blocked shots, 1 goal, 1 assist)
- Jeff Schultz (+2, 1 assist, 2 blocked shots)
- Tyler Sloan (+2, 2 assists, 2 hits, 2 blocked shots).

Ovechkin, Semin and Backstrom owned the Thrashers in the first period and were a threat every time they were on the ice in the third period. The second period, as we say, not so much. For whatever reason last night during the second period the Thrashers basically outworked the entire Capitals team. Its hard to stay motivated with a two or three goal lead. The truth is the Thrashers first two lines are good this year. Andrew Ladd and Rich Peverley played well all night and they played hard all night. During the second period the Thrashers other young guns Evander Kane and Bryan Little also played well and came alive. In fact there were at least two instances during the second period when I wondered aloud why Mike Green didn't just stomp on Kane and on one of them he made us pay for not tying him up and neutralizing him when got the primary assist on Little's goal at the 3:07 mark of the second period to pull the Thrashers within one of the Caps. One last note on who fram the Tharshers had a good or bad night last night - statistically this season so far Nik Antropov of the Thrashers can't buy a good night. Last evening Antropov was as much a force in the Thrashers solid play in the second period as pretty much anybody other than Ladd or Peverley but he still managed to finish the evening at -3. I'm not a fantasy hockey guy but think about it so far this season Antropov is pretty much fantasy hockey death while over the last three Capitals games John Erskine has been total money. I'm thinking we'll be seeing that Fu Manchu 'stache that Erskine has been sporting for Movember until the 2011 playoffs are over the way things are going for the 30 year old Kingston, Ontario native.

In any case despite the ups and downs and ebbs and flows of the game, the Capitals managed to once again rise to the occasion and finish the night with two points as well as find themselves leading the league in the standings. To me the best coaching move of the night was leaving Michal Neuvirth in the net and letting him work his way through an evening that at one point (the end of the second period) saw him in possession of a SV% of 0.769 before recovering and progressing back towards his statical norms to finish the evening with his league leading 11th win of the young season and a SV% of 0.851 for the game. The most questionable coaching from my perspective came during the Capitals power plays late in the second period when after Bryan Little scored short handed for his second goal of the evening, the Caps juggled the power play all around trying all sorts of what to me were odd combinations while Mike Green was in the box. I just couldn't understand what the coaching staff was thinking other than something on the order of "Well since we are looking basically awful right now, let's trow the kitchen sink at 'em and see where that gets us." it didn't get us anywhere but we did manage to get out of the second period tied 4-4 and enabled us to basically play and win two points in what ended up being a 20 minute game.

Oh well, they all can't be pretty and to me the good things about last night were:

1) Michal Neuvirth fighting through his second period, where at least some of the issue was mediocre - not terrible but mediocre - rebound control and getting the victory.

2) Secondary scoring. 50% of the goals and 56.25% of the points the Capitals scored last night were done so by team members other than either top 6 forwards or Mike Green. That's a good night and a team effort by any measure.

3) Once again an active defense that is joining the rush figured in the game in a significant way. The blue line corps participated in five of the six Capitasl goals on the night. The only goal that a blue liner wasn't involved in was David Steckel's empty netter to ice the game at the 19:23 mark of the third period.

4) Alexander Semin's goal. Two reasons: a) it was the prettiest goal of the nice and it's awfully cool to see Ovie make a saucer pass to Semin in a little role reversal; and b) it was for Semin's 13th goal of the season and it moved him in front of this Crosby kid that some people out in Western Pa are always talking about. Also because it's part of the reason we're starting to see what I'd say are silly articles like this one about "the other Alex". So let me be the first or one of the first to say it - Ryan Lambert is most likely an idiot and this article is one of the silliest ones I've seen in a while. Take his statement: "But the year before that he had 14 points in 14 games and in 2007-08 he had eight in seven, right? Well, one or both of Ovechkin and Backstrom were on the ice for all but one of those." Well I was at or watched all those games and you know what you could take Ovechkin or Backstrom's playoff stats from that post season adjust the numbers slightly and move those three names into any of the other two places and say the same thing. Or how about this take Maxim Talbott, Evgeni Malkin and Sidney Crosby and their stats from the Penguins last two season they made/won the Stanley Cup finals and in the case of Malkin and Crosby make an argument as to who facilitated whose glory. Most people tend to forget Malkin is the guy who got the Conn Smyth when Pittsburgh last won the Cup. My point/contention is that Semin is one of the top 10 or 15 players in the NHL today. He's an elite talent and paying him $8M or so a season the next couple of seasons won't likely be looked at - even in retrospect say when he's retired and his playing days are behind him in say 2022 or so - as having "overpaid" him. That's why I'm saying the article I linked you too, is dumb. That said I love articles like this. I think they serve notice to ALL the Capitals that until this team wins a Stanley Cup, they are all - including Ovechkin, Green, Semin, Backstrom, Laich, Boudreau all of them - just as likely to have their talents and their exciting style of play questioned or subject to armchair pundits adding footnotes to their accomplishments. That's got to be a great motivator for them all.

5) The race for the crown for Movember is clearly now between John Erskine's lucky Fu Manchu and Karl "Erik The Red" Alzner's full crimson beard. The fact that so far this month both players have been having very good results on the ice, and that hockey players are notoriously superstitious means we are likely to see them keeping their current looks for a while longer. If they do I think I have a suggestion as to know who should be playing Santa at the Capitals Team Christmas Party...

Okay so next up will be the Buffalo Sabres here at Verizon Center on Wednesday evening. I'll be watching the game here at home in Bristow on CSN (HD) but I'll still be Rockin' the Red. How about y'all?

LETS GO CAPS!!!

Distance ...

2010-11-14T15:11:00.001-05:00

So it's November and we are told by many that when it comes to the NHL Regular Season and the month of November, it really should be about "distance". As in starting to put some distance between your team and those who if you don't you will find yourselves fighting for those final playoff spot(s) come March and April. I basically agree with that philosophy and have been very pleased with the way the Capitals have started out this regular season.

I was concerned with all the talk about "the 2011 playoffs" before the 2010-2011 regular season even started the team might be taking things for granted, clearly with an Eastern Conference leading total of 25 points in 17 games played, and a 5-0-1 record so far in the month of November, the Capitals are not taking things for granted. Further, I actually like the mood I sense from their team right now, to me it does seem to be a more mature, lower-key, "just "get 'er done" approach; I think the Capitals are still playing the games with a good energy level, and they are generally having fun, but they clearly are not trying to latch on to some big emotional highs or lows right now. I sense that's a top to bottom mentality, one that says this year we really do want to be in a position to take our regular season approach and game and make a serious run into the playoffs to see if we really can "run the table." I think that's why even though I agree that team captain Alex Ovechkin is rightfully one of Peerless' "Players to Ponder" for today's game against the Thrashers, I'm more than fine with the way he's been playing an the (for him) getting his points in a "a subdued fashion." I think it's great that the team captain has a more balanced scoring (both goals and assists) record so far this season. I also think it's fine that there seem to be fewer and fewer times that the Capitals need him to try and take control of a game and energize them to victory this season, in fact I'm not sure I've seen even one time this season where that was necessary, yet I know he still has the ability to do it and we've certainly seen the 26 year old Russian Machine make some electrifying moves and rushes up ice several time, pretty much each game, so far in this young season. So while I too often ponder what it must be like to be Alexander Ovechkin, especially during the hockey season, I don't.

Last night the Capitals played an inconsistent game but still managed to leave Buffalo's HSBC Arena with a single standings point. Last night's game was inconsistent with the Capitals prior 16 regular season games in a number of ways. Two things stick out to me - a) the Capitals scored the first goal of the game, something that has not been the norm this season; and b) the Capitals played their worst period of the game, and the season thus far, during the game's second period. The Caps managed to muster just 4 shots on goal during the second period and were outscored during 2-0 so they started the third period behind 2 - 1. There were a couple of things to like about this game if you're a Capitals fan, of course. For me those things include:

a) Braden Holtby. Holtby's performance was solid, he stopped 24 of 27 shots on goal by the Sabres and played a very solid, steady game in net, including, and at times especially during the 10:24 last evening that the Capitals were playing short-handed. If you read the post-game commentary, Holtby was disappointed in his inability to stop Tomas Vanek on the game winner in OT, but we are talking about a rookie in his third NHL game played and an NHL vetran sharpshooter (188 goals in 436 games played - including his 10 playoff appearances). You gotta love Holtby's attitude - I'm thinking this guy wants every one of the goals ever scored against him back for another try at stopping them - no wonder his model growing up was Patrick Roy. I'm only wondering why Holtby wears number 70 instead of number 33.

b) Caps scoring first. The Capitals knew that Buffalo was going to be hungry last evening but they came up ready for the first period. Unfortunately that did not translate/transition into a high energy, well played second period for them. However, I don't think anyone was unhappy with the first period last evening and falling behind has been an issue at times for the Capitals so far this season.

c) Marcus Johansson's return to the Capitals. Okay, I'm a biased fan and I admit it, but I liked the performance Johansson had last evening and the fact he continues to do some things every game that show he is getting better - in my opinion. Let's be clear, I think the only Capitals Center that had a good game last evening was Nicklas Backstrom, in fact I'd say Backstrom's play in the third period was energetic and inspired, and not just because he scored a goal. For example, Backstrom was 92% in the faceoff circle. Look at MoJo's play last evening, yes he ended up -1 because he was on the ice for Vanek's game winner but he had 3 SOG, played well with both the first and second lines, had a blocked shot and should have had at least one takeaway as I saw him make at least two. He played responsible hockey, the truth is on the game winner Vanek was a man possessed and if he wasn't either John Carlson or Braden Holtby would have stopped him on that play. It's painful to do but compare MoJo's night to Tomas Fleischmann's night last evening and consider the following. If MoJo can get himself to have better results in the faceoff circle, who do you want on the ice more as the second line pivot - MoJo or Flash. I know I've made my case on this a lot of times before but last night showed very clearly why I think that in the long run if they both stay here on the Capitals MoJo is the second line center and Flash is back to playing on the left wing. Oh and let me say I didn't think Flash should have gotten 4 minutes for that high-stick, he was hooked and spun around, but I will admit the call was well within the way the rules are written.

d) Distance. At a time of year when it is all about putting some distance between your team and the others in your division and conference, last evening hte Capitals put another point between themselves and all their Southeast division rivals. The Caps are now 7 points and 3 games ahead of second place Tampa Bay in the Southeast Division and they lead the Eastern Conference, 1 point ahead of Philadelphia and 2 points ahead of Montreal. So while the season is indeed still young and there are some bizarre things going on, like from a season record so far, the Atlantic Division is currently the weakest division in the NHL, the Capitals are putting some distance between themselves and their competition. That's a good thing to do no matter how you look at it.

A couple of other side notes about recent happenings around the NHL over the past couple of days. First, let me just say that Paul Holmgren locking up Jeff Carter for 11 more years at a salary cap hit of $5.75M per and Claude Giroux for three more seasons with a cap hit of $3.75M per is/was truly the smartest move I think the Flyers have made in a while. Giroux far less so than Carter since the extension only ensures the Flyers and he will have good relations going into his next and final RFA contract negotiations, but smart moves both. Probably not what we Capitals fans need to hear but it was smart and I've gotta say it. I agree with the commentary on Red Light District about the signing:

For Giroux, I believe this is a stepping-stone contract before he receives one similar to Carter’s. Carter will be 37 when his 11-year pact ends.

Between Carter, Mike Richards, Danny Briere, Kimmo Timonen and Chris Pronger (who are all signed through at least 2014), the total cap hit is just shy of $29 million –nearly half of the allotted salary cap amount.

Second, Brent Burns reaction to his two game suspension last week, may be the most mature reaction to such a situation ever by a professional athlete. In response to the news when asked for a comment Burns reportedly said something on the order of "I have to be responsible for my stick." That short, sweet and accurate statement is something any fan hast to like to see and support.

Now about this afternoon; both teams played last night and lost. The Capitals lost 3-2 in overtime in Buffalo and the Thrashers lost Pittsburgh 4-2 in Atlanta. Peerless' preview, which is always better than anything I might come up with, is here. I'm also forecasting a win by the Caps but I'd be surprised if after a late finish and flight home last evening we Caps fans get wings so I'm thinking the Capitals will win in regulation by a score of either 4-2 or 4-3 rather than 5-2.

I'm looking forward to the game and just getting ready to head out to Verizon Center now - see y'all there and of course:

LETS GO CAPS!!!

Caps 5 - Rangers 3

2010-11-10T12:32:00.000-05:00

Last night's two point night in New York's Madison Square Garden puts the Capitals current win streak at 5 games. The game seemed like two or even three different games. To me, the first & second period were the first game while the third period was a completely different second game. During the first two periods it was a closely contested game - not the tight, low scoring game I'd anticipated but a close game where both teams played hard made some good plays and scored some goals but the score basically stayed even through two periods. During the first two periods, the Rangers would score and the Caps would answer. Then the third period rolled around and the Capitals scored two goals on 5 shots while the Rangers scored 0 goals on 9 shots and the game was over. Despite out shooting the Capitals by almost a 2-1 margin the reality was the Rangers were pretty flat during the third period while the Capitals continued to play pretty much the same game they had through the first 40 minutes of regulation.

Highlights of the game:
- Brooks Laich playing and scoring two goals including the final empty-netter, in a game where he wasn't even expected to play, because he was injured last game.
- The goaltending which was far better than the respective save percentages would lead you to believe. Nuevirth stopped 25 of 28 (SV%=0.893). Lundqvist stopped 19 of 23 (SV%=0.826). Of course the fact that in that regard Michal Neuvirth "out-dueled" Henrick Lundqvist is pretty cool to me.
- The Bradley pass to set-up the Mat Hendricks' game winning goal. That play was "money" - especially for secondary scoring.
- Mike Knuble getting off the schneid. I just hope the PETA people don't show up at his place and find any remnants of the dead goat.

Lowlights of the Game (note these would be highlights if you are a Rangers fan):
- Tyler Sloans' night (first let me say I thought Sloan played a really good game against the Flyers on Sunday, last night not so much.) especially him geting intimidated by Derek Boogard and letting Boogard skate by him freely on his way to scoring his first goal in 234 games.
- Caps giving up the first goal of the game and then basically "chasing" the Rangers to draw or stay even through the entire first 40 minutes of the game. One wonders if the outcome would have been different if a little less of the Rangers' normal firepower wasn't injured and was in their line-up last night.
- Karl Alzner's whiffed clearing attempt on the penalty kill that led to the Rangers powerplay goal by Brian Boyle for Boyle's second goal of the game. Of course it is a relief to see that John Carlson isn't the only young defenseman on the team who occasionally makes a "rookie mistake/misplay."
- There are several candidates for this last "lowlight" but I'll go with Michal Neuvirth's rebound "control" during most of the night. Despite having a better SV% last night than King Henrick, and earning his 9th W of the season (in 14 GPI), last night wasn't a stellar evening for the NHL's October Rookie of the Month.

Well that's another two points and now it's back home to face the Tampa Bay Lightning here at Verizon Center tomorrow evening. The Lightning - Caps match up should be a good one. Steven Stamkos continues to play like he's on fire, leading the league in points (21) and goals (13), and the Lightning come into the game in fourth place in the Eastern Conference with 18 points in 14 games. Thursday evening is a perfect chance for the Caps to put some distance between themselves and this Southeast Division rival.

LETS GO CAPS!!!

My Addictions ...

2010-11-09T12:45:00.004-05:00

So we all have a few things that we enjoy so much they become addictions and then at some point we may get the idea that even those things in obsessive, large quantities might not be so healthy. Thus, we may start to hear phrases like "All things in moderation..." in the voice we recall our Mother's having in our youth...

For me right now, to the disappointment of those looking for a "juicier story given this post's title", my addictions are all pretty boring. First there is my morning coffee, or what passes for coffee but is really a sweet, refreshing soft drink from Caribou Coffee. Thankfully, we are now back on Eastern Standard Time so at 7:30 AM when I went to get mine today, it was a lovely morning here in Bristow, VA.

A more risky addiction I've developed over the past couple of years has been watching the Washington Capitals play and win NHL games - live and in person at Verizon Center. Thankfully, at least so far, this season it doesn't look like I'll undergo withdrawal on too regular a basis. However, it seems at least so far this season, the habit now also is often accompanied by the anxiety that goes with watching them "make games more exciting that they need to be. Such was the case the last two games but hey, two points is two points, in other words you get the same amount of points for winning 7-2 in regulation as you do for wining 3-2 in overtime. More on that 3-2 overtime win thing later.

My final current addiction is of course blogging. However, so far over the past couple of months I've been working on that and as you can see from the spaces and irregular posting schedule, etc. there is nothing compulsive and a lot less obsessive about my blogging these days. I just feel there is no reason to rush to the keyboard, etc. right after a game and share my thoughts on the Caps right after a game these days. The truth is I'm a fan, of the game of hockey for the past 40 years, of the Washington Capitals for the last 7 years and in a big way for the last 5 years. However, while occasionally I have an insight that may be well insightful, and that isn't widely shared, it's rare my view of a particular game or incident isn't already being widely discussed and well presented elsewhere in the media, especially here in the "blogsphere." I try and bring a fans perspective and that of an educated fan to my posts and I try to bring some first hand information/point of view to them - in other words to add to the overall information content here in the blogsphere on the Capitals. However, the truth is it's really not a thing that is easily done, especially for we fans - people whose day jobs aren't sports or news gathering and reporting. As such, I've just sort of concluded that rushing back from a game to get my blog up, is for me something that just doesn't make all that much sense. Also given the fact that I've concluded my "unique contributions" are a small percentage of the bytes I type here, it would be a little bit, just a little bit, self important and self absorbed to think of my blogging as anything other than an outlet for me. That said I'm still a blogger with my own blog and I miss many of the bloggers and blogs that have been absorbed and merged into other bigger, more commercial blogs that used to be here on the net, that's why when I was a very OCD poster and worked at trying to create content (statistical analyses, etc.) I resisted the two invites I had to merge this blog into one of those vehicles and be a contributor to them. That said, the longer I do this, and the more I see and read those blogs the more I feel such an evolution was inevitable here in the blogsphere. Finally, this week, actually last night, I found Goat's blog and I really like the format he's using for his posts about prior games. It's unique, fun (like you would expect from this guy), and brings something to the table here in the blogsphere, not found elsewhere. In addition to saying congratulations to Goat and his bride Jill on their recent nuptials, I just want to suggest to anyone who reads my blog that Goat's blog seems definitely worth following.

One final "blogsphere" question/thought before a paragraph or two on the Caps final win of the last home stand and one or two on their upcoming game at Madison Square Garden. So just when I was getting worried about one of the two inspirations and models I've had when it comes to having entered "life on/in the Blogssphere" - Peerless - he comes out with one of his best posts yet. Today's post on The Peerless Prognosticator provides an awesome summary of the Capitals first 14 games and using real data to dispel some misconceptions some commonly held and others that I'm in the minority of holders. As always it's done in a well written, and jocular style. If you haven't already read his post today, here's a link to it. Glad you are back on the air Peerless.

Okay so Sunday's game, Bottom Line Up Front (BLUF): it was awesome, good hockey and great fun. The goaltending at the Flyers end was most excellent the entire game and in Washington's end of the ice, after Braden Holtby got over some initial jitters and cut down the number of rebounds he was giving up, basically in the seocnd and third periods, his play was even better than Sergei Bobrovsky's (IMO). On that note when you read this NHL Rule, assuming you understand the incident I'm referring to, can you explain to me how Bobrovsky did NOT get a delay of game penalty on Sunday?
Reference Rule 63.2: "A minor penalty shall be imposed on a goalkeeper who, when he is in his own goal crease, deliberately falls on or gathers the puck into his body or who holds or places the puck against any part of the goal in such a manner as to cause a stoppage of play unless he is actually being checked by an opponent." On Sunday, Bobrovsky held onto the puck with NO Capital anywhere near him for well over 6 seconds while he had Kimmo Timonem standing behind him waiting for him to throw the puck back to him and keep playing going. The whistle sounds and the refs and linesman go over to the scorer and talk for 1/2 minute to a minute and then they don't call a penalty on him that they should have called. Makes me wonder - a) Why have the rule at all? and b) Which of the diplomatic officials was arguing Bobrovsky's case which couldn't have been anything other than something on the order of "Hey give him a break, he's a rookie, it's a tight game, and he doesn't understand English, which we were yelling at him, nor apparently does he understand Finnish which I'll assume was what that old goat Kimmo was talking to him in." Anyway, it just seemed like a bizarre sequence to me, but typical of the arbitrary rules enforcement we've been seeing all season and that certainly was the way this game was called. Note, it was an evenly called game but if someone can point to anything that is now being consistently called or not called relative to any level of interpretation of the rules in the NHL this season, please let me know.

As for the rest of the team and game, Alexander Semin was once again very good, as was the first line - who would expect less. Backstrom had two points, Ovechkin 1 point and Knuble 1 point - all on assists. The first Capitals goal of the game was the definition of secondary scoring - Eric Fehr who split his time on Sunday between the Second, Third and Fourth Lines got his third goal of the season while John Erskine and Tyler Sloan got the assists on it. Mike Green got the first star of the game and he deserved it. "Game Over" scored the game winner - a power play goal - just 29 seconds into overtime so there really wasn't too much ice time required for completion of the OT period, however with Tom Poti still out, Green logged 30:26 of TOI including 2:30 on the PK unit and 7:33 on the power play unit. Ice Time for the rest of the Capitals team was basically pretty normally and distributed as you would expect. Another note - no matter what you do for a living or how old you are, your Mom will always love you, worry about you and be your Mom. David Steckel's parents sat in the row in front of us and a couple of seats to our left on Sunday. When at the 16:05 mark of the third period Chris Pronger basically took himself out of the rest of the game by high sticking Mrs. Steckel's son and cutting his face, she changed from a reserved person who has clearly watched her share of hockey games into a concerned mom. She stood (I'm pretty sure that was but one of two or three times the entire game) leaned forward with a Mom's worried look until she was able to see her boy was alright and not cut too badly as he got onto the Capital's bench. Relative to Chris Pronger, as noted by Down Goes Brown, Pronger is an easy guy to root against/boo when he's on the opposing team, as is Scott Hartnell. I'll give Hartnell kudos for looping his locks for charity but as I say, his style of play is easy to dislike when he's on the opposing team. So it did bring joy to my heart knowing that it was very likely Pronger's 4:00 penalty for High-Sticking Steckel was likely going to cost the his team the game, even before Green scored the winner in OT. Actually, I was a little disappointed the Capitals didn't win it in regulation, and I think they were too and that's why the Capitals top players who were on the ice when the game winner was scored played those final 29 seconds with such energy.

I was at Sunday's game and I've looked at the stats post game - can you tell me how if you are the DC mainstream media you give Brayden Coburn of the Flyers the Third Star of the Game - vice either a Capital or Sergei Bobrovsky, when you give Braden Holtby the second star of the game? I know Coburn led all players on the ice in hits (7) and blocked shots (4) but despite that I watched the game and didn't really think he was all that much a factor, especially when compared with Bobrovsky who stopped 36 of 39 Capitals SOG (SV% 0.923) at least 3 or 4 of which kept his team in contention for the game and could be classed as having "robbed" the Capitals. Holtby's work, especially in the third period where he stopped all eight of the Flyers SOG including at least 3 good scoring chances along with the fact he won his first full NHL game in goal meant he was getting the second star but Coburn - really? Of course what can you expect in a town where we the fans do the "It's All Your Fault" cheer after things like an empty net goal (Friday Night) or a goal after a powerplay where two all star defensemen are on the Penalty Kill unit and on the ice. Oh well thanks to Chris Pronger and the Caps powerplay unit for sending us home happy after a really fun to watch, exciting game.

So now looking towards tonight's nationally televised game (Versus) between the Capitals and the Rangers at the GAHHH-den; what should we expect to see? I don't know about you but here's what I expect: a tight game between the Eastern Conference leading Capitals and the sixth place New York Rangers. Such as last year's series where though the Capitals had a 3-1 record against the Rangers their largest margin of victory was two goals on two occasions, while they won one game 6-5 and lost the first meeting between these two of the last regular season 4-3. The last meeting was in DC on March 8th and that game, Jose Theodore "pitched" a 30 SOG shutout to take the Capitals to their 13th win (score 2-0) in a row during an even longer winning streak. It looks like tonight's starting goaltender for the Capitals will be Michal Neuvirth, who will be looking to return to recent form and notch another win for his ninth of the season as the Capitals look to try and extend their current winning streak to five. Brooks Laich and Tom Poti have both made the trip to New York but will be in the press box with their current injuries. The Rangers will be without several notables as well, not the least of which being Marian Gaboriak. In the end, I expect Ludqvist to keep the Rangers close no matter how they play in front of him. If they play well, then the Capitals will have to respond and play better than the Rangers skaters, while Michal Neuvirth, if rested and back to form, should be able to stay close enough in performance to "King Henrick" for the Capitals to leave New York with two points. Of course, that's why you play the games on the ice though, with the Salary Cap well entrenched in the NHL and parity more a reality than ever, you never know till the final horn sounds.

Tonight will be the Capitals 15th of the season and so far they are on a similar pace and track as they were last regular season at this time. Given they won the President's Trophy last season, as far as regular seasons go, that's not bad. Fourteen games into the this season, the Caps have beaten every team they’ve faced except for the Minnesota Wild at least once. Although they fell to Atlanta and Boston, the Caps have also defeated the Thrashers and Bruins on at least one occasion. So to date, Washington has beaten eight different Eastern Conference clubs in the first month of the season. This week, they’ll take on three more Eastern Conference foes, starting with the Rangers tonight. As Coach Boudreau pointed out to the media today, it's important to distance yourselves from your division and conference foes this time of year, and for a relatively young team, especially the rookies and near rookies, to get used to and demonstrate they can handle the pace of the season during this next month, when the Capitals will be playing often every other night/day. As Boudreau was quoted over at the Capitals Official site by Mike Vogel: " “We’re looking to play New York [Tuesday]. But if we were lucky and we get by them, and you look to the next game and we get by them and then all of a sudden at the end of the week you’re going, ‘Holy smokes, we’ve got 26, 28 points.’ You’re putting teams behind you. And it’s a difficult league to catch up in, as we all know. If you put yourself five games under .500 right now, that means for the rest of the year you probably have to play a minimum of 10 games over .500 just to make the playoffs. So we want to play as hard as we can every night.”

Finally if you want a great hockey story about a member of the Hockey Hall of Fame, check out Alan May's blog from yesterday ...

Now on to Madison Square Garden and the NY Rangers -

LETS GO CAPS!!!

Flyers vs. Caps @ Verizon Center This Evening

2010-11-07T11:20:00.005-05:00

Well here I am getting psych'ed up for today's 5PM start of a hockey game in the district and then I go on line and find this bad news: "#Caps assign Marcus Johansson to Hershey: http://wapo.st/9rW5vw" on Katie Carrera's twitter feed. I get it but I don't get it. "It" being both Tomas Fleischmann and Bruce Boudreau's insistence that "Flash" is the right interim answer for second line center for the Capitals. Sorry I know I'm getting to be a harp on this but I can't help it, every game since MoJo's hip flexor injury we've seen "Flash" have flashes of offensive brilliance and mediocre results in both the faceoff circle and the back end when he's sent out as pivot to a second line that includes Brooks Laich and any of the other obvious choices (Semin and/or Knuble) as his wings. I can't say I didn't see this coming. Boudreau has given Fleischmann more ice time and chances both at wing (compared to Eric Fehr) and at Center (compared to either MoJo or Brooks Laich) consistently over the past couple of years. Fleischmann is indeed a talented NHL calibre player, I've said it repeatedly. In fact I'm on record here as saying I think he is worth his $2.3M salary - but I'm also on record as saying he is worth that as a left wing. When you look at Fleischmann as a center, especially as a second line center, well to me it just doesn't make sense. Let's start with faceoffs - to date Flash is 41.3% in the faceoff circle, so sure he won an important one against the Bruins but hey, as John Carlson's uncle who was sitting in front of me that game pointed out, we're talking about doing it against Patrice Bergeron who though he leads the Bruins' centers in that category is only 48.7% "in the circle" and the Bruins who as a team - well in the faceoff catagory this year, they aren't very good. So while Marcus Johansson is the only Capitals Center with a worse faceoff percentage than Flash (MoJo has a 34.)% in the circle), neither are the guy who Gabby is sending out to take an important last minute defensive zone draw when the the other team is on the power play or has their goalie pulled in a tight game.

To me the issue is that for their second line center, the Caps need a playmaker who is as good on his defensive assignments as he is in the offensive zone. The guy who has the potential to do that most is not, IMO, the 26 year old Fleischman who finished last season with 23 goals and 28 assists in 69 games after playing most of the season on the Wings. It might be and I say might be Marcus Johansson, a 20 year old Swede who is clearly a playmaking, vice scoring Center and who so far this season has looked more comfortable and in the right place relative to defensive assignments when he's been the second line Center than Fleischmann has looked to date. Well it really doesn't matter what I think and clearly nobody pays me millions to coach hockey or even to pitch Mercedes, the only right I have to an opinion is to my personal opinion as a rabid Capitals fan who buys tickets. So all I can do is say this - watch this afternoon when the Caps play the Flyers, given Johannson's reassignment and the other rumblings coming out of the Caps quarters today, I'm guess we'll see a second line of either Laich - Fleischman - Knuble or Laich Fleischmann - Semin. So just watch and see how many times during his shifts Flash ends up playing the Left Wing's assignment in the Caps Defensive zone because for whatever reason either Laich or Semin end up being the deep back-checker.

Personally I think this is the result of "Flash" - despite what Boudreau and he say - being a far more natural winger and scorer than Center/play maker. Again I'm not saying Flash isn't good, what I am saying is IMO he's a far better Wing than Center, particularly on the backcheck. Now if the reason to do this is to get Flash the ice time and exposure he needs to become a "tradable asset" then I can be convinced it's the right thing to do. Again Flash isn't bad and he's worth his salary as a Top 6 Forward at Wing on any number of NHL teams. In fact in the right situation, in that role, it wouldn't surprise me to see him score 30 goals a season. That said here in Washington the best I think we'll ever see is where he ended up at the end of last season: #6 in goals (as long as Ovechkin, Semin, Backstrom, and Laich are on the team) and # 7 in points with a defensive contribution that is "middle of the pack." Most importantly from my perspective Flash as the second line center seems to make Brooks Laich less effective on the second line across the board. So once again I'm saying that I think Tomas Fleischmann is not the answer as our second line center if we are going to go deep into the playoffs, even in spite of his current play, which has I will grant him, seen him going to the net far more often and aggressively than he did last season. He will score his share of goals - I mean he's been getting an average of 14:30 TOI/Game and that will continue to rise now. However, his defensive play when he's at Center, just plain scares me, especially when the Caps second line find them out on the ice against an opponents first line. Today that would mean that Flash will be going up against Mike Richards ... hard to see him coming up better than +/- 0 in that sort of matchup. Of course if he's up against the Flyers second line he'll be trying to win faceoffs against Jeff Carter who is 57.3% in that category while having an offensive output (5 goals, 6 assists, 11 points) that so far this season is better than Flash's (4 goals, 3 assists, 7 points) though Flash's +7 +/- is better than Carters +2, that's another matchup that I think Flyers' coach Peter Laviolette isn't going to fret too much about.

Well now about the rest of my pre-game thoughts. The Flyers are coming into a game with a 5PM start right off another away game against the Islanders on Long Island last night. In that game the Flyers won 2-1 in regulation. Last night's Flyers - Islanders game was a tight one and another game that saw Flyers Rookie Goaltender Sergei Bobravsky play very well. The 22 year old Russian turned in a sterling 31-save performance and earned the 2nd star of the game. Assuming he gets the nod for the back to back start he will be a player to watch and a key for the Flyers as he has been so often so far this season. Danny Briere will not be playing as he'll be serving the last of his four game suspension this afternoon in the Verizon Center press box, however as I noted the Flyers have a few other weapons who will be playing - their names are Richards, Carter, Pronger, Hartnell and Van Riemsdyk. The Caps come into today's game having won their last three (3) in a row and in second place in the Eastern Conference while the Flyers come in having won their past six (6)games in a row and in first place in the Eastern Conference. It will also be interesting to see which goaltender - Holtby or Neuvirth gets the nod to start for the Capitals today, and whether Alexander Semin starts the game on the first or second line after seeing how the Capitals - Bruins game on Friday evening ended.

In any case, as all of the recent contests between these two teams have been, I expect this will be a very good and exciting to watch game.

LETS GO CAPS!!!