Caps Roster Taking Shape Now ... Assign Four To Hershey

Well earlier today the Washington Capitals assigned Jay Beagle and Matheiu Perrault to the Hershey Bears of the AHL this afternoon. They also placed Patrick McNeill, Steve Pinnizotto, Andrew Gordon and Brian Fahey on waivers apparently with the intent of assigning Gordon and Fahey to the Bears if they clear waivers; no reports on what they intend for McNeill and Pinnizotto but I suspect they too will be assigned to Hershey as both McNeill is 23 and Pinnizotto is 26, though right now McNeill is currently listed as sidelined indefinitely with an injured shoulder. Andrew Gordon and Brian Fahey must clear waivers until noon tomorrow, Beagle and Perrault do not have to clear waivers. As of right now it's unclear whether Semyon Varlamov will be able to play yet this weekend and until he does, it's likely that Dany Sabourin will remain here in DC. By my count that leaves the Caps at 23 assuming that John Carlson is also still likely to be on injured reserve at noon tomorrow. The Capitals are already below the Salary Cap so no issues or changes will be driven by that requirement. By my count/thinking here's what the Capitals Roster will likely look like on Friday Evening for their season opener against the Thrashers in Atlanta;
Forwards:
Ovechkin-Backstrom-Knuble
Semin-Fleischmann-Laich
Chimera-Johansson-Fehr
Hendricks-Steckel-Bradley
Reserves: Boyd Gordon, DJ King,
Defense:
Green-Schultz
Poti-Alzner
Erskine-Sloan
Reserve: Carlson if he's not on IR...or skating with Poti or Erskine if he plays instead of Sloan.
Goaltender:
Neuvirth
Varlamov

If Varly is on IR then Neuvy will definitely start with Sabourin on the bench as backup.

So we start the season with some interesting differences than I thought we would and I have to say based on what we've seen during the pre-season I like all the decisions that have been made. The only one that I might have gone in a different direction is I might have gone with Brian Fahey over Tyler Sloan but that's really a nit and a toss-up. Based on what I saw the last two pre-season games at Verizon, I have to say I agree with going with Marcus Johansson over Matheiu Perrault. Perrault is a budle of energy on the ice but I like the upside on Johansson better. Heck if Johansson can just figure out how to consistently win 35-40% of his faceoffs he'll be a notch or tow better as an overall player and his skating and instincts are really good. As for the changes required to have D.J. King and Matt Hendricks in the lineup, I'm very comfortable with both of them and feel they really add a good deal of grit and defensive posture to the lineup. The one I think who is on a short leash here has to be Fleischmann as the second line center - there are a bunch of other options if "Flash" doesn't prove up to the role of second line center he can be moved back to Left Wing and there are a bunch of other options available to the Capitals coaching staff to try in that position.

In any case these moves mean we can now speculate on what the final opening night roster will achieve during the first 20 games of the season....

LETS GO CAPS!!!

Sullen Sunday: Caps - 0, Predators - 3; Ugly Hockey In DC Today ...

It was an ugly day and the sign on the right speaks for itself. In their final preseason game of this year, first the Predators lulled the Capitals to sleep and then they pounced on their miscues. It was in all senses of the word a typical Barry Trotz choreographed execution of a defensively scripted game. It was exactly the kind of game the Capitals need to be able to win in the playoffs, but this isn't the playoffs and boy could you tell.

After the last preseason game Caps coach Bruce Boudreau intimated that the team was ready for the regular season and they were tired of the pre-season. Well, let's hope that was the issue today. Very few in Red Caps Sweaters had good, let alone noteworthy games. Nicklas Backstrom did not play and that meant that Matheiu Perrault got a lot of ice time between Ovechkin and Knuble, he was not able use it to his advantage in making a case for why he should be the second or third line center. Fortunately for Perrault, and unfortunately for us Caps fans, Tomas Fleischmann who played most of the game as the the second line center, put on an even less compelling display of hockey abilities today. I was hoping that because of the mediocre play by the first and second line centers, I might get to see a shift or two with David Steckel as the pivot between Ovechkin and Knuble but that was not to be. The energy line of King-Boyd Gordon-Bradley along with Ovechkin and Laich were really the only guys that didn't have mediocre or poor games. I hope that Mike Green and Jeff Schultz were using the last pre-season game to work on something, what I don't know but something; both made a couple of glaring faux paux.

Well after that game, I expect we'll see the final roster cuts by Tuesday at noon, along with some indication as to the health status of Varlamov, Carlson, and the rest of the roster.

Next up, the season opener in Atlanta on Friday Evening, followed by the Home Opener against the higher octane than last season Devils on Saturday.

I'm so glad that hockey is back in season.

LETS GO CAPS!!!

Satisfied Saturday Following the Caps 5 - BlueJackets 3 Preseason Game

Well last night's preseason match up at Verizon Center with the Columbus BlueJackets was the most physical game I've seen the Capitals play in the past four seasons. The game featured a fight between Tyler Sloan and Nathan Guenin at 2:00 of the first period, then later in the game there were several "dust-ups" between the two teams that did not end up with fighting majors being issued but with coincidental minors and other penalties being issued. Interestingly, despite being actively involved in the game and having making his presence felt, the Capitals designated "muscle" DJ King finished the evening without any penalty minutes; and in an even stranger coincidence Tyler Sloan finished the evening with 3 minors and a major for 11:00 of penalty minutes, while Capitals Captain Alexander Ovechkin finished with 2 minors and 4:00 of penalty time in the "sin bin". Overall the Caps received 10:00 penalties and the Blue Jackets 7, though to be fair there were at least 2 blatant penalties committed by Columbus that went unnoticed by the Referees - it's preseason for everyone... As to the scoring 2 of the 3 goals for Columbus came off of the sticks of former Capitals properties - one each for Chris Clark and Kyle Wilson. All of Washington's scoring came off the sticks of players who were regular members of the Capitals last season. The only involvement in scoring by those players on the Caps Roster Bubble came in the form of assists by Marcus Johansson and Matheiu Perrault, each of whom had one (1) assist on the night.

Even though the "bubble guys" only had two assists for the evening, I felt they all played well and nobody had a bad game. Despite being on the ice and participating in the scoring of one of the Capitals regular strength goals, Perrault was also on the ice for one of Columbus' regular strength tallies so he finished the night even in the plus/minus category; the diminutive centerman skated between a variety of different line-mates during his 17 shifts and generally looked comfortable with them all including a couple of shifts between Mike Knuble and Alex Ovechkin. Number 85 also had a good night in the face-off circle going 67% and winning 8 of the 12 draws he had. Nineteen year-old Marcus Johansson also had a solid night last evening as well. Johansson, wearing the Capitals Number 90 Sweater, played 14:26 on 22 shifts during which he tallied an assist, ended the evening at +2, and had a takeaway. However, the young Swede's troubles in the faceoff circle continued and he was 0 for 10 in draws on the evening. As I noted after the last pre-season game, he really needs to improve this area of his game and the AHL is probably the best place for him to do that, even if that's not what he wants to hear. The other areas of his game are quite good and his role in Eric Fehr's first score of the evening was nothing but impressive. Jay Beagle and Andrew Gordon both had solid, though generally unremarkable evenings. In both Beagle and A.Gordon's cases even though they didn't make any game changing plays, they did play consistently strong hockey and played very responsible games. Beagle had 14:10 TOI (including 4:20 on the PK) in 18 shifts while A. Gordon had 12:10 TOI in 15 shifts. The final person I consider "on the bubble" who dressed last evening was Matt Hendricks, whose night was cut short - 1 shift, 00:16 TOI by a totally cheap hit, that in my opinion should be reviewed by the league, from Nate Guenin. Guenin's hit on Hendricks is what led Tyler Sloan to drop the gloves with him and I say kudos to Sloan for that. Sloan and Guenin "duked it out" while Hendricks lay on the ice. From where I sit, it looked to me like Guenin at least three quarters clothes-lined Hendricks instead of missing an open ice hit that he did not properly set-up. I also didn't see the meeting between these two teams but noted when I checked that Guenin did not play in that game so he probably just trying to send a message that the Blue Jackets had no intention of letting Hendricks skate freely and light them up for another hat trick. That said, it was a hit that should have been penalized and wasn't and it should get reviewed as it was either a hit to the head or as close as you can get without doing so. So ranking last night's performances by the bubble guys I show: 1) Marcus Johansson; 2) Jay Beagle; 3) Matheiu Perrault; 4) Andrew Gordon; INCOMPLETE) Matt Hendricks. I put Beagle # 2 because he basically was played in a manner as I see him actually being used in the regular season if he makes the roster and he played 4:20 on the Penalty Kill Unit without being on the ice for a Columbus goal - in fact last evening the penalty killing unit for the Capitals looked very strong. I'm a big Perrault fan however last evening he was on the ice for two of the three Columbus goals including the shorthanded tally by Kyle Wilson. During Wilson's goal it sure seemed like he knew both Perrault and Michal Neuvirth's Achilles heels which isn't surprising since he spent the last two seasons playing with them in Hershey. I suspect we'll see Hendricks again in Sunday's contest as he is now said to be fine, according to the game recap on the Caps site: "Hendricks did not return to the game, but he is said to be fine. Boudreau said afterwards that had it been a regular season contest, Hendricks would have returned to action."

As for the Caps regulars, last night I noticed starting in warm-ups these were guys with a purpose. I'm not saying they aren't having fun, it's clear when they play they are having fun, but they all have very intense looks on their faces - right now they are 5-0 on the preseason with one more preseason game to play; the looks on their faces during warm-ups and during the games say that even if they played a perfect 103 - 0 between now and June 2011, they won't be really happy until they win their 104th game in a row and get to raise a Stanley Cup. No I'm not saying I expect them to do that, what I am saying is this team has a look of a team with a purpose and that purpose is to win the league championship. It's something that really makes me as a Caps fan happy, especially with folks around town talking like the playoffs are obviously just going to happen. The team I saw play last night doesn't look like a group of guys who are taking anything for granted this season. Everyone who played last evening was clearly ready for the regular season, and they all understand that there are no "gimme points" in the NHL. As I mentioned last nights was a physical game and even two time MVP and team Captain Alex Ovechkin got into it. Ovechkin intervened on behalf of Mike Knuble when the Caps’ captain perceived that his linemate had been the victim of a borderline hit from Columbus defenseman Nick Holden. Ovechkin’s efforts earned him a double-minor for roughing. The only half smile I saw all game came when Mike Green stepped between DJ King and former Capitals Captain Chris Clark early in the third period. Green had a wry grin as he said something to his former Captain which I imagine was some variant of: "Hey Chris since we're still sort of friends, trust me you don't want any of that, especially in a preseason game."

Of the guys who didn't play last evening I expect we'll see Tomas Fleischmann on the ice Sunday along with a few others who didn't play against Columbus including Semyon Varlamov, Matt Bradley, Brian Fahey, David Steckel and if he's at full strength Matt Hendricks. The following Capitals did not skate at this morning's practice: Backstrom, Carlson, Green, Varlamov and Hendricks.

In other news around the league, former Capitals goaltender, and 2010 Masterson Trophy winner, Jose Theodore has signed a 1 year $1.1M contract with the Minnesota Wild. To me that's happy news, I'm still rooting for Theodore who I fell has a couple more good seasons left in him and is a really good human being.

Well next up the final Capitals pre-season tomorrow afternoon at Verizon Center against the Nashville Predators. I am truly wondering what the lineup will look like as it appears as of this evening the Capitals are still carrying 29 players on the roster.

LETS GO CAPS!!!

Wild Wednesday Witticisms and Notes ...

Wild Wednesday Witticisms and Notes ...

Well last night the Capitals met the Boston Bruins at Verizon Center for their third game of the pre-season and came away with a 3 - 2 win. As with moat pre-season games numerous key players were not dressed for either side however by all accounts the game was a pretty fun one to watch. New addition D.J. King had a "dust-up" with Shawn Thorton in King's first game as a Capital. King, acquired in July from the St. Louis Blues, wasted little time in making his presence felt. Playing in his first game as a Capital, King dropped his gloves and took on Boston’s Shawn Thornton at 6:59 of the first period. Both men landed a few good blows, and King finished the fight by taking Thornton down to the ice. This is apparently a great thing and the center-point of the game to folks like OFB ... BTW King is wearing number 17, which in addition to having most recently been worn by former Captain Chris Clark, was worn by Chris Simon when he was a Capital - coincidence? Anyway with all this hype, I'm not even sure I should bother talking about the other aspects of the game like the three goals the Capitals scored, etc. But why not, it's sort of my thing, you know...

So even though there was a good hockey fight either because it ended in what could be looked at as a draw or because you know the rules and object of the game haven't changed, the winner was decided by keeping track of who scored the most goals... In that category the Capitals bested the Bruins by having one more goal at the end of regulation than the Bruins had. Scoring for the Capitals were young centers Mathieu Perrault (age 22), and Cody Eakin (age 19), who managed to sandwich a goal by Alexander Semin. Semin's goal was set-up by a good pass from young center Marcus Johansson (turns 20 next week). Also assisting on two of last night's goals was Alex Ovechkin, who saw his first action in a pre-season game last night as well. Goaltender Michal Neuvirth played the entire game for the Capitals while Nolan Schaefer backstopped the Bruins for all three periods. Neuvirth had a respectable SV% of 90.09% on the night. With 30+ guys still on the roster, none of the "bubble guys" are making the decision of who to send down easy for Coach Bruce Boudreau General Manager George McPhee. That's a good thing for the organization but it's unclear what can and will be done to keep so many talented, young players on a trajectory of continued and effective, if not rapid, development as Hockey Players for those that do get sent down to Hershey. Also I know the Capitals are basically a young team and perhaps a more seasoned veteran in the second line center spot would be a good addition both on the ice and in the locker room, but with all the apparent depth of young talent down the middle, does it really make sense to put a guy who's proven to be more effective as a Winger into that spot, even if he did score 23 goals last season? So while others saw last night's line-up as having three guys on the ice/roster who are battling for the third line center spot on the roster, I'm continuing to unrealistically hope it was otherwise.

Anyway, that's .. that's ... THAT'S ALL for today folks!

LETS GO CAPS!!!

Recap/Thoughts On Last Night's Caps Game and Then Revisit to 2010 - 2011 Roster Thoughts...

Last night the Caps - Preds game in Nashville ended up with a second pre-season win for the Caps, by a score of 2-1. Last night's Caps line-up was:

Forwards:
Bouchard - Backstrom - Knuble,
Laich - Johansson - Fehr,
Hendricks - Aucoin - Beagle,
McNeill - Eakin - Pinizzotto

Defense:
Schultz - Green
Poti-Nycholat
Erskine-Fahey

Goaltenders:
Neuvirth and Sabourin.

Caps center Nicklas Backstrom sported the captain’s “C” in last night’s game. Veteran right wing Mike Knuble and defenseman Mike Green wore the alternate captain’s “A’s.”

For seven (7) of the players (Hendricks, Laich, Johansson, Fehr, Eakin, Erskine, and Fahey) it was their second pre-season game of the year. Not sure what that means if anything. It probably does mean something, but what is means is probably different for each individual player. For 31 year old Lawrence Nycholat, who is on his second "go round" in a Capitals sweater, these games are probably make or break and will determine whether or not he is sent to Hershey or just given his outright release. Since I can't really tell much from listening to the radio, my feelings and thoughts on how he did are only based on his stat line and the reporting of others who were there. Nycholat and 29 year old Brian Fahey led the blue liners in time on the penalty killing unit with 4:17 and 4:57 respectively. From his stats, Nycholat seems to have had a pretty solid evening, but probably not good enough to displace anybody he is behind on the current Caps depth chart.

Given his unremarkable performance in Game 1, Eric Fehr's return to the line-up for Game 2 were probably because the coaching staff felt he could use the TOI and they probably also wanted to see how he'd look spending a little time as a wing on the same line with Laich and Johansson. As for Matt Hendricks, a hat trick at the NHL level, even in pre-season, ought to get you at least one more game in a team's sweater and a serious look. Last season Hendricks skated 56 games for the Avalanche and last game he put everyone here in DC on notice, he wants to continue to play in the NHL. Last night all Hendricks did for an encore apparently was go +1, make 3 hits, take 3 SOG and log 16:51 TOI on 20 shifts. For 19 year old Cody Eakin, another pre-season game in a Caps uniform was probably to try and determine where the Capitals want the 2009 Entry Draft Third Round pick to start the season Hershey, South Carolina, or returning to Swift Current for his final season of eligibility as a Junior. Given his showing last night and against Columbus the prior game, I'm thinking he has a 50/50 shot of it being Hershey. As far as playing two games in a row and what it means for 29 year old journeyman blue liner Brian Fahey, I really don't what it all means, other than Tyler Sloan and even John Erskine have to be feeling some pressure. Fahey apparently played solid hockey last evening and his stat line reads 1 hit, 4 blocked shots in 18:02 TOI including 4:57 on the PK. As far as what it means for Marcus "MoJo" Johansson and Brooks Laich, I think last night was a case of wanting to see what the 2nd line of Laich - Johansson - Fehr could do, and what in specifically both Fehr and MoJo would do with the 2nd line minutes. MoJo got in 18:00 TOI on 20 shifts but from his faceoff statistics - he went 6 for 14 (43%) it seems he might want to consider spending a little time after practice tomarrow with Nicklas Backstrom who went 12 for 16 (75%) and get a few pointers relative to the do's and don'ts of NHL face-offs. From the stats and the post game notes it looks like Hendricks heard Coach Boudreau when he said he would like him to be a little more physical; and Jay Beagle knew he wanted to make a good impression in his first action of this season against another team. In general it appears all the Caps heard the coaching staff and the embraced the idea of being a little more physical. It also seems to me that the fierce competition for the few available spots definately has every one of those guys in that competition playing hard. In the end last night's game was a defensive battle and all the goaltenders played well, though in the end it was the Capitals power play and young gun Mike Green coming up big in that Green was part of both Capitals goals and also was on the penalty killing unit for 4:14 last night, in part because Tom Poti spent 4 minutes in the sin bin.

Also re: the Capitals yesterday - G Braden Holtby and D Patrick Wellar were assigned to Hershey.

So the waiver wire is again open and yesterday we saw two long speculated moves made when the Washington Capitals placed Center Michael Nylander, the NY Rangers placed Defenseman Wade Redden and the Chicago Blackhawks placed Christobel Huet on waivers. In all 43 players were placed on waivers yesterday - the full list is: Krog, Jason (ATL); MacIntyre, Drew (ATL); Mannino, Peter (ATL); Sifers, Jaime (ATL); Ross, Jared (ATL); Siklenka, Mike (ATL); McIver, Nathan (BOS); Reich, Jeremy (BOS); Smith, Wyatt (BOS); Blanchard, Nicolas (CAR); Borer, Casey (CAR); Fitzgerald, Zack (CAR); Chucko, Kris (CGY); Huet, Cristobal (CHI); Brophey, Evan (CHI); Taffe, Jeff (CHI); Mauldin, Greg (COL); Walter, Ben (COL); Van Der Gulik, David (COL); Liffiton, David (COL); Macias, Ray (COL); Grahame, John (COL); Bacashihua, Jason (COL); Gagnon, Aaron (DAL); Morin, Travis (DAL); Wathier, Francis (DAL); Fortunus, Maxime (DAL); Lukowich, Brad (DAL); Wilson, Clay (FLA); Fraser, Jamie (MIN); Dupont, Brodie (NYR); Redden, Wade (NYR); Mink, Graham (STL); Reaves, Ryan (STL); Spina, Dave (STL); Evans, Brennan (STL); Arsene, Dean (STL); Cracknell, Adam (STL); Drazenovic, Nicholas (STL); Oystrick, Nathan (STL); Baumgartner, Nolan (VAN); Zimmerman, Sean (VAN); Nylander, Michael (WSH).

Now way back in May, right after the Caps signed Nicklas Backstrom to a contract extension, I made some predictions about what I thought the Caps would do over the summer and going into this season, how did I do and what do I think will happen over the next couple of days for relative to the Caps roster. First a summary of my prognostications: i) first here's what I said I'd do if I were GMGM and Gabby for an opening night roster in October:
Forwards:
1st line: Ovechkin-Backstrom-Knuble
2nd line: Semin - Laich - Fehr
3rd line: Alexandre Giroux - Morrisonn/Fehr - Chimera
4th line: Steckel - Mathieu Perreault - Bradley
Reserve: Jay Beagle, Quintin Laing, Kyle Wilson
Defense:
1st pairing: Green - Schultz
2nd pairing: Poti - Carlson
3rd pairing: Corvo - Alzner
Reserve: Milan Jurcina, Tyler Sloan, Patrick McNeill
Goal:
Jose Theodore or Dan Ellis
Semyon Varlamov
Reserves: Michal Neuvirth, Braden Holtby.

Obviously I'm not GMGM or Bruce Boudreau and here's the guys and things that "didn't" happen this off season, in an order of my choosing:
1) Jose Theodore - last May I said a) this is what I would do and b) that I doubted that the Caps would re-sign Theodore. I also was on record as saying I thought signing Dan Ellis to a one or two year deal for an average cap hit of $2.5M or less, would be a smart move. I'd just like to point out that Tampa Bay's new GM, Steve Yzermann agreed with me and did just that, so even though Ellis is not playing for the Capitals, I have a feeling that after this season is over, I'll be able to have a solid opinion as to whether or not that was a smart idea. In any case it looks like Varlamov and Michal Neuvirth will both be wearing Capitals sweaters on opening night.
2) Joe Corvo - my gut says that Corvo was willing to give Carolina a discount to return to them after the playoffs and that the Capitals couldn't have signed him to the same $4.5M/two year deal. I know that Corvo wasn't the best we've ever seen him while wearing a Capitals Sweater in the playoffs but I'd still think he'd be an upgrade over John Erskine and it appears to me the Capitals have salary cap space that might have made that possible. That said $2.5M of salary caps space is probably too much to spend for a guy you would be putting on the third pair so I'm good with the current group of guys in lieu of/without Corvo.
3) Milan Jurcina - As a UFA "Juice" signed a one year deal for $1M to play for the Islanders this coming season. Last season Jurcina had 48 hits and 37 blocked shots in 44 games played with the Caps and the Blue Jackets. He's a big, physical presence and he has a booming, if not always accurate slapper from the point. During his time with the Capitals, I always felt that the 27 year old Czech still has a lot of upside. I still feel that way and given all things are basically equal, I would rather see the Caps with Jurcina in the lineup right now and 30 year old John Erskine the guy playing elsewhere, especially given the presence of D.J. King in the line up for "grit." I've never been a fan of having a defenseman be the "Enforcer" if you're going to even try and have one.
4) Patrick McNeill: I guess I'm just the eternally optimist and the 23 year old isn't ready for the NHL quite yet. It looks like he'll start the season in Hershey, after all he was resigned as an RFA by the Caps, and I'm still rooting for him to be up here before the season is 1/2 over for a "look see" when the opportunity presents itself.
5) Alexandre Giroux: Okay, I'm just glad someone is giving him a real good look after his past two seasons in the AHL, even if it does mean he has to play in Edmonton. So far he's played in one of the Oilers two pre-season games - the first against Vancouver. He did pick up a double minor (2 minutes for kneeing and 2 for roughing) penalties in that game but he also had 3 SOG, made 4 hits, and had 1 takeaway. As of yesterday he was still in camp and as of Friday's skate he was still paired with Shawn Horcoff and Jordan Eberle; so if he keeps it up, he'll probably start the season in an Oilers sweater, though he needs to stay out of the penalty box if he wants to stay on a top two line which is where you want a scoring forward to be. In any case, with the Capitals failing to move Flash and all the other scoring talent they have, the 29 year old Giroux was redundant here in the Capitals system. Good Luck!
6) Quintin Laing: Look this was just me rooting for a guy who seems like a really good guy and a true salt of the earth guy. Over the prior two seasons there had been several occasions when his wife and son sat behind us and you know how you get a feeling about a family - about how nice and good they are. Well it sure seemed to me that Laing and his family always kept it real. Further it always seems to me when I've watched Ling play in a game, he really, really loves to play the game and competes with an inferno, not just a fire, but an all out raging inferno in his belly. I'm still rooting for him now as I write this short paragraph, so is it any wonder, how and why I could be wrong about this guy, even though he was a healthy scratch more often than he played last season and I knew that back in May when I did my original post?
7) Kyle Wilson: Wilson, a 25 year old Center, who spent all of last season in Hershey, was signed as an UFA by Columbus on July 2nd to a one year deal and is currently in their Training Camp. He played in their first pre-season game against the Atlanta Thrashers and had 2 assists, went +2, blocked a shot and won 71% (10 of 14) of his faceoffs in 26 shifts and 19:35 TOI in that game. He did not play in the Blue Jackets second game against the Capitals but he did play when the Blue Jackets met the Penguins on Friday Evening. In the Blue Jackets contest with the Penguins, Wilson scored a goal and finished the evening +1, he also had 3 SOG, 1 hit, 1 takeaway, and won 55% of his draws going 6 for 11 in the faceoff circle in 15:18 TOI on 20 shifts. After winning two Calder Cups in Hershey this young center is definatly trying to start this season wearing an NHL Sweater, even though it's in Columbus.
8) Bredan Morrison/Eric Belanger: Well as I've already written I'm still not comfortable with the Capitals current choices for this position, but I've already gone on record as explaining where I come down on the whole Eric Belanger episode and situation. As for Brendan Morrison, I can clearly understand why the Capitals let him go, since it seems like he did indeed run out of gas well before the playoffs. I wish B-Mo all the luck in the world in his tryout with Vancouver, a team he has played well for in the past. I'm excited at the longer term prospects here and hope that in the long run MoJo matures as quick as the Capitals other young Swedish Center but I still think that before this season is over, the second line Center will either be Brooks Laich or someone they trade for during the season. However, I'm going to "go out on a limb here" and predict the season starts with Tomas Fleischmann as the Capitals second line pivot.

So with that recap and run down relative to where I obviously got my predictions in May wrong, here's my predicted opening night lineup for the Capitals:

Forwards:
1st line: Ovechkin - Backstrom - Knuble
2nd line: Semin - Fleischmann - Laich
3rd line: Chimera - M. Johansson - Fehr
4th line: Steckel - Beagle - Bradley
Reserve: DJ King; Boyd Gordon; if Boyd Gordon is unavailable then I'm thinking the last roster spot is a battle between Mathieu Perrault and Kieth Aucoin with the coaching staff all wishing that Steve Pinnizotto had a better game last night because of MP85 and Aucoin's relative diminutive stature.

Defense:
1st pairing: Green - Schultz
2nd pairing: Poti - Carlson
3rd pairing: Alzner - Erskine
Reserve: Tyler Sloan

Goal:
Semyon Varlamov
Michal Neuvirth
In Hershey: Braden Holtby and Dany Sanbourin.

Well today is an off day for the Capitals before they get back at it at KCI on Monday and they have their first home pre-season game against the Bruins at Verizon on Tuesday ...

Before I sign off, I want to recommend this article by the New York Post's Larry Brooks. I've had no problem pointing to articles by Mr. Brooks that I've felt were poor or silly. So it seems to me that when he writes a piece I think is really good and insightful, I ought to point that out too. This article is a good one, unless you just don't want to read another letter of type about Ilya Kovalchuck's deal. To me I find it ironic that the way the NHL decided to draw the line in the sand on contracts they felt circumvented the letter of the current CBA was to circumvent both the letter and the spirit of the CBA and even the basic idea of any sort of mutual agreement themselves, so I can tolerate the occassional well-written and thought out article on the topic from time to time. That's what I found this article by Brooks to be today.

Okay well it's that time .... you know the time to bring this overly long post to a close.

LETS GO CAPS!!!

Well The Pre-Season Opens Tonight In Columbus ...

You heard that right folks. Tonight, the Capitals NHL Pre-season opens in Columbus, OH against the Blue Jackets. I'm still wondering if there's any way to actually watch the game - if there is someone let me know.

In the meantime, here's the Columbus Roster per the Columbus Dispatcher's Blue Jackets Extra yesterday.

The Blue Jackets tentative lineup is:

F1: Nikita Filatov, Derick Brassard, Jake Voracek
F2: R.J. Umberger, Ryan Johansen, Rick Nash
F3: Max Mayorov, Sammy Pahlsson, Chris Clark
F4: Petr Straka, Trevor Frischmon, Jared Boll

D1: Jan Hejda-David Savard
D2: John Moore-Dalton Prout
D3: Fedor Tyutin-Ted Ruth

G1: Steve Mason
G2: Daren Machesney

So interesting notes here ..

The Blue Jackets have a new coach and it looks like Nikita Filatov will get another chance to show what he can do in a new atmosphere/setting.

Chris Clark gets a chance to beat his old team, as does Daen "Cheeser" Machesney.

The Columbus lineup looks more solid then I thought it would, ggod thing its only pre-season and not playoff hockey where we'd have to worry our guys don't "play right" and might get shown up by R.J Umberger....

The Caps tentative lineup is:

Forwards
Brooks Laich - Tomas Fleischmann - Alexander Semin
Jason Chimera - Mathieu Perreault - Eric Fehr
Andrew Gordon - Marcus Johansson - Matt Hendricks
Kyle Greentree - Cody Eakin - Joel Rechlicz

Defense (in no particular order)
John Carlson, Karl Alzner, Tyler Sloan, Brian Fahey, John Erskine and Sean Collins

Goaltenders
Semyon Varlamov
Braden Holtby



Now that we have a pre-season game against another team maybe we'll get some idea who pucksandbooks was talking about in his post " " or if like I suspect it was either a) total BS, b) a misunderstanding on his part, c) total BS, or d) a parital snippet overheard and misunderstood or e) total ,,, well you get the idea, no need to dwell on the subject any further.

LETS GO CAPS!!!