Finally! Rookie Camp Starts Tomorrow and I Follow-up On My Thoughts re: What About Nylander and Clark....

Finally...Some Caps Hockey News Is Likely to Start Being Made...

Rookie Camp opens at Kettler Center Iceplex (KCI) tomorrow, the Capitals announced the rosters, 23 players will participate in rookie camp starting tomorrow at KCI with a 10:30 a.m. practice and runs through Friday, Sept. 11, when the rookies visit Vorhees, N.J., for a scrimmage against the Flyers’ rookies at Virtua Center Flyers Skate Zone. The rookie camp roster as announced is:

FORWARDS

79 BRODA, Joel 6’1” 203 Left 11/24/89 Yorkton, Saskatchewan Moose Jaw/Calgary WHL

88 BRUESS, Trevor 6’0” 209 Right 1/6/86 Minneapolis, Minnesota Minnesota State-Mankato WCHA

67 CASAVANT, Benjamin 6’1” 200 Left 1/21/91 St-Hyacinthe, Quebec Prince Edward Island QMJHL

84 DELLA ROVERE, Stefan 5’11” 196 Left 2/25/90 Richmond Hill, Ontario Barrie/South Carolina OHL/ECHL

72 DUBUC, Michael 6’3” 170 Right 6/29/88 Granby, Quebec Hershey/South Carolina AHL/ECHL

50 EAKIN, Cody 5’11” 187 Left 5/24/91 Winnipeg, Manitoba Swift Current WHL

59 FINLEY, Joe 6’7” 245 Left 6/29/87 Edina, Minnesota North Dakota/Hershey WCHA/AHL

94 GUSTAFSSON, Anton 6’2” 195 Left 2/25/90 Karlskoga, Sweden Bofors Sweden

77 HAUSWIRTH, Jake 6’5” 200 Left 2/16/88 Merrill, Wisconsin Omaha USHL

65 JASINSKY, Ryan 6’2” 205 Right 1/13/90 Richmond, Virginia Victoriaville QMJHL

93 KUGRYSHEV, Dmitri 5’11” 192 Right 1/18/90 Moscow, Russia Quebec QMJHL

76 MITCHELL, Garrett 5’11 185 Right 9/2/91 Regina, Saskatchewan Regina WHL

DEFENSEMEN

74 CARLSON, John 6’3” 211 Right 1/10/90 Natick, Massachusetts London/Hershey OHL/AHL

38 DAWSON, Aaron 6’5” 220 Left 3/11/85 Peoria, Illinois Univ. of Prince Edward Island AUS

66 FLEMMING, Brett 5’11” 178 Right 2/26/91 Regina, Saskatchewan Mississauga St. Michael’s OHL

73 GODFREY, Josh 6’1” 199 Right 1/15/88 Collingwood, Ontario Hershey/South Carolina AHL/ECHL

96 KERR, Ryan 6’2” 208 Left 3/4/89 Lions Bay, British Columbia Portland WHL

86 MESTERY, Eric 6’5” 203 Left 5/28/90 Winnipeg, Manitoba Tri-City/Lethbridge WHL

68 MISKOVIC, Zach 6’0” 198 Right 5/8/85 River Forest, Illinois St. Lawrence ECAC

54 SCHMIDT, Kevin 6’1” 176 Left 2/14/86 Markham, Ontario Bowling Green CCHA

GOALTENDERS

70 HOLTBY, Braden 6’1” 206 Left 9/16/89 Lloydminster, Saskatchewan Saskatoon WHL

30 NEUVIRTH, Michal 6’1” 197 Left 3/23/88 Usi Labem, Czech Republic CAPITALS/Hershey/South Car.NHL/AHL/ECHL

40 VARLAMOV, Semyon 6’1” 183 Left 4/27/88 Samara, Russia CAPITALS/Hershey NHL/AHL.

A couple of interesting notes here. Joe Finley was announced as a forward so it does appear the Caps will try and get him to make the transition from large bruising defenseman to large, bruising, checking forward; a role we saw him play several times earlier this summer in development camp. Caps fans who stop by KCI for rookie camp will once again get to see Jake Hauswirth, Stefan Della Rovere, Trevor Bruess, Anton Gustafsson and Dmitri Kugryshev all work for a roster spot once again. All six of these guys performed well during this summers development camp at times, though Gustafsson appearance was shortened by injury. It will be interesting to see who from this group impresses enough to make which roster (South Carolina, Hershey, and even possibly the Capitals.) The Caps "System" is certainly remains quite full of talent. It's very interesting to me that despite the high powered offense the Caps skate and the pipeline full of talented scorers and offensive threats, the Caps have apparently decided to try and see if Finley can make the transition from the blue line and bulk up the skaters up front.

On the defensive side of the rookie camp roster, the most notable area is in the net - in Neuvirth and Varlamov, the Caps have two legitimate liely future NHL #1's and in Holtby, they have a guy who could also one day be "the guy" for an NHL team night in and night out. That these guys will be pushing each other throughout this entire year shouldn't be doubted at all. The blue liners you ask...Carlson, Godfrey, and Mestery are all names that rabid Caps fans have seen before and are looking forward to seeing make the jump to being pros in the Caps System but the other five D-men listed here, especially Miskovic, are all guys I want to see and check out as well. After all this is a pipeline that along with the group in Washington and Hershey that has GMGM and Bruce Boudreau pushing big Joe Finley from the blue-line up to winger.

I'm hoping to swing by KCI tomorrow and sneak a peek and maybe get a few pics in the AM.

Training camp for veterans begins Sunday, Sept. 13, when 48 players, including 32 who played at least a regular season game in a Capitals sweater last season join the rookies at KCI. The announced veteran training camp roster is:

FORWARDS

20 AUCOIN, Keith 5’8” 165 Right 11/6/78 Waltham, Massachusetts CAPITALS/Hershey NHL/AHL

19 BACKSTROM, Nicklas 6’1” 210 Left 11/23/87 Gavle, Sweden CAPITALS NHL

83 BEAGLE, Jay 6’3” 208 Right 10/16/85 Calgary, Alberta CAPITALS/Hershey NHL/AHL

36 BOUCHARD, Francois 6’1” 190 Left 4/26/88 Sherbrooke, Quebec Hershey AHL

56 BOURQUE, Chris 5’8” 181 Left 1/29/86 Boston, Massachusetts CAPITALS/Hershey NHL/AHL

10 BRADLEY, Matt 6’3” 201 Right 6/13/78 Stittsville, Ontario CAPITALS NHL

17 CLARK, Chris 6’0” 196 Right 3/8/76 South Windsor, Connecticut CAPITALS NHL

16 FEHR, Eric 6’4” 212 Right 9/7/85 Winkler, Manitoba CAPITALS NHL

14 FLEISCHMANN, Tomas 6’1” 190 Left 5/16/84 Koprivnice, Czech Republic CAPITALS NHL

33 GIROUX, Alexandre 6’3” 201 Left 6/16/81 Quebec City, Quebec CAPITALS/Hershey NHL/AHL

63 GORDON, Andrew 5’11” 180 Right 12/13/85 Halifax, Nova Scotia CAPITALS/Hershey NHL/AHL

15 GORDON, Boyd 6’1” 201 Right 10/19/83 Unity, Saskatchewan CAPITALS NHL

61 JOUDREY, Andrew 5’11” 185 Left 7/15/84 Bedford, Nova Scotia Hershey AHL

34 KANE, Boyd 6’2” 225 Left 4/18/78 Swift Current, Saskatchewan Philadelphia/Philadelphia NHL/AHL

22 KNUBLE, Mike 6’3” 230 Right 7/7/72 Toronto, Ontario Philadelphia NHL

21 LAICH, Brooks 6’2” 210 Left 6/23/83 Wawota, Saskatchewan CAPITALS NHL

53 LAING, Quintin 6’2” 210 Left 6/8/79 Rosetown, Saskatchewan CAPITALS/Hershey NHL/AHL

9 MORRISON, Brendan 5’11” 181 Left 8/15/75 Pitt Meadows, British Columbia Anaheim/Dallas NHL

92 NYLANDER, Michael 6’1” 195 Left 10/3/72 Stockholm, Sweden CAPITALS NHL

48 OSALA, Oskar 6’4” 217 Left 12/26/87 Vaasa, Finland CAPITALS/Hershey NHL/AHL

8 OVECHKIN, Alex 6’2” 220 Right 9/17/85 Moscow, Russia CAPITALS NHL

85 PERREAULT, Mathieu 5’9” 166 Left 1/5/88 Drummondville, Quebec Hershey AHL

90 PINIZZOTTO, Steve 6’2” 196 Right 4/26/84 Mississauga, Ontario Hershey/South Carolina AHL/ECHL

45 REID, Darren 6’2” 202 Right 5/8/83 Lac La Biche, Alberta Hershey AHL

28 SEMIN, Alexander 6’2” 205 Right 3/3/84 Krasnojarsk, Russia CAPITALS NHL

39 STECKEL, David 6’5” 222 Left 3/15/82 Westbend, Wisconsin CAPITALS NHL

25 SUGDEN, Brandon 6’4” 233 Right 6/23/78 Toronto, Ontario Hartford AHL

57 WILSON, Kyle 6'0" 200 Right 12/15/84 Oakville, Ontario Hershey AHL

DEFENSEMEN

27 ALZNER, Karl 6’2” 205 Left 9/24/88 Burnaby, British Columbia CAPITALS/Hershey NHL/AHL

44 AMADIO, Greg 6’2” 232 Left 5/13/81 Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario Hershey AHL

62 COLLINS, Sean 6'1" 208 Right 10/20/83 Troy, Michigan CAPITALS/Hershey NHL/AHL

47 DENISOV, Vladimir 5’11” 207 Left 6/29/84 Novopolotzk, Belarus Hartford AHL

4 ERSKINE, John 6’4” 216 Left 6/26/80 Kingston, Ontario CAPITALS NHL

52 GREEN, Mike 6’2” 208 Right 10/12/85 Calgary, Alberta CAPITALS NHL

43 HELMER, Brian 6’2” 208 Right 6/15/72 Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario CAPITALS/Hershey NHL/AHL

23 JURCINA, Milan 6’4” 233 Right 6/7/83 Liptovsky Mikulas, Slovakia CAPITALS NHL

75 McNEILL, Grant 6’2” 220 Left 5/8/83 Vermilion, Alberta Hershey AHL

46 McNEILL, Patrick 6’0” 195 Left 3/17/87 Strathroy, Ontario Hershey AHL

26 MORRISONN, Shaone 6’4” 210 Left 12/23/82 Vancouver, British Columbia CAPITALS NHL

2 POTHIER, Brian 6’0” 200 Left 4/15/77 New Bedford, Mass. CAPITALS/Hershey NHL/AHL

3 POTI, Tom 6’3” 210 Left 3/22/77 Worcester, Mass. CAPITALS NHL

55 SCHULTZ, Jeff 6’6” 221 Left 2/25/86 Calgary, Alberta CAPITALS NHL

89 SLOAN, Tyler 6’3” 190 Left 3/15/81 Calgary, Alberta CAPITALS/Hershey NHL/AHL

41 WELLAR, Patrick 6’3” 210 Left 12/4/83 Carrot River, Saskatchewan Hershey/South Carolina AHL/ECHL

24 YEO, Dylan 5’11” 210 Left 6/16/86 Prince Albert, Saskatchewan Manitoba/Victoria AHL/ECHL

GOALTENDERS

31 BACASHIHUA, Jason 5’11” 175 Left 9/20/82 Garden City, Michigan Lake Erie AHL

35 FORD, Todd 6’4” 176 Right 5/1/84 Calgary, Alberta Victoria ECHL

60 THEODORE, Jose 5’11” 182 Right 9/13/76 Laval, Quebec CAPITALS NHL.

For anybody who still might be wondering if the rebuild is complete, just take a look at this talented group, their ages and their statistics from last season. The Caps finished the regular season with the 4th best record in the league before loosing in the second round of the playoffs, in a 7 game series, to the eventual Stanley Cup winner. Their AHL affiliate, the Hershey Bears won their league's championship - the Calder Cup and their ECHL affiliate - the South Carolina Stingrays - won their league's championship - the Kelly Cup. Additionally, if you look at this summer's few pickups by Capital's GM George McPhee, this years team is stronger then last year's and you have talented, young players who have had success at the AHL and ECHL level fighting hard for the few roster spots available "on the big club."

This will be an interesting camp for the Caps, us fans, and the season should be a great one too. All of which leads us to the next topic...

What about Nylander and Clark?

While to some degree both have some similarities, these are two entirely different stories and may very likely end in two entirely different outcomes. So you need to look at them one at a time. We'll go in order of salary cap hit..

Michael Nylander, Center, age 36. Nylander will be the second highest paid Capital this season with a salary of $5.5M and a cap hit of $4.875M. That's a big number, especially when you consider what's been going on with him and his role on the team since they've transitioned from a puck control team playing the trap under Glen Hanlon to an agressive open style forecheck under Bruce Boudreau. Right now, if he has a good camp and plays well Nylander might realistically expect to get a sweater every second or third game here in DC. He has a no trade clause, and that's not his fault, the Caps gave it to him and it's his right to make sure that under any deal that might get cut this season or next neither he or his familiy suffer. That said right now, from a salary cap management perspective, he is a big challenge for the Capitals. On his side of things, the lack of playing time he has been getting is a big problem for him. He's genuinely a nice guy and I hope things work out for him. However, his future here in DC seems basically non-existant unless, there are a few guys who can't play early this season for some reason AND he changes his game and syle of play somewhat, a daunting task at age 36. To be sure, he isn't making the contribution you'd expect from a guy who is tied for the 59th highest paid hockey player in the NHL (ref nhlnumbers.com) No doubt, if the Caps Management can do something to move Nyls that makes sense they will, and if it is something that doesn't hurt him too much, he'll likely take it. That said don't expect the Caps to buy him out this season, the numbers don't make sense - next season might be a different story. However, it's also clear the Caps are looking to make a big move up this year and they won't play Nyls at the expense of wins and the team just to make it possible to move him either.

Chris Clark, Right Wing, age 33. Clark, the team captain has the 8th highest salary cap hit ($2.63M) and 8th highest salary ($2.65M). That salary puts Clark in a tie for 235th in the league this season; that's probably a fair number for a team captain, IF he can regain his form (with a performance closely approximating his 2005-2006 and 2006-2007 seasons) AND stay healthy. Unlike Nylander, a healthy Chris Clark can and does fit into the Capitals "look" and style of play under Bruce Boudreau. It's not hard to see a healthy, gritty Chris Clark playing right wing on a regular third line shift and netting 15+ goals, playing solid two way hockey and being the team leader the Verizon faithful know him to be. If that happens then there's probably not an issue for him and the Caps will be a better team for it. If on the other hand he has another injurey shortened/marred season like the last two, well it's hard to earn your money confined to the press box because of injury even when you're not the team's Captain.

All the above said here's the reality of things - this season the Washington Capitals have $7.5M of salary cap space tied up in Clark and Nylander. Next season, if nothing changes over the next 12 months, they will also have that same $7.5M of salary cap space tied up in them for the 2011-2012 season. It's unlikely that regardless of how either of them play this season, GMGM will want to go into the summer looking to have to resign RFAs Alexander Semin, Nicklas Backstrom, Boyd Gordon and Eric Fehr, as well as UFA David Steckel with ~13.2% of the teams salary caps space tied up in both Nylander and Clark. So something is likely to be done with at least one, if not both these guys. Regardless of how much, the fans and management like Chris Clark, unless he turns it around thsi season and then even if he does, it's 50/50....

Look at the rest of the other 7 of the top 8 teams in the league and their 5 top paid forwards:

1) San Jose: Thorton, Marleau, Michalek, Clowe and Cheechoo;

2) Boston: Sevard, Bergeron, Ryder, Kreji, and Strum;

3) Detroit: Datsyuk, Zetterberg, Franzen, Filppula, and Hudler;

5) New Jersey: Elias, Rolston, Zajac, Zubrus, Parise;

6) Chicago: Hossa, Sharp, "Babyface Nelson" Kane, Boland and Versteeg;

7) Vancouver: Daniel and Henrick Sedin, Demitra, Samuelsson, and Brenier;

8) Pittsburgh: Crosby, Malkin, Staal, Kunitz, and Guerin.

In all those cases nobody else has two guys who are not clearly part of their top six forward/top two lines that are two of their top five paid forwards. That would say that something probably has to give on the Caps roster with Clark and Nylander - it's probably Nylander if Clark has a ~20 goal season; it's probably both if he does not. Even teams that have similar salary distributions between Forwards, Defensement and Goaltenders as the Capitals (Pittsburgh, San Jose, Vancouver (sortof since they have six defensement making between $2 and $4M), and Boston; all have at least 4 of their top five paid forwards on their top two lines.

So what's the point of this ramble - the battle for every spot on lines 3 and 4 and the final 2 defensemen will be a battle amongst a large group of talented young players in the Caps system - ALL SEASON LONG. Among other things. that means both Clark and Nylander who haven't really been earning their full salaries relative to the rest of the team will need to turn things around to even get ice time. Me - I'm not betting against Chris Clark and I wouldn't risk too much coin betting on Michael Nylander at this point.

Should be a great season -

LETS GO CAPS!!!!

Caps 4 - Maple Leafs 1 - Summary, Recap & Notes On Another 2 Point Night At Verizon Center

Last night the Washington Capitals took on the Toronto Maple Leafs at Verizon Center, the Caps retired Hall of Famer, Right Wing, Mike Gartner's number 11. [ed note: As I wasn't feeling well, I watched the game on Comcast instead of attending, though it looked like a great game, I'm sure given the sellout crowd, my physical presence wasn't missed. The CSN coverage seemed it's usual, pretty good, though it does limit your perspective.] At the end of regulation, the final score was Capitals 4 - Maple Leafs 1, in short it was a two point night for the Caps. It was another two point night and the third win in a row for the Caps at Chinatown's Verizon Center. The Capitals are now 15-1-1 at home on the season, are currently atop the Southeast Division by 10 points, and sit alone in second place in the Eastern Conference with 49 points. In the NHL's Eastern Conference standings, the Capitals are now 9 points in back of the Boston Bruins who beat the Atlanta Thrashers 2-1 in Atlanta in tonights only other Eastern Conference action. m


Both Mike Green and Jeff Schultz returned to the Capitals lineup after multiple game absences tonight. They predominately played as a defensive pair and this was apparently an effective way for Coach Bruce Boudreau to manage both of their playing time, as they work their way back to mid-season shape. Through the first period each players respective Time On Ice (TOI) was: Green -7:44 ; Schultz - 6:44. During the second period their respective TOI was: Green -8:12 ; Schultz -6:13 . In the third period, Green had 5:57 TOI and Schultz had 5:34 TOI. Overall through the entire game Green had 21:53 and Schultz had 18:31 TOI; Green finished with 2 assists, 4 blocked shots and was +2 on the night, Schultz had 2 blocked shots and was +2 on the night as well. Clearly, their presence in the lineup helped against Toronto and it will only be even more valuable on Tuesday night in Buffalo when the Capitals try and make it four (4) wins in a row against the Sabres. Mike Green came out "firing on all cylinders," and made an impact from early on. At 14:06 of the first period Green "rang the bell" by hitting the post on what otherwise would have been his first goal after his hiatus with a really sharp snapshot. Unfortunately just under 20 seconds later, the Caps gave up the puck to the Leafs and Niklas Hagman got a nice bounce when the puck came through three Washington Capitals onto his stick and he put the puck past Jose Theodore to put the Maple Leafs up 1-0. Then right after that, in another of this seasons,really bad calls, the teams found themselves playing 4-on-4 hockey, instead of a Caps 5 on 4 power play, because according to the referee felt Jose Theodore was guilty of diving when he was tripped up by Lee Stempniak. How this conclusion was arrived at since Theodore never went all the way down to the ice and was back in position within less than two second is anyones guess. However, as the evening progressed and it became clear that the Caps were a better 4 - on - 4 team than Toronto tonight, Caps fans stopped worrying about wether it was a 5 on 4 or 4 on 4 situation.

The one disturbing thing of note through the period for the Caps was the Maple Leafs were playing a more physical game then the Caps and using that to create opportunities. For example, at the 16:51 mark Nik Antropov basically decked Michael Nylander as he entered the Leafs zone, took the puck and led a solid breakout that turned into an odd man rush for the Maple Leafs and then crowded Jose Theodore when he made the stop. Brooks Laich did step in to the fray after the stop but Antropov had a clear size and attitude advantage. Donald Brashear was sent out for the next shift tried to get something started with the Maple Leafs but none of the Leafs wanted to take him on, and they continued to "finish" their plays and checks a little late for the remainder of the period.

Jose Theodore probably would have liked to have another chance at Hagman's goal but he played well all night and kept the Capitals in it a couple of times during the first period. For example, or perhaps most pointedly at 18:02 mark of the first stanza, Theo robbed Jeremy Williams, to keep the Caps just one goal behind. The save was a solid one but the Maple Leafs probably should have never had that particular scoring chance. The only reason they did was because once again they "out-muscled" the Capitals. The Caps did respond and tried valiantly to tie the game up before the end on the first period, but it was to no avail. At 18:30, the Caps first line set up nicely and had another scoring chance but they failed to "get in Vesla Toskla's face" like Antropov and the Leafs were doing at the other end of the ice. Once more at the 19:20 mark the Caps had another scoring chance turned back by Toskla, though again they didn't really get a second or third shot on net. If they had done so, maybe that scoring chance would have gone in. After one last save, at 19:50 by Jose Theodore when Milan Jurcina gae the puck up to the Leafs, the period ended Caps 0 - Maple Leafs 1.

The Caps didn't play a bad period of hockey though at this juncture it did seem worrisome that they hadn't ended the period leading on the scoreboard. Had they run into a hot goaltender who was going to steal a game for his team? After all they were playing well enough to be tied or winning the game. The statistics at the end of the first period were:
- SOG: Caps 12, Maple Leafs 10;
- Hits: Caps 3, Maple Leafs 8;
- Goals: Caps 0, Maple Leafs 1.
It seemd the major differences were the Maple Leafs were playing a much more physical hockey than the Caps and Vesla Toskla had robbed the Caps a couple more times than Theo has robbed the Maple Leafs.

Through the second period, the Caps played a much more physical game by a fair measure and the results were noticable both while watching the game and on the scoreboard. At 6:39 of the second period, Mike Green was called for interference and the Maple leafs got their first power play opportunity of the game. During the next two minutes, Karl Alzner was all over the place and the Caps killed of the man advantage very effectively. During the period, the Caps had a lot of good first chances, but they needed to get grittier, and make stopping their scoring chances harder for Tesla. Tesla had a solid game, no doubt, but through the 11:07 mark of the second period with the score still 1-0 Leafs @ 11:07, and the second period SOG Caps 7, Leafs 6, the Caps were making him look even better by giving him a fair amount of room to both play the inital shot and manage the rebounds. Indeed through that point the Caps first line of Ovechkin-Backstrom-Kozlov were being well handled by Leafs and tightly played by the Leafs. then at the 12:06 mark, it was the Caps chance to go on the power play as a result of an interference call on Pavel Kubina when he stepped in between Donald Brashear's legs. This time the Caps power play unit quickly got control of the puck and the ice, set things up in classic fashion, moving the puck laterally with Brooks Laich setting up on the doorstep. Then the play went Mike Green to Nicklas Backstrom to Brooks Laich. Laich then took the puck across the front of the crease from the right post, and used the room the Leafs gave him to put the puck nicely into the left side of the net when Toskla couldn't follow him fast enough. Tie Game 1-1 at 12:54 of the second period, lets' go Caps.

After the Caps tied the game they worked hard to try and take the lead. There were several times when they worked hard and got their noses dirty in those attempts including at the 15:40 mark when the third line of Brooks Laich - Dave Steckel - Eric Fehr dug hard and went for the gusto but Toskla denied them once more. That attempt was quickly followed up by a nice patented Mike Green rush at 15:45, as well as another nice Mike Green rush and scoring attempt at 16:30 that was foiled once more by Toskla. Then at the 18:02 mark another 4 on 4 started after Chris Clark mixed it up a little with Jonas Frogren - it appears that "the Captain is back" since from the replay it looked like Frogren was trying to take some libertties with him along the boards, so he figured he wanted to mix it up to make sure the Leafs understood he wasn't going to let that happen in his house without retaliating. It was during this second 4-on-4 of the night that it became apparent the Caps knew how to use the open ice as well or better than the Maple Leafs. First at 19:05, with Michael Nylander and Ovechkin out as forwards for the Caps Nylander made a nice play and scoring attempt but shot it wide of the net. Then at 19:45, in another of those at least once game moments when he shows why he alone is often worth the price of admission, Alexander Ovechkin decided he wanted to make something happen and lays two quick solid hits on the Leafs in their own end, causes the Leafs to turn over the puck to backstrom who puts the puck back to Ovie. Ovie then missed that attempt but five seconds later ends up with the puck in the neutral zone, comes back into the zone at 19:50 and he uses Ian White for the screen and puts the puck past Toskla 5-hole before Toskla can squeeze the door shut. The Caps 4-4 quartet on the ice at the time was Ovechkin, Backstrom, Laich and Green; a pretty awesome array of firepower and puckhandling skill given all the injuries to their opening day line-up. The period ended with the Caps leading 2 - 1 and owning all the momentum. The top level second period statistics were: SOG Caps 12, Maple Leafs 6; Hits Caps 5, Leafs 2; Goals Caps 2, Leafs 0. Score: Capitals 2, Maple Leafs 1.

The Capitals in general and Jose Theodore in particular played the third period like men on a mission, a mission for two points. For example, at 1:25 Mike Green tries to get too cute with an outlet pass that was too long by a zone, turned over the puck, but Theodore stepped up and made an excellent first save on Tomas Kabrele and made sure there was no rebound. Then at 3:59, Milan Jurcina gives the Maple Leafs their second 5 - on -4 power play of the night when he was whistled off for a weak, inadvertant hook, However, the Caps Penalty Kill unit is superb and allows Toronto only one shot on goal, successfully smoothering the Maple Leaf power play. After that the Caps try hard for an insurance goal to no avail. At 8:25 Toskla robs the Caps again, when Boyd Gordon and Brooks Laich dig hard and manufacture a solid, gritty scoring chance. Then there were a couple of times when it seemed the Caps got some "divine intervention" to stay up by one goal. For instance at the 9:25 mark the Caps got a lucky break when the Leafs hit post and Ghrobovsky and Hageman couldn't finish it, most Caps fans watching had to be thinking at that point something on the order of "Whew, thanks for that clear, Jeff Schultz, better a little late then never." At the 10:35 mark, the teams got to play another 4 on 4 when Sean Collins was whistled off for interference and Andre Deveraux was called for diving, in a call on Deveraux that could easily have been a make-up call for the Theodore diving call in the first period. That 4-on-4 passed without incident.

The one possible piece of bad news from the night for Caps fans occured at the 14:45 mark. Play was stopped with Matt Bradley down on the ice after he missed a check and found himself down, and apparently out, on the ice. Bradley left the game after that and per Tarik El-Brashir's blog "Word on Matt Bradley is that he's "ok" after going head first into the boards in the third period, but no one seemed very sure of his status. We'll have to wait and see what tomorrow brings."

With the Caps up by just one goal the Leafs played them very tightly throughout the third period, hoping for a mistake Washington. However, the next mistake was by the Leafs when at 15:43, the Leaf's normal go to defenseman Tomas Kaberle gave up the puck in the Leafs zone, the Caps got real gritty, and Brooks Laich made them pay when he scored his 10th goal of the night (unassisted.) Score 3-1 Caps. They needed that goal at this juncture.

Down by two goals, Maple Leafs coach Ron Wilson pulled goalie Vesla Tesla at the 18:45 mark and for about 20 seconds the Leafs mounted excellent pressure on the Caps with their extra skater. The Caps responded well thought with nice protection on Theodore and the goal. Theo stopped the puck and held to force a faceoff in the Caps end at 19:16. After the faceoff the Capsgot control of the puck and Backstrom sent a nice cross ice pass to Ovechkin on the right boards. Ovechkin apparently tried to slow up and get the puck to Laich so he might get the first hat trick of his career but Tomas Kaberle responded pretty quickly and that option really wasn't available to the Caps superstar so he netted his second goal of the game, his 25th of the season to ice the score Caps 4 - Maple Leafs 1.

It was a good night for the Caps in general and Brooks Laich, Alexander Ovechkin and Jose Theodore, the three stars of the game, in particular. Next up, the Sabres in Buffalo on Tuesday night.

LETS GO CAPS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Bruised & Battered, Caps Return To DC For Next Two Games

Well assuming you are reading this because you are an avid Washington Capitals fan, it's likely you already know: a) the Caps now have as many at least eight players on their roster who are injured and working to return to the roster: 1) Sergei Federov, 2) Mike Green, 3) Alexander Semin, 4) Chris Clark, 5) Jeff Schultz, 6) John Erskine, 7) Chris Clark, 8) Boyd Gordon and 9) Brian Pothier; and b) only six Caps have not missed games this season due to injury: 1) Alex Ovechkin (who missed a couple to travel to Russia for personal reasons), 2) Nicklas Backstrom (who played several games at the start of the season nursing an injury from the pre-season, 3) Tomas Fleaischmann, 4) Brooks Laich, 5) Milan Jurcina, 6) Matt Bradley. The recent five game road swing, perhaps the most grueling road trip of this year's schedule behind them, the Caps find themselves i) juggling their roster to deal with the injures to: a) one of their best forwards who is their current leading goal scorer, b) three top four defenseman, c) potentially their Captain, and d) arguably their most versatile player - a future hall of famer, and e) yet one other defenseman and one of the solid defensive grinder forwards ii) still off to their best start and in first place in their division.

While looking ahead at the start of this month's schedule it appeared November was probably the most important gauge that would for tell how the Caps' 2008-2009 season would go, it can probably now be said that because of the injury situation, as the end of November approaches, that "make or break" period has to be extended through the next 17 games through the end of December as well. In particular, between today and December 13th (a 19 day period) the Caps have another 10 games. Of the 17 games between now and December 31st, 15 are against Eastern Conference opponents of which 3 are against Southeast Division rivals. To be sure, both the Southeast Division opponents and the Caps' traditional rivals will look to these games to capture some standings points against the injury depleted Capitals. It is probably for that reason, that the character the Caps showed in trying to come back and capture a win against Minnesota last night after going down 4-0, is so important.

Once again Coach Bruce Boudreau's familiarity with the Capitals' player development pipeline, and the fact that the Hershey Bears, under Coach Bob Woods, play the same system as Boudreau's Capitals will need to be relayed on to make up for the holes in "the big club's roster." Will it be enough? Who really knows? We won't be able to tell until much until mid-December has come and gone. Further complicating putting solutions in place to address the challenges injuries create for the Caps over the next four weeks are two things: i) the current lack of salary Cap space the Caps have and b) the CBA requirements which mean that once a player plays 10 games on an NHL team's roster, he has to clear waivers to be put back down onto a club's AHL associates' roster. What's that mean? Well in the likely event the Caps call up someone like Sami Lepisto or Karl Alzner up to fill in for Jeff Schultz over his projected 4+ week period on injured reserve, who ever they decide to send down to Hershey to make Cap room for Schultz when he returns will have to clear waivers. Right now it's very possible that any of the Caps likely choices for that trip could get picked up by another NHL team. All three of the development pipeline players: Tyler Sloan, Sami Lepisto and Karl Alzner, as well as the Caps third defensive pair of John Erskine and Milan Jurcina all have various attributes that could easily make them appealing to other NHL clubs. [ed note: I stand by that comment despite what some others might be saying about Erskine and Jurcina, at times.]

As far potential back fills for any required call ups in the ranks of forwards, once again the Caps could face the same situation, loosing a good player in the pipeline when they need to send him back down to Hershey. Even if say, Quintin Laing is recalled to back fill for Boyd Gordon, just because he cleared waivers at the start of the season, doesn't mean he would again. Such would be especially true, assuming he once again makes the best of the opportunity to shine again on the NHL stage, like he did last season. As for the current sharpshooters in Hershey who are lighting the red lights behind their AHL opponents goals with regularity lately, the likelihood of one of them getting picked up as they need to clear waivers is probably even higher. What does that all mean - it probably means that Caps' manager George McPhee and Coach Boudreau will make even more moves then they might otherwise shuttling some additional players back and forth between Giant Center and KCI then they might otherwise to make sure they don't subject some of those prospects to the risk of being claimed by others off the waiver wire.

So if any of us are lamenting the pressures and problems we have to deal with in our day jobs, we'd do well to appreciate the pressures and challenges that McPhee and Boudreau will be dealing with over the next 36 days. Add the fact that they have to do what they do under the glare of media and being routinely challenged by professional journalists, TV analysts and commentators and numerous bloggers and fans and if you're like me you're glad that you don't have their day jobs. Final thoughts: 1) as Capitals fans aren't you glad that from what we all could tell, by and large the Caps came into the start of the season in much better physical condition this year then last? Sure seems like they figured out they weren't going to "sneak up" on anybody this year and lots of teams would be gunning for them, especially on the road. And. 2) If you felt strongly that Bruce Boudreau deserved the jack Adams Trophy last season, what will you think if the Caps stay on track for 104+ points this season over the next 30 days?

Next up Division foe Atlanta Thrashers, tomorrow night at Verizon Center. I'll be driving to Myrtle Beach to spend the holiday with family for at least the first and probably second periods. But, I swear I'll be "Rockin' the Red" in my Caps Sweater while I do so.

LETS GO CAPS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Not Much News for the Hockey Starved But - CLARKIE'S BACK!!!!

Per Tarik El Bashir over at Capitals Insider, yesterday, Chris Clark returned to the area and "he joined teammates Brent Johnson and Boyd Gordon for his first informal practice of the summer in Arlington. Clark appeared at ease when skating top speed, turning sharply and shooting (more on this later), though he did back off during the start-and-stop skating drills at the end of the session. No cause for concern, he said, he was just being cautious." Like Brent Johnson, I too think that the return of Clark is good news for the the Caps and for all Caps fans. Now that's about it for hockey news and the thoughts on it. These are the boring days of summer when it comes to hockey news and right now I can't wait till camp starts next month. And I really

Can't Wait Till Next Season --- LETS GO CAPS!!!!

Day 3 of the Empty Nest In Bristow

[ED NOTE] This post is a ramble, hopefully not an unorganized stream of consciousness, but at the least a bit of a ramble through all my musings, there isn't any real single defining, centering activity going on here in Bristow this morning and if I wasn't writing this posting I'd be cleaning up the garage and washing a car or two. I'll do both those two tasks after finishing this posting and watching another couple of Sunday Morning news shows. So if you're looking for erudite thoughts on the end of the Washington Caps Development Camp, they aren't here though over at the Red Skate and other blogs there is plenty of that, most of which I agree with - I didn't make it to the last scrimmage yesterday so don't have any original thoughts that are new on that. If you're looking for insightful or humorous commentary on the usual subjects of my musings - well we'll have to see how I do.

It's a lovely day here in Northern Virginia though our house has been much quieter than I thought it would be. I guess that's probably not overly surprising to most people though it is to me. I thought I wanted to get over to see the final scrimmage of Caps Development Camp, however I didn't get much sleep on Friday night so I woke up too late. I was really glad to see the turnout and the excitement only built in the Caps fan base from the couple hundred I saw on Day One to the reported ~2,000 yesterday. I was also happy to see that many folks, who are more knowledgeable than me, felt Karl Alzner was the consensus standout, and that Phil DiSimone had great and good showings, respectively. The Caps need another good D-Man in the pipeline, especially since it appears Brian Pothier will probably be out for most, if not all this coming season. No, I don't have any more insight than any other fan on that matter, I just do the math relative to the Salary Cap and note that it's clear that George McPhee is certainly moving forward in a deliberate manner that treats Pothier as on Long Term Injured Reserve (LTIR).

Karl Alzner's rapid rise, along with the continued improvement and development of Jeff Schultz, are something the Capitals will need and welcome in their quest to go deeper into the playoffs in 2009 and beyond. Don't get me wrong, I love John Erskine's grit and watching Milan Jurcina lay board rattling hits on opponents. However, as has been well chronicled elsewhere this past season, Erskine and Jurcina's potential at cracking into the Top 4 of any NHL Team's depth chart is limited by their skating ability. A top six blue line depth chart for Defensemen that looks like this: 1) Green; 2) Poti; 3) Morrisson; 4) Schultz; 5) Alzner; 6) Jurcina; and 7) Erskine with Pothier on LTIR might work, assuming Schultz, Alzner and Jurcina all continue to rise to the occassion. The selection of who plays the 5th, and 6th position and who sits will no doubt be situational and based on injury status. This all also depends on Schultz continuing to develop. While "Sarge" takes a lot of heat here in the "blogsphere", and even I routinely shake my head while watching him NOT play physical hockey (how can a guy who is 6'6" and 221# not want to just use that size to crush guys in the corner?), his numbers are pretty good and he doesn't get burned even strength often. I trust his development and confidence will continue and hope that next season we have an entire season of the kind of play he showed fans last December/January. If that occurs the Caps top two defensive pairings (Green/Morrisson & Poti/Schultz or Poti/Alzner) will be the equal or better of any of their opponents in the league. If a third pairing can be grounded by either Schultz, Jurcina or Alzner as a solid defenseman capable of logging ~13 - 15 minutes of ice time a game with respectable, hopefully positive, +/- ratings, then the Caps will indeed be able to go far. With Erskine in DC as the seventh man and Sami Lepisto, Josh Godfrey and Patrick McNeill in Hershey as well as Joe Finley, Eric Mestery, and John Carlson in the pipeline, it's easier too see why the Caps traded Steve Eminger to the Flyers even after the series he had against them. The Caps have a solid young defense and a solid development pipeline at the position.

As for the rest of the team, there may still need to be one more move made among the forwards to deal with the salary cap, depending on what comes out of the Shaone Morrisson arbitration/negotiations between now and the end of the month. That said as has been pointed out by others it sure seems that the Caps will have a solid roster coming into camp in several weeks. it also seems like this team will be well suited to play the game using the system that Jack Adams trophy winner, Coach Bruce Boudreau, put in place when he took the reigns last December. Question marks still center around the health status of Team Captain Chris Clark, as well as the fit and line pairings for Center Michael Nylander. Clark seems committed to doing what it takes to get back into shape and if his 32 year old body cooperates and heals, he will likely again be a key part of the Caps at both even strength and on special teams. Nylander's injuries from last season appear to also be behind him, however whether he will center the first, second, or third line is clearly open to discussion. This situation has NOT been caused by any of the wrong reasons, before his injury, the 35 year old Swede was playing his best hockey of the season. Once Nylander was out for the season, Caps general manager George McPhee (GMGM) went out at the trade deadline and brought in 38 year old center/play maker/3 time Stanley Cup winner, Russian Superstar, Sergei Federov. Federov filled a couple of late season needs the Caps had for a seasoned, star and play maker AND he had excellent chemistry, almost immediately on and off the ice with younger countrymen Alexander Semin and Alex Ovechkin. The acquisition and retention of Federov, along with the faster than hoped for development of rookie Swede center, Nicklas Backstrom, as well as solid seasons by Brooks Laich, Boyd Gordon and David Steckel, mean the Caps have a minor "embarrassment of riches" at center. This situation, as well as the tightness the Caps find themselves against the $56M 2008-2009 salary cap, and the fact that management, coaching staff and the fan base are all talking about how far the Caps might advance into the 2009 playoffs, instead of if they will even make the playoffs, are the real signs the "rebuild" ended at the middle of last season.

It may be local phenomenon fueled by the recent comments by the Caps new goaltender Jose Theodore and the re-signing of Sergei Federov for a fair value contract of $4M, even though he no doubt could have made a lot more in Russia, but it's really nice to think of and hear Washington is becoming a good hockey town. Getting a standing room only crowd of a couple thousand fans to watch a scrimmage at the end of development camp continues to show and fuel the excitement of the fan base here in the DC Metro Area. The next event is an Open House and Autograph session with Caps Defenseman Mike Green on July 24th. Finally even the local mainstream media (MSM) are getting on board with the idea the Caps are worthy of solid coverage both in season and during the off season. While the front pages of today's sports section have little on the Caps, the online edition of the Washington Post's section/web page on the Caps has a lot of excellent coverage; and the Washington Times has a similar set of good articles in it's online edition. As they say, it's all good, hopefully the spirit and sentiment builds as we go through next season and the Caps get a larger, just as dedicated, and knowledgeable fan base as the long term core has been. Can't wait till next season.

What has occupied most of my time these past three days has been work, busy time at ICx Technologies continue, and looking at the USMMA parents page to catch glimpses into what our son Chris is doing , via online postings of pictures of the Class of 2012's "Indoctrination". The four large program pursuits I'm personally involved with all continue to move forward and we are getting going on three more opportunities so my days have been pretty interrupt and event driven these past two weeks. Those things along with the trip to Long island to drop off Chris as well as just getting settled in this next phase of our life as an empty nest couple have been and continue to be the real grounding items in my life. I'm also starting to really try and figure out what I should be thinking about when picking who I'll vote for in November. I watched a few news shows this morning, they were less than helpful, but I am very biased against the media and how they cover politics, nobody is without an agenda - I know "duh".... I want to find a moderate who is fiscally conservative and socially liberal and will have the ability to make a budget and policy that is both effective and reflective of those desires and values. i guess that means I'm living in fantasy land - here I sit approaching 50 years old and still somewhat of an idealist, I don't think that's too, too terrible a thing. It's also probably very reflective of the great life we have and the great country we live in. Sue me - I'm a relatively happy and sentimental, patriotic guy. It's hard not to have those feelings stirred when you've just seen 307 great young men and woman begin their journey through life by joining a group and ideal that they all know is something bigger then themselves - even when they don't fully understand what it all is or will be.

ACTA NON VERBA

Can't wait till next season; LETS GO CAPS!!!!!

Winter is here!

Winter is here - that white stuff outside is snow. Okay there's not much hockey news to talk about today. If you've already read other blogs you know Boyd Gordon has a broken hand and many commenters to posts elsewhere still want to speculate about the mystery surrounding the announcement. Me I take it at face value - the mystery to me is how he scored in OT with it - I believe he did (unlike some other commenters to various blogs) just goes to show me he and Chris Clark are cut from the same mold. Tough guys - old time hockey - LETS GO CAPS!!!! The world agrees the ice at VC is the pits. I commented on this a couple of days ago as have others. Something needs to be done. We don't need to be running the Veteran's Stadium of the NHL. Well I can't wait till Friday evening when I'll be able to watch the Caps on the tube. LETS GO CAPS (Oh I said that already). If I can't write anything too erudite, I may as well be brief. More thoughts tomorrow.