The Almost Young Guns ... Those Who Owe Bruce Boudreau A Big Thank You At Least

The Capitals just finished a road trip to Western Canada and don't have another game until Wednesday night here at Verizon Center against the Detroit Red Wings. Anytime the Caps travel westward or have a break in the Regular Season that usually gets me musing 'bout "hockey" things.  This time I've been thinking about the first season I decided the Capitals "rebuild" was definitely over.  That was basically 2010 when the Caps won the Presidents trophy finishing the 2009-2010 regular season

with 121 points.

Both the 2009 - 2010 and 2010 - 2011 Capitals were very solid teams, but they had several players who owe then Capitals Coach Bruce Boudreau and/or GM George McPhee a big thank you for providing a platform/stage that allowed them a chance to shine and ultimately reach for a "pay day" in free agency.  This week's road trip to the Canadian West and it's games against Edmonton - current "home" for Matt Hendricks and Boyd Gordon who are two such players has prompted me to "muse" about several of the similar players as well.  Where are they?  How is their season going so far?  Where/how would they fit on the 2014-15 Capitals in Barry Trotz's system etc.  So lets start in Edmonton with Hendricks and Gordon.

Boyd Gordon is currently 31 and has played in the NHL for 10 seasons, he has career earnings of $13.4M.  In the 2009-10 season his salary was $800K.  His salary has steadily increased with each new contract since then, but he wasn't a solid "full season" NHL'er until after his stint with the Capitals where his skills as a backchecking forward were clearly understood and well documented.  Of all the guys on this list though I'd say he owes McPhee and Boudreau the least since he was originally drafted in 2002 though he did play for Boudreau in both the AHL and the NHL with a few years in between here in Washington under Glen Hanlon.  Gordon's current contract in Edmonton is the richest of his career to date - 3 seasons $3M/year, and his stint here in DC certainly helped him earn som solid dollars and respect throughout the NHL.

Matt Hendricks is currently 33 and has played in the NHL for 6 seasons, he has career earnings according to CapGeek of $7.425M. In the 2009-10 season his NHL salary was $500K when at 26 he played his first full season (56 games) for the Avalanche, in 2010-11 he joined the Capitals and played 77 games followed by 78 games in 2011-12.  He then played all 48 games in the shortened 2012-13 season before "cashing in" and joining Barry Trotz's Nashville Predators as a UFA for the 2013-14 season. Hendricks quickly became a fan favorite here in DC after Boudreau added him to the 2010-2011 team following GMGM getting him in a trade with the Avalanche.  Hendricks toiled in the AHL the majority of his career after graduating from Saint Cloud State in 2004 until breaking through with the 2009-2010 Avs but it was his stint here in DC under Boudreau that opened the leagues eyes to his value.  Hendy's currently in the first season of a two year deal in Edmonton that pays him $1.85M/year; without the chance Boudreau gave him to be  solid role player on that 2010-11 Capitals team its unlikely he'd have had a solid chance to make an NHL roster at age 27.

Mathieu Perreault:  After a breakout year last season under Boudreau playing with a likely first ballot all star, the affable 26 year old "MattyP", cashed in with a 3 year, $3M/year deal, joining the Winnipeg Jets. owes Bruce Boudreau the least of the players on this list, it's likely the undersized Perreault owes him the most.  After the 5'10" 185# Center had a less than spectacular 2012-13 season here in Washington, Gabby brought Perreault out to Anaheim for the 2013-14 season where he played 69 regular season and 11 playoff games. In the regular season he saw occasional first line time and notched 18 Goals and 25 assists; in the 11 playoff games he had 2 goals and 3 assists.  Additionally throughout the season he played "bigger" than he had at any point of his career. It was exposure and utilization that it's likely no other NHL coach but Bruce Boudreau would have ever given him, and he rose to the occasion, now's he's in the enviable position to more than double his $7.625M career earnings to date over the next three season.

David Steckel, the 32 year old Ohio State grad is currently playing in the AHL for the Anaheim Ducks affiliate, Norfolk Admirals.  However thanks in some degree to the opportunities that Boudreau and the Capitals gave him he was able to cash in on his success as a faceoff specialist and now has career earnings of $5.6M.  So far this season in 7 GP with the Admirals though he is not putting up good statistics and his prior four NHL seasons (2011-13 with Toronto and 2013-14 with the Ducks), the former Verizon fan favorite has not had an "easy go of it" nor has he been exceptionally productive.

Jeff Schultz: The 28 year old defenseman from Calgary has $15.365M of career earnings to date, most of which he should credit a single great season playing alongside Mike Green and being the NHL's +/- leader.  To that he has to give second order credit to Boudreau for having teams in 09-10 and 10-11 that were offensive behemoths.  Then you have to directly credit what is the product of GMGM's propensity for "1 Year too long and $1M too much" - which resulted in him being a compliance buyout.  He is currently playing for the Stanley Cup Champion Los Angeles Kings on their AHL affiliate Manchester Monarchs after getting into 7 playoff games last spring on the Kings Cup winning run.

Well now it's time to go back to musing about the current Caps team and thinking about the upcoming game against the Red Wings...

LETS GO CAPS!!!!!!

Another Week Down and With It Came At Least Some Small Resons to Hope The Capitals Can Salvage A Season Yet...

Well Caps fans in the week since my last blog post "our" Washington Capitals have gone 2-1-0, giving us all at least some reason to hope this year's Capitals can salvage a reasonable season and maybe even make a playoff run.  Further last weekend we all got to see how "the system" when played well can beat anybody, in fact the New Jersey Devils played "the system" to perfection and beat the Pittsburgh Penguins, including demi-god Sidney Crosby not once BUT twice this past week.  Further the Capitals used and played they system very well a systematically took apart the Florida Panthers - last years SE Division champions 5-0 on Saturday at Verizon Center.  Then they faced and beat a well coached and adjusted Panthers team last night in a comeback OT 6-5 win at Sunrise, FL.  So to me those are reasons to hope.

Of course hope is not a plan, nor is it any sort of "done deal."  Tomorrow the Caps take on the explosive Tampa By Lightning in Saint Petersburg, FL and they must "keep the pedal to the medal" if they are to really start dogging out of this early season hole they've put themselves in.  The good news if there is any on that front is there are no teams in the Eastern Conference who are as "on fire" or playing as strongly as either the Chicago Blackhawks or the Anaheim Ducks are in the Western Conference.  Chicago is red hot playing 0.888 hockey since the season started while Anaheim isn't far behind playing 0.792 hockey 25% of the way through the season.  By contrast Eastern Conference leader New Jersey is playing very well at 0.730 but nowhere near 0.800 hockey.  While we cannot yet talk about the Capitals in such terms looking at 50 or 52 points as a "magic number" to definitely make the playoffs this season in the Eastern Conference that means the Capitals now have to play a solid but achievable 0.614 the rest of this season.  They've doe it before, and with 14 of their remaining 35 games against SE Division rivals whom they've done very well against these past few seasons, they certainly have a chance to do so again.

I'm not burying my head in the sand - the Capitals have a long road in front of them now. That said I
have no reason to or intention of jumping on the bandwagon of naysayers, ever.  It's not my thing, I've said for a while now, I'm not a "journalist" nor do I want to pretend to be, this is a fan's blog, and I'm the fan.  In addition to their two recent wins here's a few other reasons I now have hope:

1) Alexander Ovechkin seems more and more comfortable on the Right Wing and his productivity is rising.  In addition to having the same "sick" skilz he always had on LW, his play now is a) much more defensively responsible, b) much more creative - he's making the others on the ice with him better and at the same time notching his own scoring points; and c) he's clearly matured and is the team's Captain as well as it's star.  I congratulate both Ovechkin for taking the risk and allowing himself to be coached even though he already was a league superstar and new coach Adam Oates for not giving up and proving all the naysayers around the league wrong - Ovechkin is proving to be very coachable by a coach who is as intense, dedicated, and imaginative to excellence as he is.

2) Mike Ribero is the player we all hoped we were picking up when the Caps retooled and let Semin go to Carolina to create the Cap Space necessary to once again have two top six Centerman.  I could fill the rest of this blog post with superlatives for "Ribz" but his play has been speaking for itself for some considerable time.

3) The second AND third lines have been key to the Caps solid play, and Nicklas Backstrom seemed to be determined to let everyone know he's still around and as awesome a playmaker and passer as ever whether passing to Troy Brouwer; Joel Ward or Ovechkin.

4) At he beginning of the season I wondered who of Mathieu Perrault and Marcus Johanasson would become the "Brian Gionta" of the 2013 Capitals.  Based on the last two games, it appears that MP85 is determined it be him, it'll be interesting to see what happens the next time MJ90 gets a crack at the lineup.

5) The top four defenseman: Green, Alzner; Carlson; and Erskine have all, in my view, fully embraced and become comfortable with the new system and are making very few mental mistakes at all.  Tomas Kundratek is making a believer of me as well, and begrudgingly I have to say Jeff Schultz is the right guy o be in the lineup right now, though I would like to see "Mr. Nasty" play with more physicality and I believe when he's back to being healthy Jack Hillen should get another shot in the lineup as well.  So where does that leave Poti and Hamrlik - I'd say at this point the Caps should look to trade one or the other for something they might want, especially with Orlov in the wings as well.  When was the last time the Caps had that sort of luxury - an extra D-Man to shop?

6) Goaltending hasn't been on fire but it's not a big issue right now - witness last evening's 6-5 SO win over the Panthers.  If the Caps hadn't gotten into playing fire wagon hockey in the second period with the Panthers, particularly the Weiss-Hubredeau line, there's no way the panthers are even in the game... SV% aside.

So that's why I have some hope today for a decent season by the Capitals, I'm still concerned and the Caps need to keep their focus and drive going for all 35 remaining games, but if they want to, "they got this."

LETS GO CAPS!!!!

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

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!!!!

Two Hockey Musings On This Sunday In August ...

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!!!!

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

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.

Balance ...

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!!!

Capitals Sign Jeff Schultz; Joe Corvo Inks 2-Year Deal With Hurricanes

Well it's not that I'm so smart, it's just that some things are logical and make sense. Earlier this year I said the next most important RFA signing for GMGM to make after the Backstrom deal was done was to get Jeff Schultz under contract for 3-4 years. In the past week or so, I've also suggested I wouldn't be surprised to see Joe Corvo back with the Carolina Hurricanes next season. Well yesterday both things happened.

The Capitals and Jeff Schultz agreed to a multi-year deal, avoiding arbitration. This is a good thing, IMO. As I've pointed out arbitration, while usually ending up with a fair result, also, seems to me, to leave a "bad taste" in both parties' mouths. The 4 year deal is reportedly for $11M so that's a $2.25M salary cap hit for each of the next four years for a guy who at 24 had what I'd consider to be a "breakout" year last season. He's clearly coming into his own and assuming he continues to mature will only get better, especially if he adds a slight bit more physicality and "edge" to his game. He's definitely worth $2.25M/season, especially if anyone with a clue about hockey ever thought Jeff Finger was worth $3.5M/year or Zach Bogosian was worth $3.375M/season.

Down in Raleigh, Joe Corvo was brought back on a two-year $4.5M deal that will pay him $2.0M this coming season and $2.5M for the 2011-2012 season. Prior to coming to the Caps in a trade deadline deal for Oskar Osala and Brian Pothier, Corvo had spent the prior 2 1/2 seasons with the Hurricanes; the 33 year old Oak Park, ILL native was the average TOI/game leader in Carolina last season and has been their blue line anchorman since arriving in Carolina from Ottawa. So basically the Capitals cost for the rental of Corvo for this seasons playoffs was Oskar Osala. Personally, I think that was a fair deal/move though I know in hindsight some will argue otherwise. I also think the resigning by Carolina of Corvo was a smart move for them both.

I'll be doing an update to yesterday's looking ahead at next season sometime over the next couple of days after a few more of the RFA contracts are settled, but I'm curious about reactions to the Schultz signing, I've been surprised at the range being shown in blog comments on it since yesterday. The next signing I'm looking to see an announcement for out of Kettler is Eric Fehr, I'd like to see he and the Caps avoid arbitration as well. Other than that, we all know my improbable wish re: Patrick Sharp - hey, my late old man always used to say "If you're going to wish, you may as well wish big, it doesn't cost any more."

Is it September yet?

LETS GO CAPS!!!

NHL Olympic Break Post 1: GMGM's Moves and Salary Cap Planning

It's the Olympic break as the picture on the right illustrates, but what about the NHL season and that avocation we call the Washington Capitals? As this season has continued, many of us Caps fans have watched with keen interest and wondered what Caps General manager George McPhee will do to retain and improve this high flying team's talent pool. The moves so far appear to have been a mix of well thought and deliberate as well as opportunistic re-signings.

For example, clearly the team wanted to get high flying, top talented LW/RW Alexander Semin signed to a contract extension for as long as possible before his status as a restricted free agent "expired." However, when the player and his agent wouldn't sign such a deal, McPhee and the Caps opted instead to sign him to a $6M, 1 year extension through the end of next season. While the move doesn't help end speculation about next season, it makes clear that the 25 year old's status and the teams desires and plans for him through the end of this season's playoffs and the start of next season. Ostensibly, one would assume it is Semin's intention to test the UFA market in July 2011 and get a litmus test on his value as a UFA before signing any long term deals anywhere. However, one never knows how these things play out. The point here being the $6M/1 year extension is what i would classify as an opportunistic re-signing. taking the team's statements at face value, it's not what they had intended but opportunistically, it was a deal they could do that helped keep things moving forward in a way both parties were willing to agree to and that at least in the short term works for them, so they did the deal.

With more forethought and deliberation, it appears the Caps took a look at their likely needs in several, less "flashy" areas over the next couple of years and concluded the smart thing to do was to sign 27 year old Center David Steckel to a fairly priced, reasonable length extension vice letting him out onto the UFA market this summer. In the end the Caps and Steckel agreed to a three year extension at an average salary of $1.1M/season. Examining the list of centers expected to be available as UFA this summer, I'd have to say this signing was a very smart move by both the team and the player. Steckel is the Caps "crunch time, go-to face off guy" these days, as he has quietly become one of the league's top face off men. He is also a key "special teams" guy on the PK unit. So if anyone thinks, in today's NHL "an enforcer" is who generally plays less than 8:30 a game no matter what is worth $1M; then what is the guy you want taking every critical defensive zone face off worth? Add to that that Steckel is also one of the Caps' best penalty killers, one of a handful of guys on the team to qualify as "ironmen" through the past two injury plagued NHL seasons, averages 12:47 TOI, and manages to stay +/- positive despite often being asked to shut down opposing team's high scorers, and it's possible you might consider $1.1M a bargain. The way I look at the list of likely soon to be available free agents, virtually any I consider potential "comps" either already make more than $1.1M or will clearly be likely to do so after this July, so I consider the Steckel extension/contract a really smart move by the Capitals.

I think looking at what needs to get done between now and the end of the season, you'd have to expect that the next thing GMGM is trying to get done is an extension for first line center Nicklas Backstrom. Rumors are that is indeed true but like the Semin deal, apparently Backstrom doesn't want to sign a deal with so long a contract term, he might obviate his options should his value increase between now and when he'd become an unrestricted free agent following the end of the 2014 regular season. Looking at comparable players in the league, one would have to assume that in the RFA market Backstrom will easily draw offer sheets with multi-year deals and salaries of $6-7+M/year. Especially if Nicklas continues to play the way he has so far this season. Backstrom is now fourth in the NHL in scoring with 76 points (26 goals and 50 assists) and has the 3rd best +/- rating right now so I estimate the 5 closest comparables to him are Eric Staal, Paul Stasny, Anze Kopitar, Evgeni Malkin and Phil Kessel, their average salary is $7.15M. That is a "doable" deal and along with Semin's 1 year extension means all the "young guns" remain Capitals through at least the end of the 2011 playoffs. Assuming the Caps and Backstrom agree to some sort of extension with an average salary in the $7M/range, as the next deal GMGM closes, then next season the Capitals Salary Cap payroll for 2010 - 2011 is at $45.5M, Once a deal with Backstrom is done or you know at least what it's going to cost you, if you were GMGM, what next?

I know the two things I don't think the Caps need right now, in spite of some cries around "bloggerdom" and comments to threads on many Caps blogs and that's 1) an enforcer or 2) a big "stopper" defenseman. Unless that big stopper has great hands and wheels which none of the rentals available or even most of the guys who aren't rentals have.

Consider that next season by the time you pay for the current top six forwards (Ovechkin, Semin, Backstrom, Knuble, Laich, and Jason Chimera) next season you are looking at a likely Cap Hit that totals ~29M or roughly 50% of the available Cap Space. Of the remaining $30M, $8.5M goes to Mike Green and Tom Poti leaving $21.5M of space for 15 players and things start to get tight pretty quickly. Tight enough that using any of it for an enforcer is both unwise and virtually impossible. Tight enough that unless you move Poti and don't make any attempt to re-sign Pothier or someone like him, re-engineering the defense around someone like Pronger, even if he were available is also basically impossible. Simply put this team is currently set-up in a way different from what has been done in the past. The closest thing to the way the Caps' roster is designed is the Detroit Red Wings. However, the Caps are basically the Red Wings with a twist - in other words as you might expect each team is constructed the way the are based on their core these days, preserving the core and then using the rest of the available salary cap space to fashion a complimentary team around the core is what it's all about. The Caps core is Ovechkin, Semin, Backstrom, and Green. The next layer is Laich, Poti, Knuble and you'd be surprised to know but from a cap space/managment perspective - Chimera. This is not to say others like Steckel, Varlamov, Theodore, Bradley, Fleischmann, Fehr, and Neuvirth don't matter it's just to say that from a salary cap management perspective, they are easier to handle and more straight-forward to think about.

So considering all of the above, the next guy I go and sign to an extension is ... and I never thought I'd be the guy saying this as short a time ago as last season ... Jeff Schultz. That's right, Jeff Schultz. Schultz, a 23 year old Calgary native, is having in quiet fashion, what amounts to a breakout season. In 55 games this season, he's averaging 15: 52 TOI and his defensive numbers are generally much better than many, many defensemen paid considerably more than his 2009 - 2010 salary of $715K. Schultz is clearly a guy that if you are GMGM you want to get nailed down before tackling the other defensemen on the the roster who will be Free Agents at the end of this season: 26 year old Shoane Morrisonn (UFA) and 32 year old Brian Pothier (UFA). Additionally since he's just 23 years old, the Caps should be able to offer him a 4 year contract that doesn't involve a premium since that's when he'd otherwise be UFA elgible. I believe the Caps should be able to get Schultz signed for 3 or 4 seasons at an average salary of ~$2M/season, which if he continues to develop on the trajectory he's on will be a bargain.

After signing Backstrom and Schultz, the question you have to ask yourself is are you comfortable with either John Carlson, Karl Alzner and John Erskine as the rest of your blue line corps next season. In other words a regular blue line consisting of: Green, Poti, Schultz, Alzner, Carlson, and Erskine. If you have concerns then you need to decide whether the right solution is to reach a deal with 26 year old Shoane Morrisonn or 32 year old Brian Pothier. Any deal with Morrisonn is probably a multi-year deal; Pothier may agree to a shorter deal and his numbers so far this season have been better. However, Morrisonn is a bigger, more physical presence in the line-up. In the end, which of these two you close the deal with becomes a function of which will take a salary of ~2M/year for the shortest term. However, if it's my call, as much as I really like and root for Brian Pothier, based on the numbers and his injuries these past two seasons, I try and resign Shoane Morrisonn for a $4M deal over the next two seasons, and I let Pothier go to the free agent pool and see what he can get. If I sign Sha-Mo and things work out with both Carlson and Alzner next season, I see what I can get for John Erskine on the trade market.

After I have my blue line settled I then go and see how I reach extension deals with RFAs Eric Fehr, Tomas Fleaischmann, and Boyd Gordon (in that order.) It's likely those three deals won't all get done before season's end nor would I look to rush them. I'd also wait and see how the rest of the season and the playoffs go beofre figuring out what I want to and can do about re-signing vetran center Brendan Morrisson. My goal between now and the end of the season is to ensure the team's core is settled as well as locked and loaded for the playoffs. All without rushing in where smart people tread caustously. That's why right now I just don't see any "rentals" that I think markedly improve the team in a way that doesn't involve paying more than it's worth, though if one did pop up I sure wouldn't refuse to talk about it and I don't think George McPhee will either.

How about the Olympic games today though? Russia vs. Czech Republic and USA vs. Canada. I'll watch the replays as we'll be at the Inn at Little Washington celebrating our 22nd Anniversary.

So, those are my musings, how about you? If you were GMGM what would you be looking to do...

Sept 12 2009 - A Good Day Goes Into The Books ....

So yesterday was a pretty good day here in scenic Northern VA, despite the mediocre weather. I spent two hours at KCI watching the Washington Capitals Veterans report to training camp; got a haircut without having to wait since all the usual folks got theirs last week before the return to school; watched the USMMA beat our rivals USCGA in D-III football 33-27 in double OT; and then had a call from our son whose ship arrived in China last night. So all in all I ended the day knowing: a) the start of Hockey Season is just around the corner; b) my Alma Mater is on track to a good football season and to winning the Secretary's Cup overall from the USCGA this year; c) I once again can look okay for a couple of more weeks and d) most importantly our son is safe and well and seems to be enjoying what he's doing. So that means I can once again self-centeredly retreat inward to my musings about hockey without feeling guilty - right?

Like others I took some pics at KCI yesterday which I'll post here. Before that let me say I love the slogan the shirts the guys had on their backs yesterday: "Get Ready" ... "Its Our Time." Everybody I saw looked like they were showing up ready. The Defensemen all look in great shape - like they know everyone is watching them and they will be competing with each other for playing time. Jeff Schultz seems to have bulked up in the upper body area, Mike Green looked in great shape, and Shaone Morrisson and Milan Jurcina both looked liked they were muscled up, but lean and mean as did John Erskine. Those were the guys along with David Steckel and Matt Bradley I got good looks at off the ice. Steckel and Bradley also looked very ready to play as well. As others noted Alex Ovechkin and Alexander Smin laced up their skates and played around a bit on the ice - and all I can say is WOW! Even when these two guys are clearly just fooling around you get glimpses of their awesome talent. Semin can put a puck from one side of the Kettler Ice surface all the way out of the other end, above the glass - using pretty much just the strength and muscles one uses to make a wrist shot. No wonder, the guys wrist shot is like a laser. When OV just skates normally you can see the power in his stride in a manner that is totally unmistakable. It was just great seeing the guys on the ice and knowing that in less than a month we'll be watching hockey again at Verizon Center. Here's my pics:

The banner at the Ballston Commons Entrance...

Alexander Ovechkin taking to the press...

Alexander Semin on the practice ice....

Ovie taking a slapshot from one end of the ice to the othe where a waiting Alexander Semin will snap it back ....

The two Alexes just passing the puck back and forth, even just fooling around you can see the form, skill and talent these two guys have ... it was another good day to be Alex Ovechkin....

Can't wait for the season to start...

"Get Ready - It's Our Time"

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!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Caps Rally But It's Too Little Too Late: Wild 4, Caps 3

The summary first: it was a no point night and very frustrating in the first two periods. The officiating was off the charts --- bad (and not the slang bad where bad is good but the bad, bad where bad is awful.) The first two periods were not fun to watch for Caps fans, the Caps took 4 minor penalties and the Wild took two. The Caps failed to sore on their two power play attempts in the first two periods and the Wild scored on one of their 4 power plays in the first two periods. In the first period the shots on goal were Caps 11, Wild 9. In the second period mainly because of the man advantages the Wild had, the shots on goal were Caps 6, Wild 17. At the end of two given the lopsided shots on goal and the amount of power play minutes, Minnesota had, Caps fans had to be pleased their team was only down 2-0 on the scoreboard. Minnesota fans had to be happy that both goals were scored by feel-good story, almost rookie, Cal Clutterbuck, his first and second career NHL goals.

At the end of two periods the Caps were down by a score of 2-0 AND they were "down" two more players: Boyd Gordon and Jeff Schultz. Schultz reportedly (per Tarik) has a broken finger; the reason that Boyd Gordon wasn't seen after the first period is as yet undisclosed. Hopefully at some point this season, the Caps will have a night where more players return to the line-up then are placed on the injured list; and that's just a quantity statement, as far as quality of those OUT of the line up..."Don't get me started..."

The third period was really two stories - the first ten minutes and the second ten minutes. The main story of the first ten minutes was the not one, but two "closing the hand on the puck penalties" the Caps received in a period of less than 30 seconds. First Tom Poti and then Alexander Ovechkin, both of which appeared "questionable" and gave Minnesota the chance to go up 3-0 on a power play goal (Minnesota's second of the game) by Marek Zidlicky. Then 20 year old Center James Sheppard scores his first goal of the season to put the Wild up 4-0 right after the Versus network talks to his father and sister in the stands, at 7:17. Finally, the Caps start to try and respond about midway through the period and then at about 14:30, Eric Fehr looks like the first round draft pick he is (2003 1/18) when he "bulls" his way down the left side boards and the Caps exert a bunch of pressure on Wild goalie Niklas Backstrom and Matt Bradley gets "an ugly, hockey players goal" at 14:43 to make it 4 -1. Just 1:27 later, Alexander Ovechkin scores his first goal against the Wild, assisted by Fleischmann and Jurcina to make it 4-2 at 16:07. Then at 17:13 Marek Zidliky gets a hooking penalty, here we go again it's time for the "Cardiac Kids." During the ensuing power play the Caps exert tons of pressure until Nicklas Backstrom, the 21 year old Center from Sweden scores on his namesake the 30 year old goalie from Finland, at 18:16 - Score Caps 3, Wild 4 with 1:44 left to play. The Caps had several trys at 6 on 5 with goalie Jose Theodore pulled and on the bench but to no avail, at the end of regulation the Wild were still up by one goal.

Oh well, better luck next time for our guys.....we showed we can play with heart at the end of the game with a shortened roster. Next up Atlanta, Wednsday night at Verizon; my ticket partner Tom has the ticket but I think he gave them away as both of us will be traveling to spend Thanksgiving with family the following day. I hate to miss the game as does he, but I'm sure there will be a good crowd to welcome the Caps back from this grueling road trip.

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

Caps 4 - Blackhawks 2; Home Opener Recap & Summary

Last night was a 2 point night for the Capitals, they beat Chicago 4-2, so for the season opening weekend they are 1-1-0. Before getting into the recap and game summary three other items are worth mentioning over and above the Caps own excellent play. Number one, the atmosphere and attitude of the sellout crowd of Caps fans at the Verizon Center. Simply put, it was awesome!!!! The "Phone Booth" was alive with energy and, from what I could see from my vantage point in section 103, the sellout crowd of 18,277 was truly Rockin' The Red. The Caps Fans and Faithful clearly are determined to continue to make Washington DC a Number One Hockey Town. Number two, NHL hockey fans and players everywhere should not expect officiating this year to be any different, i.e. better, than it has been the past several seasons. Last night the officiating was just as bad as on any other night; however, the Caps didn't let it get them down and played hard through the bad calls, most of which, though not all, last night favored the Blackhawks. The Capitals will need to continue to react the way they did last night to bad calls, that is ignore them and play hard "Caps Hockey" throughout the game, regardless of the officiating, if they are to go as far as they are capable of, into this year's playoffs. Number three, thirty-five year old Nickolai Khabibuhlen is a very good goaltender, without whom the game could have been very ugly for the Blackhawks.

That's right last night the Caps faced the Nickolai Khabibuhlen NOT the Christobel Huet led Chicago Blackhawks at Verizon Center in front of an energized, sellout crowd, some of whom were just waiting for the opportunity to get down on Huet. Apparently after losing their season opener Friday night at Madison Square Garden, Christobel Huet now has his tail between his legs; or the Blackhawks management has seen an error in their ways and decided to give the veteran Khabibuhlen, consistently one of the worlds best goaltenders, and a 2004 Stanley Cup winner, back the job of leading Chicago to the promised land. Chicago currently is slated to spend over $12,000,000 of Salary Cap room on goaltenders. Prior to the season start they had tried unsuccessfully to get someone else to pick up Khabibuhlen's salary. The 35 year old Russian born veteran of 12 NHL seasons, 637 NHL regular season games, and 57 NHL playoff games sports a career GAA of under 2.68 and a save percentage of over .908 when you add in his excellent playoff stats; the only strike against him is his 6.75M salary. Khabibuhlen's only NHL seasons with a save percentage under 90% were his rookie year (.895) in Winnipeg (1994-1995) and his first year in Chicago, (.886) with a new, shakey team in front of him (2005-2006). He has been as consistent as the 33 year old Christobel Huet (salary $5.625M) has been during his 5 NHL seasons, and Nickolai has 44 more games of playoff experience under his belt, as well a Stanley Cup that Huet lacks. Why all the buzz and pixels on an opposing goaltender (Khabibuhlen) on a blog devoted primarily to the Washington Capitals? Simply because he played an excellent game last night. He stopped 30 of 34 shots from the Capitals including several awesome scoring chances from some of the best sharpshooters in the world - "the Alexes" or in Russian "the Sashas" (Ovechkin and Semin), as well as a group of very strong secondary scoring threats including Nylander, Federov, Clark, Steckel, Backstrom, Fleischmann, and Kozlov. Kahbibuhlen basically robbed Oveckin (3 times), Semin (2 times), Clark (1 time), as well as Fleischmann (2 shots, 1 a great one), and Federov (2 shots, both good to great saves). One was only left to wonder what the score would have been if a shakey Huet was in the net for the Blackhawks instead of a well playing, unflappable Khabibuhlen.
[ed note: Please forgive the Christobel Huet bashing, the author is still trying to get over the lack of opportunity to boo and otherwise cackle at the former darling of Capital fans everywhere. This was an especially painful realization, since with the departure of Jaromir Jagr from the North American hockey scene, Mr. Huet, has become in the author's eyes the poster child for what is wrong with free agency in sports in general and hockey in particular. After this posting, the next time Caps fans will read anything about Christobel Huet is when there is something truly newsworthy to comment on and it will likely be of a far less partisan and more objective tone.]

Highlights, there are many, though the first minute of play was not one of them for Caps fans. Twenty six (00:26) seconds into the game Kris Versteeg , the lowest paid forward on the talented, young Blackhawks' roster, came down the right side and let loose a fair, but clearly stoppable shot from 20 feet out, from a very playable angle in the middle of the face off circle and found "pay dirt" through Jose Theodore's "five-hole" (assists to Toews and Havlat). After the goal, Nicklas Backstrom skated over tapped Theodore on the pads and said something that must have been encouraging because that was the last "softie" that the 32 year old French Canadian net minder let by. At 1:44 Caps D-Man Milan Jurcina was whistled off for a two minute "Boarding" call, that was a tribute to the Gary Bettman led NHL. The hit was clean, Jurcina coasted into the hit for a good ten plus feet, and the only reason boarding was called was because, despite Jurcina playing solid, clean hockey, he delivered a crushing, great check. The Caps killed of that penalty and Theodore really settled down and made a couple of very nice saves. Even though later in the first period, at 11:41, Jack Skille put the Blackhawks up 2-0 with a nice wrist shot from 18 feet out in the right center of the slot, by that time, the Caps and Theodore were settled down and beginning to play like the team from last spring. Just under two minutes after Skille's tally, the Caps "checking line" of Bradley-Steckel-Brashear narrowed the Blackhawks lead to 2-1 on a nice, gritty goal by Matt Bradley (assists to both Steckel & Brashear). My section-mates and I, in section 103 were treated to a great vantage point for this one as we got to watch the whole play develop and it was a beauty by a group of gritty, solid hockey players. At 19:08, the Caps got what might have been the make-up call for Jurcina's earlier boarding penalty or for several earlier missed calls on Brent Seabrook, when Seabrook was sent to the sin bin for hooking. The first period ended with the score 2-1 in favor of the Blackhawks, the Blackhawks had out shot the Caps 10-6 as well, but it did seem the momentum had turned and was in the Caps favor. The crowd was clearly and happily behind the Caps and there were no concerns with the capabilities of new number one net minder Jose Theodore.

The second period started with the Caps on the Power Play for the first 1:08; though the Blackhawks held them and killed off the penalty pretty well. At 5:08 into the period the Great Eight took an outlet pass from Tom Poti, sped down the left side, and let loose [ed note: in Boston terminology & accent please] a "wicked fast" wrist shot from 46 feet out that found the back of the net to tie the game at 2-2. At 6:15, the Blackhawks got a bench minor for too many men on the ice and despite the Capitals powerplay swarming and peppering Khabibuhlen with shots, the 35 year old Blackhawks goaltender turned them back and the boys from Chicago killed off the penalty. Starting around the 8:00 minute mark of the period, the "physicality" of the game begin to escalate even more. Lots of checking and "old time hockey" began to bubble up and since both Chicago and Washington boast rosters full of big, young, strong players there was a lot of exciting hockey played for the last 12:00 minutes of the second period. As often seen last year, when the tempo of a game picks up and the checking starts to rattle the boards more often, 2008 MVP Alex Ovechkin and Washington's "other Alex", Alexander Semin, along with 2008 21 goal scorer Brooks Laich, all raised their games a few notches. Chicago responded by trying to up the physical nature of the game even more at the other end when at 16:41 Adam Burish went to the net and pushed in on Jose Theodore for the third or fourth time of the night and Shoane Morrisonn and David Steckel decided that was just one time too many for the night. The end result was Burish and Morrisonn went off with coincidental minors for roughing and Steckel also found himself in the box for two minutes for tripping. The Caps stayed perfect on penalty killing for the night and staved off this Chicago man advantage. The physical play continued throughout the period and the second stanza ended with the game in a 2-2 tie with Mike Green in the penalty box for tripping.

The Caps started the third period like the Blackhawks started the second, successfully killing of a penalty for just under 1:30. The game continued to be played at a fast and furious pace, though in the third period Theodore, like Kahbibuhlen at the other end, began to freeze the puck more and enable the Caps to stay slightly more disciplined. The Caps were clearly playing with the confidence they exuded during the end of last season, something that was not present on Friday night in Atlanta. They were flying, swarming and routinely muscling their way to the net. After having outshot the Blackhawks 12-6 in the second period, they continued to dominate with "the best defense is a relentlessly checking and shotting offense" in the third period. The result was that at 15:33 with Laich and Semin swarming around the Chicago net like the two men with a purpose they were, Brooks Laich scored his first goal of the season after Semin bulled his way to the goal and around the net and fed the puck to Laich who was "waiting" on a very crowded doorstep. Then at 18:34 Alexander Ovechkin scored his second of the night in classic Ovechkin fashion. Goaltender Jose Theodore cleared the puck out to defensemen Jeff Schultz who found the Ovechkin streaking out through the neutral zone between two Blackhawks. Ovie did a toe drag and a head fake, then unleashed a [ed note: once again Boston accent please] "wicked, sick, fast, awesome" snapshot that found "nothin' but net" from 39 feet out. The crowd respond with a standing ovation and about a minute long chant of "M.V.P.; M.V.P.; M.V.P." With the Caps up by two, the Blackhawks pulled Khabibuhlen with just under two minutes remaining and the Blackhawks started doing some swarming of their own. Jose Theodore responded with a couple of good saves and then the Caps got a little out of synch. When they did Alexander Ovechkin tried to make a play that even he, the greatest player on the planet today couldn't quite make without a little "help", and was sent to the penalty box at 19:34 for tripping. While this was a "good penalty" it gave the Blackhawks a two man advantage and meant that Ovechkin wasn't going to have a chance at getting his first hat trick of the season on an empty-netter. For the last 26 seconds of the game the Capitals kept things solidly under control and Theodore made two more good saves to ice the home opener victory.

The three stars announced for the game were: 3: David Steckel; 2: Brooks Laich and 1: Alexander Ovechkin. As readers can tell from this posting the author felt that despite having only a .882 save percentage Blackhawks goaltender Nickolai Khabibulen played a game and was the best player on the ice last night for Chicago. That is not to say that others on the Blackhawks had a bad game, the Blackhawks definitely did not loose this game, they played well, though despite that the Capitals managed to get off 34 shots on goal and kill off 5 penalties where Chicago had a man advantage. Other Capitals playing good games, in addition to the three stars of the game, to note: Jose Theodore; John Erskine; Alexander Semin; Matt Bradley, Donald Brashear, Tom Poti, Mike Green, Chris Clark, Nicklas Backstrom, Sergei Federov, and Shoanne Morrisonn. [ed note: This is probably a longer list than is prudent, but there really wasn't anybody on the Caps roster who had a bad game last night.]
Jose Theodore, despite letting in an "oh nooo softie" in the first minute of the game came back and had a save percentage of .905, coming up big a couple of times and helping the Caps dictate the pace of the crucial third period. If Theodore plays the way he did last night for 55-60 of the remaining regular season games; and Caps solid backup Brent Johnson delivers 15-20 games, playing like he did for the first 25 minutes he played last night, the Caps will easily finish with over 100 points and there will be no reason to rush any of the three good prospects the Caps have in the system to the NHL level.
John Erskine has looked more mobile in the first two games of the season than at any time in his career to dat, and has played solidly. Right now he probably should be considered number 4 or 5 on the Caps depth chart. Last night he had 16:00 of ice time, including 0:53 of penalty kill, 2 hits, a blocked shot and 2 attempts blocked. He even raced back and caught speedy Patrick Kane on one shift that had he not done so would have resulted in an excellent scoring chance for Kane. Not bad for a guy, who along with David Steckel is one of the two lowest paid guys on the team.
Alexander Semin had another good game, Friday night he was one of the few Caps to deliver a good game. Last night despite not scoring he was a force to be reckoned with all night long. The Caps second line of Semin-Federov-Laich was really fun to watch play hockey last night. They have skill along with size and when necessary deliver either really awesome flair/playmaking or really rougish, bullish grit. They can skate with anybody or they can play "old time hockey" with anybody. All three, 38 year old Sergei Federov, 24 year old Alexander Semin, and 25 year old Brooks Laich will have great years this year, if they continue to play the remaining games this season, the way they started out of the gates in the first two of this year. The "second line" finished last night with the game winning goal and with all three members doing a great job on "special teams" especially the Penalty Kill.
The checking line of Matt Bradley-David Steckel-Donald Brashear all had banner nights as well. Bradley had a goal, a takeaway and was +2 in 12:05 TOI. Steckel, the number three star of the night, had an assist, 2 shots, a blocked shot and was +1 in 13:41 of TOI. "Brash" had an assist, one shot, one hit and three takeaways and was +1 in 8:56 of TOI.
Mr. "Steady Eddy" - Tom Poti - had another solid game, bringing discipline and leadership through example, on the ice. Poti, in 22:05 of TOI, got an assist, was +1, and had 1 takeaway and 1 blocked shot. He was on the ice for 6:22 of the penalty kill time.
Despite not scoring a goal last night while scoring two power play goals Friday night, Mike Green had a much better night. Green was solid, and the clear number 1 on the defense depth chart with 25:50 TOI and +2 on the night.
Shoanne Morrisonn had a very solid night and was clearly, after Green and Poti, the best defenseman on the ice for the Caps. Morrisonn logged 16:20 TOI, two blocked shots, two hits and was +1 on the night.
While statisticly last night wasn't either Nicklas Backstrom or Chris Clark's best game, they both made their presence known in other more subtle ways. While "Captain Chris" only had one shot, it was a beauty of a one timer on the Caps powerplay, that had Khabibulen not been having a sensational night, would have been a goal. [ed note: in a Brooklyn accent please] In other words "Dat captain guy, he was robbed, robbed dats what I says." Backstrom's night, though unexceptional, was a solid one with 14:44 TOI and ended with him collecting a takeaway and +1; but perhaps more importantly it was clear that opponents will find a bigger stronger Nicklas Backstrom as the pivot between Ovechkin and Kozlov. This dynamic gives the Caps first line an even more imposing presence for opponents to consider.
As far as Alexander Ovechkin's perfromance last night, one could write a book on it's awesomeness but it speaks for itself, so if there is a replay of the game watch it. Suffice it to say both his goals last night were/are on the highlight NHL Network today.

Things to work on for the Capitals. Despite the 4-2 victory, the Caps are now only 0.500 and there are obviously things for them to work on. One would suspect that two of the areas/things Caps coach Bruce Boudreau is pondering are 1) how to get the Caps to improve their Faceoff won percentage and 2) how he might get Milan Jurcina to learn and play position like and have the wrist shot and passing touch of Jeff Schultz; as well as how he might get Jeff Schultz to learn how he might play more physically and use his 6-6, 215# body like Jurcina uses his 6-4 223# body to check, clear the crease and launch his strong, solid slapshot from the point. The Caps faceoff perfromance last night was less than "all star" - overall it was 50% but when you scratch the surface you note the only two guys who could and did consistantly win faceoffs were Michael Nylander (3 of 4 - 75%) and Sergei Federov (13 of 17 - 76%). For some reason, David Steckel, whose faceoff won percentage last year was respectable, is routinely getting beat these first two games in the face off circle. That said as long as the team that played the Blackhawks last night is the one the Caps bring to their games the rest of this season, instead of the one that played Atlanta on Friday night, all the issues are things the Caps can and will improve on throughout the season.

Next up the Vancouver Canaucks at Verizon tomarrow night. As I'm splitting my tickets this year, if anyone has a load of grain they need to charter a ship for stop by Section 103 tommarrow night and look for my classmate Tom and his friends from Phoenix Chartering and they'll hook you up. Even though things continue at a hectic pace for me over at ICx Technologies and we are busy with program startup for the JNBCRS2 program as well as several other major program pursuits, I expect I'll somehow find the time to watch both the Canaucks Devils and Preditors games either on TV or over the net. Tom has those games since I'll be busy and not readily able to see them in person. My next live Caps game will be the one against the Carolina Hurricanes after we've all voted for our next President on November 6th. Hopefully by then, I'll have the stuff I need to do for work well under control or, like our JNBCRS Start of Work meeting the end of October, totally finished.

Can't wait to watch tomarrow's game against the Roberto Luongo led Vancouver Canaucks -

LETS GO CAPS!!!!