All Things Considered A Fair Amount of Hockey News Today....

If you've followed the blogsphere and wires already today there's nothing of real note here except two pieces of original content - the first item and my closing item....

First item - profuse apologies to any Carolina Hurricanes fans who read this blog - I don't know why I screwed up my post but I certainly did know that the Hurricanes made it to the THIRD round of the playoffs before bowing to the eventual Stanley Cup Champion - those d%m# flightless birds from Steeltown.

Second item - After over 1,200 NHL games Claude Lemieux has decided to end his comeback attempt and I guess really hang up his skates again.

Third item - the next stops in the careers of several more unrestricted free agents was settled today.

A) The now former Montreal Canadiens Captain Saku Koivu is an Anaheim Duck after spending the last 14 years in Montreal and signing a one-year, $3.25 million deal .

B) It appears Detroit's Jiri Hrdler is off to Russia and the KHL with the Moscow Dynamo.

C) Rumors are that the Flyers' Antero Nittymaki is also off to the KHL as well.


Fourth item - The Chicago Blackhawks Restricted Free Agent "faux paux"/"controversy" is totally behind them now.

Fifth item - After loosing out on the "Monster" sweepstakes to Toronto, the Dallas Stars made a trade with the Senators, acquiring veteran netminder Alex Auld for a sixth-round pick next year. In Dallas, Auld will back up Marty Turco. At times last season, Auld was the No. 1 guy in Ottawa, going 16-18-1 with a .911 save percentage and 2.48 goals-against average. The Sens acquired Pascal Leclaire to be their #1 guy this past March.

Sixth item - The Caps will be having a "Convention" at National Harbor's Gaylord Convention Center in Oxon Hill, Maryland on September 26th - I know I'll be there - will you?

Last item - okay so I'm updating my thoughts and forecast for next season's Caps lineup once again and here it is:

Mark's Crystal Ball Projected 2009/2010 Caps Lineup (7/8/2009)

Lines/Forwards:
1) Ovechkin - Backstrom - Knuble
2) Semin - Laich - Fehr****
3) Fleischmann - Nylander - Clark
4) Gordon - Steckel - Bradley
Reserves: Bourque, Osala, Beagle

Defense/Pairings:
Green - Morrisonn
Poti - Schultz
Pothier - Erskine
Reserves: Alzner, Carlson, Jurcina ****

Goaltenders:
Theodore, Varlamov
Reserve: Neuvirth

Notes:

**** Eric Fehr will not likely be ready at the start of the season so look for Chris Clark and Matt Bradley to move up a line while Chris Bourque, Oskar Osala and Jay Beagle all get some NHL playing time and try on Caps sweaters.


**** Milan Jurcina is the only Capital who requested arbitration, given he was second on the team in hits (behind Ovechkin) and was a defensive leader in blocked shots I believe he'll return this coming season. I also recently was watching a replay of Game 2 against the Rangers and had to note how well he played when paired with Tom Poti, also both he and Alzner can prtty much play with anybody when they adjust their styles appropriately so I look for both them to get a fair amount of playing time this coming season. I look for Carlson to get a try or two up in DC when somebody is hurt.

Well it won't be long now before Development Camp starts and the season opener is just something like 14 weeks away ... I don't know about you but I'm starting to think more and more about hockey and I can't wait till we all get to cheer ---

LETS GO CAPS!! for the start of the 2009/2010 regular season.

The Ins and Outs of the Washington Capitals Roster

Well we're past the second day of the free agent signing period, the draft is behind us and it's interesting to see how things are shaping up for the Caps as we look ahead to next season. Caps GM George McPhee made one great move so far and that was bringing vetran right winger Mike Knuble on board. The free agent pickup from the Flyers was something pretty much nobody saw coming. That said at 2 years and 5.6M this should be a solid good deal for both the Capitals and the 37 year old vetran right wing. Well here's my recap of the ins and outs of the roster and then I posit who I'd put on the "ice" if I were BB and the Caps had to play a game this weekend, to make things easier on myuself I assumed that any of the RFAs tendered qualifying offers were resigned.

Outs:

1) Viktor Kozlov: 2008/2009 Cap Hit: $2.5M
Thoughts/Comparative Value: As much as I liked Kozlov, to me the corresponding "In" - Mike Knuble is a definate upgrade and at just about the same price against the salary cap as Kozlov was last season. Further, Knuble's stats and numbers are better than Kozlov's were last season.

2) Sergei Federov: 2008/2009 Cap Hit: $4.0M
Thoughts/Comparative Value: I didn't see Federov agreeing to much lower a salary than $4M, and he didn't, plus he will now finish his career playing alongside his brother in his homeland. Further this is another "out" where I'm feeling pretty positive about what I think is the corresponding "in" - Brooks Laich on the second line as center. A lot of folks are worried about this including GMGM and Coach Boudreau, and they should be this upcoming season is another one where the expectations are for the Caps to go even further than they did last season. That's a lot to ask when our second highest paid returning forward is likely to no longer even be considered for top six minutes. If he's the replacement for Federov and the second line center Laich has big skates to fill, I'm willing to bet he can and does do a good job accomplishing that feat.

3) Sami Lepisto: 2008/2009 Salary:
Thoughts/Comparative Value: Does it matter? Lepisto played 7 games for the Caps during this past regular season, he had no goals, 4 assists, 6 penalty minutes and was -3. For the Hershey Bears he turned in a solid but not fantastic body of work. To my minds eye you'd have to point to one of the other Capitals prospect/developing defensemen as the trade off here. Given that over the past two seasons when he's been called up to Washington Lepisto has been inconsistent, I thought the move of sending him to Phoenix for a for a fifth-round draft choice in the 2010 NHL Entry Draft, rather than making him a qualifying offer was the right move. I also like several other prospects chances of making the big club's roster these days better than Sami's and that includes both Joe Finley as well as the more obvious choices John Carlson and Karl Alzner. Truth be told obviously for the Caps and Lepisto this was a make or break year and he didn't earn his way anywhere near a roster spot.

4) RFAs that did not recieve qualifying offers: Andrew Joudrey, Daren Machesney, Travis Morin and Sasha Pokulok.
Thoughts/Comparative Value: None of these were a surprise though after last season I'd think you'd have to say the Daren Machesney was the victim of a talent-laden goalie pipeline in the Caps System. The other thre all showed promise and flashes at one time or another and as a first rounder you'd have to class Pokulok as a disappointment at best, but none was a total surprise and the guys in the pipeline these four are making room for are all more worthy and better bets.



Ins:

1) Quintin Laing: 2008/2009 Salary: Estimated 2009/2010 Cap Hit Number: $500K
Thoughts/Comparative Value: Okay it's easy to forget that "Q" was GMGM's first free agent signing this season. After all he only spent one game this season in a Caps sweater before getting hurt. However, as a Hershey Bear he had a solid season and a solid playoffs including Calder Cup. Laing provides depth and insurance to both the Capitals and the Bears and though at age 30 he's not likely to ever be on anybody's Hall of Fame ballot, he's an inspirational player, who turns in a solid night's work every game in a manner that has made him a fan favorite.

2) Qualifying offers to Chris Bourque, Eric Fehr, Boyd Gordon, Milan Jurcina, Shaone Morrisonn, Steve Pinizzotto, Jeff Schultz and Kyle Wilson.
Thoughts/Comparative Value:
Well first the only name on this list that some might not be very familiar with - Kyle Wilson: The 24 year old center was drafted in 2004 in the ninth round by the Minnesota Wild, he played college hockey at Colgate through 2005-2006, then he was signed by the San Antonio Rampage of the AHL in 2006, he split the 2006-2007 season between San Antonio and Hershey, and was signed as a free agent by Washington last summer. He's played 80 regular season games each of the last two seasons in Hershey. This past year he notched 28 goals and 30 assists for 58 points. He was +13 and had 31 penalty minutes on the season. He's a big (6-0", 200#) right shooting, center and right now you'd have to think he';s a much better bargain and has as much chance of playing 10 games for the Capitals this next season as Michael Nylander does.
The next least known guy on this list - Steve Pinizzotto: An undrafted, 24 year old, big right wing that the Caps signed to a two year entry level contract in March of 2007 while he was playing college hockey at RIT. Pinnizzotto is a 6'-1", 196# right handed winger who has split his past two season between South Carolina and Hershey. During that time he's shown good skills and has been continuing to dvelop his nose for the net while also being a sound two way player with grit. This past season he had a particularly good set of numbers during the Bears' Calder Cup run, in 21 AHL Playoff games, Pinnizzotto had 3 goals, 2 assists and was +5.
The other six (6) players are all well known to Caps Fans and all were "no brainers" for tendering at least a qualifying offer. As far as who of those six are likely to get some interest and offer sheets and who might push through to arbitration other than the obvious one - Shaone Morrisson, you'd also have to think that any of the other five, even Bourque could be of interest to other teams as well, though I can't see Bourque pushing things to and through arbitration.

3) Mike Knuble signed as a free agent for 2 years at $5.6M
Thoughts/Comparative Value: Thoughts? Awesome comes to mind. Comparative value though Knuble is 37, his numbers have been getting better each of the past several seasons and he comes with 12 seasons of NHL experience and a Stanley Cup. He's a great trade out for Viktor Kozlov and the Right Wing the Caps hoped Chris Clark would be when they signed his last contract. This is a no brainer by pretty much any measure. He'll be awesome on the first or second line and I'm thinking it's first line for him.

So that's where things stand as of this evening - Thursday July 2nd, the Caps are not yet 100% gelled for the season but right now I think the roster looks like this if you had to put a team on the ice for a July 4th game:

Foward Lines:
1) Ovechkin - Backstrom - Knuble
2) Semin - Laich - Fehr (or Clark)
3) Fleischmann - Nylander? (or Steckel) - Clark (or Fehr)
4) Gordon (or Bradley) - Gordon (or Steckel) - Bradley (or C-Bo)
Reserves: Jay Beagle, Kieth Aucoin, Quintin Laing or several other prospects .....

Defense Pairs:
Mike Green - John Erskine
Tom Poti - Milan Jurcina
Brian Pothier - Karl Alzner
Reserves: Jeff Schultz, Shoane Morrisson, John Carlson, Tyler Sloan ....

Goaltenders:
Jose Theodore, Seymeon Varlamov
Reserves: Michal Neuvirth, Braden Holtby ... though nobody has signed "Johnnie" yet either ..

At the risk of pointing out the obvious this lineup truly illustrates Nylander's redundancey at this point and if other prospects in the pipeline continue to develop he'll definately continue to be so. He is a clearly a reason that GMGM makes the statements about UFA signings that he's been quoted as making... Also if Nyls is worth $5M this coming season and some of the guys are getting what they are getting around the league this week what will Backstrom and Semin be worth if they finish out next season with the same sort of stats or better than they had this season?

LETS GO CAPS!!!!!

A Look At The Playoff Races - East & West

The race to the playoffs hasn't slowed since I last looked at it, in fact if anything except for the five teams that have clinched playoff berths if anything it has intensified. Also for the three Eastern Conference and Two Western Conference Teams that have clinched playoff berths, things haven't really gotten too sanguine since they are dueling with each other, in a sense, for playoff seeding. Looking at the standings in each conference, their current situation and the finish I'm projecting for them looks as follows.

WESTERN CONFERENCE:

1. SAN JOSE, current 107 points; 8 games remaining; projected finish - 117 points; 1st & President's Trophy Winner.

2. DETROIT, current 107 points; 7 games remaining; projected finish - 114 points; 2nd.

3. CALGARY, current 90 points; 8 games remaining; projected finish - 96 points; 6th.

4. CHICAGO, current 91 points; 9 games remaining; projected finish - 101 points; 4th*.

5. VANCOUVER, current 89 points; 8 games remaining; projected finish - 99 points; 3rd*.

6. COLUMBUS, current 85 points; 8 games remaining; projected finish - 97 points; 5th.

7. EDMONTON, current 81 points; 7 games remaining; projected finish - 89 points; 8th.

8. NASHVILLE, current 80 points; 8 games remaining; projected finish - 90 points; 7th.

9. ANAHEIM, current 80 points; 7 games remaining; projected finish - 88 points; 10th.

10. ST LOUIS, current 79 points; 8 games remaining; projected finish - 89 points; 9th.

11. MINNESOTA, current 78 points; 8 games remaining; projected finish - 86 points; 11th.***

12. DALLAS, current 75 points; 8 games remaining; projected finish - 80 points; 12th.

13. LOS ANGELES, current 72 points; 8 games remaining; projected finish - 78 points; 13th.

14. PHOENIX, current 69 points; 8 games remaining; projected finish - 77 points; 14th.

15. COLORADO, current 64 points; 7 games remaining; projected finish - 68 points; 15th.

NOTES and DISCLAIMERS:

** Vancouver's "3rd place and seed" projection only holds for the first round of the playoffs for the second and beyond Chicago's projected 101 point finish puts them into the third seed.

*** Minnesota's projected 11th place finish is the one point of these projections that could be wildly off; if Nicklas Backstrom becomes a wall and plays really hot in their remaining 8 games they could easily win 6 vice 4 of their remaining 8 games. If that happens The Wild could finish as high as sixth. If that happen I project that the rest of my projections would hold and Edmonton would finish 9th and miss the playoffs.

EASTERN CONFERENCE

1. BOSTON, 102 points, 9 games remaining; projected finish - 110 points, 1st.

2. WASHINGTON, 99 points, 6 games remaining; projected finish - 107 points, 2nd.***

3. NEW JERSEY, 98 points, 8 games remaining; projected finish - 106 points, 3rd.***

4. PHILADELPHIA, 90 points, 9 games remaining; projected finish - 100 points, 4th.

5. CAROLINA, 89 points, 6 games remaining; projected finish - 97 points, 6th.*

6. PITTSBURGH, 88 points, 7 games remaining; projected finish - 99 points, 5th.*

7. NY RANGERS, 87 points, 7 games remaining; projected finish - 96 points, 7th.*

8. MONTREAL, 85 points, 8 games remaining; projected finish - 91 points, 8th**.

9. FLORIDA, 83 points, 7 games remaining; projected finish - 90 points, 9th**.

10. BUFFALO, 80 points, 8 games remaining; projected finish - 87 points, 11th.**

11. TORONTO, 75 points, 7 games remaining; projected finish - 82 points, 12th.

12. OTTAWA, 74 points, 9 games remaining; projected finish - 88 points, 10th.**

13. ATLANTA, 68 points, 7 games remaining; projected finish - 78 points, 13th.

14. TAMPA BAY, 65 points, 7 games remaining; projected finish - 72 points, 14th.

15. NY ISLANDERS, 58 points, 8 games remaining; projected finish - 66 points, 15th.

NOTES & DISCLAIMERS:

* This grouping is probably the most interesting to Caps fans as their finish will likely determine who the Caps play in the first round of the playoffs. However, conventional wisdom is the Caps will finish in third and I am after a lot of deliberation projecting them to be in second by a point. For my projection methodology see the listing below. It's not all that scientific but it is based on a combination of recent performance and my own "Kentucky Windage." That said, the truth is I regard these three places 5, 6, & 7 in the East to be the most difficult to project. The only thing I think I can say about them is I feel pretty strongly the three places will be occupied by Carolina, Pittsburgh and the Rangers and the biggest wild card in the group is the Rangers. If Lundqvist wins a game or two on his back or the offense kicks it up a notch it's easy to see the Rangers finishing with 3 or 4 more points and in 5th vice 7th. It's also easy to see either Pittsburgh or Carolina needing to rest and or give some wounds time to recover and finishing with a point or even two less than projected, especially if Montreal continues to slide and Florida and Ottawa slow down a little and some heat goes off of them.

** The battle and the "bubble teams" for the Eastern Conference's last playoff spot is seemingly between Florida, Montreal, and Ottawa vice Buffalo. However, once again the wild cards in projecting these races seems to be who will have a hot goaltender. Montreal may or may not be starting off with enough of a lead to hold on. My projection is they do and will. I'm actually rooting for the Panthers and the guy who could put them into the playoffs would be Tomas Vokoun. The real wild card that would come from that outcome is would that be enough to convince Jay Boumeester to consider staying in Flordia instead of bolting as an UFA this summer. On more levels then most, Florida as an organization may have the biggest motivation to make the playoffs, but will that be enough to propel their injury slowed roster to improve their current pace of play (0.450 hockey over the last 10 games to the 0.550+) I project will be required for them to make this years post-season. Ottawa just seems to be starting in too big a hole to make it even though they are the hottest team in the NHL over the past 10 games.

*** I am now projecting Washington to finish 1 point ahead of New Jersey. First and foremost, today Caps fans need to be rooting for, of all teams, Carolina for that to start down the path of happening. If that occurs the Caps will truly have a chance to take advantage of their easier strength of schedule between now and season's end to stay ahead of the Devils. It will also mean the Hurricanes extend their winning streak to six games and the Devils loosing streak extends to four games, so the Devils will be working hard to make sure that doesn't happen. The game is up in Newark at "The Rock" so that makes it even harder for the Canes and it will be an even bigger loss for the Devils. The one thing the 'Canes have going for them is they will be better rest then the Devils who lost in OT last night in Chicago. The main variable in this projection is the fact the Caps finish their season with a three game road swing to make room at Verizon Center for the NCAA Frozen Four. The Caps will also be playing Southeastern Division division foes in games after they will have most likely clinched the Division. If New Jersey were to pick thinks up over the next two or three games and the Caps were to fall more than a point or two behind the Devils at any point over the next three weeks, the basis for this entire projection probably falls apart. The basis is that both teams will be similarly motivated and in a position to fight for the second if not the first position in the Conference. Once that becomes a mathematical unlikelihood, this projection will need to be revisited.

I'll post my thoughts and musings on last night's 5-3 win over the Tampa Bay Lightning later today or tomorrow - I haven't finished editing it and I figured by this time today the blogsphere would be filled with the works of others who do that much better than I. This was something that might actually be additive to what's out there and worthy of your reading and comments.

Until then:

LETS GO CAPS!!!!!

Weekend Update - Caps Miss Another Chance to Overtake New Jersey

Saturday night in Raleigh, NC was a no point night for the Washington Capitals. After playing reasonably solid hockey for two periods and just under five minutes of the third period, the Caps let the Hurricanes take control of the game and the 'Canes never looked back. When the final horn sounded it was Hurricanes 4, Capitals 1. The icing on the cake for the Hurricanes was an 180+ footer short handed empty net goal by Joe Corvo with just under a minute left in the game. There is already a fair amount on this game around the blogsphere since some wonder aloud if it is a preview of a first round pairing of a third vs. sixth seed. It's one of those "if the season ended tomorrow things since right now the Caps are indeed in third and the Hurricanes are in sixth. However, the season doesn't end tomorrow, the Caps are still battling for second and could even get to first though that possibility seems farther away and third seems more likely each game; the Hurricanes could end up as high as fourth or as low as ninth though a finish of 5, 6, or 7 seems very likely.

So sure it's possible the Caps and Hurricanes could meet in the playoffs in the first round but it's also very possible the Caps will face the Rangers, the Penguins, the Canadiens or the Panthers. Yes I said or the Panthers. The only folks it seems unlikely the Caps will face in the first round is Boston, New Jersey or Philadelphia. Of course, those are all possible and likely second round opponents, if the Caps get past the first round. The Caps had a chance to get into second place today since the New Jersey Devils lost to the Boston Bruins 4-1 after Martin Brodeur got his 101st career shutout in a 4-0 win over the Minnesota Wild in front of a sellout crowd at home in Prudential Center on Friday Evening. The win by the Bruins mean they are the first team to clinch a playoff spot in the Eastern Conference and the Caps remain just one standings point behind New Jersey, though the Devils do also have two games in hand on the Capitals.

The Capitals now enter a stretch of the season where they have just three games over the next eleven days. At the end of that period the Caps will find themselves "even up" on the Devils each with 77 games played and Boston will have one game in hand on each of them. Boston's last six games of the season are Ottawa (twice), the Rangers, Montreal, Buffalo and the Islanders all once. The Devils last six games of the season are: Pittsburgh (on the road), Tampa Bay, Buffalo, Toronto, Ottawa, and they finish out the season at home against Carolina. The Caps' last six games are: the Islanders, Buffalo, and Atlanta all at home before they finish the season on a three game road trip (to accommodate the NCAA Frozen Four at the Phone Booth) against Atlanta, Tampa Bay and Florida. So the Bruins face "bubble tams" who are fighting for a playoff spot and/or position two or three times (depending on how Buffalo fares these next three/four games) during their last six games of the season. New Jersey faces "bubble teams" the same two or three times in their last six games; and the Capitals play "bubble teams" twice in their last six.

That schedule would seem to favor the Capitals, as would an analysis based on overall records except when you scrape below the surface that may not be true. Next up for the Caps is Toronto, who just "pasted" Montreal 5-2 on Hockey Night in Canada last night so nothing is a "given" and "that's why they play the games on the ice." Since Toronto isn't really in the "lottery race" there seems to be no reason they won't work hard to play the spoiler. Apparently the Capitals in general and Alexander Ovechkin in particular "upset" the Lightning the last time they met so during the last two meetings between the teams, expect former Flyer and Tampa Bay head coach Rick Tocchet to use that as motivation for the Bolts, for whatever that might be worth; I've already suggested that if I were Bruce Boudreau I'd consider making Alexander Ovechkin a healthy scratch for those games. I'm an old tyme hockey guy to but threatening players that way is really out of line, no matter how much Tocchet thinks OV's 50th goal celebration went over the top. The Islanders game should go the Caps way, after all in addition to their current situation, the Islanders will be playing the second game of a "back-to-back." Of course that's what I thought last night when the Caps had the Hurricanes to face. Facing Atlanta twice in their last six games would seem to be a real benefit for the Caps, except Atlanta is 7-3-0 in their last 10 games and the season series is tied 2-2. No gimmes' there for the Capitals, even though from a standings perspective the games could just as easily be "don't care/no impact" games by that point.

Finishing the season at Florida, the same day New Jersey finishes the season at home against Carolina could make for an interesting Saturday, April 11th regardless who is in the NCAA Championship game that evening at Verizon Center. Or it could just be a good day to watch the Division I College Championship game. For that one I'll be in nosebleed seats in section 424 at the "Phone Booth." I don't know who I'll be rooting for if anyone, but if they'll let me I'll be there with my Sunday WaPo and my chopping hand and "It's All Your Fault" chant at the ready. You have to keep some hockey traditions alive, even if you otherwise can't stand Don Cherry. No question that what happens between now and April 9th will mean the difference between having my undivided attention directed at the NCAA game in front of me or having one eye on the out of town scoreboard at Verizon Center and wondering why I didn't spend the money to go to Fort Lauderdale/Miami and watch the Caps season finale.

Last night ... oh yeah ... it's over time to use this stretch to look forward at the remaining 8 games and get ready for the next opponent - the Toronto Maple Leafs on Tuesday at Maple Leaf Gardens. I wonder if Don Cherry will be there in person. Maybe they can kiss and make up like Ovie did with Malkin at the All-Star Game....

LETS GO CAPS!!!

End Of Season Results Forecast - Eastern Conference

As I sit here watching the Caps - Lightning game which is now half over I decided to "Muse" about where I probably think the various NHL Eastern Conference teams will finish the season. Looking ahead to the end of the regular season and projecting likely season point totals of each team in the Eastern Conference based mainly on their performance over the 10 games prior to tonight's match ups, the projected finishing position of each team is as listed below. The bottom line is based on current recent performance it looks increasingly like the current top 8 teams will be the likely teams to make the playoffs. That said the playoff seeding and positions could and likely still will jumble a little. My projections for the finishing positions and total points are as listed below:

1. New Jersey Devils - 112 Points

2. Boston Bruins - 109 Points

3. Washington Capitals - 107 Points

4. Philadelphia Flyers - 99 Points

5. Pittsburgh Penguins - 98 Points

6. New York Rangers - 96 Points

7. Carolina Hurricanes - 95 Points

8. Montreal Canadiens - 94 Points

9. Florida Panthers - 90 Points

10. Buffalo Sabres - 87 Points

11. Ottawa Senators - 84 Points (37 Wins)

12. Toronto Maple Leafs - 84 Points (36 Wins)

13. Atlanta Thrashers - 79 Points

14. New York Islanders - 72 Points

15. Tampa Bay Lightning - 71 Points.

It seems increasingly, actually virtually certain, unless catastrophe hits the top three spots will be New Jersey, Boston and Washington. The only real questions seem to be: 1) How long can/will New Jersey keep up their current great play before they decide to start resting a few folks and will that be before or after they overtake Boston? and 2) Will the Capitals be able to take advantage of their "easier" schedule during their remaining 12 games to overtake either New Jersey or Boston?

My answers: 1) The Devils will keep their current level of ply up long enough to pass the Bruins; and 2) The Caps will come close but will not pass the Bruins who will slide into second.

The next group of teams are basically all at least 10 points and 3 or more games behind Washington. They are all basically in a pack fighting it out for playoff spot seeding between fourth and eighth. The major questions here are: 1) Will Pittsburgh be able to keep up their league leading performance of late (8-0-2) long enough to overtake Philadelphia for fourth place in the Conference or not? 2) Will Philadelphia be able to raise their performance of late against the numerous playoff contention teams they face in what will be intense games over their remaining schedule (8 of 13 games remaining) to use their three games in hand to stay ahead of the surging Penguins who they face only once more this season? 3) Will Florida be able to raise their performance in light of recent injuries enough to over take either Carolina, who they have 2 games in hand on or Montreal who seems to be sliding again of late (lost last three games)? and 4) Will a seemingly rejuvenated New York Rangers team continue to stay ahead of a surging Carolina Hurricanes team?

My answers: 1) Pittsburgh will keep up a high level of play but Philadelphia will also stop their two game losing streak tomorrow night against Buffalo and then play well enough the rest of the season to hold onto fourth place in the conference. The real key game for both teams between now and season's end is their final meeting on Sunday in Pittsburgh and I project Philadelphia as a 1 goal winner. 2) Yes the Flyers will raise their game, I'm projecting them to play 0.576 hockey (vice their recent 0.450 hockey over4 their last 10 games) the rest of the way this season. I project 5 games to be key for them in their stretch run to do that: their game against Pittsburgh on Sunday, their two games against the Rangers and their home and home against the Maple Leafs who so far this season they are 1-1 against. 3) Short answer is unfortunately no, I'm rooting for them though as I'd love to see three teams from the "weak" Southeast Division in the playoffs. However, I project they won't be able to make it mainly because Florida's final 12 games include 7 against teams who like Florida are fighting for either a spot in the playoffs or seeding position so they have a pretty tough schedule ahead and even though Montreal is sliding they are currently 1 1/2 games ahead of Florida and both teams have similar recent past performance over the last 10 games. 4) Yes barring some sort of Sean Avery blow-up which seems unlikely the Rangers with 30 goals for; 19 goals against and a 6-3-1 record in their last 10 games will have enough to stay ahead of the Hurricanes who have played to a similar set of results over their last 10 games.

Well now we'll see if the Caps can continue to stay ahead of the Lightning and hold or extend their 2-1 lead to make it a 2 point night.

LETS GO CAPS!!!!!

Washington Capitals Trim Roster To 22; Ready for Season Opener

Well the Capital's have trimmed their roster for the season opener sending Chris Bourque and Karl Alzner down to Hershey, as well as placing Quintin Laing on waivers with the hope he too clears them and will be assigned to Hershey as well. The Capitals will start the season with a 22 man roster on Friday Night in Atlanta against the Thrashers. The Hershey Bears start their regular season on Wednesday (10/8) against the Wilkes Barre Scranton Penguins (The Baby Pens) at Wachovia Arena at Casey Plaza, in Wilkes-Barre, PA.

The "blogshpere" is now alive with second guessing and criticisms of the moves. These pundits ponder why Alzner is in Hershey instead of either Milan Jurcina and/or John Erskine; they also ponder why Chris Bourque isn't in a Caps Jersey this week instead of one of the other forwards. Interestingly the names I saw on comments to Taril El-Bashear's blog were Semin and/or Fleischman. Perhaps "interestingly" is a bit of a wrong-headed characterization, as regards Semin, I should have said "laughably". Sure, if I was the General Manager, I'd keep the unproven Chris Bourque over a guy who has 192 games of NHL experience and who has scored as many as 38 goals in a season, why not let's put him on waivers and see if Semin clears. I really wish the Caps Ownership would dump GM George McPhee and let the "blogsphere braintrust" manage the team. Given the kind of astute, unemotional comments they make regularly here on the net, time and again, they always give me much more confidence that with them in charge a Stanley Cup would find it's way to the phone-booth so much faster than with the current leadership.

The debate on Bourque vs. "Flash" isn't without some merit on both sides but the fact Bourque is just 22 years old and didn't have to clear waivers while Fleischmann would have had to do so, is a valid reason for making the selection if they felt the choice was close to a toss-up.

Quintin Laing, a mid-season call-up last year, whose shot blocking prowess, and "grit" made him a fan favorite, was also a victim of the extremely deep Capital's talent pool at forward. While I personally would love to see "Q" stay in the Caps system, at 29, after the season he had and the "grit" he displayed last season, for his sake I hope he gets claimed and finds a home in the NHL somewhere. Laing deserves another season in the NHL, but with the "grinders" on the current roster: Gordon, Steckel, Bradley, Brashear and Fehr along with the guys in front of them on the depth chart: Federov, Nylander, Ovechkin, Semin, Clark, Kozlov, Laich and Fleischmann, as well as the presence of Jay Beagle and Chris Bourque in the system mean it is much more likely he'll play somewhere else in the NHL besides, Washington.

The debate on Alzner fails to recognize the salary cap as a reality in the post-lockout NHL. Those making the argument to keep him here in DC also fail to recognize the difference in either his or Sami Lepisto's development pace when playing 22+ minutes a game in Hershey vs. playing 12-16 minutes a game here in DC. They also don't recognize the value of spending some time in the AHL and increasing a young players confidence as a valid reason to not rush things. The argument to keep Jurcina and Erskine in DC includes several points: a) both would need to clear waivers and both would likely be picked up by others for different reasons; b) for the skill level and the minutes they are capable of logging both are "extremely "Cap Friendly"; c) both are mature, big physical players who bring a large amount of "grit" to the roster.

The Caps have a super roster and the starting lineups for the season opener in Atlanta on Friday night as well as the home opener against the Blackhawks on Saturday are simple awesome. I can't wait to Rock The Red on Saturday when the Caps will raise their 2007-2008 Southeast Division Championship to the rafters.

LETS GO CAPS!!!!!!

TGIF - Countdown: 21 Days Till The Caps Home Opener and..

Well it's just 21 days till the Caps regular season home opener; full squad training camp starts tomorrow at Kettler; and around the league things are heating up. Here's some background from the mainstream media on our Eastern Conference rivals.


Ottawa -It's their fourth day in camp today, they will start making cuts this weekend, they currently have 54 players in camp. Today's Ottawa Sun actually had an article by my "favorite" MSM hockey beat writer, Bruce Garrioch, on Chris Neil that didn't sound like it was written by a conehead. You can find it here. Other articles in the Sun center on the fact the Senators currently have 18 defensemen in camp as they look for a viable replacement to their former anchor, number 1 minute muncher, Wade Redden; and an article on how new coach Craig Hartsburg has a mindset that everything and everyone starts with a clean slate. I doubt that sentiment will be taken to heart by Ottawa's hockey mad press and fans - I'm betting they still expect a Cup this year, like every year. Hopefully, the Capitals will continue to "have the Senator's number" this year as they did last season.



Montreal - The Canadeans opened camp today and have an increased focus on strength and conditioning this year, or at least that appears to be the implication of this article in today's on-line edition of the Montreal Gazette. No doubt last year's Conference winners will once again be a tough group to beat and the big recent news in Montreal is the trade for Robert Lang which will only help the "rich" become "richer." though with Jose Theodore in the net, the Caps will again have a netminder with something to prove to the Montreal fans and team management and will likely play with a little bit of edge. The same edge that AO always seems to play against Montreal with.


Toronto - The Maple Leafs opened training camp with General Manager Cliff Fletcher and Coach Ron Wilson taking a look at 60 players who started camp today. Luke Schenn and Nikolai Kulemin lead a group of rookies hoping to crack the roster. Notable not absent were Mats Sundin and many Leaf mainstays such as Darcy Tucker, Bryan McCabe and Andrew Raycroft. As of his last press conference Sundin is still trying to figure out if he wants to play another NHL season - from what's going on it sure seems to me he's looking to play a "Scott Neidermeyer" season if he plays at all this year.


Boston - The Bruins rookies play the Islander's rookies today and the Bruins continue to try and bulk up the size of their roster. Boston will again be a solid team though there has been a lot of changes, this will be the season where fans will see if Tim Thomas can put together two All-Star seasons back to back. The Caps should match-up well against Boston but if they continue to build the size of their roster, they will not be an easy W for anyone.


Buffalo Sabres - The big news yesterday in Sabreland was that the Sabres, tired of losing their homegrown talent to free agency, have agreed on a five-year, $26.5 million contract extension with high-scoring right winger Jason Pominville. The extension will keep the 25-year-old team captain in Buffalo through the 2013-14 season. The Sabres open training camp tomorrow at HSBC Arena with a huge 56 man roster: 6 goaltenders, 19 Defenseman, and 32 forwards, a scrimmage and an unveiling of their new third jersey for their fans.


New York Rangers - The official beginning of the post-Jaromir Jagr era was Tuesday. Training camp officially got underway, as the 65 players in camp - many of whom, including all of the team's free-agent acquisitions, had already reported early - convened at the MSG Training Center in Greenburgh to take physicals before Wednesday's first official skate. The more pressing questions surrounding the Rangers have less to do with physical education than with chemistry. After the July, 2007 signings of Scott Gomez and Chris Drury gave the team potency and depth at center, this summer's departure of Jagr, Sean Avery and Martin Straka - and the limbo in which Brendan Shanahan finds himself - have completed a near-overhaul of the roster and made way for new veterans on the wings and the blue line. This offseason's four big acquisitions - wingers Markus Naslundsld, and Nikolai Zherdev, and D-men Wade Redden and Dmitri Kalinin - left their old teams amid doubts about their futures and have come to New York hoping to reinvigorate their careers. Alas, as can be seen in more detail in this article, my second "favorite" MSM hockey beat writer, Larry Brooks, seems to have already used his great hockey knowledge, hockey sense, and infallible intuition realtive to human nature and drive to quickly determine that Zherdev is an underachieving bust. So of course I am now rooting for Zherdev to call out Larry and suggest that he eat his hat on center ice at the first intermission of a Ranger's Home game after Nickolai scores his 30th goal this season. Yes, I just want to see it posted on YouTube for all to see.


New York Islanders - The Islanders veterans started training camp today and there's not a lot of news out of their camp other than the fact that new head coach Scott Gordon is bringing an energy level and vitality to the organization that seems familiar of the same type of stuff Bruce Boudreau's arrival brought to the Cap's team last season. Time will tell if that view is well founded but the Islanders are not a team without talent and Rick DiPietro is a great guy to have in between the pipes.


New Jersey Devils - The Devils reported for physicals today and start workouts tomorrow. That is just two days before they play their first preseason game Monday night in Philadelphia against the Flyers. Per the Newark Star-Ledger, coach Brent Sutter said he will start exhibition games with his goalies playing half a game. He even thinks backup Kevin Weekes will be able to play soon enough after recovering from late May surgery to re-attach the biceps muscle to the bone in his left arm. Though they may continue to be less exciting to watch then the Washington Capitals, the Devils look once again to be a tough opponent and a contender this season. Coach Sutter is hoping that the return of free agent Brian Rolston will give the Devils some more offensive punch to compliment their ever sound defense.


Philadelphia Flyers - The Flyers and new Team Captain 23 year old Mike Richards, coming off a season in which they reached the Eastern Conference finals, will open their training camp tomorrow with 66 players. With backup goaltender Antero Niittymaki expected to miss the start of the season after hip surgery, the Flyers yesterday signed Jean-Sebastien Aubin to a one-year contract just in time to report to camp. The Flyers will start camp and the season with a solid line-up and a stable situation after going from "worst to "almost" first" last season. The local MSM lists the following five players as the ones for lyers fans to watch as they get ready for the regular season to start: Antero Niittymaki, Ryan Parent, rookie Claude Giroux, comeback story Bryan Berard (Berard is not quite a Vince Pappale story but one that ought to have everyone rooting him.), and Simon Gagne - it would be huge for the team to get back the Gagne who had back-to-back, plus-40-goal seasons, but we all know too well that concussions are a scary unknown. Even if these five guys on the roster, the Flyers will again be a tough opponent for the Capitals, and Caps fans will no doubt again be treated by the rivalry between Richards and Ovechkin when the two teams play each other. The Richards-Ovechkin rivalry is as intense or more so then the Crosby/Malkin - Ovechkin battles ever will be. That said look for Jose Theodore to work really hard to outplay Martin Biron when these two old rival teams battle each other.


Pittsburgh Penguins - Pen's coach Michel Therrien will open camp tomorrow with a 42 player roster after returning 9 players from rookie camp to their junior team's today. Pittsburgh will still still have 24 forwards, 14 defensemen and four goaltenders in camp. The lineup for tomorrow includes forwards Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, Pascal Dupuis, Jordan Staal, Janne Pesonen, Ryan Stone, Kris Beech, Jeff Taffe, Miroslav Satan, Petr Sykora, Bill Thomas and Eric Godard, defensemen Sergei Gonchar, Ben Lovejoy, Alex Goligoski, Brooks Orpik, Mark Eaton and Darryl Sydor and goalies Marc-Andre Fleury and Dany Sabourin. Though the Pens lost some very good players to the Salary Cap & Free Agency this off-season the young core of Crosby-Malkin & Fleury is second to none, though our own Capitals' "Young Guns" do give them a run for the money.


Carolina Hurricanes - The Hurricanes opened training camp today with player physicals and will be in full practice mode tomorrow morning. After three weeks of camp and six preseason games. While the 'Canes don't look any stronger this year than last they will no doubt find a way to give the Caps lots of solid competition for the Southeast Division Championship. Getting edged out by the Caps last season will no doubt make them play Washington with their "A" game even when they are tired and bruised later in the season.


Atlanta Thrashers - The Atlanta Thrashers open training camp under new coach John Anderson with a roster of 51 players at 9AM tomorrow and will work hard to be ready for their season opener on October 11th at Philips Arena against the Capitals. Atlanta has a couple of challenges that it's hard to understand - they may struggle to stay above the league's minimum salary requirement and they haven't named a team captain to replace Bobby Holik who departed for Atlanta for New Jersey as a free agent in the off-season. Why they haven't assembled a solid set of players who compliment Ilya Kovalchuck using the cap room created by the "departure" of Marian Hossa and why they haven't already named Kovalchuck their captain remain mysteries to many fans of the game. All things considered the Caps should be able to handle the "Bluebirds" well this season as Atlanta takes stock and starts to build the team's offense firmly around Kovalchuck.


Tampa Bay Lightning - Coach Barry "the mullet" Melrose opened camp 4 days ago with a vengeance, encouraging hard play and "physicality". The Lightning will be a wild card for every team that plays them this season; they have a high powered offense, a very young defense, and an interesting situation in goal. The big thing to watch in Tampa Bay over the next couple of weeks will be the development and acclimation of Steven Stamkos to the NHL game.


Florida Panthers - The new-look Panthers get back on the ice Saturday for the first time as training camp opens in Coral Springs. The Panthers signed defenseman Keith Ballard to a six-year extension on September 9th. Ballard, was acquired from Phoenix along with defenseman Nick Boynton for Olli Jokinen in a trade at the draft, is expected to start the preseason skating in the first pairing with Jay Bouwmeester. The biggest question for the Panthers this season is who will fill the scoring void left by the departure of Jokinen. The Panthers look solid on defense (fitting for a team whose color commentator is Dennis Potvin) and in goal; scoring/power forward is the area that the Panthers leave the most questions. Free Agent pick-up Cory Stillman provides a possibility for filling some of the gap left by the departure of last year's team captain (Jokinen) but those will be big shoes to fill. The Panther's now formidable defense will keep them in most games, if they can put together a fair offense they should win their share of games. The Caps - panthers match-ups will be interesting to watch but the edge is defninately with the Capitals. The other thing that is a sure thing, is that after last season Caps Fans will cheer for Richard Zednik when he hits the ice, every time, as long as he isn't the one filling that scoring void.


The last team to talk about in the Eastern Conference ....


Washington Capitals - The best, most fun to watch team in the NHL. That's all I have to say on that one. I can't wait for the home opener on October 11th when we'll all be "Rockin' the Red".


LETS GO CAPS!!!!!

Western Conference vs Eastern Conference -Myths and Realities

So as I look ahead towards the upcoming season on the eve of the opening of Caps Rookie Camp tomorrow, I decided to ponder and muse on what it will likely take the Caps to repeat as Southeastern Conference Champions and make a run deeper into the playoff then last season. The first thing I noted when looking at last season's statistics and standings is that last year in the supposedly softer Eastern Conference. It took 94 points to make the playoffs while over in the "tougher" Western Conference it took only 91 points for the Western Conference 8th place Nashville Predictors to make the playoffs. Of course the only Eastern Conference team that didn't make the playoffs in the East that would have made them if they were in the West were the Carolina Hurricanes.



What does that mean? Well looking at the year end standings and the pickups/changes from last year to me it means that the Detroit Red Wings are the only reason folks say the Southeastern Division is the softest division in the NHL. You got it, if it weren't for the President Trophy winning Red Wings, the "softest" division in the NHL last year would have been the Central Division - by a visible margin, in this authors opinion. What about looking ahead to this upcoming season. Well first we need to note that the schedule this year has each team play each of their division rivals only 6 times vice eight and that every team plays each other at least once. From a vantage point of "fairness", I think that's a good thing. From a Season Ticket Holders perspective, I also say thank goodness, I'm actually tired of seeing the Caps play the Hurricanes, Lightning, Panthers and Thrashers. From a scheduling perspective it means that instead of 8 games (2 each against the Hurricanes, Panthers, Thrashers and Lightning) the Caps will play one each against Western Conference Teams they didn't face last year (LA Kings - 71 pts, Phoenix Coyotes - 83 points, San Jose - 102 pts, Anaheim - 102 points, and Dallas - 97 points); they also play the Nashville Predators of the Western Conference (91 points) twice vice once and play two additional games against non-Southeastern Division Eastern Conference teams. So as far as strength of schedule they trade 2 games against the Lightning (71 points) for a game against the Kings (71 points) and the Coyotes (83 points); two games against the Thrashers (76 points) for games against the Predators (91 points) an the Flyers (95 points); two games against the Panthers (85 points) for games against the Rangers (95 Points) and Dallas (97 points); two games against the Hurricanes (92 points) for games against the Ducks (102 points) and the Sharks (108 points). So in review all 8 games the caps trade for non-Southeast division games are even or against stronger opponents then the Southeast Division based on last year's regular season standings. Further looking at the off-season moves by the teams the Caps add to the schedule this year, one generally concludes they are either on track to perform at least as well as last season or better. Phoenix, in particular looks read to make the playoffs.



All that said, if the Caps continue to play like the team that finished the regular season or even one that plays like they played after Thanksgiving last year they could break 100 points, even against this tougher schedule. From all reports the team's stalwarts and anchors worked pretty hard in the off-season and are arriving back in better shape then they were after they exited the playoffs last year. Further it looks like veterans Michael Nylander and Chris Clark are 100% healthy and ready to go as well.



Separating myth from reality the facts are, despite the negative hype, over the last 8 seasons, Western Conference Teams have won the Cup 4 times and Eastern Conference Teams have won the Cup 4 times. During that time Southeastern Division Teams have won the cup twice (Carolina - 1, Tampa Bay - 1), the same number as the Central Division (Detroit - 2), the Atlantic Division (New Jersey - 2), or the Western Division (Anaheim - 1, Colorado - 1). The Southeast Division hasn't been doormats, particularly when they get into the playoffs. The Caps have the ability to repeat but the Carolina Hurricanes are going to give them a run for their money and the Tampa Bay Lightning are a total wild card at this point. Once in the playoffs the Caps will have to overcome one of the usual suspects from the Atlantic and Northeast Divisions. The Flyers will again be strong, as will the Canadeans, and while Pittsburgh's depth up front took a small hit from off-season departures, they too will be a solid, tough playoff contender. New Jersey and Ottawa will also likely make solid runs this year and be playoff contenders to watch. Even given all of the above, the Washington Capitals have definitely arrived and are firmly in the top half or quarter of the leagues team, even on off nights.



I can't wait to Rock the Red on October 11th at the Phone Booth - can you?



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

Sometimes I'd Rather Be Lucky Than Good

As part of reviewing my time here in the blogsphere, I went back to look over my posts to see where I got comments. Interestingly, I did a post on the Ottawa Senator's firing John Paddock where I digressed and made a prediction that Christobel Huet would get signed to a 4 year $20 million deal. Of course numerous aspects of that prognostication were incorrect, however at the time I looked at 4 things to estimate Huet's future value - 1) the limited number of goalies that would be entering the free agent pool at the end of the season; 2) Huet's age and his desire to get a contract that would take him as long at a number 1 goaltender's salary; 3) Huet's save percentage both career and season long till that point in February; and 4) the amount of money/budget I projected the Caps would be willing to spend on their next year's #1 goaltender. While many aspects of my thinking were off by a little (the Capital's budget) to a lot (where Huet would ultimately sign - Chicago vice Washington), the bottom line value and term of the contract I predicted were pretty close. While at the time I was questioned by some, and at the time Huet had not had the end of season run he ultimately put together, I maintain that the overall market conditions (the limited number of proven #1 goaltenders available) were as much a reason and in fact the over-riding reason that he got the deal he did.

Ironically, Chicago wasn't a team, that back in February, you would have predicted was in the market for a new number 1 goaltender. Nickolai Khabibuhlan is still listed on the Blackhawk's website as their number 1 tender, last year he was 23-20-6 in 50 games played with a Save % of .909 and a GAA of 2.69. While his statistics were in the lower third of goaltenders (GAA - 23rd and Sv% - 25th), given the young team in front of him and especially the young defense, and the fact that his $6.75M salary cap hit comes with a no trade clause it was difficult to see Chicago taking a run at Huet. Huet's stats for last year were a Save percentage of 0.920 (6th in the league) and a GAA of 2.32 (10th in the league) in 52 regular season games played. However in the 39 games he played in Montreal last year he was 21-12-6 with a GAA of 2.55 and a SV% of .916 (in his 13 regular season games with the Capitals he was on fire at 11-2 with a GAA of 1.63 and a save percentage of .936). A couple of off hand observations follow. Is Khabibuhlan worth $6.75M/season? Maybe not right now but career statistics-wise, Khabibuhlin has played in 636 games over 11 seasons and is 274-258-58-17 with a save % of .908 and a GAA of 2.69. These totals include his last three seasons in Chicago during a rebuilding period which actually pull down his career overall numbers. Huet's career statistics: 183 games in five NHL seasons, a record of 83-61-11-13 with a GAA of 2.43 and a save % of .918 in the regular season. Next season the Blackhawks will pay him $5.625M, as they will for each of the next four seasons, he is currently 32 years old. So who should be the Blackhawks number 1 goaltender in 2008 - 2009 and why? From my perspective, it needs to continue to be Nickolai Khabibulin because of the statistics NOT listed above - he has 57 games of playoff experience and a Stanley Cup compared to Huet's 13 games and never getting past the first round. Also when you discount Huet's time last season with the Capitals, Khabibulin's numbers for 2007-2008 are pretty comparable to Huet's with Montreal. Bottom line is during the first third of this coming season, Christobel Huet needs to show the coaching staff and fans in Chicago that he is capable of consistently playing at the level he played from February through April. If he does that his signing by the Blackhawks will be lauded, if he doesn't well .... that sort of stuff will all go the other way.

If your still not glad that the Washington Capitals have a straightforward goaltending situation at the start of the season, led by a number 1 goaltender who wants to be here, and a solid, experienced backup; well you should be. Also of note is that Chicago's budget for their number 1 and 2 goalies $12.375M, Washington's budget for the same roster slots: $5.312M. Comparatively, the Stanley Cup Champion Detroit Red Wings #1 & #2 goaltenders will earn $2.167M this coming season; last season's Vezina Trophy winner Martin Brodeur will make $5.2M and the New Jersey Devils will spend $5.87M on goaltender salaries next season. In general most teams are spending between $5 & $7.5M of their available salary cap on goaltender salaries, IF they have one of the top 10 goaltenders on their roster. Of course with their current crop of young talent at forward, Chicago has some salary cap room to spare and can carry an extra goaltender through this next season if they so choose. However, that space quickly evaporates at the end of this season as they will need to plan for the looming Restricted Free Agency of Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane. All in all, the Capitals situation looks much better when it comes to managing their talent pipeline and salary cap over the next few years than the young and talent rich Blackhawks.

Can't wait till next season. LETS GO CAPS!!!! But for now it's time to get back to work on this lovely, hot Sunday afternoon.

Laich & Federov Re-signed; Next Up ShaMo...

[ED NOTE] No in depth analysis since I'm a day late on this one - see the below post as to what I've been up to today besides waiting for this news with baited breath. Sorry there is more to life than just following the Caps though today's news out of the Capitals Organization only made a great day better....

The Caps avoided arbitration and signed Brooks Laich to a very fair three year deal for both sides. Laich signed a 3 year deal worth $6.2M deal. At the end of the term Laich will be 28 years old and an Unrestricted Free Agent so the upside of this is if he continues to improve he can cash in on that success next time around. Also looking around the league and at the numbers the deal is a fair deal for both sides, as long as Brooks continues to play at least to the level of his potential as he displayed last season. The deal also means that folks going to fan fest can buy their "Laich" "#21" Jerseys and get them autographed without fear they are buy obsolete gear on Saturday.

Sergei Federov will be back in a Caps uniform next year and has reportedly signed a 1 year; $4M deal.

Also according to Tarik El-Bashir, Shoane Morrisson's arbitration has been scheduled for July 24th.

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

Taking Stock and Looking Ahead

What's Next for the Caps? Development Camp Starts Monday.

The Caps have and are doing so many things right but there are a few big question marks left to ponder looking ahead to next season. Today is "arbitration filing day" but don't expect any news relative to the Caps roster. The Caps now have X question marks hanging over the lineup for next season - first and most ambiguous is the health status of two players on the roster: Team Captain Chris Clark and veteran Top 4 defenseman Brian Pothier. After that the remaining unsigned free agents that GMGM has said he'd like back "Rockin' the Red" next season: Laich, Morrisson, Federov, Gordon and Fehr. If all seven of these guys are healthy and signed the Capitals Depth Chart could well look something like this going into camp.

LW CENTER RW
1) Ovechkin 1) Backstrom 1) Kozlov
2) Semin 2) Nylander 2) Clark
3) Laich 3) Federov 3) Fehr
4) Brashear 4) Steckel 4) Gordon
5) Laing 5) Fleischmann 5) Bradley

Defense: 1) Green, 2) Poti, 3) Pothier, 4) Morrisson, 5) Schultz, 6) Jurcina, 7) Alzner, 8) Erskine.

Goalies: 1) Theodore, 2) Johnson.

So if you did the math that's a total of 25 players - two too many which means that it's likely the Caps will have one of the 8 defenseman and one of the 15 forwards I've listed wither in the press box or start the season in Hershey. That will depend on a couple of factors - for Alzner it'll be his performance during next week's development camp and subsequently training camp if he does well next week. For the forwards for Schultz, Laing, Steckel and Fleischmann it'll be a function of what they do at training camp and what kind of shape and attitude they show up with. The least likely of these to be in the press box or Hershey at the start of next season is Jeff Schultz when you get over some minor appearance issues and look at his numbers from the 2007-2008 regular season. For Brashear, Bradley, and Gordon the have the experience and certain desired skill sets that unless they show up out of shape or with their heads screwed up - not likely given their personal make up - they'll be on the team and dress regularly. John Erskine needs to show up in shape and ready to skate with his best game possible given the drafting of Erskine and the other quality defenseman in the pipeline at Hershey; in retrospect Steve Eminger has got to be glad he's on a different roster.

Eight Other Forwards in the pipeline at Hershey and South Carolina who could also challenge for a roster slot are: LW Chris Borque, C Kieth Aucoin, C/RW Mathieu Perreault, RW Fracious Bouchard, LW Oskar Osala, RW Andrew Gordon, C Phil DeSimone, and C Jay Beagle. The placement of the #4 and #5's in these positions is based on their last season or couple of seasons efforts but clearly none of these guys can "rest on their laurels" though none are really the type to do so. Brashear, Steckel, Gordon, Laing, and Bradley are there based on their "grit" value to the team as stoppers. Of course Brashear and Bradley also can provide some protection to the Caps star forwards and they, Laing and Gordon hustle into the corners like nobody's business. Steckel and Laing provide the Caps two awesome penalty killers and when paired with Federov and Gordon provide the potential for short-handed scoring threats as well. All that said, if secondary scoring becomes an urgent need and Fleischmann, Bradley and Gordon haven't started to improve their productivity by November, don't be surprised if any of the 6 guys listed in the 4) & 5) slots spend some time in the press box while whoever is the "hot hand" in Hershey gets some ice time with the big club.

There are also 3 defenseman in the pipeline that could challenge Jurcina, Erskine, Schultz and Alzner for the last three of the seven defenseman slots on the Capitals' roster. In Hershey and South Carolina the following guys have the potential to make a run at an NHL spot this year: 1) Sami Lepesto, 2)Sasha Pokulok, and 3) Patrick McNiell. Further down the pipeline is 19 year old Kieth Seabrook who will also attend development camp this year.

The Caps have three good Goalies in the pipeline but all are 2-4 years away from being regulars in the NHL though if Theodore and Johnson play to their potential and turn in solid seasons the Caps could be a 100 point team.

Overall the Caps are looking good with a fairly stable roster that should only get better and more experienced for the next two years, that's why guys like Sergei Federov may indeed take a little less then they could make back home in the Continental Hockey League and elect to finish out their careers playing next to last season's MVP. There is a lot of young talent available for Coach Bruce Boudreau to mix and match on the lines however if Clark and Pothier don't come back from their injuries last season what happens. Clark brings gritty play AND secondary scoring; if he can't come back Federov's locker room leadership is even more important and valuable as is the need for Federov, and Fleischmann to ramp up their scoring, as well as somebody like Steckel who has proven his ability to score at the AHL level to find the back of the net more against NHL foes. If Pothier can't make it back as a regular then Schultz has to "kick it up a notch" quickly and find the ability to play like he did in December and January and play that way all season; Jurcina and Alzner both also have to work hard and quickly mature into the players they can be. Alzner will be a rookie and can' t be expected to play error free hockey, but Jurcina needs to not make avoidable mistakes at the rate he did at times last season. Without Clark and Pothier, the Caps can still be a solid hockey team, they showed that in December through February, but they need to play very smart intense hockey every minute - Pothier and Clark in the lineup turn a good team into a very good team.

In an aside, it certainly does appear that Olie Kolzig will wear #37 for Tampa Bay - it would be kickin' if he has a really hot year with it there too (yes EXCEPT when he plays the Caps).

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

What's Next for Caps Fans?

As the Free Agent Signing Dust Begins to Settle Who Still Has Cap Room?


That is a question that may play a big role in what happens over the next week or two with the remaining unsigned Washington Capital free agents. As of this morning the Caps still had not re-signed 4 Restricted Free Agents: Center Brooks Laich, Center Boyd Gordon, Defenseman Shaone Morrisonn, and Right Wing Eric Fehr as well as two key unsigned trade deadline pickups that are now Unrestricted Free Agents: Center Sergei Federov and Left Wing Matt Cooke. Will the Caps be able to keep all six of these players and virtually hold together their entire team from last season (less Goalies Olie Kolzig and Cristobel Huet)? A lot of that answer now depends on the fact the Caps have just over $6.3M of Salary Cap space left for next season and some other teams in the league have a lot of Cap space and a lot of needs. Who will the Caps potentially compete with for their most desired remaining free agents?


There are 13 NHL teams who have significant ability to continue to be active without making major shuffles with their existing rosters. The teams with significant salary cap space can be easily seen at the website "HockeyBuzz.com" - as of this morning they are: 1) LA Kings have $27.1M of salary cap space and an 08/09 roster with just 18 signed players; 2) Atlanta - over $25M of Cap Space and just 18 players on their 08/09 roster; 3) Columbus has $17.7M of cap Space and 21 roster slots filled; 4) Vancouver has $17.2M of salary cap space and 19 filled roster slots; 5) Colorado has over $16M of cap room and only has 16 roster slots filled; 6) the New York Islanders have $15.9 of cap room and 19 on their roster; 7) Phoenix has $15M of space and a roster with 20 players; 8) Nashville has $14.2M of space and 19 signed players; 9) Buffalo has just under $14M of cap space and 18 players on their roster; 10) Ottawa has $12.3M and 19 on their roster; 11) Minnesota has $11.4 of room and 19 signed; 12) Florida has $11.3 M of space but a pretty full roster; 13) Carolina has a pretty full roster but still has ~9.5M of cap room. So what do these teams need and what might they likely do?


- Starting with the LA Kings: the Kings have 5 unsigned RFA skaters and an unsigned goalie RFA, they could use help everywhere look for the Kings to start by matching whatever offer sheet RFA Center Jarret Stoll gets. The Kings really could use a solid number 1 goalie but the market is thin this year so unless they make a run at Atlanta RFA Kari Lehtonen or take a gamble on Ray Emery they will likely wait and see how things work out given the otherwise now thin market for tenders. All in all the Kings seem committed to a long term vision of building their team through the draft but they do have the room to try and pick up someone like Sergei Federov who could help them a lot and fit their timetables for growing their own young team members or they could make reasonable offer sheets to either Boyd Gordon, Shaone Morrisonn or Brooks Laich that push them past the level Caps GM George McPhee (GMGM) would consider prudent to match. Elsewhere around the league there are some similar situations but if the Kings go shopping it's probable they will make reasonable offers for solid guys like Matt Cooke even though their needs are great.


- The Atlanta Thrashers have a lot of salary Cap room and needs in several areas. The first thing the Thrashers are likely to do with their Cap room you ask match any reasonable offer sheet that 24 year old RFA Goalie Kari Lehtonen gets. Next Atlanta needs at two more top 6 defenseman, they could put a solid offer sheet in front of a number of RFA D-men including Florida's Jay Boumeister, Shaone Morrison, or others. In all there are at least 20 UFA D-Men and 7-10 RFA defensemen that could help the bluebirds and right now Atlanta only has 5 defenseman on their roster with solid NHL experience. The situation at D might not be as dire given Atlanta's draft but they need to at least have some insurace at the position. They have to make some deals here and will before looking to see what they can do to replace Marian Hossa and take some more offensive pressure off the talented and prolific Ilya Kovalchuk. Atlanta is a place known to be a friendly environ for European players and there are already six Eurpeans on the roster including Kovalchuk and on other Russian - left wing Slava Kozlov; also they could stand to upgrade their depth at the Center position, so it's also not impossible to see them making a fair 2 or even 3 year offer to Sergei Federov, given the amount of Cap room they have for the next couple of seasons, though they would more likely be looking for a two year deal given a) Federov's age and b) the fact Kovalchuk becomes a UFA in 2010.


- Let's come back to Columbus since in addition to everything else you have to consider some other factors and take a look at Vancouver next. The Canucks have one primary need - more offensive production. They lost UFA Markus Naslund to the NY Rangers and are now taking a run at Mats Sundin, making him an offer that would reportedly make him the highest paid forward in the NHL - and the guy is thinking about it!?!? In the meantime, they are making some nice, lower key moves to shore up the rest of their roster like signing veteran defensman Nolan Baumgartner; they are making significant progress in building their team and getting back into the playoffs. They also needed a back-up goalie to all-star Roberto Luongo so they re-signed backup Curtis Sanford. While Vancouver has the ability to make a run at some of the Capitals unsigned free agents, based on their needs and other recent moves they will likely look elsewhere to fill them.


- The Colorado Avalanche have $16M of cap room but also need to fill 7 roster slots. The Avs got some of their current salary cap room when the Capitals picked up goaltender Jose Theodore and they back-filled that loss by signing Andrew Raycroft, that swap out created over $4M of their current cap room. However, there are obvious differences between Theodore and Raycroft that the Avalanche has to make up for elsewhere in their roster. Another big question mark for the Avs is whether longtime Avalanche star Joe Sakic will be back in Denver next season. Colorado has been pushing to improve the defensive aspects of their offense and they need to either re-sign Sakic or pick up a suitable replacement. With 7 roster slots to fill the Avalanche have an average of $2.28M per position available but also need to do some proactive planning so they can try and improve their goal tending situation during next year's 2009 free agency period, so while the Avs will be active in the remainder of the off-season, they won't likely do anything crazy. When and if the Avalanche extend offer sheets or attempt UFA signings, they will not likely be of the type that will land them on this or any other list of crazy deals.


- What do the New York Islanders who have 4 open roster slots and just shy of $16M of cap room need? First off the Isles have five unsigned RFAs and they are likely to re-sign at least four, if not all five of them - those moves will eat up at least 4 and more likely close to 8M of their cap room. Another interesting thing to note is the Islander's once "crazy deal" with #1 goaltender Rick DiPietro now is looking very smart. DiPietro's $4.5M cap hit salary is a bargain for a solid #1 goalie and helps the boys in Nassau County by giving them the room to "consider the possibilities." Unfortunately like the Washington Capitals deal with Jaromir Jagr, the Islanders decision to buy out Alexi Yelshin's contract eats up an average between 2 and 4.7M of that flexibility between this year and the 2014-2015 season. With the loss of forward Miroslav Satan to the Penguins in this year's free agent flurry, the Isles will also likely look to add one or two experienced forward who can light up the red light. The Islanders have already shown a strong desire to improve their team with the UFA signing of Mark Streit. Given their familiarity with the Capitals, as Eastern Conference rivals, it's not unimaginable to think Isles GM Garth Snow is considering making a few offers to any of the Capitals free agents or the Ranger's Brendan Stranahan and Martin Straka, of the Caps free agents Matt Cooke's style of play would also fit well with the Isles needs now that they have parted ways with Chris Simon. What the Islanders need most is a new arena, but since that's not currently in play look for them to use at least some of their Cap room in the free agent market between now and when Camp starts, they want to get back to the playoffs now and that will mean they'll do more than just look to upgrade their backup goalie, still remaining on Snow's to do list, and the pick up of Streit, they completed on Tuesday.


- What will Wayne Gretzky do next out in Sun City? Gretzky's Phoenix Coyotes have been actively engaged in working to improve their team since early last season when they picked up goaltender Ilja Bryzgalov from Anaheim early in last season and picking up Center Olli Jokenen from the Florida Panthers just prior to this years entry draft. Looking at the team they've assembled reveals a pretty formidable roster and the likely next things that would help would be to upgrade their #3 through #6 defenseman. The free agent market still has a fair amount of talent available in this area (top 2 defensemen are quickly being picked off but Phoenix has Ed Jovanoski and Derek Morris in those slots), so even though they've already been active in this area with the signing of David Hale, Phoenix could continue to look to use some of their ~$15M of available salary cap in this area.


- Nashville is another team to skip over because they have a whole lot of factors other than just salary cap management and hockey operations needs, so it's off to Buffalo. The Sabres continue to work on reloading after being the first victims of their own success in self-growing talent from their draft picks. Looking at today's Sabres it's easy to forget that they would have absolutely no (as in zero, zip, nada) cap room if they had retained Chris Drury and Danny Briere AND they would still have 3 roster slots to fill. Examining the last couple of years in Buffalo is the real place to get a lesson in the meaning of the new/post CBA NHL. As far as what the Sabres are still looking for, GM Darcy Reiger says it's a quality blueliner, he's been very open about his desire and eve talked about it at a press conference on Wednesday. Other than that look for the Sabres to use their $14M of salary cap space to hold on to their three forwards who are RFAs. Basically, the Sabres are looking to replace and upgrade 19 season NHL veteran Finn Teppo Numminen. That said the list of available veteran defenseman as of this morning doesn't yield an intuitively obvious available selection - the best choices are two former Rangers Darius Kasperitis and Marek Malik. Perhaps Reiger is hoping to sign an offer sheet with Jay Bouwmeester of the Florida Panthers but I'd still expect the Panthers to match any offer that would even push the levels of prudence.


- Over in the Canadian Capital, Senator's GM Bryan Murray has been a flurry of activity since being ousted in the first round of the playoffs by Pittsburgh. Since then the Senators have brought in Craig Hartsburg as their new coach and made moves that amount to a major reshape of their roster. The Senators have waived and are buying out Goalie Ray Emery, they let #1 defenseman Wade Redden go to the New York Rangers in free agency earlier this week and they've made some other moves to retool and reload. The Senators have a) re-signed forward Chris Kelly; b) signed UFA Goalie Alex Auld as their backup netminder; c) signed UFA forward and pest Jarkko Ruutu; and d) re-signed UFA forward Shean Donovan. Overall, these move have rationalized their roster and left them with the ability to go after a couple more players who fit with their forward plans for the next two or three years with their ~13M of cap room since their core of Alfredsson, Spezza, Heatley, and Fisher are under contract until at least the end of the 2011-2012 season; however anticipate them holding on to some of their flexibility to potentially change out number 1 goalies when Martin Gerber becomes an unrestricted free agent at the end of this next season. If the Senators were to go after any of the Caps free agents, now that they have signed Ruutu that would most likely be a putting a good but sane offer sheet in front of either Brooks Laich or even Boyd Gordon though ShaMo is also a clear possibility as the current number 5 defenseman under contract for them is former WashingtonCapital/Hershey Bear Lawrence Nycholat.


- The Minnesota Wild and their 18,000+ fans at every game have made a few smart moves so far this off season so they have $11.4M of Cap Room to fill their 4 open roster slots and they've signed five players this past week as well as well as taking a run at signing Marian Hossa. The Wild only have two unsigned RFAs at this point and are solid both "between the pipes" and "at the blue line" so could make a run at a couple of offensive minded RFAs with offer sheets but with $11.4M of Cap room this year, and looking at the need to re-sign Marian Gaborik as a UFA next year, any RFA offer sheets the Wild make will proabably be sane enough for the RFA's current team to match. In the case of the Caps RFA's while Brooks Laich might be a good fit for the Wild it's hard to imagine them offering him more than say $2.5M or a term longer than a couple of years and something like that GMGM would likely both be able to and want to match.


- Florida has $11.3M of Cap room, two unsigned restricted free agents and a fairly full roster. Expect the re-signing of Jay Bouwmeester to use $6M +/- $500K of the available salary cap; then the Panthers will likely match any reasonable offer sheet that Right Wing Anthony Stewart might get if he doesn't just take his qualifying offer, as you would expect from a guy who is a 2003 first round pick with only 2 NHL goals and 46 games of NHL experience. What the Panthers do with the remaining $5M of salary cap space is anybody's guess - they've done a good job of retooling after dealing Olli Jokenen to Phoenix picking up two more solid defensemen in that deal and UFA forward Corey Stillman. One thing they could do is try and extend an offer sheet to Brooks Laich - his numbers and style of play compliment their needs - but given their small amount of cap room after matching any Bouwmeester offer sheet probably wouldn't enable them to offer anything that GMGM and the Caps wouldn't gladly match.


- Carolina has 2 unsigned RFAs a fairly full roster and $9.5M of cap space - they could are solid in the net and at the blue line but some of their own free agent losses mean they probably wouldn't mind having some more offensive punch in their arsenal. For Washington Capital fans that means the only worry is Brooks Laich, also since GMGM has made it clear Matt Cooke isn't within the Capitals affordability curve this season and the Hurricanes have both the payroll room and roster space, don't be surprised if they make a sane offer to Laich and also a fair offer that puts Matt Cooke, or one of several other guys like him, in Hurricane Red to start the season.


- Now time to look at two teams that are likely harder to anticipate and figure out - Columbus and Nashville. First Columbus, current payroll room $17.7M and two open roster spots. In addition to the basic on ice hockey factors, the ownership is in some transition, though the team is stable and firmly rooted in Columbus, as the team founder and original majority owner John H. McConnell passed away this year and his son John P. McConnell has a legacy to uphold. The Blue Jackets have already been quite active this free agent season signing defenseman Mike Commodore on July 1st, and winger Kristian Huselius on July 2nd. In addition to these two high profile signings expect the Jackets to match anything but a totally insane offer sheet to RFA goaltender Pascal Leclaire who is coming off a breakout season, it wouldn't take a gambler to bet that will cost them between $3.5 and $4.5M of their $17.7M cap room given the current set of available #1 goalies and the number of teams who ought to be looking for a #1 tender. That would leave Columbus with $13.2M to match any offer sheets their remaining three RFAs might get. Given the Blue Jackets are a small market team, and assuming the prior moves are made, that takes them to a actual total payroll of ~$49M so the only other probable action would be to wait a while and see if there are some bargains to be had in late July and August after a few more teams "cap out" in the next couple of days.


- All the above brings us to last but not least - Nashville - given all the churning with regard to ownership, etc. the Predetors appear committed to working hard to "stand pat" and hold a stable roster. In a very smart move they re-signed Goalie Dan Ellis to a sensible 2 year contract. Now they are well positioned to preserve their roster's talented young players by matching anything but insane offer sheets. Then regardless of what type of "Payton Place" drama happens with the ownership of this team they will be well positioned to see who might help them that needs a job in late July and August. Of course what this means is that I feel any analysis of the data is pointless with these guys right now since there's all sorts of distractions and these guys have a pretty sound on ice product as is. It is interesting to note that while researching this piece I looked over lots of data on the web as well including each team's web site, looking at all the other teams in this post's sites its easy to see lots of team releases about their free agent signings, their draft, and their upcoming prospects camp - at Nashville's site the five news stories currently are - "Preds Visit Safety Day at Ft. Cambell"; "Local Youth Got Skills at Nationals"; "Magical Appearance at Dancer Auditions"; "Preds Acquire Ryan Jones, '09 Second Round Pick from Minnesota"; and "Predators Around Town" - notice anything different than at most sites? That said most Predator fans are quite pleased with the Ellis signing and the current state of their team from looking at their message boards.


Tarik reported last evening that for the Caps other than working to hold their RFAs and sign Sergei Federov, GMGM says the Caps won't be looking at the free agent market at all until August when all the dust settles. Per Tarik: "*McPhee also said he doesn't envision making another free agent signing. At least not right away."


Things look pretty good for the Caps, Development Camp starts at Kettler on Monday and I'm going to try and stop and watch some of it before heading out of town on Tuesday, if I do I'll try and take some pics and post them. Additional articles with some more analysis are probably in the offing though I fully expect after posting this article numerous events will occur in the next couple of days that show well why I get paid to analyze things other than Hockey and i don't get paid to analyze and comment on the NHL. In any case - the more I look at recent events the more I think the Caps are going in the right direction and making the best possible moves.


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

Free Agency Day 2 Recap

Fast & Furious Activity Continues As 15 NHL Teams Cut Deals with 22 More Players

First a recap of today's transactions by team:

Tampa Bay (Southeast Division) (2 More Deals - though both were RFA re-signings):

At 9:18AM, they announced they had re-signed RFA forward Ryan Craig to a two-year contract worth $1.575-million; then about an hour later at 10:20AM, announced the re-signing of RFA defenseman Janne Niskala, to a one-year deal worth $600,000.

Carolina Hurricanes (Southeast Division) (2 deals):

At 11:13AM Carolina announced they had signed UFA defensemen Josef Melichar to a one-year contract worth $1 million and Joni Pitkanen to a three-year contract worth $12 million.

Atlanta Thrashers (Southeast Division) (1 Deal):

At 3:38PM the Thrashers signed UFA defenseman Ron Hainsey to a five-year, $22.5 million contract.

Ottawa Senators (Eastern Conference) (2 Deals):

First at 2:33PM, the Sens signed UFA Forward Shean Donovan to a two-year contract worth $1.25 million; then at 3:03PM they signed UFA Forward Jarkko Ruutu, most recently of the Pittsburgh Penguins, to a three-year, $3.9 million contract.

Boston Bruins (Eastern Conference) (1 Deal):

The Bruins signed RFA Forward Petteri Nokelainen, at 1:52PM to a 2-year, $1.7 million contract.

Pittsburgh Penguins (Eastern Conference) (1 Deal):

At 4:58PM the Penguins re-signed UFA defenseman Brooks Orpik to a six-year, $22.5 million contract (to the chagrin of "several" regular "blog posters.").

Philadelphia Flyers (Eastern Conference) (2 deals):

The Flyers announced they re-signed defenseman Randy Jones (2-years, undisclosed) and forward Riley Cote (3-years, undisclosed) at 6:05PM.

New York Islanders (Eastern Conference) (1 Deal):

At 6:27PM the Islanders signed UFA forward Doug Weight to a 1-year, $1.75 million contract.

Vancouver Canucks (Western Conference) (2 Deals):

At 12:01PM, they announced the signing of UFA forward Ryan Johnson to a 2-year contract for $2.3 million. Then at 12:45PM the Canucks signed UFA goaltender Curtis Sanford to a 1-year, $650,000 contract.

Detroit Red Wings (Western Conference/Stanley Cup Champs) (1 Deal, but it's a whopper):

The "rich got richer" when, at 12:35PM, the boys over at "Hockeytown" signed UFA forward Marian Hossa to a one-year contract worth $7.4 million.

Calgary Flames (Western Conference) (2 Deals):

At 1:00PM, the Flames announced the signing UFA defenseman Jim Vandermeer and forward Curtis Glencross to contracts but did not disclose any terms of either deal.

Dallas Stars (Western Conference) (2 Deals):

The Stars announced they had signed UFA forward Sean Avery to a four year, $15.5 million contract at 1:22PM. Then at 5:16PM, the Stars signed RFA forward B.J. Crombeen to a 1-year contract.

Minnesota Wild (Western Conference) (1 Deal):

Minnesota re-signed RFA defenseman Kurtis Foster to a 1-year contract for $1.025 million.

Colorado Avalanche (Western Conference) (1 Deal):

Just after 5:00PM, this evening, the Av's announced they had re-signed RFA forward Wojtek Wolski to a 2-year deal of otherwise undisclosed terms.

Columbus Blue Jackets (Western Conference) (1 deal):

At 9:26PM the Blue Jackets sign UFA winger Kristian Huselius to a 4-year, $4.75 million contract.

More discussion and analysis later after a little "more dust settles."