Yes, the spelling is correct.  The Washington Capitals announced they have signed unrestricted free agent center Brendan Morrison to a one-year contract.

From the press release:

The Washington Capitals have signed unrestricted free agent center Brendan Morrison to a one-year contract, vice president and general manager George McPhee announced today. In keeping with club policy, financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

A 5'11", 181-pound native of Pitt Meadows, British Columbia, Morrison has had 50-plus points six times, including four 20-goal seasons. He has played 755 career games with four teams - Dallas, Anaheim, Vancouver and New Jersey - spanning 12 NHL seasons. Morrison has 175 goals and 330 assists (505 points) in his NHL career, with career highs in goals (25), assists (46) and points (71) coming in 2002-03 with the Canucks.

Morrison, who will turn 34 on Aug. 15, split last season between Anaheim and Dallas, posting 16 goals and 31 points in 81 games. He had 32 penalty minutes and a +3 rating. Morrison played 542 consecutive NHL games from 2000-07, but was hampered by injuries the past two seasons.

Morrison's best seasons came as a member of the Canucks, where he amassed 393 points in 543 games from 2000-08 and was among the team's top five scorers for six years in a row. He has consistently been a plus player, with a career rating of +55, and has 47 power-play goals, seven shorthanded goals and 38 game-winning goals to his credit.

A second-round draft choice of New Jersey in 1993, 39th overall, he earned AHL All-Rookie Team honors as a member of the Devils' affiliate, the Albany River Rats, when he led them in scoring in 1997-98.

Morrison won the Hobey Baker Award as the nation's top college player in 1997 (the same award McPhee won as a player at Bowling Green) and led Michigan to the national championship in 1996. He led the nation in scoring three times for the Wolverines, collecting 102 goals and 182 assists (284 points) in 155 games. Morrison was a teammate of recent Capitals signee Mike Knuble for two years at Michigan and again with Linkopings in Sweden in 2004-05.

The concluding half of my two-part look back at my top moments from the 2008-09 season. Part I is here.

(5) The Young Guns Add Another Gunslinger. It was with little fanfare that the Capitals selected John Carlson 27th overall in the 2008 NHL Entry Draft: he was a USHLer . . . he hailed from New Jersey. But three months after his selection he arrived at fall training camp and performed spectacularly. Among media who covered camp there was something close to unanimity of opinion that Carlson was one of camp's seven best defenders, and some members of the Capitals' organization felt he should have stuck with the club to start the season. But the grand plan for Carlson was to have him spend the 2008-09 season under Dale Hunter in London of the OHL.

It turned out to be a supremely wise development decision.

Carlson skated in 59 games during the Knights' regular season; he finished with 76 points (16 and 60) and skated a +23. He was 19th among all OHL skaters in scoring as a rookie, and only Windsor's Ryan Ellis ranked ahead of him in scoring by defensemen. More importantly, Coach Hunter was utilizing Carlson in every game situation as his go-to defender, and it wasn't uncommon to read hockeysfuture.com reports of Carlson testifying to his skating 30 or more minutes a night for Hunter. During London's postseason Carlson continued to rack up the points (7 goals, 15 assists in 14 games), and when the Knights were vanquished Carlson was immediately sent to Hershey.

OHLers typically do little more than skate with AHL practice squads in the spring. Not Carlson. He quickly found himself in Hershey's top defensive pair, and he played a steady game throughout the postseason as the Bears captured their 10th Calder Cup. Carlson plays both ends of the ice exceptionally well, possesses elite hockey sense, and uses his ample frame in impact fashion. Once again it appears that Caps' scouts have secured an impact defenseman very late in round one of an entry draft.             

(4) The Greatness of Hockey Played on Ponds is Made into a Movie, and Screened in D.C. One of the most flattering and rewarding relationships we've developed at OFB is with filmmakers Tommy Haines and Andrew Sherburne, documentarians who directed their cameras at the frozen ponds, creeks and lakes of Minnesota in 'Pond Hockey.' ESPN's John Buccigross called it "The best and purest hockey movie." The filmmakers took their documentary on a tour of select artistic movie houses across the country, and Washington's Avalon Theater was one of 15 chosen. Some pretty prominent hockey towns weren't.

I remember our screening taking place on a frigid November Monday night, and after encouraging moviegoers to wear touques, we had dozens of them donned for the screening. We'd interviewed Jose Theodore about his playing in the Heritage Classic in Edmonton in November 2003 when Alberta temps that night plummeted to -20. He signed a Capitals' touque that we awarded during a drawing after the screening.

I remember a Bethesda schoolteacher approaching us about obtaining film materials for instructional use in his classroom. I remember a fair number of transplanted Minnesotans in attendance. I remember a wonderful number of kids attending, and during a nearly 30-minute Q&A with Sherburne afterward, the very first question came from a seven-year-old, who wondered when and where his pond hockey tournament was going to take place. I remember arriving home with a copy of the DVD Sherburne offered me, opening a beer deep in the night, and being transfixed by the movie's menu screen, which offers a mesmerizing montage of Minnesota winter -- a snow bath of our sport's essence. But I remember most driving home from the theater and thinking, indeed Washington was becoming a hockey town.      

(3) Old Hatred Renewed: Caps vs. Pens in the Postseason. It became official on April 28 -- the Caps and Penguins would meet in the postseason for the first time since 2001. Between 1991 and 2001 Pittsburgh and Washington met seven times in the postseason, with the Pens prevailing in six of the encounters. But the series were far from lopsided.

"The history between the franchises remains an open wound for a fan base desperate to move past years of misery," the Washington Times' Corey Masisak wrote in his series preview. The previous April, when the Caps met another old foe, Philadelphia, in the postseason, some segment of Flyers' fans arrived in OFB comment space and suggested that the 'rivalry' Washington had perceived with Philly wasn't matched in intensity of interest up North. No such hate-check takes place when the Caps and Pens square off, regular or postseason: we hate them, and they hate us.

The rivalry actually renewed with vigor right around the time that Gary Bettman and his crack staff completed a perverse 'snake draft' for the August 2005 Entry Draft, which concluded the league's year-long labor impasse, and one that landed the Penguins the most coveted prospect: Sidney Crosby. Ever since, he's arrived in D.C. to sections full of raspberry greetings. And Pittsburgh fans for their part don't much care for Alexander Ovechkin.   

Capitals' players professed being unaware of any organizational baggage associated with the failures against Pittsburgh of the past, but those words sounded hollow given the magnitude of the moment: truly this was one of the most significant rivalries involving a Washington sports team, the Pens had Washington's number, and now both franchises had been impressively rebuilt and featured the two most compelling superstar players meeting in the postseason for the first time against one another. Amazingly enough, the series lived up to every bit of its billing.       

(2) He Plays Fast Forward Just as Long as He Can. Mike Green may well be redefining the positon he plays. Already some are calling him a "rover" -- a hybrid between rearguard and sniping forward. Or maybe he's just reminding us a little bit about #4. Whatever your thoughts about this young dynamo, his efforts beginning in late January and culminating on Saturday night, February 14, were ones for the record book. In Tampa on February 14, Green scored a goal in his eighth consecutive game, besting Mike O'Connell's record of seven by a defenseman set all the way back in the 1983-84 season. Green would go on to score 31 goals on the season and earn a Norris nomination -- with many more to follow, no doubt.

Especially cool about Green's record-setting Saturday night: his father was a witness to it, part of the Caps' annual father-son weekend roadtrip. In the days following the feat there'd emerge an interesting back and forth between Green and the Hockey Hall of Fame: the Hall understandably wanted his stick, Green and his family understandably wanted it in their home. Green ultimately relented.   

(1) Hat Trick x 2: Ovi and Sid Put on a Postseason Show for the Ages. It was Ali-Frazier. Duke-Carolina. The Hatfields and the McCoys, but perhaps with heightened hatred. A stud-on-stud rivalry, one forecasted and marketed for years ad nauseum, at last delievred all the goods. And more! Game 2 of the Eastern Conference semifinals was simply one of the greatest -- and perhaps the greatest -- hockey games ever contested in the nation's capital. The Caps got the better of the Penguins for a second consecutive game, but the story of the night was twin hat tricks by the league's best players.

I was seated next to Tim Leone of the Patriot News, beat reporter for the Hershey Bears and Bruce Boudreau's biographer, near 11:00 in the Verizon Center press box, wondering how he was going to chroncile for the morning paper what left everyone who saw it slack-jawed in awe. In my lead I decided to write straight from my gut: 

"To state the obvious, keep your ticket stub. Get the footage burned onto a disc and permanently stored. If Versus offers a replay, record that too, just as a backup. And clip the Tuesday newspapers of all their morning glory. Then, henceforth, set aside each May 4 for a replay of the game in your home, with a few cold ones."

With the Caps' splash in free agency over, we now turn our eyes to Development Camp. This is where the brightest young stars and hidden surprises often are first found. Earlier today the Capitals released the initial roster for next week's camp, inviting 24 of their top prospects to their annual offseason camp. The list includes several of the Capitals brightest prospects, including defenseman John Carlson and center Anton Gustafsson. 

As with previous Development Camps, we expect this roster to be supplemneted a bit in the coming days, especially with some local talents. Camp schedule can be found here.

 

No.	Name	Pos.	Ht.	Wt.	Birthdate	2008-09 Team	Acquired
22	Brett Flemming	D	6'0"	172	2/26/91	Missisauga (OHL)	Draft '09
36	Francois Bouchard	RW	6'0"	180	4/26/88	Hershey (AHL)	Draft '06
45	Zach Miskovic	D	6'1"	195	5/8/85	St. Lawrence (NCAA)	Free agent signee
50	Cody Eakin	C	5'11"	176	5/24/91	Swift Current (WHL)	Draft '09
54	Greg Burke	LW	6'2"	190	5/1/90	Cedar Rapids (USHL)	Draft '08
59	Joe Finley	D	6'7"	240	6/29/87	North Dakota (NCAA)	Draft '05
65	Andrew Glass	LW	5'11"	180	7/14/89	Boston University (NCAA)	Draft '07
67	Benjamin Casavant	LW	6'1"	213	1/21/91	P.E.I. (QMJHL)	Draft '09
70	Braden Holtby	G	6'1"	202	9/16/89	Saskatoon (WHL)	Draft '08
73	Josh Godfrey	D	6'1"	202	1/15/88	S. Carolina (ECHL)/Hershey (AHL)	Draft '07
74	John Carlson	D	6'2"	218	1/10/90	London (OHL)/Hershey (AHL)	Draft '08
75	Phil DeSimone	C	6'0"	195	3/19/87	New Hampshire (NCAA)	Draft '07
76	Garrett Mitchell	RW	5'10"	180	9/2/91	Regina (WHL)	Draft '09
77	Jake Hauswirth	C	6'5"	210	2/16/99	Omaha (USHL)	Free agent signee
78	Patrick Wey	D	6'3"	203	3/21/91	Waterloo (USHL)	Draft '09
79	Joel Broda	C	6'1"	200	11/24/89	Moose Jaw (WHL)/Calgary (WHL)	Draft '08
80	Dan Dunn	G	6'5"	200	6/20/88	St. Cloud State (NCAA)	Draft '07
81	Dmitri Orlov	D	6'0"	197	7/23/91	Novokuznetsk (KHL)	Draft '09
84	Stefan Della Rovere	LW	5'11"	196	2/25/90	Barrie (OHL)	Draft '08
85	Mathieu Perreault	C	5'9"	165	1/5/88	Hershey (AHL)	Draft '06
86	Eric Mestery	D	6'5"	196	5/28/90	Tri-City (WHL)/Lethbridge (WHL)	Draft '08
88	Trevor Bruess	C	6'0"	192	1/6/86	Minnesota State (NCAA)	Free agent signee
93	Dmitry Kugreyshev	RW	5'11"	185	1/18/90	Quebec (QMJHL)	Draft '08
94	Anton Gustafsson	C	6'2"	194	2/25/90	Bofors IK (Sweden)	Draft '08

As we near the arrival next week of Washington Capitals' Development Camp and the return of live hockey to follow, I figured I'd wind down this week with a final bit of reflection on the 2008-09 hockey season in D.C. This is a reminiscence encapsulating not just the Washington Capitals' season but a macro view of how I experienced hockey generally in my home town throughout fall, winter, and spring. It's a vantage that allows me to narrate a more personal perspective. I'll offer a ranking of moments and events in ascending order, bringing forward five today and a top five tomorrow.

I really enjoy reflecting in deliberate fashion about each and every hockey season we're fortunate enough to experience in our community. On a most top-level summary, I'd suggest that this past season was one where there was a consensus designation for Alexander Ovechkin being (1) the best hockey player on the planet; and (2) an athlete of historic significance in Washington -- and covered by local media at long last as such. And I would also suggest that across the North American hockey world there was this past season a striking acknowledgment that Washington was fast metamorphosing into a full-fledged hockey town. Not a bad set of dominant themes, eh?

Anyway, let me begin honing in on the moments that were most significant for me. And of course I'd welcome your sharing your own top moments from the season with us and our readers.

(10) A Very Bad Beginning Foreshadows a Very Bad Ending. The Capitals opened the 2008-09 season on the road in Atlanta, against a Thrashers' team not forecast to do much under rookie coach John Anderson. The game took place on a Friday night, and it marked the Capitals' debut by netminder Jose Theodore, acquired via free agency after Cristobal Huet jilted the Caps at the free agent altar, signing with Chicago. The Theodore signing was controversial -- particularly if you read this blog around the time of its announcement.

Opening Night anticipation was heightened more than usual this October 10 by the curiosity of the Caps embarking in full fashion on a post-Olie Kolzig era. But by the midway point of game 1's period 2 a heck of a lot of Caps' fans tuning in likely were wishing for Kolzig's return. The Thrash scored early and often on Theodore, chasing him from the net in his Capitals' debut before he could finish the second period. The Capitals lost 7-4, and faster than anyone in the Capitals' organization could have imagined, a pall was cast on the most important position in hockey before the season was 60 minutes old. It didn't help matters that the very next night, in the team's home opener against Chicago, Theodore whiffed on the first shot he faced 26 seconds in. The Caps went on to win their home opener, and Theodore steadied himself appreciably during the regular season. But then game 1 of the postseason arrived . . . 

(9) Merry Christmas, Caps' fans. On December 23, in their final game before the Christmas break, the Capitals faced the Rangers in Madison Square Garden and early on seemed intent on delivering coal and switches in red stockings hanging upon Washington chimneys. Listless and lifeless, they fell behind 4-0. It was Blowout City. Theodore got pulled, BJ replaced, but Theodore returned for the start of period three. It was a most peculiar night of puck. Ovi got the Caps on the board, but still they trailed 4-1 entering the final frame.

What a final frame it was! The Caps made a game of it with a pair of power play tallies, and then Ovi struck again in dramatic fashion, snaring a Rags' clearing pass out of mid-air, corralling it in right at the New York blueline, and racing in and putting a deft deke on Henrik Lundqvist to knot the game at 4 with under 8 minutes to play. The holiday merriment of Madison Square Garden was gone. Shaone Morrisonn capped the astounding comeback by blistering a slapshot past Lundqvist 59 seconds into OT, unleashing red-mob jubilation in the Rangers' zone and an extra strong dose of celebratory eggnog before the television sets in D.C.    

(8) A Captivating Cover Story. Thanks to a saint of a grandmother, I had Sports Illustrated delivered to my home every week of my youth beginning with my seventh birthday. Still I remember how special it felt to see a Washington athlete featured on the cover of SI. When it comes to the Hockey News, appearances on that cover by Washington Capitals' players are especially rare. Which made the October 21 issue a real eye-opener: it's one thing to have your team praised for its play there, it's quite another to be labeled 'The Most Exciting Team in the NHL.' (Take that, mullets!) It's easily the most memorable and cherished THN cover I've encountered in more than a quarter century of reading it.

(7) College Hockey's Annual Party Comes to D.C. Quite wrongly, I assumed that the NCAA Frozen Four would be a lot like the NCAA Final Four in basketball: a real big party principally for the supporters of the four participating schools. Boy was I wrong. Over three days beginning April 9 I saw college hockey fans wearing team sweaters from literally every division I program in the nation. Folks flew in from Alaska to attend the Frozen Four's three championship games. Then I learned why: patronage has its privileges with this event. There's a fiercely competitive lottery each year for Frozen Four tickets, and the lucky winners get first crack at securing ducats for the following year's Frozen Four. As you keep re-upping each year you draw better seats.

But there's a purer reason, too, for the fan loyalty this event has cultivated: it's just an amazingly special product. College hockey has an aura and heritage all its own, and those who make the pilgrimage from afar for its concluding party each April are there to toast to it. In their team's sweater.

In the leadup to this special puck party I remember being gravely concerned for weeks about the quality of ice at Verizon Center, for in the first half of the NHL season ice quality here was again an issue for many Caps' players. But Verizon Center did its part -- our home rink was wonderfully cold for the Frozen Four, and ice quality wasn't an issue. And the players sure did their part -- BU staged one of the great comebacks in all of NCAA championship history with its stirring last-minute heroics against Miami in the title game. This was a party attendees didn't want to end.       

(6) Led by a Legend Out of Game 7. Fairly inexplicably, the second-seeded Capitals fell behind the seventh-seeded Rangers three games to one in round one of the Stanley Cup playoffs in April. Then they staged a terrific rally, winning decisively at home in game 5 and playing just as well in Madison Square Garden in game 6. That set the stage for game 7 back at Verizon Center.

The game wasn't a classic, but it sure offered something close to a classic ending. Both teams played fantastically disciplined -- a grand total of three penalties were whistled during 60 minutes of play, a most refreshing reversal of zebra labor relative to the preceding game 7 at Verizon Center against the Flyers in 2008. And when it was 1-1 with just 5 minutes remaining and all clad in red were burdened with anxious woe, Sergei Fedorov played the role of season savior, missile-launching a sick half-slapper into the smallest of corner openings past Henrik Lundqvist. Bedlam.

I was seated next to my friend Dmitry Chesnokov in that glorious moment, and this is what I wrote later that night:

"My favorite friend in hockey, SovetskySport's Dmitry Chesnokov, sat down next to me for Tuesday night's third period. We analyzed the action just as we have the past three hockey seasons from up high. At 15:01 of the period, two-plus hours of tormenting tension were punctured in a flash, high on Henrik Lundqvist's glove side again. It was a 4:59 read on the scoreboard few Caps fans will ever forget. The arena erupted in an eardrum-piercing frenzy.

"It took me a full two seconds to digest the drama of the moment as delirium obliterated shouted conversation with the writer next to you, and then I turned and punched my good friend from Moscow in the right arm. This was a moment for him, uniquely, to savor. But my friend didn't flinch. He didn't look at me. He just stared down at that sheet of ice with its fast accumulating glee of sweatered red, surrounded by two bowls of 18,000 new best friends.

"It occurred to me: Sergei Fedorov, much more so even today than Alexander Ovechkin, is a national treasure of a hero all across Russia. He is an enduring legend. A good many who follow hockey I suppose believed him this April to be past his series-winning heroics of his legendary past. My good friend Dmitry in this moment I think was hero-worshipping. Rightly so."  

 Coming tomorrow: My Top 5 storylines from the 2008-09 hockey season.

Are you ready to get that Knuble jersey autographed?  Here's your chance!  Note that the ever-popular equipment sale will be held at this event. 

First Capitals Convention at Gaylord Convention Center Sept. 26

Current and former players highlight this daylong interactive experience

 

ARLINGTON, Va. - The Washington Capitals will hold their first Capitals Convention on Saturday, Sept. 26 at the Gaylord Convention Center at the National Harbor in Oxon Hill, Md. The all-day event will feature the entire 2009-10 Capitals team as well as Capitals alumni, who along with radio and TV personalities, coaches, and team executives will participate in a variety of breakout sessions and panel discussions that will give fans a first-time look at behind-the-scenes operations as well as an insight into the lives of NHL players. There also will be interactive activities for adults and children, a display containing many of the NHL's most prominent trophies, a locker-room store featuring game-used authentic memorabilia and the team's annual equipment sale.
 
"This is a unique opportunity for our organization to engage our fans on a variety of levels," said Capitals majority owner Ted Leonsis. "It's an opportunity for our players, coaches, alumni and front office to provide insights as well as the intricacies of our organization and our great sport."

This will be the first chance for fans to meet the 2009-10 Capitals players as a group. The Sept. 26 festivities begin at 9 a.m. for season-ticket holders and 10 a.m. for the general public and will conclude at 8 p.m. Tickets, priced at $40 for adults and $25 for children 14 and younger, go on sale July 9 to season-ticket holders and July 14 to the general public. There are a limited number of "Golden Tickets" available for $350, which guarantees all player autographs with access to a special fast-pass autograph line and priority seating for panel discussions. Tickets will be available at WashingtonCaps.com.
 
Panel discussions will feature Leonsis, general manager George McPhee and head coach Bruce Boudreau and will focus on the behind-the-scenes, day-to-day responsibilities of operating a professional hockey club. Additionally, current and former Capitals players will participate in discussions that provide a glimpse of a professional athlete's life and what they experience during the season.
 
There will be more than a dozen panel discussions at the convention, and in the near future fans also will be given an opportunity to vote at WashingtonCaps.com on other panels that they would like to see. Current panel discussions, which are subject to change, include:

Ask the Coaches - Sit down with members of the coaching staff and pick their brains. See what differentiates their roles and responsibilities and how that impacts the team.

Covering the Caps - Ever wondered what it was like to be a reporter covering the Capitals? This session will let fans see what it is like to be a member of the media. Learn what transpires before, during and after games.

Managing the Salary Cap - Negotiating player contracts and managing the nuances of the NHL's salary cap have profound impacts on every team. Get a look into how assistant general manager Don Fishman deals with these issues.

Caps on the Rise - The Washington Capitals swiftly have ascended to one of the elite teams in the NHL and the architect is general manager George McPhee. Hear the firsthand account from the GM on how the plan came together and what is on the horizon.

Kids-Only Press Conference - Players have to deal with media every day during the season, but this time the Caps are shaking things up and turning the mics over to the kids. In this press-conference atmosphere, kids have free reign to ask Caps players today's burning questions.

Work in Sports - Panelists from the area's sports teams will discuss their career paths and advice for those looking to break into the sports business.

 
The day will include player autographs and photos with fans. Breakout sessions will be conducted throughout the day and will demonstrate a variety of hockey skills. The site will feature four interactive rinks, an interactive shooting game, two junior interactive rinks, a convention photo booth where fans can take pictures in a Caps-specific cutout and a penalty box game zone where fans can enjoy bubble hockey, air hockey and hockey video games. Highlights and feature videos will be shown on screens throughout the convention. A silent auction featuring jerseys, pucks and sticks also will be conducted. This will be fans' first opportunity to purchase 2009-10 merchandise and special Capitals Convention merchandise. Comcast SportsNet is an official media partner of the Capitals Convention.
 
The convention will also include five hockey-related displays for fans to enjoy: a history of the Capitals timeline, a salute to the Original Six clubs, an NHL dressing room, prominent NHL trophies and a timeline of the evolution of hockey equipment.
 
The Chicago Cubs and later the Blackhawks introduced the convention concept to professional sports and they were met with overwhelming success as fans enjoyed a new and exciting way to interact with the players and organizations. Now the Capitals will provide their unique twist and give fans a full day to immerse themselves in a variety of topics and interactive exhibits.

Published prominently on the sports section front of today's Washington Post is Capitals' reporter Katie Carrera's chronicle of an impressively committed band of roller blading hockey players who compete just a hard wrist shot away from the White House: 'A White House Power Play' -- further evidence that hockey's roots are taking hold here outside of Chinatown.

"For roughly 14 years, a group of relative strangers has met to play street hockey here -- on the 1600 block of Pennsylvania Avenue, surrounded by manicured trees and box hedges and just a few yards away from the most recognizable address and home in the United States. The gathering of 20-somethings and middle-aged family men includes electricians, lobbysits, software developers, lawyers and physical therapists."  

This game, Carrera notes, was formed precisely by the closure of Pennsylvania Avenue to all vehicular traffic in 1995. The players have earned respect and even deference from the layers of surrounding law enforcement:

" . . . during the 2008 World Bank protests, those who arrived toting hockey equipment were allowed to pass through [the closed street] and play."

Street hockey players regarded as pacifists by law enforcement relative to political protestors!  

All that perhaps remains for the game's evolution to for someone to arrive with a hose and flood the street. Pennsylvania Avenue as the site of Washington's Winter Classic? Not a bad backdrop when you think about it, and that may go a long way to at long last getting POTUS to attend his first hockey game.

With free agency arrived and largely passed, a new chapter of competition in the NHL has begun. 

These are contributions that are not contained by Russia's borders, as vast as those borders are. Indeed, Russia's heritage has touched every corner of the world, and speaks to the humanity that we share. That includes my own country, which has been blessed with Russian immigrants for decades; we've been enriched by Russian culture, and enhanced by Russian cooperation. And as a resident of Washington, D.C., I continue to benefit from the contributions of Russians -- specifically, from Alexander Ovechkin. We're very pleased to have him in Washington, D.C. (Applause.)

Perhaps President Obama's shout-out indicates a visit to Ted Leonsis' owner's box this season? It would be a landmark moment for our burgeoning hockey town to have the President in attendence -- navigating the extra Phone Booth security aside, the President's in-person embrace of the Capitals would be an exciting night for fans and team alike.

From time to time we like to dabble in a ranking-updating of the Capitals' organizational depth of prospects. In the past, we've offered a Top 20-type rankings or positional depth charts not long after the World Under-20 tourney, and in summer, after prospects have completed a full season of development. What we try and do with this exercise is rank players at their respective positions both in terms of perceived value inside and outside of the organization as well as in-season accomplishments during the most recent campaign. Admittedly, there's some subjectivity to the task. But with this exercise we want very much for our readers -- particularly those of you up in Hershey who saw more of the Bears than we did -- to chime in with your own observations and evaluations.

From our vantage, there are some noteworthy prospect developments to point out. You'll notice that we have placed 2004 first-round pick Joe Finley at left wing. We did this because of some feedback we've received of late suggestive of the Caps' considering trying him out up front, perhaps because of the glut of young defensemen currently in the organization as well as the team's need to develop an enforcer. It's a potential consideration at this point, nothing more.

You'll notice as well that we've slotted Steve Pinizzotto ahead of 2006 second-round pick Francois Bouchard. Pinner had a whale of a spring for the Hershey Bears -- he was a wonderfully disruptive force on the forecheck, hitting everything that moved, a real high-energy pest. Bouchard, meanwhile, was typically a healthy scratch in an admittedly stacked Bears' lineup. We have some concern that his development may have plateaued a bit.

You may also wonder at our preference for Marcus Johansson ahead of 2008 first-round pivot Anton Gustafsson. No slight on Gus, Jr., it's just that in his draft season Johansson competed in upwards of 50 SEL games (and competed well), a league that many NHL scouts consider to be the second best in the world.   

Anyway, let us know what you think. We might be better served waiting until the completion of next week's Development Camp to offer up such a list, but this whets the appetite for the camp a bit, no?

Next February's Winter Olympics carry the specter of potentially being the last to feature the participation of NHLers, which makes this bit of news out of Russia most interesting: Alexander Ovechkin has been named an ambassador to the 2014 Games in Sochi.

Russia won the right to host 2014 Winter Olympics back in 2007, and ever since, Ovechkin has been an outspoken and prominent diplomat for the Games. Understandably. So this formal appointment is only natural. But there have been conspicuous rumblings about the NHL wanting to opt out of having its players participate after the Games in Vancouver next February.

Why is the league so circumspect, so tight-lipped, and behind the scenes, almost certainly really down on suspending their season once every four years and releasing their players for two weeks and change? The bottom line. With elite NHL talents commonly earning long-term, highly lucrative contracts, the NHL faces extraordinary insurance premiums in insuring the stars' participation. As in, for Ovechkin in recent international play, upwards of $500,000- $800,000! Makes sense when you think about. (The Russian Federation has picked up the premium tab in the past.) And occasionally players do get badly hurt in international competition: Jeff Halpern at the 2008 Worlds, for instance. 

But from the league's vantage there is also this fiscal consideration: When it first sent players to the Winter Olympics at the Nagano Games in '98 it did so with the expectation that participation would deliver some manner of positive marketing benefit. After three sets of Games, it's pretty clear that that hasn't happened -- isn't is far more accurate to suggest that to the extent that the NHL is enjoying improved attendance and television numbers of late it has a heck of a lot more to do with Ovechkin, Crosby, Malkin, and other young stars and their work in the league, as opposed to the work of the league's stars every four years in the Winter Olympics? 

The Olympics participation is, however, potentially a fiscal boon for the NHLers who participate: heroism there can lead to obvious endorsement opportunities.   

The Edmonton Journal well sums up the pickle the league could be in in less than five years' time:

" . . . what's going to happen if the NHL persists and no NHL player will be allowed to go? Certainly, the [Players Association] will file a heartfelt grievance, with much fanfare and without any measurable success. But what about the players? Some of them are under NHL contracts that already now run through the games (such as Ovechkin himself), some will be under such contracts when the time comes. This is going to be interesting." 

To the extent that he seeks to win over the NHL in allowing its players being at the 2014 Sochi Games, Ambassador Ovechkin has his work cut out for him.

An unbelievable story out of Chicago: Blackhawks' management apparently failed to execute properly the qualifying offers for some key restricted free agents ahead of July 1, and this morning there's grave uncertainty that young stars Kris Versteeg and Cam Barker will be back with the club this fall. The league could rule that all Blackhawks' players who were not notified of their QOs in a timely fashion are unrestricted free agents. The players union would certainly support such a ruling.

Versteeg was a Calder Trophy candidate in 2008-09, finishing second in rookie scoring behind Anaheim's Bobby Ryan. The 6 '3, 215-pound Barker was the third pick in the 2004 Entry Draft, right behind Alexander Ovechkin and Evgeni Malkin. Were both Versteeg and Barker declared unrestricted free agents by the league, bidding, you have to think, would be voluminous and high.

Both the league and its players union have initiated investigations into the matter.

The Blackhawks attempted to tender QOs to six players -- in addition to Versteeg and Barker, new deals for Troy Brouwer, Ben Eager, Colin Fraser, and Aaron Johnson. The Hawks put the QOs in the mail on June 29 -- kinda late, and especially since July 1 is a national holiday in Canada. Moreover, QOs aren't supposed to be mailed, precisely to avoid what apparently has happened in this instance. Hawks' General Manager Dale Tallon alleges that the team notified the NHL, via fax, of the offers in a timely fashion. At issue is when the players, and most particularly their agents, learned of the offers.  

Qualifying offers for restricted free agents allow clubs to match any offers potentially made for the players from competing clubs. There is precedent in this story: in 2000, the New Jersey Devils screwed up their QOs for Brian Rafalski and John Madden. Both players were more or less half-a-million dollar bargains at the time. The league ruled that the Devils had to offer "market value" pacts to both players, and Jersey spent millions more in the signings.

What makes Chicago's screwup so extraordinary, beyond the fact that young studs Versteeg and Barker are involved, is that Tallon spent last week on a drunken-sailor-at-port splurging in free agency. He signed Marian Hossa to a 12-year, $62 million dollar deal. And ironically enough, he gave Madden a one-year, $2.75 million pact. Last summer Tallon overpaid wildly for Cristobal Huet, and seriously enriched Brian Campbell -- the defenseman in 2009-10 will be entering the second year of an eight-year, $52 million dollar deal.

A cursory glance at the newly updated salary commitments for clubs at NHLnumbers.com reveals that the Blackhawks are potentially in a real pickle here. You look at the cap hits for the likes of Patrick Sharp, Patrick Kane, Dustin Byfuglien, Jonathon Toews, Hossa, and Madden, and you realize that absent deals for Versteeg and Barker, Chicago is pushing $50 in committed salaries. They have $28 million tied up in forwards already, nearly $15 million in defensemen, and $5 million-plus for Huet and no signed backup netminder. Should the league decide to penalize the Hawks as it did the Devils nine years ago how in the world would the club be able to afford "market value" for the likes of Versteeg and Barker?

In fact, it's abundantly apparent that Tallon splurge-spent last week with the belief that his restricted free agents were already in the fold.     

'Clerical error could cost Hawks' the Chicago Sun-Times decreed this morning. NHL general managers are so typically evaluated by fans for their work in drafting and trading, but this story out of Chicago reminds that a manager's work with contracts is vitally important every step of the way. 

With the past week as laboratory, it's an apt time to broaden our lens a bit and remark on how fantastically hockey coverage is expanding and improving by virtue of a single social media application: Twitter.

The two big-on-the-calendar events of the past seven days, indeed of the entire hockey season -- the NHL Draft and Wednesday's start of free agency -- were by virtue of this single communications tool blown wide open in insider access: every hockey fan with a hand-held suddenly had access to the real-time thoughts and experiences of the most gifted 18-year-old hockey talents on the planet, player agents, NHL free agent stars, leading media personalities, and of course bloggers.

To be brutally honest, I have but a big toe in the Twitter tidal wave; this blog, however, thanks to the visionary instincts of Gustafsson, started boogey-boarding in it before it was cool to, and today we have over 2,000 folks following our Tweets. Up in the Verizon Center press box last season we had Intern Andrew manning the Tweet feed, while the old man to his right soldiered on primitively in merely 21st century blogging fashion. Very belatedly very late in the season I joined in.

To be brutally honest, I had my suspicions about it: in general I'm not a big believer that substantive communications are commonly conveyed in the confines of 140 characters. Imagine Henry V's St. Crispin's Day battlecry condensed to 140 characters. I've grown more comfortable with it by embracing its inherent limitations, as well as recognizing that just as a picture can be worth a thousand words, a well-conceived, well-executed Tweet can illuminate and engage a large community of followers.  

It was on Twitter this week, for instance, that Martin Havlat ignited an on-line firestorm with his parry and thrust against the Blackhawks in the aftermath of failed contract negotiations with them: "Excited to be in Minny where I was welcomed and appreciated by management. The real story about what happened in Chicago to come out." [133 characters]

Soon thereafter he followed with: "There's something to be said for loyalty and honor." [51 characters]

The moment, in a constricted-character nutshell, billboarded the warp-speed change with which hockey is communicating and is communicated. We didn't need the Chicago Tribune, its writer's union, or its online editorial staff to convey the innermost tension and drama of a high-profile player's career-altering decisionmaking. Just the player himself, and his cutting edge digital media account.

Speaking of media and Twitter, TSN's Darren Dreger -- he of the 21,000-plus Twitter followers (Dreger Tweet on Entry Draft Friday night: "Gord Miller just compared my number of followers to Paris Hiltons . .  : ) ") -- was tweeting in real time from the draft floor in Montreal. The Versus/TSN broadcast of the Draft opened with word of the blockbuster Chris Pronger trade to Philly. But if you're like me, you were exasperated waiting for television's word of what Philly was sending back to Anaheim. The broadcast didn't have those details for a curious period of time, but Dreger on Twitter did.  

In his recent 'Year in Hockey Blogs' overview Greg Wyshynski rightly says of Twitter that it is "an essential part of the alternative hockey media. It's a place for breaking news, a place for live-blogging events and, perhaps most of all, an avenue for social networking that takes the old, moldy message boards into a stripped down new model of efficiency and speed." For Greg Twitter was the second-biggest storyline/development of new media and the 2008-09 hockey season.     

This past Wednesday Wyshynski amalgamated 12 different Twitter feeds from a variety of hockey sources providing a variety of hockey scoops, housing them in his iconic chat forum. It was such a hit on day one of free agency that he kept it up yesterday and today. This is newshound 3.0, or 5.0; how would you like to be a big city old media editor and trying to compete for breaking news on big-name hockey signings against what Daddy's doing?

Years ago Ted Leonsis told us that his vision for growing hockey's profile in a congested and voraciously competitive sports media market was to have his league's players actually be content providers, digitally of course -- telling their own stories in their own words. It's happening.      

Where are we headed with this communications tool? Damned if I know. But I'm comfortable deferring to Puck Daddy for his take:

"Twitter as comedy, Twitter as communication, Twitter as community. It's everything to everyone. And it's changed online journalism."

The Capitals this afternoon announced the return of July Development Camp to Kettler Capitals Complex. Many of the organization's best young talents will converge on the training complex July 13-18 to participate in workouts and scrimmages, all of which are free and open to the public.

Monday and Tuesday, July 13 and 14, will feature on-ice workout sessions at 10:00 a.m. and 2:30.

Wednesday and Thursday, July 15 and 16 will feature on-ice workout sessions at 10:00 and 11:15 and the camp's first scrimmage, from 3:30- 6:30.

Friday, July 17 will offer just a lone on-ice workout session at 11:45.

And Saturday camp will conclude with a 10:00 a.m. scrimmage.

Among the camp attendees are first-round picks Anton Gustafsson (2008), John Carlson (2008), and Joe Finley (2005). A full camp roster should arrive from the team next week.   

So universally positive was the reaction to the Caps' signing of Mike Knuble yesterday that the Caps' media relations staff excerpt-blogged a wide sampling of high-profile hockey personality reactions to it, and passed along the link to the media early Wednesday evening.

Who could blame them -- no one saw the Knuble signing coming, and everyone loved it.

The media zeal for the signing was actually met and exceeded by hosanas sung on the official fan message boards on the team's web site, if you can believe it. Once upon a time, the official message boards were a licensed toxic waste dump of the-sky-is-falling/kick-McPhee-to-the-curb histrionics: a whole 'lotta heat, precious little light. Yesterday around 2:15 all was sweetness and light therein.

It's funny what the signing of a single big banging scoring body can do for a fanbase still recovering from the postseason death by a thousand goals scored in tight by You Know Who, less than two months ago.

In April and May the Caps got banged around down low, a lot, and ultimately banged around and out of the postseason. On the first day of free agency 2009, George McPhee added some serious bang, and right-side lamp-lighting, to his 2010 lineup. From this vantage, more banging is still needed, on the back end, but let us revel in the sweet success of the first hours of the NHL's free agency feeding frenzy.

There are many good reasons to be excited by the Knuble signing, but for me, foremost among them, is this: it's a terrifically targeted, terrifically tactical acquisition -- the anti-Rangers kind of behavior on July 1. It well addresses not just a roster position of conspicuous weakness and need but a dereliction of ethos up front -- of grit and grunt-work. The Capitals in 2008-09 were their most infuriating when, bursting with world-class skill-driven arrogance, they became too cute with the puck in their opponents' end, which occurred all too often. The signing of Mike Knuble is management's surgical strike against the cute.

"I do the dirty work in the corners," Knuble told Washington media Wednesday afternoon. "I don't think anyone needs to tell me how to play." Me . . . likey!

Wednesday's outpouring of fan delirium is to some extent also the byproduct of relief that perhaps management learned a tough lesson from a lost opportunity this past spring. It was the Penguins, and not the Capitals, who parted with a middling draft pick to secure the battle-tested services of another able and exemplary right side force, Bill Guerin. What if it had been Guerin in a Caps' rather than a Pens' sweater in that game 7? We'll never know. To some extent, the Wednesday signing said, rather conspicuously, mea culpa.

Additionally, fresh consternation among the fanbase was stirred when the GM had this to say to the Washington Post earlier this week:  

"On defense we're fine [Emphasis OFB's]. Goaltending we're fine. We have enough [forwards] internally, we believe, to be a good team, a playoff team."

George McPhee was right -- his Caps as comprised are fine . . . insomuch as fine is defined as winning a weak division, winning a playoff round each spring, and perhaps pushing an elite team to the brink of elimination. But "fine" in the summer of 2009 is no longer good enough. No one in Washington wants Alexander Ovechkin to be linked with the likes of Tony Gwynn or Jim Kelly.

But later on in his comments to the Post McPhee added this: "But if there's something that makes us really good [Emphasis OFB's], we'll be involved."

And so on Wednesday they were, with a single roster move, in a big way. Call it Death to Cuteness, and a Bear hug hello to Brawny Banging.          

Our buddy Murf at Homer McFanboy chatted with Washington Capitals Head Coach Bruce Boudreau at Wednesday's Earl Woods Memorial Pro Am. Read all about it as Boudreau waxes rhapsodic on getting to play with fellow Canadian Mike Weir while outshooting his teammates-for-the-day Jason Campbell and Antwaan Randle-El of the Washington Redskins.

The Washington Capitals made an unexpected and big splash on the opening day of free agency today, signing right wing Mike Knuble to a 2-year, $5.6 million deal. Knuble spent the past four seasons with the Flyers.

Two statistical feats stand out from Knuble's last four seasons in Philly: in three of those four years he played in all 82 regular season games. He's Iron Mike. But look, too, at his goal totals from those seasons: 34, 24, 29, and 27. Dating back to the 2002-03 season with Boston, the season Knuble on Wednesday identified as his breakthrough campaign, he's scored 20 or more goals in every one, twice reaching the 30-goal range. That's high-end and consistent production.

Now he stands poised to skate the right flank on the Capitals' top line, and with his penchant for driving hard to the net and getting his nose dirty, and with the league's top shooter blasting 500-plus shots from the left side, it's not difficult to imagine Knuble feasting on more than few of Ovi's rebounds.  

The Capitals will be Knuble's 5th NHL team. And while he will turn 37 this July 4, he pointed out on a media conference call Wednesday afternoon that there wasn't a lot of wear on the proverbial tires. In fact, he noted that he spent much of his twenties as a 4th-liner or a healthy scratch.

"I would like to think I am a low milage guy," Knuble said.

"I know what I do well. I compliment players . . . [I] win puck battles."

"I have confidence and I know what I do out there. I know what to do for these guys. I do the dirty work in the corners. I don't think anyone needs to tell me how to play. I just hope that [Ovechkin and I] mesh."

Capitals' General manager George McPhee was asked Wednesday if it was fair to suggest that Knuble is the kind of player the team has lacked in recent seasons.

GMGM: "Yeah he is . . . We have needed a player on that line with Ovechkin and Backstrom that [goes] to the net. [Ovi and Backstrom] will have the puck a lot and need someone to go to the net. He has made his living there."

"We replaced a 13-goal scorer with a 20-goal scorer," McPhee added. "We have made the team better."

McPhee on Wednesday also confirmed that the team will enter the 2009-10 season with Brooks Laich as the leading candidate to skate the no. 2 center position. 

Were the Capitals a team that crossed Knuble's mind as a destination, OFB asked the newest Cap?

"Yea, the Philly thing didn't end until yesterday. Washington was a team that we heard might be interested, and they were everything I wanted -- East Coast, nice city, and a contender in the Eastern Conference. If I didn't go to Philly I wanted a chance to contend . . .There is a lot of stuff going on in Washington, there are a lot of places that people can go for entertainment. I am glad they were able to get the fans back in it. It's a tough place to play. It's nice to see a good hockey city."

UPDATE: A terrific video clip of Mike Knuble in action:

Normally, we need until the actual arrival of July 1 to see frenzied, post-draft player movement, but early Tuesday evening the sweater-changing ticker at TSN was in overdrive. Bouwmeester inked to a five-year deal by the Flames; Vancouver GM Mike Gillis jet-setted halfway around the world to meet personally with his Sedin twins, and to make a final pitch to them to return, with an agreement perhaps achieved; the Sens and Oil were on the precipice of a deal that would see the Oil send Andrew Cogliano, Dustin Penner, and Vlad Smid to Ottawa for Dany Heatley; and the doozy of the day -- Bob Gainey attempting to start a second riot on St. Catherine's Street by sending great young Habs talent to Madison Square Garden in exchange for the underperforming, bloated contract of Scott Gomez.

Conspicuously quiet in all this frenzy, a quiet dating back to last Friday night, were/are the Caps. They need a second-line center, a first-line right wing, and at least one ornery big body on the blueline. That's just to keep pace with the elite in the East next season (Philly's already upped the ante), not necessarily to pass the likes of the Pens. I'm of the opinion that the loss of Sergei Fedorov will hurt more than merely in the faceoff circle.

Here's a July 1 Christmas wish-list from OFB: Erik Cole and Mike Komisarek. The Raleigh News and Observer reported Tuesday that Cole wasn't re-upping with the 'Canes without testing free agency. Komisarek, too, will take a look around. As wonderful as both would be in D.C., we're at least an overpaid, perpetually scratched Swede away from even thinking about making a move on those or any other impact free agents. A blogger recently bloodied by the Pens again can dream, though, can't he?

The Caps are confronting two basic problems. The first is that last Friday the league and the NHL Players Association agreed on a salary cap increase of just $100,000 for next season, to $56.8 million. Absent the KHL swooping in to save us from two more seasons of engagement with our out-of-system-and-synch Swede, the Caps, who were rather close to last season's cap, figure to be near it again. In fact, according to NHLnumbers.com, the Caps presently have 14 players under contract for the swollen sum of $45 million. That's not a lot of room left to sign upwards of a dozen bodies for next season.

While the Caps have sheared off some $7.5 million in salary this offseason by bidding adieu to Fedorov, Viktor Kozlov, and Donald Brashear, it's becoming abundantly clear that they needed to.

Michael Nylander counts for $5.5 million of cap space for next season. Alexander Semin's now a $5 million man. It's distinctly possible that the Caps won't be able to afford Shaone Morrisonn next season, who made $2 million in 2008-09 and figures to get at least a modest raise for 2009-10. Believe it or not, Ben Clymer's still on the Caps' books for next season, according to NHLnumbers, to the tune of $367,000.  

But perhaps the overriding reason George McPhee almost certainly won't be an active shopper beginning today is what confronts him next offseason: new deals for Semin and Backstrom. And what if Tomas Fleischmann pots 20 goals in 2009-10? He, too, is due a new deal next summer. It's now more important than ever for the Caps to hold on to almost the entire lot of Bears and CHLers and recently inked collegians they have under contract this summer -- they're the comparatively cheap components that necessarily must surround a contending team's stars, and they must perform at or above their contract value for a team to play deep into spring.

That's what Rob Scuderi, Kris Letang, Alex Goligoski, Maxime Talbot, and Tyler Kennedy did for the Pens this past season.  

It's awfully difficult to imagine the Caps competing for Glory in 2009-10 with Michael Nylander assigned second-line center duty all season long. **Paging Gazprom.** Still, it's easier to imagine Simeon Varlamov outperforming Jose Theodore in training camp, and Theodore, with just one year left on his deal, being dealt near the end of camp for some cap relief, rather than envisioning even Bob Gainey pursuing Michael Nylander. 

But it's perhaps worth noting that as unappealing as Michael Nylander's contract is now, come the February trade deadline, should he miraculously recover some semblance of his old form, his salary for 2010-11 drops by $2.5 million, down to $3 million in the final year of his deal. A veteran contending team who's lost a skilled center to injury could potentially be enticed to taking him off our hands then. Given the new money needed next summer for the Caps' star core, one of those young, recently drafted Swedish centers may be slotted in as Nylander's replacement.           

Kind of.

The Hershey Bears and American Hockey League announced six guaranteed home dates with times and opponents to be determined.  Clear your calendar for a trip to the land of chocolate to take in some sweet hockey.

• Saturday, October 3
• Saturday, October 31
• Friday, November 13
• Saturday, November 21
• Sunday, December 27
• Saturday, January 23

 

Since OFB's very first visit to Hershey some three years ago we've been welcomed and supported in every way possible by the Bears. In fact, during the 2007-08 season, when we organized a fundraiser here to try and help the District's only public high school hockey team, Wilson High, remain on the ice, it was John Walton who took Daren Machesney's goalie stick, had the entire Bears' team sign it, and donated it to our benefit auction at Clyde's. 

So it came as no surprise that during the Calder Cup finals our friends in Hershey would help us out again. It was then that pucksandbooks spent some time with Bears' radio voice John Walton and Tim Leone of the Patriot News, whose biography of Bruce Boudreau will be published this autumn. We needed a lot of help to pull off what we wanted to with this visit -- take our pod viewers into both of the special homes to Hershey hockey: the original home, Hersheypark Arena, and Giant Center.

This was a particularly special bit of editing for me to try and carry off. I'm spending the summer back home in Michigan, so I'm editing and blogging remotely. (Already I miss all the Red in Chinatown on game nights.) And pucksandbooks didn't tell me anything about the video he uploaded to my YouTube account a couple of weeks ago; when I watched the footage of him inside Hersheypark Arena with Tim Leone the first time, and listened to Tim describe a winter Saturday night Bears' game years ago inside that cathedral of puck, I swear I got goosebumps. 

A *very special* thank you is also in order to Brett Leonhardt, Capitals' web content guru, who most ably filled in for me up in Hershey and manned the pod camera inside Giant Center. This podcast couldn't have been carried off without his help.

Lastly, to the entire Hershey organization, from all of OFB, way to go Champs!