Without Alex Ovechkin, Nicklas Backstrom, and Mike Green, this Capitals team is surprisingly similar to the Capitals of almost a decade ago… a hard-charging team that both delighted and frustrated its fans.

How so, you ask? Read on… and while these comparisons are far from perfect, consider them food for thought:

It’s not a perfect match; the old-school Caps had no Karl Alzner, nor a spark-plug like Matt Hendricks, nor a promising young defenseman like Dmitry Orlov. Of course, that team of yore had a disenchanted but still-dangerous Jaromir Jagr—but the current Caps have Ovechkin… and however you feel about Ovie wearing the “C” he’s undoubtedly more deserving than Jagr was, and a wrecking-ball to boot.

Oh, and comparing the coaches falls down just a little bit… while Dale Hunter is another minor-league coach given his first NHL shot with the Caps, he kicks Butch Cassidy’s ass in pretty much every way.

When the 2011-12 team’s Robert Lang (Nicklas Backstrom) and Sergei Gonchar (Mike Green) return from injury, this roster can compete with any in team in the league. The team going through trying times with a depleted roster will build their chemistry and resolve come playoff time.

This limping Capitals team has earned three points in two games, including a tilt against the defending champs… and that’s without three of their big stars. Adding back a healthy Ovechkin, Backstrom, and Green down the stretch improves the team dramatically — but in the meantime, a team forced to play without its superstars is also forced to play a balanced, team-focused game.

If Coach Hunter and the locker-room leaders enforce that team-first mentality when their superstars return… watch out, ’cause these Capitals will be dangerous.

“I noticed it right away,” he said. “I thought that was nice they were still cheering, even though what the score was.”

But after a loss like last night’s to the Flyers, the Capitals are going to need two things: a video session and a short memory.

It was less than a memorable performance for goalies Tomas Vokoun for 40 minutes and Michal Neuvirth for 20, though Capitals head coach Dale Hunter chalked three of the goals up to being tipped out of the air.

“There’s no excuses,” Vokoun said. “I didn’t help the team at all, and that’s my job.”

One person who was doing everyone else’s job with less than his usual reckless abandon, however, was Alexander Semin. At one point in the game, Adam Vingan of Kings of Leonsis tweeted Semin had two hits. But by the end of the night, Semin had five total – the most of any individual on either the Flyers or the Capitals. And he had no penalties, though he did finish -3.

The final stats sheet, though, told less than the whole story on Tuesday: the Capitals were almost even with the Flyers in shots on goal, had one more hit, finished almost even in faceoff percentage, and managed 13 blocked shots to Philly’s 19. They also were only in the box once.

That means little, however, when the scoreboard says 5-1 in your opponent’s favor.

“I don’t think we played very responsible,” Alzner said when comparing this outing to the Capitals’ last few games (the Capitals have gone 3-1 in their last four).  “I don’t know why it changed tonight. Philly is a really good team.  They do a great job down low, but we made a lot of bad mental errors. … But I think the mental errors are things that you can easily change. You take an extra second to think, and make a smarter play.”

Azner said the Caps’ inability to clear the zone and their turnovers at the blue line Tuesday also took its toll physically.

“Some of us were out there for a minute and a half, two minutes at a time, and it really, really kills you,” he said.

The Caps also were unable to convert three power plays into goals. Jeff Halpern was the only Capital to find the net, and it came late in the third, saving his team from being shut out. Joel Ward and Dennis Wideman had the assists.

“It’s an ugly game,” was Halpern’s assessment afterwards.

Hard to disagree.

A few quick thoughts:

• Is the Beast back? In a modest 18 minutes of ice time last night the Gr8 pumped 7 shots on the Senators’ cage, and they were all of the quality variety. It was vintage Ovi. Since the coaching change he has certainly been more an impactful performer, but last night he seemed to put it all together at last, and that dazzling, game-changing tally — and I think it belongs among his 10 best tallies ever as a Cap — may represent his personal crossing of the rubicon this season.

• Can someone please get Brooks Laich a stick that actually stays in one piece on the penalty kill?

• Props to Dale Hunter for trying out that Halpern/Johannson/Brouwer combination. That was, to my knowledge, one of the few combinations we hadn’t seen yet in Washington, but it was a nice mix of veteran experience and younger spark.

• Karl Alzner’s paycheck should get a bonus; there was one moment (I think it was on the penalty kill) where he threw his body on the right half of the goal line because Vokoun left it exposed while there was significant traffic and a battle for the puck going on in front of the net.

• More thoughts Ovi: I haven’t seen him play quite like that since before John Wall joined the Wizards. He’s actually getting to the net again on occasion when he charges into the offensive zone by himself, from out wide, where he generates lethal speed on a bull-rush, and his goal was a beautiful mix of skill, will, cunning, and flair. Ovechkin flair — which of course is unlike anyone else’s in hockey. He’ll probably be a stronger player for going through this protracted slump.

• 44 shots on goal. Not bad. A power play goal. Not bad. Still lots of work to do on the PK (bad). Allowing Ottawa to score on the power play to make it 4-3 late, needlessly injecting drama into the evening, falls (again) at the stick of the undisciplined and unpredictable Alexander Semin, but a crazy shot from John Carlson in his own zone that hit an empty net was a pretty fun way to get insurance.

• On Semin: Just as we may have witnessed Alexander Ovechkin chart a positive and productive new course with last night’s effort, I’m left wondering just how much more the new coach has to see of Ovechkin’s countryman before an ultimate verdict is rendered. At 4-2 deep in the third on the road, the game needs to go in lockdown, and that’s not a task you look to #28 to carry out.

• It’s actually difficult for me to pick a favorite goal in this game: the beauty by Ovechkin, the gorgeous pass by Laich to Backstrom as they came flying towards the net and the successful shot by Nick, and a somewhat similar goal off a pass from Johannson to Brouwer.

Perhaps a statement win for Dale Hunter. A relief win for the fanbase. Most importantly, perhaps: a night we’ll look back on and say, “That’s when Ovi got his groove back.”

True, it was only by 47 seconds, and since Ovechkin finished with 21 shifts and Semin only 19, it looks more coincidental than any kind of message being sent from the bench. Semin finished Friday with the longest average shift length on the team (that’s one way to get more ice time–just stay out there).

But it’s just one example of the disjointed 60 minutes that saw the New York Rangers beat the Capitals 6-3, a surprising score for a game that had no goals in the first period.

Another example: Boudreau said after Wednesday night’s game that the Capitals felt they needed to be in the ’30′ range on hits to succeed and play their style. On Friday, the Capitals finished with 40 hits to New York’s 28, yet they lost by three goals. Theoretically, hitting and d-zone coverage should not be mutually exclusive but, by the end of the night, that was the reality for Washington.

And in the latest episode of where in the world will Brooks Laich play next, Friday’s game saw Laich begin as a forward, then switch to defense near the end of the third period. Unfortunately, the Rangers scored just as easily with him on defense, adding their sixth goal of the game.

“We were going with four D, and I didn’t want to kill them, and at that time, Brooks has played D before, so I thought it would give them a rest and maybe add a little offense–we were only down 2, but unfortunately, that backfired,” Boudreau said.

Meanwhile, Friday saw another exchange of roles on the top line for at least one shift. Troy Brouwer’s specialty is creating space with hits. When he plays on the top line, that’s supposed to mean more space for offensive rockstars Ovechkin and Backstrom. But on Friday, it was a beautiful check by Ovechkin that freed the puck and enabled Nicklas Backstrom to make a gorgeous pass that led to a Brouwer goal.

“He made a great play–finished his check. We had talked about it right before we went on the ice for the shift–turn the puck over, and Nicky made a great play,” Brouwer said of Ovechkin. “He’s that type of player. He’s physical. Maybe that role’s been taken off him a bit this year.”

As long as someone gets a goal, it’s a good thing, right? Ovechkin finished the night with 8 hits, easily the team best.

Ovechkin eventually scored a goal of his own, and Nicklas Backstrom finished with two assists. Dmitri Orlov, paired for most of the evening with Karl Alzner, got his second career NHL assist on a power play goal by John Carlson.

The pairing is a slight adjustment for Alzner, too, though he calls Orlov an “NHL-caliber player.”

“I got to make sure I’m really aware out there,” Alzner said, citing the language barrier. “Sometimes I might call something he might not understand. He might think I’m calling for a d to d, and I’m actually calling a rim or something. So it’s just being a little bit more aware on my behalf.”

Overall, it’s probably 60 minutes the Capitals will appreciate putting behind them when they face the Sabres this evening. Brouwer said the team was simply flat and didn’t play with urgency. Perhaps last night’s loss will give them the impetus they need tonight in Buffalo.

Still, this fall we don’t know what we most need to about this hockey club — and necessarily we can’t: How much heart, courage, confidence, and history-defying swagger will it possess next spring, when the ghosts of Washington Capitals playoffs past will want to haunt again?

So what’s to preview? What we all want to know in October 2011 is what the collective state of our hockey hearts will be next spring. We all want to know that roster adjustments and hard offseason training and finally, at long last, an exasperation with failure has settled in, and in the aggregate these factors are driving the Capitals toward a more glorious fate — one befitting their other-worldly skill, one quashing four consecutive sour endings to spring. But we can’t know that right now. So instead, we saddle up for another long season (but likely a final season of Southeast division hockey!), hoping for better things on the power play, more goals, a returned-to-form Ovi, elite goaltending, good health.

And also this: night-in, night-out character and commitment, regular occurring 60-minute efforts, pride for the crest, an identity of hard work and an earned reputation for being tough to play against. Achieving that, we in the Red Nation could pretty well allow the chips to fall where they may.

When I wonder about the fate of this year’s Washington Capitals I find myself asking questions, identifying about 10 big-picture, perhaps defining queries, the answers to which I believe will determine just how far this team will go next spring.

(1) To what extent will the Capitals successfully implement a “hybrid” system relative to the preceding two seasons, one that better utilizes the prodigious skill sets of the team’s elite talents while also bringing more lunch pail ethos and thump and snarl for the season of ugly hockey (spring)? To what extent will there be “player buy-in” for this new system, and to what extent will the team adhere to it within the cauldron of high-pressure playoff puck?

(2) Will readily identifiable leadership develop under Alexander Ovechkin — on the ice and off? There are many superstar talents in many professional sports ill-suited to roles of extraordinary leadership. In his seventh NHL season Ovechkin not only has to recapture the game-breaking production he lost last season but he must embrace the responsibilities that come with wearing the ‘C’ in his sport, and inspire his teammates in the process. They already respect him; they already acknowledge his stature in the sport. Beginning this season, Alexander Ovechkin must look the part of mature warrior, and the Capitals must look like Alexander Ovechkin’s hockey team.

(3) How big a statistical rebound will we see from Ovi? His 65 goals in 2007-08 seem an outlier, highly unlikely to be replicated ever again, but last season’s 32, relative to his talent, seem even more aberrational. In better shape, and healthier, and a lead part on an improved power play, it’s hard to imagine he doesn’t significantly improve over last season’s numbers. But by how much?

(4) Will power be restored to the power play? It was inexplicably pedestrian (16th, 17.5 percent) last season. When it slumps this team’s extra-man unit still shouldn’t fall outside of the top 10. Roman Hamrlik, a healthy Dennis Wideman and a healthy Mike Green, and a more experienced John Carlson ought to deliver a big jolt from the point. And will that bolstered blueline allow for Ovechkin to be moved back to the half-wall, where he’s clearly done more damage on the PP in his career?

(5) Will Tomas Vokoun’s longstanding regular season excellence (career .917 save pct; 2.56 goals-against) translate to the postseason, for which he has but two series’ experience (11 games total) back some years with Nashville? It’s perhaps the lone area of uncertainty with this enormous and hungry talent, who apparently turned down better offers in July to try and win a Cup in D.C. this season. His postseason numbers (.922 and 2.47) are actually stronger than his regular season ones, but he went 3-8 in those 11 games.

(6) Who will reliably win faceoffs here this year? The Capitals late last season and in the offseason bid goodbye to two of the better draw men in the entire league in Dave Steckel (62 percent in ’10-11) and Boyd Gordon (58 percent). Both Marcus Johansson and Mathieu Perreault are notably inexperienced in the art. Jeff Halpern (56 percent) should help. Two quality draw-takers need to emerge, and it would be helpful if one skated in the top 6.

(7) Is there a realm of more mature and more reliable excellence that Alexander Semin will display in what is clearly the most important year of his NHL career? He is the longest-tenured Capital today; if he fails to make improvements with respect to discipline (offensive zone and generally ill-timed penalties) and emerging as a productive scorer when the team needs it most, this is likely his last season in D.C.

(8) Much as the Capitals’ core roster has experienced growing pains in its path toward legitimate contention, so too has Head Coach Bruce Boudreau. Put bluntly: he’s underwhelmed a lot of observers with his handling of the Capitals’ recent postseasons, and in fact in the judgment of many been out-coached by less experienced bench bosses of lower-seeded clubs. This season Bruce Boudreau, too, needs to earn new regard when it matters most. Will he mature and improve as he expects his core skaters to?

(9) This hockey club’s conditioning was a hot topic during the offseason. Will this Capitals club look physically strong generally, and most especially in third periods?

(10) Don’t overlook the impact of an NBA lockout/lost season on Verizon Center especially, long a home, due to its heavy use, to one of the league’s poorer ice sheets. If there’s no NBA hoops, just how good can this ice sheet become — for a hockey team boasting many exceptional skaters and assembled to contest a fast-paced game?

Still: no summer has proven to be as ill-equipped to heal a previous hockey season’s hurt as this past one was for me. Time is supposed to heal all hurt, but as recently as August I listened closely to reflections from departed heart-and-soul Capitals’ veterans, hardly axe-grinders, and longstanding concerns I had were renewed from their views. Still, this morning, there is something healing in the air.

Hockey returns in full force this weekend, with the start of training camp, and it brings a host of hotly talked about questions related to the state of the Capitals. For the Hockey News, at least, all is well. We though who’ve lived long in Washington know better.

The Washington Capitals drafted Alexander Ovechkin no. 1 overall in 2004. That summer, I never imagined that seven years later we’d be where we are today: still disappointed.

Not just unsuccessful, but profoundly disappointed.

No one member of a hockey team, not even one of the sport’s richest captains, is singularly responsible for the premature demise of his club, but Ovi himself knows — and embraces — the unprecedented role he plays as Ambassador of Hockey in the nation’s capital. The draft lottery luck that delivered this franchise-altering talent was meant to alter miserable springs in these parts, and to date that hasn’t happened. We’re still wrestling with why, and suddenly an athlete’s calendar seems of essence.

Ovi celebrates his 26th birthday this weekend. To most observers, he’s lodged in the prime of his professional hockey career. Only twice in his six NHL seasons has he failed to record 100 points, but 2010-11, he bottomed out: 32 goals and just 85 points. By his own admission he wasn’t in shape, and for most of last season he looked slow. In 2007-08, Ovechkin scored 65 goals. We do have to ponder the possibility that we’ve seen already his very best hockey, that it’s behind him. If that’s true, what are the implications for the Caps?

Capitals’ players report for the start of training camp this weekend, and there are for me five overriding questions confronting this hockey club as it enters what may be the most important season in franchise history. I say that because one more season of conspicuous failure is virtually certain to inaugurate sweeping changes to the Capitals’ core (and perhaps beyond), the very core most of us believed would lead the team toward Stanley Cup contention.

Season-defining questions, in order of importance:

• Will we see the return of Ovi 1.0? I think we know the brand of hockey Ovi likes best to play, and here I’m not talking about systems and such. If this team fails again I’d at least like to see Capitals’ opponents pay a heavy price in victory. The Capitals of especially the past couple of seasons haven’t been all that tough to play against. They were, comparatively speaking, when Ovi was a one-man wrecking ball, dishing out thunderous, glass-shaking (and clean) hits. And opponents — even big-bodied blueliners — gave him deference. By about year five of his career it became vogue in media circles to opine that Ovechkin’s brute physical style wasn’t suited to last in this league. Well, I’ve seen the alternative — Ovi in a trap, Ovi in a hybrid trap, Ovi floating, Ovi manning the power play point, and I’m underwhelmed. Ovi is at his best (and most exciting) when he skates as the proverbial bull in a china shop. Bruce Boudreau suggested this summer that he will again tweak his system to allow for a greater attack ethos. So: free Ovi in the process, I say, and make our opponents pay. And roster additions on the order of Troy Brouwer and Joel Ward bolster the hopes for a more physical brand of hockey in red this season.

• Is Ovi truly ready and fit to lead? There is the risk of making too much of the parting comments from Matt Bradley, ones echoed in their entirety days later by Dave Steckel, but there is also the risk of ignoring them altogether. Brads intimated that Ovi’s leadership — on and off the ice — required maturation. We ought to see if there’s been any if he reports fit for duty this weekend.

• Will there be a culture of accountability? Elusive in recent seasons: Sixty minutes of committed, character play. The bench got shortened, Brads suggested, even when front-line performers weren’t performing. Perhaps worse: there was a tiered system of accountability with practices, too — big-money guys were gone from grunt-work under suspicious circumstances. The head coach has to address this, beginning this weekend. Call it a lunch-pail ethos, call it crafting a blue-collar identity — I call it skating nightly with pride for the crest you wear — but the Capitals this season need to intimidate with work ethic and passion. They need to give Washington hockey fans 60 minutes of effort. I’m of the school that suggests that such commitment bears directly on what hockey in spring looks like. Accountability, too, confronts the coach. Perhaps Bruce Boudreau, unlike a few of his younger new coaching peers, has had to learn on the job in the NHL. His evolution into a quality bench maestro must arrive now. There simply can be no more game-costing screwups with line changes, no more deer-in-headlight looks as momentum sways the other way in the postseason.

• Is the Capitals contending core tired of failure? Are these highly skilled guys through talking tough with training camp t-shirt slogans and willing to pay the price required of NHL success? If they are, I suspect we’ll see fewer Tweet pics of night-before-games jaunts about town slinging back the Jagermeister.

• And last but not least, the ever-enduring enigma, Sasha Semin. We know what Matt Bradley thinks of him — the same as a good many Capitals’ fans. I listened all summer long to friends in media swear to me that Alexander Semin had to be traded for this team to prosper. I swore to them that (1) even if they were right, his contract (and reputation) is untradable; and (2) that George McPhee, aware of how difficult it was for this team to score last season, and how conspicuously it struggled with the power play, was going to cast his lot one last time with the world-class but oh so infuriating right wing. Alexander Semin is one of hockey’s greatest mysteries. But in the fall of 2011, it’s clear the Caps are going to live with that mystery at least one more season.

These are my big-picture wonderings heading into a new season. What are yours?

OFB: At what point in the 2010-11 season did you realize that the season you were chronicling in normal fashion merited book-length treatment — was there a proverbial “light bulb moment”?

Ted Starkey: I actually came up with the idea back in March, as the regular season was wrapping up. I had a season’s worth of material, ranging from the Calder Cup finals the season before with three key players — Karl Alzner, John Carlson and Michal Neuvirth — playing a big role in the team’s second straight title, to the “24/7″ series chronicling the highs and lows of the team’s psyche, to the Winter Classic. I thought it was a unique season and deserved a treatment in what has been termed a unique work.

This work tries to capture the long journey of an NHL season, from the work that begins in September that winds across the continent through a six-game preseason, an 82-game regular season and what turned out to be nine playoff games. The team saw the highs of taking the Winter Classic and the top seed in the Eastern Conference to the lows of an eight-game losing skid and a four-game sweep at the hands of the Lightning, so even with the disappointing ending for the club, I decided the book was going to be about the ride, not the result, and pressed ahead with the project.

OFB: Where do you see the Capitals in the District’s sporting landscape today? And is there any danger for the team in failing to seize on the remarkable up-surge in popularity of late, by bowing out of the postseason early spring after early spring? Put another way: are sellouts an inevitability for Ted because enough D.C. sports fans appreciate who he is as an owner relative to one or two of his less beloved owner peers in the region?

Ted Starkey: Right now, the Capitals are a strong second team to the Redskins, but the team has seen a spot like this before — although not quite to this degree.

During the 1980s, the Caps quickly became the No. 2 team in town thanks to a roster that featured four Hall of Famers and recorded three 100-point seasons. But playoff disappointment dampened what was a very enthusiastic fan base, and certainly, if this current edition of the Capitals suffers another notable playoff failure — meaning not a long run for the club — it will be interesting to see if some of the ticket demand begins to wane.

Of course, this time around, unlike the three-time Super Bowl winners, the current version of the Redskins are part of the reason the Capitals have closed the gap, and with the struggles of the burgundy-and-gold, as well as the Nationals and Wizards, the NHL franchise is the city’s best shot for a title. But to really solidify their hold on the market, they likely will have to deliver on the big promise this roster has given fans.

OFB: Everyone who follows the Caps almost certainly agrees that the team’s participation in the 2011 Winter Classic was a net positive, but in writing this book, did you get the sense that management probably couldn’t have anticipated the extent to which HBO cameras would scrutinize — as in almost annual-physical exacting detail — the overall health of the franchise?

Ted Starkey: I talked at length with the Capitals’ former VP Nate Ewell about the “24/7″ experience, and specifically the demands on the team, and he said it was “shocking” to see cameras where he didn’t expect they’d be.

According to him, the team had a plan to deal with injuries that would be shown on the show — such as Mike Green’s — but even some of the small elements of the show, such as the interview with Ted Leonsis or the now-infamous talk with Bruce Boudreau, certainly became talking points around the league.

I got the sense that while the “24/7″ experience was overall seen as a positive, it certainly magnified some of the growing pains as the team was shifting towards its defensive style in the midst of a losing streak.

OFB: Two-part followup: You and I were a party to more than a few discussions in the press box last season related to Bruce Boudreau’s struggles. First, do you believe, as the owner wanted us all to believe, that the Caps’ November-December swoon could have continued significantly longer without any repercussions for the head coach? And secondly, given how poor the team looked against Tampa in the postseason, however much the team’s second-half surge cooled Gabby’s hotseat, isn’t he pretty much back on it this fall — can the team get out of the gate with say a marginally better than .500 record in the first 25 games and Bruce be in good standing with management, do you think?

Ted Starkey: It certainly seemed at points that Boudreau himself was worried about his future with the team, both in the “24/7″ tape during the eventual comeback win in Ottawa where he alluded to wanting to stay in Washington to his players, as well as his growing concern during the Tampa series and having to face questions about his future.

Ted Leonsis certainly has been patient with his coaches through his Capitals’ ownership, certainly holding on to Bruce Cassady and Glen Hanlon too long during struggles. But with the heightened expectations of this franchise — as well as the high payroll for his players — you wonder how much of a leash he would have had if the losing skid had reached nine or ten games with the HBO cameras rolling.

George McPhee has maintained that Bruce was his coach — both during the losing streak and the eventual sweep by Tampa Bay — but I certainly feel that a disappointing end to the upcoming season certainly could mean some deeper changes to the front office.

OFB: Is 2011-12 a genuine referendum season for anyone in management — or everyone in management?

Ted Starkey: I think the window is certainly not open for as long as some may think, as one thing the Capitals have been fortunate to have is their top player healthy — or at least still in the lineup.

At some point, the team really needs to take the next step and elevate its game in the playoffs. One of the themes from the past season was an inconsistent effort over a game’s 60 minutes, from slow starts to slow finishes.

One thing the Capitals found out in the second round is that playing that way against talented teams can certainly lead to a quick exit. Washington had a chance to seize momentum in overtime of Game 2, but lost with a bad line change. In Game 3, they held a one-goal lead heading into the third period, but were flat in the third and lost any realistic hope of winning  the series.

While Ted Leonsis has certainly been patient, at some point, with the amount of money being spent, if there is a lack of progression, you wonder if there will be the type of changes there were in the roster in the front office roster next summer.

OFB: You and I have had discussions with other members of new media all offseason, and I know that irrespective of some impressive improvements in the lineup, you share some concerns I have. What are they?

Ted Starkey: The biggest weakness of the past year’s team was at the second-line center spot with the departures of Eric Belanger and Brendan Morrison, and part of the overall struggle offensively of the club and the power play ties into the lack of production at that spot.

Marcus Johansson had a nice rookie season, but the second-line spot isn’t one where you can have occasional production — you need to have someone capable of feeding the important second line and keeping them a threat to score. Mathieu Perreault has shown flashes of being an NHL player, but he certainly has had trouble sticking with the big club for long stretches of time. Jason Arnott’s value to the late stretch run was evident, as the team finally had some consistent production from the second line when he was in the lineup.

While the addition of Tomas Vokoun was a big surprise, the tandem of Michal Neuvirth and Semyon Varlamov — along with Braden Holtby when needed — was certainly not a weakness.

The Capitals picked up Jeff Halpern for the fourth-line center, but in reality he was just one point shy of Johansson’s 2010-11 point total. The Caps certainly will need either Johansson — who has the inside track for that second spot — or Brooks Laich to produce on a regular basis or else despite the other additions, they still will be missing a key element.

OFB: Another fascinating front with this club: leadership. Is 2011-12 a referendum to any degree on Alexander Ovechkin’s captaincy? Gabby spoke to this topic this summer.

Ted Starkey: I think in some ways wearing the “C” adds to the spotlight Ovechkin operates under, as while he usually is one of the teams’ hardest workers, he certainly is blamed for the team’s playoff failures.

Ovechkin certainly would be of the mold of leading by example, but the personality of this team certainly might call for a more vocal leader. However, with Ovechkin being anointed the face of the franchise, it certainly seems that it would be difficult to make a change at this point without bringing in a proven leader from another club.

OFB: I thought one of the most important moments of the offseason came when both Matt Bradley and then Dave Steckel called out the culture of this organization. Your thoughts on the tempest created by the departed players?

Ted Starkey: During his time here, Matt Bradley was certainly was one of the more well-respected guys in the locker room, so when I had heard reports out of Ottawa he had called out Alexander Semin on local radio, I tracked down the link via Neil Greenberg and listened in.

His interview was certainly quite forthright and honest — even the radio hosts seemed a bit stunned by his candor — as Bradley went out of his way to call out Alexander Semin for not showing up at certain times, and also questioned why some of the struggling players weren’t left on the bench during the team’s playoff exit. Obviously, people around the team have heard privately the concern over Semin’s effort level — and I do address the enigma that is No. 28 in the book — but this was certainly a direct shot at him. While Joe Corvo had taken a shot of his own last summer at the team’s commitment to winning, this certainly carries a ton more weight than a rental grumbling after going back to his old team.

While Bradley certainly didn’t seem happy about the ice time, he also defended Bruce Boudreau, saying that he was in a “tough position” of having to use his most talented players instead of those — he noted Jason Chimera by name — who were playing well. But when Bradley, one of the rocks in the Capitals’ locker room is questioning some of the players’ effort level, you obviously have to be concerned.

OFB: Lastly, as exciting as your book project is, you’ve recently received doubly exciting news about a new project. Tell us about it, and what readers of your first book should expect with the next project.

Ted Starkey: I am in the process of singing a book deal for a second work, tentatively titled “Red Rising,” which will chronicle the rise of the Capitals from the pre-lockout fire sale of 2004 to one of the league’s top attractions and a contender for the Stanley Cup. While some of the themes certainly will resonate between the two books, it will be a much broader look at the recent development of the Capitals in the market and their quest for the franchise’s first Stanley Cup and what makes the Washington area such a unique place in the National Hockey League now.

It’s always been a goal of mine to do a Capitals-related work, I’m just thrilled to be able to not only do one, but two. I expect to finalize the deal in the next few days, then conduct interviews over the next two months, and turning in the final work by the end of October, with release sometime in 2012.

Brads, it seemed to us, didn’t come across as a recently departed player with any axe to grind. Instead, he seemed comfortable and content with his new place of employment and sufficiently distanced from D.C. to bring reasonable objectivity to his reflections. In the middle of last season this blog  identified what it considered to be grave issues with the culture of the Washington Capitals organization, and on Tuesday Matt Bradley brought this concern to the fore of his reflections, beginning around the 8:30 mark of the segment. He was specifically asked by the program’s hosts why the Caps have been unable to break through in the playoffs.

• Some of his teammates, Bradley said, “didn’t show up . . . I’ll leave them unnamed.”

• “Our locker room was maybe a little too nonchalant, and guys weren’t disciplined the way they should have been.”

• Brads also called into question the practice habits and culture of his former club — “Not being ready to practice, missing practice with questionable injuries.”

• Alexander Semin, Brads claimed, “could easily be the best player in the league but for whatever reason just doesn’t care . . . You almost get the sense . . . he wants to be back in Russia.”

Our pal Ted Starkey was about 1,500 words into a new chapter for his new book thanks to this eye-opening radio appearance.

Keep him and you again fill a top 6 roster spot with promise, petulance, and perimeter play. And probably 32-38 goals. Deal him and you perhaps remove a stain of softness and infuriating inconsistency. You’d also afford yourself nearly $7 of salary cap space.

But can you deal Alexander Semin? Practically speaking, is there any semblance of a market for this enigma? He’s got one year left on his contract before arriving at unrestricted free agency, at a more than healthy cap hit, and why in the world would Washington’s Semin haters imagine that his flaws and shortcomings aren’t well known around the league? And then there’s this: He isn’t exactly a compelling personality around which you market hockey in your market; his refusal to speak virtually any English poses something of a PR challenge, wouldn’t you say? Obviously Semin’s skills and stats and salary matter most in any discussion of a trade, but today’s NHL managers take pains to assess hockey players’ character as well. Do you imagine Semin’s market value enhanced from this vantage?

What do you imagine another manager coughing up to acquire potentially just a single season’s services from one of hockey’s most inconsistent performers? And: what do you imagine George McPhee expecting in a return?

The Siberian is capable of awe-inspiring magical wizardry on a sheet of ice, without question. We’ve all seen it. Ten percent of his legerdemain is beautiful displays of jaw-dropping brilliance — moments when you’re reminded that no. 28 is authentically and irrefutably one of the most talented hockey players on the planet. His talents don’t flower on many rosters. But the other 90 percent is another trick, one that often rouses screams of frustration from the spectator and red-faced death-glares from his coach. This latter quality is the disappearing act—and Alexander Valerievich Semin is a master magician at both inspiring awe and soliciting rage.

Neil Greenberg from Russian Machine Never Breaks offers what I believe is a compelling big-picture assessment of Semin in today’s Washington Post. Five straight seasons of 25-plus goals from Semin’s stick, Greenberg points out. Moreover, dealing him invites an unhealthy checking chokehold on the Capitals’ top line. Greenberg:

“Fans only have to look at Semin’s ill-timed offensive zone stick penalties, chronic injuries or perceived scoring inconsistencies to be reminded how he has negatively impacted the Washington franchise. Despite these shortcomings, Semin holds the key for Alex Ovechkin and Nicklas Backstrom to have any hope at a statistical bounce-back next season, because beyond them, the rest of the Washington roster is not made up of proven scorers.”

Year after year Capitals management re-ups its most puzzling asset and year after year the player’s Sisyphean efforts get the best of this organization in the playoffs. However, it may not be all his fault.

This newly refashioned Washington team is exceptional and would, most likely, make the playoffs with or without the other Alex. The league has proven that positional depth is what will make or break a team in the playoffs, and those three players are, along with the rest of the roster, more than capable of rising to the occasion, a la Sean Bergenheim did for Tampa Bay this past spring.

But genuine elite talents are hot and rare commodities, and in the NHL, the few managers who possess them build around them. There is so much parity in the contemporary NHL that difference-makers . . . often make the difference. Either George McPhee and the rest of the hockey world is hypnotized by Semin’s spells, or perhaps he really is as good as we all opine but has never had his second line supporting cast to consistently perform. He’s forced to do a lot of the skating with the puck because there is no one in the mold of Nicklas Backstrom with whom he’s ever been able to play a whole season. He’s faster than a lot of defensemen, but can’t get by a Zdeno Chara by himself. If he is as good as everyone believes, it’s bewildering that the Caps have not been able to attract, let alone contract, the high caliber center he needs to prosper.

First, there was almost Sergei Fedorov, a 40-year-old who brought leadership to the dressing room and clutch skill against the Rangers in 2009. Then, Brendan Morrison, who was at his best over a decade ago in Vancouver with Todd Bertuzzi and Markus Naslund, turned up in summer 2008. Eric Belanger, largely a defensive forward, arrived in 2009. This past season, it was Tomas Fleischmann (really?) and greybeard Jason Arnott, another player who could have been perfect . . . 10 years ago.

If the Caps keep betting on Semin, they would have been wise to throw all the chips in the pot and acquire a high scoring, two way center in the mold of Tim Connolly this free agency. Instead, it appears we could again see second line center by committee in 2011-12,with Brooks Laich and Marcus Johansson and perhaps even Mathieu Perreault auditioning down the middle in the top 6. It’s a gamble.

It’s difficult to think of a more naturally technically gifted player other than Sidney Crosby, but Semin might be that star. There are teams that perhaps covet his skill and perhaps have come knocking at Kettler’s door for his services in years past. Maybe. But now?

If there was ever a time to cash in on Semin, just after the 2010 playoffs was it. His trade value was still at full mast as he had just scored 40 goals, and a non-playoff team would perhaps have gladly overpaid with a top six forward and perhaps a high second round draft pick just to have half a chance at an eighth seed the next season. Additionally, Semin’s contract status was as a restricted free agent before July 1st this year, meaning a team may have been more enticed by the prospect of signing him to the long term or at least being compensated if they didn’t want to keep him. In the current trade market, rebuilding teams will be content waiting until July 1, 2012, knowing they can have him for free instead of giving up assets now. Additionally, now that the 2011 draft is over, the relatively stronger 2012 draft class is full of talent that will further dilute Semin’s appeal.

A Milbury-esque GM might still snap no. 28 up in the next few months if it’s an offer that cannot be refused. What is shocking is that a very talented and well-respected general manager like George McPhee has straddled the fence for so long, instead of either:

1. Pulling the trigger on a deal that would have rid the Caps of its supposed problem, or
2. Acquiring a linemate to complement Semin’s skill-set and speed.

Instead, the Caps second line is stuck in limbo.

What no one wants to see is another year of pushing a rock up a mountain and praying it will stay up there.

Scoring First

How massive the pressure of scoring first tonight is for this organization. I told some friends right after Game 2 that if the Capitals could not pot the puck first in Game 3, the series would be over. It turns out they did score first, even if they didn’t, and it’s the only reason I am not sticking to my prediction — that and hope. These playoffs, the Caps have taken the first lead of the game twice, both times against the Rangers, and both times they won. Tampa Bay has relinquished the lead to the Caps twice (Game 1 and Game 3) in this series. But that volatility in scoring presents the Caps with the challenge of playing two different styles of games, one of catch up and one of disciplined defensive responsibility. I believe it is that very volatility that Tampa dealt with in the regular season and their series against the Penguins that made them comfortable playing in any situation.

There is no denying the Caps have dealt with the same pressures throughout this season and even prior, but I believe they are one-dimensional in the sense that they play either catch up — as they did in Game 4 against the Rangers and Game 2 this series — or team defense. They are the best team in the league when trailing. The inherent problem is that the Caps are a better team, as most are, when they score first and establish their strategy from the first puck-drop. Scoring a tying goal at the beginning of the second period as Knuble did last night, while huge for a team’s momentum, only gives the club 40 minutes to work its system. If the Caps can score first tonight, we should see their resiliency, but if Tampa can shake Washington out of the lead, we will know which club really deserves it.

Coaching

Pucksandbooks sent me a link this morning regarding Keith Jones and Mike Keenan’s reaction to Boudreau’s coaching ability. I watched CSN and didn’t catch their analysis. Last night, Boudreau asked his captain to serve the penalty for the Too Many Men call, which put the clubs four-on-four for well over a minute. The thrust of the Jones and Keenan critique was: How in the world could Gabby have the world’s best player confined to the sin bin for a minute-plus of 4-on-4 play? Additionally, what if Tampa had taken an additional penalty — think the Caps would have liked having Ovi out on the ice in that situation? Boudreau was badly outcoached last year against Montreal, despite going up 3-1 in the series, and he seems to be replicating his naivety of NHL playoff hockey. In fact, he’s making a rookie coach look like Scotty Bowman.

Last night, with Mike Green out, Boudreau elected to have John Carlson sit on the bench while Ovechkin attempted to skate through center ice on the breakout. If there’s been one composed player in the lineup skating the puck at center ice and dumping it deep, it has been Carlson. To leave him on the bench and go with five forwards (Brooks Laich at the other point) and Semin at wing, was in my opinion a grave error. Semin should have been on the bench. There is a reason why Boudreau has above a 70 percent win record in the regular season. There is also a reason why he is 17-19 in the NHL postseason.

Hendrinjection

This has plenty to do with Bruce Boudreau’s questionable coaching decisions, but I believe a dose of Matt Hendricks and possibly the first Caps fight of these playoffs can go a long way in Game 4. Katie Carrera of the Washington Post noted that Hendricks came off the ice early and was seen taping his sticks up, which is a positive sign, but just a sign. In our last post, I dissected the Caps errors and made particular note of the Caps’ inability to win pucks below the circles and behind the net. Hendricks does that for this team and is defensively reliable. Marco Sturm needs to be scratched for this game and Hendricks inserted.

Sturm has been a major on-ice disappointment  for the Caps since arriving, but he is a veteran and his past performances has earned him status. He’s been good for this team as a veteran member with leadership skills, but I don’t believe that he has contributed in any positive or lasting fashion on the playing surface. In fact, putting him on the fourth line is on par with Glen Hanlon’s decision to start Nicklas Backstrom on the Caps third and fourth lines back in 2007. Sturm should be playing at least third line minutes, but as Boudreau has seen his play dip, the coach assigned him fourth line duty for much of last night. Mistake. Hendricks will play the role of a fourth liner and Sturm will not – case closed.

If the Capitals can manage to score first, be composed on the ice and bench, and use Matt Hendricks in the corners and for some rough stuff, there is some hope for success tonight. Just ask Philadelphia or Chicago. Series turnarounds do happen no matter what the odds. Tampa’s hallmark may be the trap but they are also awfully inconsistent. Unless Boudreau & Co. can do to this series what they did in Game 4 against the Rangers, a new regime is in order by week’s end.