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.

The team itself showed up big time, in primetime, under the lights and in the rain. Boudreau said following the win that it was more than “just a game” – there was a desire to show people who were completely foreign to the sport how exciting it can be.

Even for the lifetime Caps fan, however, the game delivered excitement. A John Erskine fight, a Capitals comeback goal in the second period from Mike Knuble after the Pens’ Evgeni Malkin scored on a breakaway, holding Sidney Crosby pointless, and unanticipated  superpower from Eric Fehr should all make Capitals fans feel off to a good start in 2011.

Memorable episodes often seem pass by at the speed of light, and the Capitals’ Mathieu Perreault – who, since he’s split time between the Capitals and their AHL affiliate’s rosters this season, had to live with the uncertainty for several months of whether he would be in the Caps’ locker room for the Winter Classic — agreed that this game went by at a faster pace than most.

“Yeah, I think it went by pretty quick,” Perreault said, but added, “I think we enjoyed, really enjoyed our time.”

Perreault also acknowledged the side effects of the rain that came down frequently throughout the game.

“You got to keep things really simple,” Perreault said of playing on that type of ice surface. “You can’t try too much ‘cause [the] puck won’t follow and just bounce everywhere.”

But, in the end, “It bothers me more when I was on the bench than on the ice,” Perreault said.

“You had to sit on the edge of the bench,” Knuble chuckled, explaining that sitting at the back guaranteed a wet seat. He added that the ice actually felt different — indicating for the better — after the second period.

Perreault, still bearing the scars of a broken nose from last Sunday’s game in Carolina, also spent a brief moment down on the ice after an encounter with one of the Penguins’ players left him helmetless and caused a minor nose bleed.

“I think that guy know maybe I had a broken nose, and he’s trying to get my nose, and I was just trying to get out of the way,” said Perreault. In typical hockey-player fashion, however, he dismissed the injury.

“I’m alright,” he said.

If the Capitals showed up tonight, so did their fans. Alex Ovechkin’s postgame comments on the Caps crowd at Heinz Field may not quite be numerically accurate, but, on a road trip that saw its fair share of noticeably awkward demonstrations, the Capitals captain still found the bright side.

“You can hear when we score goals how many people was fans of Washington,” he said. “I can see a thousand people in one spot, a thousand people upstairs, it was really unbelievable. When it was the National Anthem, and they are screaming, like, it was unbelievable.

There’s only one downside to the Capitals’ victory this evening: in a sport known for its superstitions, it’s important to remember that each road team in the Winter Classic made it to the Stanley Cup finals that same year, only to lose.

Perreault, however, is looking at the bright side of the curse and perhaps breaking it.

“We don’t think about it – I mean, all the teams get in the finals, so it’s a good thing, so that means we’re going to get in the finals, maybe, we’ll be the first ones to win,” Perreault said.

One thing’s for sure: we can’t wait to see the next episode of HBO’s 24/7.

The evening was divided into four sessions, with groups of 30 kids each. The first two sessions were on-ice demonstrations with Eric Fehr and DJ King. The first session was with Fehr where he showed the kids how to shoot the puck. The second session was with King where he taught the kids how to pass the puck. The second session discussed the various rules of the game via video review with assistant coach Dean Evason. This session was off the ice in the theater room, and included a tour of the players’ locker room.  The third session was conducted by strength and condition coach Mark Nemish who ran the kids through a few conditioning exercises.  Finally, the kids had a pizza party with Slapshot.

The second session with Dean Evason was particularly great.  Evason is extremely patient, and knows how to talk to kids.  He asked them questions to get them engaged and interested, and when he had their attention, showed some film.  Of note, he showed some shootout footage from Wednesday’s game and pointed out that every time Ovechkin is one of the shooters, he sticks his tongue out during his attempt.  The kids loved that.  He also showed footage of the high stick to Mike Green’s nose and said, “You know another word for nose?  Snotbox.”  The audience went wild.  The Q&A session after that was entertaining.  One kid asked Evason, “Do you actually work for the Caps?”  Another one asked him about his favorite player.  Evason’s response?  “Bobby Clarke.”

"No touching!"

After the video review, Evason led the groups to the locker room.  Naturally, #8′s stall generated the most buzz, and Brett Leonhardt had to sternly admonish the kids to keep away.  One kid was disappointed to discover that the players weren’t there, but quickly got over it.  Besides the on-ice time with Fehr and King, the locker room tour was one of the highlights of the event.

While there were some challenges (the kids had the attention span of a rock and couldn’t sit still for long), everyone seemed to have a great time, even the presenters.  There’s just something about the excitement of a hyperactive pre-teen.

How could you not fall hard for this kid?

He’s the story of Training Camp 2010 thus far, Mathieu Perreault, who’s in a highly competitive battle for an open center spot on this year’s Capitals’ roster. He’s auditioning against first-round draft picks, veteran free agents, and even a host of hockey observers in the media who to this day refuse to believe what Capitals’ General Manager George McPhee does — namely, that if you’re good enough, you’re big enough for the NHL.

The Washington Post’s Katie Carrera this morning has a terrific profile of the small-in-stature, oh-so-big-of-hockey-heart hopeful:

“At first glance, Mathieu Perreault shouldn’t have been able to gain control of the puck from his spot in the slot during the first scrimmage of Washington Capitals  training camp. But there the undersized forward was, managing to create space for himself while giving up three inches and 15 pounds to Tomas Fleischmann, who was nearly draped on top of him.

“Perreault took two shots off of rebounds as he outmuscled his opponent and was rewarded with a goal to put his group up 5-0 in the contest and reminded everyone watching he’s eager to earn a spot on the Capitals’ opening-night roster.”

And Carrera well captures the dynamic quality of Matty’s game with this description: “What Perreault lacks in size advantage he makes up for with his quickness and elusive nature as a puck carrier. In an almost-constant state of motion, he avoids hits while simultaneously creating offensive opportunities.”

Perreault has centered what’s been one of the most productive and impressive lines of training camp’s first week: with wingers Jason Chimera and Eric Fehr. The line is an intriguing combination of speed, strength on the puck, and most especially grit and guile along the boards.

We’ve been writing about Matty here for four years, delighted all that while by his drive, perseverance, playmaking flair, and most especially his boyish, unbridled passion for the game. This “under-sized” sixth-rounder is going to play in the NHL all right, and maybe, just maybe, for one of the best teams in the league beginning this season. More than a few fans in Verizon Center would like nothing better.

Otherwise, Sunday’s action was confined to group B’s end of the ice, as C’s line of Jason Chimera, Mathieu Perreault, and Eric Fehr inflicted heavy damage in the second stanza en route to a 5-0 white-washing. Perreault was a standout performer on the afternoon, notching a goal, an assist, and setting up his linemates for numerous other outstanding scoring opportunities. Andrew Gordon, Keith Aucoin, and Francois Bouchard also offered active and productive shifts for group C, and accounted for the scrimmage’s first tally. Bruce Boudreau credited group C’s waves of forward unit speed, preying upon a relatively young and inexperienced set of B blueliners (excepting Tom Poti and John Erskine). Boudreau counted three breakaways by Chimera alone.

But B, bearing the line of Brooks Laich, Flash, and Alexander Semin, ought to have established more of an offensive threat. On this second day of camp, though, it wasn’t meant to be for B.

(At last year’s camp I wrote about potentially incorporating the names of Capitals’ greats from the past as identifiers for the groups in the Duchesne Cup competition. Team Langway, Team Hunter, Team Kolzig, that kind of thing. Would be so much more interesting — and less awkward a set of identifiers — than the lifeless alphabet approach. Maybe next year.)

On the dasher boards in front of both player benches at Kettler this season there’s a new message carried out in a bright red banner and white lettering: ‘Building America’s Hockey Capital.’ It’s no clever corporate sloganeering, just a faith statement seemingly crafted by this message- and branding-savvy hockey organization. It seemed an accurate and appropriate claim to broadcast on this sunny, still-summer NFL Sunday as an overflow crowd packed the practice facility. The popularity Perreault achieved among the red-clad in Verizon Center last season apparently has carried over to KCI and training camp this fall. Urgings on his behalf could be heard regularly as he quarterbacked an impressive attack during the scrimmage.

Boudreau isn’t being coy about the pairings he’s assembled on camp’s first weekend. He’s admitted that he’s paired John Carlson and Karl Alzner together based on reports and first-hand vewings from Hershey last season, where the pair formed what many American League observers regarded was the best blueline duo on the circuit, as well as the pair’s success briefly in Washington last spring. And so the Chimera-Perreault-Fehr grouping up front could be more than a whim of an experiment as well at this camp.

Andrew Gordon got C’s onslaught started in the first frame off a deft setup from Aucoin. Brian Fahey, who skated with Lake Erie of the American League last season, formed an effective blueline pairing with Joe Finley on Sunday and sent a dribbler through traffic and past Michal Neuvirth to send his squad into the first intermission up 2-0. The first two frames were contested on a running clock, but it didn’t run fast enough for group B in the second stanza. A Chimera breakaway made it 3-0. And on a power play Perreault executed a superb keep-in high in the offensive zone that led to an Eric Fehr tap-in to make it 4-0. Perreault then finished the scoring cleaning up a rebound not long afterward.

It’s the most important audition to date in Perreault’s life. He’s off to a flying start.

Young core players continue to mature into global-elite talents. Additional promising talent, joined by a smattering of savvy free agent and trade acquisitions, fills out a formidable skating roster. There is additionally a surplus of prime talent in net. My friends in the Red Army, I am here this morning to report to you that the state of the Capitals’ Union is Stanley Cup contender-favorite strong!

A lead storyline in this Capitals’ season is the change in the team’s leadership. In December, Chris Clark was dealt to Columbus, his captaincy awarded to Alexander Ovechkin. Since his drafting in 2004, Ovechkin has been the face of hockey in Washington, and it’s a profile that has catapulted hockey’s standing to the fore of Washington’s sports scene. As such, his captaincy was an inevitability, but it also represents an earned leadership, hardly hastily bestowed, and one certain to endure the next decade-plus — a leadership stability the Caps haven’t known since Dale Hunter departed.

A year ago, fellow soldiers, the Capitals enjoyed their finest regular season in team history, earning a team-record 108 points en route to a 50-24-8 record. And yet there was an uneven quality to the team’s performance. They started out white hot on home ice over the first 20 or so home dates then tailed off dramatically. Additionally, the Caps were fairly labeled a team which rose impressively to meet the challenges of the NHL’s elite but ‘played down’ to the levels of inferior competition. This season, the Capitals have been more consistently excellent against all comers.

Some nights they overpower their opponents with their firepower; other nights they triumph in a tactical attack in close-checking affairs; still other nights they win with great goaltending. The constant in the equation is Bruce Boudreau. He is unlikely to win again soon a Jack Adams trophy as the league’s best bench boss, given the volume of skill he coaches, but his team’s stylistic adaptability from night to night speaks volumes for his benchwork.

When 2008-09 ended abruptly, and torturously, in game 7 against Pittsburgh, conventional wisdom posited that the Capitals needed to explore summer free agency relatively aggressively to shore up weak areas exposed by the Penguins. Instead, management ventured modestly but in very well targeted fashion in the shopping season, securing the services of Mike Knuble and Brendan Morrison to replace Sergei Fedorov and Viktor Kozlov. Management left the team’s blueline intact, unaltered — and glutted with NHL-caliber talent.

Sometimes the best moves a GM makes are those he doesn’t.

By resisting the impulse to mortgage the Capitals’ future in a play for Chris Pronger last spring George McPhee today presides over a Cup-contending roster that appears of a contending-caliber far into the future.

Our warriors of winning this season are likely to lead the league in goals scored for the first time in franchise history. Their prolific offense is balanced superbly among three and at times even four lines, but Nicklas Backstrom deserves specific mention for the sniper’s shot he’s added to his world-class playmaking arsenal. The only downside to Backstrom’s season thus far is that he needs a new deal, and it’s going to cost the Caps a ton to get him inked.

Another lead storyline in 2009-10 has been the emergence of an Unheralded Trio: Tomas Fleischmann, Jeff Schultz, and Eric Fehr. If you want to pinpoint a reason why this year’s Capitals’ team looks formidable in the East as the season’s second half marches toward the postseason, the performances of these three players are a consistent catalyst.

When in last season’s preseason Bruce Boudreau spoke of Flash being a 30-goal scorer in the big league, few in media paid him much attention. Today, his are the hands of a 30-goal guy, and he’s now using them to great effect in the middle of the ice, helping forge a lethal follow-on line to Ovechkin-Backstrom-Knuble. Flash is nearly a point-per-game performer (17 goals, 19 assists in 41 games), and he will deservedly represent the Czech Republic in the 2010 Winter Olympic Games. His starring performance is all the more remarkable when you consider that he missed the entirety of training camp, and the season’s opening weeks, with a frightening blood clot.

Jeff Schultz’ preseason was unremarkable. Frankly, he struggled. Frankly, he emerged from the preseason a bit of an afterthought on the Capitals’ blueline, and an early healthy scratch from the lineup. Today, however, he’s rapidly matured into one of Bruce Boudreau’s most reliable rearguards. He will not dazzle you with breakout passes or points, nor manhandle opposing forwards down low. Instead, he smartly assesses an opponent’s attack, reliably takes effective defending angles, and covers vast stretches of his own zone with the breadth of his reach.

But no player overcame more from the end of 2008-09 than Eric Fehr. Early in the postseason he found himself under the knife for surgery on both shoulders. In the early portion of summer he was unable even to feed and dress himself. Early in 2010 he ranks among the most dangerous of third-line wings in the league, and he’s posted career-best numbers (28 points in 41 games) little more than halfway through the season. His production is particularly impressive in light of the modest minutes he nightly skates — rarely more than 11-12 minutes a night, with minimal time on the power play.

As if the Capitals weren’t stacked enough on the NHL roster, their American League affiliate in Hershey is actually outperforming them. Like the Caps, the Bears have flirted with a 20-point cushion over their second-place rival in the division. But the Bears never lose. Here’s their record in their last 21 games: 19-2. With 70 points earned through just 45 games, it’s quite conceivable that Hershey could easily better their best-ever point total of 114 from the 2006-07 season. For good measure the South Carolina Stingrays boast a 16-point lead in the South division of the ECHL. My friends in the Red Army, it is an embarrassment of puck riches we follow with this organization.

It is genuinely difficult to distinguish between the Capitals’ present and future when so much of the talent on the farm seems primed to contribute reliably and productively in the present. Witness the contributions this season of Karl Alzner, Michal Neuvirth, Mathieu Perreault, and John Carlson.

John Carlson, Conqueror of Canada! Gold medal for his bling! Red Army, acknowledge our Hero’s nation-slaying anew!

Carlson was among five players the Bears dispatched to the AHL All Star game earlier this month. A sixth, Braden Holtby, should have participated, but his season has been split between the East Coast and American leagues, and he represented the Stingrays as an All Star. With Hershey this season Holtby is on pace to obliterate team goaltending records. Of his team’s American League affiliation Capitals’ owner Ted Leonsis this month claimed, “The excellence with which that [Hershey] organization is run washes up on us.”

There can be no assurances that the gaudy success across the Washington hockey organization thus far this season will translate into long-lasting postseason success, but should Capitals’ General Manager George McPhee decide he needs to strengthen his roster heading into the postseason, he can. By jettisoning the pricey contracts of Michael Nylander and Chris Clark in the seaon’s first half, he’s created cap space for impact player additions, should he want them. The Capitals have cap space and assets aplenty to be prime players in the wheeling-dealing market of February and early March.

With so much good news enveloping hockey in Washington you’d think there’d be not a thing in the rink to complain about, but there is, and as ever, it’s who’s missing most nights in the rink: much of Washington’s elite media. The usual suspects are conspicuous in their absence. Additionally, a great loss in the middle of this season arrived with the demise of the Washington Times and rising star reporter Corey Masisak.

But there’s some good news on the media front: new and upstart sports talk radio 106.7 the Fan, which from program to program, day after day, recognizes our very winning hockey team wonderfully, and rebukes that other Caps-hating sports talk radio outlet in town (the one owned by you know who). The Fan, as an outlet of its ilk should, delights in the Caps’ MoJo and lavishes generous air team upon the only hot team in town.

Recently the Caps’ press box was filled for a visit from the Detroit Red Wings, for the 23rd home game on the season, and it marked the first visit by most local sports media outlets en masse since the home opener. There are miles to go still with local press to convince them that every home game with this hockey team is a special occasion.

You, however, our city’s fans who’ve sold out Verizon Center all season long, you, the frenzied Red Army, certainly don’t need to be told.

Last May, as Capitals’ players packed up their gear after succumbing to the Penguins in seven games and headed home for the offseason, an awful lot of Caps’ fans rightly wondered what management would do to upgrade a roster that, while 100-pt.-worthy and playoff-perennial, seemed an ingredient or two short of truly elite status. The answer, it turns out, was minimal and modest: wait more on the core.

It became apparent reasonably early in the offseason that the Capitals would not re-up with either Sergei Fedorov or Viktor Kozlov. They were replaced, brilliantly, by Brendan Morrison and Mike Knuble. Otherwise, the Caps’ roster remained more or less intact. Management liked its hand and reasoned that with another season of development and experience its largely organic core would mature more and produce better results. The Capitals last weekend secured 50 points faster than any other Caps’ club in team history, and for about the last month they’ve consistently flirted with no.1 in the league overall status. We don’t yet know if the Capitals are necessarily a club built better for the postseason ahead relative to last year, but clearly thus far management appears vindicated in handling the offseason as it did.

Three young players in particular I think have to be ID’d as maturing into larger and improved and thereby team-improving roles in 2009-10: Eric Fehr, Tomas Fleischman, and Jeff Schultz. All three are the beneficiaries of management’s patience.

Flash, drafted in 2002 by Detroit, was acquired from the Wings for Robert Lang in 2004 as part of the Capitals’ great pre-lockout purge of high-priced vets. Fleischmann quickly developed into a dominant scoring winger in the American League, flourishing most especially while skating for Bruce Boudreau in Hershey in the Bears’ Calder Cup title of 2005-06. The question then became, could Flash take his modest frame and still be productive in the bigger, faster National League.

It’s taken a while, but the answer today appears to be: absolutely. It’s clear that Bruce Boudreau believes it. During training camp in 2008 the head coach could be overheard in the locker room discussing 30-plus goal seasons ahead for the Czech winger. He believed in Flash then and he does now. Flash has a modest 47 goals in 216 NHL games, but 14 of those have come in his 25 games this season — a figure even more impressive when you consider that Flash had absolutely no training camp after being diagnosed with a blood clot in his leg over the summer. And his development into a productive, bona fide top-six forward hasn’t occurred at the expense of his defense: while he skated as a minus player his first four years in the league, this season he’s on the plus side of the ledger. He very well could score 30 goals for the Capitals this season, perhaps as a plus-10, and you have to think he’ll be given strong consideration for a spot on the Czech Republic Olympic entry in Vancouver.

Eric Fehr’s emergence this season is even more exciting in light of the litany of physical ailments he’s endured, his most recent in particular. He endured surgery on both shoulders this past offseason, unable even to feed himself during a portion of his recovery. But you’d never know it watching him play today.

Like Fleischmann, Fehr wasn’t physically ready for the start of this season, but he’s flourished in the moderate minutes Boudreau has accorded him. He put up 12 goals in 61 games with the Caps last season, and he will certainly better that tally this year. Drafted as the Capitals’ first-round selection in 2003, all the hockey world looked to be his oyster as his produced consecutive 50-plus goal seasons for Brandon in the WHL. He then enjoyed a strong rookie campaign in Hershey in 2005-06: 25 goals and 28 assists in 70 games. Then the injuries set in. A mysterious nerve malady that led to a herniated disc in his lower back. Then his shoulders failed him. Really he was never able to get settled into a development groove with the organization. It’s a testament to his perseverance and the Capitals’ patience that this season he is showcasing the hands and knack around the net that had Capitals’ scouts in western Canada so excited six years ago.

Like Fleischmann, Fehr’s worked hard to gain much-needed strength on his frame. Both wingers are considerably stronger on the puck than they were when first called up by the Caps.

Last but certainly not least in emergence this season is 2004 first round pick Jeff Schultz. He didn’t have a strong training camp by any measure, and in the early going he was a healthy scratch on the Capitals’ blueline. Moreover, were it not for Boudreau’s decision to retain eight defensemen coming out of camp, Sarge may have been marketed, but as injuries have ravaged that unit, Sarge has stepped up and logged important minutes, and Boudreau is confident enough in him of late to have him partnered with Mike Green. Sarge’s +15 is good for 5th best in the NHL.

Too many Caps’ fans I think focus on what Schultz is not: a banger, a deft skater, a points producer. But with experience he’s gained an increased awareness of his responsibilities in his own end, and he is particularly disciplined when it comes to taking penalties (12 PIMs in 29 games). Going forward, Schultz is likely to play an important role as a value-for-minutes guy: likely a no. 6 rearguard on a Cup-contending Caps’ club able to be slotted in to a 4 role if injuries set in. The Capitals are certain to have to pony up big dough in the years ahead for the likes of Mike Green, Karl Alzner, and John Carlson; Schultz will offer the team a value sedan among those spiffy sports cars.

The Capitals’ patience with their own assets not only looks wise in the standings today but particularly when juxtaposed against the relative impatience and annual free agency buffet feeding by the likes of Philadelphia, the Rangers, and Montreal. All three clubs were in the playoffs (briefly) last season. All three are on the outside looking in this morning. Championship clubs are seldom so assembled.

Fehr's past meets his present

Gabby signs a copy of his book

Jay Beagle, Mathieu Perreault, Eric Fehr, and Tyler Sloan were there to assist with the on-ice demonstrations, but Peter Bondra was the guy everyone wanted to see.  “I’m so glad to see him out there,” one woman said to me.  It really was great to see Bondra out on the ice again in a Capitals jersey.

The chalk talk by Lisa Hillary and Alan May seemed to go well.  May was discussing his hockey experience, and mentioned, “I was in the league when Jagr started to play…” and it was encouraging to hear a chorus of boos.  Brett Leonhardt led the equipment session, where ladies were able to try on all the gear.

By far, one of the best sessions was the video analysis with Bruce Boudreau.  Gabby was his ever-garrulous self, seamlessly blending entertainment and information.  He showed a typical pre-game video session and described its use, even though the players might not always remember what they’ve seen.  “On the power play, guys want to score, so they don’t retain this.”  Some great quotes came out of that session.  When one woman started to ask him a question but backtracked a bit, Boudreau quipped, “Typical woman, they can’t make up their mind.”

Fox5's Lindsay Murphy takes a shot

Boudreau explained the value of the video sessions: “We know before the game what they’re gonna do, and it’s a chess game to see what they’re gonna do and when they do it.  The guys should- if they’re on their game- stop them before the blue line.  When we hit a lot, we tend to win the game.  This morning, we showed three minutes of video from Tuesday’s game forechecking the crap out of the Rangers.”

He took questions and comments at the end.  One fan said, “This is the year!” and Boudreau answered, “For what?”  After the crowd laughed, he went on to talk about the team’s potential.  In fact, he said, “I met with the Slovakian coach today, who asked how we play.  I told him, but I have no concerns about it, as their memories are short.”  Gabby cemented his reputation as king of the one-liners.

Bet they don't see this very often

Overall, the event went more smoothly than the previous ones.  Feedback from the other events was incorporated into the planning, and consequently, attendees didn’t feel rushed through the on-ice demonstrations.  One new addition was the merchandise table, which showcased a significant number of different clothing options for the ladies.  I was pleased to note that all of the shirts, hats, sweatshirts, etc. were in team colors, and pink was noticeably absent from the table.  (The ubiquitous sparkles were still there on some of the shirts, but hey- it’s a start.)  “We recognize that most women want to wear the team’s colors,” said the woman behind the table.

As always, the Capitals organization put together a fantastic evening.  They’re obviously learning from each event, and taking participants’ feedback seriously.  Ladies, if you haven’t attended a Hockey ‘n Heels yet, I highly recommend it.

No pink here!