The season might be over for the Capitals, but eBay and the NHLPA are teaming up to offer Caps fans a pretty cool consolation prize: the chance to own a piece of hockey history. eBay and the NHLPA will release the complete set of authentic, game-worn 2010 Olympic hockey jerseys for auction, benefiting the Hockey for Haiti charity.

The charity is a joint initiative between the NHLPA and player George Laraque, who was born to Haitian parents; like many people with personal connections to the tragedy, he still has family unaccounted for on the island nation. Hockey for Haiti aims to help strengthen Haiti’s ability to provide critical medical and health care for earthquake survivors.

They’re releasing the jerseys by country—last night was the first batch, Team Canada. Next week is your chance to bid on some sweet Team USA sweaters.

Of particular note to Capitals fans: on May 31 bidding begins for Teams Sweden (Nicklas Backstrom — see below) and Slovakia (Milan Jurcina). June 6 sees Russia (the Alexes) and Czech Republic (Flash) sweaters hit the market.

Granted, these classic sweaters will fetch a premium price; Drew Doughty’s Team Canada game-worn is already at $735 on its first day. But if you’re a sweater-addict like I am (over 100 jerseys and counting) you’ll at least want to check out the auctions. And remember, it’s all for an incredibly worthy cause.

It was an odd night on so many fronts. Some Capitals’ players, Mike Knuble pointed out in the postgame, learned of the trade of two of their teammate friends Chris Clark and Milan Jurcina only as they walked into Verizon Center early Monday evening. Bruce Boudreau was asked about the extent to which so unsettling a development could have played a role in how his team began play Monday night.

“To me, if I say it was, then I am just looking at an excuse. I don’t know if it did or if it didn’t . . . I think Carolina played really well in the first period today . . . I don’t want to use it as an excuse, even though I have been in that situation. I know it can bother some people, but I don’t know if it bothered our guys.”

For me at least it’s difficult to buy into the notion of “league-wide parity” and “on any given night anyone can win” when Carolina wielded a beyond-incompetent 1-13-4 road record entering play Monday. Yet they fairly comfortably defeated the league’s best team boasting one of the league’s best home records. And they did it largely on the strength of an overwhelming first period — upsetting another Caps’ strength. It just wasn’t meant to be the Caps’ night, partly I believe because of Monday’s afternoon drama, which played some role in forming a disoriented-looking, heavily favored host team.

And then there’s Jose Theodore.

“I thought his rebound control could have been better,” his head coach said in the postgame. Bruce Boudreau conceded that Theodore had his confidence shaken after Monday’s opening 20 minutes. Does anybody else find it stunning that confidence is not an issue that enters into any discussion of either of the Caps’ barely-of-legal-drinking-age kiddie netminders here but remains an ongoing one with the thirty-something vet of more than 500 NHL games? Even with the extraordinary circumstances of earlier in the day as backdrop, this should have been a statement performance of a winning outing for JT. Instead, a strange season for him got even stranger.

Semyon Varlamov is headed to Hershey for a rehab assignment, meaning the Caps will board a plane Tuesday for the West Coast and two toughie Pacific division games this week with Theodore and Michal Neuvirth in the netminding rotation. Go back to the fragile-psyched Theo against the high-powered Sharks, in one of the league’s toughest buildings on Wednesday? And what if he starts and puts up another stinker — what then? Is it really possible that near 2009′s end we are witnessing the wholesale transitioning of not one but two young Capitals’ goaltenders past the $5 million, former Vezina and Hart winning vet? Monday night at Verizon Center did nothing to clarify Jose Theodore’s standing with this promising and powerful Capitals’ club; instead, it further clouded the picture. “I just work here,” he belly-ached to the press in exasperation last weekend. Maybe not for much longer.

By no means was Monday’s deal between the Caps and Columbus a blockbuster, but it sure had a big deal feel to it. For one thing, any time a captain is moved in a trade, that’s big news. There was also the novelty of the first-overall-in-the-NHL Caps moving two relatively reliable parts, thereby injecting an unknown element of potentially disrupted chemistry into the roster equation. But most particularly, Monday’s trade seemed to portend a signal of bigger tinkerings to come. It moved more than $4 million in salary cap commitment, bringing back just $1.875 million with Jason Chimera, and arrived hard on the heels of the Caps shedding a cool $5.5 million in salary with Michael Nylander’s assignment to Grand Rapids of the American League.

photo by Allen Clark, Off Wing Opinion

Suddenly, the Capitals are fabulously positioned to pounce on an impact player in the leadup to the league’s trade deadline should they so choose. Do we really believe that the Cup-hungry Caps will contest the 2010 NHL postseason with upwards of $8 million-worth of cap space?

Monday’s maneuvering was very much about money: without altering his team’s competitive core, George McPhee in the past month has managed to bring enviable cushion and flexibility to his balance sheet, and position himself to be a primetime player in player movement chatter in January and February. He also secured another year of service from Alexander Semin and now has much-needed room to address a new deal for Nicklas Backstrom. If any club executive deserves a Christmas bonus at year’s end, it’s George McPhee.

How do you evaluate a deal like Monday’s? I’d urge caution about forming hard and fast opinions on what Chimera is bringing to D.C., principally for this reason: he’s a dynamic skater who’s been shackled in Hitch’s shackling system with the Jackets, and now he’s being welcomed into a system tailor-made for his physical gifts. Little was thought about Sergei Fedorov’s likely impact here when he arrived in the twilight of his career from Columbus in 2007. That’s not to suggest that Chimera is of an order of an all-time great like Feds. Rather, it’s to remind of the enormous discrepancies in the systems employed by Hitch and Gabby, and how productivity (or lack thereof) in one does not forecast it in another. Brendan Morrison was a waiver wire candidate at about this time last year and now is enjoying a renaissance in his career in Gabby’s great-skater-friendly system.

This morning, however, HockeyWashington is once again without an able captain. Some are calling it a Captain’s Curse in D.C. Chris Clark left a Stanley Cup finalist in Calgary to join a rebuilding Capitals’ club a few years back. Just as this Capitals’ team surges to the very top of the NHL’s elite, he’s cast off to another building project — at the age of 33. I’ll remember most Chris Clark taking a blasted puck to the face, nauseatingly disfiguring the overwhelming majority of his mouth, and our captain remaining on the ice, oblivious to his agony, and finishing his shift because his team needed him to.

Hockey in the heartland of central Ohio just got a big boost to its heart.

The trade of Chris Clark and Milan Jurcina to Columbus caught the players — even those involved in the trade — by surprise, and the team was out of sync when the puck dropped against the Carolina Hurricanes.

The Caps clearly have excellent chemistry in the locker room; there’s a palpable sense of camaraderie, and many socialize on their off days as well. On the ice the connection is even more apparent, as players often seem to sense passing and shooting lanes before said lanes even open.

Of course, things went awry during the Caps’ 6-3 loss to the Hurricanes. Some will point to the Caps’ past few games of dominating good teams (New Jersey, Buffalo) and think the team underestimated Carolina . . . perhaps understandable given Carolina’s road record, but still a patently dangerous move. Others may blame Jose Theodore for giving up far too many juicy rebounds, or the team taking ill-advised penalties and digging a hole early.

And while all the above factors contributed to the loss, it is the departure of Jurcina and Clark just hours before the game that likely had the biggest impact. Losing a popular young d-man and the team’s captain are just as likely to disrupt that delicate alchemical balance as team-building is to strengthen it.

Now in short order the Capitals will coalesce again. They’re professionals, with jobs they love; a majority of the team remains intact, and they will welcome Jason Chimera to the fold. But when a team so clearly reaps the benefits of good chemistry on most days, one should not be surprised when disrupting the mix has a negative impact mere hours after the change.

A 15-5-6 record hardly seems a standing to get in a snit over, on its face, but with a modicum of final-frame discipline combined with a bit of make-’em-earn-it grit in their own end, the Caps well could be sitting at something like 20-3-3, even beat up as they have been, and fairly be pulling away from a fairly unimposing Eastern conference. NHL.com’s John Kreiser has taken notice; in his overview of the Caps’ late-game struggles he points out that the Caps have been shorthanded “nearly twice as much in the third period as the first, and have allowed 14 power play goals in the third period” and beyond, while surrendering just a single power play goal in 26 first periods.

It looks much different late in Capitals’ games relative to appearances earlier on. The question is why?

My diagnosis begins with the reflection that there is no single scapegoat in this matter. The Capitals this season are skating perhaps the most talented roster they’ve boast since the mid-1980s. The very fact that they’ve led solidly into the middle of every game thus far is a testament to their overall skill level.

The defense isn’t especially porous: the Caps are surrendering an even 30 shots against a game — hardly impressive — but that places them 17th in the league, or in about the middle of the pack. Similarly, the team’s goaltending is lodged in about the middle of the league (18th), giving up 2.85 goals-against. And the play in net of late appears to have strengthened appreciably, with Semyon Varlamov staking a serious claim to the no.1 guy’s job. There’s nothing in these stats that inherently suggests that every slim lead in every third period ought to breed white-knuckle pessimism in Caps’ fans.

My theory then is that the Capitals’ collection of finesse rearguards, lacking a true crease-clearing, jaw-cracker of a cuss, or two, is ill-suited to reliably withstand three full periods of sustained and desperate attack, night in and night out, and as desperate teams pinch in from the point and double shift stars in the final frame trying to even things up, finesse defenders are apt to wear down a bit, their aiding forwards apt to take penalties. Moreover, a finesse style of defense necessarily does little to physically wear down the opposition — the calling card of the Caps’ rearguards isn’t making opposing forwards pay a price in their end. It was true last season most particularly in the postseason against Pittsburgh and it is true again this season.

We know that the Capitals are a well-conditioned hockey club; one need only observe two or three days of a Bruce Boudreau training camp to appreciate the premium he places on conditioning. I think what we’re seeing as games wane this season isn’t so much the Capitals running out of gas as their foes having paid too little a price early on in the Caps’ end, and feeling ‘too fresh’ in the final frame. The best way to stake a claim to controlling play in a game’s final 20 minutes is to have made an opponent pay a high price physically in the opening two periods.

The Pittsburgh Penguins lead the NHL in hits with 752, and they boast four skaters in the league’s top 30 of hitters. The Penguins are 11-1 when leading after the first period and 12-2 when leading after two. The Caps come in at 15th in the league with 539 hits, but that’s a bit deceptive as their best hitter is on their first forward line and ranks among the best in delivering impact hits in league history. Ovi ranks 44th in the league in hits. No other Capital ranks in the top 75. Shaone Morrisonn has 45 hits in 20 games and ranks 79th in the league. It says a lot that as physically imposing as Milan Jurcina is, and as fearsome as some of his hits in a Caps’ sweater have been, he’s yet to overtake Shaone Morrisonn in the thumping department. Now take a look at the Caps’ rank relative to the rest of the league when playing with leads.

There’s always some roster achilles heel for the general manager whose team has yet to reach play in June. When play resumed from the lockout at mid-decade the rebuilding Caps had plenty of weak areas — an aging vet in net (Olie Kolzig) and a young stud on left wing and a whole lot of needs everywhere else. In the past three years George McPhee has commendably bolstered all four of the Capitals’ forward lines, dramatically upgraded the starter talent and overall depth in goal, and improved the overall talent level on the blueline. But coming out of the lockout the Caps weren’t blessed by a bevy of brawny blueliners, and the entry draft since has delivered to the Caps mostly an abundance of skilled, finesse defenders and skilled forwards.

The good news when it comes to bringing some black and blue to the blueline? Help is on the way. The moment John Carlson is inserted back into the Capitals’ lineup for good — the guess here is some time next spring — he instantly becomes the best hitting talent on the team’s blueline. Perhaps you thought it just good luck that he led the team in hits in his NHL debut 10 days ago. It wasn’t. The young man has elite instincts for playing the game of hockey, and they include being in position to deliver meaningful blows in his own end. Karl Alzner, while not in the same category of physical presence as Carlson, is an elite talent whose presence on the Capitals’ blueline will upgrade the unit overall.

Our ice wet dream in this regard would be some late blooming from Big Joe Finley.

This leads me to the view that there is likely only modest improvement to be hoped for in the near-term pipeline. Meaning: management would do well to use December and January as a pivotal period with which to assess the market for acquiring a grizzled piss-n-vinegar vet on the blueline. Somebody with serious snarl with which to say hello to Sidney next spring. He needn’t be exhorbitantly costly, either. Another Joe Reekie with some gas in the tank would do just fine.

Here are some trends, stats, and pros and cons for each position:

Goalies

Washington has alternated goalies very regularly throughout the season, but I would argue that if Theodore did not sustain a back injury, he would have played in more than just nine games. He has been the better goalie, but the Capitals seem to play better – and more importantly – get wins in front of 21-year old Semyon Varlamov. Theodore’s play was outstanding during a four-game losing streak, except for two shaky goals to the Rangers’ Marian Gaborik. During that streak, Theodore took the loss for Varlamov against the Flyers, after the Russian had been shelled four times.

The young Russian goalie has a 5-1-0 record, yet has been mediocre in the seven games he has started. He owns a 3.18 GAA and sub-.900 save percentage. The trend here is the Capitals don’t play more defensively when playing in front of Varlamov; they just score more goals and allow more goals. Varlamov has played in three games – two against Atlanta and one against Toronto – in which the Caps had jumped out to huge first-period leads only to allow the opponent to make a quick comeback. Come playoff time, a 3.00 GAA is not going to cut it against the likes of the Penguins and Flyers. While Theo’s stats are not much more spectacular than Varly’s, he’s been the better of the pair.

Defense

The league-leader in defensive scoring isn’t Mike Green, but instead comes from the second-worst team in the league. Thomas Kaberle leads the league’s D-men with 18-points in 14 games. Number 52 does have a respectable 13 points in his 16 games played, but his two-goal season thus far is modest. Now he’s banged up a bit. ESPN projects him to total 11 goals and 71 points this season — which is all well and good — but his $5.25 million paycheck invites expectations approaching 25 goals a season. In his own end, Green remains a work in progress. He’s been noticeably absent physically as well.

Other defensemen have picked up the slack to support the team. In the first part of the season, the defense is better than it was last year. It is virtually the same corps as last year, plus Tyler Sloan, who had a two-game goal scoring streak.  One more year of experience and playing together has helped the Caps tremendously. Tom Poti has been solid. Offensively, it’s nice to see Brian Pothier contributing for the regular D-men — he might be playing the best hockey of his life these days. I suspect he’ll be the go-to-guy on defense while Green’s lost to injury.

However, there’s tons of space for improvement on that end. Jeff Schultz and Milan Jurcina are the biggest guys on the team, but it amazes me how often they get beat to the puck, even when they’re in an advantageous position. Schultz seems scared to use his body and Jurcina often gets beat because his stick isn’t on the ice when he goes to the corners to clear the puck.  It’s nice to see a healthy John Erskine in the line-up again.

Offense

What is up with Semin?

As of last night, approximately $15 million worth of offensive cap space has vacated the roster through injury, but the slick Russian hasn’t made an impact on a game yet. Check that, a positive impact. He had two secondary assists on Sunday against Columbus in Ovi’s absence, but his last worthwhile contribution was October 27 at home versus Philly in which he scored the game-winning goal with a sick wrister to the roof. This is Semin’s contract year, and his opportunity to make his next contract as valuable as possible. Read Andrew Tomlinson’s piece titled Stand-in Savior for more on Semin.

Alexander Ovechkin had six two-goal games and one one-goal game through the first 12 games of the season, meaning he scored in seven of those 12 — perfectly respectable for the league’s best player. He’s been an impact player in just about every game, and the Caps are hopeful of having him back in the lineup as early as this week.

Enter Mathieu Perreault. I’ve been a big fan of this guy since he was a Junior player when the Caps drafted him in 2006. The Quebecer put up monster numbers for Acadie-Bathurst in the Q and despite playing fourth line minutes in Hershey, he still put up 50 points in 2008-09. In the three games he’s played, he’s been an impact player despite his diminutive size, shaking off hits and physical play to keep possession of the puck. He assisted twice in his first game against the Devils and scored the first goal of his NHL career against Florida last night. He might not be returning to Hershey as soon as either the Caps or Bears imagined a week ago.

Speaking of AHLers, I was watching the New Jersey broadcast of Wednesday’s game when Mike “Doc” Emrick noted that Alexandre Giroux is a 28-year old 60-plus goal scorer in the AHL. The commentator said, “You’d think some team would have picked up on his skill and put him in the NHL.” I completely agree. I don’t think Eric Fehr or even Tomas Fleischmann have got the offensive upside of Giroux, though they may have more NHL career potential. If Boudreau wanted three scoring lines he’d perhaps consider rolling out Fleischmann, Perreault, and Giroux on the third line.

Wrap-Up

The Caps are tied for fewest regulation losses in the NHL with three. Buffalo, Colorado and Dallas are the others. They have collected points in 14 of their 17 games.

Some key questions ahead: Will Tomas Fleischmann show he is a reliable, top-six talent? Will  Mathieu Perreault show he can stay in the big league this season? How will Eric Fehr contribute? What do we think of Alexander Semin’s play — most particularly in the past week — in this the most important year of his NHL career to date?

We may well have the answers to these questions by the midway point of the season.

• Can you describe how the evening was structured?

We all arrived between 5:30 and 6:15. Slap Shot greeted us as we came in the door; he was passing out snacks and water. As I checked in we were broken into 4 groups. They provided color-coded group bracelets, and told me my first stop would be Wives Q&A. I went to wait in the bleachers and watch the “Caps Cribs” and other video goodies. They had one about who is the biggest ladies’ man. Brooks Laich!
Each group spent 25 minutes at each stop. My stops were 1. Wives, 2. Hockey stick session on the ice, 3. Locker/Equipment room 4. Chalk Talk with Coach Boudreau.
At the end of our last session we were escorted to Clyde’s. Chili Amar [Mix 107.3] was announcing the players in attendance as I came up the stairs. But there were a lot of people, so I couldn’t see anything.

• Which session was your favorite?

I’m surprised to say this, but it’s hard to decide which event I liked best. I truly enjoyed all the sessions because I learned something in each. But I think I enjoyed the on-ice demo and using the hockey stick — Sami Lepisto would pass each of us the puck, then we’d pass it back, then he’d pass it again, and then we’d shoot at the net. I also really enjoyed the time with Coach Boudreau. I was impressed by his demeanor and how articulate he is. He was also pretty funny.

• How would you characterize the other women- hockey novices or dedicated fans, or a mix of both?

There were lots of hockey moms and lots of fans. I’d say about three-quarters of attendees were serious fans. In my group, approximately half of the participants had season tickets, and everyone had been to a game. It seemed like most were conversant with the rules and asked “Why don’t they (the players) just go up the center and shoot?” They showed some frustration with the team in the questions they asked Coach Boudreau, but the coach handled it all well and with good humor.

• Was the event geared more towards novices or experts?

I think it was geared toward novices, but was good for experts too because they could ask specific questions. The “experts” seemed to be there more to see the facilities, see the locker room and equipment room, and ogle the players. During the bar event I was surprised that almost every time when I asked the person in front of me, “Who is that player?”, they always knew their name and position they played.

• Did you learn anything new? If so, what?

I learned a lot about the equipment, they travel with 6 sticks! And there is only 1 set of goalie gear. I still cannot understand icing, so I asked the coach “I don’t understand icing, how do I look for it?” He explained that a lot of the times he doesn’t know whether it’s going to be called or not. So I STILL don’t get it?¢‚Ǩ¬¶

• How was Clyde’s afterwards? Were you able to meet any of the players? Which players were there?

Clyde’s was crowded, but it was fun. The food was delicious–I had a lamb chop, shrimp, crab dip. They had an open bar, including specialty drinks like the “Ovechkin” (a blue concoction I didn’t try) and “Slapshot” (which was sweet but tasty).¬†I met and took photos with Matt Pettinger, Milan Jurcina, Brooks Laich, Jeff Schultz, and Nicklas Backstrom. Eric Fehr was also there. I was really shocked to see the players in regular clothes. I know it sounds stupid, but they are so much thinner than they look on the ice (since the padding makes them look bigger). They were all very nice and approachable. I felt like I should have had something more to say other than, “Thanks for coming” and “How do you like Washington?” If I were to go again I’d want to be able to ask them real questions. I was impressed that the players are so accessible and give their time.

• Would you go again next year?

I think I would do it again, but it would be more fun with a friend.

• What were your overall impressions?

Women really like hockey. I married into hockey and I enjoy it, but a lot of these women love it and it was nice to see a public outlet for their passion. Oh, and this event is really cool, I know my husband would have liked to stand on the Verizon Center ice and pass the puck with an NHLer. And I got to do it! I think the Caps should consider something like this for men. Sticks, Pucks, and Cocks (just kidding)! This event also really made me appreciate the players a lot more. They work really hard and have a lot of ups and downs (as do their wives and families).

I think she’s onto something with her suggestion for a men’s event. Anyway, by all accounts it was a successful event; the Caps sold 250 tickets in eight days. Not bad. Take note, NHL- women love hockey too!
A special thanks to Mrs. OrderedChaos for providing her perspective.

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