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The Capitals’ Top 10 Storylines for 2007-08

By pucksandbooks

Monday, April 28, 2008

10. The Rebuild Is Over. Owner Leonsis uttered this proclamation during the preseason, later claiming that the season’s barometer for success would be qualifying for the postseason. Through the middle of November both seemed delusionally wishful thinking. But when the right guy arrived behind the bench, when the Caps’ skilled young core was encouraged to attack, the team took off, rampaging from last in the league at Thanksgiving to a Southeast Division crown on the regular season’s final Saturday. The right pieces indeed were in place, and the team’s future has never been as promising.

9. Backstrom: the no. 1 Pivot of the Future — and the Present. Really nobody knew what Nicklas Backstrom’s rookie season in the NHL would bring. During last July’s Development Camp, he seemed to struggle a bit with making plays on a smaller sheet. But he looked better at the end of camp than at its start, and by September’s training camp he looked even more adjusted. Like other skilled players in Glen Hanlon’s system, he struggled. Like other skilled players under Bruce Boudreau, he blossomed.

His 69 points on the season represented the second-most prolific rookie season in Caps’ history (behind a certain precocious Russian in 2005-06). Most telling: 60 of his points came in the final 61 games. He adjusted all right. He played his finest hockey of the season when you want a player to — in the postseason. In so doing he defied a long tradition of rookies fading under the rigors of an 82-game season. And he rightfully earned a nomination for the Calder trophy.

8. One Seriously Sorry Sheet. Washington’s never been known to offer a quality sheet of ice for its NHL games, but the matter gained unprecedented urgency when in December team captain Chris Clark spoke with commendable candor to the Washington Post about the indefensible ice at home. This surface wasn’t merely bad aesthetically, it was, suggested Clark, injurious to players. Clark himself lost virtually the entire season to a groin injury. Flyers’ winger Mike Knuble injured his leg when he caught it in a Verizon Center rut in the playoffs. And game 7’s sheet was so ill-prepared that arena workers could be seen repairing it on their hands and knees in the moments before puck-drop — and throughout the game.

Whatever greatly skilled and exciting roster Capitals’ management assembles for the future, it won’t much matter if at home it’s asked to compete on an ability-leveling and integrity-sacrificing surface.

7. Deadline Day Doozies. Trade deadline day was supposed to be quiet for the Caps. It turned out to be anything but. General manager George McPhee engineered a dramatic infusion of postseason experience and skill in areas of weakness on February 26, including securing a no.1 netminder in Cristobal Huet from Montreal for merely a second-round pick in the 2009 Entry Draft. All three players acquired on deadline day played pivotal roles in the season’s final 18 games.

In his Capitals’ debut on February 29, Huet stopped all 18 shots he faced in backstopping the Caps to a 4-0 win in New Jersey. He went 11-2 in his 13 starts for the Caps, winning the final nine games he started. In the biggest game the Caps played in years, Sergei Fedorov, acquired for 2007 second round selection Teddy Ruth, was named the game’s first star in the Caps’ 3-1 win over Florida on April 5, which vaulted the team to the SouthEast title and the postseason for the first time since 2003. He was especially adept in the faceoff circle. Matt Cooke played a less significant part statistically during the stretch run but recaptured his active, pest-like play from years ago in Vancouver night in and night out. All three veterans were credited with providing vital leadership to the young and inexperienced Caps.

6. Mike Green: the no. 1 Gun Arrives. If there was one overarching question confronting the Caps’ blueline heading into the 2007-08 season, it was: is there a no.1 Gun among? If last September you thought there was, you knew something the rest of hockey didn’t. In 2006-07, Mike Green played 70 games for the Caps, tallying just 2 goals and 10 assists. He offered glimpses of high-end promise, but he also seemed years away from becoming consistent and reliable and earning a top pairing assignment. But this past season Green blossomed into a dominant, mature-for-his-years force. He led the entire league in goals by a defenseman during the regular season, and he followed that with a superb playoff series — so much so that Flyers’ head coach John Stevens very publicly made it known that Mike Green was a weapon his team had to strategize to stop. The no.1 Gun on the Caps’ blueline has arrived.

5. AO: The Best Hockey Player on the Planet. Alexander Ovechkin’s hardware-hogging brilliance during 2007-08 earned him broadcasts of “Ovechkin Ovations” on the NHL Network and, more importantly, ascension over the Nova Scotian as the game’s greatest talent. His 65 goals during the regular season were the most scored by a Capital in franchise history, and he became just the 19th player in NHL history to score 60 goals in a season. By the end of the regular season he’d staked unassailable claims to both the Richard and Ross trophies and was a near mortal lock to command both the Hart trophy and the Lester Pearson award for his most valuable performance. At one point no less than the Great One suggested that his seemingly unbreakable record of 92 goals scored in a single season could be within Ovechkin’s visored viewfinder.

4. Canning Glen; Finding the Right Guy Right up the Road. After winning their first three games of the season, the Capitals proceeded to lose 15 of their next 18 and plummet to the very bottom of the NHL standings. While Glen Hanlon may well have been the right coach to preside over the rebuilding Caps beginning not long before the team began its purge of high-priced, under-achieving talent in the 2003-04 season, autumn 2007 seemed to deliver a resoundingly rotten verdict on his ability to advance the team to where management deemed appropriate for 2007-08.

No one would suggest that Hanlon didn’t offer the organization his fullest possible effort. But by late 2007 that effort wasn’t working. “He knew as soon as he saw me this morning,” McPhee told the Washington Post on Thanksgiving day. “He said, ‘I wouldn’t have known what to do today.’ ”

Enter Bruce Boudreau, aka “Gabby.” On Thanksgiving Eve Bruce Boudreau was in his third season behind the Hershey Bears’ bench. He’d enjoyed an auspicious first two seasons there: a Calder Cup title in his first season in Hershey in the spring of 2006 and a return to the finals the following season. He’d won a Kelly Cup title in the East Coast League as well. Still, to many Capitals’ fans, he appeared to be just another “no name” plucked from the farm.

Probably it was with this in mind that Hershey Bears’ Senior Manager for Communications John Walton authored a memorable open letter to Capitals’ fans on the day that Gabby was announced as the new Caps’ coach. “Know this first and foremost,” Walton wrote in his letter. “He’s a winner . . . For what it’s worth, we have seen the magic here. We’re more than willing to share.” Continue reading ›

Filed in Alexander Ovechkin, American Hockey League, Bruce Boudreau, Calder Cup, Chris Clark, Cristobal Huet, Development Camp, Eastern Conference, Entry Draft, Front Office, George McPhee, Hershey Bears, Ice, John Walton, Kettler Capitals Iceplex, Matt Cooke, Media, Mike Green, NHL Network, NHL Trades, National Hockey League, Nicklas Bäckström, Philadelphia Flyers, Print, Sergei Fedorov, Stanley Cup Playoffs, TV, Ted Leonsis, The Big Deal, Training Camp, Verizon Center, Washington Capitals, Washington Post| Permalink| Comments (10)

Virginia Hockey Natives in NCAA Men’s Frozen Four

By OrderedChaos (Mike Rucki)

Tuesday, March 25, 2008

College hockey is about to begin its annual best-of-the-best tournament; two Virginia-born hockey players are gearing up for their respective schools during this weekend’s first round on the way to the NCAA 2008 Men’s Frozen Four.

Sophomore Matt Fairchild, of Ashburn, Va., is a forward for the Air Force Falcons. After 36 games he was fourth on the team in scoring (9-17-26). The Falcons face No. 1 seed Miami (Ohio) on Saturday, March 29, at 4:05 p.m. ET; the game will be televised on ESPN U. According to Fairchild’s bio, his favorite team is the Washington Capitals and favorite player is Alex Ovechkin—choices with which I think we can heartily agree.

Garrett Roe, a forward at St. Cloud State, is a native of Vienna, Va. Roe, a freshman, is already ranked fifth all-time in points-per-game at St. Cloud State, averaging 1.16 points each outing (18-26-44). He was also an invited attendee at the Capitals’ summer camp in 2004 at the age of 16. The Huskies take on Clarkson University on Friday, March 28, at 4:00 p.m. ET, also scheduled for broadcast on ESPN U.

It is heartening to see local-born hockey players playing in college hockey’s ultimate competition—we wish the best of luck to both Fairchild and Roe in the tournament.

[Tap of the stick to OFB reader Big Sexy for the tip]

Filed in College Hockey, Development Camp, Frozen Four, Washington Capitals| Permalink| Comments (6)

The Glorious Non-Silence of Hockey Players in Elevators

By pucksandbooks

Wednesday, September 19, 2007

Capitals Training Camp 2007

One aspect of the change in training camp venue from Piney Orchard to Kettler Capitals I’m coming to enjoy a great deal is the lengthy elevator rides from Ballston’s 8th floor down to the shopping and eatery levels. It’s not the most efficient set of elevators I’ve ever encountered, but the company I often get to keep within them tends to alleviate a lot of impatient aggravation.

You never know who is going to hop in Kettler’s elevators with you; but about 30 minutes after the conclusion of practices and scrimmages each day, many players and organization personnel make dashes downstairs for hot eats and such. Often on these rides either I eavesdrop on interesting puck chatter or initiate a friendly chat with a prospect or vet or coach.

Back in July, during prospect development camp, I was sharing an elevator one afternoon with three players. One was an American, the other two players from the Western Hockey League. They were discussing the vagaries of travel, and at one point the American player asked his Canadian counterparts how often they flew.

“Never,” they replied. “Our shortest bus ride is about 7 hours — 12 in bad weather,” they added. The American was dumbstruck.

This is not stop-the-presses stuff, but to me it’s darned interesting, and with something like a prospect camp as a backdrop, it reminded me of the sacrifices and commitments these remarkable athletes make in their long-odds pursuit of careers in professional hockey.

This afternoon, a good hour after the 11:30 scrimmage had ended, I moved into elevator waiting position next to Eric Fehr. Eric is really easy-going and pleasant to talk to. But these days, he has to be a bit tight-lipped — he’s under a gag order from management about discussing his injury.

“Can’t talk about the injury, I know,” I said to him, smiling. He was holding what looked to be a book report for a high school English class.

“It’s all in here,” he replied, holding it up for me to inspect. The cover had his name and I think the word ‘Medical’ on it.

Just as the elevator doors opened, behind us arrived a freshly showered Nicklas Backstrom and what was clearly a Swedish media contingent (everybody was blond) encircling him. We all boarded.

I was standing next to Fehr. To my immediate right a Swedish reporter began a fresh dialogue with Backstrom, in their native tongue. My Swedish being rusty, I turned to talk to Eric again.

“Were you back in Manitoba this summer?” I asked.

“Yeah.”

I was curious to know a bit about summers in Manitoba, having never been there and hating Julys and Augusts in D.C. and their oppressive heat and humidity. I like to hear about places that offer comparatively cool temperatures — I guess I air condition vicariously in that regard.

“We actually get the greatest extremes [in temperatures] in all of North America,” Eric told me. “We get minus 40 and 40 celsius.”

My metrics fluency is like my Swedish, so I asked Eric for a bit of a conversion.

“We go over a hundred [degrees] in the summer,” he told me.

“Did it ever get so cold in winter that you couldn’t skate outside on the ponds there?” I asked as followup.

“Oh yeah . . . it’d get cold enough they had to close school.”

We parted company a few moments later. Downstairs I dined on tasty Mexican food during a late lunch. An hour later I headed toward the elevators again to get up to G6, where my car was parked. Just as the doors were set to close Caps’ goaltending coach Dave Prior joined me. Behind him was Assistant Coach Jay Leach, and some others I didn’t recognize. Prior stood next to me, meaning his ride wasn’t going to be silent.

“How do you think your netminders are looking, coach?” I asked.

He smiled. “How do you think they’re looking?” he replied.

I asked him if he’d ever known of a training camp when the Caps had so much an abundance of talent in net. He made an important clarification in my observation. One of the organization’s prized prospects, Russian Simeon Varlamov, isn’t at camp. Back in July, he told me, when both Michal Neuvirth and Varlamov were at Kettler for the development camp, he realized how fortunate he and the Capitals were.

“Those two goalies,” Prior told me around G4 of our ride, “they’re top-rated in their respective countries.”

Next I asked the coach about Olie Kolzig’s relationship with all the younger goalies. I wanted to know if they sought him out for advice, guidance, technical assistance, or if perhaps they were intimidated by him.

“Olie . . . what he does is pick up [their spirits] after I get through with them,” he replied, smiling.

I guess it’s pretty universal to fear getting stuck in an elevator — everything so confined, the victims so uncertain of when rescue is going to arrive. I wouldn’t wish it upon myself, but if it had to happen, I’d like it to out at Kettler, during training camp, on a day perhaps when Don Cherry or Barry Melrose was taping an interview with Alex Ovechkin.

Filed in Development Camp, Eric Fehr, Kettler Capitals Iceplex, Michal Neuvirth, Nicklas Bäckström, Prospects, Simeon Varlamov, Training Camp, Washington Capitals| Permalink| Comments (2)

A Summer of Welcomed Change

By pucksandbooks

Monday, September 10, 2007

Cup'pa Joe

Six things about the summer caught my attention as indicators of profound change for the Caps — and arrived as profoundly optimistic in their impact.

(1) Two prominent signings this summer radically reoriented the perception, however superficial and unfair, that D.C. was a hockey deadzone, akin to residing and laboring in an Anbar region among pro rinks. First, George McPhee inked premiere playmaking pivot Michal Nylander, leaving the 2006 Stanley Cup finalist Edmonton Oilers a jilted bride at the free agent altar and occasioning an embarassing tirade and desperation responses from Oil GM Kevin Lowe. Nylander spurned other notable offers, too. Second, Captain Chris Clark, fresh off a career-best 30-goal campaign, and with years of productive hockey still ahead, forsaked free agency next summer and re-upped with the Caps on a three-year deal that will keep him in a red, white, and blue Caps sweater through 2010-11. Within days of the signing he told a conference call of reporters “I want to be a part of it, [of] where we’re headed.”

(2) The team’s Draft weekend uniform unveiling was a marvel of community outreach and engagement. It was a Friday night that won’t soon be forgotten. There was so much anticipation about the uniform redesign itself, but early into the evening long-time Caps’ fans had their thoughts directed at a welcomed and long-overdue reunion with Mike Gartner and others Caps’ greats from the past. The evening gave the organization perhaps its first and best opportunity to showcase Kettler Capitals as a landmark facility. When the team wants to host a special evening for its fans, it can devote one sheet of ice to ceremony and another to fans skating with team members, for instance. Everyone who was involved with the facility’s conception and rise ought to feel as if they’ve revolutionized the experience of local residents interacting with professional hockey up close and in welcoming fashion.

(3) July’s Rookie Development Camp knew no rival in the team’s history as a community event generating a healthy bit of hockey buzz. Bloggers flocked to it. Print beat reporters were pressed into unprecedented coverage. Fans by the hundreds congregated in Kettler’s stands every day of the week-long camp for business-hours scrimmages. And the concluding scrimmage, fully three periods of stopped-clock Saturday night fun, drew a SRO crowd to Kettler.

(4) Team dean Olaf Kolzig, not known for wide-eyed, irrational exuberance, told the Washington Post in late August that “with the team we have in the room right now, we are a playoff team.” Kolzig in fact has been commendably frank in acknowledging the practical realities of the rebuild in real time in recent years, so his State of the Caps Union late this summer should have everyone’s notice, in town and around the league. He also told the Post “We’ve got the makings of being a very good team for a long time.”

(5) Caps’ players from around the globe arrived back in town from offseason training conspicuously early, earlier than ever before, eager to get ‘em laced up. I went out to Kettler in early August and ran into Boyd Gordon, and younger and more veteran players have been skating together for weeks. This team is excited about its prospects in 2007-08, and it’s amped to get the season started.

(6) Karl Alzner’s play in the August Super Series has drawn lots of praise; people who previously were slotting him as a good #3 blueliner are now citing his ability to control a game, play in any situation, etc. Sam Gagner ultimately earned MVP honors for the series, but Alzner accumulated a healthy share of MVP talk himself. Now, it’s just one series, and a lot of development still needs to take place with the Burnaby, British Columbia, native, but it’s possible the Caps may finally have themselves a legitimate #1 defenseman in the system. The Caps didn’t make what appeared at the time to be splashy moves or selections at the Entry Draft in Columbus, but they may have departed with a cornerstone blueliner for the next decade-plus.

It’s not reflected yet in the broadcast allotments or print layouts of the usual mainstream suspects, but there is profoundly palpable change in the hockey air of D.C. early this fall. Some of it is attributable to the sheer maturation of the Caps’ rebuild — the really rough roads are in the team’s rearview mirror. But increasingly, I believe, there’s been widespread recognition in the new media that “the plan” as it was originally conceived years back by ownership and management has been largely well executed, and that the fruit of its harvest is making for a comparatively sweet September 2007.

Filed in Development Camp, Frivolous Summer File, Front Office, Kettler Capitals Iceplex, Morning cup-a-joe, Prospects, Washington Capitals| Permalink| Comments (10)

On Modern Practice Rinks and Their Fan Friendly Potential

By The OFB Team

Thursday, August 9, 2007

Philadelphia Logo - image from TSN.ca

The Caps will inaugurate their formal training for the upcoming season on Saturday, September 8, when the rookies arrive at Kettler Capitals. The following Wednesday the rookies will travel to the Virtua Center Flyers Skate Zone in suburban Philadelphia and scrimmage against young Flyers.

Next September Philly will return the traveling favor and send their kids to Kettler Capitals for a scrimmage. This is precisely the kind of exciting broadening of the region’s hockey experience made possible by having a flagship facility in which to train. We were a part of the vibrant atmosphere in last month’s concluding Saturday evening scrimmage at the Caps’ Development Camp. Imagine the atmosphere with the Orange and Black in the house next fall.

Filed in Development Camp, Kettler Capitals Iceplex, Philadelphia Flyers, Prospects, Rookie Camp, Training Camp, Washington Capitals| Permalink| Comments (0)

Washington Capitals Depth Chart, Summer 2007

By The OFB Team

Friday, July 20, 2007

Herewith, our attempt to devise a depth chart for the Caps to coincide with the recent completion of the team’s annual Rookie Development Camp. It’s important to note that with it we are not forecasting specific line combos but rather attempting to slot players by position according to their professional production and most recent performances in evaluative settings. It’s also important to note that a number of forwards in the Caps’ system play more than one position up front. The Russian elites and Matt Pettinger appear locks on the left side for well into the next decade, whereas the right side seems to carry many more question marks.

We’ve envisioned this as a file hopefully sparking spirited reaction and respectful challenge. We welcome your proposed modifications.

OFBs take on the Washington Capitals Depth Chart

Filed in Alexander Ovechkin, Alexander Semin, Andrew Gordon, Boyd Gordon, Brent Johnson, Brian Sutherby, Brooks Laich, Chris Bourque, Chris Clark, Dave Steckel, Development Camp, Donald Brashear, Francois Bouchard, Frivolous Summer File, Hershey Bears, Joe Finley, Karl Alzner, Mathieu Perreault, Matt Pettinger, Michael Nylander, Michal Neuvirth, Milan Jurcina, Nicklas Bäckström, Olaf Kolzig, Players, Prospects, Sami Lepisto, Shaone Morrisonn, Simeon Varlamov, Steve Eminger, Tom Poti, Tomas Fleischmann, Travis Morin, Viktor Kozlov, Washington Capitals| Permalink| Comments (15)

The Spirit of the CyberRadio

By pucksandbooks

Monday, July 16, 2007

Cup'pa Joe

Add to the names of the Revolutionaries Allen Popels, who a few months ago asked the question, “Is it too much to ask that we the hockey loving and Caps’ fans have a broadcast fan forum for 30 or 60 minutes a week?” The Caps of course asked a similar question a few years back and answered it with the excellent “Caps Report,” hosted by Mike Vogel and Spike Parker. Popels wanted his own show, on the weekend, a fan-driven one. He had technology at his disposal and did something about it. Beginning earlier this summer, every Sunday, he began hosting his one hour on the frontier air of cyberspace, ‘CapitalFanatic: The Fan’s Voice of the Washington Capitals.’ (A podcast is available; and Popels makes his program available via iTunes.)

Yesterday Eric McErlain and Dmitry Chesnokov and I appeared as guests on Popel’s program, where we discussed the recently completed Rookie Camp and a few other tidbits puck. Interestingly, we had no shortage of topics hockey to discuss for the full hour in the middle of summer. If we’re invited back, we’ll return. Telling, though, isn’t it, that the region’s hockey fans have their hockey audio itches scratched by the Caps themselves and their fans . . . and not say local radio?

Here I enter my broken record realm: it wasn’t always thus. Once upon a time Scott Lynn of WTEM hosted a weekly Caps’ radio forum on weekend mornings. One could find comparable programming on WTOP and WMAL in the days prior to TEM. One of the best things about our iconic and highly idiosyncratic radio personality Ken Beatrice was that in a sense every day was Caps’ chat on his program: he never treated the Caps as a third- or fourth-tier tenant in town, and rather led a one-man campaign to make Washington a genuine sports town. He had his broadcast shortcomings to be sure, but his heart was in the right place. More importantly, he had media bosses supportive of his mission.

During yesterday’s ‘Netcast I had at times two trains of thought larger in context than the specific matters the four of us were discussing. One was of the caliber of expertise that was being shared. I’d really urge you to seek out Popel’s podcast, fast forward through my meager prattlings, and listen closely to Eric McErlain’s nuanced take on the Caps and especially the NHL more broadly. The guy knows the league, because he covers the league, and we’re blessed that he possesses a passion for the local team as well. And Dmitry genuinely is a local expert on all things Russian hockey. The remarkable irony now abundantly broadcast and published, and filling the vast void, is that by virtue of their abdication of covering hockey professionally, as their trade has ever required, local media have unwittingly bred a cottage alternative industry of impassioned experts.

I challenge you to identify a single local sports anchor, on radio or TV, who knows one-tenth as much on hockey as McErlain, and can communicate it in as polished a fashion.

Flowers do bloom in deserts, you know.

Let me be clear: there are at times commendable attempts by local broadcast press to cover our game and our team. They tend to be ex-Redskins (not including John Riggins) now seated before studio microphones. That’s interesting in itself; football players are perhaps best conditioned to appreciate the physical demands made of hockey players each night.

The other thought I had yesterday was more speculative about the near-term and more future impact of enterprises like Popel’s, and especially of those that broaden the new media perspective. When, for instance, will we see fan- or team-inspired television/video programming adding to the chatter?

My prediction: within six months.

Filed in Development Camp, Internet, Media, Radio, WTEM, Washington Capitals| Permalink| Comments (11)

Camp Home Movies

By Gustafsson

Sunday, July 15, 2007

Encouraged by the positive reaction to the scrimmage video from day one, I rolled some more tape yesterday during the final scrimmage. I told Al Koken, who was standing next to me, that I have a new respect for his colleagues behind the camera. He replied, “they’re the best in the biz.”

In the words of the Warner Wolf, “let’s go to the videotape.”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Obd0buKlwWc

Filed in Development Camp, Kettler Capitals Iceplex, Prospects, Video Clips, Washington Capitals| Permalink| Comments (3)

Mathieu Perreault: Lightning in a (8-oz.) Bottle

By pucksandbooks

Saturday, July 14, 2007

Perreault and Backstrom - photo by sk84fun_dc

Thirty minutes prior to Friday night’s Rookie Camp scrimmage Drummondville, Quebec native Matheiu Perreault could be seen standing behind the players’ benches, not yet in gear, twirling his hockey stick with a puck seemingly taped to his blade. I say seemingly because over the course of four or five minutes the puck never ever moved from the center of the blade curve. He’d whirl his stick with rapid wrist action, rapid eye movement motion almost, and never lose control of his prized possession. For a few brief seconds it appeared as if the puck defied gravity with the blade curved toward the floor. It was a magical spectacle.

Out on the ice this week there has been a similar attachment of puck to Perreault’s stick. An emerging storyline this week, he has freshly impressed Capitals’ officials with his playmaking ability, his elite hockey sense, and particularly his knack for being in the right place at the right time in tight quarters. A player of modest stature (5 ‘8, 160-ish), Perreault shows no reluctance to go where the big bodies bang.

A year ago at this time most in hockey would have thought Perreault lucky even to be invited to the Caps’ Rookie camp this summer. His rookie year in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League with the Acadie Bathurst Titan was nice but unspectacular (18 goals, 34 assists in 62 games). His offensive production did jump a bit that postseason, but come June and the NHL Entry Draft, his size kept him on the board late. The Caps grabbed him in round six, 177th overall.

But as the final leaves were falling from trees this past autumn a strange thing was taking place back up in Acadie Bathurst: Perreault was a dominating offensive force night in and night out. He was named Q League Player of the Month for November. By Thanksgiving (ours), he’d passed his rookie year points total. Along with draft classmate Francois Bouchard he was invited to the Canadian World Junior Final Evaluation Camp in December. In midseason Caps’ General Manager George McPhee went on the CapsReport and told Mike Vogel that Perreault had received “the highest possible score” on a player’s hockey sense. He finished the 2006-07 season with 41 goals and 78 assists in 67 games, and he capped it off by winning the league’s MVP award.

He arrived in Washington for the first time this week (”It’s hot here” he complained to me), and from the opening moments of Wednesday’s opening scrimmage he displayed an elite game of deft playmaking, unrivaled puck control, and superb instincts. He scored two goals that night, and he sent flat accurate passes to teammates in every scoring sector.

Along the boards, where you might think him most vulnerable and overmatched, he actually excels, drawing defenders to him to create open space for his linemates. He wins most of his draws, many quite cleanly. He is in constant motion in the offensive zone.

But outlandish offensive numbers and hardware almost as tall as he is bear no relationship to Perreault’s shy and soft-spoken demeanor off the ice. He was frank in acknowledging how even he had no idea he was in store for an MVP quality CHL season.

He told me that last season was so spectacular that he is at pains to identify specific goals to better this season. Instead, he will focus on “improving my strength, [gaining] more speed . . . more speed.”

From McPhee’s midseason assessment to this week’s dynamic display I made a point of trying to press the GM for a bold forecast for Perreault. I didn’t want to know if McPhee thought Perreault simply NHL-destined but rather if once there he’d be an impact player.

“He’s a good player,” McPhee told me after Friday’s scrimmage. But what about an impact NHLer? “I wouldn’t be surprised at all,” he added.

NHL hockey will always have places for the undersized and overskilled and determined. Martin St. Louis or Steve Sullivan or Daniel Briere would score goals in any era. It’s too early yet to tell if Perreault’s on that kind of development arc, but he possesses in abundance hockey’s most coveted quality — game-dictating instincts and skills.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eN3CdfYIxwo

Filed in CHL, Capitals Report, Development Camp, George McPhee, Mathieu Perreault, OFB, OFB Interviews, Player Profiles, Prospects, Washington Capitals| Permalink| Comments (3)

Extra Duty on a Summer Friday Night

By pucksandbooks

Friday, July 13, 2007

Kettler Capitals Iceplex Exterior

Friday night’s scrimmage went a bit off script: the coaches decided to incorporate specialty teams play midway through both periods, with the teams alternating manpower advantages for the balance of the back half of the stanzas. There was also this pleasant surprise: sudden death overtime play. In the second 5-minute OT session Nicklas Backstrom swept across Simeon Varlamov’s crease with a cross-ice feed from linemate Francois Bouchard and tucked in the game-ender, giving Team Blue a 3-2 triumph. Don’t be surprised if that forward combination is one we see sirening red lights behind enemy cages in the years ahead.

That overtime flair was exceeded moments earlier by the save of the week, authored by Michael Nuevirth. Sean Backman flipped a clever, two-defender elluding pass on the left wing to Bryan Lerg, who raced in unimpeded on Nuevirth. Lerg made a terrific lateral move in tight, and lifted a game-winner targeting the unguarded top right shelf. Somehow, Nuevirth snared it with his glove. A number of us watching from center ice thought the game had ended on the shot.

This night, however, belonged to Jeff Lovecchio. The 6 ‘2, 195-lb. left wing completed a 34-pt. season for Western Michigan of the CCHA in ‘06-’07. The native of Chesterfield, Mo., has had a super solid week. Tonight he showcased his impressive speed, strength, and offensive zone grit better than any other forward.

“Lovecchio stands out because he works so hard,” Head Coach Glen Hanlon said afterward. “But remember he’s 22.” Hanlon spent some moments with reporters after tonight’s scrimmage delineating the careful evaluative process club officials are undertaking in an atmosphere that at times features five- and six-year age discrepancies among players out on a shift.

Another lasting image this week is what Joe Finley regularly does to undersized forwards (in other words, every one he faces) who run out of time and space in his end. You know how offensive linemen in football get credited with “pancakes” for flattening opposing lineman with technically brutal blocking? Well, Finley is inviting a category I’d term “rag doll-ing”: he simply thumps opposing forwards to the ice in close quarters with little effort of his shoulders.

More than a few veteran observers of pro hockey have this week pointed out that the week’s scrimmages appear to have been dominated by the blueline talent. While the scoring hasn’t been conspicuously low in the two, 30-minute, running clock formats, the shot volume has been. And the camp’s goaltenders have seldom been called upon to be spectacular. But consider what the camp’s forwards are facing in terms of blueline experience. Sean Collins is an ‘83 birthyear, with four seasons of NCAA hockey completed. Sami Lepisto is a veteran of the Finnish Elite League. Oscar Hedman is a vet of the Swedish Elite League. Karl Alzner is a big-bodied, top 5 pick renowned for his on-ice maturity. Joe Finley has just two seasons of NCAA hockey under his belt, but he’s bigger than Ballston Mall’s parking lot. And then you’ve got an awful lot of quality goaltending behind these defenders. Advantage absolutely to the D.

Seen and Heard at Kettler Capitals

* 2005 first-rounder Sasha Pokulok still hasn’t been cleared for contact skating, and while he’s participating in morning drills this week, quietly there is growing sentiment within the Caps’ organization that Pokulok’s blueline candidacy with the big club is fast approaching flickering candle status.* Earlier this week I learned that the voice of the Hershey Bears, John Walton, will debut his own hockey blog in advance of the upcoming hockey season. That should be special, particularly if Walton can set aside some modesty and upload a few of his famous calls, like Eric Fehr’s Eastern Conference winner in Game 7 sudden death in the spring of 2006. Think Ozzy Osbourne, unsedated, meets Howard Dean, actually nominated. The brigade from Hershey, Pa., grew tonight with the Patriot News’ Tim Leone arriving for his first visit to Kettler Capitals. He had a chance to chat a bit with Bears bench boss Bruce Boudreau, and when I asked him if anyone had particularly caught the coach’s notice this week, he said “Andrew Gordon sure has.”

* Those of you who’ve been OFB readers for more than a month know of my regard for Leone’s coverage of the Bears. Tonight he shared a kind word with me for my file on the old Hershey Arena earlier this spring, and he alerted me to the fact that he has a chapter on the great old barn in his history of the Bears, titled Hershey Bears: Sweet Seasons.

I hopped on over to amazon.com right as I returned home and found this reader review of Leone’s book:

“Well-researched and very interesting history about one of the oldest and most interesting ice hockey teams in the world. Interesting and in-depth, but very readable. For me, though, the book is worth it for the photographs alone. A must-read for any Bears fan or hockey historian.”

It’s already been added to my summer reading list. Put it on yours.

Filed in American Hockey League, Andrew Gordon, Development Camp, Francois Bouchard, Hershey Bears, Kettler Capitals Iceplex, Mike Vogel, Nicklas Bäckström, Prospects, Simeon Varlamov, Travis Morin, Washington Capitals| Permalink| Comments (3)

Postcards from Summer Camp

By The OFB Team

Friday, July 13, 2007

We never tire of JP’s razor wit, and when referencing OFB’s Kettler encampment this week, he quipped “rookie camp is like crack to these guys.” If we are the crack-heads the Capitals are our dealer. And if we were required to enter rehab of some sort, we would not be alone. Loyal OFB reader sk84fun_dc has attended more of camp than us and has taken many quality pictures. She’s allowed us to post a few here:
(update: the first pic was taken by sk84fun_dc’s friend who’s given us permission to use it)

Glow in the Light - photo courtesy sk84fun_dc's friend

Scrimmage Pic - photo courtesy sk84fun_dc

Daren Machesney - photo courtesy sk84fun_dc

Filed in Development Camp, Karl Alzner, Mathieu Perreault, Nicklas Bäckström, Prospects, Washington Capitals| Permalink| Comments (1)

Rookie Camp 2007: Passing Out Deli Numbers to the Pro Prospects

By pucksandbooks

Friday, July 13, 2007

Cup'pa Joe

Halfway through the Capitals’ 2007 Rookie Camp, I have this general observation: there are bushels full of authentically professional hockey players skating out at Kettler Capitals this week. And the overwhelming majority of them are going to return this fall to their junior, collegiate, or minor pro clubs for additonal ripening. But shift after shift in these high-paced, highly competitive scrimmages, in jerseys blue and white, the evidence is ample that the Caps’ enlarged scouting staff of recent years has delivered dramatic dividends for the long-term future welfare of this organization. As early as this September, almost certainly there will be NHL-viable bodies dispatched to Bruce Boudreau and the American Hockey League, and perhaps a few back to the CHL as well.

Joe Finley could play pro hockey right now; instead, he’ll patrol the North Dakota Fighting Sioux blueline in its top pairing in 2007-08. Andrew Joudrey has an NHL stride and an NHL poise that will almost certainly make him a fan favorite in Hershey this season. Ditto for Andrew Gordon. Nicklas Backstrom is a top-six fixture among Caps forwards this fall, but to these eyes he’s only the second-best young center scrimmaging this week, bettered in the “Did you just see what I saw?” meter by Mathieu Perreault. (It took less than two scrimmages for Perreault to attract double-team defensive coverage — that’s how dynamic he is.) This is by no means an exhaustive tally, and I suspect over the next two days I’ll be adding to it.

Here’s how good things look out on the mid-summer ice filled with youngins right now: Luke Lynes, not ensconced on too many Tier I or Tier II Caps’ prospect rankings, may well have potted a hat trick in Thursday’s scrimmage. He had two for sure and was involved in a tightly bunched scramble on a third. (Blue bested White 5-1 Thursday.)

Another terrifically exciting development: youngsters who last September at training camp in Ashburn, Va., appeared often overwhelmed by the pro environs look a heck of a lot more comfortable and improved this summer. I’m fantastically impressed by Francois Bouchard’s improved mobility this week. Skating had been considered his primary weakness, and while he’s still an upright skater who’ll never make anyone forget Mike Gartner, he is beating a lot of skaters to a lot of pucks this week. More and more he’s bearing the aura of a second-round steal.

Oskar Osala, too, is turning a lot of heads with his physical play and general aggressiveness and good decision-making. Recall that this past season he enjoyed a bit of a blossoming one the biggest stage for prospects: the most recent World Juniors. His poise and presence this week appears to be carrying over from that. There is a clear confidence displayed on his shifts that wasn’t often evident in Ashburn.

In the middle of last season I had great exchange with an NHL scout who had as his primary coverage area the CCHA. After the Caps signed Sean Collins this spring he emailed me with a prediction that Caps’ fans would in short order be very happy with the signing. This week, I’m seeing a lot of support for that sentiment. Collins is good-sized and mobile and an adept puck distributor. And adept puck distribution is a theme fast becoming emblematic of the organization’s rearguards. Collins, Alzner, Godfrey, Lepisto, even Big Joe Finley — the shifts and pairings on the back end don’t much seem to matter; we in the stands aren’t witnessing much hair-on-fire mayhem when the puck’s on these guys’ sticks deep along the boards or in the midst of frenzied forechecking. Melikey.

A terrifically important thing to keep in mind as you take in these scrimmages: guys like Joudrey and Gordon and Morin and Backstrom are at times matched with and against guys who knew nothing better than Northeast prep puck this past season as competition. So you’re talking about fellas who’ve completed in some instances four years of major college hockey, or one or two World Championships, under the tutelage of some of some of hockey’s best coaches, battling against those who were slow dancing at Prom just a few weeks back. But it’s within this context that my main point here is further amplified: Andrew Glass, who won’t enroll in freshman composition at BU until 2008, looks anything but out of place against young world-class competition.

Filed in Development Camp, Francois Bouchard, Joe Finley, Karl Alzner, Mathieu Perreault, Nicklas Bäckström, Prospects, Travis Morin, Washington Capitals| Permalink| Comments (0)

More Drama from Russia?

By pucksandbooks

Thursday, July 12, 2007

Semyon Varlamov

One thing it seems you can count on with young Russian hockey players in North America, besides their high-end skill: intrigue. This is the latest bit of crack investigative journalism from D.C.-based Russian hockey reporter Dmitry Chesnokov:

“There seems to be a perception that Varlamov does not have a contract in Russia. In fact, he does. He has a 3-year contract with Locomotiv Yaroslavl. I asked George [McPhee] about it yesterday, and his reply was “this is not true.” Well, it is. Varlamov told me himself that he has a three-year agreement with his Russian club. Varlamov also said that there is an agreement with Locomotiv that he can leave for the NHL after next season.

“Today we contacted Yuri Lukin, Lokomotiv’s general manager. This is what he said: “The club [Locomotiv] and Varlamov signed a long term contract. Next season he will definitely play for Locomotiv. Next year, as we all agreed, Semyon will decide himself where he wants to play. If he decides to leave for the NHL, how will we be able to keep him? He will run away, like Malkin.

“So this is the current situation with Varlamov’s two contracts.”

Well.

Filed in Development Camp, George McPhee, Prospects, Simeon Varlamov, Washington Capitals| Permalink| Comments (3)

Day 1 Scrimmage Video

By Gustafsson

Thursday, July 12, 2007

Here is some video I shot during the scrimmage yesterday.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ITiahNI_xT8

Filed in Development Camp, Karl Alzner, Nicklas Bäckström, Video Clips, Washington Capitals| Permalink| Comments (6)

Kids Clash at Kettler

By Empty Maybe

Wednesday, July 11, 2007

Development Camp - Day 1

Following an organizational shift towards a more competitive atmosphere, the youngsters at the Caps’ Rookie Camp divided into two teams and got it on tonight, a welcome bit of talented and well-contested hockey amongst yet another humid scorcher in the D.C. Metro area.

The setup is two refs, and instead of playing three 20 minute periods, there will be two 30 minute halves, with the a running clock. I didn’t see any penalties called, and the faceoffs gave new meaning to the term ‘hurry-up’. We were stationed at one end of the rink, so we caught the action from our vantage point much easier, and it was somewhat confusing the action at the other end.

Filed in Development Camp, Washington Capitals| Permalink| Comments (3)

Pulling an All-Nighter with Thoughts Pucks

By pucksandbooks

Wednesday, July 11, 2007

Cup'pa Joe

Go ahead and make fun of me — I had difficulty sleeping last night, tossing and turning while my semi-conscious thoughts were heavy with hockey prospect storylines. Normal men this summer have been rushed into deep repose each evening with associations of imprisoned Paris Hilton, counting shower come-ons in her confinement. I on the other hand have my late evening mind, last night especially, preoccupied this July with thoughts of young Nova Scotians and Finns tossing medicine balls to one another and playing summer shinny.

Last night, why couldn’t my subconscious release me from its mental Herbies, and broker a grand compromise for more and better sleep — say Paris penning letters from the pen outfitted in a new Caps’ sweater? [Not-so-Subsconscious reply, at 2:47 a.m.: "Because the new sweaters are back-ordered through September."]

The script for this sleep distress was authored early Tuesday. In the morning a chum transported me, with his reminiscence of a roadtrip past, to a faraway Frozenville. By the close of business yesterday OFB colleague Gustafsson was instant messaging me from Kettler Capitals, filling me in on all of the logistics for camp coverage by new and old media.

The Caps, though, bear considerable culpability for my restlessness. First, they bloated this July’s Rookie Camp roster with unrivaled prospect riches from around the globe, virtually doubling the size of the typical July camp. Next they scheduled happy hour scrimmages for four consecutive sweltering summer nights this week. What could be more puckhead friendly? A veritable Woodstock, indoors, for the ice-addicted.

Not content with this already agitating agenda, management this week dispatched GMGM to the radio airwaves (Doc Walker’s WTEM radio show) to promise not All Star game congeniality on the ice during the scrimmages but rather something closer to a Charlestown Chiefs’ intrasquad intifada.

3:23 a.m.: Joe Finley, puttin on the foil, and pummeling some anonymous free agent to a pulp? A non-smoker, I nonetheless bolted upright in bed and reached for an imagined pack of unfiltered Marlboros I imagined were stationed on my nightstand.

Consider the thick scroll of honors accompanying these young guns onto the Kettler ice this week: “The next Forsberg” . . . “First team All WCHA” . . . reigning Most Valuable Player, Quebec Major Junior Hockey League . . . oh, and the Q’s reigning leading scorer . . . Second Team All WCHA . . . recent captain of an NCAA national champion . . . Mr. 99-mph slapshot [Not-so-Subsonscious clarifier, 3:50 a.m.: "99.4 miles per hour"] . . . the second-leading scorer in the USHL from last season . . . and Big Knuckles Finley.

I’m supposed to just pull up the covers Tuesday evening and pretend this to be an ordinary mid-summer Wednesday in sports Washington?

If you see me out at Kettler this afternoon, I’ll be the guy with bags under his eyes, welcoming any and all offers for energy drinks.

Filed in Development Camp, George McPhee, Kettler Capitals Iceplex, Morning cup-a-joe, Prospects, Washington Capitals| Permalink| Comments (3)

Let’s Go Camping

By The OFB Team

Tuesday, July 10, 2007

The Caps this afternoon released a finalized roster for this week’s Rookie Camp out at Kettler Capitals. Here’s what it looks like:

No.	Name	Pos.	Ht.	Wt.	Birthdate	2006-07 Team	Acquired
19	Nicklas Backstrom	C	6-0	183	11/23/87	Brynas U-18 (Sweden)	Draft (1st, 2006)
29	Jamie Hunt	D	6-2	200	4/20/84	Hershey (AHL)	Free Agent
30	Michal Neuvirth	G	6-1	197	3/23/88	Plymouth (OHL)	Draft (2nd, 2006)
31	Daren Machesney	G	6-0	182	4/17/87	S. Carolina (ECHL)/Hershey (AHL)	Draft (5th, 2005)
34	Sasha Pokulok	D	6-5	220	5/25/86	S. Carolina (ECHL)/Hershey (AHL)	Draft (1st, 2005)
36	Francois Bouchard	RW	6-1	187	4/26/88	Baie-Comeau (QMJHL)	Draft (2nd, 2006)
40	Simeon Varlamov	G	6-1	183	4/27/88	Yaroslavl (Russia)	Draft (1st, 2006)
41	Theo Ruth	D	6-1	199	2/14/89	USA U-18 (USNTDP)	Draft (2nd, 2007)
42	Sami Lepisto	D	5-11	176	10/17/84	Jokerit Helsinki (Finland)	Draft (3rd, 2004)
45	Steve Werner	RW	6-1	200	8/8/84	S.Carolina (ECHL)/Hershey (AHL)	Draft (3rd, 2003)
46	Patrick McNeill	D	6-1	198	3/17/87	Saginaw (OHL)	Draft (4th, 2005)
47	Karl Alzner	D	6-2	206	9/24/88	Calgary (WHL)	Draft (1st, 2007)
48	Oskar Osala	LW	6-4	222	12/26/87	Mississauga (OHL)	Draft (4th, 2006)
49	Viktor Dovgan	D	6-1	205	2/27/87	S. Carolina (ECHL)/Hershey (AHL)	Draft (7th, 2005)
54	Oscar Hedman	D	6-0	209	4/21/86	Modo (Sweden)	Draft (5th, 2004)
57	Kyle Wilson	C	6-0	200	12/5/84	Hershey (AHL)/S. Carolina (ECHL)	Free Agent
58	Maxime Lacroix	LW	6-0	180	6/5/87	Quebec (QMJHL)	Draft (5th, 2006)
59	Joe Finley	D	6-7	233	6/29/87	North Dakota (WCHA)	Draft (1st, 2005)
61	Andrew Joudrey	C	5-11	191	7/15/84	Wisconsin (WCHA)/Hershey (AHL)	Draft (8th, 2003)
62	Sean Collins	D	6-1	215	10/30/83	Ohio State (CCHA)/Hershey (AHL)	Free Agent
63	Andrew Gordon	RW	5-11	180	12/13/85	St. Cloud State (WCHA)	Draft (7th, 2004)
65	Andrew Glass	LW	5-11	180	7/14/89	Nobles (High-Mass.)	Draft (7th, 2007)
67	Justin Taylor	C	5-11	180	2/8/89	London (OHL)	Draft (6th, 2007)
70	Justin Mrazek	G	6-3	185	7/21/85	Union College (ECACHL)
71	Travis Morin	C	6-2	175	1/9/84	Minn. St. (WCHA)/S. Car. (ECHL)
72	Pasi Salonen	LW	5-11	187	12/18/85	HIFK Helsinki (Finland)	Draft (5th, 2004)
73	Josh Godfrey	D	6-0	197	1/15/88	Sault Ste. Marie (OHL)	Draft (2nd, 2007)
75	Phil DeSimone	C	5-11	193	3/19/87	Sioux City (USHL)	Draft (3rd, 2007)
76	Brett Bruneteau	C	5-11	183	1/5/89	Omaha (USHL)	Draft (4th, 2007)
78	Brett Leffler	RW	6-0	198	5/19/89	Regina (WHL)	Draft (5th, 2007)
80	Dan Dunn	G	6-4	200	6/20/88	Wellington (OPJHL)	Draft (6th, 2007)
85	Mathieu Perreault	C	5-8	151	1/5/88	Acadie-Bathurst (QMJHL)	Draft (6th, 2006)
86	Luke Lynes	C	6-0	195	11/28/87	Brampton (OHL)	Draft (4th, 2006)

Filed in Development Camp, Francois Bouchard, Joe Finley, Karl Alzner, Kettler Capitals Iceplex, Mathieu Perreault, Michal Neuvirth, Nicklas Bäckström, Players, Prospects, Sami Lepisto, Simeon Varlamov, Travis Morin, Washington Capitals| Permalink| Comments (4)

The Kettler-Capitals Oasis

By pucksandbooks

Monday, July 9, 2007

Cup'pa Joe

The Caps can never take July Rookie Camp away from us, ever. It would be a high crime against hockey humanity. Imagine this week, with the mercury flirting with 100, without the refrigerated oasis at Ballston. You can boil hotdogs in our swimming pools. The air quality indicators are in dangerous hues. Only scorpions and cactus could be happy here this week.

I had planned on arriving at Kettler-Capitals late Wednesday afternoon, for the week’s first scrimmage, but after today’s thermometer baking, I may pack a bag and snag a pillow from home and sleep in the stands there beginning tonight. Like Duke students and their encamped anticipation for hoops tickets, that’s how I’m longing for live hockey this week. Kettler Krazies?

From a simple karma point of view, the Caps’ July Rookie Camp is perfectly perched in a mid-point of hockey’s calendar absence from our lives. We last witnessed live hockey here more than 10 weeks ago, and when this week’s summit of skilled skaters adjourns early Saturday evening, we’ll have about eight weeks before training camp commences. I’ll need your commiserating camaraderie to help get me through August.

In my business comings and goings in Northwest today and tomorrow I want to happen upon a family of heat-frazzled tourists from Minnesota, their tempers short, the children ornery, and I want to emergency transport them to the Metro Orange line and home to their hockey hearts at Ballston. Who needs monuments when soon Swedes on skates will be in sublime motion?

Years ago, pre Bud Selig, I used to lose myself a bit in June, July, and August in Major League Baseball games. It seemed inoffensive to my hockey heart, rejuvinative and patriotic. But for at least 10 years now I’ve been unable to distinguish the cheaters from the honorable on Bud’s diamonds, and requiring as I do a modicum of integrity to the games I invest my time, money, and emotion in, I simply cannot and will not play the sucker, the duped. This morning the media is reporting that Alex Rodriguez homered for the 30th time this season yesterday. He’s on pace perhaps for 70 dingers. After the season he had last year, I want a drug test. He may well be perfectly clean, but on Bud’s watch, I have zero basis for believing it. Don’t even get me started on Barry Bonds’ profaning of Hank Aaron. What happened to sports America’s ability to blush?

Last night I was seated in the stands of Shirley Povich Field, in Rockville’s Cabin John Regional Park, taking in a doubleheader between two senior league baseball teams. Under every cap was short, grey, receding hair. On the basepaths there was more strolling than scampering. There were one or two dropped fly balls, but I was pleasantly engaged in the overall quality of play — clearly most of the guys had played college ball. I was watching authentic baseball, and even in breezeless suburban D.C., I was happy. It was an oasis.

Kettler-Capitals brings us another this week — relief from the heat. And the hot air.

Filed in Development Camp, Kettler Capitals Iceplex, MLB, Morning cup-a-joe, Other Sports, Washington Capitals| Permalink| Comments (7)

July’s Much-Needed Hockey Fix

By pucksandbooks

Friday, July 6, 2007

Cup'pa Joe

Boz penned a