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Dates for Camping

By The OFB Team

Wednesday, July 23, 2008

The Capitals today announced dates for fall camp. Rookies and prospects will arrive at Kettler Capitals for workouts that begin on September 14. Regular training camp will commence on Saturday, September 20.

A highlight of September’s training sessions will be a scrimmage between Washington’s rookies and Philadelphia’s, at Kettler, at 3:00 on Thursday, September 18 — the first of its kind at the Capitals’ training facility. The game will be free for fans but will require a ticket for admission, with the team to announce protocols for that at a later date.

All of September’s on-ice sessions will be free and open to the public.

Filed in Hockey, Kettler Capitals Iceplex, National Hockey League, Rookie Camp, Training Camp, Washington Capitals| Permalink| Comments (1)

NFL Preseason: Stupid Is as Stupid Does

By pucksandbooks

Monday, July 21, 2008

I confess I’ve never understood the length, breadth, and brutality of the NFL preseason. With athletes in all sports — including intercollegiate ones — now training year-round, the practice by pro football of spending a month-and-a-half-plus in helmets and pads, beating each other’s brains out, out in summer’s worst heat, strikes me as nothing short of insane.

The topic is salient as the Redskins, already underwhelming most observers with their 2008 prospects, and guided by a new coach who’s never coached before — (they may well finish last in their division) — lost one of their most important players on defense on the very first play of practice on the very first day of training camp yesterday. For the season. Later in the day, they lost another defensive end, also for the season, a reserve, who ruptured his achilles tendon. One might be inclined to chalk this up to really bad luck, except that as NFL preseasons have lengthened and intensified most especially in the last 10 years, as players once sized for the defensive line now roam at safety, and as linebackers now run not much slower than wideouts, the triage has multiplied. More NFL players, including front-liners, are certain to go down over the next six weeks — they always do. And the NFL doesn’t care.

In a very real sense contemporary pro football has become a game of brutal attrition. It’s positively preposterous to try and forecast a season ahead before first figuring out who survives all the way through August.

Phillip Daniels is a 12-year NFL veteran. In taking reps (well, one, anyway) yesterday with the ‘Skins, he was preparing for a season opener more than 45 days away. What in the world are the Redskins — and the rest of the NFL — doing scheduling such stress and duress?

I’m not the only one wondering about this madness.

Indicting the sport most might be its collegiate counterpart: without a single “preseason” game the NCAA pigskinners seem to open up with high-value heart-stoppers each and every Labor Day weekend. Consider too that unlike the collegians, NFLers have no limit on the amount of hours they can put in in a week training, studying film, and participating in offseason “mini-camps” and “voluntary workouts,” which of course are voluntary in name only. I think the Redskins have about a half dozen of those throughout the calendar now. By virtue of the commitment NFLers make around the calendar to their profession, there’s just no defense for the prolonged training camps of today.

One of the reasons the camp injuries are as dire as they annually are is because the camps are contested in extreme conditions — high heat and humidity. You also now have hundreds of three-hundred-plus-pounders competing in them, and you don’t have to be a cardiologist to know that those folks generally don’t prosper exercising in extreme heat. With their heads encased in oven-like shells.

Once upon a time, the NFL started training camps in August, conducted its season, which ended in January, and then spent late winter and spring and early summer healing up. And the football played then was rather good; some, like me, thought it better than today’s.

Today there is no offseason, in the NFL or really in any other sport, so why start the head-bashing, knee-destroying, and tendon-rupturing while embers from the 4th of July are still aglow?

All teams play a minimum of four preseason games, and starters are expected to play nearly a half of each game because . . . teams charge regular season prices for the ghoulish meat grinder-slaughterfests. I don’t doubt that a healthy majority of NFL clubs have lobbied the league office over the years to try and get the preseason shortened — motivated by a basic sense of survival. But now we’re getting to the heart of the matter: season tickets owners in Washington don’t have the option of not spending hundreds more on the meaningless slate of exhibitions. And the hundreds more on parking.

And always the games are atrocious to watch. Even if you hate baseball you should watch it instead of the NFL’s July and August dreck.

I’m not ignorant about football players needing their “reps.” And I realize that a handful of rookies need to be evaluated in game-like situations. But given the gazillions the NFL spends evaluating college players year-round, and in combines and such, you can’t make the argument that teams need half a summer to evaluate their new personnel. Or that grizzled vets need months’ worth of reps in triple-digit temps.

The NHL with its preseason has actually taken an alternative strategy with that of the NFL, and shortened it in recent years. Teams will commence camp in mid-September and have just three weeks of training and exhibitions before the arrival of opening week. Talk to any NHL manager and he’ll tell you that his players will show up in mid-September in shape and ready to skate. We can quibble over whether the preseason should extend more than 5 games, but it’s clear that the NHL, unlike the NFL, isn’t motivated by negligent and malicious greed, for hardly anyone attends NHL exhibition games. And by virtue of having a viable feeder development league in the ‘A,’ with annual promotions for virtually every club from it, hockey’s exhibitions are defensible events as auditions of the up-and coming.

Moreover, hockey clubs aren’t obligated to dress their stars — Ovechkin might skate two of the September games, for instance.

It’s really striking when you consider how relatively blessed the NHL is when it comes to being able to dress, durably, its stars from opening night on through the postseason. It’s a fierce and rugged sport to be sure, but it’s managed by men who care about the welfare of their charges and enact training schedules to protect them.

Filed in Football, Morning cup-a-joe, Other Sports, Prospects, Redskins, Training Camp, Washington Capitals| Permalink| Comments (7)

Ahead, a Promising Harvest on the Farm

By pucksandbooks

Tuesday, July 15, 2008

Development camps such as that recently completed by the Capitals have a way of imbuing DraftGeeks and even the more balanced of hockey fan with horizons of heightened optimism. Always it seems there are a handful of young standouts there, among them compelling stories of no-name collegians or free agents making next-season names for themselves. This July’s camp in Washington was no different. Jake Hausworth, a USHL graduate (Omaha) headed for Michigan Tech this autumn, may in his hockey career make no greater imprint than what he did in Washington this past week. All that would make him, then, would be a special hockey player.

Capitals’ fans, I think, ought to delight in the accomplishments of the team’s scouts — high in drafts with lottery selections but also deep into draft Saturdays (Perreault, Gordon). Hershey Bears’ fans, however, ought to be downright giddy at what’s coming their way this autumn, in year four of the team’s affiliation with the Caps.

It’s not out of the realm of possibility, for instance, that Hershey hockey fans could see more of Eric Fehr this coming season. The injury-hampered right wing signed a two-way deal with the Caps last week. He gave great effort in D.C. upon his recall last spring, but a full season of apprentice seasoning in Hershey, earning top line minutes, may not be the worst thing for his career development.

I’m imagining an Eric Fehr, Chris Bourque, Mathieu Perreault, Sami Lepisto, and Andrew Gordon Bears power play at the moment . . . Fehr and Gordon owning the corners, Perreault and CBourque with the puck Krazy-Glued to their sticks, Lepisto making like Mike Green with his passing and hockey sense on the point . . .

Mother, hold me.

Oh, and there’s a bit of a talent infusion in net in the organization to discuss this summer.

Last September, Capitals’ rookies reported first to fall camp and, on Saturday, September 8, skated an exhibition game at the Philadelphia Flyers’ practice facility in Voorhees, N.J. Plans call for the Flyers to reciprocate, and visit Kettler Capitals this September. The Caps haven’t finalized a date for that game yet, but it promises to be a spirited, first-of-its kind event for the facility. If this past Saturday’s SRO turnout for Development Camp’s concluding scrimmage is any indication, Craigslist and or eBay may be involved in admissions with that Rookie Camp tilt.

That game may also inaugurate a season-long intrigue affair between Washington hockey fans and the team’s prospects in Hershey. It’s no secret that the affiliation between the Caps and Bears has been a fruitful one — really a perfect one in terms of the parent club drafting well and feeding quality to the farm, as well as offering fans a friendly proximity by which to travel to one another’s games. But what’s in store this coming season on the farm may be the most appealing that the affiliation has offered to date.

For this coming season in Hershey there will be bluechip prospects for the Caps dressed in Bears’ sweaters at virtually every position, from the goal cage on out: a Rookie of the Year in Finland’s top professional league; an MVP of the QMJHL; the two most recent scoring champions from the Q; at least one member of Team Canada’s gold-medal-winning World Junior champions last year; the backstopper of five shutouts in Russia’s top professional league this most recent postseason; potentially two OHL All -Stars. In other words: fairly an embarrassment of prospect riches.

We live-blogged from Kettler this past Saturday, and joining us in the fun was Bears’ PR guy Chris Poisal. If you followed our musings you absorbed Chris’ significant enthusiasm for the coming campaign. Last year’s Bears may have been somewhat short in the leadership department, and ravaged by injury beyond belief, but this summer’s signings of Dean Arsene, Keith Aucoin, and Hershey 2006 Calder Cup hero Graham Mink have vanquished any leadership concerns. They’ll be expected to mentor a crop of recent Caps’ draft picks abundant in skill but relatively short on pro league experience.

Alluding to Hershey’s offseason signings, and the promise of more help arriving from the parent club, Bears’ head coach Bob Woods on Saturday said, “Leadership was the big thing we were looking to move on, and while we don’t know what’s going to happen here [in Washington] in the fall, you get a [Keith] Aucoin, you get a [Graham] Mink, a healthy [Dean] Arsene back, now you’ve filled a lot of those voids.

“We’ve got a great group of young guys returning,” he added.

Woods admitted that in net, “we’re gonna be young, but from what I’ve seen this week, there’s a lot of promise there.

“Look at a team like Wilkes Barre last year,” he added, “They had two rookie goaltenders and they went right to the finals.”

The ride ought to be fun, and entertaining. A potent potential lineup could include a lot of these names:

Alexandre Giroux	Keith Aucoin	Eric Fehr/Graham Mink
Chris Bourque	Kyle Wilson	Andrew Gordon
Oskar Osala	Mathieu Perreault / Jay Beagle	Francois Bouchard
Maxime Lacroix	Andrew Joudrey	Scott Barney

Dean Arsene		Sami Lepisto
Josh Godfrey		Tyler Sloan
	Patrick McNeill/Sasha Pokulok
	Machesney / Varlamov

Filed in American Hockey League, Andrew Gordon, Chris Bourque, College Hockey, Development Camp, Eric Fehr, Free Agents, Hershey Bears, Kettler Capitals Iceplex, Mathieu Perreault, Minor Pro Hockey, Morning cup-a-joe, Oskar Osala, Prospects, Rookie Camp, Sami Lepisto, Simeon Varlamov, Training Camp, Washington Capitals| Permalink| Comments (19)

Origins of a DraftGeek

By pucksandbooks

Wednesday, June 18, 2008

For those who live with hockey residing in the soul, every day carries some manner of frozen celebration, even in the dead of summer, but some days are better refrigerated than others. For me there are three or four genuinely dry-ice moments in the hockey calendar that are a given every year: the morning of day one of training camp in September; the morning of the season opener about a month later; and the moment that the NHL commissioner places the team drafting first at June’s Entry Draft on the clock. With those first two events, no doubt I’m joined in celebration by thousands of puckheads across the continent. But the latter?

Welcome to my world, that of the DraftGeek.

I can trace my addiction back to, of all things, a George Michael sportscast on WRC-TV in 1981. That was the Bobby Carpenter draft. Michael that evening led his sportscast with word of the Caps drafting Carpenter third overall that summer. Obviously pre-Internet, pre-anything hockey coverage then in the offseason, the broadcast news gatekeepers had to apprise us of anything significant transpiring for the pro hockey team here. Carpenter had appeared on Sports Illustrated’s cover in March of ‘81, making his selection by the Caps in that draft a lead story affair for local media. And of course, the ‘81 draft was just a year removed from the Miracle on Ice, and so the Caps selecting what was then regarded as the finest American hockey prospect perhaps since Hobey Baker made a formative impression on your blogger.

In the spring of ‘81 there was a rather public game of cat and mouse between the Caps and General Manager Emile Francis’ Hartford Whalers. Hartford drafted immediately after the Caps at no. 4, and the Whale was trying to decide between Carpenter and another center prospect, Ron Francis. The Caps went with the Can’t Miss Kid from Massachusetts. The Whale made out all right, though.

Fast forward to 1994. Peter Bondra, a relative unknown in the larger hockey world, barnstorms to the top of the NHL goal scoring title in the labor strife abbreviated ‘94-95 season. The very next season he’d score 52 goals. Bondra was drafted 156th by the Capitals, in the eighth round, of the remarkable 1990 draft. I remember watching Bondra in ‘94 and thinking, how the hell did we land this guy, so late? Bondra’s discovery by then Caps’ scout Jack Button is the stuff of Entry Draft lore. Bonzai was the proverbial backwoods prospect, completely off of everybody’s radar, until Button got a tip and somehow found the slick-skating Slovak without a GPS. It was, hands down, Button’s greatest and most important scouting work for the Caps.

There’s no such thing as a Peter Bondra in a round eight of the NFL or NBA drafts (heck, the NBA doesn’t even have a round four anymore). I love that about hockey’s.

In our lifetime we may never see the likes of the ‘90 class again. Owen Nolan, Jaromir Jagr, Martin Brodeur, Petr Nedved, Doug Weight — gracious, Sergei Zubov went in round 5 that summer! After the Caps selected Bondra in round 8 they did ok in round 9, too: Ken Klee.

Fast forward to 1996. The leadup buzz with that draft surrounded a big-bodied, ungodly talented Russian power forward named Alexander Volchkov. (Our good friend JP exercises his inner DraftGeek with this update of Volchkov, one of the all-time Entry Draft marvels.) Without question there were scores of questions surrounding Volchkov’s commitment and heart — in hindsight, magnificently inpsired and well-placed ones — but there was no denying that in ‘96, Volchkov’s talent stood head and shoulders above his draft classmates. He was that tantalizing, once-in-decade-or-two talent that makes scouts and GMs drool. That he landed in Washington seemed a stunner of massive fortune to a franchise that by then had endured an unhealthy share of postseason misfortune. Volchkov and his dazzling skill set were worth taking a flyer on.

Some flyer. More like an airplane with icy wings and an engine that wouldn’t. But it’s hit-or-miss intrigue like Volchkov that adds additional flavor to the draft.

That ‘96 draft further tormented the Capitals and their fans with one Jaroslav Svejkovsky — he the scorer of four goals in 1997’s final regular season game in Buffalo. Who who watched that vintage performance would have thought that the apex of Yogi’s career? Alas, it was, but early that offseason more than a few DraftGeeks experienced irrational exuberance imagining the Caps the draft winners of ‘96 coming away with both Volchkov and Svejkovsky.

If 1990 was the NHL’s vintage year for prospects, 1996 was its white zinfandel — from a box.

2002’s draft was also supposed to be a lemon. That draft, conducted in Toronto, was the first I attended. Actually being in the building for a draft affords you a powerful and lasting sense of how much of a family celebration the draft is, parents and siblings by the thousands dressed in their Sunday finest, with camera flashes illuminating Air Canada Centre like cigarette lighters at a rock concert. On TV the draft is all about the players and the draft floor mass of scouts and managers on telephones and talking heads second guessing. In the stands it’s all about the biggest day in the lives of five thousand families.

‘02 was really panned for its lack of depth. And yet the Caps came away with Steve Eminger, Alexander Semin, Boyd Gordon, even Tomas Fleischmann eventually. The worst drafts still manage to produce players; ‘96 for instance delivered Dainius Zubrus.

By Draft 2003 — billed by insiders as a fair rival in talent to ‘90 — we’d evolved with technology to the point where DraftGeeks were well linked from Canada, Europe, and America with message board madness related to the draft. Hockeysfuture was exploding into the consciousness of future-minded puckheads. In the early spring of ‘03, Friday and Saturday nights for your blogger were laden with bottled beer and HF boards immersion. I was never happier.

Hockeysfuture has been a godsend for DraftGeeks, but there are enough of us that its server regularly crashes around 10:00 a.m. on draft mornings. I remember that agony, too. A religious rite at Hockeysfuture is the posting of serious-minded mock drafts. There is a stable of Tier I DraftGeek there who annually offer near pro scout quality stuff with their mocks. And there are genuine scouts who both read and post there, regularly.

It was only recently that we in the States began seeing the draft on TV. And now the draft has become enough of an event for the league that it receives prime time TV coverage, on Friday nights, with the NHL Network even picking up Saturday morning’s post-first round action. Heaven.

My favorite draft moment? A funny thing happened one super sunny April day in the District in 2004, not long after the Caps had basically bottomed out in the league standings: a ping pong ball bounced their way in the league’s New York office, awarding them a coveted Russian prospect who’d already made a name for himself as an organization-altering talent. I’ll remember the fortune of that day ’til they toss dirt over my casket. (And likely I’ll be buried clutching a mock draft for that year.)

The NHL Draft is about families who’ve dedicated so much of their lives to the cultivation of elite hockey talent, driving the family car through amazingly harsh northern winters — pre-dawn black ice and frozen door locks and ice-crusted windows for pre-school skates and homework over hot chocolate and other ice rink nutrition. It’s about an end-of-every-round dynamo Detroit confounding 29 other clubs with diamond-in-the-rough picks guiding them to annual contention and, every few years, Lord Stanley. It’s about a “weak” draft delivering, in round six, a pint-sized MVP from the Quebec League. It’s about the CHL versus U.S. college hockey. It’s about wheeling and dealing.

No wonder I’m addicted.

Filed in Alexander Ovechkin, DraftGeek, Entry Draft, George Michael, Hardcore Hockey Fans, Internet, Mathieu Perreault, Media, Morning cup-a-joe, National Hockey League, Peter Bondra, Prospects, TV, Training Camp, WRC, Washington Capitals| Permalink| Comments (12)

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 Backstrom, Philadelphia Flyers, Print, Sergei Fedorov, Stanley Cup Playoffs, TV, Ted Leonsis, The Big Deal, Training Camp, Verizon Center, Washington Capitals, Washington Post| Permalink| Comments (11)

Bears with Near-Term Promise

By pucksandbooks

Tuesday, April 15, 2008

Hershey Bears in Capitals Colors - photo by Sean Simmers of the Patriot News I surveyed some keen hockey observers in the Hershey community the past couple of days to see if they could help me identify the names of two or three Bears whose regular season performances in 2007-08 ought to have Caps’ fans excited about their arrival at fall training camp, as contenders for roster spots with the parent club. I found them all right.

Chris Bourque was recently named Hershey’s team MVP. In what may have been a make-or-break season for him, CBourque put an exclamation point on his prospect candidacy with a late-season explosion: 8 goals and 7 assists in his final eight games. On the season, CBourque tallied 28 goals and 35 assists for 63 points in 73 games –nearly a point a game in an exceptionally patchwork Bears’ lineup. Line chemistry was not a storyline in this Hershey season: another week or two of regular season and about 50 hockey players would have donned maroon sweaters. CBourque is a left-shooting left wing, but with Matt Pettinger’s departure and some uncertainty on left side after the Alexes heading into the summer, the 2004 second-rounder should be a contender for the left side of the third line come fall.

Caps’ fans by now know a bit of the promise packaged in rearguard Sami Lepisto. Injuries and recalls to D.C. limited Lepisto to 55 games in Hershey, but he made an impact in just about every one of them: 4 goals and 41 assists to lead all Bears’ blueliners in scoring. At the time of his April 9 recall, Lepisto was lodged in the top 5 of AHL defensemen in scoring and finished his American League rookie season a stellar +29. In 2004 Lepisto was named the IIHF World Junior Championship’s Outstanding Defenseman and was selected to the All Tournament team. He’s modest in size ( 5′11, 180) but heady and mobile and a superb passer. A third-round selection by the Caps in the team’s remarkable 2004 draft, Lepisto’s stint in the A may be but a single season.

Last spring Caps’ General Manager George McPhee told me that he thought newly signed center/winger Andrew Gordon’s stay in the American League might also be a brief one. A year later, that forecast appears accurate. Early in the season Gordon struggled with the transition from college hockey straight into the American League, but his demotion to South Carolina didn’t last long. In his first pro season he recorded a pair of hat tricks in Hershey en route to 16 goals and 35 assists in 58 games, skating a +22 in the process. A right-handed shot, Gordon seemed to settle in on the right side, often alongside another NCAA draftee, 2003 8th-rounder Andrew Joudrey. Gordon is a brilliant skater with excellent vision, a scorer’s hands, and a nose for the net.

I asked my American Hockey League experts up north to identify a bit of a darkhorse prospect for Caps’ training camp come fall, and center Jay Beagle was a consensus selection. The Caps inked Beagle to a two-year contract just last month, so it’s clear that management sees potential in him. The 6′3, 200-lb. Calgary native spent two seasons skating with Alaska-Anchorage in the WCHA, got a cup of coffee with Idaho in the ECHL, and was an invitee to the Caps’ development camp last July, where he impressed. Beagle scored 19 goals and 18 assists in 64 games with the Bears this season and was lauded for his physical presence and all-around game.

Another Bear most worth regular season ending praise is Head Coach Bob Woods, who took over for the promoted-to-the-parent-club-Caps Bruce Boudreau at Thanksgiving. Woods won 33 games behind the bench after Thanksgiving and did so presiding over a veritable M*A*S*H unit in the process. I highly recommend the overview of Woodsie’s bench work authored this week by Bears’ radio voice John Walton, who makes the case for Woods’ winning the A’s Coach of the Year award.

Filed in American Hockey League, Andrew Gordon, Chris Bourque, Hershey Bears, Jay Beagle, Prospects, Sami Lepisto, Training Camp, Washington Capitals| Permalink| Comments (11)

Leafs TV? How About Caps’ TV?

By pucksandbooks

Tuesday, October 2, 2007

Cup'pa Joe Apprised of Comcast’s commitment to the Caps this week, I turned on Comcast SportsNet the moment I arrived home from work Monday night, and left it there. What I watched over the next four hours stunned me.

I saw new Comcast Caps’ beat reporter Lisa Hillary studio host a season preview alongside Joe Reekie. I saw just about all of Alexander Ovechkin’s first-ever NHL game (I’d forgotten that he was a flubbed breakaway from a hat trick that night). Then I saw JoeB and Craig host another studio half hour, “Caps Speak,” for another team preview. Promos for Comcast’s “SportsNight” that followed promised even more Caps’ coverage.

It was “Monday Night Hockey in Washington,” of course.

Head Coach Glen Hanlon was interviewed in depth by Hillary. GMGM was thoughtfully interviewed, at length, and he provided his customary thoughtful replies. Key personnel — Chris Clark, Olie Kolzig, Tom Poti, Nicklas Backstrom, Michael Nylander — all took turns before Comcast’s cameras. Tarik El Bashir’s segment with Joe and Craig I thought was a highlight of the entire night. (Tarik, true to form, offered a sober and fair assessment amid the rampant optimism engulfing the organization early this autumn. The Caps, he said, could finish anywhere “from sixth to tenth” in the Eastern conference.)

Broadcast Buzz about pro hockey in D.C. these days? Umm, yes — only if you regard all-consuming, single-topic devotion by the local sports television outlet to the city’s red-headed stepchild of pro teams “buzz”-indicating. Apparently it’s going to be like this the remainder of the week each evening on Comcast.

At one point during the prime time proceedings I saw Joe and Craig flash on the screen multiple-screen listings of Caps’ prospects. I saw the names Michal Neuvirth, Simeon Varlamov, Karl Alzner, Joe Finley, Mathieu Perreault, Francois Bouchard, Dave Steckel, and Chris Bourque, all broadcast on an outlet that never in its life held an office fantasy hockey pool. Briefly, it was like a breakout from hockeysfuture, and two DraftGeeks renting out the Comcast studio and making like Wayne and Garth on local cable access.

Wayne, er, JoeB: “Look at all this talent in the pipeline, Dude!”

Garth, er, Craig (head cocked): “Excellent!”

This is what importing one Canuck can do to an outlet!

More seriously, Hillary was hired to bring her NHL coverage experience to Comcast. The in-house hockey talent was significant, if under-appreciated and grossly under-utilized, but had the outlet ever boasted a dedicated reporter on the beat? Next I’m going to allege that coverage decisions like Comcast’s for this week haven’t occurred in a vacuum, and that they’re a harbinger of better coverage to come, print and broadcast, traditional and alternative. To an extent, it’s fashionable, of course: the Caps may not make it to the postseason this year, but they will not be dull.

But of course I’m a subscriber to the theory that a media revolution for this team and its sport is well underway these days, in these parts.

I’m also, at week’s end, when this trial run on Comcast terminates, planning on becoming a subscriber to CapsTV.

Filed in Chris Bourque, Comcast SportsNet, Craig Laughlin, Francois Bouchard, George McPhee, Glen Hanlon, Joe Beninati, Joe Finley, Karl Alzner, Lisa Hillary, Mathieu Perreault, Media, Michal Neuvirth, Morning cup-a-joe, Prospects, Simeon Varlamov, TV, Tarik El-Bashir, Training Camp, Washington Capitals, Washington Post| Permalink| Comments (7)

It’s All Good (but for the playing of the games)

By pucksandbooks

Monday, October 1, 2007

Cup'pa Joe What did the Washington Capitals accomplish with their preseason this September? A good bit, I think. First and foremost, they accomplished the most important task: they avoided serious injury — we’ve no indication that Alexander Semin’s ankle sprain is serious. The second most significant accomplishment, in my opinion, was seeing a healthy number of fresh faces perform at a high level and well integrate with the returning Caps’ core. Tomas Fleischmann, it appears, has won first line right wing duty. He’ll be centered, at least initially, by Viktor Kozlov. So two-thirds of Washington’s top line is new this season. It looks more playoff worthy than either of its previous incarnations the past two seasons.

Speaking of looking playoff worthy, the Caps break camp boasting one of the most intriguing second lines in all of hockey — assuming Alexander Semin’s ankle is merely a day-to-day ailment. Nicklas Backstrom’s poise and production from his very first exhibition game on exceeded I think even management’s rosiest forecast. Look for him to improve month by month as his freshman season progresses, and for him to be lodged on everybody’s short list of Calder candidates come spring. Like the Caps’ top line, the second, centered by Michael Nylander, is 66 percent new this autumn.

Line three will have a new look as well. Boyd Gordon will center it, and Matt Pettinger will flank him on the left. But another Hershey Bear, Dave Steckel, made real loud noise (especially in the faceoff circle) this training camp. He may best draw man in the entire organization, he plays a smart game, and he partners exceedingly well with Gordon. (Caps’ fans can only hope Gordon and Steckel replicate in Washington their two-way work from Hershey’s postseason run to Calder glory in 2006.) Captain Chris Clark appears to be a bit of the utility infielder for the first three lines — he’s likely to see duty on all three this season. At times he should skate on Gordon’s right, at others — perhaps as with this week, when a teammate up top is injured — he’ll skate in the top 6.

That Caps’ fourth line, just 30 hours before opening night rosters must be submitted to the league, may still have five bodies vying for assignment: Donald Brashear, Matt Bradley, Brian Sutherby, Brooks Laich, and Ben Clymer. In recent seasons the Caps’ roster has had the look and feel of too much muck and grit too high up front. This autumn, a lot of it has been pushed downward, and a logjam has emerged. It’s been at least five years since the Caps could credibly claim three lines capable of producing points with any reliability. They’ll be able to in 2007-08.

There’s considerably less turnover and churn on the blueline: only Tom Poti arrives from outside in the top 6. Caps’ management is looking for its blueline corps to mature and blossom organically, and this September, there were encouraging signs of marked improvement from within. Milan Jurcina returned to Washington brimming with bulging biceps; his teammates coined for him the nickname “Juice.” He doled out dozens of bruising hits last season after arriving from Boston, and 2007-08 could see him stake a legitimate claim as an impact, top-2 physical force.

When the Caps sent Mike Green back to Hershey last spring they instructed him to go offensive. He did. That burst of production from the blueline continued this preseason, when for much of it Green led the Caps in scoring. He was on nobody’s radar for power play point duty three weeks ago; now he may be part of the unit’s second pairing.

Last season Brian Pothier, out of necessity, was forced into roles and minutes he wasn’t accustomed and suited to. Look for him to flourish in a more stable — and within an overall more talented — defensive unit. But he is also capable of performing at a high level — anyone who saw him skate for Mike Sullivan and the United States at last spring’s World Championships would agree.

There were no questions about the Caps in net heading into camp. There are none departing it.

There is health. There is the league-wide sense that while the rest of the Southeast stood pat, the Caps upgraded. There is buzz. There is optimism. All is good. Now, it’s time to drop the puck.

Filed in Alexander Semin, Boyd Gordon, Brian Sutherby, Brooks Laich, Chris Clark, Dave Steckel, Donald Brashear, Front Office, Matt Pettinger, Michael Nylander, Milan Jurcina, Morning cup-a-joe, Nicklas Backstrom, Players, Tom Poti, Tomas Fleischmann, Training Camp, Viktor Kozlov, Washington Capitals| Permalink| Comments (4)

Good Signs Down on the Farm

By pucksandbooks

Sunday, September 30, 2007

Chris Bourque scored 18 seconds into last night’s Hershey Bears’ exhibition game against Norfolk, and the Bears would get goals from five others in the 6-2 triumph. Hershey is now 3-0 in preseason, and like the Caps, closes out the preseason slate Sunday evening at 5:00, with a Giant Center date with Wilkes Barre-Scranton.

An emerging storyline for the Bears late this month appears to be Sasha Pokulok. He added a goal and an assist Saturday night, and earlier in the week had three assists in a game. This follows his strong training camp with the Caps.

Filed in American Hockey League, Hershey Bears, Prospects, Sasha Pokulok, Training Camp, Washington Capitals| Permalink| Comments (1)

More Cuts Made Yesterday?

By Gustafsson

Saturday, September 29, 2007

We have not received official word from the Capitals, but per Tarik El-Bashir:

“Defensemen Jame Pollock and Josef Boumedienne and forward Joe Motzko were waived yesterday. Should they clear, they are expected to join the Bears. . . .”

Update @ 2:40pm: The Capitals have announced they have assigned Joe Motzko to Hershey. Jame Pollock is still listed on the official roster, but Josef Boumedienne is not.

Update @ 2:55pm: From Corey Masisak’s blog:

“Joe Motzko and Josef Boumedienne have cleared waivers. Motzko will join the Hershey Bears, but Boumedienne has not. A team spokesman said “likely Hershey” for Boomer, but he could decide to go back to Europe. Jame Pollack is still on the team’s official roster, which means he wasn’t on waivers yesterday, but he’s clearly not around, so it is likely he was put on waivers today.”

Update @ 5:20pm: From John Walton:

“The Caps also on Saturday assigned Josef Boumedienne to Hershey after clearing waivers. Boumedienne did not practice with the team Saturday, but did arrive in the dressing room at GIANT Center late this afternoon and met with coaches Boudreau and Woods.”

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

Current Camp Roster

By The OFB Team

Saturday, September 29, 2007

2007 Washington Capitals Training Camp Roster


FORWARDS
#	Player	Ht.	Wt.	Shoots	Born	Birthplace	2006-07 Club(s)	League(s)
19	BACKSTROM, Nicklas	6-0	183	Left	11/23/87	Gavle, Sweden	Brynas	SEL
10	BRADLEY, Matt	6-3	205	Right	6/13/78	Stittsville, Ontario	Capitals	NHL
87	BRASHEAR, Donald	6-2	235	Left	1/7/72	Bedford, Indiana	Capitals	NHL
17	CLARK, Chris	6-0	200	Right	3/8/76	South Windsor, Connecticut	Capitals	NHL
27	CLYMER, Ben	6-1	201	Right	4/11/78	Bloomington, Minnesota	Capitals	NHL
14	FEHR, Eric	6-4	204	Right	9/7/85	Winkler, Manitoba	Capitals/Hershey	NHL/AHL
43	FLEISCHMANN, Tomas*	6-1	188	Left	5/16/84	Koprivinice, Czech Republic	Capitals/Hershey	NHL/AHL
15	GORDON, Boyd	6-1	201	Right	10/19/83	Unity, Saskatchewan	Capitals	NHL
38	KLEPIS, Jakub*	6-0	200	Right	6/5/84	Prague, Czech Republic	Capitals/Hershey	NHL/AHL
25	KOZLOV, Viktor	6-4	232	Right	2/14/75	Togliatti, Russia	NY Islanders	NHL
21	LAICH, Brooks	6-2	208	Left	6/23/83	Wawota, Saskatchewan	Capitals	NHL
92	NYLANDER, Michael	6-1	195	Left	10/3/72	Stockholm, Sweden	NY Rangers	NHL
8	OVECHKIN, Alex	6-2	216	Right	9/17/85	Moscow, Russia	Capitals	NHL
18	PETTINGER, Matt	6-1	210	Left	10/22/80	Edmonton, Alberta	Capitals	NHL
28	SEMIN, Alexander	6-0	181	Left	3/3/84	Krasjonarsk, Russia	Capitals	NHL
39	STECKEL, David	6-5	215	Left	3/15/82	Westbend, Wisconsin	Capitals/Hershey	NHL/AHL
16	SUTHERBY, Brian	6-3	205	Left	3/1/82	Edmonton, Alberta	Capitals	NHL
DEFENSEMEN
44	EMINGER, Steve	6-2	217	Right	10/31/83	Woodbridge, Ontario	Capitals	NHL
4	ERSKINE, John	6-4	216	Left	6/26/80	Kingston, Ontario	Capitals/Hershey	NHL/AHL
52	GREEN, Mike	6-1	200	Right	10/12/85	Calgary, Alberta	Capitals/Hershey	NHL/AHL
23	JURCINA, Milan	6-4	233	Right	6/7/83	Liptovsky Mikulas, Slovakia	Boston/Capitals	NHL/NHL
26	MORRISONN, Shaone	6-4	210	Left	12/23/82	Vancouver, British Columbia	Capitals	NHL
2	POTHIER, Brian	6-0	200	Right	4/15/77	New Bedford, Massachusetts	Capitals	NHL
3	POTI, Tom	6-3	210	Left	3/22/77	Worcester, Massachusetts	NY Islanders	NHL
55	SCHULTZ, Jeff	6-6	215	Left	2/25/86	Calgary, Alberta	Capitals/Hershey	NHL/AHL
GOALTENDERS
1	JOHNSON, Brent	6-3	196	Left	3/12/77	Farmington, Michigan	Capitals	NHL
37	KOLZIG, Olie	6-3	225	Left	4/6/70	Johannesburg, South Africa	Capitals	NHL

Rosters as of Oct. 1, 2007.
* Indicates players not under contract with the Capitals as of Oct. 1, 2007.

Filed in Camp, Training Camp, Washington Capitals| Permalink| Comments (14)

A Well-Built Band of Brothers

By pucksandbooks

Thursday, September 27, 2007

Cup'pa Joe What most caught my attention during last night’s 2-1 exhibition loss to the Flyers while listening to the ‘Net call of Kolbe and Vogel was word that despite an off-day the following day, superstar forwards Alexander Ovechkin and Alexander Semin hopped in a car earlier in the day and journeyed up to Philly to watch their camp-mates compete in the evening. There are precious few off days during camp, and more than enough rink time for these two in the seven-plus months ahead. Vogel was impressed by the act. So was I.

This display of conspicuous camaraderie occurs within a larger context worth reviewing. Back in mid-summer, as management moved and shook the roster up for the better, we first learned of guys being eager to get back in their gear and out on the ice together at Kettler Capitals. And it actually happened, in impressive numbers, weeks ahead of the official start of training camp. Guys wanted to skate here, together.

At camp’s kickoff, on Media Day, captain Chris Clark shared a bit of his outreach efforts to his teammates spanned across the globe. He wanted them back in town early, to put the distractions of moving and settling behind them so that their collective focus could be on the important new season immediately in front of them. It was, it appears, an easy sell.

Now captains of course lead by example, and with regard to Clark, his leadership this summer extended beyond the norm. He re-signed with the Caps, at compensation and contract length irrefutably more modest than what he’d have fetched on the open market next summer. In a conference call to discuss the deal, he referenced his wanting to be a part of what the Caps were building. “I wanted to be a part of it, [of] where we’re headed,” he said. There is no guarantee of on-ice success in this season or of those ahead, of course, and yet Clark, his body memorably battered within the rebuild, wanted to lead the effort.

“We’ve got a great room” is truly a common refrain in this sport and especially this league, but there has been something distinctive about the Caps’ claim of one. Going back fully three seasons, back all the way to the early hours of the dispiriting selloff and roster overhaul, we first heard claims from some of the building blocks and even some of the roster placeholders about the caliber of the Caps’ room. That quality was certainly forged to no small degree by Olie Kolzig. But it also has to have been enhanced by a handful of recent draft classes, many of the members of which acclimated themselves to the world of pro hockey together, in recent years, in Portland, Maine, and Hershey, Pennsylvania.

Even more remarkably, the chemistry has been enhanced by free agent acquisitions conspicuous for their team-first ethos: Matt Bradley, Ben Clymer, Brian Pothier, and now, it appears, the entirety of the 2007 free agent class. Free agents in the modern era of pro sports typically arrive carrying high price tags and big egos and rarely meld seamlessly into their new environs. We aren’t hearing any of that in D.C. these days. In fact, as the Caps mature from basement dweller to contender, the growth carries some personnel anguish: some of the glue of the past couple of seasons will be cast aside, to make room for greater talents. This training camp, we are learning too how this reality is affecting the affected.

The chemist is named George McPhee. Ultimately the verdict on his tenture in town will be rendered on wins versus losses, sooner rather than later. But as GM he’s succeeded on a vitally important if under-reported upon front: assembling smiling faces and committed collectivism in shared car rides and summer shinny.

There’s an irony to the chemistry found in NHL locker rooms: no other U.S. sport knows the global diversity of the NHL’s athletes gathered on a single team, and yet no other sport knows its I’ve-got-your-back-at-all-times ethos, first through fourth lines, from Flin Flon-ner to Finn. It’s a criterion never acknowledged in fantasy leagues (reminding us of their superficiality), and yet nothing is more important to a team.

Filed in Alexander Ovechkin, Alexander Semin, Chris Clark, Front Office, George McPhee, Kettler Capitals Iceplex, Morning cup-a-joe, Olaf Kolzig, Training Camp, Washington Capitals| Permalink| Comments (4)

Reflections on Training Camp’s Opening Week

By pucksandbooks

Sunday, September 23, 2007

Capitals Training Camp 2007 It’s a day of rest not only for Washington Capitals’ players and coaches — well, the players at least — but for the team’s frenzied communications staff as well. Being out at Kettler as much as I have been the past 10 days, I gained a deep appreciation for the commitment of Nate Ewell, Julie Petri, Paul Rovnak, and Mike Vogel, among others. Their days during camp begin early and end late, and at this time of year they’re not only facilitating one of the heavier media flows following camp in years but also putting together the in-season communications products, such as the Media Guide. It’s forecast to be a stunning late September Sunday today, and I hope they’re all out having fun in the fun and recharging their batteries.

The pause in on-ice action is a good time to take stock of what the Caps have achieved thus far in what I believe is the most important training camp in the organization’s history. I made a point during my visits to survey the hockey-savvy heads also taking in the daily doings at Kettler, from print and broadcast reporters to fellow bloggers to fans in the stands, and herewith I’m blending their leading storylines of camp to date with my own.

Proud Papa. I’ve regularly seen Owner Leonsis as training camp spectator during the past 10 days, and while it’s true he’s no longer involved with the day-to-day operations of AOL, he remains a busy communications man. I think what’s happened with his training camp interest level mirrors that of the rest of us: the quality and depth of the organization on display is so impressive you are fairly compelled to make the trip out there and simply revel in the turned corner of the team’s competitiveness.

Nylander to line 2. Two years ago Michael Nylander left Washington as a very good hockey player. This fall he’s returned but done so appearing to be more a star. He’s a dynamic playmaker, in supreme condition. And while almost everyone in hockey this summer forecasted an Ovechkin-Nylander top-line pairing, way back in July Head Coach Glen Hanlon very publicly stated his intention of experimenting with top-6 forward combinations, and thus far in camp, the conspicuous chemistry appears to have melded among Alexander Semin, Michael Nylander, and Nicklas Backstrom as Hanlon’s second unit.

Slick Swede Part II. Speaking of Backstrom, he is irrefutably gaining comfort on the North American-sized sheet of ice — making progress “on a daily basis,” to quote my friend Mike Vogel. At the World Championships in Moscow in May, former Cap and Swedish National Team Head Coach Bengt Gustafsson told us that Backstrom would make that transition successfully and reasonably swiftly, and he was right. Tim Leone up in Hershey thinks it in Backstrom’s, and the Caps’, best interest for him to have a cup of coffee with the Bears this season. Ain’t happening.

It’s my puck, and I’m keeping it. The Caps don’t (yet) have a dominant shut-down defenseman, so Glen Hanlon’s strategy for improved defensive play this season rests with his club maintaining possession of the puck more often than in the past two seasons, when often they chased it around the rink in futile fashion. If you have the puck more often than your opposition, your goalie isn’t get apt to face 40 or 50 shots each night, and surrender five or six goals most nights. So far, this strategy appears to be taking hold. In training camp’s scrimmages and through the Caps’ first three preseason games, you can see more puck possession and fewer netminders collapsing from fatigue.

Captain, My Captain/Son of Kono-Dahlen-Halpern. I’ve changed my views on cloning, because of Chris Clark. Meaning no disrespect to Dale and his retired sweater, but should Clark captain the Caps to a Stanley Cup title in one of the next three seasons, he will have to be regarded as the best and most important captain in team history, having guided the team from the barrens of an unprecedented bottoming out to the promised land. And sitting here in September 2007, I wouldn’t stand in line to wager against it. (See Carolina ‘05-06, Tampa ‘03-04.)

It is Chris Clark’s team-first, two-way versatility that has Glen Hanlon fantasizing about a two-way, impact third line along the lines of the great Steve Konowalchuk, Jeff Halpern, Ulf Dahlen trio of a few years ago. That line, you’ll recall, was so dominant that Ron Wilson opened just about every game with it. It was also one that was a lynchpin to the Caps’ postseason participation. The coach has told the media that he’s looking for 60 goals from his third line this season, and given the defensive acumen of Clark and Boyd Gordon, and Matt Pettinger’s offensive pop, it’s natural to invoke the KDH comparison.

I’m also not wagering on Clark’s offensive production diminishing, dramatically, by virtue of his dropping down to line 3. As he noted himself on Media Day, he’s spent the past two seasons taking shifts against the likes of Zdeno Chara and top defensive pairings. Less so, it would appear, beginning this season.

Deep Depth. The Caps this weekend have 35 players battling for spots on the opening night roster. It’s reasonably easy to forecast another five cuts, but the leap from about 30 to 23 is another matter. To put it charitably, the Caps’ are in uncharted territory, post-lockout, in terms of the skater quality they’ll be showcasing out at Kettler in week two of camp. This is the most basic and encouraging sign of the overall success of the rebuild.

Three games, three leads. Through three exhibition games, the Caps have only once fielded a fairly veteran lineup — last Thursday night in Ottawa. They opened in Carolina, against a comparatively veteran Hurricanes’ lineup, dressing only John Erskine and Mike Green on the blueline as guys with significant NHL experience from last season (and with BJ in net). In all three games the Caps have played significant stretches with a lead (twice with two-goal leads). There remain mistakes (penalties) and concerns (penalties) aplenty, but we shouldn’t lose sight of the fact that Coach Hanlon’s strategy of playing a more puck possession game is abundantly evident. In order to win more often, a team must first establish competitiveness, then achieve leads in games. The Caps have accomplished both early in this preseason.

The next step is to close the deal once you have the lead.

When did Toronto’s print media come to work in Washington? For the first time in my hockey life, I wake each day knowing that with my morning coffee I need to visit the web sites for both of Washington’s big newspapers in order to follow coverage there of Caps’ training camp. There are files there basically every day. And good ones. Additionally, blog files there. This is as it should be, but to our print guys — and most especially the Times’ Corey Masisak, who’s only taking on the beat of a departed legend — good on you.

Sharp-dressed men. It’s not anywhere near as important as the talent upgrade, but in this the autumn of uniform mischief, the Caps have showcased the best-looking new threads in the entire league. And it’s not even close. I’ll be particularly grateful when those snazzy white uniform system tops are rightfully returned to wearing on home ice.

Filed in Boyd Gordon, Chris Clark, Comcast SportsNet, Corey Masisak, Dave Steckel, Front Office, George McPhee, Glen Hanlon, Kettler Capitals Iceplex, Lisa Hillary, Matt Pettinger, Michael Nylander, Mike Vogel, Nate Ewell, Nicklas Backstrom, Prospects, Staff, Steve Eminger, Sweaters, Tarik El-Bashir, Ted Leonsis, Tomas Fleischmann, Training Camp, Washington Capitals, Washington Post, Washington Times| Permalink| Comments (4)

A Hockey Fanâ€™s Comcastic Lament

By OrderedChaos (Mike Rucki)

Saturday, September 22, 2007

Yesterday my stress was not related to wedding planning (I’m getting married in November), but rather provided courtesy of Comcast. I took the day off work to be home for the switch to Comcast’s Triple Play digital television-Internet-phone package — partly because it’s cheaper than what I had with RCN, partly to get a DVR, and partly because Comcast carries Versus & NHL Center Ice.

Friday, 8:00 AM–The phone rings; I awaken and fumble for the receiver. I muzzily hear someone talking about Comcast, so I press “9″ to buzz them in, impressed they showed up so early. Doesn’t work. I press “9″ again, to no avail. Finally I’m awake enough to understand what the caller is saying: it’s Comcast HQ calling to make sure I’ll be home in the 8-11 AM installation window–not someone downstairs waiting to be let in. D’oh. I sheepishly apologize and say yes, I will be here.

Friday, 10:45 AM–The installation technician arrives within the originally scheduled time window, which was a nice surprise. However, while my name and phone number are on the work order, everything else is wrong: the address is a different unit in my building; the order is for a Comcast service upgrade rather than a whole new installation; and they didn’t start the process to port my existing phone number to the new account.

As I type this he’s been here over an hour and a half, mostly on the phone to his headquarters. From what I can gather it seems they’ll be able to install everything, but they won’t be able to port my phone number today. So for a few days I’ll have a new phone number with Comcast, yet I’ll have to continue paying RCN to keep the other phone line active otherwise I risk losing the phone number I’ve had for eleven years. Wonderful.

Friday, 1:30 PM–After three long hours, the technician has finally gone. Most of a day wasted, but at least my high-speed Internet is back up (as evidenced by this post). The tech was very polite, and installed my DVR, cable box, and cable modem successfully . . . well, for the most part he did–I had to configure my own wireless router, as he was stumped by my pretty typical LINKSYS router. He did stay until it was working though.

This cable installation play-by-play is on OFB for two reasons. First, venting makes me feel a little better. Second, I was unable to get to the Kettler rinks today as I planned, so I apologize for being unable to provide coverage of the day’s events as I’d hoped.

So my cable service installation is only 2/3 complete, yet it consumed most of a day. Now all I have to do is wait five days for the number port to be complete, then schedule another technician visit to switch my phone lines. In the meantime, I have to continue paying RCN to keep my existing phone number active.

Thank you, Comcast, for perpetuating the well-deserved stereotype of disorganized and indifferent cable company service.

Filed in Comcast SportsNet, Internet, NHL CenterIce, Training Camp, Washington Capitals| Permalink| Comments (14)

On Friday, They Rested

By pucksandbooks

Friday, September 21, 2007

No Ovy or Captain Clark on the ice today at Kettler. They were given the day off. The team, Nate Ewell told me, got back in town from Ottawa near 2:00 this morning.

Also, Tarik has word that Flash will be John Hancock-ing his name to a new, two-way deal any moment now.

Filed in Alexander Ovechkin, Chris Clark, Kettler Capitals Iceplex, Tomas Fleischmann, Training Camp, Washington Capitals| Permalink| Comments (0)

On Taking in Caps’ Shootouts with Eyes Wide Open

By pucksandbooks

Friday, September 21, 2007

Cup'pa Joe After practice Wednesday Glen Hanlon addressed the impact he believes his new high-priced free agent forwards will have on his team’s shootout prospects this season. On paper, it would appear to be a dramatic one. When you visit NHL.com’s stats page for shootouts from last season, you notice both Michael Nylander and Viktor Kozlov’s names on the first page of success. Through two seasons of shootout tally stats, that’s not a perch in which you’ve commonly found Caps.

It’s hard to imagine a team being worse in the shootout than the Caps were last season — they took 40 shootout shots and converted a grand total of 5 of them (that’s 12.5 percent) — but there actual