 |
|
|
-
Countdown Clock
- Development Camp Red-Out:
-
Pages
Translate
Category Archives: Former Coaches & Players
Eminger Signed - by Philadelphia
By OrderedChaos (Mike Rucki)
Sunday, June 29, 2008
Steve Eminger will be wearing black and orange next season after signing a one-year deal today.
Unless he manages to find the Flyers’ doghouse as he did in Washington, I’m betting he gets more ice time in Philly this year than he did in D.C. — UFA Jason Smith is likely departing, Mike Rathje is in questionable health, and traffic cone Derian Hatcher (how appropriate that he wears orange) is of dubious value at his age even when healthy, and with an injured knee and broken leg last season he’s slower than ever.
“I’m happy to get the deal worked out and excited about being part of the organization,” Eminger said. “I can’t wait for the start of the season to get things going.”
Here’s wishing Eminger well . . . just not when the Capitals are his opponent.
We Could Use a Few Signings, Couldn’t We?
By pucksandbooks
Friday, June 27, 2008
These are salad days for salaries in the NHL. Yesterday came word that the salary cap for 2008-09 would rise to $56.7 million, with a salary floor ($40.7 million) higher than the league’s cap just back three seasons ago, in the first post-lockout regular season. Stunning. As the salary cap is directly linked to the league’s revenues, which are directly linked to its gate receipts, it’s seems clear that a few folks other than Tiger Woods and Tony Kornheiser are interested in hockey.
Meanwhile, there remain outstanding — unsigned — some necessarily expensive parts to 2008-09 for the Washington Capitals. The tally: Christobal Huet, Brooks Laich, Shaone Morrisonn, and Mike Green. Boyd Gordon and Eric Fehr need new deals, too, but I don’t imagine those will be that expensive. Right now both Matt Cooke and Sergei Fedorov look like salary cap casualties, luxuries likely unaffordable in ‘08. Since I last wrote about matters financial Capitals’ GM George McPhee has managed to sheer off about $2 million in payroll for next season by dealing Steve Eminger to Philadelphia and buying out Ben Clymer. (Ray Shero’s fruitless negotiations with Marian Hossa this month apparently have sheared off $7-8 million from the Penguins’ payroll for next season.)
However, it’s beginning to look like McPhee will need that $2 million to pay Mike Green just in the autumn portion of the calandar next season.
Ah yes, Mike Green. For the congenitally white-knuckled of Caps’ fans, his breakout season in 2007-08, combined with apparently every name New York Ranger leaving Broadway, portends his departure and the swift end of hockey’s renaissance in Washington. But count me among those who think it far from a certainty that Green’s gonna attract a bevy of offer sheets next Tuesday.
For one thing, as great as his game looks, Green’s had only one big-number season, and the price in first-round draft picks for signing him would be exorbitant (as many as five). Additionally, both the owner and the general manager are on record stating that the club will match whatever offer comes Green’s way. For another, offer sheets for restricted free agents (see Tomas Vanek) are in a very real sense one GM’s performing labor for a colleague. Lastly, Green, though a young and inexperienced great talent just as Dustin Penner was last summer, is a primary building block for a contending Caps’ club. Penner wasn’t last summer, nor is he today, one of the 50 best forwards in the NHL. Penner’s was a stupid contract conceived by a stupid GM. Brian Burke allowed stupidity to reign supreme for a moment, but his Ducks won’t soon be looking up at the Oil in the standings.
In Green the Caps know what they’ve got – an already impressive no. 1 rearguard whom they were awfully lucky to nab with a 29th pick in the ‘04 draft, one who has a great deal of progression and maturity ahead of him. Likely, too, Mike Green also knows what he’s got in D.C., and specifically in Bruce Boudreau’s system: the green light to pile up points for a really big deal around the time he’s in his prime.
Mike Green will get signed alright. But it won’t come cheap. In fact, Team Green may be pointing to Alexander Semin’s 2009-10 salary ($5 million) and understandably if myopically bargaining that Green’s of greater value to the team than Semin. In an ideal world, Team Green would acknowledge the client’s youth and inexperience and appreciable development still ahead and ask to be made the team’s highest paid defenseman . . . but not like say Anaheim’s best defenseman.
Few however imagine ideal worlds with attorneys and player agents in them.
Speaking of interesting contracts, remember that “home team discount” deal Sidney Crosby signed? It will pay him $7.5 million in 2013. The thinking here is that Sidney will be a pretty good hockey player in 2013, when he’s still not yet 30 years old. Do you know how many NHLers will be earning more than $7.5 million then? (Mike Green might well be one.) One of them will be Vinny Lecavalier, according to ESPN. Indeed, as early as 2009-10, Crosby may not even be the highest paid Penguin. The intrigue with the Penguins never ends.
Given the number and prominence of Capitals’ restricted free agents, this wasn’t supposed to be an easy summer of negotiating for GMGM. It was made tougher by the breakout seasons by Laich and Green, as well as Morrisonn’s emergence as a top-pairing performer. And while last weekend was filled with the promise of securing hockey’s future, this one is about placating the present. It’s messy but necessary business.
It’s a time to be anxious but not a time to be pessimistic.
Numbers Game
By The OFB Team
Wednesday, June 25, 2008
In a couple of years' time, should Washington Capitals' forward Anton Gustafsson select his father's number 16 for his sweater?
A Look Back at Bengt
By Gustafsson
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
The Capitals’ first-round pick of Anton Gustafsson has given everyone a chance to take a look back at the career of his father, Bengt (or Bengt-Åke as he is better known outside of the NHL). Dan Steinberg spent some time digging through the Post archives and unearthed a few gems.
Here are a few samples:
Dec., 1979:“There is much dirty stuff,” said Washington rookie Bengt Gustafsson. “I guess they think if they hit me one time, I won’t come back the next time. “You have to accept it. That’s the way they play here.”
“Take a look at Gussy’s forearms and shoulders and you’ll see where he’s been hit constantly by sticks,” [Washington Coach] Green said. “That’s how too many Canadian players have geared themselves, because of the embarrassment the Swedes have caused them. They can’t catch them, so they lay the lumber on them.”
Jan., 1984: After Bengt Gustafsson scored five goals Sunday night in the Washington Capitals’ 7-1 rout of the Flyers in Philadelphia, he submitted to a television interview, returned to the locker room and tossed his jersey to clubhouse attendant Bob Garner for the laundry pile.
Image from HockeyWidgets.com“Do you think we should wash it?” Garner asked.
“I don’t know,” Gustafsson replied….
Dec. 1988: Once on a radio call-in show [Gustafsson] was asked about the mauling Swedes take in the NHL and described it matter-of-factly with a four-letter word that shocked some listeners.
Shortly after Gustafsson arrived here, he shocked the Capitals’ coach, Danny Belisle, by stickhandling through the entire Toronto team to put a shot on goal. Belisle advised Gustafsson that if he persisted in showing up rival players, they no doubt would chop him down in retaliation.
Still, it is hard for Gustafsson, with his powerful arms, remarkable reflexes and strong skating, not to make opponents look silly. In practice, he is so adept at playing keepaway that teammates frequently fall in frustration. He often does it in games, too, and sometimes finds a stick headed his way in response.
“Gus can fake out three guys while he’s standing still,” [Dave] Christian has said of his favorite linemate. “
Check out the rest from the Post archives at Dan’s D.C. Sports Bog.
Morning After Draft Reflections
By pucksandbooks
Saturday, June 21, 2008
In a draft heavy on talented rearguards, four of the first five selections were on the blueline, and 12 went among the top 30 overall. I’m at pains to identify a real reach anywhere in round one. Certainly there were no Blake Wheeler brain-dead picks. A lot of teams helped their systems last night.
Although . . . not so much in Pittsburgh.
There were more than a dozen trades during round one last night, which added serious spice to the evening drama. Olli Jokinen moved out of the Southeast (for a song). The Flames moved Alex Tanguay and his 18 goals and $5 million contract to Montreal for the Habs’ first rounder. The Kings shipped Mike Cammallerie to Calgary for a first. And of course the Caps parted ways with Steve Eminger.
It’s a metaphysical certitude that a fair and sober and accurate evaluation of any draft requires 3-5 years’ time as picks mature from teenage prospects into young men mentored by NHL organizations, and so necessarily it’s important to weigh in — with vigorous and unyielding certainty – on who won and who lost last night, less than 12 hours after the 30th pick was made.
My winners: Chicago, Phoenix (highway robbery of Florida), Nashville, the Rangers, LA, Tampa, and the Caps.
Losers: the New York Islanders (there’s a stunner).
The Isles’ behavior last night can only be described as bizarre. They have a roster craving impact players, and perched at no. 5, they were poised to land one. Filatov, for instance, was on the board. So was Schenn. So what does the Snow-Wang braintrust do? They trade down. Not once, but twice! Where at no. 9 they land non-impact prospect Josh Bailey.
“The consensus is that [Bailey] won’t be a big offensive producer in the NHL,” THN wrote in its Entry Draft preview issue. Just what the Isles needed. I think the Blue Jackets stunned Snow with their selection of Filatov at no. 6, meaning, necessarily, that the Isles weren’t well prepared for the moment. There’s something new.
Keep an eye on Nashville’s selection at 18, goaltender Chet Pickard. Mike Vogel chatted up a scouting source in Ottawa who suggested that Pickard is more impressive now than was Carey Price in his draft year. Wow.
Consensus seems to be that the Rangers got great value in selecting Michael Del Zotto at 20.
If there was one moderate reach in round one it might have been the Bs choosing Joe Colborne at no. 16. Colborne played Jr. A the past two seasons. He’s a tantalizing package of a big frame, strong skating, and soft hands, but NHL scouts commonly show restraint with prospects who aren’t competing at the highest level among their peers. Colborne will skate next season with Denver of the WCHA, so he’ll get as good a test of his abilities there as he could anywhere.
Earlier this week, via the CapsReport, I put to draft guru Kyle Woodlief a question about an American prospect surge late this spring, noting that whereas throughout much of the hockey season most scouting services had just two or three Americans going in round one, finals lists commonly had 4-6 Yanks there. He poo-poo-ed the notion, suggesting that about three Americans remained likelys for the first. Well, six Americans went among the first 30 players drafted, further bolstering the claims of a renaissance in U.S. hockey development.
I just have this hunch that Hawks’ fans will come to love Dale Tallon’s pick of Kyle Beach at no. 11. He’s a big-bodied, piss-n-vinegar prospect.
For Caps’ fans, leaving a strong draft with two first-round picks has to be considered both a pleasant surprise and a real boon to an already strong stable of youth. If I’m a hockey fan in Hershey this morning I’m calling the ticket office and inquiring about season tickets for the next couple of seasons. In the Washington hockey bloggers’ real-time chat I joined last night I observed to the room how cool it will be to see the name Gustafsson on the back of red, white, and blue Caps’ sweaters, and not out of nostalgia.
I want to commend the Friday night puck party sensibilities of the well over 500 puckheads who joined JP, Eric, Peerless, and OFB in our consolidated live blog forum for more than four hours last night. Apparently, in late June, Washington isn’t much of a hockey town.
It was, from my vantage, everything that new media can offer as a rewarding experience in being connected with like-minded lovers of hockey on a big night. It didn’t hurt that we were gathered on a Friday night. Kudos to JP for bringing forward the idea late in the day yesterday, and to Eric for carrying off the last-minute technology so smoothly. By evening’s end a whole lot of us were united in the belief that we have to do it again. We were also united in the belief that JP needs help with his refrigerator’s selection of puck sodas.
A Family Affair in ‘08 First Round
By pucksandbooks
Saturday, June 21, 2008
In his very first interaction with Washington media, Anton Gustafsson Friday night was asked to compare his game with that of his father’s.
“I think I’m better,” he said. “I’m a better skater, I have a better shot.”
Capitals’ fans can only dream that the son is right, and if he is they’re in for an extraordinary joy ride. Anton’s father Bengt was merely one of the most gifted talents ever to don a Caps’ sweater. He was big, and a powerful skater. He possessed hockey sense in spades, and he regularly directed cross-ice passes to teammates on the tape at full speed. He was lethal on draws, and he was a shut-down defensive gem. He remains perhaps the most complete hockey player in Capitals’ history.
He once scored 5 goals in a game against Philadelphia — on 5 shots. (Think Ovechkin will accomplish that?) Number 16 ranks fifth all-time in Caps’ scoring with 555 points in 629 games from 1979-89.
The NHL Network interviewed a very proud papa about Anton late Friday night, and it wasn’t just anybody asking the questions. Bengt’s coach as a Cap, Gary Green, asked father to compare son’s game with his own.
“He looks a little like dad [on the ice],” the ex-Cap great responded. “He has a little more skill, he shoots better.”
“He has a big future in front of him.”
The Capitals traded with New Jersey on Friday night to select Gustafsson, surrendering the 54th pick to the Devils and leap-frogging Edmonton to do so. And that’s what’s drawn our attention to this selection in particular. You’ll recall that just last summer there was what might be termed “bad blood” between the Washington and Edmonton organizations over the pusuit of unrestricted free agent Michael Nylander. Edmonton believed that they’d had an agreement with the unrestricted free agent pivot, only to see him land in D.C.
Back in 1978, the Caps drafted the elder Gustafsson in the fourth round. He subsequently played a season of pro hockey in Sweden and then signed with Edmonton of the World Hockey Association. But in ‘79-80 Edmonton was one of four WHA clubs to merge with the NHL, and the Caps, having already drafted Gustafsson, claimed his rights. A dispute ensued; the Caps prevailed; the rest is history.
So imagine with that backfile the circumstances on the draft floor in Ottawa Friday night. The Caps obviously had Anton Gustafsson higher on their draft board than no.23, and ahead of them, as Gustafsson remained un-selected as the Caps’ pick neared, were the Oilers.
The guess here is that General Manager George McPhee won’t be receiving a Christmas card from Kevin Lowe’s family this December.
On Friday night the Caps also acquired Natick, Massachusetts, native John Carlson, a big-bodied defenseman, in the first round. They dealt Steve Eminger and the 84th pick to the Philadelphia Flyers for the 27th pick in the first round, which they used to select Carlson. The 6 ‘2, 215-pound blueliner played with Indiana of the USHL in 2007-08.
Bates and the Batty Blogger
By DC Sports Chick
Friday, June 20, 2008
Watch out, Bates!
Now it seems that an ex-Capital has been added to her “Pro Athletes Whose Backs I’ve Washed” list (really, she said that). Yesterday she noted that she’s sweet on “CANADA HOCKEY PLAYER” Bates Battaglia (who, incidentally, is American), and he knows it. Maybe he should give her a call. It’s not like she’s doing anything besides blogging from her parents’ basement, and she’s got some free time before going to jail for ignoring the no-contact order. After all, who doesn’t want a woman who says that the aliens are mad at Jordan?
It would be funny if it wasn’t so sad.
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.
The End of the Magical 1998 Run to the Finals
By OrderedChaos (Mike Rucki)
Tuesday, June 17, 2008
We recently reminisced about the ten-year anniversary of a golden moment: when Joe Juneau’s goal propelled the Washington Capitals to their first Stanley Cup Finals appearance.
Today, Steinz looks back on D.C. Sports Bog to the day the run ended with excerpts from the Post’s coverage 10 years ago. It’s a good read and, lest you think it’s a depressing topic, Tony Kornheiser (gasp!) put it in perspective:
The fact is that the Capitals made hockey matter in this city for the first time. The hundreds of shots Kolzig turned away, the playoff goals that Bellows, Sergei Gonchar, Adam Oates, Todd Krygier, Joe Juneau and Peter Bondra scored — even the shot that Tikkanen missed — they’ll all be remembered fondly, long after the pain of losing four straight to Detroit is forgotten.
While I still cringe at the seared-on-my-cerebellum image of Tik’s yawning-net miss, I have to agree with Kornheiser’s overall sentiment. 10 years later — when a Finals appearance for the Caps with a very different outcome seems not only likely, but imminent — I think we can safely look back fondly on the Caps’ far-away-yet-so-close brush with the Cup, with the strong belief of better things to come.
Ain’t No Party Like a ‘Vechkin Party
By OrderedChaos (Mike Rucki)
Sunday, June 15, 2008
Ovechkin practices his mind-reading (Photo: Mike Rucki)
WASHINGTON, D.C.—Alexander Ovechkin is a machine. On the ice and off he constantly gives his all, to the delight of Capitals fans and lovers of hockey everywhere.
Yet even Ovechkin looked a bit tired on Friday night at the party in his honor at chic D.C. restaurant Teatro Goldoni. Given his recent schedule, that’s no surprise. When asked what his favorite part of Thursday night was, he replied, “Finally going to sleep,” and seemed at least half-serious. Still, Ovechkin gamely posed for photos and gave a bevy of interviews — he even dedicated 5 minutes to an impromptu blogger roundtable consisting of me, Greg “Puck Daddy” Wyshynski, and Jon “JP” Press.
Wyshynski mentioned to Ovechkin that one of the 134 voters did not give him a Hart vote despite each voter picking their top 5 candidates, a revelation that seemed to surprise him as much as it surprised us earlier. After some consideration as to who the ‘hater’ might be, Ovechkin jokingly replied, “Um… maybe Tarik?” Tarik got just as good a laugh out of the joke when we relayed it to him later in the evening.
Washington Capitals owner Ted Leonsis summed up Ovechkin’s attitude perfectly as he addressed the festive crowd early in the evening: “On the way home I asked Alex what he thought about the awards. He said he’d trade them all for one Stanley Cup.”
The best “frozen moment” of the evening was seeing three decades’ worth of great Capitals together. Rod Langway, Peter Bondra, and Alex Ovechkin could arguably be considered the best Caps of the 80s, 90s, and 2000s respectively. Seeing Bondra and Langway celebrating Ovechkin’s quad-fecta of awards warmed my Capitals heart.
Rod Langway, Alex Ovechkin, and Peter Bondra (photo: Mike Rucki)
Phil Pritchard was there as well, the Hockey Hall of Fame Resource Centre Vice President and Curator — better known to hockey fans as the white-gloved caretaker of Lord Stanley’s Cup. Engaging and friendly to all, Pritchard too looked a bit haggard as he watched over the four awards. Yet his passion for hockey’s precious metal was always clear.
These trophies, unlike the Stanley Cup, don’t travel with the winners for the most part. Rather than Ovechkin escorting them to Moscow, for instance, Pritchard had an 8-hour post-party drive to bring the hardware back to the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto. The trophies will return to the D.C. area for opening night of the 2008-09 season and likely for a visit to the Capitals’ training facility at Kettler some time during training camp.
I remembered to bring my Ross replica trophy for a photo op with the real thing — these detailed replicas were sold at Canadian McDonald’s locations in 2003; I picked up the Ross in Halifax. Six of the trophies had replicas that year and, according to Pritchard, the plan to make replicas of the remaining trophies the following season was derailed by the lockout.
I shall call it... Mini-Ross
I also have a Stanley Cup replica ready to pose for a similar photo in DC with the real Cup… hopefully soon.
Awards Night Revelry
By DC Sports Chick
Friday, June 13, 2008
Capitals fans gathered at the Verizon Center on Thursday night to watch the NHL Awards and meet some players. Official OFB photographer Chanuck attended and captured the event.
A Facelift for Hockey in Portland, Maine
By pucksandbooks
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
The Buffalo Sabres today announced a brand new American League affiliation, in Portland, Maine, with the Pirates. Such news generally doesn’t catch the OFB eye, but in this instance, the affiliate happens to be in one of our favorite towns, one we’ve blogged from before.
Portland of course was recently the affiliate for the Caps; in fact, the Caps’ American League affiliation in Portland began when the Baltimore Skipjacks departed Charm City for Portland in 1993, carrying with them the Caps’ affiliation. And it’s where Kevin Kaminski’s sweater is retired. It’s also the home of the best breakfast in all of New England, Becky’s. It ain’t a bad bar town, either: the motto at Bull Feeney’s is “Thirst is a shameless disease, so here’s to a shameful cure.”
After the Caps severed ties with the Pirates following the 2004-05 season, the Anaheim Ducks shipped their prospects all the way across the country to the quaint Maine metropolis. That was obviously impractical, and Anaheim will affiliate with the Iowa Stars beginning next season.
Earlier this year there was serious concern that pro hockey would depart Portland, as the Pirates’ arena ain’t exactly contemporary or state of the art. (But it has a lot of relic charm.) Last year the city authorized a $175,000 study to renovate Cumberland County Civic Center, the Pirates’ home.
“Modern multi-purpose venues dwarf the building in both capacity and amenities,” a Portland Press Herald story on renovation plans understates. Political support appears to exist for a substantial renovation of the building; one wouldn’t imagine the Sabres entering into a long-term affiliation with the city otherwise.
The Sabres’ agreement with the Pirates ensures that there will be an American League presence there through 2010-11, and the Sabres have an option to extend the affiliation two years beyond that. Â
Wilson to Toronto a Done Deal?
By The OFB Team
Monday, June 9, 2008
According to a CBC report, former Capitals coach Ron Wilson will be announced the next Toronto Maple Leafs coach on Tuesday, assuming there are no last minute issues. The contract is reported to be a four year deal for $5.6-million, plus incentives. In more than 1,000 games, Wilson’s coaching record is 518-446-127 with stops in Anaheim, Washington, and San Jose.
June 4, 1998: Washington Seriously Parties Over Hockey into the Wee Hours
By pucksandbooks
Wednesday, June 4, 2008
Ten years ago today Joe Juneau scored what many Washington hockey fans consider to be the most significant goal in Capitals’ history — a game and series-ending, Wales Trophy earning tally, one catapulting Capsdom into delirium, 6:24 into overtime, on the road, in the Eastern Conference Finals’ game 6, giving the Caps a 3-2 victory over the Buffalo Sabres and sending the Caps to their lone appearance in the Stanley Cup Finals.
It wasn’t a wicked wrister or a booming slapshot but rather a fortuitous tuck-in of a rebound from linemate Brian Bellows’ close-in jam attempt against Dominik Hasek. You remember the JOB line, don’t you — Juneau, Oates, and Bellows?
For those of us who go back a bit with this organization, those seconds immediately after seeing that little black disc cross the goal line — it just glided rather casually across the line, the net never budging behind Dominik Hasek — seeing Joe Juneau’s arms raised in elation behind Hasek’s cage, followed soon after by his being swarmed in the rink corner to Hasek’s right by a skating stampede of teammates, are forever seared in our memories. Steve Kolbe, then new to the Caps’ radio play-by-play duties, horror-movie-screamed a call of the winning goal so memorably that WTEM played it on a virtual loop in its expanded coverage of the Caps late that spring . . . and some of us used it as a voicemail greeting at home for a few weeks.
Good times. Good times indeed.
That ‘98 Caps team had a flair for the dramatic that postseason — they played seven overtime games, winning five of them. They played three extra session affairs against Boston in round 1 (going 2-1 in them), won all three OTs against Buffalo in the Eastern Conference finals, and lost one more against Detroit in the Stanley Cup Finals. Still to this day I say to myself, what if Kono hadn’t turned an ankle . . . did we let go of Killer one season too soon?
Any D.C. team that goes on a long postseason run is sure to capture the locals’ hearts, but in ‘98, Olie Kolzig’s brilliance, combined with the NHL’s sudden death overtime drama and the Caps’ regular immersion in it, seemed to coalesce our community around those Caps in a way that was distinctive and unprecedented beyond normal postseason bandwagon followings.
Proof of this would arrive about four hours after Juneau’s hero tally, in the middle of the night in the middle of Washington/Baltimore suburban nowhere.
Juneau was the the leading scorer for the Caps that postseason, with 7 goals and 10 assists in 21 games, and so his heroics in that game 6 OT were perfectly appropriate. On Tuesday afternoon, Capitals’ Director of Media Relations Nate Ewell arranged a conference call for a few of us who wanted to stroll down Memory Lane with Juneau in acknowledgement of the 10th anniversary of his historic score. He acknowledged that the goal was the biggest of his NHL career, but then he admitted something startling about it: He hadn’t seen a replay of it until this week.
“Just a couple days before Nate got in touch with me about doing this conference call a friend of mine sent a link to go on YouTube — I was able to see it that way. That was the first time since 10 years ago that I actually saw it,” he said.
Isn’t that amazing?
Next I asked Juneau what made that band of ‘98 Caps such a special team.
“It was a great mix. Late in the season the team added some experienced players . . . Esa Tikkanen and Brian Bellows and guys with experience. They just brought something special to the team. Although we did have an older team, we didn’t have guys that actually had won the Stanley Cup or had gone far in the playoffs. Those guys were able to transfer their knowledge and experience of winning and what it takes to win the Stanley Cup.”
After the overtime stunner in Buffalo, iconic Washington radio personality Ken Beatrice urged his listeners to race out to the team’s practice facility, Piney Orchard, in Odenton, Maryland, to meet the team bus that would be returning from BWI airport that remarkable night 10 years ago. Thousands took him up on the invitation. You could tell that something quite dramatic was unfolding a little before midnight in the Odenton area as parked cars packed tightly near one another on Piney Orchard Parkway some two miles from the rink. A facility that snuggily seats 750 for hockey would by some estimates cram 3,000, maybe more, in a weeknight of frenzied euphoria, where they patiently awaited the arrival of their heroes at 2:30 a.m. That following morning fatigue at work felt so f’in wonderful.
Ten years later, it’s difficult to convey to an Ovechkin-era fanbase just how powerful that night was for the devoted. It was preceded by a quarter century of rank incompetence, middling mediocity, and gut-wrenching shortcomings in the postseason as Patrick division favorites. Until Joe Juneau washed it all away 10 years ago today.
I remember folks standing literally six- and seven-deep all around the Piney rink glass that night 10 years ago, standing, cheering — stranger hugging stranger — screaming “Let’s Go Caps” maybe 750 times while awaiting their heroes. I asked Juneau what he remembered about the team bus turning onto Piney Orchard Parkway and seeing such sea of support in the middle of the night.
“I remember that very well — it almost seems like it was yesterday.
“We heard right away that there were some people waiting for us at the practice facility, and it was very special in the middle of the night to get there . . . it was just a dead area and we were just off to unpack our stuff and take our cars to drive home. Getting there that night and seeing that many fans waiting for us outside and inside the building — it was something else.
“It was obviously the high point of my time in Washington.
“I think it would be fair to say that it was obviously the high point of many guys that played in Washington for so many years, you know like the Dale Hunters and those guys, Kelly Miller.”
It was, without question, the high point of nearly 25 years of professional hockey in Washington.
Ten years ago today.
I’ll be toasting to it tonight.
A Look Back at the Hockey Knight in Canada
By The OFB Team
Wednesday, June 4, 2008
We first ran this video file back in November of last year, but on this the 10th anniversary of Joe Juneau’s goal that sent the Capitals into the Stanley Cup Finals, we thought it merited a re-run. Juneau remains a remarkably committed resident of Kujuwak, Quebec — a remote Innuit outpost of isolation and despair in very northern Quebec. Around the 58th parallel. Thanks to Caps’ Director of Media Relations Nate Ewell, we had a chance to catch up with Juneau this week to survey his thoughts about that great game 10 years ago today, but not surprisingly, that was a small fraction of the discussion. He wanted to talk a lot about the community he was helping. If you haven’t seen this NBC News treatment of Juneau, you really should. If you have, you should watch it again.
[admin note: Click each image below for the videos. A new window will open where the video will play after a short ad.]
For Love of the Goon
By OrderedChaos (Mike Rucki)
Thursday, May 22, 2008
Brashear pummels Brendan Shanahan
My friend’s wife, a Minnesota native, loves a good hockey fight. Oh, she’ll attend fight-free games and enjoy them, but it’s really the fights that get her blood boiling and make the game exciting for her.
She is not alone. The divide between fight fans and fight haters is deeper than ever, with pundits and fans coming down strongly on one side or the other with very little middle ground. Some truly love it as pure gladiator-esque displays of passion. Others see fighting as a deterrent to dirty play—a way for the players to police a game that referees are hard-pressed to manage (”With a guy like Donald Brashear,” per Ted Leonsis, “it’s mutually assured destruction”). Those who hate fighting feel it has no place in the game and cartoonishly taints the sport they love.
Patrick Hruby of ESPN recently delved into “the world of hard-core hockey fight fans, the Cult of the Goon” on a multi-month exploratory mission. He even visited the Phone Booth to take in a Capitals-Penguins game on the strength of a potential Donald Brashear vs. George Laraque fight card (they were disappointed: no fight this time).
Hruby spoke with Ted Leonsis about dropping the gloves in the NHL:
“It’s a balancing act,” Caps owner Ted Leonsis says. “The day after that Atlanta game [OC: the fight-fest in November '06 with 176 PIM, $40k fines], I probably got 400 e-mails. Half of them went like this: ‘How dare you, I took my son or daughter to the game and have never been more embarrassed. I will never go to a game again. Fighting should be outlawed, and Donald Brashear should be suspended for life.’
“Meanwhile, the next e-mail would say, ‘That was the greatest game I’ve ever been to in my life. I love seeing the team stand up for each other.’”
Leonsis laughs. As a hockey fan, he respects and appreciates fighting; as an owner, he says his franchise wouldn’t build a marketing campaign around it. “Now, one complaint is too many. But let’s not forget that Atlanta did TV commercials promoting the rematch.”
Check out the rest of Hruby’s article, including his chat with Minnesota Wild heavyweight Derek Boogaard, in-depth discussions with the videotaping legions of fight fanatics, and a visit to the AHL for some rink-bound pummeling. As always, we invite you to share in the comments where you side in the on-ice pugilism debate.
What Should Kolzig Do?
By The OFB Team
Thursday, May 15, 2008
Would you rather Olie Kolzig retire this offseason, and forever be recognized as a Cap, or see him pursue the Stanley Cup for another season or two?
A Netminder’s Impact on a Community - The Video
By The OFB Team
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
Today we told you about a WJLA-TV featured segment on Olie Kolzig’s impact on a family with an autistic child.
Here’s the video.
The departure of Kolzig is made a little more real when you see the graphic “Olie Kolzig - Former Capitals Goaltender”.
A Netminder’s Impact on a Community
By The OFB Team
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
As Olie Kolzig’s official departure from Washington Capitals approaches, he will leave the District with more than fond memories and his name in the Capitals record books—his impact in the community will persist in even more meaningful ways.
WJLA’s ABC 7 News at 5 today will feature a segment on an autistic child who plays for the NOVA Cool Cats and will discuss the impact that Kolzig and the Caps have had on him and his family. The NOVA Cool Cats are a special hockey team which “exists for the enrichment of the athlete with a developmental disability.” Kolzig has long been a staunch supporter of autism research and is a founding member of Athletes Against Autism.
Nate Ewell, director of Media Relations for the Caps, has been told that the segment is “Oprah-worthy;� it should air around 5:45 p.m. today.