In Glacialis Blog

Vegetus off presses procul Kettler Caput Iceplex:

ARLINGTON, Va. – Lavatio Caput have lenio Glen Hanlon of suus coaching pius quod nomen Bruce Boudreau team’s penitus caput capitis cogo, vitium praesieo quod imperator procurator George McPhee renuntio hodie.

Boudreau, 52, has cogo championship teams in American Hockey League (AHL) quod ECHL quod est in suus tertius annus ut caput capitis cogo of Ipsa Gero, Washington’s AHL affiliate. Is led team ut Orientales Placitum championship quod Calder Vas denique in sulum of suus primoris duos annus in Ipsa, victor Calder Vas in 2006. Boudreau has congero a 103-45-11-16 record per Gero (a .666 victor percentage), comprehendo an AHL- optimus 51-17-6-6 record (.713) permaneo season. Septem current members of Caput ludio ludius pro Boudreau per Gero.

Boudreau fio 14th cogo in Lavatio Caput history. Is mos planto suus debut secundum Capitals’ scamnum cras procul Philadelphia (1 p.m., Comcast SportsNet, Sermo Radio 3WT: 107.7 FM, sesquimellesimus Sum, 820 Sum).

Boudreau est in suus nonus season ut an AHL caput capitis cogo, having congero a 340-216-56-43 tutela record. Is prodigo quattuor annus per Manchester Monarchia quod duos annus per Summitto Obfirmo Monasteriense pro iunctio Gero. Pro ascending ut AHL, is eram caput capitis cogo quod presul of hockey operations pro Mississippi Mare Wolves (ECHL), qua is won 1999 Kelly Vas championship.

Secundum condita suus caput capitis-coaching debut in Colonia Hockey League per Muskegon Rabies in 1992-93, Boudreau took super Castrum Wayne Komets of International Hockey League (IHL) in 1993-94. Komets provectus ut Verto Vas denique suus primoris season procul imperium, quod Boudreau eram nomen 1993-94 IHL cogo of annus.

Boudreau ludio ludius secui of duodeviginti seasons per Toronto Maple Folium quod Pullus Blackhawks, recording 70 cuspis in 141 NHL venatus. A tertius- rotundus pick of Folium in 1975 NHL draft, Boudreau utor optimus seasons umquam per a Canadian junior ludio ludius per 1974-75. Is picked sursum 165 cuspis pro Toronto Marlboros, a Canadian Hockey League record insquequo Wayne Gretzky vinco vestigium per 1977-78 season.

An palmarium AHL ludio ludius, Boudreau ordo 11th totus- vicis in ustulo in league history per 316 calx quod 799 cuspis. Haud AHL ludio ludius in 1980s notched magis cuspis quam Boudreau, ut is ludio ludius pro Novus Brunswick Hawks, Baltimore Skipjacks, Nova Scotia Oilers, Springfield Indians quod Newmarket Sanctus per ut vicis. Is won 1987-88 John B. Sollenberger Trophy pro plumbum league in ustulo, quod eram quoque a member of 1992 Calder Vas champion Adirondack Rutilus Pennae.

Haud timetable has been paro pro naming a caput capitis cogo ultra Boudreau’s penitus statua. Ceterus of Caput coaching baculus mos subsisto in locus.

Lavatio Caput cogo Glen Hanlon eram a hospes in Vox Lascivio per Jim Pannosa quod Gary Viridis (in XM 204). In quinque-minute spatium Hanlon confero key pestifer, presencia illud pestifer have had in versus iunctura quod calx ustulo, Alex Ovechkins’ defensabiliter lenimentus, quod alius tidbits. Reprehendo sicco celebratio hic.

Quis pulsatus mihi plurimus super spatium est ut Hanlons’ versus iunctura intentio videor paro puteus in provectus obex ullus unforseen chemistry proventus. Hanlon admits ut pestifer es secui of venatus. . . yet is videor ut the lines had haud verus tergum intentio in locus alloquor inevitiable pestifer sulum team must visio.

Losing a caput capitis ustulo amo Alexander Semin, vel a ferreus-nosed rector amo Sarcalogos Expedio, has haud securus redintegro. Tamen unus spera ut castra, preseason, quod meditor innutum alius potentially prosperitas versus iunctura ut could exsisto socors in locus ut malum bug hit—rather quam “random versus juggling dum transitus ones’ fingers” ut videor in locus iam. Admittedly suus’ a concisus spatium quod sic thema ut repleo- in-- vestis syndrome, tamen infigo of a penuria of contingency planning eram aliquantulus abicio ut is auditor.

In alius Caput/XM novus, is tunc progressio videor amo must- audite radio. Procul 1100: PM is Monday, November 19, Olie Kolzig ero featured inHockey Specialis. Ex NHL Domus Glacies:

Hockey Specialis: Olaf Kolzig

Mon, 11/19 | 11PM ET

NHL Domus Glacies XM 204 audaciter dictataHockey Specialis per Lavatio Caput goaltender Olaf Kolzig. SuoHockey Is Oriens populus Scott Rideo risi risum ut is goes stipes ut stipes per Olie Calx, pro nostrum agoHockey Specialis bulla celebratio. Is est an hora of pia insight ex unus of NHLs’ maioribus orator, a verus astrum of venatus, quod a tireless opus pro Athletes Pro Autism.

Encores:
Tue, 11/20 8PM | Tue, 11/20 8PM  Wed|, 11/21 7PM  Fri|, 11/23 3PM | Sat, 11/24 9AM | Sol solis, 11/25 2AM, 3AM, 5PM

[Update: Animadverto ineo pro magis notitia super Kolzig XM ostendo ex a Caps’ press solvo]

In suus postgame bulla occulto permaneo nox noctis, hockey sermo caput capitis in Poema poematis posed question, ‘ quod cogo est in hottest of fervens sessio?’ Ron Wilson ( suus team per a victor record) quod John Tortorella erant IDd’. Sic eram Glen Hanlon.

“is est a ingens, ingens roadtrip,” Hanlon told Lavatio Stipes primo illae week. Duos- tertius universa, Caput have, per 120-plus minutes of is, a singulus calx quod a singulus cuspis. Magis of aut ero ferreus ut adveho per Thursday nox noctis in Ottawa.

Donatus daunting negotium substerno pro him ut is supervenio secundum Caps’ scamnum midway per 2003-04 season — praesieo super an underachieving, carus roster, nunc ut exsisto gutted, tuncsensim, damnum-ladeningly redivivus, is videor fere inhumanus is oriens aborior sicco subcribo hinting procul possibility of Glen Hanlons’ res incendia. Tamen is escendo of suspicion has suus radix in summus procuratio’ valde palam civitas Midsummers’ Nox noctis Somnium of tenus 2008 postseason.

Led per proprietas’ bovis venalicium forecast (” redivivus est super”), tergum sursum per caput’ castra- oris can- operor creed, flamma of gauisus sors erant fanned totus trans norma quod broadcast in altus certus per novus quod vetus interventus. Currently sedeo in a ligo pro 28th in superstes, is Caput’ team is oriens est quisquam tamen postseason reus.

Caps’ 3-0 satus tantum porro fueled hockey gauisus sermo in illa secui. Tamen is oriens, quis videor magis aberrant — ut satus, per a victoria super a battered- per-Bob ( utpote incendia) Thrashers’ crew quod a 12- offa nixus in Porro Insula in Columbus Dies — vel current 2-9-1 labor lapsus in superstes sewer?

EGO refero ut question, sententia tergum ut teams’ lascivio spondeo, quod, gnarus vis of contemporary pro lusum ut EGO operor, statim sententia of phrase tempestas clouds converging.

Procul pectus pectoris of tendo heartache pro Caps’ fans, is videor, est is question: Dum fere certainly Glen Hanlon eram vox vir praecello redivivus, est is pariter vox vir rectum lemma ut quod per playoffs? Suus’ a question ut Ive’ auditus asked per Caput’ persona themselves preteritus duos annus, tamen is week in Lavatio — quod iam in populus television pariter — suus’ res asked per application quod instanter.

Glen Hanlon est iam 49-78-10 ut caput capitis cogo of Caput. Captus in numerus, ut victor percentage isnt’ totusut nocens in lux lucis of nonnullus of sudo repletus hes’ been negotium per regimen preteritus three hockey seasons. Tamen ut’ non proventus hes’ amo adversus vox iam. Suus’ is unus: ut ferreus- opus, overachieving manus manus of videlicet quod iter itineris, quod Ovechkin, is infigo NHL per duos annus abhinc doesnt’ vultus per sic ferreus opus quod overachieving hodie.

peior propter sub-.500 foramen suus stipes iam reperio ipsum in, scratching quod clawing postulo moveo ex 28th loquor 16th in league mos requiro a sanus tendo of non-losing. Ut have Caput’ fans umquam seen ut ex Glen Hanlons’ Caps?

Unus nox noctis in medius Alexander Ovechkins’ rookie season EGO eram vigilo a Caps’ venatus per sapiens senilis super pucks, meus Senilis. Totus quoque familiar per teams’ decades of disappointment ut a season ticket habitum, quod conscius redivivus propositum, Dad persolvo ut mihi competitive instanter of moment donatus Valde’ awesome munia.

“They cannot atteroseasons per is guy non in playoffs,” is told mihi.

Ut a torqueo- novus Directus subscriber, EGO eram thrilled video vidi visum NHL Network in versus ( puteus, ut quodBoomerang). EGO havent’ been validus ut vigilo satis of is etiamnunc, tamen eatenus, Im’ iuste commodo per programming. Nonnullus may utor channel pro repens venatus highlights, tamen EGO diligo vigilo ordo hockey venatus. (ut EGO typus, Im’ vigilo Blackhawks quod Puteulanus serius ex 1992.) Yesterdays’ versus eram an singulariter bonus unus: non tantum erant illic highlights ex 1992 Canadiens Orcus serius, tamen April 10, 1984 venatus inter Rangers quod Insula eram broadcast. Glen Hanlon eram in net pro Rangers, quodBrents’ Hockey Venatus Videos sums sursum venatus:

Per iustus super a minute left in 3rd period, quod down 2-1, Rangers Caput capitis Cogo Herb Revolvo changes calx restituo Glen Hanlon per a tener John Vanbiesbrouck. Tergum tunc, NHL had a sceptrum in locus qua super a calx change, novus calx eram licitus vicis foveo sursum, quod gave Rangers a Vicis vacuus having utor unus. permoveo eram sapiens unus, ut intus permaneo minute of 3rd period, Vanbiesbrouck eram traho pro an susicivus tentatio quod Inicio Maloney ustulo subnecto venatus procul 2, causa Deprehendo.

Quisnam wouldnt’ volo sedeo down quod vigilo ut parumper iugo of hora?
Plebis offa cant’ exsisto pello pepulli pulsum, aut; suus’ a valde trinus down memoria lane. Quantus quantus Im’ usura ordo, Spero theyre’ validus exhibeo nonnullus pre-’80s venatus procul nonnullus cuspis. Etiam, suus’ non a nocens satus, quod hopefully NHL Network ero validus ut impendo versus of ostendo eventually. Super, quisnam can criminor super hora quod hora of hockey-centric programming?

A non- sic-funny res venio obvius ut Caps vestio a uber quod serio puck- usus caput capitis 6 paro of porro is season. Nonnullus of apparatus secui have cado off. A cranky ankle has crusta sublimis sniper Alexander Semin pro totus tamen unus venatus eatenus. Peior, unus tertius of caput capitis versus has imploded. Has umquam a tener caput capitis- versus volatilis’ sors acidus ut celeriter quod ut penitus ut have Tomas Flesichmanns’ mane is autumn? A lux lucis switch seemingly shut down Mico’ fission. boys sursum frons es aliquantulus turbo vox iam.

Ut vox pars of Caput’ porro ordo has ut unnerve procuratio quod Cogo Hanlon. In addition ut flickering ex Mico illic est Eric Fehrs’ jugiter incertus statua. Hes’ non vel skating illa dies. Joe Motzko, us in offseason per Ipsa Gero in mens, has repente captus a verto in caput capitis vox latuseris. Qua est frons- versus vox pennae huic norma is October? refero est, is may nusquam esse — magis si Viktor Kozlov fio vallum ut AOs’ cardo.

Semin mos eventually vigoratus, tamen can Caps speciosus vie pro postseason vacuus muneris of a ustulo pennae adversus Alex? EGO admiratio.

In meus caligo moments, EGO fret super a novus positus effluo ver — huic theca, vox pennae — iustus ut blueline celeriter quoniam vetus quod immobile primo illae decade.

Usquam, Caps es negotium per gutting is sicco pro foreseeable posterus.

decor of hockey est ut a beleaguered versus can adepto suus contraho nose immunda quod rapio cuspis vel ex ultum belle stipes ut suum pectus pectoris tumesco pro opus.

Monday brought super a duos- hora meditor. Ut’ porro per NHL vexillum. Ut a rut est coegi per mugio offa quod calx numerus, plurrimi vulgaris prescription est ferreus opus. Is est a hockey stipes ut parumper pauci annus iam has been characterized per suus ferreus opus.

Non totus est senium quod fatum is medium-October. Is videor ut in net, plurrimi maximus positus in glacies, Caps mos ordine adepto species, vel venatus- rapio incursus ex suus tandem. amplus perspective usque tendo est is: three weeks abhinc, gnarus ut Caps visio quattuor of primoris quinque in via, quod totus of via venatus vacuus Semin, had vos been dedi a record of 3-2 per lemma, youd’ have carpo is.

Magis bonus novus: Pittsburgh est losing ubertas.

ESPNs’ Scott Burnside ordo totus 30 NHL Caput capitis Cogo. Nostrum own Glen Hanlon reprehendo in procul #20.

“Hanlon Hasnonium’ had ultum laboro per in Lavatio, tamen hes’ instilled an infigo opus ethic in suus copiae copie. Iam, hes’ got nonnullus magis tools quod is ero interesting video vidi visum quantus magis Hanlon can adepto ex suus novus- vultus Caps.”

Animadverto plenus albumhic.

Apprised of Comcasts’ commitment ut Caps is week, EGO verto in Comcast SportsNet moment EGO supervenio domus ex opus Monday nox noctis, quod left is illic. Quis EGO vigilo super tunc quattuor hora attonitus mihi.

EGO saw novus Comcast Caps’ pello pepulli pulsum opinio Lisa Tumulosus bulla populus a season praevius alongside Joe Nidor. EGO saw iustus super totus of Alexander Ovechkins’ primoris- umquam NHL venatus (Id’ forgotten ut is eram a flubbed breakaway ex a hat furta ut nox noctis). Tunc EGO saw JoeB quod Craig populus alius bulla dimidium hora, “Caps Narro” proalius team praevius. Spondeo pro Comcasts’ “SportsNight” ut secuutus pollicitus vel magis Caps’ occulto.

Is eram “Monday Nox noctis Hockey in Washington,” nimirum.

Caput capitis Cogo Glen Hanlon eram interviewed in depth per Tumulosus. GMGM eram thoughtfully interviewed, tandem, quod is dummodo suus usitas thoughtful restituo. Key alio — Sarcalogos Expedio, Olie Kolzig, Tom Venenum, Nicklas Backstrom, Michael Nylander — totus took volvit pro Comcasts’ venit. Tarik El Vercundus’ segment per Joe quod Craig EGO sententia eram a highlight of universus nox noctis. (Tarik, verus effingo, dedi a siccus quod mediocris assessment amid vallum bene engulfing norma mane is autumn. Caps, is said, could perago usquam “ ex sedecim ut decimus” in Orientales placitum)

Broadcast Susurro super pro hockey in D.C. illa dies? Umm, etiam — tantum si vos contemplor totus- perussi, singulus- thema pietas per locus lusum television exitus ut urbs’ rutilus- caput capitis stepchild of pro teams “ susurro”- testimonium. Promptus suus’ iens ut exsisto amo is reliquum of week sulum vesper in Comcast.

Procul unus cuspis per prime vicis proceedings EGO saw Joe quod Craig mico in screen multiple-screen listings of Caps’ prospicio. EGO saw nomen Michal Neuvirth, Simeon Varlamov, Karl Alzner, Joe Finley, Mathieu Perreault, Suffragium Bouchard, Dave Steckel, quod Sarcalogos Bourque, totus broadcast in an exitus ut nunquam in suus vita held an muneris fantasy hockey lacus. Ne multus, is eram amo a effrego exhockeysfuture, quod duos DraftGeeks pensio sicco Comcast bulla quod condita amo Wayne quod Garth in locus cable obvius.

Wayne, er, JoeB: “inviso totus is talentum in pipeline, Dude!”

Garth, er, Craig ( caput capitis gallo): “Praeclarus!”

Is est quis importo unus Canuck can operor ut an exitus!

Magis serio, Tumulosus eram hired accerso suus NHL occulto usus ut Comcast. in- domus hockey talentum eram significant, si sub-appreciated quod grossly sub- utilitas, tamen had exitus umquam jactito a dedicated opinio in pello pepulli pulsum? Tunc Im’ iens ut refer ut occulto sententia amo Comcasts’ huic week havent’ res in a vacuum, quod ut theyre’ a prenuncius of melior occulto advenio, procer quod broadcast, institutio quod alternative. Ut an ambitus, suus’ fashionable, nimirum: 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.

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.

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 actually was one, Carolina. The Hurricanes, however, only took 17 extra-extra session shots in 2006-07 (scoring on just one! Ouch!!). 

In shootouts, the Caps aren’t even Shaq at the free throw line.

Here’s how bad things shootout got for Glen Hanlon last season: on March 1, in a 10-rounder against Tampa at Verizon Center, the coach even had Ben Clymer, Matt Bradley, and Donald Brashear rush in from the red line. (All three missed of course. All 10 Caps’ shooters missed that night, if memory serves.) I was inside Verizon Center that night, and I left thinking I’d have to return with my gear bag when covering future games in case Hanlon wanted to summon me for shootout duty.

Whatever your views on the appropriateness of the shootout as a game-settler, they’re here to stay for the foreseeable future, and for most teams they determine an important number of standings points over the course of the season. It’s hard to fathom the Caps remaining grotesque in them this season and qualifying for the postseason.

The addition of a single quality shooter in the shootout lineup can make a world of difference, but it would appear that Hanlon will be adding two this season. Both Nylander and Kozlov converted just under 40 percent in the shootout a season ago. On a team of 10-percenters (and often worse), that’s a revolutionary success rate. In his remarks Wednesday, Hanlon indicated that for now, both newcomers would be penciled in for shootouts at season’s start. 

Which sets up an intriguing bit of personnel exclusion: in such a rotation one of the Alexanders necessarily would be excluded. Or . . . would both? Neither player — especially Ovechkin all last season long — looked particularly comfortable during shootouts, and after his dynamic success in them in the opening weeks of his NHL career in 2005-06, Ovechkin has been snakebit, stymied, and stoned, stoned, stoned ever since by all caliber of NHL netminder.

Hanlon on Wednesday actually acknowledged the novelty of sitting his magic-hands set of Russians during the team’s shootouts.

“Can you imagine if we had 15,000 in the seats and I sat those guys?”

He then suggested something about his fate involving a noose or a burning at a stake, I think. Even more interesting, according to the coach, is that apparently one of his most impressive performers in shootout-like drills in practice is defenseman Jeff Schultz. I don’t think we’re going to see him in the coach’s top 3 very often early on this season.

But if the shootout struggles continue, you never know.      

Some dominant themes swiftly emerged at players’, coaches’, and the general manager’s media conferences this morning out at Kettler Capitals:

• What a difference a year makes in terms of training facilities. I asked Chris Clark what he thought were his responsibilities as captain to his teammates this summer, and quickly he noted how in past seasons “we didn’t have anything to come to,” but that this summer, with Kettler, “we had almost a full team skating here days ago.” He said that he wanted to get everybody settled in town, early, to get the off-ice distractions related to moving and adjusting to new surroundings out of the way, and Kettler and its amenities was an easy sell to his teammates early in the summer.

“This is the best facility in the league,” George McPhee said. “It’s a place players want to be . . . it makes everything that we do better. It helps [with] community relations, media relations . . . It helps you keep your players and it attracts free agents.”

A year ago in Ashburn, Va., training camp was conducted in makeshift and cramped quarters. “Last year we were vagabonds [out at Ashburn],” Olaf Kolzig said.

“What the [team’s] trainers went through last year is a story in itself,” Glen Hanlon said.

• “These are the better days.” This came straight from Kolzig’s mouth early on in his session with the media. The first thing out of Kolzig’s mouth, as he moved before cameras and microphones, was “This is the Caps [press event]?” Both he and Hanlon were struck by the size of the media contingent attending Media Day. As we’ve seen in recent days, there is an intensity of media interest in the Capitals, particularly among local mainstream media, relative to that of recent years at this time.

Some reporters were discussing a quote Jason Spezza gave the Canadian Press this week: ‘’I think Washington could be a darkhorse team that could get into the playoffs. They made some good acquisitions in the off-season and they had a pretty good base of young guys so they could be kind of a team that might sneak up and make the playoffs.'’

Cap after Cap came forward Thursday morning with the word “playoffs” on his lips. It’s not an entitlement, it’s something they must earn, but Captain Clark made the mission as plain as could be: “We have everything we need to get there.”

The good karma around this team now has had a clear impact on Kolzig. “My enthusiasm and energy level is at an all-time high,” he claimed.

• Yes the new guys are important, but don’t overlook our core. Hanlon noted that the Caps finished 25 points shy of the playoffs last season. “The free agents [by themselves] can’t make up 25 points,” he said. There is a tendency to overvalue high-priced, free agent newcomers as saviors swooping in to lead a surge in the standings. Hanlon pointed to the emergence last season of so many young players on Pittsburgh’s roster, guys who, like the young Caps of the past couple of seasons, played together through rough times. Like Therrien in Pittsburgh last season, Hanlon is looking to his core to come through this season. “Our remaining 16 or 17 players have advanced,” he said.

• It’s AO’s planet, we just share it with him. “Your English has gotten better,” one reporter observed after Alex answered the first question posed to him, and the reporter wondered if AO had worked on it during the summer.

“I practice in the [night] clubs,” he replied, sporting a devilish grin.

The starting goaltender offered a passing observation about the superstar left wing’s unkept hair. A reporter brought this to Ovechkin’s attention.

“It’s gangster style,” he responded, grinning again.

The general manager offered a number of insightful assessments related to the present and the recent past. He acknowledged that beyond the signings of the three big free agents, he added bodies with pro experience — guys like Boumedienne and Lepitso — in response to the experience that the team went through last December, when injuries and illness assailed an above-.500 club that was sniffing a playoff spot then. He also offered the view that chemistry with three significant new faces in the room is less an issue or concern than it was when the league was first experiencing significant free agent movement. Relatively few teams were making most of the significant acqusitions early on, he noted, but today “every team is acquiring [free agents].”

Where are the Capitals at the dawn of training camp 2007?

“A couple of years ago, we were looking [just] to fill boots. Now we have good players to fill a few number of [open] positions,” McPhee claimed.

From a source at Kettler Capitals: already on the ice with Coach Hanlon today are Nicklas Backstrom, Sami Lepisto, Viktor Dovgan, and Stephen Werner.

Not so long ago, the Capitals were in the heat of a playoff run. As February brought a deep freeze to the Washington area, so it also seems to have deep-sixed the Capitals’ playoff hopes. Doom and gloom has set in among a number of the Caps’ faithful . . . but all is not lost.

Former NHL coach and scout Pierre McGuire is currently an analyst providing colour commentary for both Canada’s TSN and The NHL on NBC. McGuire’s point of view for Sunday’s broadcast of the Caps/Pens tilt was “Inside the Glass,” between the two team benches, giving him a unique perspective.

Check out McGuire’s endorsement of the Caps on his NHL Notebook on NBCSports.com:

“The Washington Capitals are the sleeping giants of the East. They have the lowest payroll in the conference, a great young prospect in Swedish centerman Nicklas Backstrom, and a GM (George McPhee) and Coach (Glen Hanlon) who are progressive and on the same page. The Caps are one season away from being the Penguins. Exciting times in Washington are coming.”

The Pens, it pains us to say, have surged to fourth place in the Eastern Conference and are tied for sixth in the league overall. But we’ll take a little of their MoJo, sooner rather than later.

Rumors linger in the hockey community that when Ron Wilson was fired as coach of the Washington Capitals, General Manager George McPhee’s first choice to fill the spot was Glen Hanlon. While his ascension to the head coaching position was to be delayed for a season and a half, recent events display some of the qualities that impressed GMGM.

In his post-game press conference after a satisfying 6 2 win over the Philadelphia Flyers, Hanlon wasn’t jumping for joy. He pointed out the sloppy play of his team, noted how much they depended on Olie Kolzig in the second period. During the game, he had benched promising young defenseman Mike Green for several bad turnovers.

Today, Glen Hanlon did something that is not commonplace in this day and age he admitted he made a mistake. In Tarik El-Bashir’s piece today, Hanlon confesses that he and his coaching staff were putting too much pressure on the younger players in the past five games, focusing too much on the playoffs. He then made another rare coaching move he gave up some control to his players. After discussing with Olie and his captains, he modified his approach, allowing the leaders on the team to impress upon the players the importance of each game. Hanlon and his staff will focus more on the tactical side and let things unfold. It’s a surprising move for an NHL coach to make, completely without ego or bombast.

It could work like a charm. It could blow up in his face. Hanlon is stepping up, however: it’s not about him, it’s about the team. In stepping back he’s showing his players that the team-first mentality starts at the top, and messages such as that might be more easily preached when practiced.