Il a donné le grand effort dans le C.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)

Should Big Joe Go Pro?

By The OFB Team
Friday, July 11, 2008

For a promising athlete, the decision on whether to remain in college or depart early before earning a degree, in pursuit of pro sport riches, is an intensely personal and private endeavor — and not a subject fit for whimsical debate in Internet forums. It may well be the case that today Joe Finley (first round, ‘05) is in his hockey development absolutely ready to commence a career in pro puck. Nonetheless, that is a decision for him to make, perhaps in consultation with his family. We would do well to keep our worthless opinions on the matter to ourselves.

However . . . were he interested in outside opinion on the matter, and specifically, solicitious of the views of a set of sometimes respected bloggers who monitor the state of his drafting organization, we’d offer the reflection that his prowess as a purveyor of intense pain is one that would be well directed, shift after shift, at the Penguins’ crybaby captain. Beginning yesterday.

To amplify this general viewpoint, we’ve devised a table of pros and cons related to the decision. We’ve assigned value checks to an array of priority criteria, and we’ve tallied them. Tell us if you would have arrived at a different recommendation.

Evaluative Criteria Senior Year,
U of North Dakota		 Pro Hockey in
Hershey, PA
Temperate winter weather
Writing papers, taking exams, rising for morning classes
Proximity to clustered living by hard-bodied, experimentally inclined women under the age of 22
Keggers
The Ralph vs. Giant Center
Called Up to Skate on a Sheet with Ovechkin
Thursday (sometimes Wednesday) Starts to Weekends
Ditching Mandatory, Full-Face Shields, Immersion in Fighting Friendly Culture
Booze-Induced, Care- and Consequence-free Hookups
Playing for the Jacks Adams-winning Coach
Chance, if Called Up, to Bloody Crosby
Having John Walton Narrate Your Beatdowns of Wilkes Barre-Scranton Penguins for Central Pa. Radio Listeners

Recommendation: Go pro, Joe!

Filed in American Hockey, College Hockey, Development Camp, Joe Finley, Kettler Capitals Iceplex, Prospects, Washington Capitals| Permalink| Comments (17)

Saturday Live Blogging from Kettler Capitals

By The OFB Team
Thursday, July 10, 2008
For this Saturday’s Development Camp concluding scrimmage at 10:00, we’ll join Eric McErlain of the Sporting News and the AOL Fanhouse and Chris Poisal, Public Relations Assistant for the Hershey Bears, for some live blogging of the action. For those of you who cannot make it out to Kettler, join us right here with your Saturday morning cup-a-joe.
Filed in Blogs, Development Camp, Hershey Bears, Internet, Kettler Capitals Iceplex, Media, Prospects, Washington Capitals| Permalink| Comments (0)

Simeon Varlamov: Stranger in a Strange Land

By pucksandbooks
Thursday, July 10, 2008
Varlamov contemplates his future

Varlamov contemplates his future

Simeon Varlamov is an exceptionally driven competitor, and like all of his prospect peers, passionate about his sport. But today he is very much a stranger in a strange land. We hope that our video of his first formal press conference in Washington yesterday illustrated how isolated he is here. According to Varlamov, his father will be coming over at some point to offer support, but today he speaks zero English, and he told us yesterday that he can receive precious little instruction and guidance from anyone affiliated with the Caps, on or off the ice. That’s a remarkable realm of isolation, and frankly, I find it deeply lamentable.

As a native Washingtonian, I abhor the thought of any young man or woman seeking some manner of the American dream, however that’s defined, so isolated. This existence highlights the global origins of elite hockey talent, but also, from my vantage, the dire need for some manner of warm welcoming to be institutionalized not just by the Capitals but by all NHL clubs.

During yesterday’s presser, I imagined ahead to Varlamov being on the Hershey Bears’ long bus rides this coming season. I thought it harrowing for him to be riding those linguistically isolated from his teammates. It’s a real challenge I think for the Capitals’ organization. But I don’t think that hockey clubs should be singled out for more or less “hoping” that a foreign player’s presence here and immersion in our culture will eventually render them, at some point, comfortable; I think it’s a part of a long-standing American creed – a “tough love” expectation, a rough “rite of passage” into America for our newcomers. But I also believe it’s one that we ought to rigorously revisit.

Simeon expressed his intent to enroll in English classes yesterday, and hopefully he will arrive in Hershey this autumn with at least a rudimentary command of English basics. But like every other member of the Capitals’ organization, he ought to feel every bit as welcomed in the room as the right wing from Connecticut. How can one, though, when the most basic communication with teammates is impossible?

Our friend Dmitry Chesnokov was 14 when he moved from Moscow to the UK to study. “The first few weeks away from home were the toughest in terms of the language barrier, even though I had, what I thought at the time, was a very good grip on English. It wasn’t,” he told me.  Chesnokov found that adjusting to the culture took much longer.

“It was still somewhat easier for me, than what Varlamov will have to go through,” he added. “I came from a large city with a lot of Western influence — you know that Moscow is anything but a small Russian town.  Varlamov is from a much smaller Russian city. Thus, it will be harder for him.

“Language barrier is the most important factor,” Chesnokov noted. “Without [command of English] one cannot go grocery shopping, rent an apartment, buy a car, learn the rules of life in America. And most importantly, one cannot communicate with others here. Communication is vital to learning the way of life in America, to making friends — which is important! – and to get the job done well in net because one would not be able to understand coaches’ instructions.

“In Russia each team holds camp for a couple of months. They live together, train together, travel together, etc. A lot of times before games Russian teams do not live at home with their families, but at a hotel adjacent to or incorporated into their practice facility. It might be changing now, but it is still very different from the NHL. Varlamov will have to learn to train on his own, get ready for the season alone: rent a rink, hire a personal trainer, etc.

And last but certainly not least, Chesnokov pointed out, there is the issue of homesickness.

“Living in a different city in the same country could be lonely, let alone half across the world where food is different, people have different habits — like smiling to others, as weird as that sounds.

“After the official presser when I asked him whether he was staying in the U.S. to look for a house, buy a car, etc., he told me there was no way, because he would “die” of boredom with no one to talk to.”

Filed in Development Camp, Dmitry Chesnokov, Hockey, Kettler Capitals Iceplex, Prospects, Simeon Varlamov, Sovetsky Sport, Washington Capitals| Permalink| Comments (30)

Caps Camp Candids

By The OFB Team
Wednesday, July 9, 2008

Official OFB spouse and unofficial OFB photographer Chanuck was at Kettler on Monday and Tuesday to check things out. Here are some of the highlights.

Alzner's version of Blue Steel
Gabby demonstrates how he got his nickname
Varlamov contemplates his future with the Caps

Continue reading ›

Filed in Bruce Boudreau, Development Camp, Josh Godfrey, Karl Alzner, Kettler Capitals Iceplex, Prospects, Washington Capitals| Permalink| Comments (3)

Postcards from Development Camp, Day 2

By The OFB Team
Wednesday, July 9, 2008
Ted - We hope you’re enjoying your summer vacation, and knowing that you’re out of town, we thought we’d send you a postcard from Development Camp to give you a flavor of what’s transpiring back at Ballston.

We went to camp today with two questions we wanted to pose to Capitals’ campers: (1) “At what age did you fall in love with hockey, and what specifically about the sport made you fall in love with it?” And, (2) “Hockey fans miss hockey most particularly, and most terribly, in the dead of summer. As an elite hockey talent, do you, like your sport’s fans, miss hockey in summer, or do you enjoy keeping your feet out of stiff skate boots, avoiding the bumps and bruises of the season, and avoiding hockey’s long travels and instead staying put in one warm place (home) in the offseason?”

They weren’t your conventional media kind of questions, which is why we asked them.

We got to pose them to three really exciting and promising Capitals’ prospects — Jay Beagle, Andrew Gordon, and Mathieu Perreault. We think you’ll enjoy reading their responses — they all gave us fantastically thoughtful and enthusiastic replies.

It just now occurs to us that we’ll need to pass along a few postcards to convey the entirety of their reactions to you, but you’ve got the reading time — you’re on vacation!

Here’s hoping the beach drinks are potent and the island views curvacious.

OFB
Ted Leonsis
1998 Lincoln Holdings St.
Great Falls, VA
22006
USA
Jay Beagle, on discovering his passion for hockey: “I was 2 years old. My dad always had hockey games on [TV] while I was a kid, and I was watching hockey — I’d sit down with him after work. They put me in skates when I was 2 years old and I just kind of stood there — they have a picture of me standing on skates with a puck in front of me. From there I just wanted to be on the ice every day.

My mom would take me skating every day she could. First time I was on the ice was when I was 2. I don’t remember it ’cause I was 2, but my mom says all I would say is “Hockey!Hockey!Hockey!” And then, later, I’d be ripping pucks down in the basement all day long . . .

OFB: Doing damage?

Beagle: “Yea, yea.”

On summer and missing hockey or savoring the break: “It’s a combination of both. There’s a part of you that’s missing hockey like crazy and wants to get back on the ice and get working hard again and get the legs going. And there’s another side of you that loves to go to the beach and just relax and kind of get away from stuff, just to take time for yourself. But I’m always missing hockey [in summer]. I love coming out, every time, every chance I can get to skate and work on stuff.”
Ted Leonsis
1998 Lincoln Holdings St.
Great Falls, VA
22006
USA
Andrew Gordon, on discovering his passion for hockey: “I was probably about 3 or 4 years old, and there was a documentary on TV, the ‘72 Series, the Canada-Russia series — my dad was big into it. We used to sit there and watch it — we’d recorded it. Instead of watching cartoons I’d come home and watch that ‘72 tape about four or five times a day. The ‘72 series, there’s so much passion in it. I remember being 5 or 6 years old and just glued to it.

OFB: You still watch it today?

AG: “I get new documentaries on DVD and stuff like that at Christmas every year, and every now and then I watch it — you can’t deny the passion that those guys played with back then.

“My dad’s favorite team was Montreal growing up, so I got into that, and they won the Cup in ‘93, when I was still young enough to get excited about what it was all about. There are all kinds of factors [influencing passion], but that ‘72 series is what really turned my passion.”

On summer and missing hockey or savoring the break: “The first couple of weeks are nice when you can just relax and are enjoying time with your friends and stuff, but for me the itch comes back pretty quickly. I miss gamedays more than anything. You know you wake up and you don’t think about anything but the game that day. You’re not going out and paying bills, you’re not running around town, you go to the rink, you go home, you go to sleep, you think about the game.

“Whatever you do that day is solely focused on game time. All you focus on is 7:00, and in the summer, I don’t wake up with that focus for the full day. I’ll wake up and focus for two hours, three hours in the weight room and then . . . I’m just daydreaming all day. I miss gamedays the most.”
Ted Leonsis
1998 Lincoln Holdings St.
Great Falls, VA
22006
USA
Mathieu Perreault, on discovering his passion for hockey: “I was 2 years old and I had a stick in my hand and I already start to love hockey. Since I was born I love hockey! [Emphasis Perreault's] When I was 4 years old I was loving the game and playing it every day.”

OFB: At 2 years old, were you even on the ice then, when you were in love with the game?

MP: “No, just home with the stick in my hand. Since I was born I, I love hockey! [MP eyes glimmer]

On summer and missing hockey or savoring the break: “It’s good to come here every year — it’s my third year here. You train at home, you don’t see so much ice; it’s more like off-ice training and it’s good for skating.

“It’s a fun week, too. You see all of the guys that I’ve met since I was drafted here. We’ve all become good friends. It’s fun to see them, too.”
Ted Leonsis
1998 Lincoln Holdings St.
Great Falls, VA
22006
USA
Filed in Andrew Gordon, Development Camp, Hardcore Hockey Fans, Hockey Rituals, Jay Beagle, Kettler Capitals Iceplex, Mathieu Perreault, Prospects, Ted Leonsis, Washington Capitals| Permalink| Comments (3)

Postcards from Summer Development Camp, Day 1

By The OFB Team
Tuesday, July 8, 2008
In March and April, when the Washington Capitals were engaged in a torrid, must-win-every-night, city-consuming adventure-run to a Southeast division title, 20-year-old Oskar Osala was four thousand miles and seven hours’ worth of time zones away, in his native Finland . . . glued to every minute of it.

“I had channels that I could watch the games, I was really amazed at how good they played,” Osala said Monday afternoon, after his first on-ice session at the Capitals’ 2008 Development Camp. “It was such great hockey, so great to watch. I saw a few playoffs games yes, but the end of the regular season more.

“I was — how do you say?”

“Rock the Red?” his blogger inquisitor offered.

“Yes,” the easygoing left winger replied with a smile.

“I hope I will one day . . . I can be a part of that team, they play such great hockey. It’s really nice to watch, very exciting, hard working hockey.”

[OFB reader, we're running out of space with this first postcard from Camp Kettler, so we're gonna send you a second one pronto.]
On Frozen Blog Reader
www.onfrozenblog.com
Washington, DC
20004
USA
The Vaasa, Finland, native was the Capitals’ fourth-round choice, 97th overall, in the 2006 NHL Entry Draft. He played for Mississauga in the OHL from 2005-07, totaling 87 points (39 goals, 48 assists) in 122 games over two seasons. But it was at the 2007 World Junior Championships that Osala may have enjoyed his breakthrough development experience. He shared the 2007 tournament lead with five goals (and eight points in six games total) for Finland.

Osala left North America for Finland for the 2007-08 season. Skating as a 19-year-old for the Espoo Blues of the SM-liiga, Finland’s top professional hockey league and, along with the Swedish Elite League and the former Russian Super League, widely regarded as one of the top professional leagues in the world, all Osala accomplished was being named Rookie of the Year in the 14-team league.

Returned to North America this month, he quickly made a big impression in the opening moments of this summer’s development camp. He was among the first skaters Monday morning, and a veteran reporter who took in the session approached OFB early in the afternoon and claimed that Osala was a standout in the drills. [Looks like a 3rd card needed. We'll be better with other postcards, but who doesn't like getting mail?]
On Frozen Blog Reader
www.onfrozenblog.com
Washington, DC
20004
USA
Osala was asked by a reporter Monday if he was surprised at being named Rookie of the Year in Finland’s top pro league.

“If you’d asked me that before the year yes, but now after the year, I had a pretty strong year, I led the rookies in pretty much every category throughout the year.”

Osala’s decision to return to Finland not only offered him superb competition but allowed him to finish his schooling. Now, though, he’s where he wants to be — and where he wants to remain.

“I’m really excited. This has been my dream since I was a little kid. I will do everything — work as hard as I can to make the Caps, but if not, I will do everything in my power to help Hershey be a successful team next year.”

[Hey, it's only been one day, but we're really having a blast at summer camp. Love, OFB]
On Frozen Blog Reader
www.onfrozenblog.com
Washington, DC
20004
USA
Filed in Development Camp, Kettler Capitals Iceplex, Oskar Osala, Prospects, Washington Capitals| Permalink| Comments (24)

Ten Top Storylines for Development Camp 2008

By pucksandbooks
Monday, July 7, 2008

This morning the Capitals welcome 21 skaters and 4 goaltenders to their 2008 Development Camp. Almost all of the campers are recent Caps’ draft picks, and first-rounders from each of the the team’s past four drafts are present (Alzner, Varlamov, Carlson, Pokulok).

Camp will culminate with a 10:00 scrimmage on Saturday. Hockey is back! Herewith, 10 top storylines to follow at this July’s camp:

(10) All Eyes on Alzner. 2007 first round pick Karl Alzner impressed observers of Development Camp last July, and then he went on to captain the gold medal winning Canadians at the World Junior Championships in December and earn WHL Defenseman of the Year and Player of the Year honors with the Calgary Hitmen. Not a bad season, huh? As soon as his season in Calgary was completed he was called up by Hershey, but the Bears didn’t advance out of the American League postseason’s first round, so he’s yet to get a taste of pro hockey. He’ll get a chance at training camp in September to crack the Caps’ opening night roster, but he can make a real strong impression on and off the ice this week.

(9) Souring on Sasha? No team got screwed more by Gary Bettman’s inane Entry Draft scheme during the summer lockout of 2005 than the Caps. The league all but came out and said that by virtue of having had the first pick in 2004, the Caps shouldn’t have a reasonable shot at it again. But outside the top 10? A pre-lockout cellar dwellar, the Caps drew the 14th pick in the first round in the ‘05 draft. A lot of quality was already off the table by then, including Sidney Crosby, Carey Price, Anze Kopitar, and Jack Johnson. The Caps took a gamble on Cornell defenseman Sasha Pokulok. He hasn’t impressed. This could be a make-or-break year for him. He’d do well to have a solid week.

(8) College Hockey’s Biggest Weekend Isn’t that Far Away. Washington will host its first-ever Frozen Four next spring, and the Frozen Four Organizing Committee will visit Kettler on Wednesday, conduct a meeting there, and take in that day’s scrimmage. I have plenty of questions I’d like to put to them.

(7) The Big Finn with the Big Game. Oskar Osala had a big year in 2007-08 with 18 goals and 35 points in 53 games with the Espoo Blues in Finland’s top pro league. The 6 ‘4, 217-lb. left wing was named the Finnish League’s Rookie of the Year. He also shined at the 2007 World Junior Championships, where he shared the lead in goal scoring with 5 goals in 6 games. A lot of folks from Hershey are excited to see him.

(6) Not that Carlson, but John’s Big and Physical Too. No relation to Jack, but John Carlson may well make a name for himself in pro hockey, too. The Caps may have landed another late first-round blueline gem last month with Carlson, who’s already blessed with a pro physique. His coach with the Indiana Ice of the USHL said of his defenseman, “without a doubt, he’s going to be a star in the NHL.”

(5) Media Matters. All of HockeyWashington was stunned by the breadth, depth, and overall quality of media coverage of the Caps this past spring. This week at Kettler — where there will be stories to tell — is an opportunity to see if that was anomalous. After all, the Redskins don’t report to training camp for another two weeks. Bloggers will be out at Kettler covering, and we hope to reprise our coalition from Entry Draft Friday and live blog this Saturday’s camp-concluding scrimmage.

(4) Where’s Big Joe? Joe Finley, Hurting Force, isn’t in town this week. The 2005 first-rounder showed a lot of promise at last summer’s Development Camp, and he also shook a lot of plexiglass with his corner work. The Capitals are going to great lengths to make this week appealing to Washington youths, and Finley’s instincts for violence may not have been a good fit for that agenda. He’ll be returning to North Dakota for his senior season with the Fighting Sioux this fall.

(3) They Harken from a Scorer’s League. The leading scorers from the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League each of the past two seasons, Francois Bouchard and Mathieu Perreault, will be present. Perreault in particular, with his dazzling stickwork-in-a-phone-booth and world-class agility and hockey sense, ought to be a fan favorite this week.

(2) Prior a Priority. Capitals’ Goaltender Coach Dave Prior has spent 11 seasons in Washington. He may not have a more important one than the one ahead. He will break in yet another no. 1 goalie in Jose Theodore — the team’s third in just the last six months — and perhaps just as importantly, in Simeon Varlamov and Michal Neuvirth tutor two of the organization’s finest goaltending prospects in 15 years. That work begins this week.

(1) Speaking of Goalies . . . It would be comforting for Capitals’ fans to see both Varlamov and Neuvirth stop every shot that each faces the entirety of this week.

Filed in American Hockey League, College Hockey, Development Camp, Francois Bouchard, Frozen Four, Hardcore Hockey Fans, Hershey Bears, Hockey Rituals, Joe Finley, John Carlson, Karl Alzner, Kettler Capitals Iceplex, Mathieu Perreault, Michal Neuvirth, Prospects, Sasha Pokulok, Simeon Varlamov, WJC, Washington Capitals| Permalink| Comments (10)

Monday Morning with George McPhee

By The OFB Team
Monday, June 16, 2008

On Monday morning we joined Tarik and Corey and a few other media outlets out at Kettler Capitals Iceplex for a pre-draft gab session with Capitals’ General Manager George McPhee. We put a tough question to him:

“A two-part question for you. The team’s enjoyed terrific success at the draft the last four or five years, particularly relative to say your first years here. How do you account for the remarkable discprepancy in success? Also, do you conduct a lessons learned on drafts with your scouting team after say 5 years’ time — lessons learned in terms of hits and misses?”

He told us, “That’s a very good question. I agree with you that our drafting recently has been a lot better than early on.

“A lot of it has to do with experience. We hired a young staff, and it was going to take them some time to get up and get going. And that’s a lesson you learn as a manager. We had a young staff, and we’ve constantly tried to upgrade our systems and how we do things, and we do review every draft.

“We do it basically three years out. At our January meeting we go through who did we draft three years ago, and I try to take notes after every draft — what we were thinking going in; what happened in each round; what happened before each pick; what did we want to do and what did we do; who said what. And then we pull out all those notes three years later and start talking to our scouts about it in our meeting. And if you do it right it’s really helpful. You learn a lot from it.

“In the early years the scouts were sort of walking on eggshells when we were doing it. But if you do it right and people are comfortable with being accountable you get better. And we have been getting better. We’ve found different ways to process information we’ve been getting for the drafts.”

McPhee also was asked about picking much deeper in rounds beginning this June after choosing from a lottery perch the past couple of drafts. “It’s always hard picking,” he said. “If you’re picking in the top four or five, you better get the right guy — you can’t miss [on] them.”

“You don’t get to pick in the top three or four or five very often — if you are, somebody else is going to be making the picks pretty soon.”

Filed in Blogs, DraftGeek, Entry Draft, Front Office, George McPhee, Internet, Kettler Capitals Iceplex, Media, OFB, Washington Capitals| Permalink| Comments (1)

This Ain’t a Bet on Big Brown

By The OFB Team
Thursday, June 12, 2008

About the worst-kept secret in Washington these days is that Alexander Ovechkin later today will accept the Hart Trophy as the league’s MVP. You know already of leaked t-shirts that speak to the feat. The Capitals earlier this week announced that tomorrow they’ll host a showcasing of NHL trophy hardware and a free skate out at Kettler during mid-day. Now comes word that should AO prevail tonight he’ll appear before D.C. Mayor Adrian Fenty tomorrow to receive the key to the city!

What a letdown should Jarome Iginla instead win the Hart!

Ain’t happening.

Here’s how the Caps’ communications pros relayed the word late yesterday:

“In the event that Alex Ovechkin is awarded the National Hockey League’s Hart Trophy naming him the league’s Most Valuable Player on June 12, DC Mayor Adrian M. Fenty will present Ovechkin with a key to the city during a fan celebration.”

The ceremony, should it be suitable to acknowledge, will be in front of the John A. Wilson Building at 1350 Pennsylvania Ave. NW at 4:00. Alex and the mayor would be joined by Ted Leonsis, George McPhee, and the Ballou High marching band.

Filed in Alexander Ovechkin, George McPhee, Kettler Capitals Iceplex, National Hockey League, Ted Leonsis, Washington the Hockey Town| Permalink| Comments (2)

Friday Skate at Kettler, With Trophies

By The OFB Team
Wednesday, June 11, 2008

Take the day off on Friday and hit the ice:

Washington Capitals fans are invited to beat the heat with a free public skate on Friday, June 13, at Kettler Capitals Iceplex and view major NHL trophies on display from the Hockey Hall of Fame.

The ice will be available for a free public skate from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. The trophies will be on display on the mezzanine level between the two rinks from 12 to 1 p.m.

Filed in Alexander Ovechkin, Kettler Capitals Iceplex, Washington Capitals| Permalink| Comments (1)

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)

A Uniform of One Color for an Army’s Offseason

By pucksandbooks
Sunday, April 27, 2008

The Capitals unveiled their new uniform look early last summer, but it’s this offseason that will fully showcase just how successful the makeover was.

Saturday afternoon I stopped by the Kettler-Capitals’ pro shop to see a buddy there working a weekend shift sharpening skates and moving merchandise, and the movement of goods this spring, he reported, has been brisk.

“It’s been a zoo in here the last few weeks,” he told me.

Fans seemed to appreciate the new look just two or three games into the preseason last September. Until then, they’d seen only photographs of the fashion upgrade in action-less stills. Once vivid, high-def-in-digital game imagery of the new threads was published on line, praise for the makeover was widespread. The team modernized its on-ice look, but not lavishly or outlandishly or, most importantly, faddishly, and there were clear but subtle acknowledgements back to the original threads. It was a look that appeared to be the best of the old blended with a hip new.

More fans wearing more of the new color and look became apparent at Verizon Center after the end-of-the-year holidays in 2007, and as the team turned its season around by late winter in 2008, even more of the red, white and blue filled the home rink. The new look was fast becoming a smash hit.

When the stretch-run became white-red-hot, so too did the look of the nation’s capital. The team declared “Red Outs” for the final week of regular season play, and the fans responded fanatically. The uni-color solidarity within the Phone Booth continued into the postseason. Comcast’s Lisa Hillary told me during one home postseason game that Verizon Center looked distinctly like Calgary’s Red Mile of playoffs past.

Planned or unplanned, the team’s return to its original colors has afforded an opportunity to market the old with the new. On my visit to the Kettler shop Saturday I saw rack after rack of red, but the names and numbers on the t-shirts were both old and new. Semin, Clark, and Ovechkin were joined by Hunter and Langway. My father, who wore his red senior’s hockey sweater to two postseason home games, will later this week be receiving an old-school, old-logo-ed red t-shirt bearing Rod Langway’s nameplate and number on its back, along with instructions to wear it both while mowing his massive yard and barbequing for Saturday night houseguests. He loved Langway.

I have plans for some heavy-duty recreating this summer. I’ll be sweating a lot in red.

Saturday was gorgeous in D.C., and the moreso to be navigating the route back from Kettler-Capitals toward Maryland on the GW Parkway. The first Saturday of being eliminated from hockey’s postseason is always a painful one for me, but under that Chamber of Commerce sky Saturday, with my sack of red as companion, I felt immense pride instead of pain, and I began thinking about Washington’s hockey hardcore as well as the new converts this spring showcasing their pride in the hockey team this offseason. There is so much to be proud of.

Our Army should be arriving at neighborhood pools this offseason covered up in red. Yard work should be conducted in a ‘Rock the Red’ tee. Jogging, rollerblading, dog walking — all of it should be completed while identified as Ovie, Olie, Huntsy, or Langway. We should attend rock concerts at Nissan and Merriweather and Rock the Red there as well.

Let’s Red-out the region this summer. The Washington Post is watching.

Filed in Alexander Ovechkin, Alexander Semin, Chris Clark, Hardcore Hockey Fans, Hockey Rituals, Kettler Capitals Iceplex, Lisa Hillary, Media, Olaf Kolzig, Print, Stanley Cup Playoffs, Washington Capitals, Washington Post, Washington the Hockey Town| Permalink| Comments (3)

At Kettler the Day After

By pucksandbooks
Wednesday, April 23, 2008

You can cross one name off your list of free agent concerns for the Capitals this offseason — Head Coach Bruce Boudreau. Speaking with reporters at Kettler-Capitals Iceplex just moments after wrapping up a season-concluding meeting with the team this afternoon, the coach confirmed that he’d had discussions with General Manager George McPhee about a new deal. He didn’t want to speak in specifics, and he wanted to defer to the GM for a more formal acknowledgment, but he did say, “I’m gonna be coaching the Caps a little while.” He was smiling.

The coach also confirmed that Alexander Ovechkin played hurt in his first playoff series. He suggested that some struggles the left winger experienced at times in the series were related to the injury. After the game last night Ovechkin did tell Sovetsky Sport’s Dmitry Chesnokov that he had played games 6 and 7 on painkillers. When Chesnokov pressed him for more details about the injury, AO replied, “I cannot tell you that.”

The coach remains in awe of his star. Alluding to Ovechkin’s extended stay in D.C. that was secured earlier this season, he said, “Thirteen years for that guy — maybe it should be 18!”

Nicklas Backstrom, it was announced while we were gathered at Kettler, has been named a finalist for the Calder Trophy.

The coach is going up to Hershey tonight to take in game 4 of the Bears’ opening series with Wilkes Barre-Scranton. The Caps’ affiliate is in a 3-0 hole in that one. When asked how he thought he’d spend his first offseason as an NHL coach Boudreau said that he didn’t quite know but added, “This is the environment I feel comfortable in.”

Both the coach and the superstar were effusive in their praise for Washington’s hockey fans. Ovechkin wants the city’s fans to pick up next season where they left off this. “I hope the fans support us the same way [next year]. The atmosphere was unbelievable.”

Boudreau pointed to a pronounced difference in the arena from fall to spring. “I’ve really seen it pick up since I came here,” he said. “[There were] an amazing amount of jerseys in the crowd last night.”

Matt Cooke, on Tom Poti’s overtime tripping call: “You’d like to see them call something that wasn’t a marginal call, something that takes away a scoring chance.”

Lastly, the coach acknowledged that he’d had a private and very personal conversation with Olie Kolzig. He didn’t offer much about its substance, but he did say, “[Kolzig's] one of the classiest men I’ve ever met in this game.”

The goaltender’s Kettler locker, for what it’s worth, still had his nameplate in place.

Filed in Alexander Ovechkin, Bruce Boudreau, George McPhee, Kettler Capitals Iceplex, Matt Cooke, Nicklas Backstrom, Olaf Kolzig, Stanley Cup Playoffs, The Big Deal, Tom Poti, Washington Capitals| Permalink| Comments (15)

The Branding of a Winner in Washington, the “Good Hockey Market”

By pucksandbooks
Tuesday, February 12, 2008

Little commented upon during this Capitals’ Renaissance is how many people around town are taking notice:

Lots.

Suddenly, the downtown rink is packed. The team’s new look is a red-hot hit with the home crowd. The sports section fronts of the city’s newspapers are each week ablaze in full-color hockey victory imagery. Even the TV numbers are up. There is buzz about hockey in Washington.

“This is a good hockey market,” Jim Van Stone, Capitals’ Vice President of Ticket Sales and Service, told me during the Caps’ 3-2 win over the Rangers on Sunday. “There’s a huge amount of hockey fans in the region, and what we’re trying to do is convert them into Caps’ fans.”

It’s a big tent revival taking place in Chinatown, and the numbers of the converts are growing.

The Capitals’ players are doing their part out on the ice, and the team’s marketing professionals have devised some creative sales packages that have fueled an impressive surge in group and partial plan sales. But “the buzz” about hockey in town — the one driving thousands more into the stands, toward the souvenir stands and stores, and before their television sets at home — seems to have its origins in a remarkable and broad confluence of positive events for the organization.

Go back to last June and the launching of the revamped look of the team. Caps’ fans long hungered for a return to the team’s original red, white, and blue colors, and the team not only listened but carried out the makeover in an appealingly clean and restrained contemporary design that, judging by its red wave prevalence within Verizon Center, appears to be popular across gender and age.

There’s an understated, classic look to the new look that seems synchronous with its founding predecessor — perhaps best illustrated among the array of fashionable baseball caps seemingly on every hockey head in Verizon Center. January home games most especially seemed to showcase that Santa Claus trafficked thick in these parts in Capitals’ red, white, and blue. This new look is largely responsible for the team’s merchandise sales being up 40 percent this season over last, according to Tim McDermott, Capitals’ Senior Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer.

It’s great to look marvelous, but now the Caps’ are a good looking winner. Washington loves nothing so much as a front- runner, and a Caps’ ticket sales staff that for years had to pitch an at times far-off seeming future can now point to a present that includes things like sweeping the Ottawa Senators and vying for first in the Southeast division. Paid admissions this season, McDermott told me, will be up 15-20 percent over last season.

And if winning weren’t enough, the team’s sales staff gets to market a set of young stars catching the notice of the entire hockey world.

“We are fortunate to have what we call our four young guns,” McDermott told me, alluding to Alexanders Ovechkin and Semin, Nicklas Backstrom and Mike Green. “You can honestly and very objectively sit back and say that for the next 10 years this is a team that’s going to compete for the playoffs, this is a team we hope that will compete for the Stanley Cup,” he added.

So the Caps are not only winning but doing so with young star power. It’s a fantastically appealing headlining quartet — a Rat Pack on skates — and a core of the team positioned to play together many years. Who wouldn’t be lured in by that? Hence, Gang Green, Ovie’s Crazy 8s.

And to this already potent marketing mix management has added the immensely quotable and feel-good story of hockey perseverance in Bruce Boudreau. He dresses a bit oddly, he’s chock full of fabulous tales, he never fails to deliver a money quote after games, and from his gaudy stint of winning in Hershey he’s vested in most of the Capitals’ young core. He just seems the right guy for the part.

Home crowds here typically start out discouragingly small in October and November, no matter the team’s forecast or its early season success. Then, come January, after the Redskins’ season is completed, there’s long been a healthy improvement in puck patronage. But there’s something different about this season’s mid-winter attendance improvement: its vastness.

Ovechkin in Caps shirt - photo by Sovietsky SportThe Caps’ three most recent home games have all seen attendance solidly above 17,000 — and for two of those dates, the opposition came from the Southeast division, long a yawning bane to HockeyWashington’s Old Guard who feasted on the high nutrition fare of Patrick Division foes for years. Last Friday night, fully 45 minutes before the Caps squared off against Carolina, the number of tickets available to F St. walk-ups for seats in the 100 and 400 levels was zero.

Nada.

As if Hanna Montana was in the house.

Perhaps even more interesting was a new demographic among them: college students. No fewer than 2,300 area collegians took part in the Capitals’ Student Rush program last Friday night, by which they can access tickets at admission rates even college kids can afford: $25 for seats in the lower bowl, $10 upstairs. How did the Caps lure thousands away from campus keggers on a Friday night? With winning, but also with aggressive and well-placed branding, particularly in social networks like Facebook and MySpace.

“Our street teams have actually been on the campuses,” Van Stone told me, alluding to Caps’ staffers who this season have regularly been out promoting the team at Metro stations, area businesses, and now college campuses, distributing t-shirts, pocket schedules, and even hot dogs to promote $1 Dog Night.

Verizon Center as the world’s largest frat house? You have to admit, the Friday night atmosphere in there has changed — and for the better — of late. And while college-budget-friendly admission rates to see Alex Ovechkin are inducement indeed, the hordes of collegians may also be responding to the team’s youth: in their ages, the likes of Ovechkin, Backstrom, and Mike Green, among others, are their peers.

The swell in popularity isn’t restricted to game attendance