24 July, 2008

Category Archives: Players

A Flower in Bloom but a Single Night Washed Away by Wild Winds and Rain

By pucksandbooks
Thursday, July 24, 2008
Photo by Allen Clark / Off Wing Photo

Photo by Allen Clark / Off Wing Photo

Washington isn’t a city of vertical architecture, but among the 10- and 12-story office buildings and hotels surrounding the new professional team tennis stadium, home of the Washington Kastles, dozens of men could be seen standing out on terraces, verandas, rooftops, or pressed hard against office glass looking down and out onto the tennis court Wednesday night. More than a few were armed with binoculars.

Really hardcore tennis fans, perhaps? What, you didn’t know that D.C. is mad about its Wednesday night professional team tennis — so much so that $500-an-hour attorneys billing from on high would stop their labor (but not necessarily their billing) and catch a bit of the Kastles?

Ok, so maybe, just maybe, Anna Kournikova’s arrival in Washington with the St. Louis Aces had a little to do with the single-gender spying from on high.

Wednesday night I was all prepared to pursue this storyline at Kastles Stadium at CityCenterDC: whose arrival in Washington this year was the bigger news occasion, Pope Benedict’s or Kournikova’s?

Continue reading here.

Filed in Alexander Ovechkin, Blogs, Frivolous Summer File, Internet, Media, OFB, OFB on Anna, Other Sports, Print, The Sporting News, Washington Capitals| Permalink| Comments (1)

That Other Russian Competing This Summer

By The OFB Team
Thursday, July 24, 2008
Ovechkin Stretching - photo by Pavel Lysenkov

Ovechkin Stretching - photo by Pavel Lysenkov

Dovgan Ovechkin & Kapitonov training - Photo by Pavel Lysenkov

Dovgan Ovechkin & Kapitonov training - Photo by Pavel Lysenkov

Ovechkin and Dovgan - photo by Pavel Lysenkov

Ovechkin and Dovgan - photo by Pavel Lysenkov

Ovechkin on the "Electric Chair" - photo by Pavel Lysenkov

Ovechkin on the Electric Chair - photo by Pavel Lysenkov

Filed in Alexander Ovechkin, Pavel Lysenkov, Sovetsky Sport, Washington Capitals| Permalink| Comments (4)

How Anna Kournikova Ruled a Nation’s Lusting Hearts (and Modems)

By OrderedChaos (Mike Rucki)
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
Anna Kournikova (photo: Walter Iooss, 2008)

Anna Kournikova (photo: Walter Iooss Jr, 2008)

For our younger readers — and those who’ve been hit in the head with a puck once too often to remember — let’s take a fond, retrospective, lingering look at Anna Kournikova as she visits our fair city with the St. Louis Aces to face the Washington Kastles. I suspect very few male readers will mind this brief diversion from the melting asphalt of our nation’s capital today . . . and of course this is purely a public service, not just an excuse to search for Anna K photos without my wife giving me the evil eye. Really.

Anna Kournikova burst onto the tennis scene at 16 as a striking and talented newcomer; yet her tennis career faded as her celebrity increased. Something that many forget in the glare of paparazzi flashbulbs: she peaked as the 8th-ranked female player in the world in 2000 — no mean feat. So while the media attention she received was disproportionate to her tennis success, she undoubtedly had talent on the court. But it was her beauty and the accompanying rumor mill that made her such a popular icon.

In 2001, there were even rumors that Kournikova might hit the big screen as the next Bond Girl. As it turns out, no. But the idea was rife with Bond-ian double entendre name opportunities (or just single entendres) . . . Dr. Goodstroke? Anita Tourvin? Ivana Scorealot? The possibilities are endless.

Now the heiress to the Russian tennis hotness throne, Maria Sharapova, has herself expressed interest in being a Bond Girl (as well as interest in the new 007 Daniel Craig). It seems the spy game still has some luster in the former Soviet Union.

Kournikova proactively pursued her outsized popularity: she’s obliged, seemingly, every photo shoot request from Maxim to FHM to Sports Illustrated’s swimsuit issue. She was ranked as one of People Magazine’s ‘50 Most Beautiful People’ in 1998, 2000, 2002, and 2003. She did not avoid the spotlight, and it did not avoid her.

By 2003, she achieved the unprecedented status of most downloaded female athlete on the Internet, in the relatively short history of that new medium. We’ve yet to learn of her being bettered in that feat. According to Forbes.com, there were more than 18,000 web pages “devoted to her backhand and back end” in ‘03.

It’s rather easy to understand her starburst: her arrival coincided with the Internet’s maturation in graphics and multimedia — after all, Web surfers searching for Anna were not “reading the articles.”

Beefcake to balance the cheesecake

Daniel Craig, 007: Equal-time beefcake photo to balance the scales

But the biggest Kournikova story — and the most hockey-related as well — was her predilection for Russian hockey greats. Kournikova and Washington Capital Sergei Fedorov (then with Detroit of course) started as friends, married while she was a teen, then divorced soon after the kerfuffle over her connection with Pavel Bure. There was a time when both Fedorov and Bure claimed to be engaged to Kournikova . . . at the same time. Yet it was Fedorov, not Bure, who married the tennis star, albeit briefly. Chalk up another big win for Fedorov!

Much was made at the time of the significant age difference between Fedorov and Kournikova (the tabloids branded her a “Tennis Lolita”); even Fedorov attributed some of their split to the age gap: “We were just so much apart, and those [emotions] when you are falling in love, at such a young age … it was just impossible because I was a little bit older, I think.”

Apparently Sergei and Anna are no longer close, so it is unlikely that he will make an appearance at tonight’s event. But if you catch a glimpse of other Russian hockey hopefuls lurking in the background, don’t be surprised. Hmm . . . I’ve played hockey . . . perhaps I can pass as Mikhail Ruckov for a day? Da Zvidanya!

Filed in OFB on Anna, Sergei Fedorov, Washington Capitals, team tennis| Permalink| Comments (0)

Fedorov II Returns to the NHL

By OrderedChaos (Mike Rucki)
Tuesday, July 22, 2008

The New Jersey Devils have signed Fedor Fedorov, Sergei’s younger brother. Fedor spent last year with Dynamo Moscow, tallying 26 points in 49 games.

The Devils visit the Phone Booth twice this season (Oct. 18, Nov. 14).

Filed in New Jersey Devils, Sergei Fedorov, Verizon Center, Washington Capitals| Permalink| Comments (6)

We Are Readying Ourselves for Her Arrival in D.C.

By The OFB Team
Tuesday, July 22, 2008

Knowing our of association with Russia’s largest sports daily, SovetskySport, the Most Valuable Network approached us this week and asked if we’d accept an assignment few who know outdoor sporting events in July in D.C. would even consider: sitting beneath a searing sun, skin clammy with Mid-Atlantic humidity, and blogging . . . on tennis, as played by Russia’s Anna Kournikova. Wednesday night, Kournikova and her St. Louis Aces tennis team strut into CityCenterDC to face our Washington Kastles.

Initially, of course, we begged off the assignment, pointing to our fidelity, our monogamy, with but one sport. Also: we know less about tennis — team or any other version — than we do about quantum physics. But Washington today is a special destination for elite Russian athletes, and from some cursory investigative work this week we learned that that nation produces notably gifted female tennis players as well as sick-skilled hockey players. And these Russian hockey players have a way of attaching themselves to beautiful female athletes in other sports, including tennis, or to American fashion supermodels, and so we began to regard the MVN assignment as an opportunity to learn more about this distinctive culture — and share the edifying experience with our readers. Really, we’re doing this for you, dear blog reader.

It is also true that we are willing to do anything to help draw media attention away from the Washington Redskins at this time of year.

The assignment calls for us to attend a press conference with her hotness late Wednesday afternoon, take perch among the tennis press for the St. Louis-Washington team match that evening, and bring readers here and at MVN OFB’s unique flavor of new media coverage.

Our aim is simple: to shed light on a strikingly fit world-class athlete thus far little known to users of the Internet.

Because OFB is animated by the collective spirit comprised in its patronage, we welcome with your comments here your suggestions for coverage of this Starry Night in SportsWashington.

Remembering that OFB is a family-read blog, what would you ask Anna if you could put but a single question to her?

Filed in Alexander Ovechkin, Alexander Semin, Blogs, Internet, Media, OFB on Anna, Sergei Fedorov, Sovetsky Sport, Washington Capitals, Washington the Hockey Town| Permalink| Comments (9)

The Hockey Blockbuster, Coming Soon to a Rink Near You

By pucksandbooks
Saturday, July 19, 2008

This is an extraordinary American summer weekend, insomuch as it delivers something rarer than an NHL goalie scoring a goal: the arrival in theaters of a great and compelling and culture-consuming domestic movie. I’m speaking of course of the new Batman movie, ‘The Dark Knight.’ It isn’t merely exceptionally well reviewed by critics, who are discussing it in terms of Oscars and “classic.” For its Uptown Theater debut Thursday night at midnight city youths arrived to stand in line some time near 2:00 that afternoon — in Washington July heat. It will be even hotter this weekend, and thousands more, already with tickets, will stand in line hours just to get the seats they want for the screening.

If you can imagine, the nationwide midnight screenings of the film Thursday grossed nearly $20 million. To put that number in terms we hockey fans can understand, that’s a Koules-Aid kind of July budget for free agency to assemble a lottery contender for next June.

Area theaters will have Batman screenings this weekend beginning at 9:00 a.m.! The notion of arriving at any area theater this weekend a few minutes before screening and securing just a single ticket is preposterous. By early yesterday afternoon Craigslist had pages of the movie’s tickets for sale priced solidly above regular box office rate.

Yesterday I found myself marveling at so novel a cultural moment, grateful for its very belated arrival but also melancholy when I considered that Hollywood needs more or less a full decade to render it. It’s true: approximately 99.7 percent of domestic cinematic fare is altogether ordinary or outright rotten. The true gotta-see-it — because of its greatness — cinema spectacle is in frequency of theater runs not dissimilar to the prevalence of Alexander Ovechkins in NHL entry drafts. Anyway, as Americans, we have a special place in our hearts for the buzz-generators on the big-screen that actually deliver the goods. So it’s a moment indeed to savor — history suggests that we won’t see it again for quite some time.

This special moment also led me to think of something special in hockey being crafted, right here in Washington. Like the great summer blockbuster, it’s exceptionally rare for hockey here. It could very well be the case that Verizon Center, beginning this October, will be akin to the great old moviehouse showing just a single feature, for months on end, with weekend tickets very much in demand.

I wouldn’t quite call the 2008-09 Capitals’ season a sequel, however. I think in its forecasted critical acclaim, in its culminating sense of a roster’s arriving very near the peak of elite contention, it will very much be a first run of its kind.

The differences from a summer ago are rather extraordinary. In July 2007 Washington hockey fans thought they had a gifted young star left wing in Alexander Ovechkin. But in his coming off a 46-goal campaign in his sophomore season, most here hoped he’d merely return to the 50-goal club in season three. Who then thought that he’d fairly obliterate competition for the Hart Trophy last season? Today he is regarded as a game-changing force, and the greatest player on the planet.

Additionally, last summer no one even in team management knew that a no. 1 stud of a defender was already in the organization, and poised to break out. But Mike Green will enter the 2008-09 season on a short list of Norris trophy candidates.

Count Brooks Laich as a key component to a glory run in 2008-09, and yet a summer ago he was in a fierce competition among a seeming glut of third and fourth-line center candidates just to make the club. Indeed, if any of the organization’s young centers was thought to have some unexpected offensive upside heading into last season, it was Boyd Gordon, who in ‘06-07 fell one point shy of 30 and flashed a penchant for fits and bursts of well-timed production. Now Laich’s regarded as one of the league’s bright young two-way pivots. And paid like it.

Last summer, who would have imagined that a hockey legend (Sergei Fedorov) would arrive here two-thirds of the way through the season and settle a green and nervous young roster and guide it to an against-all-odds Southeast division title? And then announce, mere weeks after his arrival here, that the atmosphere in Verizon Center ranked as the best he’d ever competed in, and that despite the formation of a very well funded super league in his home country of Russia, that he’d very much like a return engagement in Washington?

There are, indisputably, one or two important areas for Director Boudreau to address in final editing this summer, one of which (the acting in net) is largely out of his control. But given that all of the East’s well built teams for next season possess question marks of their own, it’s certain that the Caps will enter 2008-09 as consensus contenders in the East. They possess star quality principal actors, on-screen chemistry in abundance, and a director newly acknowledged by his peers to be among the best in the business.

Actually, insomuch as there looks to be high-achieving hockey rostered both in Washington and in Hershey this coming season, we appear slated for long run of a great double feature.

Filed in Alexander Ovechkin, American Hockey League, Boyd Gordon, Brooks Laich, Bruce Boudreau, Hershey Bears, Mike Green, Morning cup-a-joe, Nicklas Backstrom, Sergei Fedorov, Verizon Center, Washington Capitals| Permalink| Comments (4)

Ahead, a Promising Harvest on the Farm

By pucksandbooks
Tuesday, July 15, 2008

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

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

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

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

Mother, hold me.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Alexandre Giroux Keith Aucoin Eric Fehr/Graham Mink
Chris Bourque Kyle Wilson Andrew Gordon
Oskar Osala Mathieu Perreault / Jay Beagle Francois Bouchard
Maxime Lacroix Andrew Joudrey Scott Barney
Dean Arsene Sami Lepisto
Josh Godfrey Tyler Sloan
Patrick McNeill/Sasha Pokulok
Machesney / Varlamov
Filed in American Hockey League, Andrew Gordon, Chris Bourque, College Hockey, Development Camp, Eric Fehr, Free Agents, Hershey Bears, Kettler Capitals Iceplex, Mathieu Perreault, Minor Pro Hockey, Morning cup-a-joe, Oskar Osala, Prospects, Rookie Camp, Sami Lepisto, Simeon Varlamov, Training Camp, Washington Capitals| Permalink| Comments (19)

It’s Official - Sergei Signed

By The OFB Team
Monday, July 14, 2008

Last week General Manager George McPhee confirmed that Sergei Fedorov agreed to a 1-year contract with the Capitals.  There was no official announcement as there was some paperwork left to finalize as well as a signature.

Everything is now official as the Capitals have announced the signing.  Per club policy, terms were not announced, but others have reported the deal as one year, $4 million.  From the press release:

“We are happy to have Sergei back,” said vice president and general manager George McPhee. “What he brings to the club extends beyond the rink. He is a leader and a player that everyone on our team wanted back. We look forward to him helping us compete this upcoming season.”

Filed in George McPhee, Sergei Fedorov, Washington Capitals| Permalink| Comments (1)

Oh Boyd! One Capital Left to Sign

By The OFB Team
Friday, July 11, 2008

The Washington Capitals have signed Boyd Gordon to a one year deal.  Tarik El-Bashir is reporting the deal is worth $725,000.  That leaves Shaone Morrisonn as the final player to sign.  Morrisonn has filed for arbitration and the hearing has been set for July 24th.

From the press release:

Gordon, 24, completed his fifth professional season with the Capitals in 2007-08, matching his career high with seven goals and adding nine assists in 67 games. Gordon won 55.8% of his faceoffs, good for second on the team and ninth in the NHL, and averaged 4:00 of penalty killing ice time per game, which was third among NHL forwards. His +5 rating was tied for seventh on the team. Washington was 7-0-0 when he scored a goal and 10-2-1 when he had a point.

Filed in Boyd Gordon, Washington Capitals| Permalink| Comments (5)

Fehr in the Fold

By The OFB Team
Thursday, July 10, 2008

The Caps today inked right wing Eric Fehr to a one-year deal. The modest details can be found here.

The signing leaves only Shaone Morrisonn and Boyd Gordon without contracts for 2008-09. Morrisonn has filed for arbitration.

Filed in Boyd Gordon, Eric Fehr, Players, Shaone Morrisonn, Washington Capitals| Permalink| Comments (2)

The Whims of a Hopeless Romantic

By pucksandbooks
Wednesday, July 9, 2008

He will be hanging his hockey sweater in D.C. another year.

She, a member of the St. Louis Aces, will be visiting D.C. July 23, to meet our Washington Kastles.

Compatriots, and one-time paramours, life this decade has taken them on different paths.

Who else would like to see vanquished love rekindled then?

Also, who else believes it a hockey blogger’s faithful duty to cover this Midsummer night’s bit of intrigue? 

Filed in Other Sports, Puck Bunnies, Sergei Fedorov, Washington Capitals| Permalink| Comments (4)

TSN: 1 Year, $4 Million for Feds in D.C.

By pucksandbooks
Wednesday, July 9, 2008

Welcome back, we say!

Update: Brooks Laich is back into the fold, so sayeth Tarik. Three years, at $1.7 million, $2.1 million, and $2.4 million.

The owner vacations, and his employees left behind spend all of his money. That’ll teach him to take time off.

Update (4:00): Out at Kettler just a few moments ago, George McPhee told media that “only paperwork” separated the Caps from an agreement with Sergei Fedorov, and that a couple of days remained before it could be completed because he was traveling. Basically, the terms are in place, both sides are happy, but a signature is required.

Filed in Free Agents, Sergei Fedorov| Permalink| Comments (19)

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)

KHL Head: “Most likely, today [Fedorov] will sign a new contract with Washington”

By The OFB Team
Tuesday, July 8, 2008

Sergei Fedorov at the World Championships - photo by Pavel Lysenkov

Sergei Fedorov at the World Championships - photo by Pavel Lysenkov

Our thanks to Sovetsky Sport’s Dmitry Chesnokov for tracking down and translating the following piece of intriguing news:

At a press conference today in Moscow, Alexander Medvedev, the head of the newly formed Continental Hockey League, or KHL (which repaced the Russian Super League after the 2007-08 season), told Pavel Lysenkov of Sovetsky Sport:

“It is sad that we will not see Sergei Fedorov in the KHL. Most likely, today he will sign a new contract with Washington.”

Of course, around this time last week, things looked pretty good for re-signing Cristobal Huet.

Dmitry also relays that according to Lysenkov, Medvedev is on the board of the SKA St. Petersburg hockey club, which was involved in negotiations with Fedorov. Medvedev was attending a press conference at the Gazprom offices today regarding the KHL and its new logo. This was when Medvedev was asked about Fedorov.

A little before 11:00 this morning, the Capitals told us that, “We’re still negotiating with Sergei and remain hopeful that he will return to the Capitals.”

Acquired from Columbus at the NHL trade deadline last February, Fedorov tallied 13 points in 18 regular season games with the Caps and added 5 points in seven playoff games in the first round against the Flyers.

Filed in Dmitry Chesnokov, Pavel Lysenkov, Sergei Fedorov, Sovetsky Sport, Washington Capitals| Permalink| Comments (11)

ESPY - Best NHL Player

By The OFB Team
Monday, July 7, 2008

Alex Ovechkin has been nominated for yet another award. Alex is looking to add the ESPY for Best NHL Player to his mantle already sporting trophies with the names Ross, Richard, Hard, and Pearson. What makes the ESPY a bit different is that award winners are selected exclusively through an online fan balloting conducted from amongst candidates selected by the ESPY Select Nominating Committee

Voting is set to end this week, so be sure to visit espys.tv and make sure the award does not go to one of the other nominees — Sidney Crosby, Pavel Datsyuk, Jarome Igilna and Evgeni Malkin.

The 2008 ESPY Awards will be held on Sunday, July 20, at the Nokia Theater L.A. Live in Los Angeles and will be hosted by Justin Timberlake.

Filed in Alexander Ovechkin, ESPN, Evgeni Malkin, Hockey, National Hockey League, Sidney Crosby, Washington Capitals| Permalink| Comments (9)

Jaromir, We Hardly Knew Ya, and I’m Not Sure We’ll Miss You

By pucksandbooks
Sunday, July 6, 2008

There was, seemingly, a continent-wide silence over the weekend associated with Jaromir Jagr’s departure from the NHL. Indeed, the latest flareup between Oilers GM Kevin Lowe and Ducks’ GM Brian Burke seems to have made a larger impression on the hockey world this weekend than has Jagr’s departure.

It seems oddly fitting that on Independence weekend the Capitals and the NHL would finally be liberated from the seemingly interminable and onerous payoffs to Jaromir Jagr, one of the sport’s ultimate mercenaries.

Back in January 2004, the Caps dealt the underachieving, isolated, and insufferable Jagr to the New York Rangers for Anson Carter and a promise to pay off $20 million of the $44 million remaining on his godawful contract. The deal of course occurred pre-lockout, and at the time Jagr was earning $11 million annually; meaning, that Ted Leonsis was on the hook for a tidy $5 million each season in payments to the Rangers for the duration of the deal. The new CBA that ended the lockout in 2005 included a 24-percent rollback in player salaries, so that payoff sum got sheared off a bit, but both practically speaking and especially symbolically, the Capitals were still tethered to the misanthropic mercenary, through the 2007-08 season, and that association stung.

Word arrived this weekend that Jagr had in essence ended his NHL career, in signing with Avangard Omsk of the new Russian elite pro hockey league. The terms — apparently two years and $7 million per season, tax free — mean that Jagr is back up to the equivalent of $11 million in annual salary. He spent this decade as a temperamental gun for hire, so this new agreement is fitting. Puck daddy’s overview on Jagr’s career, in which daddy terms #68’s tenure in D.C. “the near career suicide,” includes a generous helping of reader comments that seem to capture all of the at-arm’s-length regard Jagr engendered in his NHL career. Including, especially, this sentiment: “Good riddance.”

It’s remarkable that the NHL’s ninth all-time scorer could amass as massive a movement of malignant sentiments as he did, but he did.

Jagr’s was an NHL career of two careers: his years in Pittsburgh, where he brilliantly partnered with Mario Lemieux, catapulting the Penguins to two Stanley Cups, and where he won four consecutive Art Ross trophies; and those that followed, in Washington and New York, where he showed flashes of his dominant past but most often earned reviews that he was slowing down and grossly overpaid. This was especially true of his aborted stay in D.C.

Even in Pittsburgh Jagr has no shortage of detractors. Near the end of his run there he made no secret of his wish to play in the NHL’s largest market. Pittsburghers become particularly parochial over such sentiments. Jagr never seemed vested in the Penguins, emotionally or otherwise — certainly not like Mario Lemieux always has been. It’s distinctly possible that in about 7 or 8 years’ time Jagr will be regarded there as merely the fourth best forward to play in Pittsburgh — a stunning possibility, when you consider his scoring standing in the league’s history. Jagr is one of only 16 players to score 600 goals; only the 12th player to surpass 1,500 points; and only Mike Gartner is a rival to Jagr’s tally of 15 consecutive seasons with 30 or more goals. He is the only player to score goals in 53 different NHL arenas.

But for all of his red lamp lighting, he possessed an uncanny ability to leave you cold. Hockey is in many respects the ultimate team sport, in which a goal scorer typically celebrates lavishly in the arms of his teammates. Jagr seemed to celebrate many of the goals he scored with the detachment of a hitman.

It is true that the Washington Capitals today would not have Alexander Ovechkin were it not for the ruinous run of Jagr in D.C. It is therefore fitting that hockey fans here have in Ovechkin the outsized personality, a total team-first dynamo, one who is also disarmingly modest and an irrationally exuberant scoring celebrator. He is the antidote to Jaromir Jagr, our tonic from those two-and-a-half seasons of tumult.

In so many ways Jagr was an extraordinary paradox. He accumulated 1,599 points in his NHL career; that he is a mortal lock for the Hall of Fame is beyond dispute. And yet, he departs the NHL and it’s news on hockey pages for all of 12 hours, before the next free agent signing bumps it. He had fans by the thousands who wore sweaters bearing his name, but he seldom had spirited defenders. Serious hockey fans never ragged on his skill set, but even at the height of his brilliance he seemed to engender a detachment from fans. Most often you got the sense that if there was such a thing as hockey player really in it mostly for the money, Jaromir Jagr was that hockey player.

Now near 37, he’s crossing an ocean, and turning his back on the planet’s best league, for more of it.

Filed in Alexander Ovechkin, Former Coaches & Players, Hockey Hall of Fame, Jaromir Jagr, Morning cup-a-joe, National Hockey League, New York Rangers, Pittsburgh Penguins, Washington Capitals| Permalink| Comments (6)

Let the Roaming of a Fierce Gang (Green) on Washington’s Streets Commence

By pucksandbooks
Thursday, July 3, 2008

Just how important was Mike Green’s signing this week? Nearly as important as Alexander Ovechkin’s back in January.

Green isn’t just the Capitals’ no. 1 gun from the point — the slick-passing, even slicker skating, indispensable-in-the-new NHL engine from the back end. He’s their Mohawked Mojo, their Titan of ‘Tude, the galvazer of Gang Green. He is supremely skilled swagger on skates. He represents something this organization has never had: rock star star hockey player.

And that’s a very good thing.

You in the Grandpas of Capsdom might suggest that the Wild Thing, Al Iafrate, was such a figure 15 years ago. Iafrate’s game was special, but it was highly specialized in its impact — a really big (triple digit) slapshot, and some really big hits on the back end. And like Green he could skate like the wind. But he wasn’t quite the passer that Green is. He could deliver big hits for sure, and gracious he was fun to watch, but he was more enigma than star. Big Al never really offered the promise of being a 30-minuter-a-gamer who could, as Green showed in the Capitals’ first post-lockout playoff game this past April, outshine even the greatest hockey player in the world.

To those for whom Mike Green’s $5-million-plus pricetag seems too hefty, I ask this: you either agree or disagree that Mike Green, today, is a peer-in-ability-and-impact with Sergei Gonchar, the Penguins’ $5 million dollar man. Which is it? I happen to think he is, and that his upside, at both ends, is appreciably higher than Gonchar’s. And hypothetically, were Gonchar a free agent this summer, he’d command, on either the open or closed market, a salary likely higher than what Green got.

Also, what are the odds that in three or four years’ time this deal looks inflated and wasteful? Not real strong, methinks. In fact, seeing as how Green will be on the prognosticating minds of many hockey followers for Norris Trophy candidacy beginning in about three months’ time, the odds are better that as with his teammate Ovechkin, the deal looks fair and a good value before the ink is dry on it. Lastly, if you agree with George McPhee that the post-lockout NHL places a premium on reliable and creative puck-moving blueliners, how do you evaluate Green’s skillset in that regard?

Or put another way: can you imagine anyone else in the Capitals’ organization playing the role of fair substitute for Green’s game?

But there is also this consideration, which while somewhat intangible I think nonetheless played a direct and powerful impact on the Caps’ negotiations with Green: aside from his numbers, aside from his potential, aside from his present value in today’s NHL, Mike Green is a marvel of an entertaining hockey player to watch perform. He is dynamic with his instincts, his footwork, his howitzer of a point shot; he is a breed of blueliner we haven’t seen in these parts . . . perhaps ever.

He is two parts Steve Austin (but a whole lot less nerdy), one part Steve McQueen.

Recall his third-period magic in that game 1 against the Flyers this spring, when the Flyers held what shoud have been a lock-down, third period lead. Green took over that third period. And it was no fluke — we’d seen glimpses of that kind of command performance in the regular season as well, particularly after Bruce Boudreau came in. They just never had the stage that that postseason night did. It was a performance that led Flyers’ Coach John Stevens to single out Green for special coverage attention thereafter.

Now consider this: he’s certain to get better. It isn’t hyperbole, given the gusto of his game, to imagine a post-Nicklas Lidstrom NHL being Green’s to preside over when it comes to heavy hardware for the league’s reargaurds. He’ll have superb company (Phaneuf, Campbell, two or three names from the ‘08 draft as well, perhaps), but he’ll enter 2008-09 as a First-Team All Star candidate. The Sporting News this year named Green to its All Star team, where he joined Ovechkin.

Mike Green occasioned Gang Green in Verizon Center this past season. His puck rushes over the next four seasons in Washington will at times generate a mass rising in the home seats. That kind of response from and relationship with fans is a rarity in hockey — in sports in general. From management’s perspective, that’s no small part of his value.

If Washington is going to rise to some stature of a hockey town in a way it never did in the Capitals’ first 30 years of existence, Mike Green will play an outsized role as architect.

Filed in Alexander Ovechkin, Media, Mike Green, Morning cup-a-joe, Players, Print, The Sporting News, Washington Capitals| Permalink| Comments (22)

Ovechkin vs. Huet

By Gustafsson
Wednesday, July 2, 2008

Perhaps newly signed Chicago Blackhawk Cristobal Huet would like to forget this night as netminder for the Montreal Canadians. Alexander Ovechkin victimized him for 3 goals in regulation and the game winner in overtime. When all was said and done, Ovechkin had 5 points, 4 goals, stitches in his lip, and a broken nose in a 5 - 4 OT win.

“Today was a special day,” Ovechkin said with a smile. “I broke my nose, have stitches [and] score four goals. Everything [went] to my face.”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ysyu3aOVVHQ

Do you think Ovechkin is hoping Huet is in net when the Caps face the Hawks?

Thanks to Sean Leahy from Going Five Hole for posting the video.

Filed in Alexander Ovechkin, Chicago Blackhawks, Cristobal Huet, Montreal Canadiens, Video Clips| Permalink| Comments (2)

“Washington Got an Elite Goaltender”

By The OFB Team
Wednesday, July 2, 2008

The Russian reaction to Capitals’ goaltender moves from Sovetsky Sport, including Alex Ovechkin’s take on things (translation courtesy of Dmitry Chesnokov):

The Caps management did everything right. The club saved about $1 million. The club also got an experienced goaltender. And now they will start to develop Varlamov and bring him closer to the first team, even though he will most likely start the season in the AHL. Considering the fact that Theodore’s contract is only for two years, the plan is to have Varlamov as the number 1 starter by the start of the 2010-2011 season.

Alex Ovechkin thinks this is the case. He confirmed his opinion in a conversation he had with Pavel Lysenkov:

“I think there is a possibility for Varlamov to debut in the NHL this season. At least Semion will compete for the number 2 role with Brent Johnson.”

What do you think about Theodore’s arrival in Washington?

“We needed a good goaltender because we were losing Huet. And our management made a thought-out move. I have only played once against Theodore in my career. It was last season; we played Colorado at home and won 2:1. Although, I didn’t score.

It is a shame that Huet didn’t stay [with Washington]. He was a great goaltender. But our future now lies with Theodore, and I am sure he won’t let us down.”

Filed in Alexander Ovechkin, Chicago Blackhawks, Colorado Avalanche, Cristobal Huet, George McPhee, Michal Neuvirth, Simeon Varlamov, Washington Capitals| Permalink| Comments (3)

When a Picture Travels Thousands of Miles

By The OFB Team
Tuesday, July 1, 2008

One of the things we want to do in the 2008-09 hockey season is increase our production of original photography. Last season, on the April evening that the Capitals clinched the Southeast division title, the moment we arrived at Sergei Fedorov’s locker, we knew we had a great image to capture. That photo that Gus grabbed turned up last weekend in Gazeta.ru, an online news source read daily by thousands of Russians. From Simeon Varlamov to Alexander Semin to Alexander the Great, perhaps even to Sergei Fedorov again, the far-East interest in Washington’s Russian hockey players is only likely to increase, and we hope to offer a helping hand in the coverage.

Filed in Alexander Ovechkin, Alexander Semin, Blogs, Internet, Media, OFB, Sergei Fedorov, Simeon Varlamov, Washington Capitals| Permalink| Comments (2)

Green Gets Greener

By The OFB Team
Tuesday, July 1, 2008

On Canada Day, the Caps announced the signing of a very important Canuck: Mike Green, for 4 years.

From the press release:

The Washington Capitals have signed defenseman Mike Green to a four-year contract, vice president and general manager George McPhee announced today. In keeping with club policy, terms of the deal were not disclosed.

“Mike has developed into an impact defenseman in the short time since we drafted him, and he will be a key part of our team moving forward,” McPhee said. “We look forward to his further contributions as we continue to improve the hockey club.”

Filed in George McPhee, Mike Green, Washington Capitals| Permalink| Comments (24)
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