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We Could Use a Few Signings, Couldn’t We?

By pucksandbooks

Friday, June 27, 2008

These are salad days for salaries in the NHL. Yesterday came word that the salary cap for 2008-09 would rise to $56.7 million, with a salary floor ($40.7 million) higher than the league’s cap just back three seasons ago, in the first post-lockout regular season. Stunning. As the salary cap is directly linked to the league’s revenues, which are directly linked to its gate receipts, it’s seems clear that a few folks other than Tiger Woods and Tony Kornheiser are interested in hockey.

Meanwhile, there remain outstanding — unsigned — some necessarily expensive parts to 2008-09 for the Washington Capitals. The tally: Christobal Huet, Brooks Laich, Shaone Morrisonn, and Mike Green. Boyd Gordon and Eric Fehr need new deals, too, but I don’t imagine those will be that expensive. Right now both Matt Cooke and Sergei Fedorov look like salary cap casualties, luxuries likely unaffordable in ‘08. Since I last wrote about matters financial Capitals’ GM George McPhee has managed to sheer off about $2 million in payroll for next season by dealing Steve Eminger to Philadelphia and buying out Ben Clymer. (Ray Shero’s fruitless negotiations with Marian Hossa this month apparently have sheared off $7-8 million from the Penguins’ payroll for next season.)

However, it’s beginning to look like McPhee will need that $2 million to pay Mike Green just in the autumn portion of the calandar next season.

Ah yes, Mike Green. For the congenitally white-knuckled of Caps’ fans, his breakout season in 2007-08, combined with apparently every name New York Ranger leaving Broadway, portends his departure and the swift end of hockey’s renaissance in Washington. But count me among those who think it far from a certainty that Green’s gonna attract a bevy of offer sheets next Tuesday.

For one thing, as great as his game looks, Green’s had only one big-number season, and the price in first-round draft picks for signing him would be exorbitant (as many as five). Additionally, both the owner and the general manager are on record stating that the club will match whatever offer comes Green’s way. For another, offer sheets for restricted free agents (see Tomas Vanek) are in a very real sense one GM’s performing labor for a colleague. Lastly, Green, though a young and inexperienced great talent just as Dustin Penner was last summer, is a primary building block for a contending Caps’ club. Penner wasn’t last summer, nor is he today, one of the 50 best forwards in the NHL. Penner’s was a stupid contract conceived by a stupid GM. Brian Burke allowed stupidity to reign supreme for a moment, but his Ducks won’t soon be looking up at the Oil in the standings.

In Green the Caps know what they’ve got – an already impressive no. 1 rearguard whom they were awfully lucky to nab with a 29th pick in the ‘04 draft, one who has a great deal of progression and maturity ahead of him. Likely, too, Mike Green also knows what he’s got in D.C., and specifically in Bruce Boudreau’s system: the green light to pile up points for a really big deal around the time he’s in his prime.

Mike Green will get signed alright. But it won’t come cheap. In fact, Team Green may be pointing to Alexander Semin’s 2009-10 salary ($5 million) and understandably if myopically bargaining that Green’s of greater value to the team than Semin. In an ideal world, Team Green would acknowledge the client’s youth and inexperience and appreciable development still ahead and ask to be made the team’s highest paid defenseman . . . but not like say Anaheim’s best defenseman.

Few however imagine ideal worlds with attorneys and player agents in them.

Speaking of interesting contracts, remember that “home team discount” deal Sidney Crosby signed? It will pay him $7.5 million in 2013. The thinking here is that Sidney will be a pretty good hockey player in 2013, when he’s still not yet 30 years old. Do you know how many NHLers will be earning more than $7.5 million then? (Mike Green might well be one.) One of them will be Vinny Lecavalier, according to ESPN. Indeed, as early as 2009-10, Crosby may not even be the highest paid Penguin. The intrigue with the Penguins never ends.

Given the number and prominence of Capitals’ restricted free agents, this wasn’t supposed to be an easy summer of negotiating for GMGM. It was made tougher by the breakout seasons by Laich and Green, as well as Morrisonn’s emergence as a top-pairing performer. And while last weekend was filled with the promise of securing hockey’s future, this one is about placating the present. It’s messy but necessary business.

It’s a time to be anxious but not a time to be pessimistic.

Filed in Alexander Semin, Boyd Gordon, Brooks Laich, Cristobal Huet, Eric Fehr, Evgeni Malkin, Free Agents, Front Office, George McPhee, Matt Cooke, Mike Green, National Hockey League, Pittsburgh Penguins, Sergei Fedorov, Shaone Morrisonn, Sidney Crosby, Steve Eminger, Ted Leonsis, Washington Capitals| Permalink| Comments (35)

Prospects, Like Fine Red Wine, Take Time

By pucksandbooks

Thursday, June 26, 2008

We’re in this interim between the draft and the Capitals’ July Development Camp (mercifully, a period lasting little more than two weeks), and with the arrival in town soon of so many recently drafted prospects, it seems an appropriate time to map out what I regard as a fair and accurate timetable for hockey fans to await the arrival of promising youth to the parent club.

I do this because, as is the case with every draft season, a fair swath of fans get a case of the vapors when they take stock of a draft asset three or four years removed from his selection, and still in development; and swept up in message board madness, are therefore inclined to judge him “a bust.”

Let’s start out by stating the obvious: it ain’t easy projecting the NHL bona fides of 18-year-olds. More on that, as it relates to one Vincent Lecavalier, in a minute.

But let’s first address what I call the One-Tenth of One Percent Club. Your Ovechkins. Your Lemieuxs. Your Stamkoses. They don’t arrive every year, but when they do they seriously outclass their draft class. As 18-year-olds, they’re going straight to the NHL, to shine on a first line. They are very rare — the drafting exception. Here’s how rare a specimen Ovie was: a majority of NHL scouts, taking stock of his 18-point performance at the World Under-20s in 2001, thought him easily capable of taking regular — and impact — shifts in the NHL as a 16-year-old then. Again, though, this is the uber-exception, the cream of the elite crop. Most often at the very top of NHL drafts are really nice hockey players who need more CHL or European pro league seasoning.

So what happens with your more typical top-of-the-class blue-chippers, rest-of-the-first-round fellas, year in and year out? A few will require only a single additional year or two of competition in the Canadian Major Juniors. Think Karl Alzner (who likely would have earned a Caps’ sweater for a round two of the NHL playoffs this spring had the Caps prevailed in game 7 against Philly). If he’s a Euro lottery gem like Nicklas Backstrom, an additional year in his country’s top professional league before coming over. But again, we’re still discussing the cream of every draft crop and the odd exception to the general rule: even really terrific hockey prospects take time to develop. Ninety-plus percent of NHL first-rounders will require marinating in juniors and minor pro leagues, or on campus and then the minors, for years.

I mentioned Vinny Lecavalier earlier. He was drafted first overall in 1998. Tampa, then a league doormat, needed some star-buzz-Mojo in its lineup, and fairly forced the young Québécois into the NHL at 18. He scored a grand total of 13 goals during 1998-99. It’s almost beyond dispute that Vinny would have been better served with an additional year (or two) of development before hitting the bigs.

The next three seasons, Lecavalier notched between 23-25 goals; talk of “draft bust” necessarily followed, widely and loudly.

Then in 2002-03 Vinny hit 33 goals. He followed that with 32 in the ‘03-’04 campaign, which culminated with Tampa winning the Cup. Vinny played an important role in the Cup win, but he certainly wasn’t regarded as a stud. Some no. 1 overall, huh?

But a funny thing happened when Lecavalier returned from the lockout, some seven years after his drafting: he was still developing as a big-leaguer! In 2006-07 Lecavalier recorded his break-through, superstar season: 52 goals — nearly 10 years after he was drafted. These days, Lightning ownership is discussing inking Vinny to a lifetime contract.

How’s that for patience? Anybody talking about Vinny being a bust of a no. 1 now?

So with non-lottery picks, almost always, years and years of development are commonly required. Let’s cite Eric Fehr, since he’s a bit of a flashpoint for the with-vapors crowd. When Fehr was drafted in 2003, both Director of Amateur Scouting Ross Mahoney and GM George McPhee swiftly, publicly, established his requiring years more development just in Canadian Major Juniors. And Fehr rewarded the Caps’ plan of patience. He notched consecutive 50-plus-goal campaigns with Brandon of the WHL.

It’s instructive at this point to note that even a veteran bluechipper of a WHLer doesn’t waltz into the American Hockey League and command a first-line perch. The ‘A’ is a pro league of men, and at 20 or 21, CHL graduates — even distinguished ones — are raw meat for the grizzled grist of the last-chance-or-bust bus league. I know this doesn’t conform with message boards’ demand of immediate gratification, but it’s a reality of real-world hockey life.

So Fehr acquitted himself modestly well in 2005-06, his rookie season in pro hockey, potting 25 goals. In ‘06-’07 Fehr was hampered by injuries, but still he managed 22 goals in just 40 games with the Bears. He was, in just his second year of pro hockey, a point-per-game player. At the age of 22.

How about Brooks Laich, an ‘01 draftee? After he was drafted by Ottawa in ‘01 he spent an additional two full years in the CHL. Then he apprenticed in the ‘A’ for more than 120 games. He put up a grand total of 15 goals in more than 140 games with the Capitals between 2005-07. Some return for Peter Bondra, right? Well let’s see if the Caps regard him as a bust, seven summers removed from his draft year, during new contract negotiations this summer.

Brooks Laich is the norm in NHL development. Mike Green is not.

In 2004 the Caps drafted Minnesota prospect Travis Morin in the ninth round. He enjoyed an All American-caliber career at Minnesota State before signing with the Caps. His name was even discussed in association with the Hobey Baker award his final two seasons with the Mavericks. It’s irrelevant to me if Morin sees a single day of NHL duty in his pro hockey career. Finding that quality that late in any draft is a sure sign of scouting deftness. If the Caps’ scouts are going to uncover Hobey Baker candidate prospects once in a blue moon in a seventh or ninth round of the draft, I say (1) keep the scouts and (2) give them raises. It isn’t the job of your NHL scouts to develop Matt Pettinger into a consistent 20-goal scorer; that’s Matt Pettinger’s job.

So what is a general development formula for draft picks? I’d offer two years of additional CHL development after draft selection, a stint of at least two years, on average, in the ‘A,’ and then, potentially, graduation to 4th line minutes with the big club — and that’s if you’re a bluechipper. Not a stud, but a bluechipper. And no development-impairing injuries like we saw with Fehr or Nolan Yonkman, or else the timetable gets adjusted outward.

If you’re a U.S. collegian, 3-4 years on campus and at least 1-3 years in minor pros. That’s the norm. Joe Finley’s getting at least a full season in Hershey after having spent four years at one of the premier college hockey programs in America, and likely one season plus with the Bears. And he was a first-rounder. Guys like Phil Kessel (a serious bluechipper) who shortcut it just don’t seem to have made wise choices.

For Euros, well, there’s wide variance in the caliber of competition from league to league, but with a good prospect like Anton Gustafsson we ought to expect another year sub-Swedish Elite League season and at least one year in the Elite before we see him. He’d also have to stay healthy for those two years. A year in Hershey afterward probably wouldn’t hurt, either.

Filed in Brooks Laich, DraftGeek, Entry Draft, Eric Fehr, Joe Finley, Karl Alzner, Morning cup-a-joe, Prospects, Travis Morin, Washington Capitals| Permalink| Comments (10)

A Second Act in D.C. for Sergei Fedorov? Let’s Hope So

By pucksandbooks

Friday, May 30, 2008

Likely Sergei Fedorov, in the initial hours and days after arriving in Washington late this past February, thinking ahead then to what was almost certainly his final game as a Capital on April 5, gave some thought to returning home to his native Russia and signing one last lucrative pro contract before hanging them up — or finishing the 2007-08 NHL as a rental Cap and retiring altogether. And who could have blamed him? He’s as decorated a star player as we’ve seen in the last quarter century: a six-time All-Star; a Hart Trophy winner; a Selke Trophy winner; thrice a Stanley Cup champion. What’s left to accomplish here?

Additionally, Sergei’s brother Fedor, a 2001 draft pick of Vancouver, plays in the Russian Super League with Moscow Dynamo, and older brother has spoken publicly of his wish to play with younger brother before retiring. Again, who could blame him?

And yet from his national team and NHL teammate Alexander Ovechkin we learned this week that Fedorov is keenly interested in playing more hockey as a Washington Capital. That’s right, one of the most decorated superstars in hockey of the past quarter century, having accomplished really everything an NHL player could in a career, wants one more run at glory, in the District of Columbia.

The upshot of which is this: Sergei Fedorov believes he has something still to accomplish as an NHLer, as a Cap.

My how hockey times have changed.

Traditionally, the circumstances surrounding a player like Fedorov and the Capitals this summer would have made resigning thoughts ludicrous and impractical. The Capitals, after all, already have a healed up Michael Nylander under contract and star-in-the-making Nicklas Backstrom to center their top two lines. They have, including bonuses, about $8 million in centers for their top two lines next season. Behind them they have exceptionally capable and emerging talent in Brooks Laich; one of the better young defensive forwards in the entire NHL in Boyd Gordon; and in Dave Steckel a top-notch guy on draws and, like Gordon, an exceptional penalty killer. Fedorov is 38, and in terms of raw production about half of what he was with Detroit in 2002-03.

Fedorov’s versatile and all — capable even of playing top-4-pairing defense in this league still — but you don’t resign a near-40 forward in the flickering embers of his career to multi-millions to play a bit part, right?

Right. You resign him partly because 2007-08 taught you the value of having quality depth up front. You resign him because you envision him as more than a veteran catalyst toward a Cup run.

And, you don’t place all your chips on ‘08-09, either. More on that in a moment. But resigning Fedorov, in light of the outstanding contracts already piled high before General Manager George McPhee, means more pressure against the cap and likely the inability to resign one or two contributors from last season.

Fine by me.

The sentiment among virtually the entirety of HockeyWashington early this offseason is thus: get Feds resigned.

Perhaps this consensus is predicated on this perception: the fit between player and team at this moment in time is as perfect as perfect can be in the sport. It’s more than just the veteran hero-Russian mentoring the young Russian studs Ovechkin and Semin. Actually, ethnicity has nothing to do with it. In point of fact, Fedorov’s arrival in the Caps’ room this spring seized the attention of every member in it. They told us as much game after game in March and April. This was a three-time Cup winner standing up and holding court during tough times, night after night, and he had credibility with every Capital teammate. And he made a difference.

Then, as if to put an exclamation point on his stature, he went off to Halifax and Quebec City this month with the Russian national team, centered the top line between his two young Capitals’ countrymen, and helped forge the World Championship’s most potent line. Other NHL GMs certainly took notice of Fedorov’s performance in the NHL postseason and at the Worlds, but there’s one and only one GM who should have had his socks knocked off.

Who thinks that Fedorov’s work in Washington is done after 10 weeks’ time? Who thinks that another year or two of Feds would be anything but beneficial for Alexander Semin especially and the Caps more generally?

Did I suggest a new deal reaching out toward two years as a Cap? Multi-millions potentially at 40? Yep. The retaining of this extraordinary talent ought to be pursued with the notion of his playing a lead role on a Caps’ Cup-contending team, and in all likelihood we’re talking 2009-10 rather than next season for that.

Which makes the courtship of Feds this summer the most intriguing offseason personnel challenge for the Capitals since the summer of 1990, when they lost once-in-a-generation talent Scott Stevens. Sergei Fedorov at this stage of his career still carries a bit of magic in his game, but he also brings a bit of moxie to a room full of kids. More importantly, he sure appears to have melded with them. And at this stage of his career he’s paid Capitals’ management the greatest possible compliment: he wants to stick around what management has assembled.

Lose out on Feds and the Caps have the look of a 3-to-7 seed in the East next season. Bring him into the fold and send a message to the rest of the league: you want nothing to do with our power play, we have depth you crave, and the glory future is now.

Fedorov returned to the Caps could play a role we’ve never quite seen of a player in the twilight of his career: that of utility playmaker, on the first, second, or third lines; first- and or second-unit power play QB; first-unit penalty killer; taker of key draws in the Caps’ end at the end of tight games; and mentor. He likely also would play a role that isn’t defined by placement on ice or slotting in payroll. I don’t even know if there’s a name for it in hockey.

It just sure seems to need to happen.

Filed in Alexander Ovechkin, Boyd Gordon, Brooks Laich, Dave Steckel, Free Agents, Front Office, George McPhee, Hockey Legends, Morning cup-a-joe, Players, Sergei Fedorov, Washington Capitals| Permalink| Comments (27)

“I know for sure [Fedorov] wants to stay [in Washington]“

By Gustafsson

Wednesday, May 28, 2008

At a ceremony in Pittsburgh at 2 p.m. today, Alex Ovechkin will officially be awarded the Art Ross Trophy and the Maurice â€œRocketâ€? Richard Trophy. Prior to the award ceremony, Alex met with the press on a conference call.

Alex said he was happy to win these awards and feels it is important to the fans to know that their “players win something and have good players.” He also said that the recently completed World Championship was “unbelievable,” especially beating Canada in Canada.

I asked Alex if Alexander Semin’s play in the postseason and again at the Worlds shows that he’s maturing into a world-class talent and if they would be battling for these same awards next year. He responded that watching Semin for the last three years that “you’re right, he’s going to be a great player and I’ll happy if he wins awards next year.”

With the talk turning to the Worlds he was asked if he had spoken with Sergei Fedorov in trying to convince him to return to Washington to play next year. Without hesitation, Ovechkin responded, “I know for sure he wants to stay. I know for sure.”

Filed in Boyd Gordon, Brooks Laich, Conferences, Hershey Bears, Prospects, Tomas Fleischmann| Permalink| Comments (11)

An Unfathomable Scandal Sends the Home Team Packing for the Summer

By pucksandbooks

Thursday, April 24, 2008

The great Bob McDonald was singing the national anthem near 7:00 Tuesday night in a darkened Verizon Center when, standing high above the playing surface in the press box, I noticed something most peculiar: two uniformed Verizon Center maintenance workers were, to Bob’s immediate left, on their knees, trying to remain inconspicuous, a bucket stationed between them, doing something of a repair nature to the ice quite near a goal cage.

This was transpiring some 120 seconds before the puck-drop for an Eastern Conference quarterfinal Game 7 in the Stanley Cup playoffs. The maintenance workers performed their labor while the arena lights were dimmed and while most of the arena was patriotically distracted. It was abundantly clear that they didn’t want their work to be noticed.

As odd as this sight was, I didn’t make much note of it at the time. I think I was consumed by the novelty, the spectacle, of taking in my first playoff game 7 from a press box to pay it much notice.

Then I encountered Daniel Briere’s reflection to the Washington Times’ Corey Masisak yesterday afternoon. This is what Briere said:

“Another thing that favored us was the condition of the ice,â€? he said. â€œIt was so bad that it was tough for guys like Semin, Backstrom and Ovechkin to get anything going, the ice was so bad. That was another thing that went our way.”

Twice in the same sentence Briere used the words “so bad” to describe Verizon Center’s ice surface Tuesday. Post-game, Briere was amid a madhouse celebration of Flyers’ teammates. What in the world was he doing flapping his yap to a Washington Times’ reporter about Verizon’s Center’s ice surface . . . unless it really was part of a storyline of the game?

A bit more backfile before I lay my bombshell of a theory on you. I was able to arrive in the Verizon Center press lounge reasonably early in the 5:00 hour Tuesday. It was a zoo in there, as you might imagine. There were a lot of friendly faces and plenty of new arrivals as well. It being a game 7, I wanted to survey the pros — the men and women who get paid to work hockey as a beat, and especially the veteran ones who’ve worked these decisive games before — to try and gain a sense of how they thought this remarkable series would conclude.

I was able to chat up 11 press members before seating myself upstairs at my assigned seat, eight affiliated with Washington media, two with Philly, one with a Canadian outlet. All eleven reporters forecasted a Caps’ victory Tuesday night. That sort of unanimity, imbalanced as the survey sample was, struck me as odd, particularly for a series as closely contested as this one. But it matched forecasts I’d seen on television since late Monday night.

With two of the scribes I pressed the matter. Why so Caps’-certain, I asked? The answers were the same, and interesting. The Caps had matured about midway through the series — learned tough lessons from the series’ first three games. Moreover, they were able to adapt in the series in a way that the one-weapon Flyers weren’t: the big-bodied Caps could go physical, whereas the bruising Flyers couldn’t hope to out-finesse the highly skilled Caps.

These reporters mentioned the word “momentum,” if at all, only at the very end of our dialogue, almost as an afterthought. The one variable of vulnerability for the Caps, a few of them suggested, was if somehow Cristobal Huet turned in a dog of a showing. Unlikely, they suggested, but possible.

The Flyers as we all know prevailed Tuesday night, defying the forecast of all 11 hockey media pros I surveyed and a host of national television commentators. I didn’t really think much about this oddity until late yesterday afternoon.

Over a beer early Wednesday evening, without a game to monitor for the first time in months, I had this thought: couldn’t it be possible that all 11 reporters presumed, subconsciously of course, that the Caps Tuesday night at home would be skating on a sheet of ice comparable in quality to Philly’s from the night before?

Makes sense. The two cities, close as they are to one another, experience basically identical weather, and both are home to multi-purpose venues experiencing virtually identical challenges in terms of attaining hockey ice integrity. And perhaps more to the point: fresh in the minds of these reporters was the nature of the goals the Caps scored in game 6 just the night before: that dazzling exchange between Brooks Laich, Alexander Semin, and Nicklas Backstrom on the first Caps’ goal, the one that led Pierre McGuire to issue a warning to the rest of the Eastern conference for its virtuosity; then, Viktor Kozlov’s near 100-ft. bullet, to the tape, of Alexander Ovechkin’s stick blade up the center of the ice, for a third-period breakaway, game-winning tally. And lastly, the insurance marker — a perfectly flat, cross-ice setup from Laich to Ovechkin for a bullet one-timer Martin Biron never saw.

Those type of plays can only be made on decent ice. Those type of plays weren’t made just one night later — though some of them were attempted. On Tuesday night the Caps, on about a half dozen attempts, tried long-range, middle-of-the-ice passes from various players to Ovechkin and Alexander Semin, seeking to replicate game 6’s success. All of them failed, most of them bouncing over or away from the recipients’ stick blade.

Also conspicuous Tuesday night, in light of the preceding night’s success in breakout passes and offensive zone entry, was the Caps’ reliance on dumping and chasing. Why so dramatic a reversal in tactics just 24 hours removed from stunning success — and before 18,000 lunatic-loud supporters?

The explanation, it seems to me, is both simple and shocking: the Caps had no home-ice advantage very late this spring; indeed, as Daniel Briere noted, they had a distinct disadvantage at home. Worse, it was a wound self-inflicted in nature. A most unnecessary one. At one time not all that long ago the Verizon Center aptly demonstrated its ability to chill out, and get the building feeling like a hockey rink should. Correspondingly, the hockey played on the sheet within was of comparatively high quality. But despite the absence of Verizon Center’s other principal tenant, the Wizards, over the weekend, event staff was unable to deliver a competent playing surface for a game 7 in the playoffs — for perhaps the most anticipated and important hockey game Washington, D.C., has hosted in a decade.

It was — is — a scandal. Continue reading ›

Filed in Alexander Ovechkin, Alexander Semin, Boyd Gordon, Brooks Laich, Cristobal Huet, Eastern Conference, Hockey Rinks, Ice, Mike Green, National Hockey League, Nicklas Backstrom, Philadelphia Flyers, Stanley Cup Playoffs, Viktor Kozlov, Washington Capitals| Permalink| Comments (43)

Minimal Rest for the Surging, Now Led by an Emerging Legend

By pucksandbooks

Sunday, March 23, 2008

Of Alexander Ovechkin’s Friday night performance, Bruce Boudreau on Saturday morning said, “He made the strongest case you can possibly make for MVP.” He also said that the 22-year-oldÂ ”hasn’t reached his potential” yet.

Imagine.

You may have heard that just last week none other than the Great One himself claimed that 90 goals could be in one of Ovechkin’s future seasons.

“Ovechkin has the release and hands that Bossy had. He’s got the quickness that Kurri had. And he’s got the toughness that Messier had. He’s the whole package,” GretzkyÂ told Canadian media while his Coyotes were up North.Â Â

“He just loves to score. The thing about scoring goals is some guys enjoy it more than others. That’s Ovechkin.Â It’s like he wants to keep the puck for every one of them.”

“I think he could score 90 in a season.”

But what may be more impressive than Ovechkin’s offensive prowess, which will shatter team and league records, and what may ultimately prove more important to the welfare of his hockey team, is his arrival in the second half of the 2007-08 season as a Messier-like leader.Â It’s the broadcast stuff of Ovechkin Ovations.

So much attention Friday was focused on his scoring a 60th goal, and yetÂ theÂ goal proved less the turning point in reversing Friday’s 3-1 deficit to Atlanta than Ovie telling his teammates on the bench, “Just get on my back and we’re going to go.” Moments afterÂ that sentiment was expressedÂ the Caps unleashedÂ a 23-2 shot barrage the rest of the way.Â

Saturday morning Brooks Laich said of Friday’s triumph, “it could be a season-changer.” Would the season have been changed if AO was merely a super sniper?

Like many of our readers who left us comments Friday and Saturday about the endearingly jubilant,Â third-period Caps,Â the head coachÂ Saturday morning wasÂ impressed by the camaraderie he saw in Atlanta.

“I talked to Mike Green and Brooks [Laich] after the game, and I said it was like a Hershey win. Everybody was for each other, everybody was jumping up and down, and that’s how we were when we were winning series [in Hershey] and winning the [Calder] Cup.

“It was a really close feeling as a team,” he added. Â Â Â Â

Likely the team didn’t feel quite so closeÂ at the end of the second periodÂ Friday. Asked if he’d delivered a message of motivation of any sort during the intermission, with his team’s season hanging in its competitive balance by a worn skate lace, Boudreau yesterday said, “I said a word or two.”

Care to share that word, or two, coach?

“No,” he replied with a smile.Â Â Â

The surging Caps are 7-3 in their last 10 games, and 9-4 since the deadline day deals that delivered Sergei Fedorov, Cristobal Huet, and Matt Cooke.Â They appreciate the three-day break they’re immersed in now, as they’ve bumps and bruises and travel fatigue aplenty, but they also can’t wait to get down to Raleigh for Tuesday night’s next “biggest game of the year.”

Saturday’s was an optional skate, and coming off three tough road games, and with Sunday being declared a day off, a good many Capitals could have enjoyed a pleasant two full days off. Instead, 19 dressed for the 11:00 a.m. session, including all three goalies. Alexander Ovechkin (nearly 26 minutes of ice time Friday) and Sergei Fedorov took the morning off, as did the injured Donald Brashear, Dave Steckel,Â and John Erskine. Chris Clark skated by himself prior to the practice session and then went in for treatment.

Out on the ice there were smiling skaters but also some hard drills and a general seriousness of purpose. Even with three days off before resuming the second of Boudreau’s “two road trips,” it was all business. Afterward in the dressing room, Matt Bradley and Brooks Laich and Shaone Morrisonn were quick to shift the focus of their comments away from the feats of 14 hours earlier and toward next Tuesday in Raleigh.Â The team has had the game “circled” on its calendar for quite some while. Their last visit to CarolinaÂ included four power play goals surrenderedÂ in a 6-3 wipeout — a loss that moreso than any other in 2008 may have motivated management to make the moves it made three days later.Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â

A small band of reporters Saturday asked Boudreau if he was satisfied with the points results from road trip no. 1. He was, and he intimated that, while the Caps certainly want to win all three road games ahead,Â a comparable performance in the week ahead would be dandy. Success this past week was assured in large part because the Caps won the opening toughie in Nashville.Â

“Tuesday is huge in the standings, but it’s also huge for momentum” for the rest of the trip,Â Brooks Laich said, speaking in a unified voice for a surging hockey team.Â Â

Filed in Alexander Ovechkin, Brooks Laich, Bruce Boudreau, Chris Clark, Cristobal Huet, Donald Brashear, Hershey Bears, John Erskine, Matt Cooke, Sergei Fedorov, Washington Capitals| Permalink| Comments (4)

The Lethal Mr. Brooks

By pucksandbooks

Saturday, March 15, 2008

Brooks Laich - bio pic from the Washington Capitals

The Capitals’ communications team Saturday morning passed along some eye-opening data for Brooks Laich, who didnâ€™t have a two-goal game in his first 214 NHL games but has three in his last nine outings. Laich has 10 goals and 12 points in the Capitals’ last 12 games, and now ranks third on the team with 19 goals. He entered this season with just 15 goals in 151 career NHL games.

The Capitals acquired Laich from the Ottawa Senators on February 18, 2004, in a somewhat controversial trade for a fella named Peter Bondra. Coverage of the deal was famous/infamous for camera shots of Bondra in tears out at Piney Orchard and Internet message boards littered with “Brooks who?” sentiments. Four years later, all of hockey is beginning to learn who Brooks Laich is.

At the time of the deal, Laich, then just 20, had played a grand total of one NHL game, and in the 2003-04 season, tallied a modest 16 goals for Binghamton and Portland in the American Hockey League. Bondra would go on to add 52 goals in a little more than two seasons in Ottawa, Atlanta, and Chicago before retiring. Laich, who won’t turn 25 until this summer, will score his 20th goal of the season any shift now, and by all appearances, he has a good many more ahead of him in his NHL career. He’s a magnificent skater, a grinder with soft gloves, a heart-and-soul type.

He’s particularly comfortable doing the dirty work in front of the opposition’s net.

“If you want money, you go to the bank. If you want bread, you go to the bakery. If you want goals, you go to the net,” Laich said.

Who in hockey back in February 2004 would have identified McPhee’s dealing of Bondra as lopsided . . . in favor of the Caps? That 2004 deal, incidentally, also brought from Ottawa a second-round pick, and in the summer of 2005 George McPhee flipped it to Colorado at the Entry Draft for a late first-round selection that day.

Joe Finley.

Filed in Brooks Laich, George McPhee, Joe Finley, NHL Trades, Peter Bondra, Washington Capitals| Permalink| Comments (11)

INCH Podcast

By The OFB Team

Tuesday, March 11, 2008

No, we’re not referring to a podcast of the Pacino speech from Any Given Sunday, but a weekly podcast from the good folks at Inside College Hockey.

Here is a snippet from yesterday’s podcast where the guys discuss the Caps’ games from the weekend along with an invitation to join the Brooks Laich Fan Club via email.

If you enjoyed the snippet with the Caps talk, you can hear the whole podcast here:

Just make sure you email Gladdy to join the Brooks Laich Fan Club. Remember, he asked for it.

Thanks to resident INCH expert Nate Ewell for the tip.

Filed in Brooks Laich, College Hockey, Donald Brashear, Inside College Hockey, Nate Ewell, Nicklas Backstrom, Washington Capitals| Permalink| Comments (0)

Oh Yes, It’s Ladies Night

By DC Sports Chick

Friday, March 7, 2008

photo by Mrs. OC

You knew this was coming: it’s the inevitable Hockey ‘N Heels recap! I asked Mrs. OrderedChaos about last week’s sold-out event, since her hockey-loving husband bought her a ticket. (I wanted to go, but I knew I’d be staring longingly at the specialty drinks at Clyde’s afterwards and didn’t want to torture myself.) Not only did Mrs. OC answer my questions, but she took some photos. Here we go:

Can you describe how the evening was structured?

We all arrived between 5:30 and 6:15. Slap Shot greeted us as we came in the door; he was passing out snacks and water. As I checked in we were broken into 4 groups. They provided color-coded group bracelets, and told me my first stop would be Wives Q&A. I went to wait in the bleachers and watch the “Caps Cribs” and other video goodies. They had one about who is the biggest ladies’ man. Brooks Laich!

Each group spent 25 minutes at each stop. My stops were 1. Wives, 2. Hockey stick session on the ice, 3. Locker/Equipment room 4. Chalk Talk with Coach Boudreau.

At the end of our last session we were escorted to Clyde’s. Chili Amar [Mix 107.3] was announcing the players in attendance as I came up the stairs. But there were a lot of people, so I couldn’t see anything.

Which session was your favorite?

I’m surprised to say this, but it’s hard to decide which event I liked best. I truly enjoyed all the sessions because I learned something in each. But I think I enjoyed the on-ice demo and using the hockey stick — Sami Lepisto would pass each of us the puck, then we’d pass it back, then he’d pass it again, and then we’d shoot at the net. I also really enjoyed the time with Coach Boudreau. I was impressed by his demeanor and how articulate he is. He was also pretty funny.

Sticks, sticks, and more sticks

How would you characterize the other women- hockey novices or dedicated fans, or a mix of both?

There were lots of hockey moms and lots of fans. I’d say about three-quarters of attendees were serious fans. In my group, approximately half of the participants had season tickets, and everyone had been to a game. It seemed like most were conversant with the rules and asked “Why don’t they (the players) just go up the center and shoot?” They showed some frustration with the team in the questions they asked Coach Boudreau, but the coach handled it all well and with good humor.

Was the event geared more towards novices or experts?

I think it was geared toward novices, but was good for experts too because they could ask specific questions. The “experts” seemed to be there more to see the facilities, see the locker room and equipment room, and ogle the players. During the bar event I was surprised that almost every time when I asked the person in front of me, “Who is that player?”, they always knew their name and position they played.

Did you learn anything new? If so, what?

I learned a lot about the equipment, they travel with 6 sticks! And there is only 1 set of goalie gear. I still cannot understand icing, so I asked the coach “I don’t understand icing, how do I look for it?” He explained that a lot of the times he doesn’t know whether it’s going to be called or not. So I STILL don’t get itâ€¦

The lucky Mrs. OC and Milan Jurcina- yummo.

How was Clyde’s afterwards? Were you able to meet any of the players? Which players were there?

Clyde’s was crowded, but it was fun. The food was deliciousâ€”I had a lamb chop, shrimp, crab dip. They had an open bar, including specialty drinks like the “Ovechkin” (a blue concoction I didn’t try) and “Slapshot” (which was sweet but tasty).Â I met and took photos with Matt Pettinger, Milan Jurcina, Brooks Laich, Jeff Schultz, and Nicklas Backstrom. Eric Fehr was also there. I was really shocked to see the players in regular clothes. I know it sounds stupid, but they are so much thinner than they look on the ice (since the padding makes them look bigger). They were all very nice and approachable. I felt like I should have had something more to say other than, “Thanks for coming” and “How do you like Washington?” If I were to go again I’d want to be able to ask them real questions. I was impressed that the players are so accessible and give their time.

Filed in Brooks Laich, Bruce Boudreau, Eric Fehr, Matt Pettinger, Milan Jurcina, Nicklas Backstrom, Washington Capitals| Permalink| Comments (9)

Washington Capitals Vocabulary Lessons

By OrderedChaos (Mike Rucki)

Wednesday, March 5, 2008

Mike Vogel asks Capitals players about their favorite hockey terms, including gems like Grocery Stick, Gitch, and Schmelt. Get a few chuckles and learn some new words while you’re at it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y9Ecv-xh0ek

Filed in Brent Johnson, Brooks Laich, Eric Fehr, John Erskine, Mike Green, Mike Vogel, Olaf Kolzig, Steve Eminger, Washington Capitals| Permalink| Comments (0)

Buzz Trades, a Big Game, a Big-Buzz Atmosphere Stream of Consciousness

By pucksandbooks

Wednesday, February 27, 2008

Was in the then MCI Center the night of March 13, 2001 — also deadline day — when earlier in the day GMGM dealt Zednik and Bulis and a pick to Montreal for Zubrus and Linden, and the mood in last night’s rink felt larger and more significant . . . that dealmaking carried a component of risk; this was pure aggression with minimal assets heading out . . . the better comparison may be with March 1997, carried out not in a single day but over the course of a couple of weeks, when McPhee, in his first season on the job, added Brian Belllows and Esa Tikkanen . . . Enjoyed most of all throughout the late Tuesday afternoon and evening messages from friends and strangers who were busy with business throughout the day and wholly unaware of the deadline day madness that enveloped the Caps, who arrived at the news late and lavished it (in my email inbox) with happy obscenities and exclamation points . . . Mike Vogel, looking terrifically telegenic, rinkside on Comcast in the 5:00 hour to help analyze the breaking big news, me comparing his polished appearance before TV DC with his pre-sunrise, blogging-through-the-Moscow-night, comrade shagginess with me during last year’s Worlds . . . big bonus: dinner with Ron Weber in the press room on such a big day . . . look at all the media big wigs who show up when hockey creates the day’s sports buzz: George Solomon of the Post, three Times’ reporters, the one-time Queen of OFB even, I think I may have even seen Arch Campbell in Bruce Boudreau’s post-game presser . . . Ted’s box is filled as I hadn’t seen it since perhaps opening night . . . Commissioner Bettman, in his pre-game presser: “This is a team that has been built on prospects and for the future” . . . He’s in town for some chit-chat on the Hill about drugs and athletes, and he mentions “players as role models” and a clear concern that his sport not be painted with a broad brush of they-all-do-it cynicism: “What goes on in one sport doesn’t [necessarily] go on in others” . . . “We’ve had one player in two-and-a-half years caught [for performance enhancing drugs],” and he references the tough remedies that face the offenders — a quarter-of-a-season suspension, three-quarter-of-a-season, three strikes and you’re out . . . and I think, Bud Selig he ain’t, but it’s also true that this sport has a much different relationship with its players union than all the rest . . . He is also asked about the prevalence of players exercising the “No” in their no-trade clauses: “Nobody makes a club give a player a no-trade clause” . . . I ask the commissioner about Ted’s expressed wish to take the team on a goodwill tour of Russia, “sooner rather than later,” and he expresses cautious support. When he references what a “big deal” it’s going to be for Jagr to return to Prague next season, I think I have my answer about the likelihood of Ovechkin’s returning to Moscow . . . He also acknowledges that the league today doesn’t have the relationship with the Russian Hockey Federation it once did . . . Even the arena’s game night personnel working in catering and as ushers seem buoyed by the day’s big news — they are all chipper and wide smiling in every encounter. . . On a day like today I appreciate the professionalism and the quasi-renaissance of renewed hockey coverage by our town’s two print beat reporters, both of whom blogged and filed on Tuesday until their fingers were sore, giving Washington hockey fans timely and superb breaking news; following Corey’s blog a bit during the game, I chuckled at his reflection “at some point I’ll eat” . . . Midway through the game I have a minimial amount of notes and reactions recorded, as friendly folks keep bending my ear for reaction and basic “Can you believe all this?” empathy, vanquishing my between-periods composition, and I relish it . . . Peter Bondra is back in the press box tonight, and on the ice sheet below the young prospect he was traded for, Brooks Laich, is having a career night, and I just sorta like the symmetry of that . . . in the second row of the press box, where the Caps’ communications staff works each game, I see each and every one of them, no one missing, and I think there’s so much work for them to do on a day like this they all have to be here, but it’s probably also the case that such a day makes a Caps’ staffer proud to have the careers they do, and they want to be in the rink, well dressed, helpful, and full of good cheer . . . very loud rock music typically greets bloggers and press in the post-game locker room after victories, but tonight it’s quiet, and I infer that the day’s drama has drained the entire team, that they want as efficient an encounter with media as possible, hot showers, and a race home to crash in bed . . . the circle of cameras and microphones and scribes around Kolzig is unlike anything I have seen in two years — it’s five-deep at turns, and Tarik has to make like a gymnast to get his recorder squeezed into some open space around Kolzig’s locker . . . no one much asks Olie the Goalie about the game, instead, The Trade . . . question after question on the trade: was he shocked? was he upset? how can it possibly work with three netminders? did the team approach him about a trade? . . . he says, among other things, “The thing that surprises me is that there’s three goalies here” . . . Coach Boudreau acknowledges the challenge of managing three netminders, but he dismisses a contention that the day’s developments insult the greatest goalie in Caps’ history; he maintains that the consumate professional will rise to meet the new challenge . . . Here’s hoping Fedorov this spring is Bellows of ‘98, Matt Cooke that year’s Esa Tikkanen, Olie Kolzig . . . Olie Kolzig.

Filed in Brooks Laich, Bruce Boudreau, Corey Masisak, Dainius Zubrus, Gary Bettman, George McPhee, Lindsay Czarniak, Mike Vogel, Morning cup-a-joe, NHL Trades, Olaf Kolzig, Peter Bondra, Print, Tarik El-Bashir, WRC, Washington Capitals, Washington Post, Washington Times| Permalink| Comments (8)

In-Game Knee-Jerks & Notes: Caps-Isles, 2/20

By pucksandbooks

Wednesday, February 20, 2008

I’m not one to traffic much in the off-ice affairs of star athletes, at least not in published fashion, but with local media’s over-the-top coverage today of Alex’s overseas ingenue, there was for me a slight sense of light and welcome distraction from the day-in, day-out drain of the team’s postseason pursuit. Another positive spin on the matter: when was the last time you saw the Washington Post take inches worth of interest in the romantic runnings of a Caps’ player?

With a victory tonight the Caps will ~~equal~~ exceed the total number of wins for 2006-07. They can also go three games over .500 for the first time since . . . the season’s opening three games.

With big rugged bodies Andy Sutton and Brendan Witt out of the Isles’ lineup tonight, it’s going to be interesting to see what manner of net-crashing Bruce Boudreau asks his players to undertake. The predatory nature of NHL teams is perhaps best illustrated in a situation such as tonight’s between the Caps and Isles. Earlier today the Caps returned two young and inexperienced players to Hershey, Eric Fehr and Sami Lepisto. With tonight’s being the team’s only game of the week before Saturday, Boudreau appears to want to exploit the Isles’ backline vulnerability with a more veteran lineup.

Lunar Eclipse outside Verizon Center (photo by Mike Rucki)

Thirty minutes before faceoff, the Isles’ blueline tonight apparently will consist of: Radek Martinek - Freddie Meyer; Marc-Andre Bergeron - Bryan Berard; and Aaron Johnson - Drew Fata (Rico relation, yes). Those very inexperienced final two may be partnered with more veteran blueliners, or Coach Ted Nolan may up to seriously limit their minutes and try and go with just two defense pairings as long as possible.

We’re within a week of the NHL trade deadline. To deal or not to deal, if you’re GMGM? It’s a question I’ll try and place before a few scribes up high during the intermissions.

Nolan’s opening D pairing: Martinek and Meyer.

2:17 in: Sniping Semin lights lamp on a breakaway, off a fine head-man feed from Matt Pettinger. 1-0 home team.

Milan Jurcina’s struggles this season — he’s been wildly inconsistent from week to week, offering physically dominating performances one night and inexplicably mistake-prone ones following — I think need to be corrected if the team is to do anything more than make a ceremonial postseason performance.

13:37: Brooks Laich it appears to earn a tip-in power play tally off a Mike Green point wrister. Olie is announced with a secondary assist! 2-0 Caps, and while the shots are 7-6 in favor of the Isles, in all other respects this appears to be a game that the caps ought to win comfortably. This blogger can’t remember the last game the Caps won comfortably.

2-0 Caps after one. Continue reading ›

Filed in Alexander Ovechkin, Alexander Semin, Brooks Laich, Chris Simon, Kevin Kaminski, Matt Pettinger, Milan Jurcina, National Hockey League, New York Islanders, Nicklas Backstrom, Olaf Kolzig, Peter Bondra, Viktor Kozlov, Washington Capitals| Permalink| Comments (11)

Hockey First-Timers Head to the Phone Booth

By OrderedChaos (Mike Rucki)

Saturday, February 2, 2008

Namrata, Johanna, and Mike (photo Mike Rucki)

Using the Capitals’ generous season ticket exchange policy, I traded in five unused tickets for a block in my section (426) and then gave the tickets to five coworkersâ€”two of whom had never attended a hockey game before.

I asked the hockey novices what they knew about the game, if anything. One replied, “Well, I know that players fight a lot, and that the puck can fly into the audience.” I assured her that given the seat location (Row P of the 400 level) she’d be safe from puck-related harm. But really, that was the full extent of her hockey knowledge.

My other coworker was excited about the fighting as well; she wished other sports allowed it. “Oh well, I guess hockey and boxing will have to do.” So I was intrigued as to what their reaction would be, and was hoping for an exciting game â€” including a fight or two as well to keep my friends happy. For all the horrified outcries against fighting heard from the MSM, it sure seems that pugilism remains a strong draw.

They both expressed concern about the dental condition of hockey players — unsure as to why they “always hear the ladies going crazy for hockey hunks.” I directed them to the Caps’ website for photos, where they immediately locked onto Matt Pettinger as their favorite. Sorry Brooks!

Matt Pettinger... sponge-worthy? (photo courtesy of the Washington Capitals)

We spent pregame at Bar Louie and discussed what they could expect on the ice. I warned them that not every game contained fights (much to their dismay) but that both teams are considered among the more exciting in the league.

So after a few brews, we headed into the arena for the anthems. My plan was to spend some time with the crew, explaining the game and high-fiving for the goals (of which there were many, thank you Alex), but Section 426 was burdened with a surprisingly surly usher who prevented me from moving up to the cheaper seats. Seriously, I went up to join my friends, was chastised, and returned later to be chastised yet again. It was an odd experience, especially considering that the group had already moved down to better seats â€” one would have thought they would have been told to move back up to Row P, but no, I was told I had to return to Row A lest I incur the wrath of the ushering gods.

But I digress. After flipping through the Caps’ yearbook I provided, Alex Ovechkin, Olie Kolzig, and Dave Steckel joined Pettinger on my friends’ “Hey, he’s cute” list. As the game progressed, though, they seemed genuinely enthralled by the action on the ice rather than just by the attractiveness of the players. During one of my brief and stealthy visits to their seats, I explained the red light that indicates TV-timeouts (”Oh, that’s why they stopped playing!”) and a couple other tidbits before the usher’s evil eye forced me back to my own seat. So other than running over for post-goal high-fives I didn’t get as much in-game opinion as I’d hoped.

While disappointed by the lack of fightsâ€”after the Kovalev high-sticking on Ovie to open the game I was convinced, incorrectly, that at least one fight would ensueâ€”they loved the bone-jarring hits and the laserbeam goals.

The Capitals obliged by providing a thrilling finale to a game many hockey fans hoped would have ended in regulation â€” but as another friend said (one whose last in-person Caps game was at the US Air Arena), “It was worth that goal in the last thirty seconds for such an exciting win.” While I would have preferred a 4-3 victory to the ulcer-inducing end of the third period, I won’t argue with the excitement spawned by Ovechkin’s fourth goal of the night.

Donald, Johanna, Namrata (photo by Mike Rucki)

Later, as we sat sipping Guinnesses (Guinni?) at the Irish Channel after the game, everyone expressed their happiness with the evening’s experience, as well as a strong inclination to recommend the live hockey experience to friends. The mood was bouyant, with all in attendance waxing rhapsodic about the game, and their intention to attend another one again, soon.

The next day, as my friends learned of Ovechkin’s broken nose, they were even more impressed. “That game was a blast! But [Ovechkin] scored four goals with a broken nose? That guy is amazing.” Or, as another put it, “He’s a beast!”

I couldn’t agree more. The game was a perfect introduction to hockey (and to the Capitals); Ovechkin’s heroic performance and an inspired team effort helped convince these hockey first-timers of what we already knew: that nothing compares to seeing a hockey game live. Welcome to the sport, friends; I hope you enjoy the ride.

Filed in Alexander Ovechkin, Brooks Laich, Dave Steckel, Guinness, Hockey Heartthrobs, Matt Pettinger, Washington Capitals| Permalink| Comments (13)

Knee-jerks & Notes: New Years Fun Indoors and Out

By The OFB Team

Wednesday, January 2, 2008

We followed two big games on Tuesday.

Outdoors:

NBC opened its broadcast with Peter Gabriel’s instrumental “It Is Accomplished” from the Passion soundtrackâ€”an excellent choice on many levels. Then the network returned to predictable form with Foreigner’s “Cold As Ice.” At least the network didn’t play “Ice Ice Baby.”

There was an awful lot of smiling players’ faces on the benches in camera close-ups immediately before the game. Of course all of them were going to be diplomatic and supportive of the event in the lead-up, but in the moment, this display of enthusiasm sure seemed authentic and organic and evocative of the heart of the matter.

The snowballing of the Pittsburgh team bus arriving at the Ralph — executed by hordes of Sabres’ fans — argued well for continuing this event in the future.

Outdoor Game
It would be easy to pan the event on the basis of the inclimate conditions — visibility was generally poor for players, spectators, and home viewers; trainers and players dealt with a litany of equipment challenges; Zambonis were on the ice as frequently as fourth-liners; and league Ice Tech Dan Craig may as well have been in the game program as often as he was on the ice. But our sense is that the event’s overall atmosphere earned the game’s first star, and that the league scored an overtime game-winner with this idea and its general execution. The overall effect was one of a compelling Season’s Greeting showcasing sports’ most under appreciated athletes in their embrace of winter’s elements.

In a very real sense this was a maiden run in terms of the league establishing outdoor ice quality. Buffalo’s football field is pitched at nine degrees! There was never going to be an issue with ice quality in Edmonton for the Heritage Classic in 2003 — Alberta skies were clear that night, and temps were below that of Cryogenics. The league will learn a lot from Tuesday afternoon in Buffalo, and apply lessons learned to any future outdoor engagements.

You’re a liar if you thought in the third period, while he skated on a sheet of snow, sleet, and patched-up makeshift ice, Sergei Give-it-away-when-and-where-it-hurts-most Gonchar would escape the tied game unscathed. By Divine Intervention he did, but no sane human being would have predicted it.

Some fantastic hitting, in corners and in open ice, and NBC cameras captured it superbly. Hockey played outdoors in snow with hatred and heavy hitting between the teams, in high definition: four unfiltered Marlboros for the OFB team, please.

There is something special to Kris Letang and shootouts. He actually lost control of the puck twice while bearing down on Ryan Miller and still managed to beat him.

Fitting that Sidney Crosby ended the game. He was its best player.

The NHL’s All-Star Game continues to suffer from both an identity crisis and any sense of relevance/importance. What about taking it outdoors, and perhaps even marrying it to a regular season game between a rotation of two teams each year? Make a Winter Weekend of it all.

The Commish, afterward: “This obviously is something we’re going to look at doing again. This is the type of event we certainly will be looking at doing in the future.” Think the league might be pleased with the results? A color photo of celebrating Pens appears on A1 of today’s New York Times.

Indoors:

Question for the New York Post’s Larry Brooks and the Ottawa Sun’s Bruce Garrioch, both of whom recently have opined that Alexander Ovechkin shouldn’t bother negotiating a new deal with the Caps and instead move on via restricted free agency to a “real” hockey market: one such market can’t be Ottawa, right, seeing as how the Sens are futile in all attempts to defeat the Caps?

Ovechkin on the Faceoff - Photo by G. Kriebel
Speaking of MSM, WUSA’s Brett Haber has the title of Sports Director. He labors in Washington, D.C. It would be charitable to say that he is seldom seen in the press lounge of Verizon Center. It would be understandable by Washington MSM standards were he to have ignored hockey on his New Years Day evening sportscast and instead directed all his energy at the playoff-bound Redskins. That’s par for the course in these parts. Instead he man-loved Sir Sidney to no end, calling him the best player in hockey. We won’t call this an egregious offense but rather one of breathtaking tone deafness; in legitimate sports towns in which there is a lead athlete credibly creating dispute about such a point, the hometown athlete typically earns the decision.

Ottawa played a shockingly undisciplined game fueled by out-of-control emotion in the determinative first period. A novice fan making his or her first-ever visit to an NHL game at Verizon Center yesterday, pressed to identify what team had spent the entirety of this decade in the NHL postseason, and winning about 70 percent of its games the past eight years, and what one hung up the gear more or less every April, would have guessed Ottawa the golfers and the Caps the savvy vets.

Martin Gerber may not be the Sens’ solution to confidence-inspiring, trustworthy, big-stop-when-you-most-need-it postseason netminding.

The Mike Green Express — an Amtrak Acela toward what should be an All Star selection. He’s still remarkably young, still prone to the occasional error borne of limited big-league experience, but he’s a jewel of his draft class and a lynchpin of Caps’ playoff teams for years to come.

Little noted but imperative: Ovechkin had to execute some magical footwork to remain onside on Mike Green’s end-to-end virtuoso tally.

Serious sigh of relief: the Caps got off the O-fer collar with 5-on-3 man-advantages.

Think about how formidable the five-game stretch that began in Pittsburgh on December 27 looked and consider where the Caps are now: 5 of a possible 6 points earned, with beatable Boston up next.

It’s frigid outside in Washington, D.C., early in 2008 and the city’s hockey team is hot. Expect your other-sports loving friends this week — even a few donned in burgundy and gold — to begin leaning against AO’s @ss-Kicking Express, eying empty seats within. Welcome their interest. We don’t know yet if the proverbial corner has been turned for this hockey team, but right now it feels very hockey healthy in Washington, and it feels wonderful.

Must reading:

** “Best in Snow,” Ross McKeon, Yahoo!Sports **

** “A Thrilling Snowball Effect,” Kevin Paul Dupont, Boston Globe

** “Ice Bowl Is One for the Ages, with NHL Record Crowd,” John Bonfatti and Gene Warner, Buffalo News

** “Want the ultimate outdoor rink? Dan Craig makes it so,” Scott Burnside, ESPN.com

Filed in Alexander Semin, Brooks Laich, Buffalo Sabres, Gary Bettman, Hockey Rinks, Hockey Weather, Ice, Knee-Jerk, Mike Green, National Hockey League, Old Time Hockey, Ottawa Senators, Pittsburgh Penguins, Pond Hockey, Sidney Crosby, TV, Tom Poti, Viktor Kozlov, Washington Capitals| Permalink| Comments (22)

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

By pucksandbooks

Monday, October 1, 2007

Cup'pa Joe

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

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

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

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

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

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

Last season Brian Pothier, out of necessity, was forced into roles and minutes he wasn’t accustomed and suited to. Look for him to flourish in a more stable — and within an overall more talented — defensive unit. But he is also cap