“Fat fuck!”

Most unfortunate words to measure by. But measure we must, especially now. They represent, I wager, a point of no return for this Capitals club — under this leadership regime.

One thing about wearing hockey no. 8 in Washington — you know the high-definition cameras are ever on you, from numerous angles, and on November 1, late in the evening against Anaheim, the Capitals’ captain, unceremoniously benched for a game-deciding shift, knew full well his obscene reaction would be captured for all the world to see.

The conventional interpretation at the time was that the fiery captain was merely giving vent to frustration. His competitive combativeness just got the better of him, you know. Certainly the Capitals would have you believe that. Problem is, this is not a fiery captain. Also, not an accomplished one. In fact, this season, he’s largely a lethargic, very minus-skating, very ordinary looking captain. Another problem with that initial interpretation is that the Capitals and their captain had already started their standings descent under this coach, again, and the circumstances that have followed the remainder of this November fairly beg for a reconsideration of that remarkable moment. Prior to November 1, when did you ever encounter a moment of such insolence from the guy wearing the ‘C’ on your beloved team’s sweater? Not in this town, not with this team.

This morning, we could look back on November 1 and Ovi’s outburst and deem it a moment of contempt . . . a mutinous moment, in fact.

And if the captain isn’t all in, what’s the likelihood all his teammates are? It would be interesting, would it not, to poll all those Hockey News writers and editors who fancied the Caps the Cup favorite back in late summer, this very morning, and see where they stand now.

* * * * *

For me, the very first serious warning sign arrived early in April 2010, just days before the start of that season’s postseason. The Capitals, running away with the Southeast division en route to a 121-pt. regular season, went to Columbus and held off an under-manned but tenacious Bluejackets team, winning 3-2. After the game, Bluejackets center R. J. Umberger told the Columbus Dispatch that the Capitals were a bunch of floaters, that theirs wasn’t a game ready for the prime time of the postseason. In the humility-laden sport of pro hockey, this was a serious callout.

“A good defensive team is going to beat them (in the playoffs),” Umberger told the Dispatch. “If you eliminate your turnovers and keep them off the power play, they’re going to get frustrated because they’re in their zone a lot.” Umberger’s comments proved prescient; about three weeks later the Montreal Canadiens would author one of the great shockers in the history of NHL postseason hockey, eliminating the 121-pt. Caps in the first round, executing with unwavering discipline a bunched-in box of a defensive shell against Gabby’s floaters. Bruce Boudreau’s postseason ledger in Washington fell to 1-3. For me, that series was a serious warning sign.

* * * * *

Aside from the particulars of Umberger’s critique, in a larger sense he was calling into question the Capitals’ identity. Failure, which Umberger forecasted a fait accompli for the Caps, would render Bruce Boudreau’s finesse attack a fad. There are few critiques more derisive of a hockey team than being branded “floaters.” Umberger played a key role in the Flyers’ team that dispatched Gabby’s Caps in round one in April 2008.

Saturday night in Buffalo, facing a Sabres team ludicrously beyond depleted by injury — nine regulars missing from the Buffalo lineup — Capitals skaters opted to sit back and attack their wet-behind-the-ears adversaries with a patient, largely forecheck-free strategy of counter-punching. In its conclusion the 5-1 debacle — the second consecutive Saturday night massacre against a slightly better than average American Hockey League outfit — occasioned a near aneurysm from Comcast’s Alan May on ‘Capitals Postgame.’  “This is a hockey team without an identity,” May sternly lamented.

May’s in-studio broadcast partner, Al Koken, was left similarly crestfallen and rage-filled by the shocking showing. He directed a very big-picture question to the very unsuspecting game call team of Joe B and Craig during the postgame, asking the duo to reflect on “where this organization is” right now. Not a question merely about a seriously struggling hockey team, but an interrogatory directed at the heart of the organization as a whole. A commendably gutsy bit of journalism on Koken’s part. Watching on television, a viewer in that moment felt the discomfort it caused the game’s broadcasters. Joe B was able only to stammer out something about the Caps needing better goaltending, as if this team was merely a Band-Aid between the pipes away from prosperity, then followed with speculation that things may be so dire that Gabby would have to return to his now infamous trap of a season ago. Imagine.

Question: How is it possible that four years into Gabby’s tenure we are at pains to identify an identity for this $60 million hockey club?

This is quite literally the case: on any given night, no matter the standing of the opponent, and certainly no matter the volume of regulars potentially missing from the foe’s lineup, we have no idea what Capitals team will show up. We also have no idea what Capitals team will show up from period to period.

I consider this a gravely serious warning sign.

* * * * *

Much was made in the preseason of what was perceived to be savvy veteran additions brought in during the offseason by general manager George McPhee. In hindsight, too often the Capitals competed in the postseason in recent years with too inexperienced a lineup, the theory went. This fall, we are learning that this notably more experienced team is mentally, psychologically fragile. Karl Alzner addressed this trait head-on in the aftermath of last Friday night’s blowout loss to the Rangers.

Mentally weak hockey clubs reflect poorly on that team’s leadership. Put another way: How often have you heard it said of Babcock’s Wings or Bylsma’s Pens that they yield a goal or two at inopportune times and . . . turtle?

I consider this yet another warning sign.

* * * * *

That 7-0 start to the season seems positively aberrational. We were startled by the commitment the Capitals showed then to crashing the opposition cage, to getting goals in the proverbial ‘ugly’ fashion — the way you need to in the postseason. It didn’t last. This month, most often, when the Capitals prevail it’s been in a white-knuckle affair, no matter the caliber of opponent. When they lose, which is often, often they’re blown out. This, too, I consider a dire warning sign.

* * * * *

More gutsy journalism: Saturday night the Washington Times‘ Dan Daly directed a tweet my way in which he alleged that the Capitals are big on marketing and branding but conspicuous under-achievers with what really matters. What’s amazing is that the Caps go to such great lengths to create a “brand,” and yet they have no “identity,” Daly tweeted. Again with the identity issue. I hadn’t truly reflected in such fashion until prompted to by Daly. I confess, painfully: I am 100 percent in agreement with him.

* * * * *

By no means is this viewpoint meant to scapegoat Bruce Boudreau. In fact, whether he stays or goes, there remain gravely serious questions about Ovechkin’s fitness for team captain. And what of this fragile team psyche meme that Alzner honed in on? Maybe it’s a byproduct of an organization spending years overly catering toward, and coddling, it’s $10 million dollar man. “Branding” rather than competing especially well, as Dan Daly puts it.

I chatted about this whole mess with my father last night. He and I enjoyed an amazing father-son weekend for the Winter Classic up in Pittsburgh almost a year ago. I told him, Pops, you know what I enjoyed most about that weekend? As magnificent as the Red Army was in that football stadium during the national anthem, as euphoric as our victory walk out of it was at night’s end, what I enjoyed most was the thoroughly unexpected performance of the Capitals’ alumni against the vaunted and much younger and much more star-studded Pens alumni. It was just like old times. We out-worked them. We out-hustled them. We battled til the end. We stunned them.    

I want that Capitals ethos back. Do whatever it takes to secure it.

“It’s been genuinely exciting for me, watching and listening to Corey formulate questions of Capitals’ players and coaches during press conferences the past couple of seasons, mature from being a quiet, respectful young reporter into one of the most thoughtful and astute observers of the game night after night. Here’s how respected he is: this past Monday night, mere minutes after the Capitals suffered a disheartening and embarrassing defeat at home to last-place Carolina, Capitals’ head coach Bruce Boudreau concluded his press conference by directly addressing the trauma at the Times: “Corey, if this is your last game, I’d like to thank you for everything you’ve done in the covering of our team for the last couple of years.”

I also shared with my Canadian readers my favorite anecdote involving Corey. Just as he was arriving on the Caps’ beat three years ago he agreed to meet me for dinner and a chat before a Caps’ game one evening. He told me that night that he was convinced from being on the Navy football beat that no matter how long his career in sports journalism lasted he’d never meet a caliber of athlete whose character rivaled that of the Midshipmen in Annapolis. If you know anything about the profiles of the men and women who attend the U.S. Naval Academy, and commit to serving their country for years after graduating, you’d understand why he said that. And then Corey followed with this observation: “But already on the hockey beat I’ve found that hockey players are even more impressive.”

Please take some time this holiday weekend, if you haven’t already, and read the reminiscences of Corey and the Times’ coverage offered by Eric McErlain and JP.

“Green is an atypical offensive defenseman,” Masisak wrote. “He enjoys carrying the puck, which often leads to exhilarating rushes from one end of the ice to the other. His stick-handling and creativity rivals that of Alex Ovechkin and Alexander Semin, while his vision and passing ability is equivalent of a playmaking pivot like Nicklas Backstrom.”

A team like Carolina proves that you don’t necessarily have to have a no. 1 blueline stud to win a Cup, but the vast majority of champions do. The Caps have theirs.
Another key ingredient is an elite playmaker for both the no. 1 line and the top unit power play. Nicklas Backstrom is that. Swedish hockey media years ago identified Backstrom as an heir apparent to Peter Forsberg. That may have been an unfair comparison, but in his rookie season in ’08-09 Backstrom made a magnificent, Calder finalist transition to star center status in North America. His stock, too, is one you buy.
The center position on the Caps was one thought to be improved but still a work in progress this time a year ago. This season a healthy Michael Nylander — the team’s top scorer in the preseason — will in all likelihood center the team’s third line. The Caps will skate three productive lines this season, and that helps out a bit in the playoffs.
In the cumulative, all of these factors are significant and indicative perhaps of a good-bet-for-the-playoffs kind of club. But if I had to point to a catalyst cause for all the truly heady predictions it’d be to the perception that the Capitals’ well drafted and assembled core of young talent, which certainly includes the likes of Alexander Semin, Brooks Laich, Shaone Morrisonn, Jeff Schultz, Boyd Gordon, and Tomas Fleischmann, is collectively skating impressively now but also with their best NHL days still ahead of them. It’s a 95-to-100-pt. club on paper in the early October moment, absent the achievement of any notable production improvement among all the skilled youth. Who believes they’ve all plateaued?
Ultimately, a Stanley Cup caliber team is forged by distinctive chemistry, and this, too, is a calling card of these Caps. Something obviously special took hold in that room last spring. And it’s basically all back, ripening.

We’re underway with period two. Neuvirth and Holtby now in net. The French (Canadian) Connection (Perreault and Bouchard) are seated together in the stands, taking in the action.
If squad B’s to get back in this — and they’ll need 3 goals at a minimum to win — you have to think that the line of Semin-Fedorov-Laich will have to play a large role in the effort.
Holtby snuffs out an Ovechkin breakaway with 13:15 left in the second frame! He’ll be placing a phone call or seven home tonight, methinks.
Chris Bourque is really moving well this camp — he’s been very active in the two scrimmages I’ve seen him compete in. And his Bears’ teammate Andrew Gordon has also been really active in this scrimmage.
Alexander Semin made a nifty no-look, backhand dish to Feds in the slot that # 91 snapped into Michal Neuvirth’s glove. The young goalie came out in a challenge and well eliminated a lot of shooting area for the legend.
Boyd Gordon was smarting on a shift just now — he may have taken a cross-check to the lower back. correction, a slapshot to the leg. He was visibly wincing trying to help clear the zone. A few minutes later, he was back out on his regular shift, seemingly no worse for wear.
We lost 10 minutes in the second frame (20 minutes of running clock), and it’s still 2-0 A squad. That’s how the stanza ended.
Boyd Gordon poked in a loose puck in tight past Simeon Varlamov a little more than 3 minutes into the final frame. Then, just 7 seconds later, Alexandre Giroux tallied to even it at 2! Sean Collins was announced with a helper on Giroux’s score. We’ve a little over 5 minutes remaining, and we’re all knotted at 2. I know that Mike Vogel is hoping that the first-ever Gaetan Duschene Cup is settled via shootout.
Boyd Gordon power rushed down the left side of the ice with a little more than a minute left in this tied-up affair, and Alexander Ovechkin two-hand-chopped his stick for a slash that he got called for. So A squad is shortanded for the final 1:06.
John Carlson blasted a point drive that Varlamov snagged with his glove in spectacular fashion with just 30 seconds left.
Oh No Vogs, it’s a shootout! 2-2 after 60 minutes.
Eric Fehr and Viktor Kozlov both missed their shootout attempts, and Alex Semin missed for Squad B. That brought up Ovi of the Four Trophies. He put a slick stop-and-go move on Holtby and tucked the puck in 5-hole for a 1-0 A lead. But Boyd Gordon, who really came on strong in the third period, knotted it moments later.  Keith Aucoin missed, so we went to . . .
Extended shootout, Vogs!
Brooks Laich put a seriously YouTube-worthy corkscrew move on Varlamov, roofing it to wild Kettler applause. This of course meant that Matt Bradley had to match. Which he did, backhanding a real nice water-bottle-shaker. Sergei Fedorov then went through his own legs in a bit of razzle-dazzle that he tucked 5-hole. And the Duchesne Cup went the way of B when Chris Bourque went wide with his effort.
“I thought [the Duchesne Cup] was a good idea,” Bruce Boudreau said afterward. “You never knew how it was gonna work out . . . I’ve done this and been a part of it before where it’s not worked out as good where the scores get out of hand and ends up with some fights, but this all worked out really well.
“To win it in a shootout, and to come from behind on the last shot to win it in a shootout, I thought it had a bit of drama.”
This blogger’s three stars of the entire Duchesne Cup:

3. Jose Theodore
2. Alexander Ovechkin
1. Bruce Boudreau, for hatching the idea

Capitals welcome second Gustafsson

“The scene has played out more than once in the Gustafsson household. The Swedish family sits down for a meal, and the father, who played in the NHL and coaches the national team, and his son, a burgeoning hockey talent, inevitably start discussing their craft.

“My younger sister throws down her plate and stands up and says, ‘Only thing you can talk about is hockey,’” Anton Gustafsson said. “She gets so pissed off. Mom gets pretty pissed off, too. It is usually about hockey. [My father] is always asking me about players and stuff like that.”

Caps have no fear of NHL’s Red Scare

“A new Red Scare is sweeping across the NHL, but don’t count the Washington Capitals among the teams fretting with concern.

“Between the formation of the new Kontinental Hockey League with its deep-pocketed owners and the eroded relations between the NHL and the Russian Hockey Federation, many teams are becoming increasingly wary of investing high draft picks on young players from that country . . .¬†

“Despite their own issues with keeping Russian players on this side of the pond, the Caps are not going to shy away from drafting a player if Moscow or St. Petersburg shows up on his passport.”

Carlson impresses in camp

“So instead of spending his summer reveling in his new status as a first-round pick, Carlson went to work. He added to his off-ice workouts. He played more hockey. He spent 10 days with other top American prospects at a camp for players who might make the national team for the world junior championships.

“He also showed up a few weeks early in London, Ontario, where he will play for former Caps great Dale Hunter in the Ontario Hockey League. The result – when other campers struggled to survive the conditioning on the first day, Carlson had little trouble.

“The skate he did in the beginning there were probably four or five guys that got through it and it didn’t seem to bother him one bit,” Caps assistant coach Jay Leach said. “I was pretty impressed with that.”

“These guys are like [what] athletes used to act like,” said Patrick Rey, who attended one game last season. “You can’t not love these guys. They’re like a whole team of Brett Favres.” [Without the melodrama, we might add.] ¬†