[NHL.com Preview - WashingtonCaps.com Preview - Official Gameday Thread]Welcome back, Jeff Halpern. For the second time in five days, the Caps will face one of their former captains, this time the Little Jew That Could. It'll be interesting to see how many faceoffs Jeff gets thrown out of (the over/under's set at five, and the betting windows are open). So far, Halps has eight points in 24 games and has cashed approximately $500,000 in paychecks from the Stars - not bad work if you can get it (and yes, I know his role doesn't require him to be a big point producer, but still... three goals more than a quarter of the way through the season? C'mon.).
In Dallas, the Caps face a team that has the League's best GAA and allows the second-fewest shots against per game. On the plus side, the Stars will be travelling from Chicago after facing the Blackhawks on Wednesday night and plan to start the same goalie - Marty "What Do You Mean There's A Season After The Season?" Turco - against the Caps as they started against the Hawks, so perhaps he and they will be tired. On the minus side, he's really good.
Elsewhere 'Round the Rinks:
- NHL.com has a profile on Mike Green up.
- According to the Arizona Republic, Jeremy Roenick "missed practice on Monday and Tuesday because of an upper respiratory illness." The illness in question apparently keeps J.R. inhaling non-stop. Trained physicians recognize this as the medical diagnosis for "sucking."
Daily Awards
- Hart: Tuomo Ruutu (GWG with 1:48 left in 'Hawks 2-1 win)
- Ross: 27 players tied with 1 point each
- Norris: Shea Weber (A, +2, 3 hits, 1 blocked shot)
- Vezina: Nikolai Khabibulin (W, 20 saves on 21 shots against)
- Richard: 11 players tied with 1G each
- Calder: Joe Pavelski (G, +1, 4 SOG, 2 blocked shots in 2-1 win)
- Aiken: Jussi Timonen (-2, 0 points, 0 SOG)
3 comments:
1) Halpern's 3 goals in 24 games is anemic, but is outpacing his 'production' from last season
2) Of course as you point out, Halpern is NOT there to produce prodigious number of points, but to give them intangibles that may not show up in the score sheet, but in the W column
3) Based upon their record thus far, who can argue that he isn't part of the reason they are where they are in the standings?
1) Nice story on Green. The kid kinda reminds us a little of Brian Leetch at the same age. Another offensively gifted defender who played much better defensively than many gave him credit for
2) Hopefully he'll devlop as nicely as the former Ranger all star/future HOF-er did
I've heard Leetch comparisons, but I think that Green has a much higher upside in terms of defensive ability - I don't think you're going to need to pair Green with a Beukeboom-type to hide any defensive shortcomings.
That said, I'd surely "settle" for a Leetch-esque career out of Green, especially if he brings a Cup to the team that drafted him.
Post a Comment