A Capital Christmas

As hockey fans all over the world celebrate the birth of the baby Jesus today, I'd like to send belated Happy Hannukah wishes to Jeff Halpern, Mike Cammalleri, Mathieu Schneider and, of course, Gary Bettman.

But I have Christmas wishes to pass along as well. I have gifts, too. Well, not really, but if I could, I'd hand out the following gifts to each member of the 2006-07 Washington Capitals:

Beech, Kris - Passion to match his raw skills
Bradley, Matt - A comfortable seat in the press box
Brashear, Donald - Someone to dance with every night
Clark, Chris - His two front teeth
Clymer, Ben - plus-14
Eminger, Steve - Confidence and a healthy John Erskine
Erskine, John - Better skating ability
Giroux, Alexandre - A bus ticket back to Hershey
Gordon, Boyd - Fewer penalties to kill
Green, Mike - More shots on goal
Heward, Jamie - Better defensive-zone coverage
Johnson, Brent - A few more starts
Klepis, Jakub - Kris Beech's ice time (and faceoff ability)
Kolzig, Olaf - Five more years in the League
Laich, Brooks - Skills to match his hockey sense
Morrisonn, Shaone - Better passing ability
Muir, Bryan - More effective use of his size
Nycholat, Lawrence - A flight back to Hershey (hey, he's older than Giroux)
Ovechkin, Alex - A playoff game (can you imagine how good he'll be once he makes the playoffs?!)
Pettinger, Matt - Alex Semin's shot total
Pothier, Brian - The broadside of a barn at which to practice shooting
Schultz, Jeff - Zdeno Chara's career path for a big man
Semin, Alexander - More effective play without the puck
Sutherby, Brian - A second goal for the year (we'll work on the third, etc., from there)
Zednik, Richard - Good health so the Caps can get something for him at the trade deadline
Zubrus, Dainius - Nothing (he's got Ovechkin - what more does he need?)

There you have it. Merry Xmas to the Caps and their fans and more importantly, to my readers and friends.

J.P.