[NHL.com Recap]Personal obligations have prevented me from properly maintaining The Rink the past couple of days, but hopefully I'll be back on the proverbial Zamboni later today or tomorrow.
As always, get all the latest Caps news over at Washington Hockey Daily, and feel free to comment here about last night's game (Alex Semin's dangling, Kris Beech's breakaway, the team's collective inability to lift a puck - whatever) or any other Caps-related topic of interest.
With February nearly upon us and Florida, Pittsburgh, the Isles, Boston and L.A. next up on the schedule, it's time for the Caps to make hay while the sun shines if they want to make a run at the playoffs.
Daily Awards
- Southeast Division Player of the Day: Ilya Kovalchuk (2G, 3 SOG, 3 hits)
- Hart: Daniel Briere (3G, +3, 5 SOG)
- Ross: Daniel Briere, Maxim Afinogenov, Slava Kozlov, Jamie Langenbrunner, Nicklas Lidstrom (3 points each)
- Norris: Nicklas Lidstrom (3 primary assists in Detroit's 4-3 comeback win)
- Vezina: Marc-Andre Fleury (32-save shutout win)
- Richard: Daniel Briere (3G)
- Calder: David Moss (GWG, A, +2, 2 SOG)
- Kotter: Craig Conroy (2G, 4 SOG, 4 hits, 2 blocked shots in return to Calgary)
- Aiken: Hannu Toivonen (L, 6 goals allowed on 23 shots against in 40 minutes of work)
3 comments:
Kotter...LOL.
Could that really be the second "Welcome Back, Kotter" reference on the Caps blogs over the last few days??
You know, I don't want to get over-excited here, but...
After seeing Jeff Schultz struggle with the puck on his stick for a few games, it sure seemed like he was more comfortable with it last night. Knew what to do with it more often. Not that he was perfect with it or anything... just that he seems to be learning/adjusting quickly.
JT, KB and I were talking the other night about a heirarchy of types in how long it takes players to develop, noting that goalies and defensemen take longer than forwards (nothing earth-shattering there), and that within "forwards," power guys take longer than danglers (this was in the context of Eric Fehr).
I think also that within "defensemen," it certainly takes longer for big, lanky guys to fill-out and arrive.
That said, I agree that Schultz is making strides right now, but there will certainly be many a bump along the road of his development.
That's a long-winded way of saying that I agree.
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