[NHL.com Recap - WashingtonCaps.com Postgame Coverage]Is there a goalie controversy looming in New Jersey? No?
The Caps split the weekend home-and-home with the Devils, improbably beating Martin Brodeur in New Jersey, and perhaps predictably losing at home to his backup, Scott Clemmensen. Some thoughts on the weekend set:
- Muffins Gordon had a strong weekend, with a pair of assists on Saturday and a great job shutting down the Patrik Elias/Scott Gomez line both days. He'd have had himself a goal on Sunday, too, if he could have lifted the puck about eight inches.
- Brent Johnson was also sharp in both games, for the most part.
- John Erskine was not.
- Alex Semin did not play in the second-half of the third period Sunday. Injury? Benching? My guess is the latter, based on Glen Hanlon's postgame presser. Kid needs to distribute the puck some more and play with more passion.
- The VC public address crew needs to announce home goals quicker. It's hard to get excited and cheer for a tying-goal announcement when the opposition has just regained the lead before the announcement is made.
- That said, it was nice to see Alex Ovechkin score that game-tying goal on a very "AO" goal. Hopefully the floodgates will now open and he can get back in the Richard Trophy race.
- Though it's only been two games, Tomas Fleischmann looks more confident than he has in previous call-ups. I'm sure getting second-line (rather than fourth-line) duty has something to do with it.
- Reese Witherspoon is very attractive.
Daily Awards- Hart: Andy MacDonald (2G, A, +2, 7 SOG)
- Ross: Brad Richards (4 points)
- Norris: Scott Niedermayer (GWG, 2A, +2, 5 SOG, 3 hits, 3 takeaways, 0 giveaways)
- Vezina: Marty Turco (W, 1 goal allowed on 18 shots against in OT win)
- Richard: Andy MacDonald (2G)
- Calder: Travis Zajac (G, A, +2)
- Aiken: Eric Brewer (-4, 0 points, 0 hits, 0 takeaways)
11 comments:
Refreshing: And at Spector's and Kukla's.
Darcy Tucker's signing has to have Zubie's camp a little frustrated.
I don't know if they've talked to Zubrus about it or not, and I can find anything on Washingtonpost.com, but I did find this from NJ.com:
Capitals winger Dainius Zubrus, who plays on Washington's line with Alexander Ovechkin, said he expects to be traded before tomorrow's 3 p.m. trade deadline.
"Yeah, it crosses your mind. You have to be realistic," Zubrus said. "I don't know if I did play my last game (for the Caps) but it's a good possibility that I did. We'll see what happens. Honestly, I don't want to talk much about it. If it happens, it happens. I've been traded before at the deadline. It wouldn't be that new to me. It's not in my hands now."
Here's the link: http://www.nj.com/devils/ledger/index.ssf?/base/sports-0/1172468252176170.xml&coll=1
Yeah, I thought Tucker would get a bit more too. I guess it shows what can happen when a player is a) realistic about his value, and b) cares more about the team than his wallet (he could've gotten more on the open market).
And hey, at $3m/year, that's about $200,000 per cheap shot per year - a good deal for the Maple Laughs.
Reports out of STL have the Blues trying to re-sign Guerin. Obviously if they can do it, it increases the trade value of our two Z's significantly.
Gordon was also the guy taking the most important third-period faceoffs. (Even when Zubie was on the ice.)
Not surprising, as Gordo's up to 51% on draws and Zubie's down to 49.7% (not that there's a big difference there, obviously, though I'd like to see the numbers over the past month or two, as the two are trending in opposite directions there).
Here's my shrewd move of the day - put in a claim for Bryan Berard, who was put on waivers this morning, then, assuming you get him (and assuming that is in advance of 3:00 tomorrow), trade him or, if you can't, put him back on waivers.
In other words, get a pick virtually for free rather than just letting the guy go to a be claimed by the team that actually wants him.
At $3.25M/annum the Freddy Modin deal is a real, real, real good comparison point for both the Caps and the Zubie camp, you'd think.
Zed's gone. 2nd rounder from NYI
Sorry, that was per Tarik.
I thought so too, re: Modin, though I think that $3.25 is a little much for a shooter who hasn't been scoring. Zubie is much more versatile, no?
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