Catching Up With A Handful Of Blueline Prospects

In case you're wondering what some of the Caps' younger defensemen are up to, today the Sault Star profiles Josh Godfrey, Vogs interviews Theo Ruth, and Keith Seabrook is headed to the WHL to team up with Karl Alzner in Calgary.

Ovechkin Contract Talks Have Begun

According to the Hockey News, "Quietly and without an agent, and precipitated by Sidney Crosby's deal with Pittsburgh, superstar Alex Ovechkin has begun discussing a contract extension. He is dealing directly with GM George McPhee."

Of course, like we said last week, don't sweat it, it'll get done - and hopefully before the season starts.

Thanks to JT for passing on the link via Spector's

Caps Tidbits

A couple of quick lunchtime bits - first, Tarik reports that Alex Semin's knee injury is insignificant (in fact, Sasha's ever-trustworthy agent won't even call it an injury), and second is Mike Vogel's interview with Steve Eminger. Bon appetit.

Sean Avery's Feelings Are Hurt

As you may know, the Rangers and restricted free agent Sean Avery are going to arbitration today to settle on the winger's salary for the 2007-08 season. But reading Rags' GM Glen Sather's arbitration brief, Avery may be wondering why the Blueshirts are even bothering.

In the brief, Sather refers to Avery as "a reasonably effective player as well as a detriment to the team."

Hyperbole? Sure. Though Avery certainly is prone to taking bad penalties, for a guy who had 20 points in 29 games for the Rangers and draws a ton of penalties as well, that's a bit of a slap in the face and a good example of how feelings can get hurt in what can be an ugly arbitration process.

So after the arbiter decides on terms and the two sides sign a new deal, Avery's supposed to forget the insult, put on his happy face and play his usual ultra-annoying brand of hockey?

You bet he is.

Here's a question: would any of you have a problem with your boss disparaging you semi-publicly and then paying you around $2 million for the next 10 months or so of work? I didn't think so.

New Logos And Jerseys, Part II

Thanks to Kukla's Korner for pointing us to the Panthers' new duds, modeled here by Nathan Horton and Stephen Weiss:


As for new logos, Alanah at Canucks And Beyond has the rumored new 'Nucks logo, which appears to be nothing more than the old one (but not the cool old one) in blue and white:


Thoughts?

Saturday Open Thread

Today's Open Thread features a great band (Whiskeytown) on one of the great live music TV shows of all-time (Austin City Limits).

Ah, the days before Ryan Adams released a CD every time he picked up a guitar...

Caps Sign Jurcina

The Caps have signed Milan Jurcina to a 2-year deal. According to Tarik, Jurcina will earn $850,000 next season and $912,500 in 2008-09.

I think we can all agree that this is a great deal for the Caps.

Osala Fin(n)ished With Juniors

As we speculated on Monday, Osala's recently-signed deal with Espoo does contain an out clause, so if the Big O signs a deal to play for either the Caps or, far more likely, Hershey, he'll begin his professional career on this side of the pond - undersized AHL defensemen, be forewarned.

Make sure to head over to Caps.com to read Vogs' profile on the young Finn, and while you're over there, check out Mike's profiles of Osala's fellow countryman Sami Leposito and Czech goaltender Michal Neuvirth as well.

Milan Jurcina And Arbitration (Or Not)

If Milan Jurcina ends up going to arbitration on Monday, perhaps GMGM can ask Bruins GM Peter Chiarelli to argue the case against Jurcina, as Chiarelli obviously didn't think much of the hulking blueliner, who he traded to D.C. for a fourth round pick this past February (a pick, by the way, that the B's later lost when Brad Stuart didn't resign with the Flames, in essence meaning that Boston traded away Jurcina for nothing). Whether or not the Caps and Jurcina actually end up in arbitration, let's take a look at the arguments for and against Jurcina getting a big pay day (relative to the $500,000 he made last year, at least).

Show me the money: Jerky played at around a 25-point, +14 pace once he arrived in Washington, and while neither number is quite Pronger-esque, only 14 NHL blueliners had both 25 points and a plus/minus rating of +14 or better (Sean Hill only had 25 points and he was on steroids). For the season (including his time in Boston), Jurcina was second (behind John Erskine) on the Caps in hits per minute of ice time. Speaking of big Slovak rearguards, in case you're wondering what Zdeno Chara's second NHL season looked like, Big Z had 2 goals, 7 assists and was -27 (Jerky had 4 goals, 8 assists and was even this past season). Oh, and Vinny Lecavalier called Jurcina one of the toughest defensemen he's had to play against.

Not so fast: While Jurcina certainly played well for the Caps, his overall numbers were still mediocre (136th in points and 124th in plus/minus). In fact, for the season, Jurcina had fewer points per minutes of ice time than every Caps blueliner (minimum 25 games played) with the exceptions of Shaone Morrisonn and Jeff Schultz (yes, even Erskine had more points per minute). Jurcina's shooting percentage has dropped from 9.38% in his rookie year to 6.90% with Boston and 4.76% with the Caps last year (still a Top 50 percentage for the year, though). Perhaps most importantly, Jurcina let Daniel Briere live after spearing him in the last game of the season. Weak.

With some of the two sides' arguments out of the way, let's look at some comparables. As Vogs notes:

One common misnomer in the process is the concept of “comparables.” Yes, both sides will present comparable players in their cases, but those comparables are looked at from the standpoint of when they signed the contract that made them comparable. In other words, you can’t just look at [the player]’s stats from 2006-07 and find other players with similar numbers and see what their earnings are.

For the purposes of comparables, “platform years” are used. A platform year is the year in which a player “earned” his subsequent contract. Anyone signing a (non-entry level and non-UFA) contract this summer for 2007-08 would have a platform year of 2006-07. So “comparable” contracts basically include those negotiated by other Group II (restricted) free agents. For the sake of comparables, the players’ age and position should also be similar, if not exact. Any comparables in the [Jurcina] case are almost certain to have 2005-06 or 2006-07 as their platform season.

That said, who fits the bill? One guy that might is Ottawa's Christoph Schubert. Schubert is about a year-and-a-half older than Jurcina, but, like Milan, has two NHL seasons under his belt. He has played in 15 more regular season games, has scored 2 more goals and tallied 10 more assists, nearly identical PIMs and a handful more shots on goal (though it should be noted that he played many nights as a forward/seventh defenseman). His career plus/minus dwarfs Jurcina's, but that has more to do with the quality of his team than the quality of his play. Schubert's versatility and how he's been used makes him an imperfect comparison, but given that he signed earlier this week for $833,333.33 per year for three years, he's worth noting.

Closer to home, when the Caps re-signed Morrisonn last July, he was six months younger than Jurcina is now, had played 23 more games, scored eight fewer goals, had seven more assists, a better career plus/minus and around the same number of PIMs. Mo resigned for two years at $900,000 per year.

Another hometown guy who's not a perfect point of reference (but who I'll still mention) is Steve Eminger. When Emmy signed his one-year deal last year, he was a year and change younger than Jerky is now, but had played in just three more games, had five fewer goals, six more assists and a much worse career plus/minus. That deal for Eminger was for one year at $993,000.

Want more comparables? Of course you do. But I don't have an intern, so you'll get snapshots of a few of last year's somewhat similar blueliner signings:

• Mike Commodore (career stats prior to signing in July, 2006): Three years older than Jurcina is now, 26 more games played, six fewer goals, three more assists, far more PIMs, same plus/minus, two more Cup Finals appearances. Signed for... two years at $1.25m per.
• Branislav Mezei (career stats prior to signing in July, 2006): Two years older than Jurcina is now, 17 more games played, three fewer goals, one more assist, far more PIMs, similar plus/minus. Signed for... two years at $850,000 per.
• Tim Gleason (career stats prior to signing in September, 2006): Same age as Jurcina is now, four more games played, eight fewer goals, 13 more assists, identical PIMs, worse plus/minus. Signed for... two years at $1.175m per.
• Mike Komisarek (career stats prior to signing in July, 2006): Same age as Jurcina is now, 17 more games played, eight fewer goals, four fewer assists, worse plus/minus, more PIMs. Signed for... one year at $946,827.
• Fedor Tyutin (career stats prior to signing in August, 2006): One year younger than Jurcina is now, 19 fewer games played, two fewer goals, 11 more assists, worse plus/minus, fewer PIMs. Signed for... two years at $987,500 per.
• Brooks Orpik (career stats prior to signing in July, 2006): Two years older than Jurcina is now, 28 more games played, seven fewer goals, three more assists, far worse plus/minus, far more PIMs. Signed for... two years at $1,037,500 per.
• Christian Backman (career stats prior to signing in July, 2006): Two years older than Jurcina is now, one more game played, one more goal scored, 12 more assists, far worse plus/minus, far fewer PIMS. Signed for... three years at $2.3m per (overpay much?).
  

You can pick and choose who you think the real comparables in that group are, but the point is that you see a pretty clear range developing, and the middle of that range is probably right around $950,000, give or take a nice sports car.

At this point, this post has dragged on long enough and it's time for some of your thoughts. Given that Brooks Laich is still the only case to actually go to arbitration (16 have settled prior to the hearing), do you think that Jurcina's will? Whether it does or not, what do you think is a fair deal for the guy?

I Know What You Did This Summer - And It's Pretty Good

CBS Sportsline is handing out its Midsummer Report Cards, and the Caps are at the head of the Southeast Division class. Granted, they probably had the most room (and need) for improvement, but seeing grades in the C-range attached to the top three teams in the Division and a B-plus for hometown team certainly leads one to the conclusion that, really, it's anyone's Division.

Here's CBS's review of the Caps' summer so far:

The Capitals had the fourth-lowest point total in the NHL last season, but their record wasn't necessarily a good indicator of how tough they were to play. Washington's talent level was limited, but the Caps worked hard for coach Glen Hanlon and surprisingly stayed in the playoff hunt until a series of key injuries hit around Christmas.

Still, the Capitals moved beyond being a team of Alex Ovechkin and sidekicks thanks to the emergence of 23-year-old Alexander Semin and 30-year-old captain Chris Clark as dynamic offensive forces. Even so, scoring was a major problem last season, and with ample cap space this summer, the Caps have done a good job upgrading by signing veteran free-agent playmakers Michael Nylander and Viktor Kozlov.

Washington added Tom Poti, a good puck-moving defenseman who can be a liability in his own end, but the biggest newcomer impact might well come from Nicklas Backstrom, the 19-year-old Swede who was taken fourth overall by the Caps in 2006 and has been compared to a young Peter Forsberg.

The Caps still have holes to fill, and No. 1 goaltender Olaf Kolzig is 37, but they have a significantly better lineup now and should challenge for a playoff spot. Grade: B-plus

They Grow Up So Fast...

When my wife told me the utterly unsurprising news that the multi-untalented Lindsay Lohan had been arrested for drunk driving for the second time in the past two months (a time span during which she had spent six weeks in rehab), I couldn't help but shake my head and think back to a more pure and virtuous time for LiLo, a time spent gyrating as the opening act to a throng of transvestites dancing around a ball-gagged Brendan Shanahan (surprisingly, the link is SFW).

Now, sadly, that innocence is lost, never to return.

Sigh.

Laich Signed

The arbiter has ruled and Brooks Laich has signed on the dotted line - one year, one way, $725,000.

Next up - Milan Jurcina (or any of the other three remaining RFAs, Tomas Fleischmann, Jakub Klepis and John Erskine).

New Logos And Jerseys, Part I

The new logos and uniforms keep trickling in as the teams change over to the Reebok Edge Uniform System, and below are some of the latest.

First up, the new San Jose Sharks logo, featuring it's Japanimated shark:

Pretty cool, if you ask me, and they've got a whole host of alternate logos that you can check out here, including my personal favorite.

Then there's what's rumored to be the very-slightly-tweaked new Tampa Bay Lightning logo (for more, check 'em out at SeSo):

Nothing special (which is fitting), and almost imperceptibly different from the previous logos.

Finally, the Nashville Predators revealed their new threads:


Again, not much of a change, but man, could there be more piping?

So, what do you think?

High Fives: Top 5 Players With Girly Names

My guess is that growing up as a young man in Manitoba with a name like Jody Shelley, you learn to be pretty tough pretty fast. The Blue Jackets' enforcer is one of the Top 5 players in the NHL with a less-than-totally-masculine name... head over to FanHouse to see who else made the list.

Warm-Up Those Vocal Cords, Smokin' Al

Yesterday Versus proudly announced their on-air talent for the upcoming NCAA football season, and the play-by-play voice of their Mountain West Conference telecasts will be none other than Joe Beninati (not this one, but this one).

Versus, which lamely describes itself as "the network that celebrates real competition in all its forms" (is that some sort of dig at the Worldwide Leader or an excuse for why they air something called World Extreme Cagefighting?), touts Joe B.'s resume as follows:

Joe Beninati has worked for more than a decade with the Washington Capitals doing play-by-play as the lead voice for the Comcast Sportsnet (CSN) telecasts. His other TV and radio credits include five years as the play-by-play voice of Major League Lacrosse on ESPN2 and two seasons with the WNBA Washington Mystics, as well as spot duty with the NBA Washington Wizards, the Baltimore Orioles in MLB, and major college football on Westwood One. Beninati is a three-time Capital Region Emmy Award winner for excellence in composite play-by-play.

Impressive, no doubt. But don't you think they'd mention some of his other on-air work? For example, oh, I don't know... maybe that he has been one of the lead play-by-play announcers for Versus' own NHL coverage?

As for how this impacts you - which is all you care about anyway - there are three direct conflicts with Caps games on the Versus Mountain West television schedule. Three nights on which we will, no doubt, be treated to the dolcet tones Craig Laughlin referring to Smokin' Al Koken as "Joe" at least three times per night. I, for one, can't wait.

AO's Not Stressed About A Contract Extension - You Shouldn't Be Either

I've seen a fair amount of concern over the fact that Alex Ovechkin hasn't yet signed a contract extension - after all, Sidney Crosby has and Lord knows he's the stick by which any and every thing Alex does is measured.

Anyway, the Caps have just over 11 months to work something out with their franchise player (though I would expect something to be finalized much earlier), so don't sweat it. After all, AO isn't:

The fact that Crosby signed his new contract and I have not doesn’t make my pulse rush.

Read more of a great interview with Alex over at Dump and Chase, and find out what else he's been up to this summer (hint: a lot of training).

Backstrom Profile At NHL.com

Shawn P. Roarke profiles Nicklas Backstrom over on NHL.com (and in case you're wondering, yes, Roarke makes the obligatory Peter Forsberg reference).

Osala Signs With Blues

Per Eurohockey.net, winger Oskar Osala has signed with the Espoo Blues of the Finnish Elite League.

Osala, who impressed at the Caps' development camp earlier this month, had been thought to be headed to Hershey in the Fall, and still might for all we know - these contracts often have out-clauses. Regardless of where he plays this season, hopes are high for the 6'4" forward, and if his development continues to progress the way it has over the past year, we'll all get to see him again on this side of the pond sooner rather than later.

Laich Heads To Arbitration

The dog days are officially upon us, friends, but luckily only in a "there's not a whole hell of a lot of hockey news" way and not in a Michael Vick sorta way.

There is some news, however, regarding one of the Caps' remaining restricted free agents. Barring a last minute deal, the Caps and forward Brooks Laich will be before an arbitrator today, presenting their respective cases for what the Saskatchewan native's 2007-08 salary should be.

Frankly, I'm not sure what Laich (who came to Washington in exchange for Peter Bondra back in the Spring of '04) hopes to achieve in arbitration. Sure, his goal total increased 14% this past season over 2005-06... but that bump took him from seven to eight - not exactly a breakout season. And he did prove his versatility while improving both his plus/minus and his fauxhawk. But with less-than-gaudy numbers on a team with far more options than spots on the bottom two lines and with Brian Sutherby (who has a 14-goal season under his belt and wore an "A" last season) signing for $800,000 just last week, how much can Laich really be asking for?

Previously: Jurcina, Laich Elect Arbitration

Update: The Forechecker has a good preview of what the hearing might be like.

Update: If I'm Laich, maybe I walk in with this video teed up to #6...

Saturday Open Thread

In honor of Harry Potter's and (perhaps) David Beckham's big days, here's an English band for you, the one and only Muse (whose song "Hysteria" you might recognize as the tune the Caps would come out to to start the second period of home games last season):

Why The Rising Tide Doesn't Lift All NHL Ships

Tom Benjamin has a really interesting post up about why the NHLPA favors a relocation of the Predators to Hamilton... and why the owners don't. It hammers home the point that without a major television deal or similar all-inclusive revenue streams, individual franchise priorities can differ from what is perhaps "in the best interest of the game" on a macro level. Check it out.

Harry Potter Secret Revealed! Spoiler Alert!

No, not really. But the Caps sold an old Zamboni to some Brits (for well over $100k, I might add) and I got all caught up in Pottermania. Sorry.

Hate Cancer? Love Hockey?

The Put Cancer On Ice folks are holding their monthly pickup hockey game over at Kettler on July 29 (details are here) and donating the proceeds to Hockey Fights Cancer.

As you probably would guess, this month's game takes on a little extra significance with the recent passing of WTimes beat writer Dave Fay and, to that end, the money raised at this month's event will be donated in Fay's name.

So head out to Kettler and lace 'em up for a good cause and to honor a good man. And if you can't make it out there, you can always donate in other ways.

Caps Re-Sign Steckel, Hunt

Most of the details are here.

Quote Of The Day

"The expectations are raised. We're not a rebuilding team any more." - Chris Clark

Uniform Illustrations

There seems to be some confusion out there as to whether or not teams will switch back to home whites and road darks for the upcoming season (they won't) and some question as to what color the Caps' home helmets will be (they'll be blue).

To clear up the confusion and answer the question for you visual learners, here's an illustration (courtesy of the team) of the new uniforms, hat-to-socks, with the home reds on the left and the road whites on the right:

H/t to Norske on the TSN.ca link

Spreading The Gospel On Chris Clark

I wrote a bit more on Chris Clark and his contract extension over at FanHouse. Check it out.

The Other Gordon And A Pair Of Finns

The fantastic Tim Leone has a profile of Caps' prospect Andrew Gordon in today's Patriot News that's certainly worth checking out.

Leone describes Gordon as a "high-energy forward" (head coach Bruce Boudreau compares Gordon to the Kings' Dustin Brown, who Boudreau coached in Manchester) who is certain to energize the Bears' lineup in his first season in Chocolatetown.

Leone also notes that hulking Finnish forward Oskar Osala is expected to play in Hershey this year as well, despite having another year of Junior eligibility left. Osala's fellow countryman Sami Lepisto is also expected to play for Coach Boudreau this coming season.

Finally, here's a bit of trivia for you - Sami Lepisto's godfather is none other than Jari Kurri.

Thanks for dropping all that knowledge on us, Tim!

Scouting The Caps' NHL Goalies

While enthusiasm is bubbling over with regards to two of the Caps' younger goaltending prospects (Simeon Varalmov and Michael Neuvirth), I stumbled upon some interesting stats regarding NHL goalie save percentages over at Hockey Numbers regarding the two guys who will be holding down the NHL fort for the foreseeable future and figured I'd toss the numbers out there. I'm not totally sold on the methodology (I'm not sure, for example, whether the "Zone 2" is high glove for all goalies or just for those who catch left-handed), but the numbers paint a broad picture and confirms statistically what our eyes have been telling us for years.

First, the averages. Here's a graphic representing all NHL goalies and their save percentages, by zone, for 2006-07:


It's hardly surprising that goalies have better save percentages down low than up high, that low-stick is a stronger zone for netminders than low-glove, or that high-glove is a slightly easier save for most than high-stick. What may be surprising is that the fewest shots were fired at the zone with the lowest save percentage. Memo to skaters: shoot high and on the stick side!

Now let's take a look at Olie Kolzig:


If you've been watching Olie over the past decade or so, your heart has probably been in your throat every time you see an oncoming skater tee one up and send a shot just over his left shoulder. This graphic confirms why - like most goalies, high-glove is a danger zone for Olie. But for Kolzig it's a particularly vulnerable region. In fact (and you may want to look away for a minute), only Sean Burke, Robert Esche, Jose Theodore and Marc Denis had worse Zone 2 save percentages last year. That's not the kind of company a goalie wants to keep.

Also worth noting is Olie's below average save percentage on five-hole shots - not exactly uncommon among "tall" goalies (heck, even Roberto Luongo has a mortal's save percentage there), but a problem nonetheless and one that has earned him the derogatory nickname "Five-Holie" in some circles.

On the positive side of things, Olie's long legs give him incredible coverage down low, and that is reflected in simply awesome Zone 3 and 4 numbers.

As for Kolzig's back up, here's a look at Brent Johnson:


Johnny didn't exactly set the world afire last year (his save percentage was just .889, as opposed to Kolzig's .910), but his chart is interesting in that his best zones were pretty much Kolzig's worst and his worst were two of Olie's best. What does that mean? Nothing (but if Kolzig had Johnson's five-hole coverage and glove, he'd be a monster... then again, if my aunt had balls, she'd be my uncle).

Of course, these are pretty raw numbers. They don't differentiate among unscreened shots from the blueline, those coming from goal-mouth scrambles, Vinny Lecavalier one-timers versus a fourth-liner's wrister, etc. And I believe that, for some reason, shootout attempts are included (skewing Olie's numbers, especially his five-hole numbers) down further. But if nothing else, these charts confirm "the book" on Kolzig and that Johnny, well, had a bad year.

R.I.P. Dave Fay

WTimes Caps beat writer and Hockey Hall of Famer Dave Fay has passed away.

Obviously this is very sad news as the hockey world has lost one of its most dedicated and skilled scribes.

"He was one of the most beloved characters in our association," said Professional Hockey Writers Association president Kevin Allen. "He was the loveable curmudgeon, an old-school reporter who played the journalism game with his elbows up. He had a biting humor that has entertained his colleagues for many, many years. We have lost a hockey institution."

Indeed we have. And say, Dave, while you're up there, how about putting in a good word for the team you covered so diligently for so long?

Update: For more on Fay and what he meant to hockey in D.C., check out Vogs' tribute.

Caps Re-Sign Clark

Captain Courageous has re-upped with the Caps for an additional three years (he had one year remaining on his current deal). Details to follow.

High Fives: Top 5 Crappy Goalies With Awesome Masks

Today's "High Fives" is a little more, um, niche than yesterday's. Head over to FanHouse to see who made the list.

Caps Sign Jason Morgan

Who?

Jason Morgan (TSN.ca profile here).

Hope you like chocolate, Jason.

Update: Vogs has much more on Morgan (enough, in fact, to make me feel a little tinge of guilt for my dismissive snarkiness - thanks, Mike).

Caps Re-Sign Eminger, Sutherby

The Caps have re-signed two of their restricted free agents, defenseman Steve Eminger and center Brian Sutherby. Details to follow.

Update: Eminger's deal is his qualifying offer ($1,000,000), Sutherby's is not (his salary will be $800,000 - the same amount he made last year and $40k less than his QO). Both are one-year deals.

Update: Per Nate Ewell with the Caps, Sutherby's deal is a one-way deal (his QO would have been two-way), thus he took less money for that provision.

High Fives: Top 5 NHL Scoring Lines

Over at FanHouse (which, I've been told, is not to be referred to as AOL FanHouse, The FanHouse or Fanhouse - plan the rest of your lives accordingly), we've started up a new feature called "High Fives" in which we'll countdown the Top 5 of anything hockey-related. The inaugural High Five is the Top 5 NHL Scoring Lines.

I've made my pick for number one - who's yours?

NHL.com Looks At The Caps' Top Prospects

NHL.com writer John McGourty offers his similie-laden look at the Caps' top prospects ("like a Doppler weather screen, a storm can be seen brewing and it will soon be bearing down on the Capitals"... huh?).

I'm not sure how McGourty defines "prospects" (leaving guys like Tomas Fleischmann, Eric Fehr, Jeff Schultz and Mike Green off the list may give some indication), but it's a good read and certainly gives good reason for optimism. As Ted Leonsis (and Vogs before him) has written, the Caps "probably have as much young talent in our system now as any time in [the] team's history."

Now if the future could just hurry up and get here...

Quote Of The Day

"[A]s long as the Jews win, who cares." - Ynetnews article on the "Jewish world" ice hockey championships.

In case you're wondering, I don't think Jeff Halpern, Mathieu Schneider or Mike Cammalleri is participating. Oh, and if the tourney needs a catchy tagline, may I suggest "Chosen and Frozen."

H/t to Kukla's on the link

Tick... Tock... Tick... Tock...

Buried in this article on Caps' goaltending prospect Michal Neuvirth (he wants to play in Hershey this coming season, btw), is the following: "Washington's training camp is scheduled to begin Sept. 13, when players report. The first on-ice sessions are slated for Sept. 14." Therefore, the countdown (but not The Final Countdown) is officially on...

Slim Pickin's

With the Caps' Development Camp now over, there's slim pickin's for fans looking to watch hockey players in competition. If you're jonesing, and just can't bring yourself to watch the HBO doc "Do You Believe in Miracles?" On Demand for that eleventh time, Grant Fuhr is in second place going into today's final round of the American Century Celebrity Golf Championship. NBC's live coverage begins at 3:00.

Other pucks players on the links: Brett Hull (10th place), Mario Lemieux (12th place), Pierre Larouche (15th place), Joe Sakic (24th place), and Mike Eruzione (53d place). Last year's winner, Jack Wagner (better known as the dreamy Frisco Jones or more recently, the corrupt Dr. Peter Burns) is in 8th place.

I Want My AOTV

Per Kukla's (and the last bullet to which Ted was referring here), "[t]he Washington Capitals won three 2007 Golden Matrix awards from the Information and Display and Entertainment Association (IDEA) at the association’s 25th annual conference hosted July 8-11, 2007. The Caps’ Game Presentation department took home the association’s Best Music Video award for their Alex Ovechkin as Superman in-game video, as well as the 2007 Best Overall Video Display awards for the subdivision of hockey and the overall contest.

"The Best Music Video Award recognizes excellence in pre-produced video segments that have been edited to music and where music is central to the creative impact of the piece. Washington’s Ovechkin as Superman video depicted the team’s superstar as the comic book superhero."

Here's the vid:

Ever Wonder What Became Of Jared Aulin?

Back during the Great Dismantling of '03 (or whatever you'd like to call it), the Caps sent one of their biggest asses assets to the Rangers in exchange for Anson Carter, who they later moved to Los Angeles for a prospect named Jared Aulin.

Aulin didn't do a whole heck of a lot in the AHL and never made it back to The Show. Now it appears he's done with hockey altogether.

It's an unfortunate (and somewhat bizarre) story of a pretty good prospect that never made it - and never will.

H/t to Izzy on the link

Day Two From KCI

I didn't make it out to Kettler last night (nor will I tonight or tomorrow - Dewey Beach beckons), but plenty of others did. Read some of their recaps at Dump and Chase and OFB, and check out the video below from Healthy Scratch that includes Ted/Teddy/Theo Ruth plastering an oncoming winger.

Take Your Pick

Keeping in mind that hockey is played at both ends of the ice, which blueliner would you rather have for the coming season (stats are 2006-07 numbers - click on the Player tag to see who it is if you can't figure it out)?

Player A (31 years old): 81 games played, 26 goals, 38 assists, -28, 135 PIMs, 101 hits, 149 blocked shots, 85 giveaways, 62 takeaways.

Player B (30 years old): 78 games played, 6 goals, 38 assists, -1, 74 PIMs, 61 hits, 170 blocked shots, 58 giveaways, 50 takeaways.

Oh, and in case you're wondering, over the past five NHL seasons, Player B has out-pointed Player A by 18 points and has the better plus/minus rating by 38.

Reasonable minds certainly could differ as to who was more valuable to his team last year (though Player B's sqaud made the playoffs while Player A's team did not) and who will be more valuable going forward, but when you consider that Player B signed a 4-year deal for $14 million and Player A signed a 5-year deal for $27 million, can those reasonable minds really still differ?

Letters From Summer Camp

Day One of the Caps' Development Camp is in the books and while some players impressed (Oskar Osala, Francois Bouchard and Mathieu Perreault among them) and some didn't (Joe Finley, Simeon Varlamov), I wouldn't read much into one afternoon's performance with new linemates, etc.

Really, it was just great to see hockey in July and get to see the names we've been reading about (some for years) on the backs of (very sharp) practice jerseys. With so much going on and so many other new and old media types there, there's sure to be plenty worth checking out, so take it all in from near (much like GMGM and Ted and his son were doing yesterday in KB's picture above) or far. Start here:

• Dump and Chase (why would you start anywhere else?)
• On Frozen Blog (rookie camp is like crack to these guys)
  
• Capital Fanatic (great pics and observations)
• WaPo feature on Backstrom (by intern Katie Carrera)
• Off Wing Opinion (fantastic interviews with Varlamov, Karl Alzner and Andrew Glass) In fact, here's the Varlamov interview to whet your appetite:
  

Interview With Simeon Varlamov, July 11, 2007
Uploaded by emcerlain