The Brutally Honest Ron Wilson

Ron Wilson was introduced as the Leafs' new bench boss the other day, and, not surprisingly, he had plenty to say. Of particular (albeit mild) interest to Caps fans are the following passages about a couple of former (sigh) Caps:

"The biggest apology I ever made was to (defenceman) Joe Reekie in Washington," Wilson remembered yesterday. "I said something out of frustration and anger one day, and the next day in front of the team, in front of everybody, I apologized to him. I crossed the line and couldn’t sleep that night. I shouldn’t have said it."

Aww.

Then there's this:

"Along the way there are lots of guys. (Washington goalie) Olaf Kolzig and I used to fight, tooth and nail, over his temper," Wilson said. "Eventually, he came around and said I was right and he was wrong, but we had a direct, confrontational relationship because I didn’t like his behaviour."

I wonder if Olie remembers it the same way.

Enjoy Crazy Ron, Leafs fans. He is, at the very least, entertaining and at the very most, a heck of coach.

Friday Roundup/Gamenight: Caps @ Thrash

[AP Preview - WashingtonCaps.com Preview]

One can safely assume that during and perhaps after Wednesday night's debacle in Chicago, Bruce Boudreau did for the Caps via tearing what German doctors mistakenly did for this woman via surgery. That disaster behind us (no pun intended), the Caps head to Atlanta desperate - which is when Bruce Boudreau's Caps have often been at their best.

In Atlanta, they'll find the League's worst team. Maybe not by record (though theirs is certainly nothing of which to be proud, and they do have a League-low 16 wins in regulation and haven't won an intra-Conference game of any type since the night after Valentine's Day), but just look at the mess this franchise is. They can't score. They can't keep opponents from scoring. They have the worst goals for/goals against differential in hockey. They have two defensemen whose plus/minus ratings are in the minus-twenties and eight forwards who are double-digit minus players. Their top line is an Ovechkin-wannabe Ilya Kovalchuk, Bobby Holik and Chris Thorburn and they don't have a goalie on the roster with a GAA under three.

Pretty sweet, ain't it?

Make no mistake about it, either - this is not the Caps or Pens of the past few years or the Kings or Hawks of this year. There isn't much help on the way in Atlanta. Thrashers GM (and current head coach) Don Waddell could write a book on how not to build a franchise, and three-quarters of it could focus on the blueline. For example, back in 2003, Donny Wads probably knew that he wanted to draft a top rearguard, having taken three forwards and a goalie with the franchise's previous four first round picks.

By the time Atlanta's pick (eighth overall) was up, Ryan Suter was gone, basically leaving Waddell with a choice between a pair of blueliners out of the WHL - Braydon Coburn and Dion Phaneuf. The Thrashers took the former - a decision that, at the time, didn't seem horrendous, given that Coburn was Central Scouting's top-rated defenseman overall, a couple of spots ahead of Phaneuf.

Anyway, Coburn played in all of 29 games for the Thrashers before Waddell shipped him to Philly for Alexei Zhitnik last February, and just over a year later, well, here's what everyone's got:

• Philadelphia: Coburn, who is getting 20-plus minutes per night and has a team-leading plus-eighteeen rating for the Flyers at a cap hit of $785,000.
• Calgary: Phaneuf, a franchise defenseman who hits everything that moves and already has a 20-goal season under his belt and for whom most NHL general managers would gladly sacrifice a testical (or at least a pinky toe).
• Atlanta: Zhitnik, a 35-year-old with three goals, five assists and a minus-eight rating in 65 games at a cap hit of more than $3.5 million this year and next season. In fairness, Zhitnik did help the Thrashers make the playoffs last year... where they won as many games as the Caps did.
  

Ouch.

The following year, 2004, Waddell went D-drafting again, this time taking Boris Valabik (a fairly by-the-book pick)... 13 spots before Andrej Meszaros, 17 before Jeff Schultz and 19 before Mike Green. Valabik made his NHL debut Wednesday night and was on the ice for all five goals the Thrash surrendered.

Bottom line: if you're looking for a reason that Atlanta's defense is so awful, look at the guy putting the team together and his inability to evaluate talent at the position. In nine drafts, I count exactly three NHL defensemen (not counting Valabik) - Garnet Exelby, Coburn (a no-brainer) and the gem that is Tobi Enstrom, taken with the 239th pick in that 2003 draft - and little in the system about which to get excited.

By contrast, over the same nine drafts, George McPhee has drafted six blueliners who have seen NHL minutes this season and other prospects with promise aplenty (let's just not revist that 2003 Draft in too much more detail, okay?).

So here's to Don Waddell - may he keep his job as GM in Atlanta for many years to come.

And while it's certainly enjoyable to revel in the Thrashers' suck, it has been costly to the Caps when you consider how generous Atlanta has been this season to the teams with whom the Caps are fighting for playoff spots. They've given Carolina 11 points in seven games on the campaign, nine in six to Florida, eight in four to Philly, six in four to Boston, five in four to Buffalo... and eight in seven to the Caps.

If the Caps can't turn that last stat into ten in eight tonight, they're going to be in a very difficult spot indeed.

Elsewhere 'Round the Rinks:

Happy 42nd Birthday to Al "Bald Wild Thing" Iafrate.... Count Jim Kelley in the "he can be MVP without making the playoffs" camp.... Crazy Ron, however, is on the other side.... Mike Brophy's cold streak continues as he praises Chris Rooney for having a "solid" season. I tend to disagree.... GMGM was on this team (though I'm not sure I see him in that team pic - could that be him in the back right?) and he's griping about the length of the Caps' current road trip? Heh.... Speaking of firing up the Wayback Machine, Rink Reader Buddy reminded me the other day of a Glen Hanlon nugget that no doubt will win you a beer in a bar someday.... Matt Pettinger has three goals for Vancouver, and they're lovin' him. Good for Princess.... Say what you will about Georges Laraque (no, really... please do), but there can be no denying that he has a way with words (near the bottom; h/t Hockeyfights.com).... Ranger fans can be unfriendly? Get out.... Finally, one year ago today we got fantastic news from across the pond, almost equally fantastic news from The Big Apple, and previewed that night's Caps/Sabres game (which featured the Caps' first meeting with "former Cap" Dainius Zubrus), and two years ago today we recapped another Caps loss, but it wasn't just any loss - it was the "Ovechkin Benching" game (and the kid's been nothing but trouble since).

Daily Awards

• Hart: Alexei Kovalav (2G, including the game-winner, A, +3, 6 SOG)
  
• Ross: Alexei Kovalev, Shane Doan, Peter Mueller (3 points each)
  
• Norris: Tom Preissing (2G, 3 SOG, 2 hits)
  
• Vezina: Cam Ward (36 saves on 37 shots against in shootout win)
  
• Richard: Alexei Kovalev, Tom Preissing, Pavel Datsyuk, Alexander Radulov (2G each)
  
• Calder: Peter Mueller (3A)
  
• Aiken: Nick Boynton (0 points, -3)

Moron, Err, More On Chris Rooney

Look, I hate whining about officiating (most of the time) - if a team puts itself in a position where a referee can decide the game, they often deserve what they get. I prefer holding players culpable for giving the stripes the opportunity to make the horrendous calls they so often make, so I'll leave the full-on ref bashing to others.

But I will point out that this isn't the first time this season that one of today's referees, Boston's own Chris Rooney, has, for lack of a better term, screwed the pooch (which shouldn't be surprising, considering that he has been calling regular season games since 2000 and, based on his performance, has gotten a chance to officiate all of three playoff games). A brief look at his 2007-08 greatest hits:

• December 11 - Rooney and Bill McCreary let things get way out of hand in a Pens/Flyers game.
  
• February 4 - Rooney's whistle is... somewhere other than in his mouth, allowing Phoenix to score in overtime to beat Colorado. "It was a ridiculous non-call and I'm upset," said Avs coach Joel Quenneville.
• February 10 - Rooney and partner Dan O'Halloran repeatedly botch the Avs/Wings game.
• March 8 - Today's game. Ugh.
  

As for Rooney's roots - he grew up in Beantown and "watch[ed] the Bruins all [his] life" - one of the more notable moments in his career came when he threw former Bruin Joe Thornton out of a game for checking-from-the-side... against then-Bruin Hal Gill... in Boston. Apparently "[e]veryone, including the league, later agreed referee Chris Rooney over-reacted."

Finally, while this next quote is a little older, it's classic Ron Wilson, so it gets included:

"No practice tomorrow -- what we'll do is maybe call a practice and practice our diving. I'm dead serious. Chris Rooney calls a penalty on us on an obvious dive from Paul Kariya, so if anything, it should cost Paul Kariya $1,000 [in a fine for diving] to win the hockey game. [The NHL] put out a memo on dives and divers, and he's right at the top of the list for taking dives. ... Plain and simple, that's a dive."

So that's a bit of the Rooney file. Take it for what it's worth... maybe more than he's worth as a referee.

Accountability Guys

As the San Jose Sharks continue to lick their wounds (can Sharks lick wounds?) after another playoff series loss without even getting close to hockey's promised land, head coach Ron Wilson was reluctant to offer a knee-jerk reaction...

But he did cite one ingredient he thought the Sharks lacked in the postseason, something his 1998 Washington Capitals — Stanley Cup finalists — had: Players who didn't care what their teammates thought of them. Accountability guys, Wilson called them.

"They were mirrors," Wilson said, later identifying forwards Brian Bellows and Esa Tikkanen by name. "They stood in front of people and made them look at themselves."

Interesting that Wilson named those two short-term Caps rather than guys like Dale Hunter, Steve Konowalchuk, Mark Tinordi, Calle Johansson, etc., but he was in the room that Spring and I wasn't.

The bottom line is that that team had more character and accountability in a dozen or so players than most Divisions have these days, and no amount of Joe Thorntons and Patrick Marleaus (or Daniel Brieres or Thomas Vaneks, for that matter) can make up for that deficiency if it exists.

Oh, and Esa - thanks again for missing that open net in Game 2. It would have been awful to come back to D.C. tied at a game apiece. It's good to hear that at least you were "accountable," if not "able."