Thursday Grab Bag

We've got a handful of miscellaneous quick hitters today, but feel free to chat about whatever's on your mind in the comments.

First up is a great read over at McKeen's on Nicklas Backstrom, who isn't taking it easy after a fantastic rookie year: "I want to be a better hockey player. I have to work hard this summer. You want to be better every year, so you have to have a good summer." (h/t to SCruzer on the link).

On to YorkRegion.com for a piece on 2008 Caps draftee Stefan Della Rovere, who takes pride in what he does: "They told me I was a good pick for them in the seventh round because I’m a hard-nosed power forward type of pest. It was nice to hear that."

Next, a quick word of thanks to The Hockey News' Sam McCaig for writing an article about where Ray Emery might end up and not including the Caps in his list of possibilities. My eyes bleed every time I see "Emery" and "Washington" in the same sentence.

Finally, I noticed that the Caps are trying to keep tabs on your summer Red Rocking, so send in your pics - I'm sure they'd be happy to receive something like this Phoebe Cates classic, or perhaps something a bit more modern like this (possibly NSFW).

Heartbreak Of The Year

Two former starting goalies ride the pine down the stretch (for vastly different reasons) and don't get a minute of ice time in the playoffs. Their respective teams get bounced in the first round.

Here's one of the goalies' response:

"I don't take responsibility for the team losing in the playoffs, I'll tell you that much."

The other goalie handled the playoff exit by "remov[ing] his nameplate from his locker" and "declin[ing] to talk to reporters."

Frankly, I hate drawing this comparison here. For more than a decade, Olie Kolzig has been one of the NHL's most respectable players. From his on-ice achievements to his charitable work to his loyalty to the organization through its leanest years in three decades, he has almost always been the very personification of professionalism.

Clearly he felt wronged (perhaps justifiably) by the franchise when it went out and got another goaltender at this past trade deadline and turned the netminding duties over to the newcomer full-time in mid-March, especially when Kolzig had appeared to have salvaged a seemingly lost season - from February 2 through March 14, Kolzig was 7-3-2 with a 2.09 GAA and .923 save percentage.

But Kolzig's reaction last night was, to be blunt, immature and selfish. It distracted from the real story - the brilliant run his team had been on since Thanksgiving - and shifted the focus to his discontent, to his abandonment of and by the team.

Had he just walked out after hitting the showers, it would have been a non-story. But by his conduct - the simple act of removing his nameplate - Olie said with his actions, "I don't take responsibility for that team losing in the playoffs, I'll tell you that much."

And to me, that - and not the team's Game Seven overtime loss - is the biggest heartbreak of this whole wonderful season.

Quoth The Maven, "Nevermore" (Or So We Wish)

FYI: the Rangers were/are better than the Sabres, Ray Emery is awful and the Senators have already won the Cup. Aren't you glad The Maven cleared that all up for you?

Senators/Devils Preview

My FanHouse preview of the Ottawa/Jersey series is up. I went with the Devils in seven, though I have very little confidence in the pick. I was all ready to pick the Sens, but I know the series will be low-scoring and just can't see Ray Emery out-dueling Martin Brodeur over the course of six or seven games.

Is it too late to change my pick and just go with the team in the red, black and white uniforms?

Saturday At The FanHouse

I've been busy over at NHL FanHouse today, hitting topics from Ray Emery's dominance of the Habs to the Western Conference's newest great rivlary to Tie Domi's meltdown at his kid's peewee game. Stop by and check it all out.

Thursday Roundup/Gamenight: Bolts @ Caps

[SeSo Open Thread]

Today's a crazy day for me, winding up with a root canal this afternoon and the Caps/Lightning tonight, depending on how I'm feeling (even money as to which will be more painful to endure). That's just a long-winded way of saying this is your Thursday Open Thread and don't expect much more from me today.

Daily Awards

• Hart: Ray Emery (27-save shutout win)
• Ross: Steve Bernier, Jason Spezza, Kimmo Timonen (2 points each)
• Norris: Robyn Regehr (G, +1)
• Vezina: Ray Emery (see above)
• Richard: Ten players tied with 1G each
• Calder: Alexander Radulov (G, 4 SOG, 2 hits)
• Aiken: Cory Stillman (0 points, 0 SOG, -2 in 2-0 loss)

This, That And The Other Thing

A few random notes:

The London (Ontario) Free Press had a nice article on Dale Hunter's life as an OHL bench boss, where his record is an astounding 245-96-13-11 in five-plus years. Hmmm...

Another former Cap with coaching aspirations is taking it easy at home in Salem, MA (h/t to Kukla's on the link). Perhaps he'll be the Can't Miss Coach.

Am I crazy for totally wanting to tune in for this?

OFB points out that Hockey's Future really likes the Caps' NCAA prospects.

Speaking of OFB, Gustafsson pointed me to this (scroll to the bottom for "More Local Caps News"). Pretty cool.

The SeSo General & Media Links have been updated and are quite extensive (they're linked to on the sidebar here as well). Check 'em out, as well as the ever-expanding SeSo Blog Roll (also linked on the sidebar here).

Finally, this is fantastic - in the Battle of Ontario, there is a Row for Razor.