Monday Roundup/Gamenight: B's @ Caps

[AP Preview - WashingtonCaps.com Preview]

It certainly wasn't the primary motivation for acquiring goaltender Cristobal Huet at the trade deadline last week, but with three of the Caps' last 16 games against the Boston Bruins, it doesn't hurt that Cristo has dominated the B's throughout his career. In three games against the Bruins so far this season, Huet is 3-0-0 with a 1.67 goals against average and .943 save percentage, and for his career he is 8-2-0/1.93/.940 with three shutouts (the most wins and shutouts he has against any opponent).

In fact, Huet has great career numbers against a handful of the Caps' remaining opponents: his best career GAA (1.08) and save percentage (.964) are against Florida, who Washington will face twice more; he's 2-0-1/1.73/.947 against Nashville (who the Caps play on March 18); he's 4-2-2/2.05/.932 against Atlanta, 6-3-0/2.24/.931 against Tampa and 3-2-1-0/2.37/.931 against the 'Canes (each of whom Washington will play two more times before the regular season wraps up); and he's 3-2-0/2.13/.915 against Pitt, who the Caps face at home next Sunday.

Sure, Huet is no longer playing behind Mike Komisarek, Andrei Markov et. al., but the fact that he has a career 29-13-1-4 record with a 1.97 GAA, .937 SV% and nine shutouts against the teams the Caps will play in 13 of their last 16 games has to count for something. Oh, and against those other three teams - Buffalo, Calgary and Chicago - Huet is 8-9-1-3/2.73/.909... maybe Olie Kolzig can get some work in in those games - he's 26-19-6-1/2.42/.914 against that trio of teams.

The flip side of the "Huet vs. the Bruins" coin is "Tim Thomas vs. the Caps." The B's netminder is 8-0-1 with a 1.82 GAA and .940 SV% in his career against Washington, thanks in large part to Zdeno Chara's ability to shut down Alex Ovechkin. For his career, the Great Eight has only five points - and only two goals - in nine games against Big Z's teams (Boston for this year and last, Ottawa in '05-'06) and three goals and four helpers in nine tilts against Boston.

So even though the Bruins come into tonight's game 7-0-1 in their last eight and the Caps have been playing around .500 hockey for the past month-and-a-half (8-6-3 since January 22), expect another tight game - since the lockout, only one of the nine games between these two teams (of which the Caps have won only one, by the way) was decided by more than one goal (this season's only meeting, January 3rd's 2-0 Boston win). Oh, and for those of you revenge seekers, a reminder that this will be the first time the Caps have seen Milan Lucic since he quite possibly ended Brian Pothier's career.

The Caps should have no trouble getting up for this game. Maintaining that intensity will be the challenge.

Why The Bruins Will Win:

"The Bruins will beat the Caps tonight because Tim Thomas does yoga. All bets on the Bs are off if Huet wears his old Canadiens helmet, though." - The Hockey (and Donut) Blog

"Right now, the Bruins are flat out clicking. Everything that can go right is going right, and Boston has six straight wins. Between the pipes, Tim Thomas has allowed just one goal in his last two outings. This alone is not a good sign for Washington, as Thomas is 8-0-1 in his career against the Capitals. A solid performance from Thomas and the rest of the B's could lead to seven wins in a row." - The Bear Cave

"The Bruins will win because they're on a 6-game win streak. Besides, the only quality players on the Caps' roster are Ovechkin and ...uh....that other....hmm. Well, at least they have Ovechkin." - The Spoked B

"The Bruins will win because they have won their last six games, and are planning to make it seven tonight to keep the streak alive." - WickedBruinsFan

Elsewhere 'Round the Rinks:

Happy 24th Birthday to Alex Semin and Happy 45th to Kelly Miller... H/t to Ted Leonsis for digging out this GMGM gem.... On this date in 1996, Jim Carey set the franchise mark with his sixth shutout of the season (and second in two days). He'd add another three before his Vezina-winning campaign was over, and the nine shutouts remain a Caps single season record.... On this date in 2004, the Caps sent Sergei Gonchar to Boston for Shaone Morrisonn and the picks that were used to draft Jeff Schultz and Mikhail Yunkov.... On this date in 1895, according to the HHOF, "The earliest recorded ice hockey game was played, with McGill University going against the Victoria skating club, at the Victoria Rink in Montreal. The two teams played with nine men on a side, and used a flat disk as a puck." Chris Chelios finished the game with a plus-two rating.... Finally, one year ago today, we wished Semin a Happy Birthday with some of his personal highlights and started our offseason free agent wish list by looking at the available centers.

Daily Awards

• Hart: Craig Anderson (53-save shutout win)
• Ross: Patrick Kane (3 points)
  
• Norris: Niklas Kronvall (2A, +3)
  
• Vezina: Craig Anderson (53-save shutout win)
  
• Richard: Patrick Kane, Jeff Carter (2G each)
  
• Calder: Patrick Kane (2G, including the game-winner, A, +2)
  
• Aiken: Henrik Lundqvist (3 goals allowed on 8 shots against in just 19:40 (!) of work)
  

The Best Trade In Capitals History, By Far

Ted Montgomery over at USA Today is getting ready for the trade deadline by listing eight of the worst trades in NHL history (which, as he implies, can also be viewed as eight of the best trades in NHL history, but what fun is complimenting when you can insult?).

Anyway, a Caps trade made Monty's list:

Trade: The New York Rangers traded Kelly Miller, Mike Ridley and Bob Crawford to the Washington Capitals for Bob Carpenter and a second-round draft choice [Ed. note: The pick was in the 1989 Entry Draft and was used on some guy named Jason Prosofsky who only made it as high as the AHL for four games].

Date: Jan. 1, 1987.

Outcome: Carpenter's first five years in Washington were pretty good, but he only had one really outstanding season for the Caps (1984-85). He was also a bit of a problem child; he just needed time to mature. After the trade was made, Carpenter played in just 28 games for the Rangers before they flipped him to Los Angeles. He then played several more years with the Bruins and Devils, with one year back in Washington, but he was never the big scorer for those teams that he had been in his early 20s with the Caps. Miller and Ridley went on to personify the hard-working Caps of the late 1980s and 1990s. Miller played nearly 13 seasons for the Caps, and was incredibly durable and steady. Ridley was the better scorer of the two, and averaged 75 points per season on a team that largely depended on Peter Bondra and Michal Pivonka for the bulk of its scoring. While at the time of the trade Carpenter was considered a budding superstar, subsequent events showed that steadiness and hard work always win out over promise and flash. Carpenter played 28 games for the Rangers; Miller and Ridley played a combined 1,586 games for the Caps. It was the best trade in Capitals history, by far.

Awesome deal. Granted, not once in the four years they all played together was Ridley outscored by both Bondra and Pivonka and only once did either Eastern European score more goals than Number 17 (Bonzai in 1992-93). And, by my count, Rids and Miller combined for 1,528 - not 1,586 - games in Caps sweaters. But those facts are neither here nor there. The bottom line is that in that trade the Caps got the guys who still sit third on the all-time franchise list in games played (Miller) and goals (Ridley), and, most importantly, it was 11 years after the deal when the team next missed the playoffs.

Carpenter, on the other hand, scored more goals (177) in the 422 games before the trade than in the 756 games he played for the rest of his career (in which he scored 143 times). Ironically, the "Can't Miss Kid" had to adjust his game once his scoring touch deserted him, and he became something of a poor man's Kelly Miller. Still, he - and Miller - comfortably made my list of Top American-Born Caps of All-Time.

So yeah, great trade.

But "the best trade in Capitals history"? "By far"? Not a chance. On either point.

I'll let Vogs take it from here, as his absolute must-read is the best post I've ever read on this subject. By far.

Besides, as GDub noted, you should know better than to trust anything purporting to count the eight worst trades of all-time "without a single mention of Mike Milbury or the Toronto Maple Leafs."

The "Can't-Miss Kid" Is Headed To The Hall

Another former Cap is headed to the Hall of Fame, as Bobby Carpenter will be enshrined in October. OK, so it's the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame. Still, it's quite an honor for the first American-born 50-goal scorer in NHL history.

Undoubtedly a Caps great (the first-time around - not so much the second time), Carpenter not only produced for D.C. on the ice, but his trade value was enough to bring back two great assets from the Rangers in Mike Ridley and Kelly Miller on New Year's Day, 1987.

After leaving Washington, Carpenter's game evolved from scorer to Selke-caliber defensive forward, and he won a Cup with the Devils along the way, but I'll always remember his as a Cap.

Congrats, Bobby - you didn't miss.


Update: For much more on Carpenter, check out Vogel's feature over at Caps.com.

The Top 11 American-Born Capitals Of All-Time

With the Olympics nearly upon us and jingoism at an all-time high, The Rink thought it would be a good time to reflect upon the great American-born hockey players who have donned a Capitals sweater over the franchise's first 30-plus years. Finding only one great American-born hockey player who has donned a Capitals sweater over the franchise's first 30-plus years, we turned our attention to the serviceable-to-pretty good players and came up with our Top 11 American-Born Capitals Of All-Time. Players were judged for their productivity, individual accolades, team achievements and other intangibles, such as what the player meant to the team and to the organization.

Unlike our Top 10 (Plus Two) American-Born Players Of All-Time, in which we considered players' entire careers, these players were considered only for their time spent as Capitals (sorry, Phil Housley).

If you like third-line forwards, moderately-offensive defensemen and flashes in the pan, this list is for you. So, without further ado, the Top 11 American-Born Capitals Of All-Time:

11) Tom Rowe (1976-80, 1981-82; 56 goals, 114 points, -39 in 191 games): With 31 goals (four of which were game winners) in 1978-79, Rowe became the first American-born player to score 30 goals in a season. Currently, Rowe is the head coach of the AHL Lowell Lock Monsters.

10) Ken Klee (1994-2003; 43 goals, 111 points, +13 in 570 games): A member of the 1994 Calder Cup champion Portland Pirates, the rugged blueliner joined the Caps full-time in 1995, and averaged nearly 70 games played over the ensuing eight seasons. Never much of a scorer, Klee posted back-to-back career-best 20 point seasons in 1998-99 and 1999-2000 after playing an important part on the 1997-98 team that went to the Stanley Cup Finals.

9) Jeff Halpern (1999-current; 79 goals, 192 points, +3 in 405 career games): Halpern has been a steady contributor since breaking in with the team at the beginning of the 1999 season. With the exception of a difficult and injury-plagued 2001-02, the Caps' current captain has averaged nearly 18 goals and 38 points per season. But like many of the other players on this list, numbers alone do not accurately tell the story of his game. Halpern is at his best when shutting down opposing centers or mucking in the corners, and those attributes served him well when he joined Steve Konowalchuk and Ulf Dahlen to form one of the most popular lines in recent Caps' history.

8) Al Iafrate (1991-1994; 58 goals, 176 points, +25 in 256 games): In 1992-93, the "Wild Thing" posted career bests in goals (25 - one of three Capital defensemen with 20+ goals that year), points (66 - one of three Capital defensemen with 50+ points that year) and plus/minus (+15), but the rearguard's season might be best remembered for the 105.2 mph slapshot he blasted at the All-Star game skills competition. In his three full seasons with Washington, Iafrate was twice an All-Star, contributed 11 goals in 23 playoff games and, in 1993, was named to the second-team All-NHL squad.

7) Jim Carey (1995-97; 70-48-15, 2.37 goals against average, .904 save percentage, 14 shutouts in 139 games): "Ace" burst on the scene for the Caps in March of 1995, going undefeated in his first seven starts and making the All-Rookie team. Carey parlayed that success into a Vezina Trophy-winning campaign in 1995-96 that also saw him named to the first team All-NHL squad. He was a (non-playing) member of the 1996 Gold Medal-winning team at the World Cup of Hockey the following summer, but just as quickly as Carey had appeared, his skills seemed to diminish (in two playoff series he was 2-5 with a 4.61 goals against average), and he was shipped off to Boston the next spring.

6) Kevin Hatcher (1985-1994; 149 goals, 426 points, -10 in 685 games): Hatcher was a staple on the Capitals blueline for nine seasons, a span over which he scored at least 13 goals and registered 40 points seven times and played fewer than 71 games only once, peaking with a 34 goal, 79 point campaign in 1992-93 (see above for more on the Caps' prolific d-corps that season). Hatcher, a three-time All-Star with the Caps, also totalled 19 goals and 48 points in 83 playoff games and wore the "C" for the team in the 1992-93 and 1993-94 seasons. When he wasn't scoring, however, Hatcher frequently endured the wrath of Caps fans for his unwillingness to use his size to play a more physical game (in stark contrast to his brother). In all fairness, though, it is difficult to hit people when you're carrying a purse.

5) Dave Christian (1983-1989; 193 goals, 417 points, +20 in 504 games): As a member of the Miracle on Ice team, Christian probably could have made this list just by putting on a Caps sweater for a single game. But he delivered for the red, white and blue, tallying 29, 26, 41, 23, 37 and 34 goals in his six full seasons with the Caps while missing only four games over that stretch and adding another 17 goals and 36 points in 49 playoff games.

4) Steve Konowalchuk (1992-2003; 146 goals, 342 points, +62 in 619 games): The Caps' captain from 2001-03 (shared for 2001-02 with Brendan Witt), Kono was a model of consistency, registering double-digit goal totals in nine different seasons, twice topping the 20-goal mark. But his real strengths as a player - leadership, grit, work ethic, penalty-killing, etc. - didn't show up on the stat sheets. Konowalchuk was a member of the 1996 Gold Medal-winning team at the World Cup of Hockey.

3) Bobby Carpenter (1981-1986, 1992-93; 188 goals, 395 points, -38 in 490 games): Nicknamed "The Can't Miss Kid" and drafted 3rd overall by the Capitals in the 1981 Entry Draft, Carpenter scored 32, 32 and 28 goals in his first three seasons before becoming the first American-born player to score 50 in a season when he potted 53 in an All-Star-worthy 1984-85 campaign (joining "Goal Dust Twin" linemate Mike Gartner with 50+ goals that season). Carpenter had numerous run-ins with the organization throughout those first few years, and he was eventually traded along with a pick for Kelly Miller, Mike Ridley, and Bob Crawford on January 1, 1987 (ed. note: why can't the Caps make trades like this anymore?). Carpenter played one more season, 1992-93, for the Caps, but never came close to regaining the individual glory he had muc earlier in his career.

2) Kelly Miller (1987-99; 162 goals, 408 points, +75 in 940 games): Acquired in the blockbuster deal that sent Bobby Carpenter to the Rangers on New Year's Day in 1987, Miller's work ethic quickly endeared him to Caps fans, and his durability (he only played fewer than 74 games twice in his 12 full seasons as a Cap - when he played 62 in 1998-99 and 48 in 1994-95) and defensive ability kept him a fan favorite up until his retirement. I still can recall Sunday, January 31, 1988 when Miller scored in overtime to beat the Flyers 1-0. Later that day, another Washington team played won big game as well.

1) Rod Langway (1982-92; 25 goals, 202 points, +117 in 726 games): Born to an American serviceman at a U.S. military installation in Taiwan (and thus, technically American-born), the Secretary of Defense was the face of the Capitals for a decade after being acquired in the most important trade in franchise history. The team had never made the playoffs before Langway arrived, but did in all eleven of the two-time Norris Trophy winner's seasons in Washington. Langway wore the captain's "C" for the Capitals from 1982 through 1992 (and for Team USA in two Canada Cups), was a two-time first team All-NHL member and one-time second team All-NHL member, and on November 26, 1997, Langway's number 5 was retired in the last game ever played at the Capital Centre. Inducted into the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame in 1999 and the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2002, Rod Langway is the greatest American-born Capital of all-time.

What do you think?

Do NHL Referees Hate The Caps?

[Editor's note: This is the first in a series of articles that will focus on officiating in the NHL. Look for subsequent pieces on what, precisely, the ref sucks and whether the ref, in fact, beats his wife.]

It seems a simple enough question: do the refs hate the Caps? There is a mound of evidence that would seem to support an affirmative answer - most recently Wednesday night's Tampa game - and any number of reasons for the supposed bias, from the team's employment of Dale Hunter and Jim Schoenfeld to the its historic lack of prestige to the size of its market. But what about empirical data? What does it tell us?

A glance at this season's disparity between power play opportunities and the number of times shorthanded reveals what we already knew - that the Caps have been shorthanded far more often than they have been on the power play (thanks to OldChelsea for doing the heavy lifting). A league-leading 49 more times, in fact. But, JP, the Caps are not a very skilled team and with blueliners like Ivan Majesky, Nolan Yonkman, et. al., they're bound to take a ton of penalties because they're so often out of position. Further, other than El Ocho, they don't have the kind of forwards that draw a lot of penalties. True. Take a look at the bottom three teams in the League in power-play disparity and that point is borne out- all three have what most would consider below-average bluelines and forwards:

28 Columbus 132 PP/158 TS = -26
29 Chicago 128 PP/172 TS = -44
30 Washington 119 PP/168 TS = -49

Not surprisingly, the teams at the other end of the spectrum have pretty solid defensemen and/or a handful of creative forwards:

1 San Jose 144 PP/104 TS = 40
2 Buffalo 134 PP/105 TS = 29
3 Tampa Bay 146 PP/124 TS = 22

So I'm right. Chalk it up to talent. Not so fast. How do you explain Phoenix having the fourth-best differential? Or New Jersey and St. Louis being in the "plus" column? Or Ottawa and Detroit being in the red? Damn. So it's not that easily explained, is it? No. In fact, this year's officiating has been so inconsistent, I'd throw the numbers out the window. But before we do, let's remember who's at the bottom of that list.

Having disregarded this year's numbers for inconsistency and its relatively small sample size, maybe the past few years can tell us something. In each year since at least 2000-01, the Caps have been in the red on power-play/shorthanded differential (thanks, Sapper):

2003-04: -67 (the Caps were shorthanded the most often in the League)
2002-03: -53
2001-02: -26
2000-01: -38

That covers some good teams (2000-01's 96-point division winner) and some bad ones (2003-04's 59-point Alexander Ovechkin winner), but consistently skilled and with a decent-to-good defense corps up until the latter part of the 2003-04 season. So why does the huge disparity persist? Because there is a League-wide officiating bias against the Caps. Haven't we proven that yet? Not quite.

If there was a systemic referee bias against the Capitals, one would assume that players are more highly penalized when they are Caps than at other times in their careers (the only other explanation for the Caps getting so many fewer power play opportunities than their opponents would be that the team puts out a relatively penalty-prone bunch or unskilled forwards, neither of which, obviously, would be the referees' fault).

So what do the numbers say? Do guys come to Washington and see their PIMs skyrocket? Do guys leave town and suddenly become Lady Byng candidates? A rundown of every player who has played for the Caps since the 1993-94 season and has (or had) played at least 100 games for the Caps and at least 100 NHL games for teams other than the Caps (the 2005-06 season has been excluded, for reasons touched on above) provides an answer to that question.

After more than 25,000 man games and 25,000 PIMs, the result is that the difference between those players' PIMs-per-game (PIM/G) as Caps and as non-Caps was that the players averaged .02091 fewer PIM/G as Caps (see Addendum). To put that in perspective, that's less than one minor penalty over the course of an 80 game season.

These numbers, of course, don't prove a lack of bias. They only tell a part of a portion of the equation - the "why are there so many calls against us?" part. They say nothing about why the Caps get so few opportunities or why the refs/linesmen blow their whistles when they do, wherein the bias (if there is any) may lie. But how does one measure missed calls? Or quick whistles? Or questionable goal/offsides/icing calls?

Now I'm confused. Do the refs hate the Caps or not?

Maybe. Maybe power play disparities are the result of the style of hockey a coach has been playing, team discipline, effort. Maybe it's personnel. Maybe it's personal (see Addendum 2). These numbers would seem to go a long way towards saying that the refs could care less what sweater a guy's wearing - over the long haul it all evens out - but these numbers don't account for missed (or neglected calls), inadvertent (or intentional) whistles at inopportune times, etc.

One thing is certain: individual games are often refereed poorly, frequently in one team's favor. Individual referees may even have it in for a given team. But the only way to conclusively say that "the refs hate the Caps" would be to conduct a study well-beyond the scope of anything we at The Rink are capable of. Perhaps a grant from the Leonsis Fund could get us on our way.

Addendum
Here are those players, with their individual differentials (positive meaning that the player averaged more PIM/G as a Cap, negative meaning the opposite):
Iafrate, Al (1.144739871)
Hatcher, Kevin (0.625767042)
Jones, Keith (0.416758159)
Sacco, Joe (0.181435278)
Cote, Sylvain (0.159500758)
Zubrus, Dainius (0.10404433)
Bulis, Jan (0.095997389)
Nikolishin, Andrei (0.062948181)
Lang, Robert (0.053882601)
Oates, Adam (0.021370869)
Khristich, Dmitri (-0.000121767)
Juneau, Joe (-0.023106738)
Zednik, Richard (-0.040154485)
Krygier, Todd (-0.046624738)
Miller, Kip (-0.065613496)
Johansson, Calle (-0.099254743)
Berube, Craig (-0.126100765)
Grier, Mike (-0.167784679)
Dahlen, Ulf (-0.176321116)
Black, James (-0.178002332)
Miller, Kelly (-0.185742862)
Ridley, Mike (-0.200729213)
Jagr, Jaromir (-0.231163274)
Housley, Phil (-0.231214054)
Reekie, Joe (-0.312656481)
Anderson, Shawn (-0.327272727)
Mironov, Dmitri (-0.396685705)
Eagles, Mike (-0.455546874)
Hunter, Dale (-0.62260782)
Johnson, Jim (-0.829434561)
Tinordi, Mark (-0.963402825)
Simon, Chris (-1.034261551)

Addendum 2
2005-06 Capitals games refereed by Don Koharski (per OldChelsea):
12th Oct at Carolina - L 2-7, PP 7-6 Carolina
22nd Oct vs Carolina - L 0-4, PP 12-5 Carolina
28th Oct at Tampa Bay - L 2-4, PP 8-5 Tampa
23rd Nov vs Tampa Bay - L 3-4 (SO), PP 7-4 Tampa
CAPS RECORD 0-4, aggregate score 7-19, PP 34-20 favouring opponents

For an in depth look at this season's game, organized by referee, click here.

Note: Special thanks to OldChelsea and Sapper for their statistical and analytical contributions to this post.