When The Goals Go In The Other Net

Mirtle's got a post up taking a look at who's been on the ice for the most goals against per sixty minutes of even strength ice time (GAON/60) but the flip side of the coin, of course, is who's been on the ice for the most goals for per sixty minutes of even strength ice time (GFON/60), and towards the top of the list we find some very familiar names:

(Top 20, minimum four games played; stats via Behind The Net)

Given the Caps' strong play at even strength so far this season (with the exception of the top line), it's not surprising to see a bunch of D.C. boys high on this list (Alex Semin, by the way, leads the League in even strength points). It is worth noting, however, that Brooks Laich quite nearly makes Mirtle's list for highest GAON/60.

Also, Brian Sutherby? Really?

Monday Roundup

The Caps are off until Friday night when they'll visit the Devils at their new home, The Prudential Center in Newark (which, by the way, looks pretty badass, the icing on the cake being the Devs' logo on the bolt heads atop the urinals).

The time off between now and then is a godsend to Bruce Boudreau and the Caps because it will allow some players time to get healthy and, perhaps more importantly, it will allow the team the chance to continue to work on implementing Gabby's system.

But some things are working well already since the regime change in D.C. Here are a handful of them:

• The power play has gone 6-for-24 (25.0%), which is a better efficiency than every power play in the League on the season, other than Montreal's (of course, throw out that first Carolina game and the 15% efficiency doesn't look so hot).
• The penalty kill has gone 25-for-27 (92.6%), which is a better efficiency than every single penalty kill in the League on the season. In fact, since Boudreau took over, the Caps have allowed two power play goals and scored one shorty.
  
• The Caps are averaging 35 shots per game, which would be leading the League and are allowing 27.17 shots against per game, which would rank them ninth overall.
  
• The team is giving up 2.33 goals per game, which would be good for fifth in the League on the season.
• They have seven points in six games - a 95-point pace, which would be good enough for a playoff spot if they had been on that pace all season.
  

It's an admittedly small sample, and it certainly remains to be seen whether the season can be salvaged, but encouraging stats are encouraging stats. Now, if these days off could only get someone other than Alex Ovechkin scoring - AO has 37.5% of the team's 16 goals since the coaching change - the Caps could really be in business.

Elsewhere 'Round the Rinks:

The Caps have sent Quintin Laing back to Hershey (though I'd imagine he's back for Friday's game if Chris Clark isn't ready to go), Josef Boumedienne has been sent to the IR and Jakub Klepis has sent himself back to Europe (where he'll play in the Euro Hockey Tour Tourney in Moscow - h/t to Vakfan on that link).... Brian Sutherby didn't know why he wasn't playing early in the season. Two words, Suts: David Steckel.... Bruce Garrioch says that "[i]f George McPhee remains as GM of the Caps -- and that's a big if -- there's a chance he could hire London Knights coach Dale Hunter to take over behind the Washington bench." Isn't there a limit on how many qualifiers a reporter can use in a sentence and still maintain a shred of credibility? Oh, wait. Garrioch also notes former Stars GM Doug Armstrong as a potential replacement for GMGM, but it isn't just an idea that Garrioch dreamt up over his morning latte - Doug's is "a name being mentioned." Of course it is. Good stuff, as always, Bruce.

Daily Awards

• Hart: Aaron Voros (Game-winning goal, 3 SOG, 2 hits, 1 fight)
• Ross: Sergei Brylin, John Madden, Shawn Horcoff, Jarret Stoll (2 points each)
  
• Norris: Joni Pitkanen (G, +1, 3 SOG)
  
• Vezina: Mathieu Garon (25-save shutout win)
  
• Richard: 11 players tied with 1G apiece
  
• Calder: Aaron Voros (Game-winning goal, 3 SOG, 2 hits, 1 fight)
  
• Aiken: J.-S. Giguere (L, 4 goals allowed on 21 shots against)
  

Caps Trade Sutherby

As you've no doubt heard by now, the Caps have sent center Brian Sutherby westward, trading him to the Ducks for a second round pick in 2009.

You'll recall that the Caps resigned Suts, a former first-round pick, to a 1-year, $800,000 deal this past summer, meaning that, in essence, they bought a second round pick in '09 for just under $200,000.

Friday Roundup/Gamenight: Caps @ Rangers

[AP Preview - WashingtonCaps.com Preview]

In case you need help firing up the Ranger hatred for tonight's game, let me provide this brief reminder of what transpired the last time these two teams got together at MSG:

With that out of the way, we can turn our attention to the game.

Three games into the season, it seems that the high-priced free agent playmaking center that was brought in to feed the superstar scorer isn't fitting exactly where the team might have initially thought he would, so he has wound up in the middle on the second line and the other free agent forward they acquired has landed the plum assignment as the pivot on the top line for the time being.

Oh, by the way, I'm talking about the Rangers - who'd you think I meant?

New York will spend more this season on Scott Gomez than the Caps will on their four centers combined, and so far all they have to show for that investment are a handful of shots on goal. Luckily (?) for the Blueshirts, they also threw enough money at Chris Drury to entice him to come to the Big Apple, and he has found a regular spot on Jaromir Jagr's left and has the team's only game-winning goal on the young season (shocking, I know).

But it's early, and the Rags have lost two close games on the road to two good teams (Ottawa and the Islanders). They're still considered in the minds of most to be among the Eastern Conference's elite teams, despite a questionable group of blueliners and a lack of depth past their top two lines. Their top six forwards (a group that includes the three players named above as well as Brendan Shanahan and Martin Straka), have the potential to be frightengly good once they gel (let's hope it takes at least a little longer), and in Henrik Lundqvist they have a Vezina-caliber netminder who can single-handedly win a game on any given night.

The Caps, as you know, come into the game a perfect 12-for-12 on the penalty kill this season. What you may not know is that despite all their All-Star forwards, the Rangers are 0-for-15 on the power play so far. Hopefully both trends continue on Friday night, but that may be even more difficult to achieve than it otherwise would be for the visitors if they have to play without their leader in short-handed ice time, Boyd Gordon, who left yesterday's practice with an undisclosed injury. If Gordo can't go, Brian Sutherby would likely get a game sweater (can we still call them sweaters?) for the first time this season.

If Sutherby does get in the lineup tonight, perhaps he'll take the opportunity to renew acquaintances with Ryan Hollweg. Of course, that likely would only be an undercard to the main event:


I expect this to be the toughest test yet for the undefeated Capitals, and it certainly will serve as a good early-season measuring stick. A Friday night in Manhattan - what could be better?

Elsewhere 'Round the Rinks (and Beyond):

Contrary to popular (and by "popular" I mean "my") belief, the Caps could be on the hook for a portion of Jagr's salary next year too, according to Tarik.... Newsday notes Nylander's return to the Big Apple.... USA Today's Kevin Allen has an interesting read on next summer's class of Restricted Free Agents.... The Sens have sent Ray Emery to the AHL on a conditioning assignment, where he'll face the Hershey Bears on Saturday night. Last year, the big club pounded him one of the two times the teams met, so I guess it's fair to let the kids take their shot at him.... Two Minutes For Blogging looks at the tough guys on each teams and the goons in the pipelines. Fun.... Even the Turkish media is impressed with the Caps' quick start.... Per the Hockey Hall of Fame's website, on this day in 1999, "Peter Bondra scored 3 times, including the tying and winning goals 58 seconds apart late in the 3rd period as the Capitals won 5-4 over the visiting Flyers. Bondra's 14th career hat tick made him the team's all-time leader (passing Mike Gartner)."... Finally, I don't usually read the obits, but check this one and tell me this guy didn't go out right.

Daily Awards

• Hart: Erik Cole (2G, including the game-winner, 4 SOG, 4 hits)
  
• Ross: Matt Stajan (4 points)
  
• Norris: Brian Campbell (G, 2A, +2)
  
• Vezina: Tomas Vokoun (29-save shutout win)
  
• Richard: Radek Bonk, Fredrik Sjostrom (2G each)
  
• Calder: Martin Hanzal (Game-winning goal, A, +2, 3 SOG)
  
• Aiken: Kari Lehtonen (L, 5 goals allowed on 20 shots against in two periods of work)
  

Gordon Leaves Practice; Kolzig To Start Friday

We now return to our regularly scheduled Caps coverage.

Tarik reports from K-Plex that Boyd Gordon had to leave practice early today for "precautionary" reasons, which could open the door for Brian Sutherby's season debut tomorrow night at MSG.

In other news from today's practice, one report from K-Plex had the team working on the power play this morning with Michael Nylander on the first unit, swapping places with Chris Clark.

As for the weekend's goaltending duties, expect Olie Kolzig to be in goal in "his favorite building," with Brent Johnson likely starting against the Sabres on Saturday night.

Finally, head over to TFP for a great read from Rink buddy Greg Wyshynski on the Caps' "Locker Room Without Borders."

Semin To IR (?), Clymer On Re-Entry Waivers

According to the roster on the team site, Alex Semin has been placed on injured reserve. Of course, that same roster (which, incidentally, is fed to the Caps site by a central register of players) also lists Ben Clymer as a defenseman, so take that for what it's worth, and we'll keep an eye out for confirmation.

Speaking of Clymer, he has been placed on re-entry waivers in an attempt to bring him back to the NHL, likely due to Semin's (and/or Brian Sutherby's) injuries being worse than initially expected, and placing Semin on the IR would seem to support this theory, as opposed to the theory that Clymer's recall is because a trade is in the works. At $1.05m for the next two seasons (recall that a team claiming a player on re-entry waivers is only on the hook for half of that player's salary), I can easily think of a handful of teams who would do well to snag Clymes, but we shall see if anyone actually will. Stay tuned.

Update (10/6): Semin was put on the IR, retroactive to the date of the injury, so he's eligible to come off and play versus Carolina.

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.

No Qualifying Offer For Novotny

In a move that's a bit surprising to me, the Caps have decided not to extend a qualifying offer to Jiri Novotny, meaning that the Czech pivot will become an unrestricted free agent on Sunday. The decision is surprising in part because it would have been relatively cheap to qualify Novoflop ("only" $495,000), and in part because the former first-rounder is still only 23-years-old (24 in August). Novotny certainly did nothing to impress in his brief stint in D.C., but hopefully letting him go means that the team will be adding some depth at the center position (especially on the top two lines) in the near future. And for those keeping score at home, the Caps end up trading Dainius Zubrus for San Jose's second round pick in 2007 (which they flipped to Philly, I believe) and the Sharks' (likely very late) second round pick in 2008 - not exactly a king's ransom. But kudos to GMGM and the team for not just signing Novotny for the sake of trying to save some face on the Zubrus trade.

Another surprise (to me at least) was that the team didn't qualify goaltender Maxime Daigneault. "Max II" was 23-6 with a .910 save percentage and a 2.64 goals against average in his first season in the AHL. If it was purely a talent-based decision, I can live with it (though as a 23-year-old and a former second-round pick, I'm not sure how that decision can be made at this point). But when Tim Leone (via Tarik) pointed out that Frederic Cassivi was going to be back in Chocolatetown next year and questioned whether there was room in the organization for Daigneault, I asked the following:

Shouldn't the question be whether there's room in the organization for Cassivi? I know they're trying to win games down there, but if the Caps are forced to let go of a goalie with potential upside (there's only one way to find out how much) so that Hershey can keep playing a guy that offers no such long-term benefit to the big club, I'm not sure I see the point of the affiliation.

That question - and the implication that goes along with it - is gnawing at me again today. At the very least, the release of Max II shows the team's confidence in youngsters Simeon Varlamov and Michal Neuvirth.

Also not receiving QOs were defenseman Trevor Byrne, and forwards Kris Beech, Jonas Johansson, Louis Robitaille, Matt Stefanishion and Joey Tenute. No huge losses there.

So who was qualified? Blueliners Steve Eminger, John Erskine, Jamie Hunt and Milan Jurcina and forwards Tomas Fleischmann, Jakub Klepis, Brooks Laich, Dave Steckel and Brian Sutherby.

Per the Caps' site:

Players who receive qualifying offers have until July 15 to notify the club as to whether or not they accept the offer. Players with arbitration rights (that list includes Eminger, Erskine, Jurcina, Laich and Sutherby) have until July 5 to notify the club of their desire to exercise those rights.

Players who are tendered qualifying offers can still get offers from other NHL teams, too. Any restricted free agent who is given an offer sheet at $773,442 or below for 2007-08 can sign without his original club receiving any compensation in return. The player’s original club does retain the right to match that offer, however.

...

Negotiations are already ongoing with Washington’s restricted free agents, a process that will play itself out over the next six weeks or so. Players who choose arbitration may never get to arbitration, and just because all nine players were given two-way qualifying offers does not preclude them from signing one-way deals when it’s all said and done.

The Other Free Agent Discussion

As the NHL prepares for the Mid-Summer Classic Stanley Cup Finals, many of us hockey fans find our minds turning (if they haven't already) to the off-season. Trades. The Draft. New uniforms. Free agency. Rookie camp. Ice Girls. Heck, the season ended on Tuesday night for 99.8 percent of us anyway, so the off-season is upon us.

And while we've spent a lot of time talking about which free agents we'd like to see in Capitals red, white and blue next fall, we haven't spent as much time discussing those who may not be a part of the Caps' future.

With all of that in mind, then, let's take a look at the Caps who will become free agents on July 1.

First, there are the unrestricted free agents (UFAs). These are the guys who can go anywhere they can find work and for whom the Caps would receive no compensation should it be somewhere other than D.C.:

• Bryan Muir (2006-07 salary: $600,000)

That's it (of any significance whatsoever). Before bidding farewell to Muir, I must note that he did finish the season with a plus-3 rating and had more points per game than any full-time Caps blueliner not named Brian Pothier. That said, I can't see Muir fitting into the team's plans next season, but imagine he'll find work somewhere as a 7th or 8th defenseman.

Now come the Restricted Free Agents (RFAs). These are the guys who, because of tenure in the League or NHL games played aren't free to just sign with whomever they please (unless the Caps don't tender the player a qualifying offer, which is basically an offer sheet with a five or ten percent raise, depending on the player's 2006-07 salary). Once the Caps qualify a player, if he signs with another team, the Caps would have the right to match that offer OR receive compensation from that team for poaching their player, as follows:

$773,442 or less - None
$773,442 to $1,171,882 - 3rd round pick
$1,171,882 to $2,343,764 - 2nd round pick
$2,343,764 to $3,515,645 - 1st and 3rd round pick
$3,515,645 to $4,687,527 - 1st, 2nd, and 3rd round pick
$4,687,527 to $5,859,412 - Two 1st's, one 2nd, one 3rd round pick
$5,859,412 or more - Four 1st round picks

In other words, when Buffalo, seeking to replace Daniel Briere, signs Brian Sutherby to a 5-year, $30 million contract, the Caps will get four first round picks from the Sabres. This is pretty much what happened when St. Louis signed Scott Stevens away from the Caps - Stevens was an RFA, the Caps qualified him, the Blues made him an offer that the Caps chose not to match (a decision that likely will be debated forever in CapsNation), and the Caps got five picks in return (the compensation schedule was a bit different under that Collective Bargaining Agreement).

Who are the Caps RFAs this year (and while you're at it, take a sneak peek, if you dare, at next year's RFA class)?

• Steve Eminger (2006-07 salary: $993,000; Minimum qualifying offer for 2007-08: $1,042,650)
• Brian Sutherby (2006-07 salary: $800,000; Minimum qualifying offer for 2007-08: $840,000)
• Jakub Klepis (2006-07 salary: $722,000; Minimum qualifying offer for 2007-08: $758,100)
• Kris Beech (2006-07 salary: $700,000; Minimum qualifying offer for 2007-08: $735,000)
• Jonas Johansson (2006-07 salary: $646,000; Minimum qualifying offer for 2007-08: $710,600)
• Jamie Hunt (2006-07 salary: $635,000; Minimum qualifying offer for 2007-08: $698,500)
• Matt Stefanishion (2006-07 salary: $635,000; Minimum qualifying offer for 2007-08: $698,500)
• Brooks Laich (2006-07 salary: $606,000; Minimum qualifying offer for 2007-08: $666,600)
• Tomas Fleischmann (2006-07 salary: $602,000; Minimum qualifying offer for 2007-08: $662,200)
• John Erskine (2006-07 salary: $575,000; Minimum qualifying offer for 2007-08: $632,500)
• Alexandre Giroux (2006-07 salary: $550,000; Minimum qualifying offer for 2007-08: $605,000)
• Maxime Daigneault (2006-07 salary: $507,000; Minimum qualifying offer for 2007-08: $557,700)
• Dave Steckel (2006-07 salary: $500,000; Minimum qualifying offer for 2007-08: $550,000)
• Milan Jurcina (2006-07 salary: $500,000; Minimum qualifying offer for 2007-08: $550,000)
• Jiri Novotny (2006-07 salary: $450,000; Minimum qualifying offer for 2007-08: $495,000)

Easy enough - qualify everyone (even Johansson, who seems to be a total stiff, despite "having the tools"). If these guys don't play in the NHL, it doesn't count against the cap, if they're not qualified and they walk, the Caps get nothing, and hey, it ain't my money. For historical perspective, the Caps qualified all of their RFAs last year. And the year before that. And the year before that. You get the point - qualifying these guys is pretty much routine and a given. The tougher part will be signing some of them.

We can assume that most of the players above will accept their qualifying offers because, frankly, it's as good as it's gonna get right now. This includes all the guys who have no shot at making the big club next year, as well as some who will.

For example, Laich signed his qualifying offer last year, but may feel he's due a bit more than a 10% raise this time around. But considering that he posted nearly identical numbers as he had the previous season, he should sign his QO (or something similar in annual salary). The same goes for Eminger and Sutherby - neither did anything last year that made me say, "Man, that dude deserves a big raise."

The one player that sticks out in my mind as deserving more than the minimum bump is Jurcina. Jerky really impressed over the course of his "tryout" in D.C., pairing wonderfully with Shaone Morrisonn and finishing with a plus-5 rating in those 30 games despite usually being sent out against opponents' top offensive lines. He has a booming shot, is a big hitter and, at just 23, has loads of potential (as a point of comparison, Zdeno Chara had 2 goals, 9 assists and a minus-27 rating as a 23-year-old).

So how much is Jurcina worth? If you've been reading this blog for a while, you know that I'm a big believer in the importance of a team salary structure. Pothier will make $2.5 million next year, Morrisonn $900,000 and Mike Green $850,000 (those last two will be RFAs next year). In addition, at least one yet-to-be-named free agent defenseman will make more than Pothier (presumably in the vast $3-$6m range). To me, then, Jurcina is worth a deal in the neighborhood of $1.25 million. But if he asked for $1.5m, I'd much rather pay that than take a second round pick to compensate my loss.

UPDATE: I've been corrected - Brian Willsie was NOT qualified last year. I guess rooming with Alex Ovechkin for a year was compensation enough.

Bang And The Bucks (Or Depth And Dollars)

Tarik's post from this morning taps into the thin line that Caps management must walk between building for the future and playing for the present, between fiscal and human resource responsibility and appeasing a playoff-starved fan base. The related payroll issue has become all too visible over the past two games, according to Tarik, and there's palpable frustration on this point at the player/coach level:

Sometimes, during postgame interviews following a loss, I can tell a player or coach just wants to say to me, "Yes, Tarik, we struggled. But there's a very good reason. Did you look at their lineup?"

Strong play to date has accelerated the team's rebuilding plan somewhat and raised expectations both within and outside of the organization, but at what point does the team take ice time away from a developing player in favor of a newly-acquired short-term-fix veteran? At what point does the team trade away a prospect who can help them down the road for a player who can help them make a playoff push this year?

I've made no bones about my belief that the team is a second-line center and a puck-moving blueliner away from being able to not only make the playoffs, but possibly pull off a first-round upset, and I don't think the addition of either player would significantly negatively impact the progress of any prospects currently on the roster (the blueliner could take minutes away from a guy like Jamie Heward or Bryan Muir and the center would bump Kris Beech down to the fourth line and Jakub Klepis back to Hershey where he'd see more quality minutes).

The question then becomes at what cost would these acquisitions come? Certainly there's room under the salary cap (more on that later). But if the cost is in younger players - say, Brian Sutherby and/or Steve Eminger - is it worth it (I'd think a team like Phoenix would jump at the chance to move a Mike Comrie in a package for those two)? My gut says no. My head says hell no. But my heart says maybe. Neither Suts nor Emmy is signed beyond this year, so it bears watching (in other words, if these guys are part of the long-term plan, lock 'em up - if not, make sure you get something for 'em).

The money issue, on the other hand, is an easy one. It's well-established that the Caps' payroll is among the League's lowest. Would adding a moderately-priced free-agent-to-be or two for half a season or less break the bank? Of course not. And even though I have no idea what a team takes in in terms of additional revenue gained by playing even a single playoff series, I believe it's more than $0 (that's my B.A. in Economics at work right there).

I'll leave you with this thought as the Caps limp into the New Year, their lack of depth beginning to show with better than half a season left: the Caps have the fourth best ratio of Projected Salary-to-Standings Points Per Game in the entire NHL (see below). A little added salary might not help that ratio, but it might help the team make the playoffs for the first time in years.

Table 1 - Ratio [Projected Salary/(Standings Points/Game)]

ANAHEIM (26,601,099.24)
NASHVILLE (26,735,687.58)
BUFFALO (27,672,526.47)
WASHINGTON (29,717,896.23)
MONTREAL (31,571,558.45)
ATLANTA (31,702,898.25)
DETROIT (31,776,492.49)
SAN JOSE (32,945,434.18)
DALLAS (33,432,055.63)
NY ISLANDERS (33,858,886.83)
CAROLINA (35,065,999.27)
PITTSBURGH (35,783,099.00)
NEW JERSEY (36,864,807.91)
EDMONTON (37,058,161.18)
CALGARY (38,835,450.13)
NY RANGERS (38,943,101.10
BOSTON (38,953,934.26)
COLORADO (40,299,558.63)
CHICAGO (40,500,655.78)
OTTAWA (40,726,678.31)
MINNESOTA (41,521,398.05)
VANCOUVER (42,388,661.90)
TORONTO (42,973,609.54)
TAMPA BAY (44,960,695.94)
COLUMBUS (46,478,169.29)
FLORIDA (47,286,140.57)
ST LOUIS (51,236,170.67)
LOS ANGELES (51,918,274.71)
PHOENIX (54,972,001.25)
PHILADELPHIA (77,469,332.40)

A Capital Christmas

As hockey fans all over the world celebrate the birth of the baby Jesus today, I'd like to send belated Happy Hannukah wishes to Jeff Halpern, Mike Cammalleri, Mathieu Schneider and, of course, Gary Bettman.

But I have Christmas wishes to pass along as well. I have gifts, too. Well, not really, but if I could, I'd hand out the following gifts to each member of the 2006-07 Washington Capitals:

Beech, Kris - Passion to match his raw skills
Bradley, Matt - A comfortable seat in the press box
Brashear, Donald - Someone to dance with every night
Clark, Chris - His two front teeth
Clymer, Ben - plus-14
Eminger, Steve - Confidence and a healthy John Erskine
Erskine, John - Better skating ability
Giroux, Alexandre - A bus ticket back to Hershey
Gordon, Boyd - Fewer penalties to kill
Green, Mike - More shots on goal
Heward, Jamie - Better defensive-zone coverage
Johnson, Brent - A few more starts
Klepis, Jakub - Kris Beech's ice time (and faceoff ability)
Kolzig, Olaf - Five more years in the League
Laich, Brooks - Skills to match his hockey sense
Morrisonn, Shaone - Better passing ability
Muir, Bryan - More effective use of his size
Nycholat, Lawrence - A flight back to Hershey (hey, he's older than Giroux)
Ovechkin, Alex - A playoff game (can you imagine how good he'll be once he makes the playoffs?!)
Pettinger, Matt - Alex Semin's shot total
Pothier, Brian - The broadside of a barn at which to practice shooting
Schultz, Jeff - Zdeno Chara's career path for a big man
Semin, Alexander - More effective play without the puck
Sutherby, Brian - A second goal for the year (we'll work on the third, etc., from there)
Zednik, Richard - Good health so the Caps can get something for him at the trade deadline
Zubrus, Dainius - Nothing (he's got Ovechkin - what more does he need?)

There you have it. Merry Xmas to the Caps and their fans and more importantly, to my readers and friends.

J.P.

Friday Roundup/Gamenight: Devils @ Caps

[NHL.com Preview - Vogel's WashingtonCaps.com Preview - Official Gameday Thread]

Caps fans, brace yourself for exciting neutral-zone-clogging action as the Devils are in town (I know, Shayne, three Cups, etc.). For their part, the Caps have picked a bad time to be banged up, as they embark on a stretch of seven games in 11 days (including a pair of games against the Devils and games against the Leafs, Sabres, Habs, Rangers and Coyotes as well). They got no favors last night from their Southeast Divisional cohorts, all of whom won, with Atlanta doing the Caps the bonus kick-in-the-chops of giving away a point to Kansas City Pittsburgh. Then again, you didn't expect a playoff run to be easy, did you?

With The Donald, John Erskine and Matt Bradley all presumably out of the lineup, watch for the team's toughness to be exhibited in ways other than raw pugilism. Either that or watch the Cam Janssens and Darcy Tuckers of the world take runs at AO for the next few nights - it's up to you, Brian Sutherby et. al. And with Chris Clark (possibly) and Bryan Muir (likely) also out, other guys will have to step up - with adversity comes opportunity - and now would be a good time for guys like Ben Clymer and Steve Eminger to shine and help lead the Caps to victory. If I may ask for one more present on this, the last night of Hannukah, it would be for Matt Pettinger to return to the scoresheet. Or this. But probably a couple of goals from Princess.

I'll have more later (workload permitting), but wanted to note that I went to my first practice yesterday morning out at the Kettler Capitals Iceplex at the Ballston Commons mall. I highly recommend checking it out if you get a chance, even if it means playing hooky from work some day. An interesting (to me) epilogue to that blurb is that I found myself behind Olie Kolzig driving home. He can't live more than five minutes from me in Potomac (though I resisted the urge to full-on stalk him all the way to his house) and drives one of the sweetest cars I've ever seen (a $100+K 2005 or 2006 Maserati Quattroporte).

Daily Awards

• Southeast Division Player of the Day: Ilya Kovalchuk (G, 2A, +1, 12 SOG)
• Hart: Tim Thomas (39-save shutout win)
• Ross: Ilya Kovalchuk, Jason Pominville (3 points each)
• Norris: Paul Ranger (GWG, A, +2, 2 SOG)
• Vezina: Tim Thomas (39-save shutout win)
• Richard: Jason Pominville, Ales Kotalik, Maxim Afinogenov (2G each)
• Calder: David Backes (G, +2, 4 SOG)
• Aiken: Chris Mason (L, 5 goals allowed on 26 shots against in 39:52 of work)

Friday Roundup/Caps 4, Stars 3

[NHL.com Recap - WashingtonCaps.com Postgame Coverage]

Was there ever any doubt? Check Washington Hockey Daily for all your recaps of the Caps' 4-3 win over the Stars, but I had a couple of impressions that I'll share here:

• Given the ice time, Jakub Klepis can look like an NHL-caliber center for long stretches of time. Maintaining a high level of concentration and effort may be a constant struggle for him, however.
• John Erskine was very solid on the blueline yet again, with perhaps his best play of the night coming on a diving sweep-check to poke the puck away from Eric Lindros who was otherwise unabated towards Olie Kolzig. Unfortunately, Erskine took the rarely-called (and inexplicably-stupid) "playing with a broken stick" penalty seconds later.
• Alex Semin's confidence is back in a big way. Alex Ovechkin's isn't.
• Secondary scoring, baby - that's two straight games (two straight wins) with four non-AO goals. Consistent secondary scoring = wins.
• The Caps still gave up waaay too many third period shots and chances, but on the plus side played another very disciplined game.
• The Caps were gracious hosts to former captain Jeff Halpern, doing all the could to make him feel comfortable - after all, he's used to losing at the Verizon Center, right?
• Jamie Heward suffered a pretty nasty injury (a skate to the face), so I guess I won't mention how god-awfully he misplayed the puck that led to the first Dallas goal.
• Stars defenseman Darryl Sydor almost made the worst mistake of his career when he seemed headed for reluctantly challenging The Donald to a fight. Luckily, the two parted ways before the gloves were dropped.
• Without getting into specifics, Brian Sutherby had a pretty terrible game.

Daily Awards

• Hart: Marian Hossa (3G, including game-winner, A, +1, 7 SOG)
• Ross: Marian Hossa, Slava Kozlov, Ladislav Nagy (4 points each)
• Norris: Zbynek Michalek (G, 2A, +4)
• Vezina: Kari Lehtonen (36-save shutout win)
• Richard: Marian Hossa (3G)
• Calder: Alexandre Picard (PHI) (2A, 5 blocked shots)
• Aiken: Dan Cloutier* (3 goals allowed on 5 shots against in just 9:26 of work)

* There were many worthy Aiken nominees last night as seven goalies had GAAs over 4.50 for the evening and Eric Brewer and Anze Kopitar were each a woeful -4, but once again Cloutier walks away with the much-coveted award. Congrats, Danny Boy.

Friday Roundup/Gamenight: Leafs @ Caps

[NHL.com Preview - WashingtonCaps.com Preview - Official Gameday Thread]

Lost a bit in the madness that surrounded the end of Wednesday night's game against Atlanta is the fact that the Caps have now dropped four straight games (two in overtime), doubling the previous season-high winless streak. Now the Caps must face the Maple Leafs without the services of checking-line center Brian Sutherby and enforcer Donald Brashear as a result of the suspensions handed down in the wake of the Atlanta game.

To fill a roster spot, Eric Fehr has been recalled from Hershey, which is exciting, and apparently Alex Semin participated fully in practice yesterday, meaning he's close to returning. The Caps are in dire need of the scoring punch that these two kids can provide, as the team has scored more than two goals only once since November 6.

Daily Awards

• Hart: Scott Hartnell (2G, A, +2, 5 SOG)
  
• Ross: Scott Hartnell, Paul Kariya (3 points each)
  
• Norris: Shea Weber (G, A, +1, 4 SOG, 2 hits)
  
• Vezina: Tomas Vokoun (W, 21 saves on 21 shots against in 39:58 of work)
  
• Richard: Scott Hartnell (2 goals)
  
• Calder: Alexander Radulov (GWG, A, +2 in just 7:59 of ice time)
  
• Aiken: Dany Sabourin (L, 5 goals allowed on 24 shots in 52:35 of work)

Fight Night, Redux

For far too long, Bob Hartley's Atlanta Thrashers have been tossing around questionably-legal elbows, knees and slashes like rice at a wedding. Wednesday night, Caps' coach Glen Hanlon and his Washington Capitals had had enough. But before we get into that, let's get a few facts out there for context:

1. Entering Wednesday night's game with Atlanta, the Caps were last in the NHL with only three fighting majors on the season.
2. In an eight-day span during which the Caps got beat by Division rival Carolina twice by a combined scored of 9-1, there wasn't a single fighting major in either game.
3. There was not a single fighting major in Wednesday night's game until after Andy Sutton - a player who has, in the past, been suspended for a cheap shot - went head-hunting on Mike Green.

With those out of the way, we can discuss the end to Wednesday night's game in context. Simply put, Hanlon was mad as hell and he wasn't going to take it any more:

"It was a 4-2 hockey game and someone, a 21-year-old kid with a cut mouth [Green], gets his head knocked off with a high hit and one of their players [Ilya Kovalchuk] is grabbing our captain [Chris Clark], grabbing his cage and shaking it," Hanlon said. "What the heck are they supposed to do?"

What they did was release the hounds. Donald Brashear paired off with Vitali Vishnevski, Matt Bradley and Greg de Vries danced and Marian Hossa wisely turtled (but still somehow got five for fighting and a ten minute misconduct) rather than face John Erskine's fists. Immediately after the next faceoff, Brian Sutherby went after a visibly disinterested Brad Larsen, and Thrasher captain Scott Mellanby did the same to Jamie Heward following the next puck drop. All told, there were 135 minutes in penalties (if my math is correct) in a four-second span of hockey time, but the fireworks didn't end there:

The animosity continued in the hallway between the teams' locker rooms afterward, with Hanlon reportedly screaming at Hartley. In the game's waning seconds, Hanlon, on the Capitals' bench, gestured toward Hartley, flapping his arms like a chicken. Hartley responded by mouthing the words, "Next time."

Next time is a story for, well, next time. But regarding what happened last night, respect in the NHL is a two-way street. When you respect your opponent and the way they play the game, that respect is reciprocated. When the other team doesn't respect your players, however - when they send a cheap-shot artist out there to run players in the dying minutes of a game that has been all but decided - sometimes you have to take matters into your own hands (or fists, as it were) before someone gets hurt. And that's exactly what happened Wednesday night.

Vishnevski's face will heal. But if Sutton cleanly landed his shot on Green, the kid could be out with a concussion for who knows how long. And if the Caps let Sutton get away with that garbage, who knows what liberties he or his teammates might take next. Now, at least, Atlanta knows that if they mess with the bull... well, you know.

And while Hartley may paint his team as a bunch of choir boys, Mellanby had the proper prospective on what happened:

"Obviously, they took exception to [Sutton's] hit -- they were defending themselves, I don't necessarily agree with the way they went about it [captainese for "we would have done the exact same thing"], but they've developed a lot of pride and identity with that team. That comes from Hanlon, and I mean that as a compliment. He's instilled a great work ethic in that team and great pride. That was just old-school hockey, and I don't have any problem with it. It's part of the game, it happens."

The bottom line is this: Sutton ran Green and Ben Clymer went after him for it, but nothing came of it. Feeling that the Thrashers hadn't answered sufficiently for that hit and others that happened throughout the night and the other three games in the season series thus far, Hanlon put out a few toughs to send a message, and they certainly did send that message. Sutherby's fight was overkill (and who knows if Hanlon sent him out there to fight - Suts may have just wanted to do his part as an alternate captain and decided to drop the gloves on his own), and Mellanby's was similarly unnecessary. But Clymer said it best: "We’re going to stick together and if things get ugly, teams know they’ll have to face all 20 [of us]."

Without question, fines and suspensions will - and should - follow. But they're all a small price to pay for respect and pride. And I can't imagine there's too much outrage throughout the rest of the League that the Thrashers got their lunch handed to them for once.

(Cross-posted at SeSo)

UPDATE: Here's the action from the final 1:30 or so (thanks to Eric at Off Wing for the pointer)

Tuesday Roundup/Caps 4, Sens 3 (OT)

[NHL.com Recap - WashingtonCaps.com Recap - Official Scoresheet - Official Super Stats]

Last night's game was in many ways a mirror image of Friday night's game against the Thrashers, with one team jumping out to a big lead while dominating play and the other team coming back to win. Except, of course, last night it was the Caps that left the arena happy. A few observations:

• Let's get one thing clear: there is not now, nor will there ever be a goalie controversy in Washington as long as Olie Kolzig is still wearing a Caps' sweater. That said, Brent Johnson's flawless work in relief in last night's come-from-behind victory have, in my opinion, earned him the start in Thursday night's game in Carolina. But we'll see how Coach Hanlon plays it, especially since the goals that chased Olie were not necessarily his fault.
• Martin Gerber was fighting the puck all night. Very unimpressive.
• Alex Semin played his best game in weeks, getting primary assists on re-directed shots on the last three Caps' goals and finishing with a +2 rating.
• Alex Ovechkin is pretty good at hockey.
• The Sens played the whole third period simply trying to hang on. It's difficult to win games nowadays playing not to lose rather than playing to win.
• Ottawa came into the game with the League's third-best penalty kill percentage, but the Caps finished the game 2-for-4 on the powerplay and that doesn't include the first Ovechkin goal, scored at the same time a Dany Heatley powerplay expired.
• Brian Sutherby won 7 of the 11 draws (64%) he took against Jason Spezza - exactly what you want from your shutdown center against the opponent's top line.
• Three of the four Caps goals were tip-ins, emphasizing just how important it is to get shots to the net.
• Be a good American - go vote.

Also, be sure to read the always-great Hockey Country recap for a perspective from the Sens' side of things.

Elsewhere 'Round the Rinks:

• It's awfully nice of the Penguins to bring some of their fans with them on their West Coast road trip.
• Sure, it's just one man's opinion, but it's a damn good one:

Hello Mr.Cullen, who are your top three players NOT playing in the NHL right now? Chris, Red Deer

Chris, My top three outside the NHL right now would be:
1. Nicklas Backstrom, Brynas (Sweden), property of Capitals
2. Erik Johnson (U. of Minnesota), property of Blues
3. Jack Johnson (U. of Michigan), property of Kings
- SC

Daily Awards

• Hart: Ilya Kovalchuk (3G, A, 9 SOG)
  
• Ross: Ilya Kovalchuk, Slava Kozlov (4 points)
  
• Norris: Filip Kuba (2G, 3 blocked shots)
  
• Vezina: Brent Johnson (W, 0 goals allowed on 21 shots against in 48:57 of relief)
  
• Richard: Ilya Kovalchuk (3G)
  
• Calder: Alexander Edler (A - first career point, +1
  
• Aiken: Olaf Kolzig (3 goals allowed on 5 shots against in 11:51 of work)
  

Lineup Shakeup

According to Mike Vogel, the Caps have shaken things up a bit in the wake of last night's loss to Atlanta. A quick recap of what's changed heading into tonight's game in Philadelphia against the desperate Flyers:

• Richard Zednik is out with an upper body injury
  
• Tomas Fleischmann has been called up and will skate with Jakub Klepis and Matt Pettinger.
  
• The "Ben Clymer as a defenseman" experiment seems to be over, as he'll return to his familiar spot from last season on the left wing of the CBS line with Brian Sutherby and Matt Bradley.
• Steve Eminger will be back in the lineup and paired with Bryan Muir. Yikes.
• Kris Beech will sit. As a result, the Caps will get killed in the faceoff circle tonight.
  
• Finally - and by far strangest of all - Alex Semin has been demoted to the fourth line, where he'll skate with Boyd Gordon and The Donald. Why is this so strange? Because Semin is first on the team in points-per-minute of ice time, second on the team in shots-per-minute and second in shooting percentage. So he gets less ice time? I assume that this is just to send a message to a slumping kid, but a scorer needs to play his way out of a slump, and sticking him on a line with a couple of slugs isn't the way to do it, in my opinion. We shall see.
  

Some suggest that these moves may be a sign of a trade coming soon. We shall see.

Sunday Roundup/Oilers 4, Caps 0

[NHL.com Recap - Official Scoresheet - Official Super Stats]

Jack Daniel's and Coca-Cola conspired to make me miss most of the latter two periods of the Caps/Oilers game last night, so I'll let you get your recaps from the professionals (the WaPo here, while the WTimes has a great article on Canada's love of AO).

Some quick thoughts from what I can remember of last night's game and what I can surmise from reading about it this morning:

• The Caps were absolutely abused in the faceoff circle, winning only 19 of 50 draws (a woeful 38%). Dainius Zubrus and Boyd Gordon were at 50% and Brian Sutherby had a bad night winning only 43% of his faceoffs, but Brooks Laich - back in the lineup in place of Kris Beech - was the real stinker, winning only 2 of 10 draws and losing every single neutral or offensive zone faceoff he too. Beech, who is fifth in the League in faceoff win percentage, will almost certainly be back in the lineup Monday night and if Laich gets a sweater in Calgary, I'd expect him to be shifted to the wing.
• Alex Ovechkin had a whopping seven hits last night, which perhaps can finally put to rest the "What's wrong with Alex?" questions. Matt Bradley had five hits last night, bringing his total for the year up to nine. Nice effort last night, and if Bradley is going to stick, he needs to be hitting everything that moves, as he apparently did last night.
• How 'bout them sluggin' Caps? After not having a fighting major before Friday, the team has now had a fight in back-to-back games as Shaone Morrisonn dropped the gloves last night. But I'm still waiting on The Donald's first fight in a Caps uniform before I dub this squad the F Street Fighters.
• Remember when Richard Zednik was good? Yeah, me neither.
  

Daily Awards

• Hart: Sidney Crosby (3G, +3, 4 SOG)
• Ross: Jaromir Jagr, Tomas Kaberle (4 points each)
  
• Norris: Tomas Kaberle (3G, +2, 5 SOG, 1 hit, 4 takeaways, 2 giveaways)
  
• Vezina: Martin Brodeur (22-save shutout win)
  
• Richard: Sidney Crosby, Tomas Kaberle (3G each)
  
• Calder: Evgeni Malkin (G, 2A, +3)
  
• Aiken: Antero Niittymaki (L, 4 goals allowed on 9 shots against in just 22:41 of work)
  

Up Down The Beech

According to Tarik El Bashir, with Matt Pettinger coming off the IR for Wednesday night's game in Colorado, Glen Hanlon plans to shake up his lines a little, swapping Jakub Klepis and Kris Beech and sitting Rico Fata or Brooks Laich to leave four lines that look like this:

Ovechkin-Zubrus-Clark
Semin-Klepis-Zednik
Laich/Fata-Sutherby-Bradley
Brashear-Beech-Pettinger

The hope is that an all-Euro line and a reunion of Pettinger with his center from juniors will provide both chemistry and balance (though Alex Semin sure hasn't needed any help so far and, in fact, every point Beech has is either an assist on a Semin goal or the result of a Semin assist). As Klepis noted:

Zednik "is European like I am, and same with Semin, so maybe there is more chemistry than when I'm playing with the guys from the U.S. or Canada."

In addition, this is probably an audition to see if Klepis, with more ice time, can stick with the big club, as there's no point in him playing in the fourth line at the NHL level right now.

The fear is that dropping the NHL's fourth best faceoff man to the fourth line in favor of a guy who has lost 60% of the draws he's taken will hinder the second line's (read: Semin's) productivity. The other fear is that Beech will miss Semin's sweet, silky hands.

If I were behind the bench, I'd throw Princess on Brian Sutherby's left and bump Laich/Fata down, but that leaves a pretty grisly fourth line. In any event, it's good to see Petty back and it's good to see Klepis get a chance to prove himself - worst case, Klepis gets sent to the minors once Boyd Gordon can play; best case, the Caps have found a decent playmaker to center their second line. My bet, however, is that Klepis is in Hershey when we turn the calendar to November.

(Cross-posted at Southeast Shootout)

Friday Roundup/Thrashers 4, Caps 3 (OT)

[NHL.com Recap - Official Scoresheet - Official Super Stats]

A second period that was a mirror image of Wednesday night's miserable middle frame and Brent Johnson's stellar goaltending earned the Caps a point in a fifth straight game, but in the end there was just too much Kari Lehtonen and the Caps fell to Atlanta 4-3 for the second time in six days. Read all about the game here.

Even though it's disappointing to lose a lead in the last minute of regulation and then the game minutes later, I'll take three points out of every back-to-back set of games, especially with the second game coming against a division leader who's been resting for nearly a week. Losses like this hurt, but hopefully they motivate even more.

A couple of notes from the game:

• Brian Pothier had more ice time (30:39) than Bryan Muir, Jakub Klepis, Rico Fata and Donald Brashear combined. Why is Klepis - 3:48 of ice time - even in the NHL right now?
• Brooks Laich was 1-for-8 on faceoffs and finished -2 for the game (and when the other team only scores two even strength goals, that's something). Steve Eminger was also a very stinky -2 and was Ilya Kovalchuk's slalom gate on multiple occasions.
  
• On the flip side of that coin, the entire first line and Pothier were on the ice for both Caps even strength goals and all four skaters ended up +2 for the night.
• The penalty-kill was strong again, successfully killing 6 of 7 penalties including a long 5-on-3.
  

Thread of the Day:

• Poll: We or They? How do you refer to your favorite team?
  

Elsewhere 'Round the Rinks:

• NHL.com has a great profile of Brian Sutherby up.
• Got Stats? Hockey-Recap does.
  

Daily Awards

• Hart: Marian Hossa (2G, including GTG with :33 left, A, shootout game-clincher, +2, 7 SOG, 3 takeaways, 0 giveaways, 1 blocked shot, J.P.'s jealous hatred)
  
• Ross: Sidney Crosby, Alexei Yashin, Brian Gionta, Patrik Elias, Patrick Marleau, Milan Michalek, Marian Hossa (3 points each)
  
• Norris: Sergei Gonchar (GWG in OT, A)
  
• Vezina: Mathieu Garon (40-save shutout win)
  
• Richard: Glen Murray, Patrick Marleau, Marian Hossa (2G each)
  
• Calder: Evgeni Malkin (GTG, A, +1)
  
• Aiken: Derian Hatcher (-3, 2 giveaways - though he did take the penalty on which the Flyers scored their only goal, shorthanded; Hatcher is now dead last in the NHL in +/- by a mile)